“What?” Duncan asked, his voice muffled in her hair. She couldn’t tell if he was on top of her or underneath and laughed harder. She could hear him panting.
Oh my God, we’re a mess, she thought, shaking her head, boneless with the aftershocks of their mutual orgasm. She couldn’t move if she wanted to.
“Honey, me, too. I couldn’t move if you paid me right now.” Jake flexed his hand against Emma’s breast then let it flop back down, spent.
“Wait, what?” Duncan exclaimed, his body tensing. Did you say that out loud, Emma?
“What?” Emma wrinkled her brow. She felt drunk. What was he asking her?
“No, she didn’t say it out loud,” Jake answered, his voice cracking. Emma felt his hand clutch hers, fingers pressing hard into her palm. She tensed, trying to shake off the post-coital fog.
“Holy shit.” Duncan breathed. Can you hear me talking to you?
“I can hear you,” Emma said, confused. How is this possible?
“I think it’s the bonding.” Jake shifted, sliding Emma off him and onto Duncan. He sat up, rubbing at his arm. “If we concentrate, we can hear each other.”
Duncan rubbed Emma’s arms when she shivered. “You mean, like telepathy?” Emma said aloud.
“Yeah. Try it again, honey,” Jake said.
Okay. I’m thinking that this is really weird. Emma tried to send to the men. She frowned when they flinched. “Um, I take it that worked?”
“I don’t think you need to push your thoughts at us that hard, sweetheart.” Duncan sat up, pulling Emma with him. On the other side of him, Jake frowned down at his arms.
“What is it?” Emma asked, leaning forward to see. She could feel his apprehension and tried to send soothing vibes.
“Look at my arms.” Jake put his arms face up on Duncan’s lap. Emma smiled as she felt a sudden spike in Duncan’s libido.
Stop that, Jake thought, half-amused, half-irritated as Duncan’s cock began to swell.
I can’t help it! Duncan thought back, his mind’s voice laughing.
Emma rolled her eyes then looked more closely at the bonding tattoos on Jake’s skin. “It looks like they’ve been colored in. Here, tilt your arms a little.” She reached over and shifted his hands until the tattoos caught the light.
Duncan gasped. “Emma, yours are the same.”
She looked down, not surprised to see that her tattoos also had subtle colors glittering against the strong black lines. She grabbed Duncan’s left arm and dragged it up. “So are yours, Duncan.”
What’s happening? Jake thought. Emma felt his apprehension fade as he realized that both of them had the new markings, too.
“I think our bonding is different from the others. I remember reading about how the bondings seemed to make people able to feel each other’s emotions, but I don’t remember them saying anything about telepathy or colors. Hell, I don’t remember them saying anything about sex like that, either.” Emma sighed and sat back, brushing her hair off her face distractedly.
“It’s strange how quickly the news reports disappeared, too,” Duncan said thoughtfully. Jake nodded, then all three of them jumped when someone banged on the door.
“Duncan! For fuck’s sake, are you in there? Have you seen Jake?” a man called through the door. He banged again as both Jake and Duncan’s minds supplied a name for the voice—Levi.
Shit! Duncan thought, standing up. What time is it?
“Time to get fucking dressed.” Jake hissed, reaching for his jeans. Emma laughed out loud.
“Why the hell are you laughing? Everyone is going to know exactly what we’ve been doing in here,” Duncan grumbled, unsuccessfully trying to pull up his leather pants.
“I’ve never been caught necking or petting or having sex somewhere I wasn’t supposed to, ever. It’s kinda cool.” Emma smirked. She knew she should feel the same sense of urgency as the two men but couldn’t seem to get over the feeling of joy that her orgasm had mind-whammied into her. She watched Duncan tugging on the leather and shook her head. Men are helpless.
Hey! The double-thought hit her at the same time Jake looked up from buttoning his shirt and Duncan gave up trying to pull up his pants. Levi banged again, and all three could hear the muffled cursing the guitar player wasn’t bothering to keep quiet.
“Just a sec!” Jake yelled, grimacing at the mess on his abdomen. He was holding his shirt out, obviously not wanting to get it dirty.
“Come on, man! Duncan’s supposed to be in the meet-and-greet right now! I know you know where he is, so tell him to get the fuck over it, whatever it is, and get the hell out here. The fans are getting antsy,” Levi yelled through the door. He gave it a last bang, then Emma heard him walk away, his boots hitting the floor with angry thuds. She looked at Jake, still standing with his shirt held out. He was adorable. She shrugged.
Should have cleaned up before you got dressed, dude. Emma smiled and stood up, looking around the room. She spotted some water and paper towels on a side table and walked over to get them, strangely unselfconscious in her nudity. She could feel both men watching as she walked and put a little extra wiggle in her step as she grabbed the water and cracked it open. She doused a few towels and tossed them to the men. Wipe off, she thought then wet some for herself, quickly cleaning up.
“Thanks, sweetheart,” Duncan muttered, his face flushed. Emma chuckled again. He was cute when he was flustered.
“I kinda love you,” she said to them quietly, pulling on her own jeans and hurriedly zipping up. She felt Duncan and Jake send thoughts of love to her. She smiled as she pulled on her bra and shirt, stopping for a second to admire the swirling green-purple-blue pattern on her tattoo. She couldn’t see the colors unless she held her arms just so. It was like looking at a nearly invisible oil slick in the sunlight, or the last fading colors of a rainbow. She liked it. She deliberately pushed away the thoughts of what all of this would mean for her life and for the men’s lives. We’ll figure it out later, she thought, happy to get a wave of agreement from both men as they finished getting dressed.
Chapter 5
“Emma! Good morning!” Julie walked into the office on Tuesday morning, more chipper than anyone had a right to be, Emma thought as she sucked down another mouthful of coffee. She lifted her head blearily. “Whoa, are you okay?” Julie stopped at Emma’s desk.
“No,” Emma replied, head pounding. In the back of her mind, she could hear Jake and Duncan echoing her sentiment. Since the concert on Friday, she’d been feeling increasingly worse. She knew the guys weren’t doing much better, but it wasn’t until this morning that she realized it had something to do with the bonding.
Maybe we shouldn’t be apart like this, Jake muttered in her mind, and she shook her head, feeling a wave of nausea sweep over her. Duncan winced, and she felt him trying to soothe the three of them, unsuccessfully, as he was also suffering the effects of this miasma. It was weird having them so present in her head even though they were still hundreds of miles away. But they’re getting closer, she thought, sensing the turbulence on their airplane. It wasn’t helping any of them feel better.
Julie slid the pile of books she was carrying down onto the desk with a thud. “Hey, you must be sick or something.” Julie reached out, putting her hand on Emma’s forehead. Her cool palm felt good. “You’re hot.”