"Enough," Elaine said, putting pecan pie on the table. "Tell them your news. I've been fairly bursting with it since Thomas told me last week."

"He's such a tattle tale." But Marcus relented, meeting Des's gaze. "There's a study going on right now. It puts pancreatic cells in this biomaterial that withstands immune system attack. When the cells are injected into you, the cells can maintain their ability to detect low blood sugar and produce insulin in response. What healthy pancreas are supposed to do. Encapsulated islet cell therapy, I think it's called." He glanced at Les, as if he'd confirmed some of the medical terms with her.

"Regardless, Jon will be able to explain it much better," Marcus added. "I understood every third word, but the important gist is there's a lot of optimism surrounding the study. It's ready for human trials."

Julie raised her brows. "How did you find that out?"

"He called Marcie," Thomas supplied.

"Oh." Julie beamed and explained to Des. "Marcie is a friend of Marcus and Thomas's. Well, let me step back. Initially the common friend was Lucas Adler. He's a big CFO for this major company out in New Orleans. Marcie is his sister-in-law. When she was working in New York on an internship, she, Marcus and Thomas hung out together so...they could show her the ropes in the area."

From the flicker in Des's eyes, she knew he understood. Marcie was a submissive, and Marcus and Thomas had been her introduction into the New York BDSM scene. "Anyhow, she's now married to Ben. Does that make her a sister-in-law squared?" she asked Thomas.

Thomas laughed. "While the Kensington guys are a lot like brothers, they're not actually blood-related, so no. Lucas and Ben both work for Kensington & a.s.sociates, run by Matt Kensington."

He directed his further explanation to Des. "Five of them run the executive management team: Lucas, Peter, Jon, Matt and Ben, and they're thick as a pack of wolves. Anyhow, Jon is their Leonardo da Vinci when it comes to mechanical stuff and cutting edge research. He has contacts with all sorts of other geniuses, people involved in everything from the next shuttle launch to cancer research. Marcus asked him to dig around and see if there were any reputable studies that might fit your situation."

"Studies like that are tough to get into," Des said.

"Yeah, they can be, but like anything else in this world, it's who you know," Thomas pointed out. "The study is being conducted by a Tampa research center. One of the top researchers involved founded a juvenile diabetes camp and foundation. Tyler Winterman is a big donor and honorary board member."

"The light dawns." Julie chuckled. "I bet that hurt."

"Yeah. I merely gave up a kidney. Marcus having to call Tyler and ask a favor, that was the real sacrifice," Thomas said.

Julie beamed at Marcus. "You do love me."

Marcus sniffed. "p.i.s.s off, both of you." At Elaine's sharp look, he lifted both hands. "I could have used a much worse expletive. They're picking on me."

Elaine bit back a smile, and Julie exchanged an amused look with Thomas. She could tell it was a quiet pleasure to Thomas, the rapport that had grown between his husband and mother. Especially since at one time they'd been as close to sworn enemies as two people could be.

"Mom." After Marcus's news had been revealed, Celeste had left the table to retrieve homemade ice cream for the pie. Now she poked her head back into the kitchen from the cellar door. "I can't find the vanilla. Where'd you put it?"

"Daralyn might have moved it to the smaller freezer when we were reorganizing down there. Let me come look." Elaine rose and joined her daughter. Des's hand slid higher up Julie's leg, his thumb putting pressure on the juncture between hip and l.a.b.i.a. Covering his hand with hers, she dug her nails into his flesh and gave him a look.

"a.s.shole," she mouthed. He winked, but he shifted his hand back down and spoke aloud.

"Marcus and Tyler aren't friends?" he ventured.

"It's complicated," Thomas responded.

"For those of us who like to fantasize about guy-on-guy, there's a whole h.o.m.oerotic Julius Caesar versus Alexander the Great thing going on there. Total fantasy on my part"-she raised her voice over Rory's mock gag and dramatic stuffing of his fingers in his ears-"since Tyler is as straight as a pencil. Their relationship is basically built on power tripping, art bidding wars and one-upmanship."

She glanced at Thomas, whose set expression suggested he wasn't thrilled with her musings. She put a hand on his arm. "I don't want Marcus to be with anyone but you. It's just a fantasy I think about. Can't help my thoughts."

"That's fine," Thomas said evenly. "You can have the fantasy. Just as long as he isn't having it."

"Not likely," Marcus said. "Tyler's a.s.s is so tight you couldn't get a pencil d.i.c.k up it anyhow."

"Sounds like you'd have no trouble then," Rory observed. Thomas smacked the back of his head.

"Hey! Mom's not here," Rory protested.

"That's why I did it. So she was represented."

"You couldn't get either to admit it under torture," Julie told Des, "but Marcus and Tyler actually like each another."

"No we don't," Marcus said automatically. In Elaine's absence, he was doing a quick check of the messages on his phone, something she didn't care for them doing while a meal was in process. He pocketed it as her feet heralded her return and smoothly resumed the discussion in progress.

"I gave Tyler some of the basics of your condition and he pa.s.sed it on to the study director. They're interested in bringing you into the program, to see the impact their work has on a more challenging case. And the great thing is this research center has connections to a lot of other studies happening in the field of diabetes research, so if you get your foot in here, it might lead to other things."

Marcus met Des's gaze. "I didn't investigate all this to make you feel pressured to do it, but if you'd be interested, there's a window of opportunity."

Julie held her breath, waiting for Des's response, but she needn't have worried. While Des still wrestled with being handled versus cared about, he was getting better about understanding the difference between the two. Proving it, he extended his hand across the table.

"Thanks, man," he said quietly. "I appreciate it a lot."

"Well, she is right. I love her, pain in the a.s.s that she is. And she loves you. I even find you mildly tolerable. I think we should get rid of Rory and replace him with Des." Marcus tilted his head toward Elaine. "He'd be a much cooler son, I promise."

Rory snorted. "If we'd replace anybody, it'd be the obnoxious Yankee that Thomas dragged home. Des at least was born in the right part of the country."

"I was originally a mid-westerner. G.o.d help me," Marcus said.

"Still a northerner, dude. Check your geography."

Marcus bared his teeth at him and turned his attention back to Des. "Tyler also has a couple guest houses on his Gulf property. If you decide to do it, you may be down there for a few weeks, or have to return for follow ups. He said you're welcome to use one of them whenever you need it. As long as I don't come, so he doesn't have to put up with me."

Julie gripped his hand at the same time she closed her other one around Des's. "Liar. He'd welcome you just so you could fence post."

"That's riposte, which is a maneuver in fencing," Marcus said, while her eyes danced. "Proof how far a liberal arts education will get you."

"I like my word better. It included both ideas, which is clever and outside the box. That's what a liberal arts education will get you."

"If you find enough business graduates to fund your clever and outside the box ideas," Marcus retorted. But he squeezed her hand once more before they separated so Elaine could put down the vanilla ice cream. The scoop was already tantalizingly embedded in the creamy treat. Julie eyed it and took a deep breath. Maybe just a small sliver of pie...

Despite the waning afternoon, a nap was in order once they returned to Marcus and Thomas's house. Des told her he'd join her soon. Marcus was going to take him to his office in the refurbished barn to conference with Jon and the research director on the study particulars.

While she was staying as informed as possible about everything that could help Des with his health, he preferred to stay in the lead and consider his own reaction to new data before bringing her opinions into the equation. She tried to respect that most days, and today was easier than most, since she was having trouble staying awake. He gently but firmly suggested she go get her nap, and she decided to comply without complaint.

While she tried to stay awake until he came to join her, the day's travel and a million other details caught up with her. Her intended short power nap turned into a deep sleep. Thomas and Marcus's guest room, tucked into the back corner of their old farm house, was designed to be a nap heaven. Her sleep was more restful than any she'd had in a while, except for the nights when Des had given her those thorough s.e.xual workouts.

She'd wondered if that was partly why he'd done it. Even when she was watching out for him, he was watching out for her, too. It was nice.

She had little memory of anything over the next couple hours except the ceiling fan turning slowly over the open canopy of the wood-framed queen-sized bed and the sun fading away over the fields behind the house. The window allowed the bed to be bathed in a square of natural light. Eventually, she felt Des's arms around her, his lips against her cheek. She nestled into the curve of his body with a sound of contentment and drifted. Despite her earlier desires, she was deep in dreamland, and it was nice just to spin there with him.

When she finally stirred, the clock on the bedside said ten p.m. She'd antic.i.p.ated waking up an hour ago and sharing a gla.s.s of wine with Thomas and Marcus on the front porch. The time startled her enough she would have shot out of bed like a guilty Goldilocks, but Des's arms were around her. She realized it was the quiet whisper of her name that had brought her out of sleep. "Julie. Wake up for me, love."

She pressed her face into his throat, pleased when he cupped both his hands around her skull, stroking her hair. "Want to see something worth seeing?" he asked in that same low voice.

"Are you naked?"

His lips pulled into a smile. "Almost." When she opened her eyes, she saw he was on the top of the covers, stripped down to his jeans. He rose and offered her a hand to help her slide out of the high bed.

As she did, his gaze pa.s.sed over her, registering strong approval. She'd removed her skirt and blouse and put on one of his snug T-shirts as nightwear so she didn't wrinkle her clothes.

"Nice as this is..." Des put his hands on the hem of the T-shirt and lifted it over her head, revealing her unbound b.r.e.a.s.t.s, leaving her standing in her lacy panties. He brought her closer, hand slipping inside the filmy fabric to knead her flesh as he kissed her, a wake-up call that had desire returning in one deliciously slow surge.

When she would have put her arms around him and drawn him back to the bed, he brought her to the window. There was a window seat there with a cushion, and he guided her up onto it, putting her hands on the sash and applying pressure, telling her that was where he wanted her to leave her palms. "Look," he ordered.

She glanced out over Thomas and Marcus's back yard, framed by live oaks and pines. It had the backdrop of a field that had once been farmed but now provided a few acres of pastureland for their three cows and two goats. The chickens were in their roost for the night. But those brief impressions weren't what he wanted her to see. It didn't take her more than a blink to find out what he did.

She drew in a breath. She'd told him she'd never watched Marcus and Thomas in a scene. The closest she'd come to it was the night she'd shared a bed with them for her birthday. Then she'd had the pleasure of curling up behind Marcus, daring to trail her fingertips down his back while he took Thomas next to her. She'd told Des she would be too embarra.s.sed to watch them...while they knew she was watching. She a.s.sumed they'd be the same way, but apparently they'd figured out something, based on what Des whispered into her ear.

"They know we're here. I thought if you could get the chance to watch them in a way that worked for both of you, you might like it."

"How did you get Marcus to agree?" She swallowed a moan as Des's palms glided over her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, light as the touch of air.

"Sometime in the future, when I'm doing a scene with you, he and Thomas want to watch. It will be at a distance like this."

"He...they wanted to do that?"

"You sound surprised." He bit her neck. "They may be gay, but the three of you have a special relationship. I think they like the idea of you and all your curves bound up..." His fingers trailed up her bare spine then over her shoulder, around it, so he could press all five digits into the curve of her left breast, take possession of it. She leaned back into him, breath accelerating as he stroked the nipple, caressed the flesh around it. "Deal?"

"If I say no?"

"Then I have to close the blinds."

"Doms are manipulative, blackmailing s.a.d.i.s.ts."

"Yeah, we are." He kissed her throat again, letting her feel his teeth first as a graze, then latching on hard. As she whimpered, he drew her back against his body, a straining bow notched with an arrow of sensation right down the center. His jaw tightened, teeth digging in as he banded his arm beneath her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. He pressed his pelvis against her a.s.s, and she closed her eyes at the size of his erection.

"Please..."

"First, you watch. I want to know just how hot watching your friends gets you so I can punish you accordingly."

His tone was serious, making her shiver.

The one-level house was on a high enough foundation she had an elevated view. Marcus had Thomas stretched out on a blanket spread-eagle, his feet toward the field, his eyes blindfolded. His arms and legs were staked out with rope, and he was entirely naked. Marcus was circling him, dressed only in jeans as Des was, but, as Julie watched, he opened and shucked them off, so he could straddle Thomas and feed his c.o.c.k between his lips.

Thomas's fingers clenched in his bonds. Since his body was turned diagonally toward Julie's view, she could see how stiff his erection was, how it jerked at Marcus's provocation. Her p.u.s.s.y dampened even more as she watched Thomas suck on Marcus's c.o.c.k, the hollowing of his cheeks, the flex of muscle on both men's bodies as they moved in rhythm with one another.

She whimpered as Des slid his fingers between her legs, playing in her slipperiness beneath the crotch of the panties. "Please take off all your clothes," she whispered. "I need you inside me so badly, Des."

"I know you do. I'd kill anyone who tried to stop me from f.u.c.king you tonight, but we'll get there. Watch."

Thomas's muscles bunched as Marcus at last pulled away. In that pause, Des removed her panties, then continued to stroke and play in Julie's c.u.n.t, sliding fingers inside her then out, his other hand trailing along her arm, her neck, the side of her breast, then back up to grip her throat and hold her fast. She could do nothing but watch and grip the window sill, her body shaking as he rubbed his denim-clad erection against her backside.

"Spread your knees wider," he commanded.

She obeyed, wanting to beg, wanting to do anything he said. Marcus rose and moved down Thomas's body. She gasped as he slapped Thomas's c.o.c.k with his open hand, doing it a couple times before he gripped Thomas's t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es, turning his wrist enough to suggest he was putting some twisting pressure on them. When Marcus said something to Thomas with erotic menace on his face, Thomas's lips parted, his tormented body straining up toward his Master.

As he did that, Des clasped both her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and started putting upward pressure on them. It was an uncomfortable feeling, the kind that spiraled arousal through her as she stretched against him, trying to keep her eye on the tableau as her own Master had ordered.

"Feel that," he muttered. "Does it turn you on for me to demand too much from you?"

"Yes," she breathed. "G.o.d, yes."

Marcus had released his sub and was freeing Thomas's ankles, but only to bind his thighs and calves together. He untied his arms and rolled him, bringing Thomas up onto hands and knees. Marcus stripped the belt out of his jeans, a thick strap even at this discreet distance. Julie felt a trickle of trepidation for Thomas, even as she suspected he'd respond to it the way she had when Des had done it to her. Anxiety at the pain, but an inexplicable eagerness for it.

When Marcus struck Thomas, she was amazed at the force. Her fingers convulsed on the ledge again. Thomas had started to put his head down and Marcus said something that brought his blindfolded face up so Julie could see the reflexive pressing of his lips, imagine the grunts coming from between them at each blow. Des reached in front of her and pushed up the window, cracking it so she could hear Thomas's guttural moans on the breeze.

"Des, I'm dying here."

"It's beautiful to watch." He eased several fingers into her wet p.u.s.s.y again and began to thrust, slow and easy. She shuddered and cried out on each penetration, moaning at the withdrawals, begging for more.

"I need you...your c.o.c.k. Please."

"I like hearing 'please' from your lips. Keep begging and I'll keep thinking about it. Are you still watching?"

"Yes. Oh G.o.d, poor Thomas. It looks like he's...ah..." She nearly choked as Des did something that sent a tight spiral straight up her core. "Oh, G.o.d..."

"I suspect he's enjoying every d.a.m.n minute, no matter how hard Marcus is. .h.i.tting him. At least his d.i.c.k looks like it is."

"Do you like...watching them?"

"I like watching a Master work. I love watching you get so stirred up by all of it. Now be quiet. Focus only on that and this..."

She heard his jeans open, and nearly sobbed in relief as the head of his c.o.c.k pushed against her opening. While she'd imagined the first time since his surgery to be with him on top of her, in the bed, just the two of them in an isolated bubble of reconnection, there would be time for that. Right now was right now and she wouldn't trade it for anything. There was a lot of scenery she could antic.i.p.ate on a train ride with him.

She didn't expect the climax to detonate when he first breached her slickness, but as she choked on a surprised wail, he slid in all the way to the root and gripped her neck again. He had his arm banded around her hips so she could barely move, the climax forced to happen in a tight warren of s.p.a.ce and limited motion, making it all the more intense.

Especially when Marcus set aside the belt, knelt behind Thomas, gripped his flexing a.s.s cheeks and thrust into him, so fast and deep it suggested he'd already been well-lubed. Thomas's lips stretched back farther, his head still up.

Marcus seized his hair in one hand, using that and the hold on his hip to ride his bucking mount thoroughly and hard. His muscles rippled, hair fluttering along his shoulder blades. The set of his mouth and glittering green eyes said he planned to take everything Thomas had and demand more. Looking into Marcus's face, Julie saw what she often saw in Des's at this moment.

They wanted it all, everything to the depths of their sub's soul. Total possession and even beyond that, something so all-consuming there were no words for it. If there was reincarnation and multiple lives, they wanted all of those. When death came, they intended to leave a brand on the soul of their sub that declared: this one is mine, through all eternity.

She let out a sound that expressed that truth, that told Des he could have that. That he already did. He was staying so still, letting her spasm and clutch around him, whimper and cry out through the o.r.g.a.s.m. It wasn't enough. She needed more.

She saw Thomas climax, jetting into the blanket, and Marcus followed right behind him, head tipping back. Hearing the grunts of the two men as they found completion together, she sighed with pleasure. She let go of the window sill to grip Des's hands on her body, dig in with little bites of her nails, trying to tell him what she needed, but he already knew.

He withdrew from her and turned her body in the same motion, lifting it in his arms before she could protest or worry. It was clear from the stern set of his face he would tolerate no nursemaiding from her right now.

He laid her on the bed and stood back, staring down at her body with a peculiar look on his face. "Spread your legs," he said softly. "Cup your b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and look at me. Show me you're all mine."

She opened her thighs, knowing her l.a.b.i.a and c.l.i.t were swollen and wet. She cupped her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, her nipples stiff and large. Her pulse jumped in her throat as his hot gaze covered her. She realized then he wasn't wearing his pump, and he'd removed the injection site. Today was the day he'd change it out, so he'd wanted nothing between them this first time. She wet her lips.

"Stay in that exact position until I tell you that you can move," he said. Putting his knee on the bed, he positioned himself between her spread legs, taking hold of his c.o.c.k and slowly stroking himself over her c.u.n.t, allowing a couple drops of pre-come to splatter on her c.l.i.t. She shuddered but held her position. His eyes lifted to her parted, moist lips.