With the lessening of pain and pressure came the realization that she wanted and needed more, and it was at long last within reach. With her face firmly planted against the cloth-covered muscle, she blindly felt for the buttons on Quinn's shirt and started unbuttoning them. She knew she had only a moment left before total meltdown occurred. As soon as she opened her eyes and took in the bounty that was Quinn and Ben she would be lost, so with eyes closed she reached out and ran her fingers through Quinn's chest hair, and breathed in deeply the hint of musk and the scent of Quinn that she would recognize to her dying day.
"Sweetheart, please, open your eyes. I've dreamed of your eyes." Quinn cupped her face and gently tipped her chin upward.
"Once I look at you, at both of you, I'll want too much."
"You can never want too much, Kachawli," Ben assured her. She heard the rustling sound of him pulling off his clothes.
Kara kept her eyes closed, thinking it through. As much as she had said she would keep things in the moment, she had come up here to win their hearts forever, to build a future with these men. She needed to just stay in the moment, and feel good and blessed to have this time with them. She wanted these men, even if it was for just a week to finally say good-bye for good. Even if the last meaning of the sweet pea flower had been right all along, she would cope after she went home. For now, she would take the time they could give her. She would relish it and thank God for it. But she would also try her absolute best to convince them that they could build a future together, that forever was in the cards for them. She opened her eyes.
Quinn's eyes seemed even brighter now, though his smile was solemn. He reached out and tugged at the hem of her T-shirt, and drew it over her head. She felt Ben's hands behind her, unclasping the hooks of her bra. Quinn slid the straps down her arms.
"Beautiful," he breathed, his expression still intense. Kara understood because she was drinking in the sight of his fur-covered chest. God, seeing the muscles and beautiful teak-colored skin was making it hard for her to catch her breath. She had sketchbooks filled with pictures of Ben and Quinn, but to have them here and in person, available to touch, was awe-inspiring. She turned her head to look at Ben. He was completely naked. Her eyes were immediately drawn to his aroused cock, and her pussy clenched in anticipation. She needed to be filled so badly. It had been three years since she had felt the pleasure and pain of being stretched and fucked. She tore her gaze away from his erection and caught his grin as he winked at her, causing her to giggle. She continued her perusal. She'd been right, and now he was as broad as Quinn. The last three years had added a great deal of muscle. Ben had gotten a lot of ink done, and it was beautiful. It covered most of the upper right side of his chest and went down his right arm. It was in Tlingit tribal art, done just in black and red. It had totem themes of whales and she wanted to trace it, lick it. But then she saw it. It covered a large jagged scar on his chest and upper shoulder.
She was up and off of Quinn's lap in a heartbeat. The game was over.
"What the fuck?" If Ben hadn't been so big and strong and steady, she would have knocked him over as she gripped his upper arms so that she could get a closer look at the ridged flesh that bespoke a horrible injury. She could see that it was long healed, but it had to have been deep, and it was so close to his heart, he could have died. Her head spun to Quinn, accusingly.
"How dare you!" she spat. "When did this happen?" Ben caught her hands in his before she could pull away.
"Kara, it wasn't as bad as it looks. One of the crew got his arm caught in the winch. When I tried to release him, the damn thing swung back on me and just ripped the shit out of me. It just took off a few top layers, it didn't go too deep. It wasn't life threatening, I swear it."
"And the other man?" Kara asked.
"We made it back in time, so they saved his arm," Ben assured her.
Kara softly traced over the scars. She didn't care what the circumstances were that he received them, she was still so sad at the thought of Ben in so much pain. She just wished she had been there to care for him. As if he knew, he enfolded her against his heart, letting her listen and feel the strong pulse of his life's blood coursing through his body, assuring her that he was all right, that he was still here on this Earth, with her.
Quinn pressed up against her back. "Ah, sweetheart, I wanted to call, but Ben wouldn't let me. He knew that until we could really be together, it would just end in another painful good-bye."
Kara took a long moment to process what they had both said. She could continue to think about the last three years, to mourn it, to rail against it, or she could embrace the now and pray for a future. She continued to listen to Ben's heartbeat, and then realized that she could feel Quinn against her back. She paused again, remembered her promise to herself, and vowed to just live in the present. She would bask in the here and now, without shadowing her time with some potential outcome that could suck the joy out of the moments she had with these two men.
She placed a kiss on Ben's heart and trailed her tongue along every bit of raised flesh on his chest and shoulder. Then she leaned back into Quinn's warm body and looked, truly looked at the beauty of Ben's tattoo. All of her life she had been sketching the patterns of Pacific Northwest Native American tribal art, so to see it on Ben's body was extremely erotic.
She turned around and looked at Quinn. "I want to make love."
"So do we, sweetheart. Can we get you out of the rest of those clothes?" Kara looked down and saw that she was still wearing her pants and shoes. She bent over, but Ben was already squatting down to help untie her sneakers. She stood back up and looked at Quinn.
"What about you?"
"I'll be right back." He turned and headed down the hall toward the bedrooms, and when he came back he was holding a box of condoms. She was relieved. She was also naked, thanks to Ben.
"Hurry, Quinn, I need to see you, to touch you."
Quinn walked over to her, and leaned in. He brushed her long hair over her shoulder, and put his lips next to her ear. "And what do we get, Kara? What's our incentive?" She looked at him, confused.
"I don't understand."
"I'm going to need something in return," he said, still whispering in her ear. He backed her up to the couch, helping her to sit down. When she was settled against the back cushions, he reached over her and placed her arm along the back of the sofa, then he sat forward and did the same with her other arm. Standing up, he towered over her. For just a moment, she was a little nervous, but when she looked into the soft honey of Quinn's eyes, she saw the warmth of his desire and how much this pleased him. She relaxed and rested her head along the back of the sofa.
"You know what I want next," he rasped.
"Make me." She gave a wicked smile.
Quinn bent and tucked his hands under her thighs, then pulled them downward until she rested near the edge of the sofa. Then he grasped her knees and began to ever so slowly part them. He looked up at her and she knew her eyes had darkened with need.
His breath whistled in. "You're so beautiful, splayed out like this in front of me, so beautiful and wet for me."
"Please, touch me," she said in a dreamy whisper.
"Oh, no, let's see how much higher we can take you before we touch. I want that first touch to take you to the stars, baby."
* * * *
Part of Quinn was stunned that Kara still wanted him. That she was here, spread before him like a feast, playing with him again, after he had sent her away. Never had he been so grateful to the Creator. He looked at the strawberry-colored nipples and clitoris, both begging for him to suck them. She was so wet that the insides of her thighs were glistening.
"Are you needy, Kara?" he asked, knowing he was asking a deeper question, even though it wasn't his business.
Kara heard the query. She considered for a brief moment not answering it, but then she had one of her own. "How needy are you, Quinn?"
"Kara, since you've left, there's been nobody else. You've been it for me since that very first morning in Auntie's restaurant."
"For us, Kachawli," Ben said. "You own my heart and I would never betray you." Kara looked up from her vulnerable position on the couch and never felt so powerful in her life.
"For me, too. I couldn't imagine having someone else touch me after having your hands, your mouths, on me. I've been so lonely." She said the last in a forlorn voice.
"Not anymore," Quinn assured her as he knelt down between her thighs and looked at the long, taut expanse of her abdomen that led to the downy, white-gold hair framing her open sex. He moved his head forward and took in a deep breath. "God, Kara, the scent of your arousal smells like heaven." He then bent forward and licked from the base of her cunt all the way to the top. Then, gently taking her clit between his two lips, he sucked, making her fall into a slowly moving wave of awareness.