Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 2

maybe I was just dreaming it right now because his hand was curling behind my head, cradling the nape of my neck, and his body was warm and inviting against mine, and...
    I don't know what happened. I think I made a noise, and my arms moved, and then I was holding him, holding Bryan like I'd dreamed of, and his tongue was licking at my lips. Astonished, I opened my mouth, lifted my eyes, and over my shoulder there was Marcus watching. Arms folded over his chest, expression unreadable while I kissed his husband.
    I was kissing someone's husband. Oh, God, this was all wrong, so wrong—
    Bryan pulled away, beamed at me. I staggered backward, wiping my lips. I wanted to apologize, or ask a question, but my mouth was burning with kisses and I couldn't make it work right.
    Marcus moved forward and raised a hand. I winced, half-expecting a punch.
    Instead, Marcus laid his hand on Bryan's shoulder, pulled him close. "How was that?"
    Bryan smiled up at him. "Really nice. You should try."
    "I hope to." Marcus pecked him on the lips then looked over at me. "How you doing, Tony?"
    The sound of my name brought me back to reality, though my brain was still trying to make sense of what had just happened. "Confused," I answered, half-laughing, though nothing seemed funny. If this was a joke, it was a cruel one.
    "Let me explain, then." Marcus reached out and grabbed my hand. His other hand stayed on Bryan's shoulder. A thrill shuddered up my spine at the idea that we were all connected. "When we say we want you here, it's because we want you here."
    "I—" I was still watching the arc of his arms, wide as a bridge. "I don't get—"
    "We have feelings for you, too," Bryan said. "We've talked about it. A lot. About how we wish you could stay, how we want you in our bed."
    "But you're married." I sounded dumb, slow. Maybe I was.
    "We are. And we love each other, and if we both didn't want this, we wouldn't do it. But we do, Tony. You..." Marcus reddened. "You've felt like a part of us from the first day we met you. You have to have felt it too, right?"
    I did. Since the moment I fell over with Marcus onto my bed, since the moment Bryan and I bonded over potboiler mysteries. With every coat of paint and refinished hardwood plank, I'd been building this house for the three of us. No matter how much I'd thought otherwise.
    "So will you stay?" Bryan said. "Will you be part of our family?"
    Joy flooded me, sudden and complete. I nodded.
    Bryan pressed into my space again, smiling. He waited, held my eyes with his, and then gingerly leaned in to kiss me again. Now I was completely in my body again, no longer watching like an echo of myself. This was real, Bryan's lips were real against mine, and every drop of blood inside me was racing with surprise and excitement and relief.
    Halfway through the kiss I felt Marcus' hand come down on my shoulder. When Bryan stepped away, I was drawn toward Marcus, and his mouth followed Bryan's in claiming mine, warmer and firmer, different. I heard myself gasp, soft, and then Bryan's lips were on my neck, his hands around my waist. Marcus' arm stretched over my shoulder to touch Bryan's. All touching, all connected. I was trembling so hard just at the knowledge that I feared I wouldn't be able to keep my balance.
    But I needn't have worried. Marcus and Bryan were supporting me. Had been supporting me far longer than I'd realized. Maybe even from the first day I stepped over their threshold. I let myself relax into their joint embrace, releasing tension I'd been holding for weeks. It felt so good I thought I might laugh—or cry—or maybe even do both at once.
    My thoughts were derailed by Bryan's mouth clamping down on my neck, his teeth sinking into my flesh just on the right side of pain. It was like he knew I needed to be grounded in sensation, to be removed from my mind and placed firmly in my body. Marcus captured my gasp with his own mouth, taking advantage of my momentary shock to plunder my mouth with his tongue. There was an urgency to his kiss that matched my own and I began to suspect, to understand, that they had wanted me for as long as I'd wanted them.
    Every look, touch, and kind word was thrown into perspective. They'd been saying you belong here and we want you almost from the beginning, and I just hadn't seen it.
    I saw it now, and what's more I felt it in each touch, in the slow, steady slide of Bryan's hand down my chest, skimming across my stomach to just barely brush at the