STORY EXCERPT

Erin heard the huffing, crying, and sniffling as she hurried after Cooper down the main corridor. The clamor grew louder as they turned the corner toward the Refuge’s classroom.

“I’m so sorry! Mrs. Welsh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to get us in trouble!”

“Please don’t let them take us away, Mrs. Welsh! We love it here!”

“They—they’re gonna send us away? I wanna stay! We’ll be good!”

“We promise we’ll be good!”

Erin grasped Cooper’s arm and pulled him to a stop. “Before we go in, can you tell me how this started?” As the eldest of the kids living in the Refuge foster home for boys, Cooper was her best source of information before entering the tumult.

 “Theo is scared of that short gray-haired lady. The one with the mean-sounding voice. Her words say one thing, but her eyes say another.”

“Mrs. Olson?”

“Yeah, some of the boys call her the wicked witch. She’s so mean, I don’t blame them. Anyway, when you all left, Theo started bawling and couldn’t stop. Then the others started crying because they don’t wanna leave either. Mrs. Welsh talked to all of us for a few minutes, I think trying to get everyone to maybe settle down a little, like, calm down? She was talking to us and the little kids had started to calm down and then we heard a car pull up outside. It was a police car—”

“Police?”

“Yeah, anyway, Theo started freaking out again even worse, saying they came to arrest him because he stole a little bear bottle of honey when Chef Danny wasn’t looking. He just wanted a little something sweet, but, Miss Erin, he knows that’s wrong.”

There’s a police car out front?

“Why is everyone else crying?” Cooper needed to cut to the chase so she could find out what was happening. No one was touching any of those boys on her watch.

“After Theo confessed he took the honey, Carlos told Miss Welsh he took one of the books from her lending bookshelf without asking permission and had accidentally messed it up. He threw it away without showing her what he did. They both think the police are here for them.”

“But they’re little boys.”

Cooper scoffed and shook his head. “They know what it means when police show up outside your house. Both their daddies are in prison. The others started talking over each other, and the little kids started crying and couldn’t breathe right, and that’s when Mrs. Welsh sent me for you.” He took her hand and pulled her into the room.

“I’m—I’m—I’m so sorry, Mrs. Welsh! I swear I’ll never steal nothin’ ever again, just please don’t let them take me. I don’t want to leave he—he—here! Please!” Theo’s huffing breathing, and the way he struggled to speak through his sobbing, broke Erin’s heart. The wounded sound showed the depth of his scars. The emotional wounds they’d all suffered were painfully clear on their tearstained faces. If Mrs. Olson saw them, she’d likely judge their reactions as melodrama and lack of proper socialization.

All the boys were clustered around Maizy, who sat in a chair at their eye level, talking to them in a calming tone. “It’s going to be all right. I don’t know why those officers are here, but they don’t arrest little boys for taking honey or borrowing books without permission. Come on, now,” she murmured in a comforting tone. “Miss Erin is here, and she’ll tell you the same thing.” Her imploring gaze drew Erin to the group, where she also pulled up one of the chairs and used a gentle tone to get their attention.

Cooper brought over a box of tissues, and the little ones sniffled and wiped at their red, wet faces. They gradually caught their breaths as she spoke, still sniffling and huffing in little sobs and hiccupping.

Some of the other boys lined up at the windows, mostly the older ones, and then Cooper turned round eyes to her, his face a mask of horror. “Umm, Miss Erin?” He pointed at the window. Standing beside him, little Henry put his hand against the window glass and then gaped at her with a shocked expression. She went over to see what they were pointing at.

It had to be a hallucination. It had to be. Matthias and Luka were standing next to the police SUV, so handsome in their cowboy hats, boots, and nicely pressed clothing, wearing handcuffs and being put into the back of the police SUV.

“Mister Luka and Mister Matthias? What’d they do?” Elijah whispered.

“Nothin’” Cooper replied. “Something ain’t right.” The vehemence in his tone was echoed by a couple of the other boys.

Erin sprinted from the room and down the hallway, nearly crashing into Danny Lloyd, the Refuge chef, as he came down the hallway from the kitchen.  “Whoa! Careful there. Hey, lunch’s ready. Where are the boys? What’s the matter?” he yelled after her as she ran down the corridor to the group that crowded the front entryway.

“Let me through!” she cried out, trying to get past Beverly Dumphrey, Judge Woody Porter, and the other board members.

Frieda preened self-righteously. “What did I say? Lowlifes, both of them.”

“Oh, shut up, you miserable old twat,” Amelia Owen barked as she cleared a path for Erin. “Let her through, folks!”

Bursting through the door, Erin barreled down the stairs, her attention on the departing vehicle. She tripped and probably would’ve collapsed on the sidewalk if Ethan and Travis hadn’t caught her. They stopped her from running down the driveway after the vehicle.

        “Luka! Matthias!” she screamed, even though she knew they couldn’t hear her. In case one of them looked back through the tinted glass of the SUV, she mouthed, “I love you.” Ethan, Angel, Joaquin, and Hank clustered around her. Grace scooted into their midst and embraced Erin as she said, “What happened?”

ADULT EXCERPT

“My bed is soft and cozy.”

“That it is,” Matthias affirmed as they rounded the corner in the hallway and entered her bedroom.

Luka turned on one of the lamps by her bed and then lit candles while Matthias set her down.

“Should I shower?”

Luka and Matthias both shook their heads. “We want you as you are now. You’re perfect,” Matthias replied.

“I got sweaty dancing, though.”

A hot blush filled her cheeks at the sexy growls emitting from both of them—that animalistic part of their sexual natures.

Matthias ensnared her gaze. “Like I said. Perfect.”

Luka turned to her as he set the last candle down. “And it’s not because of the dress or the heels or your hair and makeup. We want you. All of you is perfect to us, just as you are right now.”

He reached for the quilt and turned it down all the way to the end of the bed then folded back the top sheet. The wide expanse of the king-sized bed was the only place she wanted to be. Right in the center of it. The mental image of the three of them filling that space, joined together, made her cunt tremble as she reached for the zipper at the back of the dress.

They paused in unbuttoning their shirts and stayed her hand. Luka said, “Allow me.” His fingertips grazed her spine as he lowered the zipper and she moaned when he traced his lips and his wet tongue down the same path. “Perfect,” he murmured as he backed up and nodded for her to continue, gazing at her with those bedroom eyes and a sexy smile.

They continued undressing and watched as she slipped the dress from her shoulders, revealing the black lace bustier she’d worn. The dress slid silkily over her hips, revealing her black G-string. Feeling rather brazen, she turned to show them her backside as she bent to step out of the dress, still hearing the high heeled sandals, and reached for a hanger to place the dress on. The sound of one of them gulping gave her such a feeling of power, and with her back still turned, she reached for the hooks on the bustier to release them. Sliding her fingertips beneath the waistband of the G-string, she oh-so slowly inched it down over her hips and ass, bending slightly so she could slip her feet out while holding on to it.

Now clad only in her high-heels, she shot the G-string across the room with the elastic waistband, and Matthias caught it. “Recognize that?”

The wide grin on his face made her giggle as he nodded, and then he surprised her by lifting it to nose and inhaling. Another sensual, rumbly sound vibrated in his chest, making her even wetter.

“This was hanging from an old hackberry tree the last time I saw it. I liked it back then, but now that I know how it looks on you, I like it even more. You might not get it back for a while, he added as he slipped it into the front pocket of his jeans.

“All right. There’s more where that came from, just so you know.”

“Stealing your panties may become a hobby, mi amor,” Luka said as he unzipped his jeans and eased them off. “After seeing them on you.”

“Bunny says every man needs a hobby.” 

After bending to remove her heels, she gasped as Matthias eased in behind her, completely nude and oh-so warm. His hands sliding over her skin as he caressed her hips gave her all-over body tingles. Once standing, she went willingly as he eased her back against his chest. She reached up behind her, sighing as he kissed her wrist as she slid her fingers into the hair at his nape. He’d undone the sleek braid he’d worn at the club. He knew how much she loved their long hair loose and flowing. His hands slid from her hips and up her torso until he was cupping her breasts, stroking and teasing her tight nipples with the sides of his thumbs.

Luka slipped off his boxers, freeing his long and tremendously stiff cock, and came to her. Eyes warm with desire, Luka grazed the backs of his fingers around her jaw, setting off tingles and shivers as he traced his hand downward between her breasts. She gasped and shuddered as his tickling touch skimmed over her abdomen, drawing a moan from her.

Licking his lips, he moved those wicked fingertips up and down, over and over, between her abdomen and the top of her mound, teasing another moan from her, and her pussy clenched with need. Just a little touch on her clit was all it would take.

“Come to bed, mi amor,” Luka whispered as he leaned forward to brush his lips against hers before kissing her more deeply.

Matthias released her hands, which she hadn’t even realized he’d been holding behind his head as Luka had teased her.

Matthias guided her by her hips and stroked her spine and the back of one of her thighs as she climbed onto the bed. “Are you warm enough in here?” he asked as he moved in behind her.

“With the two of you on either side of me, I’m about to go up in flames.”

Nodding his approval, Luka got into the bed on the other side and reached for her to come to the center, where he’d fluffed a pillow for her. “Come lie down.”

As she did what he asked, Matthias moved between her thighs and, without preamble, kissed her pussy and licked her from opening to clit. A lightning bolt of hot sensation raced through her, and he groaned with approval, licking her again and again as if she was his favorite lollipop. Each stroke of his tongue brought her ever closer to the edge.