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“Both of you are very distracting,” she says.

“Excellent,” Theo answers.

We shift her onto her hands and knees in the nest, facing the window and the channel beyond it. Theo kneels in front of her, kissing her, letting her scent his neck, while I settle behind her.

I push inside slowly.

Pepper gasps into Theo’s mouth.

My body holds. Solid. Present. I bury myself in her wet heat inch by inch until I’m seated deep and shaking behind her. Theo grips my wrist where it rests on Pepper’s hip. He keeps contact with both of us, and I’m grateful I can lean on his strength.

Pepper pushes back carefully. “Oh, delicious data.”

A laugh tears out of me, half wrecked. Then I move. Slowly at first. Then deeper when she asks. Theo keeps one hand teasing her nipples and moves the other from my wrist to her clit, kissing her between praises. I grip Pepper’s hips and watch my cock slide into her shining pink pussy where we join. I don’t fade, but I nearly lose myself to pleasure.

Pepper comes again with me inside her, tightening so hard my vision sparks. Theo purrs her through it, teeth grazing her neck without biting. She collapses forward into Theo, but her hips keep searching.

“More?” Theo asks.

“Yes.” Her voice is muffled against his chest. “Please. More.”

I’m not going to last. Theo sees it. His gaze locks with mine over Pepper’s shoulder.

“Come,” he says.

His permission allows me to let go. I thrust twice more and spill inside her bare, shaking, one hand on Pepper and one locked with Theo’s. The pleasure punches through me so hard the attic lights blur. Pepper moans when she feels it. Theo’s hand works her clit again, and she follows me into another sharp climax, trembling between us while my cock pulses inside her.

For a long minute, the only sounds are breathing, purring, and the water rushing outside the window. Then the stone warms beside Pepper’s notebook. A faint glow moves over the carved lines.

I stare at my hands on Pepper’s hips. Still solid.

Pepper turns her head, looking dazed and radiant. “Did we make the stone glow happen again?”

“Rest,” Theo says.

“But did we?”

I kiss her shoulder. “Probably.”

Her sleepy smile is triumphant.

Aftercare done by Theo feels sacred. I’ve experienced it firsthand, but watching him take care of Pepper opens some new place in my chest. I watch with a tender ache when he brings her warm cloths and water. I hold Pepper against my chest while he cleans her thighs, checking for soreness in that low voice that makes her answer honestly. He kisses her softly and whispers praise in her ear. Then Theo cleans me too, his hand gentle around my softened cock, his mouth brushing my temple when I go quiet.

Pepper drinks half her bottle, eats a handful of pretzels, and lets Theo tuck another blanket around her. I refill the bottle because that’s my job now, and because the cap stays solid beneath my fingers.

When I return, Pepper reaches for me. I climb into the nest on one side while Theo settles on the other. She tangles one hand with mine and lays the other over Theo’s chest.

“Don’t go anywhere,” she murmurs.

“I’ll try.”

Her eyes open a sliver. “Right now counts, Ezra.”

Hope hurts. This time, I let it.

The stone gives one soft pulse in the blankets, then goes dark as Pepper’s sweet purr fills the nest.

Chapter 8