The Final Twist Untwisted Series Book Five Read online

  With their calm confidence, perfect posture, and stunning good looks, the brothers were what most women, and no doubt a large proportion of men, would describe as the perfect catch, but looks weren’t everything, were they?

  Nathan’s and Nicholas’s chiselled handsomeness and muscled frames disguised a multitude of hidden issues that the men had had to deal with throughout their lives, but now we were all getting settled, and I thought we might finally be over the worst.

  Kenny and Tom arrived. They thrust a bottle of wine into my hands and shoved a huge bunch of flowers at Nathan as we answered the door. The deliberate move made Nathan growl and had Kenny and me in stiches as my man stalked off to the kitchen to get rid of the bouquet.

  ‘Sorry, couldn’t help myself. He’s just so hot when he’s in a strop!’ Kenny commented, as he watched Nathan’s retreating figure and pretended to fan his face. ‘Not as hot as you though, babe,’ he added with a grin aimed at his boyfriend as he shyly did the introductions. ‘Stella, this is Tom.’

  Tom stepped inside and closed the front door behind him before turning to me. ‘I’ve heard a great deal about you, Stella. All good,’ he added with a smile as I made a worried face. He held out his hand and gave mine a firm shake as he smiled at me with an almost perfect set of white teeth. I could immediately see why Kenny – Mr Perfectionist himself – liked Tom. He was immaculately dressed, his stubble was trimmed and clearly there because it was meant to be, and his ruffled brown hair made him look far too sinful to be a truly good boy, which had never been Kenny’s type.

  All in all, he was just about Kenny’s perfect man, but I couldn’t help worry about my sensitive bestie. He always seemed to pick handsome extroverts who quickly bored of his exuberant personality and moved on because they wanted more of the spotlight for themselves.

  I exchanged a cheek kiss with Kenny and grinned at him. ‘Happy birthday, Ken.’

  ‘Thanks, Stel,’ he replied with a blush as I took their coats and ushered them inside.

  ‘Go on through, everyone’s in the lounge.’ Watching them go, I couldn’t help grinning as they practically skipped inside hand in hand. It would certainly seem that things were going well between the new love birds at the moment. I’d need to pull Kenny aside later and get the full details. What with having William to look after and him seeing Tom at every available opportunity, we’d been getting fewer and fewer chances for catch-ups than we used to, and one was definitely in order.

  Mum had always treated Kenny like a second son, so his arrival with Tom totally grabbed her interest. As we watched them all greeting each other, she smiled across at Nathan and me and seemed genuinely over the whole the engagement obsession, thank goodness.

  Over the next hour or so, I watched Kenny and Tom together carefully and was thrilled to see that Tom was seemingly perfect for Kenny. He was good-looking, yes, but quiet with it, and had the ideal combination of attractiveness, dry humour, and humbleness, which seemed to balance out Kenny’s wild streak almost effortlessly.

  According to Kenny they’d been together for nearly four months now; a record for Kenny, who had even confided in me last week that he finally thought he might have found “the one”. For his sake, I really hoped he had. They looked great together, and I’d love to see my best mate in the settled relationship that he’d always craved.

  Chapter Three – Rebecca

  I didn’t know Kenny that well, but since becoming so close with Stella I’d met up with them both for several lunches and cocktail nights. Even to me, a virtual stranger, it had been obvious just how desperate he’d been to find himself a boyfriend and leave behind his days of disastrous dates and meaningless flings.

  Tom seemed to tick all the right boxes. He was exceptionally charming, and after chatting to him for a while between courses I could see why Kenny had fallen for him. He was smart, handsome, and funny, but in a slightly toned-down way, which seemed to be an ideal match for Kenny’s extrovert personality.

  Just as there was a lull in our current conversation, I got the distinct feeling that we were being watched. The hairs on the back of my neck rose and tingled, and without looking I just knew that Nicholas was watching me. Turning to scan the room, I smiled when I proved myself right. Nicholas stood on his own on the other side of the lounge, staring across at us.

  Smiling at him, I was about to indicate that he should join us, when I noticed his lowered brows and tense jaw. Hmm. It would seem that something had riled my darling husband, and from the glacial glare currently being directed at my conversation partner, I could only think that it was Tom.

  Politely excusing myself, I left Tom to go and refill his wine. I wandered over to Nicholas, changing my expression so it mirrored his current look of disapproval. As I reached his side, I propped a hand on my hip and raised an eyebrow. ‘Please tell me that you’re not jealous.’

  His nostrils flared, giving me the answer I needed, but, being stubborn, Nicholas didn’t directly answer. Instead, he just rammed his hands into his trouser pockets and hunched forwards, ruining his usually perfect posture.

  He looked hot when he was broody like this, all dark and bad boy, but really this was ridiculous. ‘He’s gay, Nicholas! And you and I are married!’ I whispered in amusement.

  There was a long moment of quiet between us where Nicholas simply stared across the room at nothing in particular then began fiddling with his wedding ring.

  ‘I know, I know. And I trust you implicitly.’ His words sounded almost exasperated as they rushed from his lips. ‘And that’s why I’m still over here and not grabbing him by his shirt collars and giving him an earful.’ Running a hand through his hair, Nicholas let out a long, low sigh. He looked at me with an expression of pure possessive lust on his face.

  ‘You’re mine. I know that, but sometimes I still struggle with my emotions. Seeing him with you being all touchy-feely brought out my inner caveman, I guess.’

  Expressing exactly how he felt was still relatively new to Nicholas, so his effort at explaining his feelings was a good step. I couldn’t really be mad at him. This was a major forward move; he’d vocalised why he was angry, and could see that it was misplaced.

  ‘You wanna drag me off to your cave and have your wicked way with me?’ I teased, leaning in close to his neck so my breath must have tickled his skin.

  ‘Yes.’ Nicholas grabbed my hand and began to pull me towards the hallway, but I dug my heels in and gave him a wide-eyed stare when he looked back at me.

  ‘I was kidding!’ I squawked, unable to believe that even Nicholas would think it was fine and dandy to sneak in a sex session at his brother’s house.

  ‘Ten minutes till the main course,’ Stella announced as she poked her head in from the kitchen with a smile.

  Nicholas nodded, and then leaned in to kiss my neck. ‘Perfect. That’s plenty of time for what I have in mind,’ he growled by my neck. Then, before I could put up any further arguments, he dragged me from the room and directly into the downstairs toilet at the end of the hall, already pulling his suit jacket off as we went.

  This is crazy!

  Once he’d locked the door, he pounced on me, his eyes dark and full of lusty intent as he skipped my lips and buried his mouth against my neck. He kissed and licked across my collarbone towards my shoulder, sending goose pimples flooding my skin.

  A second later he was flicking the strap of my dress down with his tongue.

  Blimey.

  My dress began to fall down and expose one breast, and the cooler air on my skin finally snapped me from my lusty shock. ‘Nicholas! Stop! What if someone hears us?’

  I could already tell that my reasonable question was going to go unanswered, because it was clear from the determined expression on Nicholas’s face that he was well and truly set on his claiming mission.

  ‘You better be quiet then, babe, hadn’t you?’ he murmured, dropping one hand to the front of my dress and popping out my other breast.

  ‘Relax, Becky. Enjoy it, swee
theart. It’ll be just like that time in the shop changing room, remember that?’

  Oh God, did I. It had been incredible. He’d sneaked in and fucked me senseless against the mirrored wall, all while other shoppers tried on their clothing completely unaware of our steamy tryst.

  ‘Just thinking about that day makes you hot, doesn’t it?’ he muttered against the skin of my chest before he sucked a nipple into his mouth and circled the peak with the tip of his tongue. ‘I know it does me.’ This final statement was accompanied by him standing up again and thrusting his rock-solid groin against me as he grinned down at me flirtatiously.

  Oh sod it. We’d been gone a few minutes now anyway; if anyone was going to notice our absence and jump to conclusions they already would have. I might as well get an orgasm out of it now we were here.

  I raised my hands and dug them into the hair at his neck, then pulled his mouth to mine, meeting his hungry growl with a kiss just as demanding.

  He dropped one hand to drag my dress up around my waist and dip inside my knickers to find my core. ‘Fuck. You’re soaked already.’

  Yeah, I was. I might have been saying this was an inappropriate time, but that was just the sensible part of my brain being rational. Realistically, I was never going to turn him down, because Nicholas was so hot when he was on a mission like this and it never failed to get me aroused and horny within seconds.

  I knew I should, but I didn’t care where we were, or who might hear. I just wanted him buried deep inside me.

  As if reading my thoughts, Nicholas quickly bent to strip me of my panties then stood again and freed his erection from the confines of his suit trousers. He was so excited that I could already see the shine of pre-come on his tip, but I couldn’t bend to lick it off as I wanted because he pressed me back against the wall and kissed me hard. ‘No time for that, I’m already close.’

  He gripped my right leg, raising it around his waist, and brushed himself across my entrance before pausing and running a hot lick of his tongue across my lips.

  ‘No noise, remember, baby?’ The question didn’t get an answer because a second later he jerked his hips forwards and buried himself into me in one smooth, hard thrust. The only way I managed not to scream out was to sink my teeth into his shoulder and bite down, but rather than causing him pain, he seemed to get a kick out of my move because he let out a quiet moan of approval and upped the speed of his hips.

  Pinned against the wall like this, I didn’t have much room to manoeuvre, but I rotated my hips with each of his frantic thrusts and soon felt my climax building. Nicholas was close, too. His jerky moves had lost their usual finesse, but seeing as we needed to be quick that was just fine by me.

  His lips found mine again, tongue pressing inside my mouth and stealing my breath as he pinned me to the wall and thrust so hard and fast that I couldn’t help but tip across the edge into my orgasm. My body started to clench around him, and my head went dizzy, but he caught my moans in his mouth. Then, as he kissed me deeply, he, too, began to climax, grinding his hips against mine and filling me with his hot release.

  Standing together for a few seconds we tried to get our breath back, both of us panting and speechless. Finally, Nicholas eased out of me, flashed me his smug smile, and wiped the damp tip of his cock across my stomach.

  ‘I like the idea of you having a trace of me on your body for the rest of the night,’ he murmured. He grinned at my shocked expression, before handing me some tissues.

  ‘It’s lucky I have my suit jacket, because my shoulder is soaked,’ he remarked, giving me an amused look as he brushed at the wet, circular bite mark on his pale grey shirt.

  Oops. Looked like we’d both left our trace on each other.

  Glancing in the mirror, I saw my flushed cheeks and the twinkle in my eye and I winced. I definitely looked well fucked. How I was supposed to go and face a room full of our nearest and dearest now was beyond me, but Nicholas seemed perfectly at ease. He shrugged into his jacket and helped me straighten my clothes before offering me his hand.

  ‘Let’s go and eat, I’m starving.’

  My eyes widened at his complete calm as he guided me out of the bathroom. He’d gone from primal caveman to utter gentleman in a matter of minutes. Unbelievable!

  Chapter Four – Stella

  Nathan had been hilarious so far. Even though he had his brother here to keep him company, he had followed me like a puppy every time I left the lounge. He was so calm and controlled in every other aspect of his life, but put him in a room with my mum and dad and he turned into this nervy, vulnerable creature. It would be quite unsettling if I didn’t find it so funny.

  I’d just entered the kitchen to get the dessert ready when Nathan burst in after me and let out an audible sigh of relief. Turning with a giggle, I found him leaning on the kitchen counter loosening his tie in a move that would have been incredibly sexy, if he hadn’t currently looked so stressed. ‘Oh come on, Nathan, Mum hasn’t been that bad! She’s even dropped the engagement topic since your little speech.’

  Nathan nodded and ran a hand over his face before tugging at his shirt cuffs in a way that I knew meant he was agitated about something. ‘I know. But after your little display in the bedroom earlier I can barely even focus on conversation.’

  Ah, that was what he was agitated about. Sex. Made sense, really, seeing as this was Nathan we were talking about. Not to mention that I was also still on a low simmer from my little act earlier, and had been all evening.

  Biting my lower lip, I nodded and squeezed my thighs together, because now that he was here, alone with me, I was really starting to struggle again, too. I’d read in a magazine once that sex drives lessened when you had children, but that wasn’t the case with Nathan and me. We were still like horny teenagers all the time. That was the last time I would try to get the upper hand by teasing him, though, because this was hellish.

  Delayed gratification was definitely not my thing.

  ‘Besides, she might not be talking about your ring any more, but she still keeps staring at it.’

  ‘I think she’s just happy that we’re so settled,’ I said softly, trying to soothe him, but it didn’t work, because he tugged at his cuffs again and grunted.

  ‘It makes me uncomfortable.’

  Totally confused now, I frowned. ‘What does?’

  Pausing, he licked his lips and then tilted his head forwards to land me with one of his supercharged low-browed stares. I was the complete and utter focus of his attention, and that knowledge always made me feel a bit quivery. ‘Be honest, Stella, you say you’re fine not getting married, but is that really true?’

  Relaxing my shoulders, I rolled my eyes and put the carton of cream onto the counter. ‘Absolutely. Like you said earlier, it’s just a piece of paper. I’m perfectly content as we are. Besides, I have this …’ I touched the gleaming diamond on my left ring finger. ‘Not forgetting this …’ I murmured, my voice turning huskier as I reached up and gently traced the collar around my neck.

  Nathan’s eyes darkened as he watched me play with the delicate necklace. Then, as if he could no longer hold himself back, he strode across the kitchen and dragged me into his arms with a low growl.

  ‘Damn right you do.’ He placed a short, hard kiss on my lips and leaned back, looking down at me curiously. ‘I’ve been thinking …’

  Whatever it was, he seemed to be quite excited about it, and so I raised my eyebrows in invitation for him to continue.

  ‘Now that you have my ring and my collar I’ve … I’ve found myself wanting more.’ His statement was puzzling to say the least, because we’d only just persuaded my mum that we were great as we were. I’d changed my name by deed poll to Jackson, and apart from marriage, I couldn’t see any other type of “more” we could do. Surely he wasn’t suddenly changing his mind?

  Seeing my confusion, he brushed a few hairs back from my face and took a deep breath.

  ‘Sometimes in relationships like ours the commitment between a
Dom and his sub can be formalised with a collaring ceremony.’ My eyes widened further at his words, but I listened intently, my curiosity well and truly piqued.

  ‘I know we don’t live strictly by that lifestyle, but it’s still a part of us, or certainly it is still a part of me, and I was hoping you might agree to validating us in that way, too.’

  I paused, wondering what it would involve. From the title of a “ceremony” it sounded like it might be quite a big thing, but Nathan frowned with obvious worry at my hesitation. ‘It would mean a great deal to me, Stella,’ he added eagerly.

  I would do anything for this man, literally anything, so really that was all I needed to hear for now. The details could wait. ‘Of course I will, Nathan.’

  With a groan, he lowered his lips to mine and pressed his tongue into my mouth. He kissed me until I was breathless, then proceeded to trail his lips down my neck until he came to the collar. ‘Thank you.’

  He dropped light pecks in the hollow of my throat then followed the line of the necklace until he came to the delicate skin where my shoulder met my neck. His kisses paused there, and he licked across the skin before sucking. Hard.

  I was dizzy from his onslaught, so it took me a second to work out what he was doing, but then, as the insistent pulling on my neck became more painful, I let out a yelp and pushed against his chest. ‘Nathan! Don’t you bloody dare give me a love bite when I have to go back out and face my parents!’

  Instead of stopping immediately, Nathan lessened his pressure. He grumbled against my skin. ‘Mine.’

  ‘Yes. But you don’t need to mark me to prove that. I’m yours, and with all the sodding hickeys you give me I think we’ve well and truly established that fact.’