I sat in the garden outside, sitting on a bench and staring up at the sky. The stars were clear and bright out here, something I hadn’t realized that I’d missed until I’d come back to the country. Living in the city had given me the chance to start my life, to meet new people and change the way I thought about several things. I had been spoiled growing up, narrow-minded and cruel. But I had grown into a man who tried to do what was right.

I heard footsteps behind me and turned to see Ella in her nightgown. She stopped when she saw me, her eyes on mine, and I could tell immediately that she was beyond flustered. Her face was flushed and her hair was damp with sweat, curling around her forehead. I could see the outline of her nipples through her white dress as she stood there, squirming as she stared at me.

“Hi,” I said to her, reminding myself of what I had just been thinking—looking at Ella this way, no matter how sexy she looked, was not the right thing to do. I looked away from her. She approached me at the bench, standing shyly in front of me.

“Hi,” she said softly, looking down at my face. Her eyes were filled with unfiltered lust as they rested on mine, something that was clear and undeniable. I couldn’t look away from her even though I wanted to. She sighed after a moment, breaking my gaze, and looked up at the stars just as I had been doing before she walked up the path.

“Why are you up?” I asked her.

“I was with your brother,” she said, chewing on her bottom lip. “But I—I didn’t finish.”

I swallowed hard, imagining what she must have been doing with Julian to turn her on this much. He must have gotten to touch her in the ways that I had dreamt of doing since we’d come back, since the moment I’d first seen her at dinner the first night.

“You didn’t come?” I asked her.

“I didn’t want to,” she said. “I almost did. But that—it would have been wrong.”

“Wrong?”

She leaned down and tasted me then, taking my lips with her mouth in a sweet, hungry kiss. I couldn’t help but kiss her back, though I kept my hands in my lap. I wanted to touch her body, to pull that dress over her head, but I wasn’t sure what it meant that she’d been with Julian.

“Why are you doing this, Ella?” I asked her after she kissed me again.

“Because there’s something wrong with me,” she said, looking me in the eye.

“There’s nothing wrong with you.” I put my hand to her cheek, stroking her lips with my thumb.

She nodded her head up and down. “I want both of you. My stepbrothers. When I—I was with Julian, I kept wishing that you were there with us.”

I couldn’t speak. The thought of sharing her with Julian was strange; I didn’t know how I felt about it.

She leaned down to kiss me again, and this time I responded by slipping my tongue into her mouth to taste her. I couldn’t help it. I found myself wrapping my arms around her waist, pulling her against me while we kissed. While I tasted her, I traced my hand over her neck, stroking her throat with my thumb before bringing my hand lower. I pulled her breasts out of her dress, cupping them in my hands while we kissed. I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to touch her, to give her pleasure—especially since she seemed like she was already dying to be touched.

Ella whimpered when I pulled my mouth away from hers, lowering it to take one of her nipples between my lips. She had beautiful breasts, small and pale with rosy pink nipples that stood out with arousal. I could tell they were sensitive—she squirmed when I flicked at it with my tongue. I teased her other nipple with my fingertips, pinching it between them. Lust had overwhelmed me, made me stop thinking about what I should and shouldn’t be doing. I sucked on her breast hungrily while she ran her hands through my hair, switching to the other nipple and giving it the same treatment as the first.

“Eric,” she breathed. “Would you—would you fuck me?”

My cock was already rock hard—it had been since she’d confessed that she had been with Julian—but it twitched in my pants at her words, throbbing against my zipper.

“No,” I said to her, fighting to get the word out. “I don’t think that I should.”

“Why not?” she asked. Her hands were still in my hair, tilting my head up to look her in the eye. “Because of Julian,” I said. She sighed then as I kissed her neck, then her lips again. I pulled away before she could kiss me back, pulling her dress back up over her breasts.

“We shouldn’t be doing this.”

She stared at me for a moment, then nodded. She looked embarrassed, and if I hadn’t just told her that we couldn’t touch each other, I would have kissed that look off of her face.

“It’s okay, Ella,” I assured her, but she turned away from me and hurried along the path. I didn’t follow her, instead remaining on the bench. I thought about how conflicted she must be—not only were we her stepbrothers, but she wanted both of us, and she probably also still thought about the way we had treated her before.

I got up a few moments later and went to bed, and by the time I got up in the morning I was ready but nervous about what I had to do. Julian was the most important person in my life, my closest friend and confidant. I would never betray him by coming between him and Ella if he didn’t want me to, but I wondered how he would feel when I told him that Ella wanted us to share her.

I found him in the dining room eating breakfast and sat down across from him.

“Can we go for a drive after breakfast?” I asked him. We had always had important talks in the car. It was a way to keep our hands busy and stay calm. We never fought because we always talked it out, and I was hoping that it would be the same in this situation.

He raised his eyebrows at me.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said, running my hand through my hair. “I just want to talk to you.”

He nodded. “I have a feeling I know what it’s about. I’ll meet you outside in a few minutes.”

“Thanks, Julian,” I said and went into the kitchen to get something to eat. Ella was in there, and when she saw me her eyes darted away from me. I thought about going to her but then thought better of it, instead staying quiet as I rifled through the fridge. I grabbed something and shut the door, looking over at her as she leaned against the counter, her eyes avoiding mine.

“Good morning,” I said to her.

“Morning,” she said, and then left the room abruptly. I stayed in the kitchen and ate alone, then met Julian outside where he was already waiting in the car. We pulled out of the driveway in silence, and I waited until we got on the road before I spoke.

“Ella,” I said. “I saw her last night after you—” He glanced at me. “Do you want to know?”

“Yes,” I said, though I wasn’t sure why.

“She came into my room in the middle of the night and just climbed on top of me. She wouldn’t—she wouldn’t let me make her come.”

“She told me that,” I said. He opened his mouth, then closed it.

“What else did you talk about?”

“She said that she wished I was there while she was with you.”

He looked over at me, almost for too long. I had to remind him to look at the road.

“What do you think?” I asked him after a moment of quiet that made me nervous.

“Are you okay with it?” he asked me. I didn’t know which answer he wanted or was expecting, but I decided to tell him the truth as I always had and always would.

“I like the idea,” I said to him, feeling my body heat up when I admitted it.

“So do I.”

I let out a breath of relief. “Do you think she would really agree to it?”

“It would take some convincing,” he said. “She’s so shy. God, it was sexy. Once you get to touch her—”

“I did touch her,” I told him. “But only barely.”

“Barely?” he asked, raising one eyebrow.

“I sucked on her nipples.”

He took a deep breath. “That is so fucking sexy.”

“She’s really embarrassed that she wants it,” I told him. “She thinks it’s wrong.”

“She kept saying it would be wrong to make her climax. I wanted to tell her it was ridiculous.”

“That must have been hard.”

He grinned. “You have no idea.”

“We have to convince her that it’s okay to want us both. I hate thinking that she’s walking around feeling ashamed about it.”

He nodded. “I think since I’ve already been with her, I could warm her up to the idea, ask her if she wants to call you in.”

I nodded. “Yeah. Although thinking about you getting to her first…”

“It’s worth the wait, Eric.”

“I can only imagine.”

We had circled back to the house then and Julian parked, turning to look at me.

“You sure you’re okay with this?” he asked me, looking into my eyes.

“I am,” I said. “I want to give her what she wants.”

“So do I,” he said. “We’ll figure something out tonight. Maybe she’ll go out with us.”

“Maybe,” I said. “Do you want to ask her or should I?”

“I will,” Julian said, and I agreed, hoping that he wouldn’t have trouble getting Ella to let down her guard and let us in.