Chapter 27

There was a quiet knock on the half-closed bathroom door. The bathroom was huge. Crazy big for an apartment, but these were the luxury apartments in the new development near the stadium, so maybe it was normal here. She could have swum laps in the tub. Jane was luxuriating in the hot bubble bath and winced at the sound of knocking. Apparently her reprieve was over. Now she’d have to face King and Sam after making an absolute fool of herself with them. Time to put on your big girl panties, she told herself firmly. They weren’t just going to go away and leave her to wallow in her humiliation and self-disgust. After all, this was Sam’s tub.

“Hello?” Sam called out softly. “Can I come in? Have you drowned in the bathtub?”

“Still alive,” she assured him. “Sure. Come on in.” She sat up, wrapping her arms around her pulled-up knees, hiding.

Sam came in blushing, holding a glass of wine. “For you,” he said, unable to meet her eyes.

“Thanks. I need it.” Jane reached for the wine as if it were a lifeline.

“King is bringing some snacks. I don’t have much. Sorry,” he apologized. “I eat mostly whole foods and protein.”

“Yes, apologize for eating healthy,” she said drily. “That’s clearly the worst thing you can do.”

“Can I?” Sam asked, indicating the floor next to the tub.

“Sure,” Jane said. “Why not? I have no secrets.” She slugged back some wine.

“What are you doing?” King asked from the doorway. “No wine until you have some food and water. Hydration is what you need. Wine will dehydrate you further.”

“I was going for insensibility rather than hydration,” Jane told him. She slammed back another drink only to have King grab the glass from her hand with a frown. He replaced it with a big bottle of Vitaminwater.

“Drink that,” he said, “not this.” Jane sighed and did as she was told. Might as well stay true to form tonight.

Sam slid down the wall and sat. “Man, I am so sorry. I just totally went all out of control in there. You should have stopped me.” He looked at Jane with a frown. “I mean it. Did I hurt you? ’Cause you don’t sound very happy right now.”

Jane was staring at him wide-eyed, disbelief robbing her of speech for a minute. “You’re kidding, right?” she finally asked. She took a swallow of the water and had to admit it tasted damn good. She chugged some more of it.

“He’s not kidding,” King told her. He calmly sat down on the steps at her feet that led up to the tub, opposite Sam. “She was into it, brah. No worries.”

Jane choked on her water. “Into it?” she gasped. “I was begging for it! Are you kidding me? I am a fucking slut.” She slid down in the tub until the water covered her head, wondering if they’d let her drown herself. Hands pulled her up as if answering her question. A towel gently dried the suds from her face before she opened her eyes. Sam was gazing at her…worshipfully. There was no other word for it.

“You are not a slut,” he told her, brushing wet hair off her cheek. “You were amazing. I’ve never had a woman respond to me like that before.” He blushed and let go of her, sitting on the step at the head of the tub. “I went a little crazy. I’ve fantasized about doing a lot of this stuff, but never actually had the guts to try it. I didn’t think I’d ever find a woman who’d let me.” He glanced at King. “Or a guy.”

“Oh, God,” she moaned miserably. “Even you think I shouldn’t want to do this stuff! I’m the lowest of the low.” She started to sink into the water again, but Sam leaned over and caught her.

“Careful,” he warned. “You’ll get soap in your eyes.”

“I’ll get soap in my eyes?” she asked a little hysterically. “I just let two guys basically own me sexually and you’re worried about soap in my eyes? I’d probably like it! I don’t even know who I am anymore.” She closed her eyes and covered them with her hand, fighting tears. “I mean I just fucked two guys on a dining room table, complete with porn-star extras. Jane Foster does not do that sort of thing. Jane Foster disapproves of people who do that sort of thing.”

“Clearly that was a different Jane Foster,” King said with a shrug. “Welcome to the new you.”

“How can you be so calm about this?” she practically screeched at him. “I’m totally freaking out. I mean, I thought sleeping with the two of you would basically be vanilla with a little guy-on-guy action thrown in. And now I’m talking about butt fucking and double penetration and…Oh my God, what is wrong with me?”

“Okay,” King said calmly. “Into the tub.” He stood up and took off his shorts.

“What?” Jane said. “Sex is not the answer to this.” She closed her eyes, not trusting herself if she saw him naked. Clearly she had no willpower whatsoever when it came to these two.

“Not sex,” King said as she heard a splash and the water sloshed around her. “Snuggling.”

“Snuggling?” she said, opening her eyes. She almost laughed out loud at the sight of the almost-three-hundred-pound defenseman delicately sitting down in the water, talking about snuggling.

“Yep,” he answered. “Sam, get in here. You need snuggling, too.”

“I do?” Sam asked, standing up and pushing his shorts down. Sam was clearly used to doing what King wanted, which made his transformation while they were doing it that much more amazing.

“Yes,” King said firmly. He slid in behind Jane and pulled her back against his slick chest. He was hotter than the water, and felt so good she sighed. He rubbed her shoulders. “See? Snuggling.”

“I do feel a little calmer,” she said, her voice still shaky. “Sluts don’t like to snuggle, do they?”

“Yes,” King said. “Everyone likes to snuggle. And stop saying slut like it’s a bad thing. So what if you enjoy sex? That’s a good thing in my book.”

“I more than enjoyed it,” she explained patiently. “I begged for it. I lost control during it. I was like an addict on sex crack.” Her eyes had drifted shut and they suddenly snapped open. “Oh my God, I’m a sex addict.”

Sam had entered the tub and sat down opposite them, his legs spread wide to accommodate the two of them as water sloshed over the sides. He rubbed his foot along the top of her thigh. “I don’t think three sexual experiences with multiple partners makes you an addict.”

“Maybe I’m like one of those people who get addicted to cocaine the first time they use it,” she said, starting to panic again. “Soon you two won’t be enough. I’ll be doing strangers behind the curtain in the ER.”

“Okay,” King said, pulling her gently back against his chest again. “More snuggling. Sam, rub her feet.”

Sam obligingly picked up her left foot and began to massage it. It felt so good she moaned, and then clapped a hand over her mouth. “I’m not sex moaning,” she said in a muffled voice through her hand.

“Got it,” Sam said. “Not sex moaning. Don’t worry.” He was biting his lip and she could tell he was trying not to laugh.

“You sure went all macho dom in there,” she said accusingly. “You never said you were into that.”

His smile fell. “I didn’t know I was into that,” he said, a worried frown on his face. “But I like it. I can tone it down.”

“Don’t tone down anything,” King said, sounding exasperated. “You two.” He shook his head. “Stop acting like what we did was wrong. We were all into it. We all liked it. We’re all adults.” He leaned to the side and looked her in the eye. “Jane, I don’t think you’re a slut or think any less of you because you enjoyed the things we did. You know what I love? I love when you give in.” He kissed her shoulder. “I can see it, when you give in to the sex, to the pleasure, and you let us do what we want, you even beg us to do it. That is so hot. So don’t stop doing that. That kind of honesty turns me on.” He looked over at Sam. “Sam, I don’t think less of you because of the way you acted or the things we did. When you take control, I lose it. That pushes every button I have, which is weird, because, you know, control freak. But I loved watching you tonight with Jane. There. Do you both feel better?”

“Well, yeah,” she grudgingly admitted. “Actually I do. Sam?”

“Jane, not only do I not think less of you, I think more of you. You were a match for us. That was such a turn-on, to have a woman who wanted what I wanted, who was clearly enjoying the way I was touching her and fucking her. I didn’t feel like I had to hold back with you, you know? I could say anything, do anything, admit what I wanted. It was…liberating.” He nodded with a faraway look in his eyes, absently still massaging her foot. “Yeah,” he said. “Liberating.”

“Really?” she asked. She hated how needy she sounded, but she was seriously feeling in need of reassurance right now. What they had done was so far out of her comfort zone she still had residual freaking.

“Really,” he said firmly, his gaze now focused and directed at her. “I want to keep seeing you. I didn’t ruin it for you, did I? With the dom stuff? I’m kind of feeling my way, here.”

“No,” Jane said, nervous as hell about what she was committing to. “No, you didn’t ruin it. I guess I’m just not as ready as you to be liberated. But I’m trying. Do I get points for trying?”

“Not in the NFL,” King said, snuggling her tighter to his chest and rubbing his cheek on her hair. She could feel her heartbeat slowing down to beat in rhythm with his. “But here, with us, yes. You get all the points.”

“I want some points,” Sam said. “After all, first guy-on-guy action the other night and now the dominant stuff. It may not have been much, but I threw myself into the effort, coach.”

“Points awarded,” Jane said, consciously trying to relax all her muscles. She was wound tighter than a Swiss watch.

“Maybe,” King said, rubbing his hand up and down her arm, “we should slow down a bit.”

“What?” Sam said, sounding alarmed. “What does that mean?”

“Now, shh,” King said soothingly. Jane had tensed up again. Was he dumping her? Them? Would she and Sam be able to make it, just the two of them? Somehow all three had become one in her mind. This is who they were. What would she do if one of them backed out now?

“All I’m saying,” King said in that frustratingly calm voice, “is that we don’t have to do it all right away. The kink factor can stay steady for a while. Right? We can work up to more spanking and a full three-way. As a matter of fact, I think after what just happened, maybe we all need to just sleep tonight. There’s no need to win the Super Bowl before playing the season.”

“Oh, God, I said that, didn’t I?” Jane moaned, closing her eyes as Sam smiled at her. “About the three-way? I’m taping my mouth shut next time we have sex.”

“Hell, no,” Sam said, putting her left foot down and picking up her right. “I love your dirty talk. I went kind of far with it. I can pull back.”

“Don’t you dare,” she surprised herself by saying. “I love the dirty talk. But King is right, just because I love to hear you talk about it, or say shit myself, some of it’s just smack talk. I’m not really ready to go all out, you know what I mean?” She made a face. “I feel like a slut tease now. Ow!” She rubbed the spot King had pinched on her side.

“New rule,” he said, pushing her hand aside and rubbing it for her. “Jane isn’t allowed to call herself a slut after we make mad, passionate, amazing love. And rule two, Sam isn’t allowed to threaten to tone down his dominant side or his dirty talk during our wild sex.”

“Who made you king of anything?” Jane asked. Then she giggled. “Oh, yeah. Right. Sorry.” Suddenly everything felt all right again. King had a way of making that happen.