Free The Stowaway by Jade Archer Page A

himself crawling across the sleeping platform without any conscious decision to do so, almost as if Rachel pulled him in on invisible strings—one attached straight to his heart.
    When he was finally sitting on his haunches facing them he placed his hand very carefully in Rachel’s still extended hand, and…it was like coming home.
    Slightly afraid of what he would see, Arek risked looking over at Devlynn.
    “You…want me?” Devlynn asked—still sounding as if he didn’t quite believe it.
    “Yeah.”
    Devlynn took a deep, shaky breath and looked down where Rachel was still holding Arek’s hand. “I hate that you hid this from me. That you shut me out like that. If I’d known, if you’d let me understand I would have…I don’t know…done something. Been there for you. Tried—”
    “Did you ever let Arek know how much you loved him?” Rachel asked.
    There was no reproach or recrimination in her voice, but Devlynn still blushed to the roots of his spiky brown hair.
    “No. No, I didn’t.”
    “Why don’t we start from now,” Rachel suggested, reaching out to take Devlynn’s hand and add it the one she had joined with Arek.
    Could it really be that simple? Was it possible for them to just…move forward? Rachel seemed to think so. But what about—
    “Devlynn?”
    Devlynn seemed to consider Rachel’s words very carefully for a moment—all the time looking down at their joined hands.
    “Have you…have you ever been with a man before?” Devlynn finally asked, looking up and stunning Arek with the warm, hopeful passion in his sultry brown eyes.
    “No. Have you?”
    Devlynn’s cheeks turned an even darker shade of red. “A few.”
    Arek’s gut clenched tight—thinking about Devlynn with some faceless stranger in a dark backroom somewhere.
    “Not anymore!” Arek snarled and Devlynn’s gaze turned molten at the outburst. Arek fought hard against the question that popped into his head when he thought of Devlynn with another man, but in the end he had to know. “Did you like it?”
    “Yeah, but—”
    “But what?”
    Devlynn just looked at him. Long and hard without saying a word. And Arek heard everything that he wasn’t saying anyway. Devlynn had wanted it to be the two of them. Not some faceless fuck in a dingy spaceport alleyway. He’d wanted—
    Rachel sighed. “Do you have any idea how hot the two of you look right now?”
    Arek turned to focus on Rachel. In a lot of ways it was easier than facing Devlynn—there certainly wasn’t the same heavy weight of history and complications between them. But in other ways it was just as difficult. There was a fluttering uncertainty and nervousness in the pit of his stomach as he stared into Rachel’s flushed face and wide, desire-filled eyes. He wasn’t sure what to expect from her. She was a new and largely undiscovered universe for him.
    “You…you want this? Devlynn and I…and…and the three of—?”
    “Oh, gods yes!”
    Rachel leant forward and sealed her lips to his without a second’s hesitation—apparently through with waiting for them to edge their way around one another. Arek surrendered willingly to the distracting, welcoming warmth and softness of her lips. When she ran her tongue along the seam of their joined mouths he opened eagerly.
    Their tongues met and tangled—sliding and dancing across one another. Exploring and tasting enthusiastically. Hands soon joined in the amorous expedition—touching and caressing as they learnt and mapped each other’s responses.
    Finally, Rachel pulled away on a groan.
    “I want to see you,” she said, tugging on his tunic.
    Her quick fingers made light work of the fastening, then pulled the material wide and slipped it back over his shoulders. When she was done, she languidly trailed her fingers down over his chest, and every nerve ending came to life under her questing digits. Her heated gaze went straight to his cock as it thickened and responded to her heated stare and tender