Free Boston Avant-Garde 6: Chiaroscuro by Kaitlin Maitland Page A

when Owen helped him slide between the lips of Mattie’s sleek pussy.
    “I can’t hold on, Owen.” Lars met his gaze with green-tinged eyes hazy with lust. “Help me push her over the edge again.”
    Mattie cried out and began to grind her pelvis against Lars’s prone body. Owen got behind her, straddling Lars’s legs and steadying her rhythm. Her movements were frantic, jerky with pent-up desire. Owen began to count softly in her ear, helping her find a steady tempo. She settled into a series of long sweeping strokes that made Lars squeeze his eyes closed.
    Owen slid his hands over Mattie’s hips and found the place where her body was joined to Lars’s. Using two fingers, he began to rub quick circles around her throbbing clit. The little bundle was hard and hot. It swelled with the attention, and Mattie redoubled her efforts to fuck Lars.
    Pressed against Mattie’s lower back, Owen’s cock wept in frustration. He ground his teeth together as the stimulation pushed him near the breaking point. It wasn’t time to sate his lust. It was time to find his lovers’ pleasure.
    “Now, Mattie, give it to me now!” Lars’s gritty order resonated around the room.
    Her sex quivered beneath Owen’s hands before giving in to orgasm. The powerful contractions took his breath away. She collapsed onto Lars’s chest, snuggling against him even as he wrapped his arms around her. The sight sent a confusing barrage of unfamiliar emotions through Owen. It was as if someone had thrown ice-cold water on him. Tenderness had no place in his mind or his heart. No matter how close he might feel to the two people who’d just tilted his whole world on its axis—they were both better off without him.
     
    MATTIE SENSED THEIR withdrawal almost immediately. Lars had always been like this. Once the postcoital bliss evaporated, he was reduced to nothing but self-hatred. She just wished she knew why.
    She lay perfectly still, ear pressed to Lars’s chest as she listened to his heartbeat. How many times had she done this? She could almost predict the moment when his doubts about his feelings would overpower the afterglow.
    It was Owen who shattered the moment this time. His feet hit the floor with a surprisingly soft thump for a man of his size. When he began to dress, Mattie felt a piece of her heart chip away.
    Lars lifted his head and stared at Owen. “Are you on the door tonight?”
    “I was.” Owen produced a hair tie from his pocket and began scraping the front portion of his thick black hair into a ponytail. “There are a few hours yet until daylight. Malachi will cover for me. Are you driving back into Boston?”
    Mattie wondered if she could pin at least one of them in her bed by refusing to move. Lars shot down that little fantasy when he rolled to his side and untangled himself from her embrace. Her pride refused to let her cling.
    “I need to head back to Brookline.” Lars searched for his clothes, shooting Owen a dirty look when he realized his shirt was beyond saving.
    “I left Selena’s car in Salem.” Owen’s gaze started to slide toward Mattie, but he stopped short of actually looking at her. “Can you drop me back there?”
    “Sure.”
    So now she was the elephant in the room? It was plain that the two of them had a life together outside of the bedroom. Outside of this little side trip to the land of erotic fantasies. It hurt like hell to be the one left on the outside, but wasn’t that what usually happened in threesomes?
    She got to her knees and snapped her fingers. “Hey!”
    They paused in the act of putting on their shoes, looking almost surprised she’d interrupted. The artistic side of her brain was still enthralled by the sheer contrast of the two men. Owen so broad and dark like an ancient warrior from a forgotten era, and Lars with his studied air of sophistication and an aura that screamed badass.
    She gathered her courage. This was no time to turn complacent. “Sorry to be an inconvenience here