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"Can't stop now, I've traveled so far…"

"I Want to Know What Love Is" - Foreigner

I glanced over at Star. He was standing where Vaira had left him, looking about as uncomfortable as I'd ever seen him. Still, he smiled at me.

"What?" I asked her, stress making my tone less than friendly.

She backed up a step. "Evan, I know we haven't always been friends, but I hope we are now." Her green eyes blinked at me. She'd twisted her long gold/brown hair into a knot at the back of her neck, and it made me realize that I'd never noticed the clean lines of her forehead and cheekbones before, or the way her chin firmed when she pressed her lips together. Would I call us friends? I remembered all those afternoons, caring for the twins and discussing gossip and recipes. Being with her then had been easy enough.

But that was when women were just neutral to me - no possibility of ever finding one of them in my bed. Should that change make so much difference with Star's wife?

"Sure," I said, softening my voice to try and make up for my earlier stiffness.

"I'm glad to hear that. Star and I have been talking." She smiled at him and he nodded.

When had she started calling him Star instead of Paul? The name just seemed natural for him, and I couldn't remember.

She shifted from one foot to the other and then gracefully sank to the floor next to me. To be polite, I'd have to sit too, so I did. Star also sat gingerly on their spread blankets. Vai reached out and put a hand on my arm. I could feel her warmth through the thick cloth of my shirt. Her eyes found mine, and I did my best not to look away, though the tension in the room made my nerves feel like overstretched wires.

"Evan… I'd have to be blind not to see how you feel about Star."

I sucked in a breath. We weren't supposed to talk about this. We never had before. She tightened her grip. "Please, it's all right. I want you to know that he loves you too."

How did she know that? Had he told her? I wanted very much to believe it was true but had a hard time picturing Star discussing his feelings for me with Vaira.

She squeezed my arm a little. "I love Star too, and because I love him, I want him to be happy." She sat back a little and used her other hand to gesture at our surroundings. "Here we are on a planet where the people bond together in threes." She smiled. "I think it's the perfect place for the three of us to show our love."

My mind was spinning. Could she be saying what I thought she was? I had only a moment to wonder.

"Will you share Star's and my bed tonight?" She let go of me and sat back, legs folded under her, a serene smile on her face. I didn't dare look at Star, but I could feel him watching me.

Did I still want Star? Of course I did. Did I want him enough to take Vaira along in the bargain? Looking at her lovely face and body, it didn't seem like too much of a sacrifice.

I had to look at Star then. Certainly he'd come to me that one time, but that was more as therapy for me than from his own desire… wasn't it? His eyes were wide and bright, the smile he gave me tentative. I only had to open my mind to know how he really felt, but did I want to know, or did I just want to feel myself in his arms again, have that strong body pressed against me with permission to do anything that came naturally to us both? That was an easy choice. I pushed every doubt I had into the back of my mind.

"Yes," I said, the single word already husky in my throat.

Vaira gave me a "cat ate the canary" smile and stood up gracefully. Then she held out her hand. I stood up without help, though my legs were wobbly. Star was also standing, and Vaira moved toward him with me trailing behind.

Showtime.

We stood there in a little circle, not touching. The thought of sex with Star was beyond exciting. If it had only been the two of us, I think I would have been okay, even eager, but Vaira's presence changed everything. It wasn't like I'd never been in a threesome before, just that none of them had included a woman.

Star reached out and drew both of us closer and closer to him, a baby step at a time. Vaira molded herself up against his side, and then I was touching both of them, three fitting together better than I would have imagined. I felt Star's hand on the back of my neck, his warm fingers combing through my hair, and then she was there, and three pairs of lips pressed together. A spurt of excitement ran through me, and I wrapped one arm around Star's waist and the other around Vaira. I could feel her hand slip up under my shirt and stroke the muscles of my back. The kiss went on and on, our tongues creeping out to taste other lips, then briefly dueling with the tongue of another. The possibilities seemed endless, and I had only begun to explore when Star pulled away.

"We don't need these," he said, his voice deeper than I'd ever heard it, and in the next instant our clothes had vanished. Naked flesh met flesh and Star's erection was touching mine, both leaving wet trails on Vaira's belly. I moaned, low in my throat.

We three kissed again, deeper than before, taking turns at each other's mouths and then nibbling the soft skin of necks and shoulders, licking and tasting, hands kneading arms and backs and buttocks.

I felt my knees begin to buckle, and then we all collapsed on the blankets, she and I side by side while Star leaned over us, braced on his arms with a knee between each of our parted thighs.

"This is how it's done on Muir," he whispered. "First the male." He bent and kissed only me, his tongue boldly exploring my mouth, making me open to him, wanting to grant him anything at all. Then he stopped and spread her legs wide as she reached for him. I turned to watch, one hand remaining on his back and the other slipping under her neck, lost beneath the soft fall of gold-brown hair. He kissed her, bruised her mouth with his own, lowered his head to suckle each breast while she moaned and tried to pull him closer.

I felt it when he entered her, the hot length of him sliding into that tight wet tunnel even as she thrust her hips up to meet him. He turned his face to me, eyes darkly bright and shining, and I rose up to take those full lips. She reached out, and I sucked one of her fingers into my mouth and bit gently. "Evan!" she cried, and crushed her hips to Star's. The rich scent of his arousal blended with her spicy wetness in a perfume that dizzied me. I moved still closer and we kissed, and then Star's mouth joined us, even as I felt his muscles clench to impale her more deeply. After what seemed a long while, he began to move faster, and her body tensed beneath him, one hand clutching his hip while the other held the back of my neck.

"Aaahhh…," she cried, and her body spasmed, every muscle taut, head thrown back in ecstasy.

He held her until she stopped shivering, soothing her with tiny kisses on forehead and cheeks. His breathing calmed a little, and my heart retreated from where it had lodged in my throat.

Star looked at me, galaxies floating in his dilated pupils as he moved to lie on the other side of her. "And then the median," he said.

I swallowed hard but couldn't speak. My eyes on him, I rose up over her, her legs parting for me. One small hand came up to touch my face, and her smile was lazy, her swollen lips reminding me that he had also kissed them. With a sudden jolt of excitement, I took her hand in my own and pinned it down beside her head. As I kissed the lips that tasted of him, I felt Star's hand stroke down my back, leaving behind a trail of fire.

I raised my head to look at her, hair damp with sweat and spread in an untidy halo around her. She made a small impatient sound and lifted her hips. The feel of her smooth skin against my erection made me shudder. Next to us, Star's presence radiated furnace heat. His breathing was fast and deep, a fragrant breeze on my face, the scent sweet and heavy with musk.

I closed my eyes as I thrust inside her. She was wet and swollen and still tight. For a moment, I rested my full weight on her, crushing her breasts against my chest. She exhaled sharply, breath rushing out with a small excited mew. Encouraged, I bit the side of her neck, the memory of CD nursing at my throat making me bite harder. She squirmed, but had no breath to cry out.

Panting, I rose up and thrust in hard, knowing that my length was stretching her and perhaps hurting her a little and letting that knowledge add to my excitement. She was strong and soft and willing… and mine to do with as I pleased. She twined her legs around me, and I drove myself inside her until her body was again bowed with tension, her fingers bent to claws, the nails trying to leave their marks on my back.

"Don't stop," she wailed, "don't stop!" And I felt her body convulse around me, quivering with her release, my pulse a constant deafening throb in my ears.

When she quieted, I let myself fall back on the blanket, shivering with unrelieved tension. I opened my eyes, and Star's face hung over me, his eyes black pools and his shining hair a bright aura in the soft light.

"What now?" I managed.

"This," he said, and his lips covered mine. His hands were everywhere, cupping my face as his tongue took my mouth, smoothing over my shoulder, pinching each nipple in turn. Velvet over steel, his palm caressed my belly until he found my shaft and grasped it tight, stroking until I cried out and pushed him away.

"Not yet," I pleaded.

He nodded, panting, his golden skin glowing with sweat. "Touch me," he said.

I stroked his muscled side, over his hip, smoothed the rounded swell of a buttock, then ran a finger down the cleft to part his cheeks and touch the tight rosette inside. He jerked and shuddered. "No one," he said breathlessly, "has ever touched me as you do."

My body trembled, and I fought not to lose it, just from the caress of his voice.

"Star," I whispered. "Gods… I love you."

His eyes widened, and he pulled away a little. He smiled, but only for a moment, and then he pressed me onto my back and lifted my legs to his shoulders. "Evan," he breathed, and then he was inside me.

His cock was white-hot steel, forging a path that reached to my soul. How long had I dreamed of this, of him wanting me, taking me - making me his. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him deeper, wanting to swallow him up until we melted together, until there was nothing left but us. He leaned down and kissed me, and the fire spread until my body burned, the pleasure/pain of it consuming me, lava flowing from my tip to pool on my belly.

Star's eyes held mine as his muscles strained above me. His breathing echoed my own, and his heartbeat rose to a drumroll with mine as counterpoint. The heat and fury flowed through my veins until it pooled in my loins. Then his jaws clenched and his breath stopped and I felt my insides bathed in streams of molten gold. With a scream of release, hot spunk spurted onto my face and chest. Arms locked around each other, we thrashed violently until we collapsed together, too spent even to breathe.

* * *

When the world came back, I feared that the shed would have exploded around us, but everything was just as it had been. I'd given no thought to Vaira while Star and I coupled, but she was watching us from across the room, seated next to the pile of our neatly folded clothing. She picked up my blankets and brought them with her, then lay down, insinuating her body between the two of us.

She smiled. "Now we are all one." She snuggled back and took my arm to wrap around her as she closed her eyes.

I held her, but I could only think of Star.