When she was good and heated, nice and aroused, because this man knew exactly how to stroke her with only his tongue so she was putty in his hands, she inhaled deeply. He gently broke the kiss, smiled down at her again, and looked at Ash. He pulled the other man forward and claimed his mouth in a more aggressive manner, but not lacking the sensuality and caring that he had given her.
She felt her throat tighten in desire as she watched their mouths separate only the barest of spaces, and how they slowly stuck their tongues out, twirling them around together. There was a thin line of saliva from tongue to tongue that kept them connected as they finally pulled apart, but they only looked at each other for a moment before slowly turning their heads in her direction. She was aroused beyond belief, but it wasn’t the time for what she really wanted to do, and she could see in their eyes they knew that as well.
Mason and Asher pulled away from each other. “I think we could all use some sleep. I’ll lock everything up, but until we know for sure we are secure up here, there is still the risk of drifters.”
Asher nodded and ran a hand over his hair. “Yeah, I’m dead weight on my feet right now.”
For a moment when her arousal spiked, she had forgotten about the exhaustion that ran right down to her bones. Sleep was good, very, very good. Mason locked up the front door, checked the few windows, and gestured for them to follow him to the back of the cabin.
“We need to install some shutters on the inside for starters.” He pushed open a door at the end of the hall, and she followed them into a pretty large room.
There was one bed in the center of the room pushed against the wall, and it was gorgeous. The four posts were thick and looked hand-carved. The room smelled musty, and the light coming through the window showed all the dust particles floating through the air. The bed was inviting, and all she wanted to do was collapse in the center of it and sleep until everything looked better when she woke.
Asher peeled off the dusty comforter and tossed it aside. After toeing off her shoes and crawling into the center of the mattress, she flopped onto her belly and closed her eyes. The smell of staleness and age filled her nose, but she didn’t care. Cleaning the sweat off of her body didn’t even matter at this point, especially not when Mason lay beside her and Ash moved onto the other side of her body. With her eyes closed, she didn’t know who wrapped his arms around her middle and who moved his hand over the curve of her bottom.
It seemed like this one moment meant more than she could possibly comprehend, and for once since everything happened, Sparrow felt like she had found a home. And that home included these two very hard and roughened men, who just happened to be in a relationship with each other but showed her that even when there was dirt and pain, violence and desolation, there was always that little ray of hope that shone through if someone was willing to open their eyes and really look.
Epilogue One
August: Five months later
It had to be in the eighties, but being this high up in the mountains with the trees blocking the light and the cool breeze moving through the branches, the temperature felt like it was in the comfortable seventies. Despite the gorgeous weather, Sparrow was sweating. She wiped her forehead with the back of the hand and looked around. The scent of dirt filled her nose, but she was elbow-deep in the garden.
The vegetables were nearly ready to be picked, and there was a sense of accomplishment and pride in the knowledge that the three of them had made it this far and were surviving on the fruits of their labor. Mason was shirtless over by the chopping block and stacked the last of the lumber by the shed. Sweat glistened off his body, and the sight of his muscles bulging in the most delicious of ways had Sparrow on edge with desire and heat. Ash had gone inside the cabin only a few moments ago after he had gotten water out of the cistern.
Mason looked over at her, grinned, and tilted his head over to the front door. He headed inside, and Sparrow finished up in the garden before standing and brushing the dirt from her legs. Her gun was strapped nicely to her outer thigh, and even though they hadn’t had any problems aside from the occasional infected wandering far too close to their place, they always took precautions. Just because there hadn’t been any healthy humans that found their place, that didn’t mean it couldn’t happen.