Late November brought the first hard freeze to Manhattan.
White flakes drifted past the high windows of the fourth-floor drafting studio at Columbia, sticking to the glass before melting into clear streaks.
My mid-term project model sat in the middle of the critique table.
It was a scale replica of the valley reserve: miniature river birch along a blue resin creek, tiny crushed stone paths, and a stone gatehouse carved from thin balsa wood.
Professor Hayes walked around the table twice, his glasses pushed up on his forehead.
“The grade transitions near the stream bed—did you calculate the soil retention yourself?” “I surveyed the bank in October,” I said, my voice steady.
“The root depth of the native birch holds the topsoil.
It doesn’t need concrete retaining walls.” Hayes looked at the model, then at me.
He nodded once.
“Clean work, Miss Vance.
Grade is an A.” I packed my scales, rulers, and notebooks into my leather bag.
Walking down the wide front steps of Low Library, the cold air hit my face, sharp and clean.
A black truck waited at the curb.
Vin sat in the driver’s seat with the heater running.
Shawn sat in the back with his laptop open, while Lucian was on the phone, finishing a trade deal with a shipping broker in Boston.
“How did it go?” Shawn asked, closing his laptop as I climbed inside.
“Grade A,” I said, sliding into the seat between Shawn and Lucian.
Lucian ended his call, dropping the phone into his coat pocket.
He reached over, taking my hand and holding it against his knee.
His fingers were warm.
“We’re celebrating tonight.” “Where?” I asked.
“Home,” Vin said, pulling the truck out into the traffic on Broadway.
“I bought six ribeyes from the butcher on 8th Street.” By seven that evening, snow was falling heavy across the city, blanketing the rooftops seventy floors below the penthouse.
The apartment was warm.
Vin cooked the steaks in a cast-iron skillet, the sound of sizzling butter filling the kitchen.
Shawn poured red wine into four glasses, while Lucian sat at the dining table going through the foundation’s monthly financial audit.
We ate at the long oak dining table Vin had built from the old white oak tree.
The wood was smooth, dark with hand-rubbed oil, holding the heat of the room.
We talked about classes, the foundation’s new shelter opening in Queens next month, and the spring planting schedule for the park.
When the plates were cleared, I walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Outside, the blizzard blurred the city lights into soft yellow and white shapes against the dark sky.
Shawn came up behind me, setting his empty wine glass on a side table.
He unzipped the back of my wool dress, his hands warm against my skin as he pushed the fabric down off my shoulders.
The dress fell to my ankles.
Lucian walked over, taking off his shirt and tossing it onto the armchair.
Vin stepped out of his work boots, unbuttoning his jeans.
I stood bare in front of the glass, the cold light from the snow falling outside reflecting off my skin.
Lucian reached out, his hand wrapping around the back of my neck.
He pulled my face up and kissed me, deep and slow.
His mouth tasted like red wine.
I wrapped my arms around his waist, pressing my chest flat against his bare skin.
Shawn dropped to his knees behind me.
His hands spread my thighs open, his mouth pressing hard against my wet pussy from behind.
I gasped, my hands digging into Lucian’s shoulders as Shawn licked me with long, wet strokes, his tongue moving flat against my peak.
Vin stepped up beside us.
He grabbed my hips, lifting my left leg up and resting my knee on the edge of the low leather couch nearby.
He freed his hard dick, slicking the tip with his fingers, and pushed inside my wet hole in one long, heavy stroke.
My inner muscles stretched around his width, taking him all the way in until his pelvis hit my rear.
“Fuck,” Vin grunted, his fingers digging into my hip bone as he started a deep, steady rhythm.
Shawn kept his mouth locked on my pussy from behind, his tongue working my clit while Vin fucked me from the side.
Lucian held my head in his hands, kissing my lips and chin, swallowing my moans while my body took both of them at once.
The feeling was direct, heavy, and hot.
Vin’s dick hit deep inside my core with every push, his heavy hips slapping against my skin with a slick sound that filled the warm room.
Shawn’s tongue drove my peak crazy, every wet stroke pushing me closer to the edge.
“Look at me, Lyra,” Lucian whispered, his grey eyes locked on mine as Vin slammed into me deeper.
My hips jumped.
The pressure in my belly snapped tight, and my pussy clenched down hard on Vin’s dick.
I came hard, my inner walls pulsing tight around his shaft as a loud moan broke out of my throat against Lucian’s mouth.
Vin let out a low, rough growl, his pace turning fast and hard for three quick strokes before he buried his dick as deep as it would go, his whole body shaking as he filled my pussy with his warm cum.
Shawn stood up immediately.
He grabbed my waist, spinning me around so my chest was flat against the cold glass window.
He pushed his hard dick straight into my wet, full pussy from behind in one smooth push.
I let out a sharp gasp, my palms pressed flat against the glass, watching the snow fall over the city while Shawn fucked me from behind with a fast, heavy beat.
Every push drove him deep into my core, taking me right back toward another peak.
Vin knelt beside me, taking my bare breast into his mouth, sucking hard on my hardened nipple, while Lucian held my left hand tightly against the glass, his fingers locked with mine.
Shawn’s rhythm turned fast and hard.
He grabbed my hips, pulling me back onto his dick with every push until he let out a sharp breath, burying his shaft all the way in and flooding my pussy with his own release.
When they finished, Vin lifted my shaking body off the floor, carrying me over to the large bed in the master bedroom.
Shawn pulled the heavy duvet over all four of us, tucking the soft fabric around my bare shoulders.
Lucian lay on my left, his arm locked around my waist, while Vin lay on my right, his broad chest warm against my back.
I lay between them in the dark, warm room, listening to the snow hit the glass outside.
My degree was on track.
The foundation was saving lives.
The park was taking root in the dirt.
And the three men holding me in the dark were mine forever.