Come Alive

by Madelynne Ellis

Bastard hell! He drew back his arm and almost pitched the goddamned peas straight at Luthor’s head when he leaned in and kissed Dani. Dude should not be kissing his girl. That was well out of order … totally, utterly … um, kind of what he’d been gearing up to suggesting. Shit! His head needed to clue his heart in on his super scheme. Having a comfortable threesome was definitely going to call for some touching between Luthor and Dani. Not just of the oral kind either, but full on genital tangoing. Well, all right, maybe they could restrict things to first—, no, maybe second-base stuff.

  Or not.

  He was not going to be a hypocrite.

  Still, watching them kiss had proved to be more of a shock to the system than he’d anticipated. He’d never felt a goddamned thing when Steve had kissed Elspeth, other than maybe a teeny bit jealous that it wasn’t Steve kissing him. He guessed that meant his feelings for her were real. He’d wondered. Of course he’d wondered. It was impossible not to question their bond when everyone around him was constantly doing so.

  ‘It’s real,’ he mouthed. His insides swelled with elation at being able to say it. Not that it entirely undid the knots that kiss he’d just witnessed had tied. Although, weighing things objectively, there was a certain grim satisfaction to be had from noticing that Dani’s gobsmacked expression wasn’t one of having her lifetime erotic fantasy fulfilled. She was not the breathless, horny mess she’d been after he’d first kissed her. Then, she’d held on to him and tongue-fucked him for all she was worth. Currently, she was making like a battlebot gearing up to take a swing at its opponent’s vitals.

  He could dive in and save the day, but he suspected his presence would cause more harm than good. Dani and Luthor needed to figure this one out for themselves. Either they could get along or they couldn’t. The outcome he wanted was irrelevant to that; all he could really do was stand back and hope Dani made the decision he’d find easiest to live with. Where the current odds stood on that happening, he didn’t know. He couldn’t keep up with her oscillating opinions on the subject. One minute Luthor’s presence alienated her, the next she was suggesting gift-wrapping him as the ultimate birthday gift. All that clearly told him that the wisest course was to stay out of it.

  He returned to the house.

  ‘Where’s Dani?’ Rock Giant enquired, scooping a hand backwards through the front of his multi-coloured hair, leaving it standing on end.

  ‘Heading this way. She’s with Luthor.’

  ‘And the ankle?’

  Xane tossed him the peas. ‘Stick these back in the freezer, will you.’

  Rock Giant put his laptop aside on the coffee table. ‘What did your last fucking slave die of?’

  He refrained from tossing off a comeback. ‘Hey?’ he called, when Paul was in the kitchen. ‘Can you do me another favour too? Piss off to the recording studio for a couple of hours.’

  ‘And why would I want to do that?’

  ‘So I can fix my fucking love life.’

  Rock Giant rolled his eyes. ‘You mean you want me to leave so you can screw all afternoon. Do you honestly think Dani’s going to be up for anything while Luthor’s hanging around, or is it him you’re planning on buggering?’

  Xane opened his mouth but chose to say nothing. He was actually trying to facilitate them talking, nothing else. It was probably going to be hideously uncomfortable, so the last thing they needed was a witness.

  ‘You have a serious problem, man. What right-minded individual wants to screw another guy’s arse while his cute-as-a-button girlfriend is watching?’

  ‘Will you go?’

  ‘Ain’t staying to watch it.’ Paul picked up his laptop and headed for the back door. ‘Now, if it was Dani you were going to do in the tradesmen’s entrance, that’d be a whole other peep show.’

  ‘You’re so fucking straight,’ Xane muttered.

  ‘Yeah, and you’re bent enough to consider screwing your own arse.’

  ‘Been there, have actually done that,’ he said, knowing it would chase his friend out of the door. ‘Not with my own cock though. Even my flexibility has limits.’

  ‘Eww! That was an image I did not need in my head.’

  ‘Just go. They’re almost here.’ Dani had just rounded the rhododendron bush.

  Rock Giant returned to the sofa to scoop up his pint of milky tea. ‘Are you sure your girl is up for this?’ He stood beside Xane and followed the line of his gaze to Dani’s svelte figure. ‘She doesn’t look as if she wants you to tear his clothes off.’

  ‘I’m not sure I’m up for it.’ They were talking about slightly different things, but what the hell. It was easier to let Paul think what he liked than waste his breath trying to convince him this wasn’t purely about sex. ‘I need to talk to them both first.’

  ‘Talking first.’ Paul backed away through the lounge, cackling to himself. ‘Doesn’t sound very like you. You always lead with your wanger. Love must be kicking you in the nuts.’

  The remark demonstrated considerably more insight than Paul usually managed. It was true that Xane’s life had never felt this complicated before.

  ‘You never did give a fuck about Elspeth, did you?’ he said, instantly undoing his rise in Xane’s estimation.

  ‘And she didn’t give one about me.’

  His friend seemed to be on the verge of arguing that point, but buried his nose in his cup instead.

  ‘Just go, will you.’ Xane waved him towards the back door. Best if Rock Giant didn’t engage with the incoming truck of fun.

  ‘I’m going, but you owe me for this.’

  ‘I’ll add it to the slate.’ The only reason he was currently alive was because of Paul giving him mouth to mouth. Neither of them was going to forget that fact.

  ‘You have two hours, not a second more, and I want the biggest fucking slice of birthday cake at your party the world has ever seen.’

  Birthday cake seemed like a more than fair exchange for making himself scarce. Although the cake was unlikely to be the hot-fudge-gooey-chocolate scrumptiousness that Paul was anticipating, if Spook was in charge of the catering. Carrot and walnut was probably as exciting as it would get.

  Xane didn’t stay in the lounge. He wasn’t about to defile Spook’s living room with any sort of argument or fucking. It was way too virginal in there with all that white. Heading to the bedroom struck him as a bad plan too. They needed neutral territory to work this out. Assuming that working it out was what was on the agenda. Could be that Dani was coming to tell him to go fuck himself. That she wasn’t interested in sharing him as part of a threesome or otherwise, ever. And that, if Luthor ever attempted to kiss her again, she’d crush his nuts.

  Xane wasn’t sure what he’d do if that was the case. He didn’t have a good track record when it came to denying Luthor and his hot sexiness. Also, sex was his drug. It had a habit of getting the better of him. But if that was her final word on the matter, then he’d do his best.

  Dani didn’t seem remotely surprised to see him striding towards her across the lawn with a picnic blanket tucked under his arm, and with nothing even vaguely resembling an ice pack on his person.

  ‘How much did you see?’ she asked before he had a chance to say anything.

  ‘Enough to know that frozen peas weren’t a necessity.’

  Her expression crumpled into one of guilt and despair. ‘Xane, I didn’t … I wasn’t …’

  He held up a finger to silence her. She didn’t have anything to apologise for. Sure, he was experiencing a few butterflies over the fact that Luthor’s lips had come into contact with hers, but he’d get over it. Luthor, he noted was hanging back, most likely in order to let Dani speak, but maybe there was a certain degree of caution influencing him too. Under normal circumstances, attempting to snog other people’s partners tended to get you hit in the face.

  Dani slicked her tongue over her lower lip, and glanced across at Luthor too. ‘I didn’t ask him to.’ She rubbed her hand across her lips. ‘I don’t want him like that. I’ve only ev
er wanted you.’

  ‘I’m not upset, Dani. It’s all right.’

  ‘But you hurried back to the house.’

  So she had seen him.

  ‘You looked as if you needed space. You were talking. I figured I’d just be an unnecessary distraction.’

  ‘Oh … right. Well, we did kind of agree something. That you could make out and I’d say stop if it all got too much.’

  The rushed delivery and the muffling effect of her raised hand made it difficult to be sure what she’d said.

  ‘What?’ he asked, in order to be certain.

  Dani zapped him with a wide-eyed look of outraged disbelief, like she couldn’t believe he was going to make her repeat herself, when it had been hard enough to spit it out even once. But the stakes were too high to risk any sort of misunderstanding.

  ‘We agreed that we’d …’ She licked her lips. ‘That you and he could … do it, and that I’m going to watch.’ She looked at her shoes.

  ‘Oh!’

  ‘Do you want to make out with him?’ she asked.

  Thank God Luthor was hanging back and wasn’t privy to all of this. Xane put a hand on the back of her neck and tugged her forward until she was pressed against his body and the sweet vanilla smell of her perfume tickled his nose.

  ‘Not if it’s going to cost me your love.’

  ‘You want him. I did agree this was how we’d do things.’

  Xane still wasn’t entirely convinced. He wished he knew what Luthor and Dani had actually said to one another.

  ‘Is it unfair to ask you to do this?’

  Unfair to whom? Him? Hardly.

  Xane leaned forward and danced his lips against hers. He kissed her with all the ardour and passion he could muster. Hopefully it communicated what he wanted to express, that he loved her and he was so proud of her for trying to find a solution for this on her own terms, assuming these were her terms.

  Of course, once he started kissing her, he didn’t want to stop. The deep truth of the matter was that he could kiss her all fricking day, every day from now until eternity, and never tire of the taste of her, or need her any less. With Dani he’d found his soulmate. They weren’t ready to talk about rings and things yet, but some day. He couldn’t let go of her, not even for the prospect of slaking some of his lust for Luthor. He even ignored his senses telling him that taking a breath might not be such a bad idea. That euphoria he was feeling – at least a little of it was due to lack of oxygen, but the rest was entirely a result of her.

  And yes, he was erasing the memory of Luthor smooching her.

  Xane didn’t let go until he felt the press of Luthor’s hand against his lower back.

  ‘I’ve told her that I think it ought to be all three of us making out, but she’s very anti kissing me.’

  ‘Then don’t fucking kiss her.’ His words came out as more of a growl than he’d intended. That kiss between Dani and Luthor he’d witnessed had obviously rattled him more than he cared to admit. Mostly because he didn’t know what the hell it meant.

  He willed his shoulders down from their stiffened position. ‘What I mean is, if Dani doesn’t want you to kiss her, then you shouldn’t.’

  Luthor nodded. ‘Trouble is, she reminds me of you in that respect. Says one thing, but her actions imply the opposite.’

  ‘I didn’t do anything,’ Dani protested. ‘I really didn’t, Xane. It was all him.’

  He tactfully decided not to get involved. ‘So, where did you envisage us having this little make-out session?’ he asked.

  Luthor caught sight of the picnic blanket under his arm. He took it and spread it out. ‘Right here do?’

  ‘What about Rock Giant?’ Dani muttered, turning her head uneasily as if she expected to see Black Halo’s bassist striding towards them, or maybe camped out in a deck chair perusing a broadsheet with eye-holes cut into it.

  ‘He’s in the recording studio.’ Xane assured her. ‘He’s not going to disturb us.’

  ‘How can you be so certain of that?’

  Because he’d sent him there, and his rainbow-tressed highness had agreed not to return in any hurry. ‘Trust me. He’s going to be ages.’

  ‘In which case, all right. I guess here is fine.’

  ‘What are you going to do while we make out?’ he asked her.

  She squeezed his fingers. ‘Stay right beside you and hold your hand.’

  ‘If you can’t stand it, you’ll say stop, won’t you?’

  She nodded.

  It was reassurance enough to shake off Xane’s immediate doubts. He was very, very curious about what Luthor had said to her, but he guessed he could hold off on grilling the guy about it until later.

  Right now, he was going to accept this gift horse, and fuck any Trojans he found lurking in its mouth.

  Chapter 12

  This was probably a mistake, but she’d said it was OK now, so she was just going to have to pull up her big-girl panties and deal with it. At least Luthor wasn’t going to be touching her. Although it still left the issue of how to deal with watching him and Xane make out.

  In Halmstad, Dani had lost control. She’d started things by telling them to fuck, but then the moment Luthor’s lips had met with Xane’s the whole dynamic had changed. Their actions had propelled things forward, and she’d been swept along on a tide of raw emotion. She’d felt, and reacted, but without any clear idea of where things were heading, or what the outcome would be.

  This time she didn’t want it to be like that. This time, they were genuinely going to take things step by step, and if she in any way felt they should stop, she was going to yell, ‘Stop!’ even if that made her the most unpopular person in the solar system.

  She took a deep steadying breath, ignoring the sour, bilious tang of fear in her throat, and adopted what she thought was a stoic expression. Right, she was ready for step one – seeing if she could endure them kissing one another and not fall to pieces. If she could, then they’d let this progress a step further, and so on, until they were worn out or she couldn’t tolerate any more.

  Xane maintained his hold on her hand, and didn’t attempt to cut her loose even when Luthor slid both his hands into Xane’s long hair and brought their mouths together in a hungry display of lust.

  It was weird watching them, because she was so familiar with Xane’s kisses that she could almost feel the odd pressure of his lip ring and the tickle of the stud through his tongue – with Xane, tongues were a given. She experienced the same tingles of arousal too. Her nipples tightened, and shivers ran through her skin.

  Luthor’s kisses were still fresh in her mind too.

  However, the longer she watched, the more she noticed the differences in how they treated one another compared to how they kissed her. They were far more aggressive in the way they touched and held each other. Everything seemed faster too, and more direct. Luthor clasped Xane’s arse and inched their hips together. Xane wedged a hand between them and stroked Luthor’s cock. Then it was as if the kiss wasn’t so much about their mouths but their whole bodies.

  Was this how Luthor would have kissed her out in the woods if she’d let him? Like he was pouring his whole soul into it.

  The possibility made her uneasy for no sensible reason. It wasn’t as if she was interested in kissing Luthor. Not one bit.

  She ignored the voice in her head that said that was a fib.

  She was a one-man woman. Had been for ever – at least from the moment she’d first seen Xane on a magazine cover. It was probably why none of her other attempts to form a relationship had worked. In the back of her mind, she’d always belonged to Xane. She always would, even though she knew now that only a tiny piece of him would ever belong to her.

  She had to let this play out. Let it go all the way.

  It did hurt a little seeing it, but it was hot too, if the acceleration of her heart-rate and the heat in her cheeks were indicators.

  Face it, Dani. Xane could turn you on by cutting his toenails, or brushing h
is teeth. It’s hardly a surprise that watching him entwine himself around Black Halo’s new golden-boy drummer wets your knickers a little. It was sensual – especially the way they grasped one another and groaned as they ground all that lean muscle up against a whole lot more lean muscle.

  It’d be nicer still if they did this with their tops off.

  She loved to explore the ink on Xane’s skin with her fingertips. If they lay together in a quiet moment, would Luthor trace those same lines? Or Xane explore the inked digits that were positioned low down on Luthor’s abs, just above his thatch, where that nice bulge was that her boyfriend was currently palming.

  She could hardly blame him; it was a joyously mouth-watering hump.

  A sudden image of lips pressed to the outside of Luthor’s fly invaded her thoughts. Dani snatched her hand away from Xane’s and used it to cover her mouth. As if that could put a stopper on a dirty thought. It wasn’t Xane’s lips she’d imagined but hers.

  It was the worst possible moment for Xane to ease Luthor’s ridiculously low slung shorts down a little further and free Luthor’s cock. The absolute worst.

  Damn, he had a nice one, long and smooth, like the rest of him, and so red and plump at the tip that it made her want to stick her tongue out and give it a lick.

  What the fuck was up with her thoughts? Had Luthor put a hex on her when he’d kissed her?

  Xane was stroking Luthor’s cock, working the whole length with his hand, and then teasing the tip by circling his thumb. She was supposed to be deciding whether this was something she could handle. Alas, her thoughts weren’t focused on Xane’s actions. No, she was imagining Xane’s hand to be her own, and was unconsciously mimicking his movements.

  Maybe it was time to say stop.

  The word didn’t quite make it out of her mouth. Something else emerged instead.

  ‘Damn, you’re fucking hot!’

  Thank God neither man was paying her any attention.

  If you’d asked him forty minutes ago, Luthor would have sworn his chances of getting laid today were about four thousand to one. Now he estimated his chances as a fraction above middling, with better odds on the horizon if they managed to get through the next few minutes without their actions being subject to Dani’s veto.