Thomas squeezed out the dishcloth and put it to dry. “I told you, it’s no bother. We’ll rub along together nicely, the three of us—sorry,” he smiled down at the dog, who was now on his back and demanding belly rubs from Elias, “I mean four of us, of course. Though I suspect that Harry here won’t be much help around the place. He tends to create jobs, rather than carry them out. He’s quite the freeloader.”
“Just as well he’s cute then, isn’t it?” Elias said, chuckling as he found a spot on the pup’s belly that was apparently ticklish and made his back leg kick when it was scratched. “And I can’t believe how big he’s getting.”
“Humph, he knows he’s cute, too,” Thomas replied. “He’s certainly got me and Mia wrapped around his little paw. Haven’t you, boy?”
The dog twisted his head to consider his master, but otherwise didn’t move from prime scratching position.
Mia closed the cupboard door on the final piece of crockery and chuckled. “He definitely has. I can’t resist those puppy-dog eyes. And I second what you said about us rubbing along together nicely, too. An extra pair of hands around the place certainly won’t go amiss. In fact,” she added, “your sudden arrival is perfect timing.”
Elias stopped tickling Harry—who, unimpressed, sighed then rolled over and padded over to Thomas to try his luck there instead—and straightened. He brow creased. “It is? How so?”
“There’s a parlour full of wedding gifts sitting there, doing nothing. Betty cracked and moved them off the table so she could dust it, but they’ve been otherwise completely untouched since we opened them. James was going to help me out by making a list of who bought what, so I could send personalised thank you letters, as well as a bunch of other stuff, but now you’re here, perhaps you could step in. You know, get things unboxed, help me put them away, put stamps on envelopes, that kind of thing. It’s not really James’s job, after all, but it looked so overwhelming that when he offered, I couldn’t turn him down.”
Wrinkling his nose, Elias replied, “Sounds boring.”
“It is boring. Incredibly bloody boring. But they’re your presents as much as mine, so it’s only fair you help out.” She gave him a cool stare.
“Hey,” he held his hands up, “I didn’t say I wouldn’t help out—just that it’s not exactly the most thrilling way to spend time. I’m more than happy to do my share, darling. In fact, once we’re back from the two visits tomorrow I can make a start while you get on with some work. I can’t see me having an awful lot to do once we return here, so I may as well make myself useful. The sooner we start, the sooner we’ll finish.”
“Good.” She smiled sweetly. “That’s settled then. Speaking of tomorrow—it’s late, we should be getting to bed. I, uh…” She stopped as she realised she didn’t really know what she wanted to say next. If it had been this time yesterday, she and Thomas would have let Harry out for his pre-bed toilet break, then put him in his crate and gone upstairs without giving any of it a second thought. But everything was different now, and away from the neutral territory of their island paradise, the way of life they’d developed there didn’t seem to translate.
Thomas, perceptive as ever, said, “I’ll catch you both in the morning, then, eh? Shall I come up the house for an early breakfast, then we’ll head out? I’ll ask James if he wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on Harry—better than keeping him cooped up in here for hours.”
“Are you sure—” Mia said.
“You all right—” Elias said at the same time. They both laughed, then Elias indicated Mia should speak.
“Sorry.” She chuckled, smiled at Elias, then turned to Thomas. “I was just going to say are you sure you’re all right with that?”
“Of course I am,” he replied without hesitation, his blue eyes clear and radiating truth. “Elias just got here—go and help him get settled in at the big house, and I’ll see you both in the morning.”
“All right.” She stepped over to Thomas and wrapped her arms around his waist. She might be pleased that the awkward decision had been taken out of her hands, but there was no way she was leaving without giving him a goodnight kiss.
Elias cleared his throat. “Shall I take Harry outside and give you two a moment? Will he run off? He’s not used to me.”
“Thanks, mate,” Thomas replied. “If you go out the back door, the garden’s all fenced off. Nowhere he can disappear to, not even if he scents something.”
“Okay. Come on then, you,” he said to the puppy, who followed him happily out of the back door and into the garden.
Once the door closed behind them, Mia turned her attention back to Thomas and studied his face. “You’re being very… cool about all this.”
A line appeared between his eyebrows. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well, one minute we’re spending most nights together—not including the honeymoon—and now, well, I don’t know. It’s all going to be different. Very different.”
He slipped his arms around her. “Mia, it was always going to happen at some point. I came to terms with that a long time ago. It’s not that much different to before, really. We weren’t spending every night together. Sometimes you were in London, sometimes in Kent. Other times you’d be up at the house with Elias, Alex or Arjun. It’s just now it’s more… permanent. He is your husband, remember?”
Her pulse raced. “Yes. But that doesn’t make him more important than the rest of you, or give him some kind of priority. You know I love you—all of you—right?”
“I do. Mia,” he cupped her face, “chill out. You’re the one stressing about all this. Not me, and probably not the other guys. We figured it out while we were away, and we’ll figure it out now we’re back. Now James and Betty know what’s going on, we haven’t got to worry about sneaking around, so we can relax and let whatever will be, will be. All right?”
“Yes, but—”
He pressed a finger to her lips. “No buts, Mia. Now stop waffling and give me a kiss, or I will be decidedly less cool about all this.”
He immediately replaced his finger with his lips, effectively cutting off her chance at a response. Not that she minded because, as was often the case, he was right. She really had to work on trusting that her men would speak up and let her know if there was an issue, rather than worrying over things that they might not even consider to be a problem.
Closing her eyes, she relaxed into his embrace and kissed him back. He’d showered sometime between finishing work and making dinner, and she smelt his shampoo and shower gel—fresh but masculine. Then, as his tongue sought entrance to her mouth and she accepted it willingly, she tasted a mixture of pineapple and lemonade. She quickly lost herself in his kiss, in him, so completely that she jumped violently at the sound of the back door opening, which was followed immediately by the click, click of doggy claws.
Stepping back from Thomas, her heart pounding, she glanced over at the door.
“Sorry,” Elias said, “didn’t mean to interrupt, but this little bugger was about to scratch at the door. Think he’s ready for his bed.”
Thomas chuckled. “Ready for his bedtime biscuits, more like. Thinks with his stomach, that dog. And don’t worry, mate. We’re all living together now, we’ve got to get used to scenarios like this.”
“True.” He shrugged. “We’ll get there.”
“Course we will. Clear off then, you two,” Thomas said with a grin, “gotta get this little monster to bed and go and get some beauty sleep of my own. Seven thirty in the big house kitchen all right? I’ll get the tea on.”
Mia nodded. “Yes, seven thirty is great.” She smiled and stepped back over to him. “Goodnight. I love you.” She gave him another kiss, then crouched down beside Harry. “And goodnight to you, too, crazy one.” A scratch behind the ears garnered her a dreamy-eyed stare, followed by a doggy kiss on the end of her nose. “You sleep well, little man. You’ve got to behave yourself for Uncle James tomorrow, all right?”
As she straightened, Elias said, “S
ee you in the morning, old chap. Night.”
“Night, mate. Goodnight, Mia. I love you.”
She smiled and followed Elias back into the front room, where they put their shoes back on before heading out into the darkened grounds. The moment she pulled the cottage door closed, shutting off their only light source, Mia swore. “Shit—I can’t see a thing. You’d think after all this time I’d remember to bring a bloody torch, wouldn’t you?”
Elias chuckled. “Doesn’t matter—I’ve got my phone in my pocket. Hang on.”
A second later, their path was bathed in light. Elias reached for her hand. “Come on, wifey, let’s get ourselves home. We’ve got an exciting day ahead tomorrow.”
She laced her fingers with his and they began walking. “You make it sound like we’re going on holiday.”
“I hope not. I’m still recovering from the last one. Jetlag is kicking my arse right about now.”
“We did only get back yesterday.”
He blew out a breath. “Is that all? So much has happened that it already feels much longer than that.”
“With you on that one. I’m exhausted.”
“Not too exhausted for sex, I hope?” He squeezed her hand to show he was joking.
Pressing her lips together for a moment to stop her smiling, she decided to have some fun of her own. With a nonchalant shrug, she replied, “You’ll have to wait and see, won’t you?”
Elias responded with a low growl.
***
“Phew!” Mia said, dropping onto the edge of the bed. “That’s better. I didn’t realise how grimy I felt until I’d showered.”
Elias side-eyed her from his position flat out on the other side of the bed. His dark hair, damp from his own shower, glistened in the light. With a lopsided smile, he said, “Grimy or not, you’re gorgeous. Cute pyjamas. Come to bed.”
“All right, Mr Impatient. I’m coming, I’m coming.” She swung her legs up and around, then flopped back into the pillows.
Immediately, Elias scooted up beside her and flung an arm over her middle. He wore only a pair of boxers—she was surprised he’d even bothered with those—and the scorching heat from his bare torso made her gasp. “Bloody hell—you’re red hot!”
“Why, thank you,” he said in an exaggeratedly silly voice. “You’re pretty damn sexy yourself.”
She gave him a playful shove. “That’s not what I meant. I meant you’re physically hot. Warm. Burning. Boiling.”
“And you’re still pretty damn sexy. Gorgeous. Beautiful. Stunning.”
“And you’re trying to talk me into sex.”
“Maybe.” He grinned and his dimples appeared. “Why, is it working?”
“No.” She waited a beat before adding, “Because I had every intention of shagging you anyway.”
A bark of surprised laughter left Elias’s lips. He hugged her tight to his body and nuzzled into the crook of her neck. “You absolute tease.”
The whisper of his breath against her neck and jaw made Mia shiver. “Got to keep the spark alive, haven’t I?”
“We’ve only been married three sodding weeks!”
She giggled. “I’m messing around. Now kiss me quick before jetlag steals me away into dreamland.”
“Come here,” he said languidly, pulling her so they both laid on their sides, facing each other. He leaned his forehead against hers and cupped her jaw. “God, you really are beautiful, Mia. I’m still not sure how I got to be so lucky. I mean, I thought I was lucky before, just being married to you, but now I get to see you every single day, too. Wake up next to you sometimes. Know that even if you’re not right there by my side, you’re somewhere nearby. I love you so much.”
Her cheeks heating at his barrage of sweet words, Mia smiled. “I love you too, Elias. I’m lucky, too. I met you during one of the most difficult times of my life and despite the fact we barely knew each other, you offered to do something huge and utterly life-changing for no benefit to yourself. I can’t thank you enough for that.”
He gave her a peck on the lips. “I was happy to help, darling, even back then. I hated the idea of your cousin being in a position to take everything you held dear away from you. Nobody deserves that, even without having just lost a parent. And yes, at the time there was no benefit to me—except perhaps getting my mother off my back about my single status—but look at how much it’s paid off now. I’ve got a gorgeous wife who I’m madly in love with. We live in a beautiful house with lots of land and privacy. And, thanks to knowing you were behind me one hundred percent, I was brave enough to ditch a job I hated and am on the verge of stepping into something new and exciting. Overall, I think I’m the winner here.”
By the end of Elias’s little dialogue, Mia was filled with so much joy and love for him that she was rendered speechless. In lieu of words, she closed the gap between their mouths, hoping to pour all of that joy and love into a kiss and show him how she felt. She slid her fingers into his hair and held on tight, then captured his lips with hers. Immediately, she opened up and slipped her tongue into Elias’s mouth.
Elias groaned and moved his hand from her face to her uppermost leg. He grabbed it and hauled it over his hip, then cupped her buttock over her shorts and pulled her closer still. His cock was already stiffening, and Mia grinned against his mouth, unable to stop herself grinding her crotch onto his.
He broke away slightly. “Mmm,” he said, “you feel so damn good in my arms, Mia. So warm and soft. And you smell wonderful. Why did you have to wear those bloody pyjamas? They might be skimpy and sexy, but it still means I’ve got to let go of you to whip them off.”
Still rocking her hips, she replied coquettishly, “Why do they need to come off? You can do it without taking your boxers off, so why not my shorts? Figure it out. If you want me that badly, take me. Right now.”
He let out a confused-sounding grunt, but slipped his hand between their bodies and began to explore. On finding the leg holes of the tiny shorts plenty wide enough to get his hand inside, he murmured happily and sought her pussy. When he found his target and discovered her slick and more than ready for him, he grinned wickedly. “Did I mention that you’re sexy and I feel like a winner? Because I feel I need to emphasise this.”
Mia giggled. “And I feel I need to emphasise that I said to take me. Right now.”
“Oh yes, you did, didn’t you? Far be it for me to deny a beautiful woman.”
With that, he gave her clit a tweak, then ran his index finger slowly, teasingly through her seam, groaning as he did so. He removed his hand from Mia’s shorts, then brought his finger to his mouth and sucked off her juices. “Christ, woman, you are sublime.”
There were no more words after that. Nothing intelligible, anyway. Once satisfied his finger was clean, Elias shoved down the front of his boxers, took his cock in his hand and guided it up the leg of Mia’s shorts. He slotted the blunt head against her entrance, then moved his hand back to her buttock, beneath her pyjama bottoms this time, and used it to pull her onto him.
Their groans mingled as he slid past minimal resistance and into her hot, slick channel, then continued sinking in until he bottomed out and his balls pressed against her. Mia used her grip on Elias’s hair to tug his head back and attack his throat and ear with rough kisses, nibbles, and sucks.
Elias didn’t move for a moment, and Mia felt his swollen cock throb inside her. He was seemingly enjoying being inside her as much as she was enjoying having him there. A second later, he dug his fingers into the bare flesh of her backside and immediately began thrusting.
Mia gasped, then, after a particularly sharp nip of his earlobe, pulled back so she could look into his eyes. In their chocolate-brown depths she saw there the intensity of feeling as well as lust that she was sure was being reflected right back at him from her own eyes. She needed him, wanted him, loved him so fiercely that despite the languid pace of their lovemaking, she already felt the heat of her climax burning deep inside her and growing hotter by the second.
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They rocked together, slow but deep, seeming to communicate everything that needed to be communicated solely through eye contact. As such, she knew precisely the moment when Elias realised he’d gone past the point of no return. Just the slightest widening of his eyes, and a flicker of panic. She cupped his cheek, inclined her head. It was perfectly all right if he came first, perfectly all right if she didn’t come at all, even, since they had not only all night, but their whole lives.
But as it happened, she didn’t need all night. Elias quickly changed their angle so that he ground his pubic bone against her clit with his last cluster of thrusts, and it was enough to tip her over the edge along with him. They beamed, still gazing into each other’s eyes until the intensity of their respective orgasms hit fully, and Mia’s lids squeezed shut almost of their own accord and she cried out, calling Elias’s name as pleasure ran through her with the speed and power of a bullet train.
Once they’d recovered, they disentangled their heavy limbs and rolled onto their backs. A delicious, post-orgasmic silence reigned for several minutes. Then Elias propped himself up on his elbow and leaned his head in his hand. “You’re looking very smug, my darling. Very pleased with yourself. Should I be congratulating myself on a job well done?”
Turning her head so she could make eye contact with him, she smiled. “Well yes, obviously. But it’s not just the sex and the orgasm. I’m pleased with life, not myself.” She sighed with contentment. “Everything’s finally falling into place, isn’t it? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I wish desperately my dad was still alive, but I made the best of a shitty situation and now, these few months later, I’m really happy. I’ve got this place, I’ve got you and Tom—and little Harry, of course—right here with me. Arjun’s not that far away, and his work brings him here regularly anyway, and he has weekends off. Perhaps he’ll even move in in a few months, when we’ve been together a bit longer…” She trailed off, her excitement suddenly sapped.
Mia's Choice: A Reverse Harem Romance Novel (The Heiress's Harem Book 3) Page 14
