She had to stop to take a breath but Tam didn’t try to hurry her along, she just sat there quietly, her focus squarely on Tira. Tam might be younger but she had an old soul.
“Duke seemed happy to see me and we had dinner together, just the three of us at Nic and Duke’s house and everything was going to be wonderful.”
Her throat closed as she remembered. “I was in love with these two gorgeous men who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Screw boschetta tradition that streghe never commit themselves to mates because it divides our focus between our duties and our love lives. I was stronger than that. I wanted it all.”
She forced her eyes to stay open. She didn’t want to remember exactly what had happened. But it was branded in her memory. Duke had stepped behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, Nic in front of her, reaching for her waist. Nic leaned down to kiss her, his mouth touched hers and—
Blinking hard, she tried to chase the memory away but the tears had already started. “I felt like I was right there, in the vision. I could smell the blood and see it pooling around his head on the ground. I heard Duke screaming for help. Then I flashed again and I saw the funeral.” She could actually feel the rain on her skin. “Duke had to take me back to my mom a crying mess.”
It hadn’t been pretty. Hell, it hadn’t even been simply messy. It’d been a disaster.
“Have you tried… Did you ever attempt to see if the vision changed?” Tam asked, her tone tentative.
Tira nodded, despair welling up along with the tears. “I got brave a few years ago. By then the guys had…moved on.” And so had she. For her own sanity’s sake. “But I couldn’t let it go. I just… I kissed Nic again.”
And nothing had changed. The vision of his death had been the same. The letdown had almost been harder that time.
“But you still love them.”
She met Tam’s gaze head on. “And I always will. How’s that for a sob story?”
* * * * *
Duke woke with a hell of a headache and a full-body ache.
Gods be damned, he hurt fucking everywhere.
Better than being buried under that house, though, so there was that.
Biting his tongue to stifle a groan, he sat up. The darkness disoriented him, so he closed his eyes and tried to get his bearings. Since he didn’t hear any movement, he figured everyone else was still asleep.
He rotated his neck until it popped a few times, relieving some of the pressure. Moving his shoulders, he rolled them to ease their stiffness then arched his back until it cracked.
His stomach rumbled and he thought about rummaging through Kyle’s fridge—
A soft snuffle from the other end of the U-shaped couch made his eyes pop open.
Tira lay curled in a ball, facing away from him. Her beautiful blonde hair shone like moonlight in the dark. She was covered completely in drab gray sweats, which made him long to see the creamy white skin he knew was beneath.
Shit, yesterday had been fucked up. But they’d made it back. Alive.
He knew Kyle would have woken him if anything had happened to Nic so he figured Nic was sleeping as well. And Kaine.
He had no idea what had happened to the eteri and didn’t really care.
But Tira… She sighed in her sleep but the closer he listened, the more he thought he heard her sniffling.
Was she crying in her sleep?
Hell, she should just take a dull spoon and cut out his heart right now.
She’d thought he’d been asleep while she’d been drying his hair earlier. Almost, but not quite. How could he sleep when she had her hands on him?
He’d wanted her to continue for as long as she wanted because if she’d known he was awake, she never would’ve done it.
And he’d enjoyed it too damn much.
What he couldn’t figure out was why. Why had she touched him like he was her lover?
Why, when she’d thought he was asleep, did her hands linger, her fingers playing through his hair as if she loved the feel of it?
Was he insane to even consider that maybe her feelings for him had changed after all these years? That she still might love him, even though he’d done his best to push her away?
And could he touch her knowing Nic never could?
As her cries became more pronounced, Duke couldn’t sit still any longer. He crossed the space between the couches, dragging the blanket along with him. He was naked and he didn’t want her to wake and think he was taking advantage of her.
Without over-thinking it, he sat next to her, pulled the blanket over his lower body then, as gently as he could, lifted her onto his lap and into his arms. He almost expected her to fight him, so he kept a loose grip on her.
He shouldn’t have worried.
She tucked her head under his chin as if she knew exactly where it belonged. She sighed, and the tears she’d been crying stopped with a sharp sniffle. Her entire body relaxed and her warm breath ruffled the hair on his chest and sent a sharp spike of desire from his chest to his cock.
Her ass shifted on his thigh as she wriggled closer, one hand rubbing from his pec to his shoulder and higher into his hair, where she wound her fingers around the longer-than-normal strands.
“Duke.”
His name whispered from her lips, and his arms tightened around her in shock. He would’ve thought it’d be Nic she was dreaming about. Because she was still asleep. She wasn’t faking that.
How the hell—
No, you know what? Fuck it. He could admit, if only to himself, that he loved to hear her say his name. Especially like this. Not in exasperation or anger. But as if she cared for him. As if they were lovers.
With one arm wrapped around her shoulders, holding her close, he lifted his other hand to brush through her silky hair. Her face still wet with tears, he let his fingers wipe them away.
“It’s okay, Tira,” he whispered against her crown, his lips brushing her hair. “Everything’s okay now.”
“No. No.”
Damn, what could he do to calm her? He didn’t want to wake her because he was a bastard who wanted to hold her.
She was shaking in his arms and burrowing closer as if she were cold. The air in the room was a little chilly but she was wearing cotton fleece from head to toe. Still, if he took off the fleece, his higher body temperature would raise hers in minutes.
Yeah and if you believe that one, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
Fuck it.
As gently and as he could, he stripped the sweatshirt off her upper body without waking her. He tried not to make an ass of himself as her naked flesh met his.
But, fuck, it was torture. Yes, they’d been in the shower just like this earlier today but he’d been whacked out. He didn’t have that excuse now.
And he was going to enjoy every fucking second.
Since he was still naked under the blanket, he left her pants on. Removing those was just asking him to step over a cliff he couldn’t climb back up. And now he had to pull the blanket over her as well, enclosing them in warmth and darkness.
Her skin quickly warmed against his as he rubbed a hand up and down her arm and around her back. Settling even more heavily against him, her breathing got deeper until she lay completely unconscious in his arms.
Her crying had stopped, thank the gods. He couldn’t stand to hear it. It ripped him apart inside.
He wanted to close his eyes and fall asleep with her in his arms but he was worried about what would happen when she woke. Would they go back to their battle stances?
Tinia’s teat, he didn’t want that. He was so sick of acting like he hated her because he knew she couldn’t stand him. Yeah, it was a defense mechanism but it’d kept him sane these past years.
But…yesterday had changed things.
He knew that. He just didn’t know how.
And as he lay there for hours, staring into the dark with Tira cuddled against him, he still had no answers.
Dawn was at least an hour away wh
en he felt her begin to wake. He forced himself not to tense, to keep his arms loose around her, even when she shifted in his lap, brushing her thigh against his erection and making him want to thrust against her.
He knew the second she came fully awake and braced for her to push him away.
But she didn’t. She lifted her hand to his shoulder and let it curve over the muscle before smoothing over to his neck.
He had a second to wonder if she truly was awake when she turned her head and let her lips rest against his chest.
He sucked in a breath as desire flashed through him like a lightning blast. How many times had he dreamed about having her just like this? Naked and warm against his own skin. Her mouth on his body.
Yeah, they were missing a crucial part of the equation but he couldn’t be sorry about what they did have now.
And he wasn’t about to waste the opportunity.
He needed her. He’d always needed her but knew they’d never be able to complete the triangle they were meant to be. For years, he’d let that fact keep them separated. He’d hurt her with his distance. He knew that now.
Well, he was done pushing her away and whatever happened, happened. They’d deal with it later.
“Duke.” Her whisper brushed against his neck seconds before her lips, making his heart race and his skin tighten. His hands flattened on her back and started a slow, stroking massage that had her arching into him.
“Duke…”
Bending his head, he rubbed his nose against her hair, breathing in her scent, clean and bright and so fucking her.
She moved, as if to get up, and his arms tightened around her. Shit, he didn’t want to lose her. Not now. He didn’t think he could go another day if he didn’t have her.
His throat tightened as his arms felt like rigid steel. He didn’t think he could loosen them if he tried.
As her head tilted back, he actually felt fear coat his lungs in ice. What if she was still asleep? What if this was all a dream—
“Duke, shh. Let me up. Just for a minute.”
He forced himself to obey but he didn’t breathe as she slid off his lap, the blanket falling to the ground as she stood before him. He still couldn’t see her face properly because of the dark but he could see when she bent to slide the sweats to her feet.
He was pretty damn sure she wasn’t wearing underwear.
His cock pulsed, the tip wet with pre-cum.
She didn’t say anything else and he was afraid to break the silence, break the spell.
Afraid she’d walk away.
She didn’t. Reaching for his shoulders, she settled one knee on either side of his hips then wrapped her arms around his shoulders and settled her body against his. His arms bound her to him, bringing her even closer and trapping his cock between them.
It wouldn’t take more than a repositioning of his hips to have his cock poised at her entrance but he was afraid to take any decision out of her hands. He had to know she wanted this as much as he did.
And gods damn, did he want her.
When her mouth settled over his and pressed his lips open so she could flick her tongue against his, he groaned and any chance at control blew apart at her taste.
Sweet, sexy. Forbidden for so long.
And now she was naked in his arms.
She kissed him for what seemed like hours, her mouth moving over his, unhurried at first but with a rapidly increasing sense of urgency. He sucked on her tongue, nipped at her lips. Her hands tugged and pulled at his hair, tiny frissons of pain zipping from his scalp down his back to his balls. Her fingers wrapped around the strands as if to stop him from getting away.
The hell if he was going anywhere. They’d have to pry her out of his arms by force. The fact that there were five other people in the house was a nagging fact in the back of his brain but easy enough to ignore.
Especially with Tira’s hard nipples poking into his chest and her soft breasts filling his hands. He caressed her gently at first then harder as she pushed herself more fully into his palms.
He’d dreamed about touching her for so long that now that he had her, he wanted to spend hours on each inch of her skin. Her breasts felt like silk in his hands and each time he squeezed her, she moaned and arched closer.
His lungs working harder for each breath, Duke let one hand skim to her back then down to her ass, cupping the soft mound.
Tira’s body made him want to worship her. She was all woman, soft and rounded. All curves, no hard edges. The only sharp bit of her was her tongue, which could wound at twenty paces.
He should know. He’d been on the receiving end of her barbs for years. With good reason. He’d been an ass, trying to keep her at arm’s length.
But now, with her tongue flicking at his, playing with him, he couldn’t seem to get her close enough.
He almost didn’t notice the gentle motion of her hips as she rubbed her mound against his cock because he was so caught up in her taste. But when she gasped into his mouth as her clit connected with the wet tip, his hands grabbed for her waist, lifting her onto her knees.
He reached between her legs and stroked his finger through her sleek, wet lips, eliciting a moan from her that made his balls tighten in anticipation. She sounded hungry and a little desperate.
He understood the desperation. He felt the exact same way.
Especially when one hand released his hair to trail down his chest, her nails scratching erotically the entire way.
As he played his finger between her legs, teasing her clit with soft touches, she blazed a trail of fire. She tweaked his nipple between her thumb and forefinger before continuing to scratch her way down his abdomen to just above his cock.
Breaking away from his lips, she leaned back and dropped her gaze to where she slipped her hand around his erection. He fought to keep his eyes open so he could watch as well. He saw the narrow slit of her eyes, saw her parted lips as she struggled to draw in breath.
But it was the movement of her hand on his shaft that forced a groan from him. She started pumping slow and easy, her grip loose. If it’d been anyone else, the friction would have been barely enough to make him hard. Since it was Tira, he was ready to come in her hand.
He fought back the urge to thrust against her, to let her have the control. She played with him for several minutes, her palm against his skin no more than a brush of sensation. The air around them became heavier and harder to breathe.
Her breasts began to rise and fall more swiftly and her hand finally began to tighten around him. She rubbed him from root to tip, her palm cupping the tip on each upward motion.
Gods damn, he wished he had the strength to let her do this for hours. But he didn’t. Already his balls were pulling up in anticipation and he knew he had to make her stop or he’d come in her hand.
And that would leave them both unsatisfied.
Of course, if he could get her to come before he sank into that tight pussy, that’d be just fine.
So he set about distracting her. Lowering his head, he cupped her breast in his hand and lifted it until he could get his lips around the nipple and suck it into his mouth. Her hand on his cock stilled as he let his teeth settle around her for a gentle nip before he started suckling her with steady pulls.
At the same time, he thrust one finger into her tight channel and bumped her clit with his thumb.
She froze as he worked a second finger into her, never losing contact with her clit. As he fucked her with his fingers and worked her clit with a steady circular motion, she finally began to move.
Her hand fell away from his shaft and both hands latched on to his upper arms. She moved with each thrust, following his rhythm. Her pussy clenched around his fingers, making him groan with the need to have her do that around his shaft.
Still, he had to get her off first because if he didn’t, he was truly afraid he’d get inside her and lose it before she did.
And that was unacceptable.
So he concentrated every functio
ning brain cell on her pleasure. Admittedly, that wasn’t many. Still, he had enough sense to follow her lead. When she twisted her hips, he gave her more pressure on her clit. When she arched away from him, he filled her more fully with his fingers, bringing her closer again.
Switching breasts, he made sure to tug on the nipple with his teeth, which made her moan and her fingers dug into his muscles. He wouldn’t be surprised if she drew blood with her sharp little nails. Damn, he wished she would. He wanted her to mark him.
He wanted her. Always.
And he couldn’t wait any longer.
Pulling his fingers from her pussy, he let them fall to his cock where he painted it with her juices, mixing it with his pre-cum.
Releasing her breast, he reached for her hips with one hand to guide her down. As she sank her fingers into his hair and sealed her mouth over his, he gripped his cock in his other hand and aimed straight into her body.
He wasn’t prepared for her to force herself down on him, to take him all the way into her body in a flash of heat and friction.
His hips shot forward and they melded together so completely, he thought he might just spend now.
He fought back the urge to pump into her, to let her muscles milk him to climax.
But then she began to move. And he knew he had to last just a little bit longer. Just long enough to enjoy the ride.
Blessed Goddess, she felt like silk and dreams and tight, wet heat.
He wanted to close his eyes, to sink into the sensations but he didn’t want to miss seeing her face when she came. While she controlled the motion, he slipped a hand between them to tend to her clit. Her gasping breath and the contraction of her inner muscles let him know he’d hit the perfect rhythm.
They moved together in the dark, straining toward completion. He watched her face, watched as her expression tightened from slack excitement to tense anticipation. She was right on the edge, her body straining for release, his holding back.
Moonlight Menage Page 4
