[Invitation to Eden 21.0] Falling or Flying

by RG Alexander

  “So this is what afterglow with the Professor feels like. I always wondered.”

  He tugged a strand of her hair playfully. “Joely, before this goes any further I have to tell you—”

  “Hush.” She raised her head and looked into his eyes. “You don’t have to tell me anything. I mean it. Post-coital confessions are highly overrated. In Eden, you get a free pass. Now, unless you’re ready for that recreation, you should just stroke my hair and celebrate your success.”

  Austin’s smile was beautiful. “I knew you loved it.”

  “I was sure my screaming gave it away.”

  “I can’t be sure of anything with you, Joely. It took four trips to the island and getting stranded just to get you to notice me as anything other than a guest.”

  No. It didn’t. “Maybe four is your lucky number.”

  His hand slid down to her hip. “Well then I know what I need to aim for tonight.”

  Her skin started to tingle. “That’s ambitious. I suppose I could help. For science.”

  “Do you doubt me?” He laughed. “I’m not that much older than you. Just for that I might have to break into Ginger’s necessity bag and steal something to tease you with in between the repeat performances.”

  Her cheeks heated. He noticed. “You’re in trouble now, Joely. Fair warning, this has just begun.”

  She knew.

  She couldn’t fall back to sleep. Her dreams had been fragmented and confusing, and since she’d opened her eyes she couldn’t stop herself from watching Austin sleep.

  What had the man done to her? She thought about the hours before they’d fallen into an exhausted heap and bit her lip. What hadn’t he done was the better question. She was devastated. Destroyed. He’d been merciless and tireless and…she’d loved every second of it. They’d both gotten progressively more daring, more aggressive as the night went on. That last time… Joely blushed, thinking of the things he’d said to her while she sat astride his lap and his fingers pressed the pilfered plug deeper into her ass as she rode him.

  “Knew you could take this. You could take us both, baby,” he’d moaned against her nipple. “Would you like that? I know you would. I saw how you reacted to his game. Tasted in on my tongue. I can give you what you want, Joely. I have to. I’m addicted now, baby. Wrapped around your finger. I thought I had everything mapped out, but now all I can think about is making you come again, feeling you gripping me so tight.”

  God, what was he saying? Was he asking her to…with both of them?

  Her orgasm had been blinding, her head filled with images of Court and Austin taking turns. Sharing her.

  She reached up and tied her hair in a sloppy knot to get it out of her face, reaching again for the only thing that could distract her from Austin. And sex with Austin. And Austin mentioning sex with Court.

  The pilot’s journal.

  Sitting naked on a cave floor reading the pages of a journal that was over seventy years old by the light of a scented sex candle was a little surreal. But the man who’d leapt from the pages of the diary made her forget everything else and focus on the story.

  He’d been a private pilot for a family with royal connections after the war. He loved his job, but not as much as he loved his boss’s daughter. Their relationship was as impossible as it was clichéd, but he was young and stubborn and he knew a secret given to him by a trusted, if eccentric old commander—coordinates to an island rich with treasure.

  His lover begged him not to go. Told him money didn’t matter to her and neither did her family’s consent. But the pilot’s pride sent him soaring off into the sky and straight into a storm to prove his worth. A strange storm he could not maneuver around had brought his plane down. He’d found the island, but the price was high. He was alone with no way to get his plane off the ground again. He was lost.

  For weeks he was sure he was going to die with his true love never knowing he was sorry. And wrong. There was no treasure on the island. No gold or silver. No pirate’s booty or secret Nazi cache.

  It was the island itself that was the prize, he soon realized. When he needed something, it appeared as if by magic. Food. Fresh water. Shelter from a sudden storm. And dreams. So many wonderful dreams that kept him hoping he would see his heart’s desire again.

  “This must be the Garden,” Joely read his words in a whisper. “From the bible stories I read as a child. Lost to man for all our faults. I have never seen such beauty, or felt so close to heaven. It is perfect here in every way but one…I am an Adam without his Eve.”

  He’d called it Eden too. Joely couldn’t help but smile at that as she read on. When he realized what the island could do, he spent the rest of his days focusing on what he truly wanted. Even when he decided to go exploring and made his map, he took something with him to remind him of her. He imagined being rescued and showing up on her doorstep so many times he could smell the flowers she kept on the windowsill and feel her tears on his cheeks as she welcomed him home.

  When she reached the last page, Joely could feel tears on her cheeks as well.

  I saw her again last night. The same dream as before.

  She’s leaning against the railing of a large freighter ship.

  A red scarf flies behind her as she waves to me where I stand on the shore.

  Is my mind deceiving me? Am I foolish to hope?

  How would she know where to look? After the way I left, why would she try?

  I have no other choice. If there is a chance to see her again,

  I will stand on the shore until the tide carries me away.

  If I can hold her once more and hand her my heart,

  I will carry the secret of this island’s treasure to my grave in thanks.

  “Joely? Baby, what’s wrong?”

  Austin knelt beside her and wrapped his arms around her. She hadn’t heard him. She’d been too lost in the story. “Nothing. Nothing is wrong. He survived, Austin. The island brought her to him.”

  He looked over her shoulder, reading the last page in silence. “How do you know it wasn’t just a dream?”

  “Eden dreams aren’t ordinary. It’s not her style.” She shrugged. “And I know. The same way I knew I would meet your friend Theo and come to the island with him. The way I knew Eden would be my first and last real home. The way I know that, for some reason, no one is looking for us. I don’t think they know we’re missing.” She shook her head in confusion. “I’m not sure how that’s possible.”

  The arms around her tensed. “What else do you know?”

  She knew it usually made people uncomfortable when she talked too much about what she could do. “I don’t know everything, and I can’t read thoughts, thank goodness. I don’t know how you were injured. Or why you’ve come to Eden so many times. I don’t know if Vardalos’ new ladylove is going to like me popping over to go swimming or watch movies, and I’m not sure if he would let me build a place here, on the other side of the water from this cave. A girl can dream, but I can’t be sure.”

  And she had. She’d seen a beautiful home here when she’d closed her eyes. Her home.

  Sadly, the commute to work would be a pain in the ass.

  Austin kissed her shoulder. “It was a motorcycle. My accident? It wasn’t in Afghanistan, believe it or not. I was stateside, angry and lost and making reckless decisions. Court tried to help, tried to get me writing again or talking to someone, anything to shift gears, but I wouldn’t listen to anyone. That whole mad-at-the-world thing. I can’t believe I was so irresponsible, but luckily the only person hurt in that accident was me. It was a wake up call.”

  He was a writer. She should have known. The man had a way with words and he was a bit of a romantic. It was hard to imagine him like that. Reckless. Angry. “Before the accident, when you and Court were in Afghanistan, were there any close calls?”

  “Too many,” he sighed. “The worst one—well, that time he nearly died.”

  And Austin had saved him. There wasn’t a doubt in her
mind. Court had come with him to Eden because he thought he could finally repay the favor. But Austin wasn’t in danger. Not here. He was healthy and strong again, and no longer lost.

  Unless you counted being stranded without a plane.

  “There’s something I’d like to know, and I have to ask because I don’t have a gift like yours.” Austin sat down beside her and waited for her to look into his eyes. “Your first and only home, you said. Artie, your flying instructor.”

  She shook her head. “Those aren’t questions.”

  “Joely.”

  “What?” she muttered. “Mine isn’t a going-through-a-phase story, with a happy beginning and ending to bookend the maudlin middle. You think you do, but you don’t really want to know.”

  “Tell me anyway.”

  She stared at him until she realized he was serious and he wasn’t going to let it go. She decided to rip the Band-Aid off as quickly as possible so they could move on. “Until I was ten-years-old I lived with my mother. She couldn’t hold down a job, which meant we had keep moving. Moving is expensive, so for a little while we lived in the car.”

  There was no need to tell him how long that “little while” had been.

  “Jesus Christ.”

  “I warned you.” She didn’t want that. Pity. She looked down at the journal. “For a few weeks we parked beside this private airfield in Arizona. I loved it. I spent all day watching the planes, wishing I could fly. Long story short, one day my mother drove away in the family home, and I ended up with Artie at his airport.”

  For a few years. And then Artie had had a stroke. At sixteen, she’d helped keep his small business flying while he fought to recover, but in the end he was too tired to go on. His family had swooped in for the funeral, sold the planes and the property and left Joely alone again, with a pilot’s license but no place to go. No idea where her mother was or how to find her. No home.

  Joely shifted away from him defensively. “I survived. I always do. And for years now I’ve been the second most important person on this island, privy to secrets that would shock the world, living the high life in an actual castle. I’m a walking fairytale.”

  Austin didn’t say a word, and she was grateful. Instead, he tangled his hands in her hair, tilting her head back and kissing her in way that had her melting despite herself. He was a damn good kisser.

  When he lifted his head she heard a noise, and it took her a minute to realize what it was. “It’s almost morning.”

  “How can you tell?” He was kissing her jaw, her neck and shoulders.

  “Those birds. They’re more persistent then my alarm clock. And louder.”

  He took the journal from her hand and lowered her onto her back, his expression hidden in shadow. “How many times, Joely? Did we make it to four?”

  Her body instantly responded. “Five.” Though she’d lost count of the number of orgasms he’d given her in between. “I was impressed.”

  Austin smiled in approval. “I’m goal oriented. In fact, I have something in mind for today. Another experiment I’ll need your help with.”

  Please.

  “I’m here to help,” she gasped when he slid his hand between her thighs. “It’s my job.”

  “And you do love your job, don’t you?”

  His lips trailed down her stomach and thighs to follow his hands. She slid her fingers in his hair and moaned when his tongue thrust inside her. “Yes! I love it.”

  Her hips lifted helplessly as her sensitive flesh responded to his now familiar touch. “I love it so much.”

  Chapter Four

  The water was the perfect temperature. She shouldn’t be surprised, she thought as she lowered herself into the crystal-clear pool and swam toward the rock shelf Austin had pointed out to her before he left.

  He’d mentioned something about hunting for breakfast. Last night’s dinner, this morning’s breakfast—unless he was hiding a bow and arrow in the bushes, she wasn’t sure how he was doing it. She should stop being surprised by his abilities. He was more than she’d given him credit for. A millionaire with money to burn and a life of relative ease? Yes. But also a veteran, survivor, writer, hunter…kinky bastard. He was kinky, and after last night she knew Court was too. He liked to watch. He liked to direct. For two men who said they preferred ménage to the dungeon, they certainly walked the line. Austin’s request was proof of that.

  You agreed.

  It was hard to say no to a man who was making you scream in pleasure. But Joely knew she would have agreed to it regardless. She couldn’t stop thinking about Court spending the night alone beneath the stars so she and Austin could christen the cave. About the way he’d watched them by the fire.

  Her attraction to him had taken her entirely by surprise. Austin Wright was the man in her dreams, not the earthy redhead. But when they met he’d teased her as if he’d known her forever, and she’d teased him right back. She hadn’t been playing a role or adapting to their needs. She’d just been herself, and Court seemed to like it. When he’d looked at her, watched her pump her hips against Austin’s mouth and beg him to make her come, she’d liked that. Loved it, if she was being honest.

  She’d wanted to hear him whisper dirty nothings in her ear while Austin took her. She’d wondered what his beard would feel like scraping against her breasts. Her clit. She’d wished she’d taken a closer look at his naked body when she had the chance.

  I think you’re rubbing off on me after all these years. I’m becoming a shameless sex fiend.

  Eden’s influence aside, she couldn’t deny Austin his request. She pulled herself onto the shelf, so the water was barely lapping at her thighs, and set down the dildo he’d taken from Court’s bag of necessities.

  “Let the sun caress your bare skin while you think about last night. What we did. What you want us to do next. Then do what I’ve told you to. When he sees you and asks what you’re doing, don’t stop. He likes to watch you. Let him watch. But that’s all he can do until I get back.”

  She’d asked Austin if he was punishing her or Court and he’d laughed. “A little of both, but you’ll enjoy it. And you’ll love what comes next even more. Now turn over for me, Joely.”

  Her legs shifted at the memory and she leaned her head against the smooth rocks, feeling the plug he’d inserted with every movement. Austin wanted to share her, and she couldn’t deny that with every passing hour the idea held more and more appeal. This was an Eden fantasy after all. She couldn’t find the will to resist it, so why shouldn’t she indulge?

  Would Court agree? She slid her hand down until her fingers were pressed against her sensitive clit and bit her lip. He talked a big game but what if that was all it was? She slipped a finger inside, spreading her legs in the water, and moaned. What if it wasn’t?

  He was big, like Austin. At least, from what she’d been able to see in the dark cave. Big and sexy and all muscle, the both of them. She’d spent most of her life being strong, being alone, but with them she felt feminine and protected in a way that was irresistibly attractive. When they finally took her, she would be trapped between their hard bodies, at the mercy of the two dangerously sexy men who wanted to have their dirty wicked way with her.

  Two men inside her. Two men fucking her. “Oh God.”

  “Do you do this every morning, Mary Ann? Or is this for me?”

  She opened her eyes and saw Court standing still as a stone at the end of the pool, watching her as Austin said he would. He was wearing a wrinkled white t-shirt with a pub logo branded across his broad chest and his biceps bulged against the short sleeves in a way that made her lick her lips. The expression in his blue eyes was hot. Hot but wary.

  Austin hadn’t given her a script, so Joely decided to be honest. She slipped another finger inside her and gasped. “For you, Ginger. Don’t try and stop me.”

  Court’s smile was strained. “Stop you? Honey, I’d film you if I thought Austin would let me get away with it.”

  He pulled off his shirt and
dropped it on the ground. “I’m guessing this was his idea. He’s a creative son of a bitch, isn’t he? And he must have been really damn convincing last night. From all the noise you two were making I would have bet you’d both be sleeping for the rest of the day.”

  “Mm-hmm. He’s very convincing. And energetic.” She lifted her fingers and reached for the toy, amazed herself that she still wanted more after all the orgasms Austin had given her last night. “We borrowed a few things. I hope you don’t mind.”

  Joely gripped the silicone toy and guided it inside her while he watched.

  “Fuck.” He kicked off his shoes, dropped his pants and was in the water before she could tell him to stop.

  She couldn’t stop. Austin told her not to. “You’re only supposed to watch,” she warned, breathless.

  “Of course I am,” he rasped as he stalked closer to her in the water. “I know how much he wants you. Our professor is more possessive than you’d imagine, especially when it comes to the wonders of Eden. But I’ll play along. I won’t touch you until we’re all together. And this means we’re going to be, so I can wait. Still, if I’m going to watch, it’s only fair that I get to see everything.”

  She knew. She knew when she agreed to the show she was letting Austin know she wanted this too. Giving her consent. She pushed the toy in deeper, her neck arching as she was filled front and back. The way they were going to fill her. Two men inside her. Austin and Court inside her.

  She couldn’t get the thought out of her mind.

  Court put his hands on the shelf, careful not to touch her. “He did leave me with the best view, I’ll give him that. Where is he?”

  “Breakfast.” She was no longer capable of speaking in complete sentences. All she could do was feel.

  Court made a disapproving sound. “He left you like this for me while he went off to play good provider? Dangerous decision. What if I wasn’t as strong as he seems to think I am? You’re a hard woman to resist, Joely Jones. Especially all spread out naked and willing like a banquet for me.”