Graduation and Gifts (Untouchable Book 8)

by Heather Long

  We alternated the ropes with silk ties, sometimes with leather straps, and once with the handcuffs. While we were learning ropes, he wanted me to understand the different reasons to use different bindings. Sensation was chief among them, but also purpose. For suspension, for example, the metal cuffs were always a no. In fact, the metal should only be used for stimulation play and then traded for something gentler on the skin.

  Each time, Richard pointed out different things to watch for, and when Lyssa seemed almost drowsy, he called it. I loosened all the ties and coiled the ropes as he picked her up to cuddle. Aftercare was something I was already familiar with. “Go ahead and set that all down, and I’ll take care of it after I take care of her.”

  “Thank you, Lyssa,” I murmured to her, and she gave me a sleepy smile. Over her head, I caught Frankie watching me in absolute fascination. She’d sat there for hours during this, and outside of the occasional encouragement, she’d been so quiet. I put up the ropes and nodded to Richard. “Thank you both.”

  “We’ll talk soon,” he said, carrying Lyssa over to the chairs to sit with her a while, and I held out a hand to Frankie. She was quiet as we made our way out. We passed a few other scenes in the outer room, but neither of us were in the mood to watch.

  Jackets in hand, we headed outside, and instead of just pulling hers on, she wrapped her arms around me at the bike and hugged me tight. That I could, do so I tucked her in close and closed my eyes. It had gotten late while we’d been inside, and the sun had gone down. The sound of traffic in the distance accompanied the sound of the cicadas and the hum of an air conditioner.

  A sigh escaped me, and I tightened my arms around her. I hadn’t actually realized how much I needed this hug. “Someone is looking after me,” I said after a long moment of soaking it up.

  “Mmm-hmm, deal with it,” she teased and rubbed her hand against my back. “You did wonderful in there. But now you look wiped.”

  I kind of was, a little. “Not tired so much as…” I looked for the words. “I don’t know her as well as I do you,” I admitted. “I think it would be easier to make sure I wasn’t pushing her more than she can take, and yes, that was why Richard was there too, but…”

  “You worried,” she murmured, and I pressed my lips to her hair. Yes, I had, and she got it. “I thought you were wonderful. Thank you for letting me watch.”

  I laughed and pulled back some. “You sure you weren’t bored? It was a lot of tying and untying then retying…”

  “You get this crinkle right here…” She ran her finger between my brows. “When you’re very focused. You do it when you’re working on music too. Every time you worked on a new knot, you did it, and I could almost see you trying to figure out what order to do it in next, how it would play when you worked it into the bigger piece.”

  “You liked that?” Curiosity filled me as I studied her. Under the street lamps, she had a warm glow to her skin, but it left her eyes a pair of shadowy pools.

  “I loved it. Because I know you’re going to put it all together in this wonderful piece that I get to enjoy. Now, if you’re up for it, would you mind if we hurried to get home? I’d very much like to strip your clothes off and ride your dick if you’ll let me.”

  Let her…

  Real laughter burst out of me before I kissed her soundly. She’d managed to comfort, encourage, and tease me all in the same set of sentences. “Let you?” I said against her lips. “Just for that, I might make you lay there and get yourself off for me while I watch.”

  She shivered.

  “But you were being sweet, and you were exceptionally good tonight.”

  “So were you,” she insisted, and I sighed as she bit my lower lip gently. “I love you, Ian, I love all the care you take. I’d also love it if you’d let me take care of you.”

  “Jacket on,” I murmured, then kissed her once more before taking her jacket and holding it so she could slip it on. Then she snagged mine off the bike where I’d set it and held it up for me. “You’re going to brat it up some, aren’t you?”

  “I think I’ve earned it,” she remarked, and I turned and let her help me into the jacket.

  Fair enough.

  “I think you have too.”

  “Yay,” she said, letting out the little cheer, and I chuckled. I straddled the bike and held out her helmet to her, but she had her phone in her hand. “One sec. I’m making sure the bedroom is clear.”

  I snorted. “You give Coop enough warning, and he’ll accidentally wander in.”

  “Not tonight, I want you all myself.”

  “You always have me, Angel.”

  Chapter Eight

  All We Are

  Frankie

  The whole ride home, I clung to his back. Funnily enough, just like the ride in, he took us back around the lake. The darkness was soothing and the air cooler. Honeysuckle bloomed in a thick patch, and I swore it fisted around my heart. The longer we wound around the lake, the more I realized Ian needed the soothing as well, so it didn’t surprise me when he pulled off to a rest area. We didn’t talk, just drank in the sight of the moon, the water, and the swaying trees. There were lights visible across the lake. Life going on. When he touched my hands, I tightened my grip, and he got the bike started again.

  At the apartment, he pulled into the slot next to my new car. I still couldn’t believe they’d gotten me a Tesla. The other car was now stored at Archie’s until Trina needed it. Even after we moved, the house would remain here. Closed up for the time being, but here, and there would be groundskeepers looking after it.

  When we came down to visit the guys’ families, Archie and I would probably stay there. Apparently, his mom had signed the house over to him, so it wasn’t his parents anymore. So much to do before we moved—

  Moved.

  I blew out a breath as I slid off the bike, aware of Ian’s gaze before I’d even tugged the helmet off. He studied me for a long moment. “It’s hitting you, isn’t it?”

  “After the conversation about Manhattan and Brooklyn? And the ride around the lake and the fact that we’re ordering boxes to start packing up the apartment?” Somewhere in all of that, I thought it had already sunk in, but tonight? Yeah, tonight it hit me. “It’s hitting you too.”

  The corner of his mouth kicked up as he turned off the bike and dismounted. “Yeah, I was thinking about the lake. About the first time I kissed you out there…”

  “And our helmets clacked together?” I grinned.

  He chuckled, tucking me under his arm to walk together up the short set of steps into the apartment. Only the light in the kitchen was on. Ian helped me out of my jacket and then hung both of them on the hooks they’d put up behind the door. Too many jackets and coats made it easier to keep track of them there.

  A note on the fridge said Jake was crashed in the other room, Archie would probably be late, but he was out with his grandfather for dinner and business. Coop had gone home, but promised he was just around the corner if we wanted company.

  Ian snorted at the note. “Told you.”

  “Except,” I pointed out, “he removed himself from temptation.” It was the only reason he would have gone back to his mom’s apartment. He really did respect the boundaries Ian had, we all did. And I liked my time with each of them individually as much as I did together. I had the best of both worlds, and I planned to savor every second of it.

  “True.” Ian brushed a kiss to the curve of my ear, and a shiver went through me. “Get some water? You hungry?”

  “Not right now,” I murmured. “But I could probably go for ice cream later…” I glanced at him over my shoulder. There really was only one thing I wanted at the moment, and I was looking at him.

  His eyes darkened, and another shiver went through me. I might have been asking him to let me spoil him tonight, but that expression promised so much more. “Get a couple bottles of water then, Angel. Then back to the bedroom.”

  “Yes, sir,” I whispered, and he gave me a knowing lo
ok before he turned away and headed out of the kitchen. A little shiver went through me in his absence. I half expected the cats to greet me, but they’d probably all crawled in with Jake, which meant Ian and I had my room to ourselves. I paused in the bathroom long enough to use it and brush my teeth before I headed into the bedroom.

  Ian turned around when I walked in, and I forgot how to breathe for a moment. He’d stripped all the way down to a pair of boxers only, and he wore the most amused smile.

  “What?” I asked as I leaned against the door and closed it. I didn’t want to take my eyes off him. Sometimes, I had to remind myself that these guys were mine. They were all beautiful. Ian had broad shoulders, cut muscles, and he was leaner than Jake in some ways, but it didn’t detract in the slightest. I loved the way he moved and looked.

  He already had the first signs of his summer tan coming in. We needed to spend more time in the pool. Not that I was opposed to that idea at all. Summers in the pool had always been a part of our friendship.

  Except for last summer.

  Last summer, I’d been here and they’d been off…

  “Hey.” Ian’s voice yanked me right back to the present. His soft smile had vanished as he narrowed the distance. The warmth rolling off him chased away the odd chill. “What happened?”

  “I’m being…weird.” I made a face and would have looked away, but he caught my chin and tugged my gaze up to his.

  “About what?”

  “We were talking about leaving and it’s hitting me, and I was thinking how beautiful you are.” My face flamed. You’d think I wouldn’t be remotely embarrassed about that kind of honesty, but getting to tell them I loved their bodies was still kind of new for me. He stroked the line of my jaw with his thumb, waiting. “I was thinking I loved how golden your tan is and that we needed to swim more because summers and swimming go hand in hand. Or it always had except for last year.”

  “And you got sad,” he whispered. “Because you started thinking about what we missed.”

  I let out a little sigh, and his whole demeanor gentled. “I hate that we lost those few months and it was partially my fault.”

  “And ours,” he reminded me. “We were all to blame, but we’re all together now and there won’t be another missed summer like that. Not this one. Not the one after it. Or the one after that.”

  “I like your enthusiasm.”

  “It’s called commitment, Angel,” he said, the words feathering over my lips as he leaned in close. “I’m committed to you. To us. To all of us.”

  Each word sent shivers racing up my spine, and my thighs clenched a split second before his mouth claimed mine. I leaned into the kiss, opening to the sweep of his tongue as he dragged me forward. It went from just the connection of his fingers and our mouths, to his arms around me. The water bottles hit the floor, forgotten as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

  The heat from his skin seared me through my shirt. The ache the memory of the past summer opened up in me eased with every nip of his teeth and stroke of his tongue. When he lifted me off my feet, I just clung to him. Even expecting it, I wasn’t ready to let go when he set me by the bed. Then he pulled back long enough to tug my shirt up and off. The bra went right with it.

  The air conditioning kicked on, and the first brush of the cool air against my nipples tightened them even further. He traced his fingers down my sides to my jeans. He kissed each breast as I settled my hands in his hair, and then he was peeling my jeans down. The kiss to my navel had me shifting my feet, but he slapped my hip lightly and I locked my feet, lifting them only when the jeans reached my ankles. The shoes and socks came off with a tug to each so he could peel the jeans the rest of the way off.

  My panties followed. I only half remembered I still had them on.

  “I was supposed to be taking care of you,” I protested when he traced his thumbs along my calves. The warmth of his hands as he switched to his palms along my skin had another series of shudders racing through me.

  “You take care of me by letting me take care of you,” he informed me. “And you were there for me, Angel. Never doubt how much that meant to me, knowing you were there to support me and not once did you get jealous or upset or even protest that you couldn’t play yet.”

  A real smile pulled at my mouth, and what shadows lingered from that past summer vanished in the warmth burning in his eyes as he looked up at me. Fuck, when he knelt on the floor in front of me like that and gazed at me with those deep blue eyes, my whole world faded to just him.

  All I felt was adored.

  “I love you,” I whispered. Every single time I got to say it was a thrill. Even more, I loved how he would light up at the admission. How they all did in their own ways.

  The slow massage of his fingers up and down my legs had me alternately relaxing and tensing as I wanted his fingers to stroke just a bit higher, but he always skated away from touching my ass or my pussy. I sucked my lower lip between my teeth as he edged higher. He knew what he was doing, and I could protest.

  I could shift my leg and demand the contact.

  Or I could be patient.

  Let him give me the touches he wanted to. The awareness of his observation flooded through me, and I swore my thighs tightened as I rubbed them together. I expected the sting of the slap a split second before it landed.

  “Feeling impatient, Angel?” he teased, but maybe we both needed this. The sadness was still there, but so was the elation. I’d let it discolor our evening, and he wanted to chase it all away. Or at least ease it until the roughness of those memories was gone.

  “I need you,” I whispered. Not a lie. I did. More every single day.

  “You have me,” he promised in a soft voice. “What else do you need?”

  “Whatever you give me.”

  He chuckled.

  “Sir,” I said, tacking that on, and he laughed a little harder but there was real joy in his eyes.

  “I love when you call me that.”

  “I know,” I admitted. It gave me a thrill too.

  “Bend over the bed, Angel,” Ian told me. “On your knees here…” He tossed a pillow down at the foot of the bed and then guided me to it. I knelt onto the pillow and then leaned over the bed until it was my ass that was up and my legs that were down. “Close your eyes.”

  A part of me wondered why, but the rest of me relaxed into the feeling of the comforter. It smelled like the guys. Even freshly laundered, some elements of them clung to the material. The woodsy scent of the soap Jake and Coop preferred, along with the hints of the spicy aftershave Archie liked to use, but above all of that was the sweet scent of Ian. I loved the way he always made me think of sunshine…

  A crack of his hand against my ass brought me right back to the present.

  “No drifting, Angel,” he murmured as he rubbed the heat into that spot, and I melted a little more. Coop asked me about the spanking once, a faint glimmer of concern in his eyes. If anyone had asked me a year ago would I enjoy being spanked, I’d have probably laughed.

  Still, there was a simple, almost elegant truth I found whenever Ian spanked me. Jake liked to slap my ass, and he got playful when he got rough. Those moments were always a thrill and made me clench harder. Yet when Ian spanked me, it was about being in the moment with him. The pain was so fleeting but also freeing, and it only left pleasure behind.

  Another slap—this time to my other cheek—jolted me, and a laugh slipped out on a gasp.

  “You’re dropping fast tonight,” he murmured against my ear. The whole weight of him stretched against me, thigh to thigh, his cock resting against my ass and his chest against my back. “You sure you’re up for this?”

  Was I? “I think I enjoyed your lesson more than I realized,” I whispered. He rubbed his dick up and down along the seam of my ass as he nuzzled a kiss to my throat. When he turned my head, he stroked his hand through my hair. “I just want to lose myself in you.”

  “Look at me,” he commanded, and I opened my eyes
and met his gaze evenly. I never asked him what he looked for when he studied me, but he always seemed to weigh my reactions against something he found in my eyes. “We can just make love,” he murmured. “I can sink my dick in you right now and we can chase our pleasure until you’re sated.”

  My nipples peaked at the thought, and no lie, I swore I grew even slicker at the suggestion. “Or?” I asked, licking my lips.

  “Or I’ll finish what I was about to do, and then I’ll let you ride me until you come.”

  I almost laughed. “You make that sound like a hard decision.”

  “But you still have to choose, Angel.”

  “I just want you, Sir Ian,” I told him simply, not once looking away from his steady gaze. “I trust you.” And I did.

  No question.

  No doubt.

  His expression melted, and it damn near undid me. Sometimes, it was easy to forget they had their own insecurities and… The thought faded as he fisted my hair and helped me up until our mouths collided and my thoughts vanished in a singe of ash and burning desire. The twist to my body kept me pinned against the bed as he plundered my mouth, but he angled himself away.

  The first slap sent a whimper through my throat, and then the next landed on the other cheek. He took his time, never quite finding a rhythm I could anticipate. Sometimes, the sting was sharp and pulled tears to my eyes, and other times, it was just loud and spread out. My ass flamed from the spanking, but the only thing that mattered was how our tongues danced. I didn’t take a single breath he didn’t give me, and when my ass was so hot I could feel slickness on my thighs and tears on my cheeks, he eased back and then helped me up.

  I swayed on my feet but followed him willingly as he turned and lay back on the bed, pulling me astride him. When he fisted his proud cock, I smiled down at him and straddled his thighs. The burn as I sank down on him had me clenching so tightly, he gritted his teeth.

  “Fuck me, Angel,” he whispered, and I dropped down to brace a hand on either side of his head. My hair was like a curtain, and it isolated us.