She scruffed her fingers affectionately through his hair. “Thanks, but, as satisfying as that might be, nowadays there are laws against murder.”
Rahiti grunted. “You had no children with him?”
“If she had,” Moana pointed out, “they would be here with you. Our Lyric is too caring to leave children behind.”
“I don’t have kids,” she said, wondering why they thought so highly of her. She hadn’t earned it. “Maybe someday. I don’t know.”
“We would give you strong sons,” Moana said, sitting up straight.
That frisson of caution rippled through her again, and once more, Rahiti came to her rescue. “Moana, Lyric has made it clear she cannot stay with us.”
Confusion skated across Moana’s face, but then he turned to Lyric. “I’m sorry. I…think too much sometimes.”
“We have had too long to think about this day,” Rahiti said, rolling onto his back. He stretched, his arms and legs hanging off the sides of the bed, showing all those glorious muscles. “This bed is softer than any hammock.”
Moana apparently wasn’t ready to let go of the kid idea so soon, though. “Why do you not have children?” He waved toward the laptop and the picture of smirking, too-handsome Jack. “Did you and Jack not fuck?”
His blunt question made her want to cringe, but then again, she supposed this was part of the new world, too. “I take a pill—an herb type of thing every day so I don’t get pregnant.”
Moana put his chin on his fist and contemplated this. “Do you not want children?”
Rahiti yawned and said, “Of course she wants children. She is a woman.”
Lyric barked a laugh. “Not so fast. Lots of women don’t have kids now. Or they don’t get married. Or they don’t get married, and have kids on their own, without a husband.”
“If they don’t need a husband then what purpose do men serve?” Moana asked.
Good question—one she’d been thinking about herself recently. “Did women in your time only have sex after marriage?”
Rahiti scratched his belly idly. “No, we were a freely loving people. But if the seed took root then the man whose seed it was took the girl as wife.” He sighed. “My father had four wives, and I had four sisters and three brothers. We were a small family.”
“Four wives!” she exclaimed. “How’d he keep up with all of them?”
“Once a woman is married, she can find other lovers,” Moana said casually. “Love is a blessing, to be shared, the way the gods intended.”
Taken aback, Lyric said, “So if you got married, you wouldn’t have a problem sharing your wife?”
If she hadn’t been watching so closely, she might have missed the tension in Moana’s glance as he looked sideways at Rahiti. “Some wives had more than one husband.”
“It’s true,” Rahiti said. “My aunt had three husbands. And how she kept them in line! Like a hen scolding the roosters.”
Moana laughed, and the tension dissipated again. “If they had tried to find other women, she would have cooked their balls in her stew pot!”
“Wow, and I thought my family was tough.” Lyric rolled her eyes but smiled.
Rahiti ran his hand over her thigh. “Family is whatever people build together.”
“What about…” Lyric didn’t know quite how to ask, but considering what they’d done together already… “What about men…together?”
“It was not forbidden,” Rahiti said, gazing at Moana thoughtfully then looking at her. “Inside everyone there is energy that is male, energy that is female. Often, Moana and I would follow sailors who had snuck away to be together. We overheard their conversations, how afraid they were to be caught in each other’s arms. We did not understand this fear for a long time.”
“Our bodies are gifts from the gods,” Moana murmured, his fingers following the lazy path Rahiti’s hand trailed up her thigh then coasting over Rahiti’s hand when he returned it to her knee. Just that—just the sight of their fingers slipping over each other—was enough to make her sex grow heavy and needy.
“I”—Rahiti cleared his throat, seeming unable to speak for a moment—“I myself never knew another man in my before-life.”
Moana chuckled wickedly. “I was more fortunate. There was a beautiful mahu in my village, slender and sweet. We managed to slip away a few nights here and there, under the stars, on the beach.”
“Moana, you are full of surprises.” Rahiti’s hand clenched on her thigh as he pulled himself up to stare at his friend.
His cheek on her shoulder, Moana smiled dreamily. “I had to keep some secrets from you, or you would grow bored with me.”
The bigger warrior grunted and slapped his friend’s hand away when he tried to restart their gentle play. “That explains a lot.”
Moana caught Rahiti’s fist and uncurled it to twine their fingers together. “You spent too much time polishing your spear. You should have gotten out to play more.”
Lyric tipped her head so that her cheek rested against Moana’s silky hair. “What’s a mahu?”
“A boy raised as a woman to honor the gods.” Rahiti turned on his side again and kissed her bare thigh. His mouth was set in a stern line, but she noticed his cock had begun to swell. “I preferred girls. And I did not need to polish my spear myself!”
Moana snickered, and Lyric realized there was an awful lot about ancient Polynesian culture she needed to learn if she was going to keep up with these two.
“I like women, too,” Moana admitted. “The gods gave us one another so we wouldn’t be lonely. We are meant to love freely, give our hearts without fear.” He placed a feather-light kiss on her shoulder, just the tip of his tongue leaving a bit of moisture on her skin. “Their soft breasts”—he lifted his and Rahiti’s joined hands to drag their knuckles over the nipple puckering beneath her thin tee—“their lips”—he raised his head to brush his mouth over hers—“their cunts.” He dropped their hands to her parting thighs and slid them over her sex, which grew wetter under her shorts.
Catching her lip between her teeth, Lyric leaned back on the heels of her palms. “Where’d you pick up language like that?” Not that she really cared. All she wanted was more of their touch.
“Sailors, remember?” Rahiti said, his lips curling up in a sly grin.
Lyric chuckled and slid off the bed, though it was the hardest thing she’d ever had to do. Her body ached to lie between them, to let them love her, but if she didn’t have the strength to walk away now, she wouldn’t later when she had to walk away for good.
Chapter Eight
They slept late the next morning, almost past noon, Lyric on the couch despite the men’s protests, and the two of them in snoring heaps on the big bed. She woke up after a night of hot dreams then looked in on them in the golden late-morning sunshine streaming through the window. Leaning on the door frame, she had to smile. Their tousled heads lay on opposite pillows, but they faced each other, and even in sleep, their hands touched on top of the sheets.
So, the big question—did she still believe they were dolphins, now that she’d had a good night’s rest?
She hadn’t gotten back on the bed with them last night, knowing what might happen—what would happen—if she did, but they’d stayed up until the wee hours talking, and yeah, after listening to everything they told her about the past and their history and what they’d seen over the centuries, she was pretty damned convinced. How it could be, she didn’t know, but it seemed she’d walked into the middle of something magical, and now she was a part of it.
On top of that, she was still pretty fucking astonished that she’d gone as far as she had with them the day before. She hadn’t been sure how she’d feel today, but if the excitement curling low in her belly was any indication, nothing had changed. If anything, she couldn’t wait for them to wake up. Still, even though she figured they’d wake up with mouth-watering boners, she wasn’t going to touch them. Today was for getting to know them. If they really were who they said,
they’d respect that.
Besides, they really couldn’t keep running around naked or draped with flimsy towels. She had to do something about that situation before poor old Maria stopped by to check on her and had a heart attack when she saw two naked warriors on her beach.
She started making breakfast in the bungalow’s little kitchen. The small fridge had come stocked with basics, and she’d picked up a few things at one of the island stores on her way in. There was enough to make pancakes, something they’d probably never had. While she cooked, Lyric knew she had a silly smile on her face, and her ears caught every little sound coming from the bedroom. Her excitement rivaled Christmas morning, only this time she couldn’t wait to unwrap two yummy men.
Rahiti was the first one up. He peered out of the bedroom, hair sticking up endearingly, and smiled sleepily at her. “Lyric! You were not just a dream.”
“Good morning.” She waved her spatula and bit the corner of her lower lip as heat flushed through her body. Mmm-mmm. He looked just as good first-thing as he had yesterday. Better even. His cock jutted up, but he seemed more interested in rubbing the sleep from his eyes than he did in fixing that issue at the moment. “Hungry?” she asked.
His gaze roamed her from head to bare feet and back again, and he nodded then yawned. “I have not slept like that since we were men before.”
“Do dolphins sleep?”
“Not like people do. We have to surface to breathe, so we’re always a little awake.” He ran his hands over his chest wonderingly. “I still can’t believe…” He spied his erection and smiled ruefully. “I forgot the towel.”
She waggled an eyebrow. “Trust me, don’t worry about it.”
Moana startled them both by leaping from the bedroom door and bursting into one of his island dances, chanting and stomping, ending with a big shout. His eyes were wide, and his morning wood was just as perky as Rahiti’s. “I’m alive!” he cried.
“Moana, it is too early,” Rahiti groused then dragged his hands over his face, and Lyric laughed.
It was going to be an interesting day.
Moana’s enthusiasm from the morning didn’t dim as the three of them walked the beach toward the more populated area on the other side of the island. He walked on Lyric’s left, Rahiti her right, and the sense of being whole, being part of a family again, filled him with happiness. When he twined his fingers around Lyric’s, she smiled shyly at him, and then she took Rahiti’s hand, too. His friend glanced at him over Lyric’s head, and his eyes smiled.
She’d decided that if he and Rahiti wore their towels, they might pass for tourists by the pool, and then she could purchase clothing for them. If anything happened, she’d said, this way at least they could blend in with other people. It was a wise decision, he supposed, although the idea that anything would separate them cast a shadow over his heart.
“When we were warriors,” Rahiti was saying as they walked, “not many people lived on this island since it is so small, but we would hold sacred ceremonies here.”
“And competitions,” Moana chimed in.
“Yes, at which you cheated.”
“You only say that because I always won.”
“Not always. I was best at, uh…” He couldn’t think of the right word, but he twisted his fists in the air, and Moana remembered.
“Fighting by hand,” he said to Lyric.
“Like wrestling? Like you were doing in the jungle yesterday?” she answered.
“Yes”—Moana nodded—“like wrestling. Rahiti was always so much bigger and fatter than everyone else, of course he won.”
“Fatter!” He reached around Lyric to take a swipe at him. “To a twig, every branch seems like a log.”
Moana ducked, laughing. “That doesn’t even make sense. You are talking like a dolphin again!”
He danced out of the way when Rahiti lunged for him, then his friend caught him, and they tussled, stretching for a hold, legs sliding. Either Rahiti hadn’t lost any of his old skills, or Moana got distracted by the feel of Rahiti’s muscles flexing beneath his hands, but in a few seconds, Moana found himself flat on his ass in the sand, the breath knocked out of him.
“Now boys,” Lyric said, looking adorably stern with her hands on her curvy hips. “If you keep that up, we’ll never get to the resort, which means you’ll be wearing these towels for the rest of the week.”
“My prize,” Rahiti declared and pulled Lyric up to his side then kissed her. She slid her arms around his neck, and the breeze blew her beautiful, long hair around her shoulders as Rahiti claimed his reward.
Panting from the exertion, Moana rubbed the back of a gritty hand over his chin and watched. Rahiti kissed her like he’d never let her go, and the shadow fell over his heart again. Moana’s spirit whispered to him to be wary. Moana liked to tease and play, but Rahiti had always tended to be deadly serious about many things, from foot races, to fighting, to women. In this situation, though, surely he knew what was at stake. After all they’d been through, Rahiti would not claim Lyric for his own and shut Moana out. He wouldn’t do that. Their friendship was strong, and Rahiti knew the demands of the curse. Moana ignored the troubled whispering in his soul. Rahiti wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize this gift the gods had handed them.
Seeing the world through the guys’ eyes made it all shiny and new again, and Lyric found herself pointing out even the most ordinary things she thought might amaze them—mopeds, blenders, televisions. They got a few odd looks from other people as they went around the touristy resort area touching stuff and murmuring to each other in their language, but Lyric only had eyes for them. She’d parked them by the hotel’s huge, outdoor swimming pool then walked into the lobby gift shop hoping she looked like she belonged there. Fortunately, the gift shop kept a decent selection of shorts and T-shirts on hand for guests who’d forgotten to pack them or who wanted souvenirs, and she was able to buy two sets of clothing for each of her guys. They ducked into the pool’s changing area and came out looking like a couple of hunks fresh off the set of Hawaii Five-O.
On a whim, she picked up a two pairs of aviator sunglasses, too, and now, drinking in the sight of her hot men in tank tops and surfer shorts, trying out their new sunglasses, she knew she’d done the right thing. His eyes hidden behind dark lenses, Rahiti turned a stunning smile on her, and she instantly got wet.
Moana stuck out his chest and crossed his arms over it. “How do I look?”
“Like a tourist,” she said. The tag still dangled off the arm of his shades, so she took the sunglasses and removed the tag. She slid them back on top of his head of shiny, black hair and assessed him. Yum. “A smokin’ hot tourist.”
“Smokin’ hot?” he asked.
“Sexy,” she murmured, coming closer so only he could hear, flaring her eyes wide. “Like someone I’d want to go down on in the middle of the jungle.”
He grinned and caught her around the waist to pull her close. She melted at the feel of all that eager man pressed against her front. “Mmm,” she sighed, leaning into him as she smoothed invisible wrinkles out of his shirt just to feel the contours of his muscles underneath. “Definitely looking good.”
Rahiti nudged in from the side. “I will not be able to run fast in these shoes.” He scowled down at his new mandals, but she wondered if he was really frowning about the extra attention she’d given Moana. There was definitely a palpable tension between the guys. When she kissed Rahiti, Moana lost his usual smile, and when she flirted with Moana, Rahiti’s hands curled into fists.
As the guys moved off to find a new curiosity, she lingered behind. She wasn’t sure which way to go, didn’t want to ruin this for herself or, most of all, for them. Maybe she should chill and let them make the moves for a while, even though she felt like some kind of sex fever boiled in her blood every time they sent her a smoky, heavy-lidded gaze—which was frequently. If she’d asked the gods to custom-build two men for her, they couldn’t have done any better. Beyond their physical appeal, she like
d who they were as people. Calm, stolid Rahiti was a reservoir of knowledge about the islands. She could spend days talking to him about history and the mysteries of the ocean. Moana’s quick wit kept a smile on her lips, and she never knew what he was going to do next. She’d never be bored with these two, that was for sure, but she didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize their friendship either.
Of course, it could also be sexual heat between them, driving them as crazy as it was driving her. As much as they seemed to love touching her, they weren’t shy about touching each other either. They’d been bumping shoulders and rubbing up against each other all day. Her pussy grew warm and slick thinking about the three of them trying out that big bed, and an achy need pooled low in her belly. Maybe what they all needed was to burn off some of this heat. She licked her lips, thinking about the walk back and the private little bungalow that waited.
A pretty Polynesian woman strolled by, tipped her head, and smiled at Rahiti and Moana, who’d moved away to goggle at a moped, and Lyric realized some of the attention they drew wasn’t because they seemed like newbies to the modern world but because other women couldn’t help but notice them, too. Hmm, no way had she pulled them out of the sea just to toss them to some rival girl. Stepping between them and linking her arms in each others, she narrowed her eyes at the woman and said, “Rahiti, maybe you can tell me a little more about your aunt. You know, the one with the husbands she wouldn’t share?”
Rahiti glanced up at the other woman then down into Lyric’s eyes. What she saw there made her heart skip a beat. “There is no one for us but you.” He bent his head to kiss her while Moana smoothed circles into her lower back, sandwiching her between them. Rahiti’s lips were soft, and his tongue was gentle, sliding into her mouth, and their twin heat embraced her. They squeezed a little closer. Rahiti’s hard cock pressed into her belly, and behind her, Moana’s stiff dick burned into her butt cheek. Oh, God. Lyric’s knees went weak, and her pulse thrummed wildly through her veins. She clutched on to Rahiti’s shirt with her fist. “I think we better get back home. Now.”
Linda Gayle Page 9
