Radiance

by Shayne McClendon

  Then she wept bitterly and hugged him as hard as she could.

  Returning the hug with the strongest arms of anyone she knew, he let her cry out all her pain for him.

  “You’re strong and beautiful, Elijah.” Her hand stroked the back of his head. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. You survived and I’m so goddamn happy you did. I hate what happened but I’m so relieved you’re still here. I love you. I love you. I love you.”

  Lifting to look at her, he whispered, “I love you, Brie.”

  Her fingers traced his face. “H-how did you know? What was happening?”

  “When you insisted on going into the building, Jim didn’t want Elijah to kick his ass. They’re equipped with cameras.” Harper said quietly, “We were in the air when you lit it up.”

  Setting her jaw, she turned her head and ground out, “I’m not sorry I did it. I don’t care if it was a fucking historical monument, Harper. I don’t care. It was evil. It had to fucking go.”

  “I didn’t know it was there, Gabriella.” There was no way to hide her shock. “I’ve lived here all my life and didn’t even know it existed until today. I realize now he kept me away from that side of the estate. I never wondered why.” His eyes closed. “I’d have never left it there had I known.” Reaching out, he held her face. “I’ll never question your instincts again. You really are that perceptive.”

  Exhaling roughly, she kissed his palm. “I was so angry with you. I should’ve known better. I’m sorry.”

  “I understand.” He leaned close and kissed her for a long time. “For a gentle woman, you certainly have a warrior’s spirit, Gabriella. Thank you.”

  She nodded and pulled them both close, hugging them hard. “I missed you both so much.”

  Then they deconstructed her with pleasure.

  * * *

  Elijah watched her sleep, held tight to his body, knowing the nightmares that would haunt her. Several times before the sun tinted the room, she shook uncontrollably in her sleep.

  Each time, he and Harper would press close and whisper to her, calm her, until she slipped deeply again.

  They were boarding the plane for home when Jim sent him a text that Brie was photographing the estate and all was well.

  An hour later, he texted again when she discovered an abandoned building. Moments later, his text held a tinge of panic when Brie refused to remain outside the structure.

  Instructing the man to go to live feed, every nerve in his body went tight when he glimpsed the woman he loved investigating a door frame he knew well on one knee, clearly distraught. Instantly, he knew what else she would discover.

  He hated that she would have it in her mind, that it would bruise her tender heart.

  Harper moved to sit beside him when he was unresponsive. The silence drew out as he watched the feed on Elijah’s phone.

  “Elijah…? Is that on the fucking estate?” Unable to speak as he watched Jim take lanterns down from the ceiling, Elijah gave a single nod. “Gabriella. Oh god no.”

  Then she set the goddamn building that was haunted by the ghost of his childhood on fire and burned it to the fucking ground, standing close enough to ensure no one stopped it.

  For two hours after it was incinerated, they watched as she barked orders, all sign of sweet little Brie crushed in her fury and sadness. The chimney leveled, every piece of wood dumped in the back of a truck, and hauled off the land.

  “Take it at least twenty fucking miles from here. Dump it and cover it the fuck over.” Then she got quiet for a long moment. “He better be dead. He better be fucking dead.”

  Jim shadowed her, both of them filthy, while she paced.

  Gentle Brie, a woman everyone knew had a heart softer and kinder than most, called Hudson Winters.

  “Hudson. I have an unusual request.” There was silence as she listened. “I need to know if someone is still alive.” Another pause and she glanced at Jim before murmuring indistinctly. Then she hissed, “I can’t tell you. Just know that if he is, he doesn’t get to keep breathing!”

  She went quiet for a long time and sat on a fallen log while Hudson worked to calm her, to find out why she was so upset.

  From the messenger bag she carried everywhere, she removed all that was left of Elijah’s first violin.

  Holding it in her hand, crying, she begged, “Hudson. Please help me.” She closed her eyes. “Yes I can! I can live with it. At this moment, I’d slit his fucking throat myself. Okay.”

  She hung up and paced angrily.

  Several minutes later, her phone rang. “Hudson.” She listened. “You’re sure?” With a hiss, she told him, “I hope he went fucking screaming.” She nodded and rubbed her temples.

  “Thank you, Hudson. Apologize to Natalia. Ignore all calls from me henceforth on your honeymoon.” Exhaling, she laughed shakily, “They’re wonderful. Mm hmm. Not telling. Not telling that either.”

  She tried to smile as she scrubbed at tears. “I’m okay now. Thank you. Love you guys.”

  Walking around the barren space where a building had once stood that instilled him with terror, Brie knelt and touched the rich soil exposed by fire and scouring with heavy equipment.

  “New again. Grow quickly.” Then she stood and stopped in front of Jim. “I realize I seem insane. Let’s get the fuck out of here. I need a shower and several drinks.”

  His first sight of her when they left the limo was her entire body covered in dirt, her hair wild around her, and her face lightly burned from the heat exposure. Then she planted her feet, lifted her chin, and clenched her fists, ready to go to war over injustices done to him decades ago.

  It made him harder than he’d ever been in his life.

  Less than twelve hours later, they held her sleeping form between them, soothing her from nightmares her empathetic nature guaranteed she would have.

  * * *

  Harper stared at Elijah as he drifted back to sleep when Gabriella settled. He’d been in almost every dream he’d ever had. Lately, another face appeared frequently when he closed his eyes. He pressed his face to her hair, inhaling deeply of oranges and goodness he’d never encountered.

  He wanted to cry knowing the building that housed the horrors of Elijah’s childhood had remained standing for two decades. On his land. A mile from the fucking home where he slept.

  The fucking thing should have been destroyed when the man who used it to torture his son had his twisted heart stopped. He was ashamed it had gone undetected for so long.

  He was goddamn grateful to Gabriella for burning it to the ground.

  She was such a puzzle to a man like him. Soft and sweet, gentle in ways that soothed pain she didn’t even know another person had. Smart and world savvy enough to capture the interest of people who weren’t easily impressed. Loyal to the point of being willing to commit violence to keep the people she loved safe.

  It was while she was ordering estate personnel that Harper understood how she’d grown the winery to such success. She wasn’t rude, she didn’t raise her voice, but there was no mistaking the authority she possessed.

  Every man working with her while she destroyed the structure and had all traces of it taken off the estate listened to her, respected her, and moved quickly to follow her orders. Especially when she helped get it done.

  Watching her command hardened fighting men and staff responsible for the grounds made him painfully hard.

  When he’d seen her standing beside the Kubota, he knew without a doubt she’d go toe-to-toe with him if he dared to question what she’d done.

  The little woman was prepared to fight anyone who got in her way.

  She had so many interesting qualities.

  Carefully getting off the bed, he walked around and laid down on Elijah’s side. Curling against his body, he smiled when the man he loved wrapped his arm around him, pulling him closer in sleep.

  With his face resting on Elijah’s chest, he watched Gabriella’s face in the same position on the other side. He covered her hand, spr
ead over Elijah’s heart, with his own.

  More relaxed than he’d been in too long to try to remember, he drifted back to sleep.

  * * *

  The sun filled the sanctuary with pink and orange light when Brie woke. Harper’s face was a few inches from hers on the opposite side of Elijah’s chest.

  He had the longest lashes.

  As she had the thought, they fluttered open and eyes that glowed silver in the light stared at her. He squeezed her hand.

  Quietly, he started to talk. “When I was eighteen, we were attacked on the way to the airport. Elijah killed seven men protecting me. As the dust settled, I realized he’d been hurt.”

  Moving their hands together, he stroked her fingers over an old scar beneath his ribs. “He remained standing until backup arrived. The moment I was in an alternate vehicle surrounded by a dozen armed men, he passed out from extreme blood loss.”

  “You already loved him,” she whispered. “You must have been terrified.”

  He nodded. “I dreamed about him every night for two years. I didn’t tell a soul, of course.” Inhaling carefully, he went on. “Of all the injuries he’s taken over the years, that one, the first serious one, almost killed him. I refused to leave for college. I stayed at the hospital until he was released. He raged about being weak but I didn’t care. He fought recovering in my wing and I ignored him.”

  She smiled. “I would have, too.”

  “Even wounded, he was a powerful man. At twenty, he was even leaner. He remains the fastest and best trained fighter but I didn’t care about any of that.” He gave her a soft smile. “I loved that for all his ferocity, for all his skill to protect and kill…he played the violin.”

  Brie nodded seriously. “I get that. It ramps up the hotness.”

  Harper laughed. “I’d never seen him play but I’d heard him. I already liked and respected him as my best friend, as my personal bodyguard who’d kept me safe many times. His love of music, his gift for something so gentle…that’s what made me love him.”

  “That’s beautiful, Harper.”

  “He never told me what happened to the violin he used to play. I realized I hadn’t heard him in a long time.” His eyes held hers. “I bought him another one and brought it to him while he healed.”

  “It helped him.”

  “Yes. It cooled his rage. I asked if I could sit with him while he played and he didn’t understand. I told him it was wonderful to listen to him, that he was incredibly talented.” His fingers tightened around hers. “Watching him, seeing how it affected him, it pushed me fully over the edge.”

  He shrugged his shoulder lightly. “I whored my way through high school. I wasn’t interested in men, I never even noticed them. Wanting him like I did fucked me up mentally but I couldn’t help myself.”

  Brie reached out to stroke her fingers through his hair. “Wanting Natalia shocked me at first, too. Anyone who isn’t attracted to Elijah is in denial.”

  It made him laugh and she returned to holding his hand. “I don’t remember crossing the room to sit on the bed. He put down the violin and stared at me. I stretched out beside him and went to sleep. When I woke up, I was laying like this on his good side. I thought he was asleep. I told myself he was asleep.” He murmured, “I wanted to touch him. I’d wanted to touch him for so long.”

  Harper moved their joined hands over Elijah’s chest. “His heart beat slow and steady. I held my hand over it for a long time.” Her own heart started to race as he moved their hands to Elijah’s abdomen. “I couldn’t believe his fitness. It was even more obvious touching him. It made my mouth water.”

  “I feel like that with both of you.”

  “We feel the same about you, Gabriella.” He moved their hands back and forth across his waist. “His hair is so light, I never realized he had it. I liked the way it felt under my hand.”

  Her entire body tingled with need. His eyes held hers. “He was hard. I could see him outlined under the cotton sleep pants he wore. I wanted to know how it felt.”

  “I need to know, too.”

  Their hands moved over the ridge of Elijah’s cock through the sheet that covered him, up and down, and Harper whispered, “I needed it, Gabriella. I’d never felt such need in my life and I didn’t understand it. No matter how much it confused me, no matter how wrong it was, I had to touch him.” His eyes held hers. “I had to taste him.”

  Moving together, they pushed the sheet away, exposing Elijah to their eyes, hands, and mouths. Sliding lower on the bed, she watched as Harper licked over the throbbing head, damp with pre-come, and then she did the same.

  With their palms over him, they leaned closer and Brie kissed Harper. Moaning into his mouth, she said against his lips, “Tell me the rest. I love this story.”

  He rested his forehead against her as they lightly stroked Elijah together. “I had no idea what I was doing. I knew I wanted to make him come. I didn’t ask, I didn’t discuss it, I just took what I wanted.” One side of his mouth lifted in a smile. “I’m lucky he didn’t kill me.”

  It made her laugh softly.

  “I sucked the head for a few seconds but I wanted to take more.” Bending, he wrapped his lips around the crest and sucked it with his eyes closed in pleasure. Moving away, he waited for her to do the same.

  With her mouth around him, Harper said, “Then I felt his fingers in my hair.” Brie moaned as Elijah raked through her tresses. “I thought he was going to pull me away. I was so afraid of his reaction.” At her ear, he said, “He didn’t pull me away. He pushed me closer and said…”

  “Deeper.”

  Brie was in danger of having an immediate orgasm. Elijah applied pressure on the back of her head and she took him deeper.

  Harper whispered, “I sucked him and I couldn’t believe how long he could last. I didn’t have the same control. I explored him while I moved over him and I was harder than I’d ever been.” He moved their joined hands lower, cupping Elijah’s balls in their palms. “Then he held me still and started to thrust between my lips and I almost came.”

  Fingers tightened into a fist at the back of her head and Elijah used his hips to fuck her mouth in shallow strokes.

  “I felt like I was going to pass out from the pleasure and it was surreal because it was quiet and the room was filled with sunshine. It didn’t seem like I could be sucking the cock of the man I’d been secretly in love with…but I was.” Brie shook with need. Harper ground out, “Then he told me…”

  “Take every drop and I’ll make you come,” Elijah said.

  “He went still and started to spurt in my mouth. It was unlike anything that had happened to me before and I drank him down greedily.”

  As the first jet of Elijah’s release filled her mouth, Brie whimpered. He came for a long time and she reveled in it.

  “I worried about what would happen next. He pulled me off his cock and dragged me up his body.” Seconds later, she found herself staring into Elijah’s green eyes. Her arm wrapped around Harper’s neck kept him close. “I loved the look on his face. He told me…”

  “This changes everything.”

  Brie nodded and he devoured her mouth. When he broke it, she roughly pulled Harper to her and kissed him for a long time. Then they traded Elijah’s mouth between them.

  Focusing on silver eyes, she groaned, “Tell me the rest. Show me what happened next.”

  “Brie.” She looked at Elijah. “Scoot over.” She did and he powered Harper over his body to lie between them on his back. “I wanted to fuck him but I was injured. I knew I’d have to be careful with him, ease him into who I was.”

  She stretched out beside Harper with her head in her hand. “He’s so beautiful, it must have been frustrating to not be in peak condition to show him everything.”

  “I can’t explain the frustration.” Stroking his hands over the front of Harper’s body, he smiled. “I shoved his clothes away and touched him. He absorbed it, craved it.” Glancing up, he met her eyes. “Much lik
e you, Brie.”

  It made her happy. She reached out to help him stroke over Harper’s skin.

  “I took his cock in my fist.” He licked the inside of his palm and fisted the throbbing length. “I didn’t look away from his face because I needed to be sure of his thoughts. I worked him, palming the head, and watched for signs that he was getting close. Back then, it didn’t take long when I didn’t command him to hold back.”

  “I’m going to come, Elijah.”

  “I wanted to see it on him. Splattered over his skin. I wanted to add mine to it. Then he was coming and it was the most stunning sight of my life.”

  Pearly white release painted the skin of Harper’s stomach and chest. Brie leaned over to lick it from his nipple, down his chest. Raising her face, Elijah claimed her mouth.

  Then she dragged her fingertips through a stream on Harper’s flat stomach, laid on her back, and put them over her clit. Replaying the experience through her mind drove her to climax quickly and she worked to calm her breathing before she opened her eyes and turned her head.

  “You’re the hottest men on the planet. Holy fuck.”

  Rolling back to her side, she kissed Harper desperately. “Thank you for including me.” She smiled gently as she held the side of his neck with her palm. “I love your love story.”

  Then he was hugging her hard enough to hurt and part of her wondered if…

  Maybe, she wouldn’t have to give them up after all.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Last week of July 2015

  Elijah and Harper left for China the same day but Brie was glad for the time she had with them to settle her hurting heart.

  Explaining to Phyllis that she needed to get to the winery, the woman coordinated with her team to get her back and forth, shadow her while there, and basically make it super awkward.

  Her staff didn’t ask questions but she could certainly see they wanted to.

  She spent a solid week going back and forth to the vineyard and processing facility. It was great to catch up with her staff and she promised to be around more.