by Anya Bast
They entered the house exhausted and happy, their cheeks burning from the cold. A fire had been lit in the library. Byron made coffee and carried it into the room on a tray. He sat down in the big chair in front of the hearth and when Lilya went to sit in the opposite chair, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into his lap.
She came to him with a yelp of surprise and a sigh of contentment, settling onto his lap and tucking herself against his chest with her head on his shoulder. He took the rest of the pins out of her hair, setting them on the table beside him one by one, and ran his fingers through the long, dark skeins wordlessly. Eventually Lilya’s breathing grew deep and even and he knew she’d dropped off to sleep.
Deep satisfaction settling into his bones, he wrapped his arms around her and watched the fire while she napped. Today had been by far one of the best days of his life. Lilya was an easy person for him to be with, not only was she his lover, but a friend as well. Right now he knew without a doubt he wanted to spend his life with her, but if he asked her marry him, would he end up another abandoned ring box in her drawer of wealthy, besotted men? Odds were the answer was yes.
Twenty-two
She’s leaving in two days.”
Hiding the way those words made him feel, Alek turned toward Byron. “I am aware.” He returned to staring out the library window at the cold, starless night.
“So why are we down here and she’s upstairs?”
Alek threw back the rest of his drink. He suspected he knew why, but it wouldn’t do any good to tell Byron what he thought; he wouldn’t believe him. “I don’t think it’s because she wants to be left alone. I suspect Lilya is sad to be leaving.”
“I’m going up.” Byron stood. “We only have a short time left with her.”
“It doesn’t have to be that way.”
Byron let out a long, slow breath. “Yes, it does.”
Alek ground his teeth together. Byron didn’t know it yet, but there was no way he was letting Lilya go without telling her how he felt about her. Byron might have a problem doing that—but he didn’t.
He glanced guiltily at his friend. He just didn’t want to lose Byron over it. Byron was as close as a brother to him and that made this situation tricky.
“I want to see her. I’m heading upstairs.” Byron walked toward the door.
Jealousy flashed through him. He knew he really had no right to feel that way. He had no claim on Lilya. No man did. And if there was any man who did have a claim on her, it was Byron. Still, he set his glass down. “Not alone, you aren’t.”
Byron stilled, anger flashed just briefly through his eyes and then settled into acceptance. “All right.”
Together they mounted the stairs and knocked on her door.
“Come in.”
They entered the room and found her sitting near a fire in her nightgown, a heavy blanket draped over her legs and a book in her lap. She turned and smiled at them. “I’m glad you came up. I was just about to go downstairs and find you.”
“We’re not disturbing you, then?” Byron asked. “You seemed a little melancholy this afternoon. I just wanted to make sure you were all right.” There were two more chairs near her and he and Alek took them.
She shook her head, then bowed it. Her smile faded. “I am a little sad. I’ve enjoyed my stay here.”
Byron glanced at Alek. Alek held his gaze for a moment, acknowledging that Alek had been right about Lilya’s depression. Now if only Byron would believe he was right about how Lilya felt about him—and about himself, he hoped.
Lilya rose, pushing the blanket off her legs and standing in front of the fire. The material of her nightgown was sheer and they could see the slim silhouette of her body through the fabric. Alek’s body tightened at the sight. He imagined his fingers curling to lift the garment over her head and then immersing himself in the experience of her silken skin and lush body.
Lilya watched them as she stood in front of the fire, her body tightening from their mere presence in her room. Two days and she would be gone. Two days and she wouldn’t know the hungry look in their eyes as they watched her anymore. Two days and she would be alone again.
She knew what they wanted. They were men and she knew men very well. They may have come up to her room because they were concerned about her state of mind, but they wanted her body.
That was fine. She wanted them too.
Her gaze drifted over them both. Alek’s fingers were clenched tight on the armrests of his chair, as though holding himself back from getting up and coming over to her. Byron watched her with dark eyes, full of unmistakable desire.
The sight of them both in front of her, wanting her, made her body react. Ripen. Grow warm and wet. She pulled the nightgown over her head and threw it to the chair, standing before them completely naked with the fire warming the flesh of her back. Now there could be no mistake about what would happen between them tonight.
She wasn’t sure which man she should go to. Going to one would slight the other. Instead she waited for one of them to make a move. It was Alek who rose first. Deceptively mild Alek, who seemed so bookish and calm, but who was explosive and demanding in the bedroom.
He walked to her and pulled her against his chest, his mouth coming down on hers as his hand skated over her bare fire-warmed back, cupped her buttock, and then skimmed across the back of her leg, pulling her knee up over his hip so her sex pressed against his hard cock through his pants.
He pivoted her and lowered her into the chair she’d just been sitting in. Backing away a little, he began to undress. “Spread your thighs. Hook your knees over the armrests, and tilt your pelvis up. I want to see all of you.”
She did as he commanded. Byron came over and knelt with Alek before her. Her breath came fast and hard as they examined her. She felt herself growing warm and swollen from their gazes—and they’d barely touched her yet. Her nipples went tight and hard and she held on to the back of the chair, completely spread and vulnerable to them.
“She has a very pretty cunt, don’t you think Byron?” murmured Alek, stroking her folds until she closed her eyes and moaned.
Byron made a low sound of agreement and petted her clit, making it swell and pull from its hood.
Alek slipped a finger inside her and pumped, and then added a second, spreading her muscles until she whimpered. Byron continued to press and rotate her clit, and soon she was incoherent with need, poised on the edge of a climax.
Leaving her suspended in a state of teasing ecstasy, Byron dropped down and petted her nether hole. “You have taken men back here, haven’t you?”
“Yes.” Her response came out low and breathy.
“Good.” Byron’s voice sounded labored with need. He fingered her there, awakening all the nerves that slept until a man stimulated them. She moaned, closing her eyes as he pressed one of his long, broad digits slowly inside. “You’re very tight,” he breathed. “Before we can do this we’ll need to relax your muscles back here.”
“I want to make her come first,” murmured Alek.
Byron backed away and Alek dropped his mouth to her. Her back arched and her breath hissed out of her as Alek’s warm lips closed over her clit. His tongue nuzzled against the sensitive bundle of nerves as his fingers continually thrust in and out of her.
Alek flicked her clit with his skillful tongue while Byron watched them from a short distance, his eyes growing dark with arousal. Lilya’s hands tightened on the armrests of the chair as her climax built. Alek’s fingers found that secret spot deep inside her and rasped against it on every outward motion, pushing her toward the precipice of her orgasm.
It washed over her, making her cry out. Alek rode her through her it, intensifying it as the waves of pleasure racked her body. When the orgasm ebbed, Alek kissed her inner thigh and pulled away, letting Byron take her by the hand and help her to her feet.
He cupped her cheeks and kissed her, his tongue slipping between her lips. After he’d kissed her breathless, he set his
forehead to hers. “You’re so beautiful when you come, Lilya.”
Byron led her to the bed where he’d laid out a few objects while Alek had had her in the chair. He pulled her onto the bed and rolled her to her stomach, hips elevated. His warm hand skated over her rear, making her shiver with anticipation.
Alek sat down nearby, letting Byron take over. “Now that’s a pretty sight.”
“Indeed,” Byron growled.
He slid his hand between her legs and found her wet and warm. Finding her clit nestled in the tangle of her damp curls, he stroked it past its postclimax sensitivity until she was incoherent with need once more. Then Byron picked up the lubricated object on the bed beside him and slid it into her cunt. It was thick, long, and studded with small protrusions that felt delicious when he pushed and pulled the object in and out of her. She cried out, moaning.
“I think she likes that,” said Alek.
“Then let’s see how she enjoys this.” Byron picked up the second cylinder, this one was the elongated one, graduated in size, and it was also coated with a sticky lubricant. She’d known what it was for when she’d spotted it earlier, any courtesan would, though one had never been used on her.
He slid it into her nether entrance and gently pushed the object within. The walls of her rear stretched and gave as her body fought to accommodate the toy. She squirmed on the bed, panting in ecstasy as her body adjusted to having both objects inside her. The cylinder in her rear rode a confusing edge of pain and sweet pleasure, the slight pain playing counterpoint and deepening the pleasure. She could barely stay sane from the eroticism of having both her orifices filled. The two sensations blended together until she didn’t know where one ended and the other began.
Byron worked one of the toys and Alek took the other. Together, they moved in unison, slowly thrusting the objects in and out of her. They slid in and out slowly at first, then faster. Her hands fisted the blankets and she tossed her head, the ecstasy rising quickly to an overwhelming level.
She came hard and fast, with no warning. It slammed into her body, stealing her thoughts and, for a moment, her very breath. She cried out, her body spasming in pleasure.
When her climax had ebbed once more, they pulled the toys from her and she collapsed to the mattress. Both men were pulling off their clothes. Finally. Byron slipped in behind her and Alek pressed against her front, his mouth finding and meshing with hers.
She pushed up and straddled Alek, guiding the head of his cock deep inside. Her back bowed as she sank all the way down on him, her hair cascading down her spine. She let out a shuddering breath. Alek felt bigger and better than the toy ever would.
Byron’s hands roamed her breasts, petting her nipples and teasing them to hard little peaks, while Alek found her very sensitive clit and ever so gently teased it. She shuddered, amazed that her body was capable of holding this much pleasure at one time. Even now she felt her body responding to these men, though she’d come twice already.
Rolling her hips, she rode Alek, taking him in long, deep thrusts. Alek groaned her name and closed his eyes for a moment, his throat working as he swallowed hard.
Then Alek pulled her down against his chest and his mouth sealed over hers. Lips and tongue working, he kissed her senseless while Byron coated his cock in lubricant and straddled Alek’s legs, setting the crown of his shaft to her nether hole.
He pushed in an inch and she stiffened, letting out a moan that was part pleasure, part fear. Byron was a large man in every way, larger than the toy had been.
“You can do this,” he purred near her ear, his chest against her back. His words rumbled through his body and into her. “I’m going to take you in your rear while Alek takes your sweet cunt.”
He thrust in another inch and she whimpered, finding purchase in the blankets. This time it was almost all pleasure, with just that luscious edge of pain to accentuate the ecstasy. Her muscles stretched to accommodate his girth as he slid in another inch and yet another.
Finally both men were seated root-deep inside her. After a moment they began to move.
Lilya saw stars. All she could do was hold on as the intense sensation of being filled this way overcame her. The three of them found a rhythm, each moving in time with one another, Lilya between them. She had never felt anything like this and she never wanted it to end. Their cocks tunneled in and out of her in unison, creating a perfect storm of sexual bliss that her body could barely hold.
Alek caught her nape and pulled her head down to kiss her, his tongue spearing aggressively into her mouth. She cupped his cheek with one hand and kissed him back just as forcefully—as if she could tell him how she felt using her mouth and body instead of words.
“Are you going to come?” he asked against her mouth.
She nodded, unable to form a verbal reply. Her body tensed and her third climax hit her, this one more powerful than either of the other two. She cried as it hit her, pulling her under for a moment in complete sexual rapture. The muscles of her sex milked Alek’s thrusting shaft and he groaned hard, jerking against her as he came. Their climaxes triggered Byron’s and he orgasmed in her rear, yelling out her name.
Sated, satisfied, and exhausted, the three of them collapsed to the mattress in a tangle. Tucked between them, Lilya breathed heavily. The muscles of her body would be sore in the morning, but it would be a glorious kind of sore.
Byron pulled her against him and kissed her temple, his arms winding around her. She sighed in perfect sexual lethargy. For now she would push aside her heartache and take this moment with Byron and Alek. Savor it. Memorize it so it could keep her warm on her lonely nights to come.
Alek curled up on her other side and nuzzled her neck. “I’ll get up and run a bath.”
Her arms tightened around him. “You’re not going anywhere.” She kissed the top of his head. “That was incredible.”
“We seem to fit well together, all of us,” Byron said, running his hand over her breast. Her nipple went hard against his palm.
“Mmm,” she agreed. Forming words was fast becoming an impossible task.
After a few more moments of cuddling, Alek rose and ran a bath. Byron lifted her and placed her in it and both men climbed in after her. The bathtub was huge, but it just barely fit the three of them and water sloshed over the side.
Byron and Alek soaped their hands and washed her from head to toe, their strong hands working all the strain from her muscles until she felt like half-melted butter. Byron helped her dry off while Alek tended the fire and soon the three of them were under the blankets of her bed, bare skin against bare skin.
Feeling cherished and protected, Lilya drifted off to sleep warmed by the heat of both of them, their hands stroking over her still-damp skin.
Twenty-three
Byron looked up from his chair as Alek entered the room, lowering the paper he was reading to his lap.
“A messenger was just at the door,” said Alek. “Sent by Gregorio. Your meeting with Aralynda went much better than anticipated.”
“She’s agreed to stay?”
“Yes.”
Byron smiled. Lilya would be pleased by the news. He lifted his paper once more, but Alek was still standing in the doorway, staring hard at him. “Do you have something else you need to say to me, Alek?”
“I’m falling in love with her.”
Byron said nothing in response. Stony-faced, he regarded his best friend in silence.
Alek walked toward him. “I know you’re already in love with her and have been for a long time. What do you have to say?”
He leaned back in his chair. “Of course you’re falling in love with her. I expected no less. That’s the curse of Lilya.” He paused. “She told me you used your magick to heal some small wound she had. You would not have done such a thing if you didn’t love her.”
“Is that all you have to say? You’re not jealous? You’re not worried that I might ask her to stay with me, even marry me . . . and she might say yes?”
/> Byron pushed away from his desk and stood. “I’m jealous every time you touch her, Alek.” His voice came out sounding rough with emotion. “Because I want her touching me.”
“I knew it.”
“Go ahead and ask her to marry you. Be like all the others who’ve done the same. She’ll turn you down. She turns all of them down.”
“I’m different.”
He walked toward him slowly, his eyebrows rising. “Do you really think so?”
“Yes.”
Byron shook his head. “I think every man who has asked her has thought he was different, and she’s said no to them all.”
Alek turned away from him. “I haven’t felt like this since Evianna.”
Byron stared at his back. “Lilya is . . . Lilya. We can love her without forcing her to be someone she isn’t. We have to be ready to let her go.”
“Love her from afar, you mean.”
“I’ve been doing it for years.”
“You might be able to do it.” Alek shook his head. “But I can’t.” He left the room. A moment later, Byron heard the front door slam shut.
He dropped his head into his hands, wondering what that meant. Was Alek gone for the night or gone for good? Was he fleeing the tension that had been growing in the house surrounding Lilya’s departure?
Despite that tension, the day had been a nice one. They’d taken the carriage, still on sleds, into town. They’d had lunch and Lilya had come to watch them practice crossball. When they’d arrived home, they’d made dinner, the three of them, laughing, joking, and enjoying each other’s company. Yet the unspoken had hung in the air—that tension.
Lilya was leaving tomorrow.
Perhaps Alek wouldn’t be here in the morning. Maybe he couldn’t take saying good-bye to her. Byron wasn’t sure he could do it either.
He rubbed a hand over his tired face, wanting nothing more than to see Lilya. It was like she was a drug. He knew she was bad for him because he was about to be cut off, yet he couldn’t stop himself from getting all he could until then.
