by R. A. Boyd
The man who stood beside her in the picture looked as proud as a rooster. He wore glasses and had dark brown eyes. And his eyes were on Cass. He loved her, and when he died he took part of her with him.
“Look at this,” Jax said, handing Damon a picture. It was of the groom standing next to her. His obituary. Andrew Jacob Stephens. “You should check on her. Both of us may—”
“Overwhelm her,” Damon said, finishing the sentence. “I have to get him the fuck away from her first.”
Before Jax had even suggested it, Damon knew he would go to her. That was his job. He brought balance to their would-be clan. A clan of ghost shifters who longed for the one that could make them whole again. He never imagined that he would have to do this for the woman who was fated to be theirs. Console her on the loss of her husband and banish him in the process. They’d stopped looking for their third a long time ago, and now here she was.
She would start a landslide in the ghost shifters, and once the Alpha Triad was formed it was only a matter of time before the rest of them would find that one. The one who was their salvation. The one who held part of their souls. But it seemed as if before she could heal them, they would have to heal her.
Damon walked over to the kitchen and put his hand on the door before he went in. When he did, her anguish was so thick he started to cough. He stood there in the door for a moment, watching her as she sat wrapped in a ball on the floor, trying to drag in the next breath. What made him pause was the shadow that loomed over her. It wasn’t menacing. No. He’d seen and felt menacing spirits before. This one was loving. And suffering right along with her, even though he was the cause of it.
He couldn’t make out the exact features of the spirit, but he knew who it was.
Fix her, Andrew said. His whisper moved along Damon’s senses and raised every patch of goosebumps he had on his skin. Please, his voice sighed as he faded away.
Damon turned to look at Jax. From the confused as fuck look on his face, he’d felt it.
He closed the door on his Alpha and quietly walked over to Cass. She was so wrapped up in her sorrow that when he stooped down beside her she jumped and let out a little eep that made him smile.
She looked at him, surprised that he’d snuck up on her. “I’m sorry,” she said, and he didn’t know if she was talking to him or her dead husband. She couldn’t see Andrew, but she sure as shit could feel him. He knew it.
Her wide eyes shimmered in the low light of the kitchen, and he ached for her. He wanted to comfort her in every way possible. “Why are you sorry? You lost someone.”
Cass used her sleeve to wipe away the tears and then ran her fingers through her hair. “You didn’t come here to see me like this.”
Damon wore a little grin that made him look bashful, even though he wasn’t. He was just happy to be here. With her. “I didn’t come here for coffee or shovels either, Cass.”
That pulled a tiny laugh from her. She rested one of her hands on his shoulder and squeezed, letting her eyes caress the powerful arm beneath her fingers. “My stars, you are… hard.” She swallowed and squeezed again.
Her eyes were so wide and innocent he was partly afraid he’d spoil her, make her naughty. He’d enjoy the ride all the way to where ever her passion allowed him to take her. When she was ready.
He moved in closer and pulled her onto his lap as he sat on the floor. If this is where she wanted to be, he would stay until she was strong enough to get up. “Do you like looking at me?”
Cass licked her bottom lip. “I do,” she whispered, unafraid. “Since shovels and coffee are now out of the plan can you… can you make me forget for a little while?”
Damon smiled. He knew it took courage for her to ask him to please her. He pulled her until she was straddling him, and when his face was almost level with hers he leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.
Her warm breath against his mouth was like balm to the part of him that had been missing. He could feel the timidity in her body, but as he ran his hands up her arms and caressed the skin of her throat with his thumbs she melted into him. He angled her head toward him and deepened the kiss. He took her mouth and tasted every part of it. When her tongue sought out his he rewarded her, taking one of his hands from her neck and sliding it up her shirt.
Cass’s skin was like silk against his rough hands. Her body jerked as he found her nipple, but she relaxed and pushed herself further into his hand, urging him on. With the ease of a professional, he unsnapped the clasp in the front of her bra and marveled as her breasts pooled out and bounced near his face.
“Would you let me taste you right here?” he asked, rolling her tight bud between his thumb and forefinger. “Or here?” he said, moving his hand to the other one.
She made a soft, needy sound that made his dick thump against his pants. He couldn’t wait to sink his cock inside of her, feel how wet she was for him.
Damon leaned down and pressed his mouth against the material of her shirt over her nipple, teasing her with his tongue. He pulled away and then blew air until the hardened peak looked like it was calling to him from beneath the cotton.
“Damon,” she sighed. With a moan, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her.
He kissed his way up her chest and placed biting, sucking kisses along her neck. He smiled against her lips and then eased back to watch her. “Please what, Cass?” Oh, he was going to reward her if she told him what she wanted. He was going to make her come on his hand. No. He was going to let her fuck his mouth. She wasn’t ready for sex just yet, but he’d make sure that the only thing she could think of was him for now.
She was panting now, kissing him hard and rubbing herself against him like a cat in heat. “Taste me, please. Make me come.”
Fuck, yes. Damon loved that she didn’t hesitate.
Lips never leaving hers, he laid her down on the floor and covered her body with his. She was small under his large chest and wide shoulders, and though he felt her body brace to accept his weight he stretched out beside her.
Her fingers dug into his back, urging him on with each stroke of her tongue against his. With steady hands, he opened the button of her jeans, and when he pulled the zipper down the low zip ricocheted around the room. She was velvet beneath his hand, warm, inviting. Kneading the extra skin around her middle, he slid his hand down her pants, under her panties, and cupped her pussy.
Her body arched up from the floor and he asked, “You want me inside you, Cass?” he said, biting her bottom lip and then soothing it with a kiss. “Yeah, you do.”
She nodded her head and ran her hand down her body to grab his and push his thick fingers further inside. Damon slid one finger into her soaked entrance and she called out his name, bucking against him. Pulling out of her completely he pushed two fingers into her and rubbed the palm of his hand against her clit.
“Please, please, please,” she begged, rocking her hips forward with each of his thrusts.
He could feel her body trembling at the oncoming orgasm that was already snaking its way through her. Her hands made their way up his chest and settled into his hair, pulling him forward to keep their kiss going.
Just when the walls of her pussy began to contract around his fingers he pulled out of her. Fast as lightning he peeled her pants and panties down her thick, beautiful thighs and chucked them behind him. She giggled as he pulled her socks off, and then sighed in sweet release as he leaned over her and took her nipple into his mouth.
With his tongue, he ran a circle around it before nipping her with his teeth. Her back bowed from the floor as she groaned out his name. He trailed sucking, wet kisses down her body, stopping to nibble on the roll of skin around her abdomen. He loved and appreciated women with extra weight; reveled in the warmth and comfort she offered him. When he reached the apex of her thighs he marveled at the sight of her. She was glistening and drenched just for him.
“Now, Damon. Please,” she pleaded, lifting her hips as an inv
itation. “Oh, my gosh.”
His tongue was at her seam, teasing her with gentle strokes and soft sucks. When she rocked her hips forward he pulled her clit into his mouth and suckled on her flesh. Just as she was about to explode he gave three long licks, starting from the top of her ass and ending just below her needy bundle of nerves. Over and over he teased and tasted until her entire body shook with passion.
He slipped two fingers inside her, hooking them at the right angle, and finding that sweet spot just inside her pussy that was made just for this. Damon captured her clit between his teeth and flicked the sensitive bud with no abandon.
She clawed at his shoulders and pulled at his hair, tugging his mouth closer to her core.
“Are you going to come for me?” he asked, breaking his mouth away from her for just one moment.
She breathed and panted, and pushed her hips upward, fucking his face just like he wanted. When her walls started to spasm again he wrapped his lips around her clit and sucked hard, pumping his fingers into her wanting, tight channel.
“Fuck,” she drawled out as her orgasm blasted through her. He looked up at her, her warm flesh still captured by his mouth, and watched her come for him.
Her head was thrown back and the sound of her ardor was music to his ears. He lapped at her pussy as if she were his sustenance. She fisted his hair and he moved with her as she jerked away from him, still pumping her hips to fuck his hand and mouth.
He didn’t stop until the gentle aftershocks left her body. When he looked up at her again she had her eyes closed and a private, sleepy smile played across her lips. She jumped when he bit the inside of her thigh, and exhaled as he offered her a kiss in the same spot to calm the ache.
Damon crawled up her body, rubbing his face along her skin as he went. She ran her palms along his body, and when she could look into his eyes she moved over to lay down on his chest.
“Do you think Jax is mad at you? At us?” She was worried as she gazed up at him, chewing her lip and using her thumb to draw a line from his lips to his right ear.
He shook his head and pulled her closer. “No. He’s listening to music on his phone.”
Cass lifted her head and listened, trying to hear what Damon could. “I don’t hear anything.” She squinted her eyes as if that would make her hearing better.
Damon barked out a laugh and pointed at his head. “Shifter hearing, remember?” He drew lazy circles between her shoulder blades as she settled closer to him again. “Cass, I need to tell you something.”
He felt her body tense and her mood shift. She was thinking the worse. “Are you married?” Cass lifted her eyes to him and he saw the pain begin to cloud over her.
“No, Cass. No. I’m not, and neither is Jax.”
She shrugged and took a deep breath, putting her nose close to his chest as she inhaled. “What’s wrong? Was this just a one-time thing for you? Not that we had sex or anything like that. Did you really only want coffee and shovels?”
He felt her lips pull into a smile against his skin when she said it. He kissed the top of her head. “No,” he said, tipping her head back to look into her eyes. “We’re not shifters like you think we are. I’m mean, not like the shifters you’re used to. We’re different.”
“Should I put my pants on before we have this conversation?” Cass sat up and pulled her bra around her torso, clamping the little hooks together. She looked so innocent like this. Happily satiated, but worried.
Damon grinned. “I wish you wouldn’t.”
She slapped his chest and then got up to grab her castaway clothes. “So, you’re not a shifter, but you are?” She ran her fingers through her hair and then started to put on her panties but couldn’t find them. Realization bubbled a laugh up her throat. “Can I have them back, please?”
He looked down at the floor and then adjusted his dick in his pants. He would give himself relief the first chance he got. The smell of her sweet pussy still on his face would be his undoing, and he vowed not to wash her scent from him until then.
Cass cleared her throat. “I’m waiting.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I see them hanging out of your pocket.”
“And that’s where they’ll stay.”
Cass took a deep breath and held out her hand. “Gimme.”
Damon reached in his pocket and pulled them out, but just as she reached to grab them he ripped them in half. With a cocky grin, he said, “They’re ruined. And they smell like you, Cass. Can I keep them?” He walked toward her where she stood at the sink and put an arm on either side of her on the counter, trapping her. “Please.” He leaned down and slid his nose from her collarbone to her ear, committing her scent to memory.
Damon’s lips reached hers and she opened for him, accepting his plucking kisses. In defeat, she wrapped her arms around his middle. “You owe me more. That was one of my favorite pair.”
When his eyes met Cass’s they were yellow glowing orbs. He could see the light of his eyes shining in hers. “I’ll buy you as many as you want as long as you let me come to the store and model them for me.”
She dropped her eyes, and when she looked up at him beneath hooded lashes he saw the wily sex-kitten he knew was buried deep inside her. “I’ll agree to that.”
By the time they made it back into the living room to Jax, Cass had finally made coffee. Damon went to the truck to pull out some blueberry muffins that he’d bought at the store and warmed them up.
Damon could smell new lust blossom from her body as she walked closer to Jax, and he reveled in her pheromones. She’d probably never been with two men before. They needed to take it slow, not overwhelm her.
She put the tray down on the table, and when she went to sit in the recliner that sat in the corner, Jax lifted his arm and held out his hand. “Will you sit with me?”
Chapter 4
Cass looked over at Damon and for some reason, she couldn’t find it in herself to be ashamed of what they did in the other room. She knew Jax could hear everything that happened and still wanted her close to him.
Damon smiled and nodded at her. It eased something in her soul to have him be all right with her wanting Jax, just as she wanted him. Heck, he’d told her they shared women. And if by some chance she found the strength in herself to share a bed with both men she might reach a high from which she would never come down.
The thought to only take half of a muffin passed through her mind, but instead, she grabbed her prepared coffee and a whole muffin. If her sister were there, she would have chastised Cass for not cutting it in half, but these two sexy men didn’t even bat an eye. Damon didn’t look disgusted when he saw the roll around her stomach. In fact, it seemed to turn him on. He kissed and massaged it and she would swear he whispered that he fucking loved it. One could only hope.
As she sat down next to Jax he moved over a little more just to get closer to her. The muscles of his thigh flexed under his sweatpants as he straightened his leg, and Cass had the urge to sit on his lap. The dominance rolled off him in waves. So did his desire for her. How the heck could she know that?
“Coffee?” she asked Jax to distract herself from eyeballing his massive, muscled thighs. And sexy tatted arms. And puckered man nipples through his tee-shirt. She needed to get a grip.
Damon was already drinking his coffee. He made it back in the kitchen, and Cass smiled to herself. They drank their java just the same: heavy cream and heavy sugar.
Leaning forward, Jax grabbed his cup and left it black. When he settled into the chair he draped his arm across the back of the couch behind Cass and rubbed her arm. She loved his affection and shimmied closer to him to let him know she appreciated his touch.
But why did she love it so much? It didn’t make sense to her, and that was just fine.
After she took a few bites of the muffin, a new favorite thing to add to the market list, she took a few sips of coffee and looked between them. “This is all so weird. I just met you but
I’m sitting here with you like we’ve been best friends since grade school.”
Not to mention she just had her world utterly rocked by Damon on the kitchen floor. That man had a dangerous mouth. And hands. She couldn’t wait until she could feel him move inside her, make her scream. How would her body work with both of them?
Stop thinking about that, she thought. She was already worked up. Thinking of these two riding her body was too much. Too much too soon. They had something important to tell her and all she could do was imagine how having them both inside of her would make her feel.
“If you keep thinking whatever the hell it is you’re thinking Damon and I are going to have you bent over this couch, with you trying to figure out how to form words again.” A low growl rumbled in Jax’s chest, and it zinged straight to her core.
A sound like that should frighten a person. All it did for Cass was turn her the heck on. Cass didn’t know how she knew, but they’d never hurt her. Well, they’d never hurt her in a way she didn’t like. No. These two coveted her. They revered her, and she didn’t know why. She was average. Wide hips, large breast, a behind just this side of too big, and a massive mane of dark and unruly coils. And she was short. Imagine her, taming two large men who could tear her house apart brick by brick with their shifter strength.
Clearing her throat, Cass sat forward and put down her unfinished coffee and muffin. “What did you want to talk to me about?” She sat back and pulled her feet up on the chair, leaning into Jax.
Jax put his cup down on the table next to him and leaned back so she could get comfortable. “We aren’t shifters, not really. But if we were Damon and I would be the clan leaders. I’d be the Alpha and he’d be the Omega. He’s the mind and support of our group that keeps us steady. I’m the Alpha and leader. The woman who is meant to be ours would be the heart and balance of us. We’ve been looking for her for a long time.”
