Dedication

by Aisling Weaver

  Elizabeth shifted in her sleep, body stretching, reaching. I watched the fine muscles of her face, absorbed her waking in increments, tension returning, her brows twitching; I knew her sharp mind worked on overdrive, pulling together sensory input, analyzing; I’d watched her sleep, wake, often enough. When her eyes opened, clear blue and aware, they focused on me. I smiled, pulled a knee up to my chest and propped my chin on it.

  She held me with her gaze, weighing what she read in my expression. Elizabeth never failed to stun me with what she divined in my face. Connor shifted behind her, pulling her tightly against him, hips rocking against hers in my peripheral vision. Her lips parted in a soft gasp, eyes unfocusing, briefly, before zeroing in on me once again. A brow arched in silent question and I wrapped my other arm snuggly around my knee and settled more comfortably. Elizabeth gave me a tender look, pursed her lips at me in a kiss and let her eyes drift shut. Connor’s gaze replaced hers, meeting mine from behind her shoulder as he tasted the length of her neck with soft kisses, drawing low sighs. He measured me, much the same way he had yesterday, but with a gaze that simmered with the shared intimacy of the night prior. My pulse quickened as he slid his hand along the sinuous curve of her waist and hip and I licked my lips. At his arched brow I shook my head, sinking deeper into the chair, rooting myself there.

  I wanted to watch, to witness, to see how they were together.

  Connor blinked in acknowledgment and turned his attention from me. I felt their awareness of my presence melt from their minds as he kissed her. Their lips played together in sensual, languid greeting; so exquisite, so evocative I could read the language they spoke. Her touch said, ’I’ve missed you,’ as she cupped his face, rolling onto her back. ’I know,’ said his hands when he slid between between her thighs, settling against her. Elizabeth pulled her calf up the back of his leg, a slow opening, a blossoming. His hips twitched at the invitation and I nearly sighed with them as he teased her further open, sinking into her.

  She closed around him, legs and arms, pulling him deeper, gasping his name. “I’m here,” he whispered, rocking in that way spoke less of thrusting than of deep, owning penetration. My skin shimmered in the intensity of it, lips parted, eyes dilated to take every detail in, imprint it on my mind, remember every second. Brow to brow they held nearly immobile, the only betrayal of the depths of their embrace the sheen of sweat on his back and the fine, tiny tremors that traced their bodies. Their lips, so close they could kiss, delivered words, soft words, hard words, words that shared their intense passion for each other.

  I devoured them; each shiver of pleasure that traced his spine, each gasp that escaped her lips; each word they exchanged. “Fill me, Connor,” she whispered when they both panted from the anaerobic exertion, their bodies trembling on the edge. He cupped a hand behind her knee, unwrapped her from him, hooked it over his elbow, spreading her wide and revealing their slick joining to me. Her fingers dug into his back as he began to slide in and out, her breath revealing her desperate nearness to orgasm, so close it would take little to tip her over. His arms shook, flanks trembled like a winded horse, and I held my breath as he tilted up into her, growling, “Come for me, Liz.”

  Her cry ripped from her and Connor sank deep, hilting himself, hips jerking, coming with a hoarse shout with her. I shook at the intensity, trembling in the circle of my own arms, refusing to blink, to breathe, as they quaked together.

  It was the most beautiful, heartstopping vision I’d ever witnessed.

  They clung to each other; Connor buried his face in her neck, whispering so soft I couldn’t divine the words. I smiled and unfolded from my chair, slipping from them unseen and unheard, leaving them to bathe in their afterglow and turning my attention to nourishment.

  * * * *

  They found me in the kitchen some time later; Connor half dressed in a pair of flannel pajama pants that sat low on his hips and Elizabeth in the matching top, two buttons holding it closed, the length of her legs and swell of her hips bared. Her arms closed around me, one at my waist, other at my shoulders, as I slid a pan of scones into the oven; I leaned back against her willingly. “You’ll tell me what that was about, my Gwen?” she whispered into my hair, tightening her grip, lips grazing my temple. I nodded and she turned me in her arms. Her eyes examined my face, looking for tension, I knew, and she smiled when my lips curved in easy response. She captured my lips in a lazy kiss that coiled through me and settled into a deep throb inside my cunt. “Sit,” she instructed after freeing me, nudging me towards the table where Connor sprawled, a languid lion.

  “I can do—”

  She flashed a look past me. “Connor?”

  I didn’t have enough time to worry at her tone when a pair of hands grabbed me by the waist and settled me on his lap. I struggled instinctively; he slapped the curve of my ass, huge palm leaving a glowing heat in the wake of the sharp crack.

  “Sit still,” he growled. I swallowed and froze, eyes wide until Elizabeth started to chuckle and he joined her. I glowered at him over my shoulder, rubbing the curve of my ass and he winked at me. “You weren’t listening,” he teased.

  “I was to, I just wasn’t—” Elizabeth interrupted me this time, silencing my excuse with her lips. I shivered and leaned into her, grateful, suddenly, as Connor balanced me, his hands still at my waist.

  She lifted her head and I met her eyes, breathless. “You were being obstinate,” she said, touching a finger to my lips. My tongue snaked out to taste the tip, lips closed over it, sucking lightly. Her expression grew sultry.

  A ringing phone interrupted; my cell phone. Elizabeth grumbled and grabbed it, wincing as she looked at the screen.

  “You want me to take this?” Her expression had softened to one of concern and my stomach lurched; that meant it was Emma. She didn’t wait, merely flipped the phone open.

  “Hello?” Elizabeth closed the distance between us, glancing past me to Conner who sat up, seating me more securely on him and letting her slip closer. My eyes remained glued to her face.

  “Yes, hello Emma….Mm-hmm, she’s here….Oh? Well I’m sure it just slipped her mind….well, what time?….Eight?….I’ll make sure she leaves in time then. Okay, goodbye, Emma.”

  She closed the phone with a snap and tossed it on the table. “Her mother’s birthday party is tonight?”

  I frowned. “It was supposed to be next weekend.” Elizabeth shrugged one shoulder and twined her fingers into my hair. Connor’s arm slid around my waist and they pinned me between them.

  “Apparently not anymore, my Gwen. So we’d best get you something to eat, so Connor and I can take you in the shower.”

  My brain stumbled, split between the phone call and her announcement. She touched my jaw, drawing my gaze back to hers and smiled in reassurance. I hated it when they collided, Emma and Elizabeth, my past and my future, trapped in the strangest sort of limbo.

  “It’s okay, darling,” she whispered. I shivered and Connor rubbed his thumb soothingly against my arm. The timer chimed and she smiled, turning to the oven.

  “We’ve three hours. Lets make the best of them, my dears.”

  Chapter 6

  Invocation

  We ate scones fresh from the oven; exhaling steam from the hot interior, inhaling to cool our mouths. Elizabeth caught my hand as I reached for marmalade, sliding my sleeve up. ”Oh my,” she exhaled, sliding a gentle finger over the bruised skin, sending a shiver down my spine. Connor took my other hand; I trembled when he fit his large hand around my wrist, fingers lapping his thumb.

  “Good thing I can wear long sleeves.” My voice came out sparse, hushed, and Elizabeth lifted my hand, kissing my wrist.

  “A good idea,” she said, sharing a knowing glance with me. Emma would not like seeing such reminders. “Speaking of,” she continued, rising with a sultry smile, “I do believe we’ve a shower to attend to.”

  They pulled me to my feet, a wrist captive to each, and my mouth went dry. There was premeditation in her ga
ze, a plan lingering in her smile; a hot shiver traced my spine. My brain scrambled, searching for thought, and Elizabeth shook her head at me. A hot slither of arousal coiled through my stomach and I followed without comment when she tugged me after her, Connor falling in step behind.

  She stood me in the middle of her bathroom, pressing a finger to my lips when I tried to speak. “Hush, my Gwen,” she said softly, my spine tingling as it always did at the possessor. Connor’s hands dropped to my shoulders and my breath left me in a sharp exhale. Her fingers freed each button of my faded, well-worn denim, sneaking in to stroke the revealed skin, dancing against my nerve endings like the kiss of summer’s warm rain. When she reached the last one, his hands bunched in the fabric and pulled it down my shoulders, leaving me bared to both of their gazes. I trembled.

  Elizabeth stepped into me, one hand unbuttoning her flannel top the other tangling in my hair. Some part of my mind heard the patter of water behind me as her lips caught mine in a languid kiss. I groaned and melted against her when she shrugged the shirt from her shoulders, letting it fall to the floor. Connor herded us into the shower, big warm palm radiating into the small of my back, guiding Elizabeth under the spray then me. The hot drops exploded against my skin and slicked our bodies, a sensual caress combined with her hot, exploring tongue. I wanted to drown in her. Her hands reached past me and I groaned into her mouth when Connor fit himself against my back, his flesh hot and hard. She pulled from my lips, nipped at the swollen curve of the lower, pushed against me, pinning me between them as their mouths met by my ear.

  My head spun in confused arousal. “Now,” she whispered after they parted, capturing my ear in her sharp teeth, drawing a gasp,“relax, darling.” My spine hummed with tension as Connor stepped back and let her turn me in her arms. She pulled me back against her, leaned us against the wall of the shower, water raining down over my chest, dripping from my tight nipples, flowing in rivulets down my stomach. Her hands reached around, tracing me, outlining my curves and dips, ending with both her palms full of my breasts. She rolled my nipples between thumb and forefinger until my head fell back against her shoulder, my knees wobbling at the surge of arousal. “Just let go, Gwen, and enjoy…Connor is so very talented with his mouth.”

  They both caught me as my knees buckled, her arm about my waist, his hands on my hips, kneeling already before me. His eyes caught mine through the fall of water and I swiped the hair plastered to his forehead back. “Open up for me, Gwen. It’s your turn for pleasure.”

  Elizabeth’s mouth sucked the water from my neck, teeth raking against my skin and she growled against my skin. “Spread your thighs, darling,” she said, sliding her fingers down to the join of my hip and thigh, teasing them inward, urging. Connor leaned in, stumbled jaw rough against my tender skin, and swiped his tongue against me, rewarding me. My thighs spread wider still and Elizabeth moaned a sound of encouragement as I arched over her shoulder in surrender. His tongue twisted around my clit, making my hips jerk, pulling harsh gasps from my mouth.

  “Good girl,” she whispered and I shook as she slid down, guiding my shoulders back to the warm showerwall. Her fingers slid into me from behind, finding my hot, tight, liquid center, pushing farther and farther until I pressed up on my toes, shuddering. Connor’s tongue slid around them, tasting where our flesh met.

  They balanced me between them, fingers and tongue, hands holding me still, water cascading over me, slicking my hair to my face. I wanted to collapse, my legs shaking with the exertion of remaining upright. I dropped a hand to her shoulder, another to his crown and rode against them, finally letting go as Elizabeth fucked deep into me, as her own sounds of pleasure joined mine. I could feel Connor’s arm snaked between my legs, knew he was fucking her even as he tortured my needy clit with his talented tongue, pushing her as she pushed me, as I bucked into him.

  Her mouth closed around my nipple, teeth seized it, tongue tortured it. She tugged it, held it, let it go with a snap, called to me, her voice low and ragged. “Come for me, Gwen!”

  My head hit the wall so hard colors blossomed on the inside of my eyelids as my orgasm erupted in a shockwave from my clit. I screamed, voice breaking, knees giving way, heard Elizabeth’s release rise to twine with mine even as I sank to the shower floor. Pleasure rolled through my body, over my skin following the path of the water, narrowing and expanding in pulses around her fingers, against his tongue. They caught me, cradled me there in the artificial rain, Elizabeth across Conner’s lap, both of their arms around me. She whispered my name, touched my face, calling me back to her.

  * * * *

  Sometime later they stood me back in the middle of the bathroom, drying me me with soft towels against my protests. I winced when Connor squeezed the water from my hair and his fingers prodded the knot on the back of my head carefully. Elizabeth frowned, touched my chin. “Look at me,” she said firmly. My eyes had drifted and I focused on her, smiling when she traced my lower lip with a finger. “Hmm, well, we at least didn’t give you a concussion,” she teased. I laughed softly, mindful of the dull throb. She finally surrendered the towel to me and I gratefully turned my attention to drying her creamy skin, happy to turn the focus back on her. Connor met my eyes with a knowing smile when I glanced over her shoulder and flushed.

  She arched a brow at me when I held her robe up, a matter of habit, and she laughed, padded past and into the bedroom beyond. Connor waved me ahead and followed, snapping a towel at my bare bottom, making me yelp. Without thought I turned and snapped mine back at him, the wet tail snaking out to bite the inside of his thigh. He grunted and I suddenly realized who I’d just snapped and backpedaled as he advanced. He lowered his head and pinned me with a dark glower, the corner of his sensual mouth betraying his true goal. Elizabeth’s arms closed about me from behind and I froze as her lips brushed against my neck.

  “You’d be in trouble, darling, if you didn’t need to leave soon.”

  Her words poured like cold water over my skin and I watched as Connor’s face reflected the same. I turned in her arms and sought her mouth with mine, hungry for her still, as always. She let me lose myself in her, mouth to mouth, breast to breast, hip to hip, until the need for breath forced us apart. I caught my lip in my teeth at her smoldering look and shivered, closing my eyes on the fervent desire to ignore the summons home, to just stay, immersed. Her fingers brushed my cheek, thumb teased my lip free, and she leaned in close. “I know.”

  It took an act of sheer willpower to dress, to keep my eyes focused on nothing further than my hands could reach as they did the same. Leaving was always hard but this seemed harder still, as if something hung, unresolved. I packed the clothes from my drive out in my worn out backpack, retrieved my cell, and slid into my light coat. I had my keys in hand when Elizabeth pulled me back to her, wrapping her arms around me and kissing me until I whimpered into her mouth. “Just three weeks,” she whispered against my lips, reminding me, giving me that length of rope to hold onto that I could follow back to her.

  Connor stepped up behind her and pulled us both to him in a hug, long, strong arms enfolding her and I in an embrace similar and yet so different from any so far. He kissed the top of my head and tickled his fingers against the nape of my neck. I pulled back and looked up at him, catching his brilliant eyes with mine. “Take care of her.” I felt her body jerk in response and ignored it, knowing he and I already spoke a different language. He nodded and leaned down, pressing his lips to my brow.

  “Always,” he whispered against my skin. I shivered, swallowed and carefully extracted myself, pressing a hand to her side to keep her close to him. With my heart in my throat I hooked my bag over my shoulder and ducked out the door, refusing to look back until I reached my car. They waited in the door, his arms wrapped around her from behind, her hands flattened over his. I waved as I slid into my car, the seat warming to me slowly. They waved back and watched as I backed around their cars and pointed my car at the road. My eyes kept flickering to the rear view
as I pulled down her drive, watching them watch me drive away.

  My phone rang less than a mile down the road. “You will call when you get home.” Her voice sounded like I felt.

  “Yes.” I couldn’t seem to manage more than a whisper.

  “And call if Emma gives you any hassle.”

  I swallowed, eyes sliding from the road to the marks on my wrist. “I will.”

  Silence hung on the line for a stretch as I snaked along the narrow country lane that would deliver me to the highway. She hadn’t yet, but I’d never taken off unplanned like yesterday, nor had I ever come home so thoroughly marked. My clit pulsed at the memories and I trembled.

  “Okay. Drive safe, my Gwen, and we’ll talk Tuesday night.” Our normal time, our weekly phone call while Emma attended one of her meetings.

  “I will, and I can’t wait.” I knew how my voice sounded; hushed, quiet, intent, my words whispered as a prayer, an invocation.

  “Me either.”

  She hung up and I snapped my phone closed, tossing it to the seat beside me. I slid a CD into the radio and turned it up, letting the deep bass and powerful melodies drown out my thoughts. I had enough time to think later.

  Chapter 7

  Confession

  Four hours passed like eight. I pulled into my own drive at a touch past seven, my stomach coiling with nerves. A squeal greeted me as I rose from the car and I turned, smiling, to watch my four-year-old niece barrel out the door, legs and arms churning.

  “Winnie!” she shrilled, pitching herself off the steps at me, trusting, as always, that I would catch her. She knocked the breath from me as I caught her and twirled her around.