by Sarah Piper
I smiled, brushing my fingertips over his beard. I’d never said the words out loud to him; I’d never found the courage before. But tonight—with every kiss, every touch, every kind word—he’d given me strength.
“I’m thinking I’m in love with you, Ronan Vacarro,” I whispered.
And there in the flickering candlelight, when he pulled me close and kissed my mouth and whispered three little words against my lips, too, I knew that this was real. That all the twists and turns in my life had led me here, right where I was supposed to be.
Eight
GRAY
Snuggling beneath the sheets with my bare back against Ronan’s chest, I couldn’t calm my giddy heart.
I still didn’t know what to make of what had happened in the woods tonight, but for the first time since Sophie’s death, the night had brought more rainbows than rain: scrying, reclaiming my book of shadows, connecting with earth magic, helping Asher, seeing Liam again, and most importantly, falling asleep in the arms of the man I loved.
Trying to, anyway.
“Mmm. Why aren’t you asleep?” Ronan nuzzled the back of my neck, his voice soft and gravely in my ear as his hand slid up to cup my breast.
“If you want me to sleep,” I said, “maybe you should stop touching me like that.”
“I’ll never stop touching you like this.” His thumb ghosted across my nipple, sending a new shockwave of pleasure straight to my core.
“You’re not… tired?” I asked, but his touch was making it extremely difficult to speak.
God, this man’s hands… Someone should write a song about them…
“I was,” he said. “But now I’m… up.” He stroked my nipple again and rocked his hips forward against my backside, presenting some rock-solid evidence to back up his claims.
“You are such a bad influence, demon.” Arching against him, I let out a soft sigh, already imagining the hot, sweet feel of him between my thighs…
A knock on the door startled us both.
“Ronan?” It was Darius, his voice urgent. “Is Gray with you?”
“Yes,” Ronan said. “Now go away.”
“If I’m interrupting, I can return at a more convenient time. Though I was hoping—”
“It’s fine,” I blurted out, at the same time Ronan said, “You’re interrupting.”
Darius let out a low chuckle on the other side of the door. “Well, which is it?”
Heat rushed to my cheeks, and I held my breath, not sure what to say next. Of course Darius was interrupting—that much was obvious.
But my imagination was already serving up a slow-motion play-by-play of my vampire stripping off his clothes, lifting the sheets, and climbing right into this bed with me.
With us.
Maybe it was crazy and self-indulgent, but some part of me—okay, a few parts, including one in particular that was currently very hot, and very wet—really wanted to let him in.
“Enter if you must,” Ronan said, saving me from having to make the decision. He’d done his best to sound annoyed, but I wasn’t buying it. His voice was still gravelly, still seductive.
And as Darius entered the room, Ronan’s cock was still pressing quite urgently against my ass.
“Gray. Are you alright, love?” Darius asked, coming over to kneel beside the bed. His honey-colored eyes were warm and golden in the candlelight. “We didn’t get a chance to talk about what happened in the woods.”
Ronan huffed. “And you thought now would be a good time?”
“The sun will be up in a few hours, demon. If not now, I’ll have to wait until tomorrow evening to speak with her.”
“And the fact that she’s naked right now has nothing to do with your sudden need to see her?”
Darius’s lips slid into a cool grin, desire flaring in his eyes. “Now that you mention it…”
Beneath the sheet, Ronan’s thumb traced over my nipple, making me gasp. He was still hard and ready, his breath hot on my neck, and when he shifted closer to me, I closed my eyes and let out a soft moan.
A low growl rumbled in Darius’s throat, and holy hell, was I turned on.
“You okay?” Ronan asked, his lips brushing my neck.
“Very,” I said softly. I opened my eyes, meeting Darius’s desirous gaze. “But this is a little… awkward.”
“Is it?” Darius asked. His gaze shifted to Ronan, who simply replied, “If you’re staying, bloodsucker, close the damn door.”
Darius did not need to be told twice.
He shut the door and returned to his position beside the bed, reaching for my face. When he traced the outline of my lips, I opened my mouth and slowly took him in, sucking gently as he slid his finger across my tongue.
Darius, all-powerful immortal vampire, shuddered.
He dragged his finger from my mouth, and I let my gaze trail down his body, wishing he was already naked but unable to say it out loud.
As if he could sense my trepidation, Ronan said, “Tell us what you want, beautiful. What you need.”
Despite his momentary gruffness at Darius’s interruption, there was nothing in Ronan’s voice now but pure, red-hot fire.
I closed my eyes, suddenly shy.
Was this really happening?
Ronan and Darius both knew that I’d been… well… close with the other, and Ronan had already told me he was open to the possibility that I might develop feelings for the other guys.
But this was different. This was close… together. At the same time. The two of them, wrapping me in a cocoon of heat and pleasure, touching me…
“I’ve never done anything like this before,” I confessed, opening my eyes to meet Darius’s gaze.
His golden eyes shone with new heat. “Never?”
I shook my head.
Despite their thirty-something-year-old bodies, Darius was a centuries-old vampire, and Ronan was a centuries-old demon. They’d probably had lots of practice with threesomes and foursomes and who knew how many other-somes. But me? Until last week with Ronan, my sex life had been hibernating since before the invention of the smartphone.
“It’s just us,” Ronan said, his voice a smoldering whisper. “Darius and me. We’re in this with you no matter what. There’s nothing to be embarrassed or worried about.”
I nodded, comforted by his words, knowing that I could trust them.
“But you have to tell us what you want,” Darius said. “No one is making any assumptions here.”
“I know.” I bit my lip, a flush of heat washing over me. Reaching a hand behind me to caress Ronan’s leg, and one in front to touch Darius’s face, I finally said it out loud. “I want you—both of you—naked in this bed with me.”
Darius stood up to undress. I watched as he carefully unhooked each button on his shirt, slowly revealing the lean muscles of his chest and abdomen. In typical Darius form, he hung the shirt over the back a chair in the corner, careful not to wrinkle it. The pants and boxer briefs were next, sliding down his toned thighs at an agonizingly glacial pace, giving me an unobstructed view of his perfect erection.
My core throbbed with a need so deep it ached.
Just when I feared my body might burst into flames if he didn’t touch me soon, he lifted the sheet and climbed beneath it, and I closed my eyes, taking a moment to appreciate all the little things—the way his whiskey-and-leather scent mingled with Ronan’s smokey cloves-and-campfire. The warmth radiating among us, heating my skin. The rapid beat of my heart. How safe I felt nestled between them, my demon and my vampire.
How much I truly wanted this. Wanted them.
Wordlessly I wrapped my leg around Darius’s hip and reached for his cock, stroking his perfect length as Ronan slid into me from behind, filling me completely.
“Relax,” Ronan murmured into my hair, sensing my lingering awkwardness. “Let us do this for you. Let us make you feel good.”
“I just…” I squeezed my eyes shut, still a bit uncertain. I wanted this more than anything, but the momen
t felt big and overwhelming—at least to me. I didn’t want to misread anything. “I don’t want to make assumptions, either. Are you sure you guys are into this?”
“We’re into this,” they said simultaneously, and I laughed, the last of my doubts eradicated by another one of Ronan’s expertly-positioned thrusts.
Darius captured my gasp of pleasure with a kiss that unleashed a hundred butterflies in my stomach, and I tightened my fist around him, elated that he’d finally allowed me to touch him. To feel him.
To make him lose a little bit of that control he prided himself on.
With my other hand, I reached behind me again, seeking Ronan, wanting him to know how much I loved him. How much I needed him. I curled my hand over his hip and squeezed, pouring everything I felt into that touch, into my kiss for Darius, into all of this.
A growl rumbled deep in Ronan’s chest, his cock thickening inside me as he rocked his hips, the pleasure inside me building as the three of us created our perfect harmony of kisses and heartbeats and sighs and searing-hot caresses.
As the candles melted down to nubs, throwing the last of their dancing shadows on the wall, I inhaled the mingled scents of Ronan and Darius again, my chest fluttery and warm. I felt so close to them. So connected.
So cared for.
When the last candle finally winked out and the moon rose higher in the sky, I pulled away from Darius’s kiss, finding new confidence in the darkening room.
Safe in our private bubble of pure ecstasy, in the one place where I felt free to wish for beautiful, impossible things, I said, “I want to feel you inside me.”
“Mmm.” Darius ran a finger between my breasts, trailing down my abdomen, dipping down lower and lower until he found the perfect spot.
Teasing my aching clit with a slow, featherlight touch, he whispered, “You are absolutely insatiable, aren’t you?”
“I could’ve told you that.” Ronan bit the back of my neck, teasing the sensitive skin at the nape with his tongue.
“For you guys? Yes. I’m…” Oh, God. My scalp tingled with goosebumps, and I gave in to a full-bodied shiver, which Ronan took as encouragement to deepen his thrusts.
He was going to drive me wild, and Darius was going to tease me until I begged him for more, just like he’d promised that night we’d hooked up in his car.
And despite my pride and my dignity and all the teasing I’d doubtlessly endure later, I was absolutely going to give in.
“Please, Darius,” I begged. “I need you right… God, yes. Right there. I mean now. Right now. I… I want you guys to switch.”
But unlike me, Darius had no trouble sticking to his principles. “As much as I’d love to indulge you, little brawler, we’ve already discussed how that particular moment will unfold between us. Was I not clear?”
“Was I not a control freak?” Ronan teased, doing a pretty good impression of Darius’s accent.
“We will be in my bed,” Darius continued, unbothered by Ronan’s jabs. “I will be taking charge, and—”
“See?” Ronan said, kissing my shoulder as he worked his fingers up to my nipple again, showing no regard for the fact that I was melting into a puddle under his touch. “Control freak.”
“And,” Darius said, “the hellspawn twat will be nowhere in sight.”
“Can you believe this guy?” Ronan grunted. “I let him into my bed, but he won’t return the favor? I told you—never trust a bloodsucker.”
The two of them carried on with this banter as if I wasn’t about to spontaneously combust.
“I don’t trust either one of you at the moment,” I breathed, unable to form coherent thoughts as Ronan teased my nipple and Darius increased the pressure on my clit. “The two of you are… conspiring... against me.”
“Why on earth would we do that, love?” Darius asked.
“Because you’re a pair of no good, very bad—”
“Indeed.” Without warning, the vampire pulled me on top of him, and Ronan followed effortlessly, kneeling behind me and urging me up onto my hands and knees. As I hovered over Darius, my hair falling into his mouth, Ronan gripped my hips and slid back inside me with a deep, delicious thrust.
“You like your boyfriends bad,” Ronan said, running his palm up my spine.
“Very bad.” Darius raised his head just enough to reach my breasts, his mouth closing over my nipple and sucking it to a tight, diamond-hard peak. He grazed my tender flesh with his teeth, and I gasped, learning a new appreciation for the phrase hurt so good.
Just when I thought I couldn’t take another moment of his exquisite brand of torture, he moved to my other breast, flicking my nipple with his tongue until my whole body was trembling with need.
I reached for him again, wrapping my hand around him, stroking him harder and faster. Words fell away, leaving only breath and softs sighs and whispered names as the three of us balanced on the edge of bliss together, looking down over the abyss, knowing we had mere seconds before the wave washed us out to sea.
My thighs were slick with sweat, and pleasure hummed through every nerve, every cell, each one crying out for more, more, more.
Ronan was moving faster again, deeper, his fingers digging into my hips. Beneath me, Darius’s abs tightened, his cock growing even harder as he claimed my mouth in a bruising kiss.
Darius was the first to go, a deep rumble starting in his chest and escaping in a final moan as he rocked into my hand. The feel of his movements set me off next, my body clenching around Ronan as the orgasm exploded inside me, bringing my demon right along with me, his growl of pleasure reverberating straight into my chest as he clenched my hips and shuddered against me.
It felt like an eternity before we finally stilled. The room had fallen silent, the moon sharing the last of her distant light through the skylights above. It felt like she was peeking at us, and I smiled to myself, basking in her muted glow as I finally caught my breath, my heart feeling full and content.
When I had no more strength to hold myself up, I gave in to my delicious fatigue and collapsed onto the bed. Darius caught me with another kiss as Ronan pulled the sheet over us.
Together they wrapped me up in their arms, and in that moment, I gave myself over completely, trusting that no matter what else came our way, no matter what monsters awaited us on the other side, these strong, generous, incredible men would always be there to catch me when I fell.
Nine
GRAY
Is that bacon?
Alone in Ronan’s bed, I awoke to the heavenly scent of a home-cooked breakfast, the afternoon sun streaming in from the skylights and heating my skin. Darius had gone down to his basement quarters sometime before sunrise, and Ronan left early to run some errands in town, but I didn’t mind waking up solo. I didn’t need to see them to know they were still with me; my thighs burned with a delectable ache that brought back every red-hot memory of our wild night.
After a quick shower to chase the stiffness from my muscles, I wandered out into the main area, prepared to offer Emilio my first born in exchange for the breakfast of champions he’d clearly been working on.
Famed cooking skills aside, I was looking forward to spending more time with him. Of all the guys, he was the one I knew the least, and I still hadn’t gotten a chance to truly thank him for the kindness he’d shown me, especially on the night of Sophie’s murder.
My shoulders dipped under the weight of grief, still so fresh, so raw. Sometimes I still couldn’t believe it had actually happened. That this was my life, and my best friend was no longer part of it.
Despite the hollow in my chest, I pictured Sophie’s face, her brows drawn together in concentration as she painted her mandala rocks, and I smiled. Thinking of her now was bittersweet, but I’d take a lifetime of pain if it meant I got to see her face for one more second, even if that second was only a memory.
Blinking away tears, I squared my shoulders and headed into the kitchen, more than ready to join Emilio for breakfast.
“W
hat’s cookin’, good lookin’?” I asked, my spirits already lifting. “It smells amazing in—”
The sight stopped me in my tracks.
To my endless frustration, the shirtless man humming at the stove wasn’t the kind-hearted shifter detective who loved to cook, but the cocky incubus who loved to push my buttons.
“Good morning, beautiful,” Asher said. “Or rather, good afternoon.”
“Where’s Emilio?”
“Supply run with Ronan.” Asher lowered the flame on whatever he was sautéing and peeked at me over his shoulder, a sly grin plastered across his face. “They’ll be back in time for my epic feast, though.”
Giving him a skeptical eye, I said, “Since when do you cook?”
We hadn’t shared a single meal together the entire time we’d been secluded at the house.
“I don’t cook.” Asher shrugged, and I forced myself to keep my eyes from wandering back down to the dark, seductive tattoos snaking across his body. “Not really. But I do make a pretty mean spinach, mushroom, and Swiss scramble.”
My stomach rumbled. “I love scrambles.”
“I know. Over the years I’ve made it my business to learn exactly how a woman likes her eggs in the morning.” He winked at me before turning back to the pan, the heat between us cranking up from simmer to boil once again. “There’s bacon warming in the oven, too. Emilio already made the fruit salad, but you can set the table if you want.”
“Could you maybe… put a shirt on while you do that?”
“Hmm. Distracting you?”
More than you know…
“Yes. Health code violations are very distracting. I’m surprised none of your three hundred years’ worth of sleepover dates ever warned you about the dangers of unsanitary kitchen conditions.”
“I guess some things are worth the risk.” Setting aside the sautéed mushrooms and spinach, he cracked a bunch of eggs into a Pyrex mixing bowl and added a splash of milk, whipping it to a perfect froth with a flex of his catalog-worthy forearms.
