Dare to Surrender

by Jeanne St. James

  “Mmm hmm,” Grant murmured back, then he twisted toward Liv. “You speak French, Liv?”

  “No.”

  Grant placed a hand on Eli’s stomach. “Then, baby, no French, please, unless we’re in private.”

  What a shame. It sounded perfect coming from Eli’s dark, full lips, especially with that hint of an accent he had that she couldn’t place. “It’s a beautiful language.”

  “That it is,” Grant agreed.

  “Maybe I can teach you,” Eli suggested. “I’ve taught Grant all of the important stuff.” He smiled wickedly at her.

  Was he flirting? Impossible.

  “Eli, set the table?”

  Liv jumped forward. “I can help. I need to earn my keep.”

  She didn’t miss the slide of Eli’s eyes from her to Grant. And Grant didn’t, either. Something went unspoken between them. Something intimate. Liv’s breath shallowed and her pulse raced.

  “You’re our guest,” Eli stated.

  “I want to help,” she said more firmly.

  His answer was a cocked eyebrow, then he smiled. “Okay, I’ll show you where everything is.”

  As he moved around the kitchen opening cabinets and drawers, Liv stuck to his side. And when he reached over her to get something on an upper shelf, his arm brushed hers and she shivered.

  Holy shit, Liv, get yourself together. They’re married. They’re happy. And you’re only here because you’re in a mess. Don’t make more of one.

  “Liv,” Eli murmured.

  Her gaze lifted to meet his. “I...”

  Shit. Her nipples were painfully pebbled, and she could feel his searing heat. What the fuck was going on?

  “I...” she started again and swallowed hard.

  Grant cleared his throat, breaking the connection between Eli and her. “Table, Eli,” he reminded him.

  Eli blinked. “Right.” He grabbed the stuff for the place settings and moved away.

  “So, Liv, what do you do for a living?” Grant asked.

  “I work at a halfway house.”

  Grant’s head spun toward her and she could also feel Eli’s curious gaze.

  “Oh, as a counselor?”

  She shook her head. “No. One day maybe. Once I finish my degree.”

  “You’re working on getting your college degree?” The question came from the table area.

  She glanced over at Eli. “Yes. Slowly. I only take one class at a time. I’ve been working on it for a while. I sort of started late.”

  “Why’s that?” Grant asked.

  Because I’m poor and had to struggle in life just to get my GED so I could get a half-decent job, which I still don’t have at thirty-two years old.

  She pushed that out of her head.

  Eli finished setting the table and moved closer to her to lean back against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest. “What do you do there?”

  “I’m just an aide for now.”

  “An aide,” he repeated like he was tasting the word on his tongue. “That can’t pay much.”

  “It doesn’t pay shit. That’s why I’m only taking one course at a time. Would I like to go to school full-time and get my degree as soon as possible? Yes. Maybe one day when I meet my sugar daddy.” She laughed, but it fell flat.

  Once again the men’s eyes met, held for a moment, then fell back onto her.

  “Where do you go to school?” Eli asked.

  “Just at the community college. I do classes online. Luckily. Otherwise, this whole mess would be screwing that up, too.”

  “Right. Not a good idea to go onto campus right now,” Eli stated.

  “Or to work,” Grant added.

  Shit. “I can’t afford to lose my job, even if it doesn’t pay squat. I won’t be able to pay my rent or continue with school... Shit! I’m so screwed. I don’t even have my laptop since it’s at my apartment. How am I going to do my course work?” The reality of this whole situation swept over her like an avalanche. “Randall Dean is really fucking up my life.”

  Eli made a noise and she looked up at him. “Right. The laptop we can deal with. The job we can deal with. Keeping you off the grid is the most important thing right now,” he reminded her.

  “I know, but I have stuff on my laptop...” Her eyes widened when she remembered just what she had on there. “Shit!” She pressed her hands over her face and groaned.

  “What?”

  “I had texts, pictures.”

  “Compromising texts and pictures?” Grant asked, surprised.

  Eli frowned. “Of you?”

  She dropped her arms. “No! No. Shit! I forgot. Peggy gave me the memory card from her cellphone. I had downloaded it onto my laptop. It had texts between Randall and her. And photos of the two of them! That might be my only evidence against him. She said to hold onto them if things went badly between them.”

  “The laptop is in your apartment?” Eli asked.

  “Yes.”

  “What did you do with the chip? Give it back to her?”

  “No, I didn’t. I was going to. But I hid it and forgot about it.”

  “She never asked for it back?”

  “No. Maybe she didn’t need it. I don’t know.” Liv chewed her bottom lip. “It’s in my apartment, too. Fuck. I need to go back there.”

  “No, you’re not going back there. Not now. He could have someone watching it.”

  “But I need—”

  “No, Olivia. You can’t go back. You were right in not going back after witnessing what you did. We’ll figure a way to get in and out without getting seen.”

  “We will?” Grant asked, his eyebrows had climbed up his forehead.

  Eli’s gaze flicked to him then back to Liv. “I will.”

  “Eli...” Grant breathed.

  “I’ll figure it out.”

  “I don’t want to put you in any danger, either. Either one of you,” Liv said. “I truly appreciate you helping as it is by letting me stay here. But that’s enough. Actually, it’s too much. You don’t even know me.”

  “We know your brother.”

  “I don’t even know my brother,” she said, then ground the heels of her palms into her eyes, groaning. “What a fucking mess.”

  “We’ll deal with it,” Eli said firmly.

  She was glad someone was confident, because she sure wasn’t.

  Eli continued, “Well, being on house arrest will give you time to get to know him.”

  “House arrest?”

  “Sorry, bad joke. But it’ll be similar. For now, you need to stay here and not go anywhere. We have a great security system. After dinner, I’ll show you how to use it. Though, I’d prefer that you not even go outside right now. At least until we get an idea on what’s going on.”

  Who knew how long that would be and she had nothing but the clothes on her back. “But I don’t even have anything to wear.”

  “We’ll get Rayne to help out with that.”

  Great. From how she saw the woman dressed, her wardrobe was so out of her league. “I can’t afford to buy new clothes.”

  “It’s covered.”

  “By who?”

  “Trey, Rayne, Gryff, whomever. It’s not going to be a problem, they can afford it.”

  “I can’t ask that...” She didn’t want to be a burden and she might not be able to pay them back.

  “Olivia, it’ll be fine,” Eli reassured her.

  She was glad someone thought so.

  Chapter 4

  “Eli, I don’t want you going to that apartment,” Grant said.

  Eli watched his husband slip off his glasses and slide them onto the nightstand on his side of the bed.

  “Mon amour, I’m dark. I can slip in and out at night without anyone noticing.”

  “That’s not even funny.”

  Eli sighed. “I know. Sorry.”

  “It’s dangerous.”

  Grant climbed onto the bed and moved until he was pressed to Eli’s side. Eli put down the book he was readin
g and combed his fingers through Grant’s hair. “Thank you,” he murmured.

  Grant’s hazel eyes tipped up to his. “For what?”

  “For agreeing to this.”

  “Believe it or not, I like her.”

  “I know. I do, too.”

  “And she’s not cocky like Trey,” Grant added.

  “He’s changed.”

  “True, but he still has his moments.”

  “Mmm hmm,” Eli murmured, letting his fingers trace over Grant’s jawline, down his neck and over his collarbone.

  Grant’s hand slid over Eli’s stomach and up to his chest, stopping over his heart. “You want her,” he said softly.

  Eli refrained from answering. Instead he took his time gathering his thoughts. He didn’t want to start a fight and he didn’t want to hurt the man he loved, either.

  He definitely wanted Olivia. During dinner and afterward, he couldn’t deny the attraction. And when she stood close to him while he taught her how to use the security system, her scent, her closeness had made his body react in a way it usually only did for Grant.

  “Yes, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to act on it. I’m happily married, remember?” He wiggled his ring finger, which was encircled by a wide, engraved gold band. He was also strong enough to resist following every whim or desire.

  “You’ve never cheated on me.” Grant’s fingers curled into Eli’s skin.

  Eli sucked in a breath. “Of course not. And I don’t plan on starting. I would never do anything that you don’t agree with.”

  “So... you’re asking,” Grant stated softly.

  Eli remained quiet. He wanted to, yes.

  Grant continued, “I figured there was more to it.”

  “I’m not asking. I’ll let you decide how and when things progress.”

  Eli waited for Grant to stiffen or push away and get pissed. But, surprisingly, he didn’t. It was a good sign.

  “We don’t even know if she’s interested,” Grant said softly.

  “True.”

  “She’s attracted to you, though.”

  “You, too. It was hard to miss.”

  “So, what are you saying?”

  Eli shook his head. “I don’t know. I mean.... Her life’s a freaking mess right now and she’s in real danger. Shouldn’t this be the last thing on my mind? Hell, on our minds?”

  “Her safety should be our first priority.”

  Eli didn’t need that little reminder. He knew that. “I never thought I’d be attracted to a woman again. It’s been a long time.”

  “Me, too.”

  Eli glanced down at his husband whose head now laid in his lap. His cock twitched at the thought of Grant’s mouth being so close. All he had to do was pull down his shorts just enough...

  But those two words his husband had just said bounced around his brain. “Are you attracted to her?”

  Grant let his hand slide back down Eli’s sternum and over his abs to his lower belly. Eli’s cock began to rise.

  Grant sighed. “Surprisingly, I am. Though, I shouldn’t be. She does remind me of Trey and that man’s hot as hell.”

  Eli chuckled. “Agreed.”

  “But it’s been so long since I’ve been with a woman.”

  It had been for them both. That’s because they’d been a couple for a long time. Over ten years.

  “Okay, well... We could always explore this...” Eli let the last hang.

  Grant’s fingers slipped under the elastic band of Eli’s shorts and tugged them down slightly.

  Now Eli’s cock was fully at attention, making his loose shorts tent in his lap.

  “You’re tempting me, big man,” Grant murmured.

  Eli didn’t know if he was tempting Grant with the idea of Olivia or with his erection. “Hmm, yes. That’s my evil plan.”

  Grant smiled up at him. “Nothing wrong with having dessert twice.”

  Eli agreed. “No, there isn’t.”

  “If I do this for you, I get to top you.”

  “Ah, doing some negotiating, counselor?”

  “I’m an expert at it.”

  “You certainly are.”

  “Will you accept the deal?” Grant asked, the corners of his lips curved, his fist gripping Eli’s cock tightly.

  Eli rocked his hips upward. “I think those are acceptable terms. Wait. Are we talking about Olivia or you giving me head?”

  “A blowjob. If you want to negotiate in regard to Olivia, it’s going to take more than just one night of topping.”

  “Hmm. I was afraid of that.”

  Grant tugged Eli’s shorts down even farther, until his cock sprung free. Grant squeezed the root with his fingers and his warm, wet tongue circled the crown, sweeping away the sole bead of precum.

  Eli dug his hands into Grant’s hair. It wasn’t long enough to get a good purchase, but it wasn’t too short, either. Eli loved the man’s hair, especially since he had none of his own.

  Grant shifted, getting in a better position to take Eli fully into his mouth and when he did, Eli’s eyelids lowered, and he tilted his head back, staring up at the ceiling for a moment, letting the sensation of Grant’s warm, wet mouth swirl over him.

  Oh fuck. Grant was great at giving head. He tipped his eyes back down, watching his partner rise and fall on his cock as he sucked hard, then soft, letting his tongue roam the length and circle the crown.

  “J'ai hâte de t’avoir,” Eli groaned.

  Grant lifted his head just enough to say, “Uh-uh. I get to top tonight.”

  “Why did I ever teach you French?”

  Grant chuckled but it was muffled when he took Eli back between his lips. Eli’s hips rose slightly, not getting enough of his husband’s mouth. Warm, long fingers cupped his sac, then played along the crease, pressing, teasing until he wormed a finger farther down.

  Grant lifted his head again, whispering, “That’s mine tonight.”

  “It’s yours every night, mon amour.”

  Grant cocked an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

  Eli chuckled. “You know what I mean.”

  Then Grant lowered his head again and when he made an “mmm” sound around Eli’s cock the vibrations made his balls tighten.

  Fuck, he was going to come in Grant’s mouth if he didn’t let up.

  “Mon amour...”

  “Hmm?”

  “Fuck... I’m going to come.”

  Another mmm vibrated around his length.

  “Not yet. I don’t want to come yet...” Eli breathed, his eyes rolling back in his head as Grant’s tongue traced the thick veins, teased the spot where his sac met his cock, then swirled his tongue over the head once more.

  Grant was good with his mouth, whether giving a closing argument in the courtroom or wrapping it around Eli’s length. Or even simply kissing.

  He was happy to have such an intelligent, caring lover. And he couldn’t screw that up.

  He wouldn’t.

  But he still needed to explore this pull with Olivia. And for a moment, he imagined it was her sucking him, stroking the delicate skin of his sac, and squeezing his balls gently but firmly.

  Holy fuck. His eyes popped open and he hadn’t even realized he’d closed them with his little fantasy. He stared down at his husband who was giving his all to pleasure him, to bring him to the peak and...

  His hands flexed in Grant’s hair as he thrust up and came into his mouth, down his throat, Grant’s eyes never leaving Eli’s as his pulsing cock released every last drop. His lover took all of it like he always did.

  Grant released him and gave him a soft smile. “You always taste so good.”

  “Because you feed me well, mon amour. You know that makes a difference.”

  “So you say. Now, my turn.” His eyes glittered with anticipation.

  “How do you want me?” Eli asked, his heart, which had started to slow down after coming, began to race all over again.

  “Mmm. Love that question.”

  Eli chuckled, running a t
humb over Grant’s bottom lip. His husband pushed up and pressed his lips to Eli’s, who parted his mouth and let Grant slip in his tongue, giving him the control. But not for long. Eli’s fought back and their tongues tangled and sparred, which drew a moan from both of them. Grant’s hard length pressed against Eli’s thigh and he couldn’t wait to feel it against him and inside him.

  As much as Eli loved to top Grant, he also loved when Grant topped him. It gave him a sense of completeness, as if the two of them were one. Partners, lovers, two halves of a whole.

  “Finish taking off your shorts,” Grant murmured against Eli’s lips, his breath coming faster than normal. “Then take off my bottoms.”

  “Ah, not only are you going to top, you’re going to be bossy, too.”

  “Just a little bit.”

  “When you’re bossy, there’s nothing little bit about it, mon Napoléon.”

  “But it turns you on.”

  “That it does. And me speaking French does the same for you.”

  “That it does,” Grant echoed. The amusement in his voice quickly disappeared. “Now... shorts off.”

  When Grant rolled away, Eli lifted his hips and yanked his shorts the rest of the way off his legs before tossing them over the side of the bed.

  Then he tackled Grant with a growl, knocking him flat on his back, shoving his fingers into the waistband of his pajama bottoms and pushing them down until his husband’s cock sprang forward.

  With a quick lick to the crown, Eli finished pushing the cotton drawstring pants down his legs and ripped them off his feet. He tossed those aside, too.

  He slid his body slowly back up Grant’s, making sure they remained skin to skin. When they were finally face to face, Eli dropped another kiss on the other man’s lips, sliding his hands down Grant’s arms to snag his wrists. Before Eli got a chance to pin them above Grant’s head, his lover spun, taking Eli with him and with a whoosh of breath, Eli found himself on his back looking up at his husband.

  “Naughty boy,” Grant teased, the corners of his eyes crinkling. He tilted his hips, thrusting his cock along Eli’s inner thigh. “Tonight’s my night.”

  “Can’t blame a guy for trying,” Eli said, fighting back a smile.

  “Back or belly?”

  Grant was giving Eli a choice. A difficult one because he liked it both ways. So why not do both? “Les deux.”