Roman gave a guttural groan and stepped away, pulling his mouth away from her with a muttered word in Greek. “Garrett, keep Kate distracted, or I’ll never get this done.”
Garrett had moved from the bed. He stood a pace away, his eyes dark with lust. He’d been drawn to them.
Roman shrugged out of his jacket and threw it onto a chair sitting in the corner, then stepped back behind her again.
But Garrett didn’t take his place in front of her. Instead he knelt at her feet.
“What are you doing?” Kate asked.
“Something else I’ve wanted to do all night,” Garrett told her. He tugged on the bows at the back of her ankles, unravelling the ribbons. He coaxed the satin ribbons to coil into curls around her feet, running his fingers the length of her ankles and down to her toes. He drew her lower leg out of the shoe and pushed it aside.
Kate caught at his shoulder for balance as he slid his tongue along the top of her calf, up to the inside of her knee and higher still, until the silk of the dress stopped him from further progress. She was shivering when he was done.
Then he placed her foot on the rug and turned to the other. He forced her to transfer her weight and cast that shoe aside, too. But this time, he didn’t follow a path up her leg with his mouth. He stood up.
Kate looked up at him, disappointment blooming in her. “You stopped.”
“So Roman could start.”
She heard and felt the zipper on her dress being lowered. Garrett had distracted her more than adequately. She hadn’t noticed Roman had finished cutting threads.
“There are stays–” she tried to warn Roman.
“I know my way around a woman’s gown,” Roman growled. And he unhooked and unfastened the built-in foundation garments as he lowered the zipper, proving he was familiar with couture dresses – or removing them, anyway.
He made a small sound. “My, my, Ms. Lindenstream. You’re naked under your ball gown.”
Garrett gave a half smile. “I found that out in the restaurant.”
“Panties ruin the line. Tizzy would have murdered me.” She smiled. “And I’ve been waiting for you to find out.”
Roman’s hands spread over her bare back, then slipped under the now loose sides of the gown, around to her stomach. He pressed up against her from behind. “Pull her sleeves down,” he told Garrett.
Garrett tugged on the cuffs, pulling the sleeves down her arms. The dress opened up like a flower, the sleeves slid down her arms and the dress flowed to the floor around her feet.
It left her naked, with Roman’s arms around her. He ran his hands up her torso, and cupped her breasts. Kate shuddered. The sudden caress, with Garrett standing before her and reacting to every movement she made, was intensified far more than any touch Roman had ever given her.
Garrett’s harsh indrawn breath told her he was reacting with just as much intensity. He bent and kissed the upper slope of her breast, his lips pressing against Roman’s fingers. Roman obligingly let his hand smooth its way down her breast, tripping over the fire-tipped nipple with little bumps that made her shudder, clearing a way for Garrett’s mouth as he let his tongue and teeth and lips scrape and slide and caress their way down her breast. He hovered over her nipple as Roman cupped her breast, his other hand still gently squeezing and tugging her other nipple.
Warm delight rippled through her, arrowing almost directly to her clitoris and making it throb unbearably. But her whole body was alive and pulsing with the acute possibilities before her, and the almost constant stream of images playing in her mind – what had already happened, and what might yet happen.
She couldn’t stop replaying the kiss Roman and Garrett had shared. It made her hot and cold at once to think of it.
And now they were torturing her.
Garrett’s lips closed around her nipple and his tongue slid across the oh-so-sensitive tip.
Pleasure burst through her and Kate moaned. Trembling started somewhere deep in the bottom of her belly and spread to her limbs. She was going to fall down soon if she didn’t sit down. Or lie down.
She just wanted to concentrate on the pleasure, not the necessity of staying on her feet and balanced.
“My turn,” Roman demanded, and shoved at Garrett’s shoulder.
Garrett straightened up, smiling. “I have a better idea.” He bent and put his shoulder to Kate’s thighs, and wrapped his arm around the back of them. Then he lifted her with the speed and force of an elevator. She gasped and clutched at his shoulder as she folded over it like cooked spaghetti.
Garrett moved to the over-sized bed and leaned over the middle of it. He lowered her onto it, on her back and kissed her, hard and quickly.
Then he straightened up again and moved back to where Roman stood in the empty inner circle of Kate’s abandoned dress, watching.
“You, come here,” Garrett said, curling his fingers over the band of Roman’s trousers and tugging. He pulled him closer to the foot of the bed. Roman allowed himself to be led, a little smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Then Garrett grabbed the back of his head with his big hand, the long fingers curling around and tangling in his hair. He kissed him, while Kate watched, her breath halted. There was nothing to stop the kiss this time. No externals, no public, no excuses, and no more secrets. By the time their lips parted, Kate’s entire body was pounding with hard, driving lust as she watched them strain to inhale just a little bit more of each other. As the kiss went on they drew closer and closer together until their bodies were mashed together tightly.
She licked her lips, as they looked at each other. She could barely hear for the thundering of her heart.
“Not the same,” Roman muttered, his voice hoarse.
“It’s better.”
“Knowing...”
“Yeah.”
They both turned and looked at her.
Kate’s heart stuttered to a stop. She had to take three quick breathes to speak. “Now, will both of you please, please make love to me?”
They slid onto the bed, one on either side of her and Roman kissed her this time. She could see hot, bright wanting in his eyes and realized that for the first time he had let down his guard completely. He was telegraphing his feelings openly and it was a fiery furnace in there.
She couldn’t believe she had ever thought him icy.
Garrett reached over her hip and tugged at Roman’s trousers, one-handed. “Help me,” he murmured to Kate.
Roman’s breath expelled heavily as they both worked to shed him of the last of his clothes. His cock was rampantly erect and dark with blood.
Garrett drew his finger the length of it, making it twitch and making Kate catch her breath at the sight. “Kate’s demonstrated she likes seeing us play and I’m tempted to do just that. But there’s something else I want to do even more.”
“We’re of a mind on that,” Roman said. He rolled onto his back and tugged at Kate’s wrist. “Come here.”
Garrett picked her up around the waist and helped her straddle him. His hand caressed her ass.
Roman caught her face and drew her down to him to kiss him. “Remember the time I fucked you with the dildo inside you, Kate?” He guided her hips so his cock pushed its way inside her in slow increments.
“Mmm.” It was all she could manage to say. She was being fucked in front of another man. In front of Garrett. It was wildly arousing. Her climax was already starting to build. Her whole body was heating with the power of it, the nerves vibrating.
Roman’s cock settled deep inside her. “This is going to be so much better,” he said, pulling her gently forward so she lay against his chest.
Garrett’s hand smoothed over her ass again. Kate didn’t feel exposed, but she did feel wickedly wanton. His fingertips stroked her cleft, leaving tingling nerve ends in their wake, and she realized that he was spreading lubricant.
“Oh man, I may come if you keep that up,” Roman murmured. “I can feel it too. You’re making her clench a
round me.”
“Enjoy it,” Garrett murmured. “I won’t hurry this.”
Kate gave a choked moan as his fingers slipped inside her ass, spreading her, testing her. Her heart hurled itself against her chest and she clutched at the bed cover.
Then he spread her even wider and she realized with a rush of pure pleasure that this was Garrett’s cock, now. He was easing into her. She was taking them both in at the same time.
His fingers gripped her hips as he slipped into her tiny fractions of an inch at a time, letting her get used to them both.
Roman kissed the corner of her mouth. “Breathe,” he murmured. “And relax.”
She took in a breath and made herself relax and just like magic, Garrett was inside her, all the way.
Oh, and it was good.
She blinked, looking down at Roman, as Garrett’s lips pressed against the back of her shoulder.
“It feels…wonderful,” she whispered, awed.
“I can feel both of you,” Roman said, pushing her hair back over her shoulder.
She glanced at Garrett.
His mouth lifted at the corner. “I’m already addicted.” He was breathing heavily.
“You don’t have to do that, do you?” she asked. “The breathing, I mean. You don’t have to breathe all the time.”
He shook his head a little. “Right now, I do. I had no idea…” He shook his head and kissed her. “Enough. Roman, the lady made a demand. Let’s deliver and analyze later.”
“Listen to the bard,” Roman said, his hands sliding around her waist. “Anyone would think he’s worried about shooting his load too fast.”
“Philistine.”
“Highlander.”
Garrett thrust into her, just a little. She caught her breath at the delight that rippled through her. The intense sensation of fullness was leavened by the fact that the shafts penetrating her were both flesh, not the usual cock and toy combination she was used to. There was no unforgiving rigid device inside her and it made all the difference in the world.
Then Garrett and Roman between them began to thrust together, Roman driving his hips upwards. She sucked in a deep breath as sensations bombarded her. The pleasure spiralled quickly, driving her toward an orgasm that swelled enormously and kept building well beyond anything she had ever experienced before.
She clawed at Roman’s shoulder. “Oh, Roman,” she tried to breathe, to warn him, as the peak of the climax kept roiling inside her, swelling and not claiming her. The power of it was almost frightening.
“Come for us,” Garrett breathed, his arm under her waist, supporting her, even as his thrusts deepened. His voice was a dark whisper next to her ear. She could feel his lips on the nape of her neck, brushing over the flesh.
The knowledge that Garrett was going to bite her brought her climax on. Kate’s breath stilled. Her whole body locked in the grip of the silvered peak of exquisite pleasure.
Roman surged up from the bed and she saw the flash of his teeth extending, his lips parting. He bit the other side of her neck just as Garrett’s teeth sunk into her skin.
The double dose of the aphrodisiac hit her and snapped her spine taut with mind-numbing, shockingly sweet pleasure. It thrilled and trilled through her extremities, making every nerve sing with joy. The rush of heat and silver-blue glory swept from the ends to her middle, then up her spine in a wave, to her head. She gasped as it reached her brain, sending fireworks of indescribable colour and music dancing through her mind.
“Ohh…” she breathed.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Nial settled himself into the perilous chair, while Winter and Sebastian sat side by side on the bench. Cyneric was missing.
Khurshid tapped on the glass separating them from the driver with the back of her knuckles. The limousine smoothly pulled away from the curb.
She glanced at Sebastian. “Do you know how to make a dry martini?”
“Not in the least, madam,” Sebastian confessed thankfully.
“I do,” Winter told her. “If you don’t mind a non-vampire waiting upon you?”
Khurshid considered her. “Thank you, child. I appreciate your courtesy, especially as I have disturbed your natural sleep hours.” She waved toward the hidden bar.
Winter eased past Sebastian’s knees, raising her brow at him as she went by. She sat next to the bar and lifted the lid, examined the contents, then set about making the drink.
Khurshid settled her hands in her lap once more and considered Nial. “I am returning to England in the morning.”
“I regret I will not be able to spend more time in your company, madam,” Nial replied.
She waved the comment away with an impatient flick of her fingers.
Nial lifted his own hand as if he wanted to halt her cynicism. “I have a feeling I will be in need of your experience and memories before this has all played out.”
Khurshid pursed her lips. “You may well indeed. I had thought of that. So has Cyneric. I’m leaving him behind.”
Winter paused, the bottle of Vermouth in mid-air, to look at Khurshid, her face blank.
“That is generous of you, madam,” Nial replied without hesitation. He sounded utterly sincere.
Khurshid smiled. “That is one way of putting it. Your wife would phrase it another way, I suspect.” She glanced at Winter.
Winter pressed her lips together and returned to making the cocktail.
“You have no opinion, Sebastian?” Khurshid asked, looking at him.
“None I choose to utter here, madam,” Sebastian replied.
“You have discreet partners, Nathaniel,” Khurshid told him. She gave a small smile. “Cyneric tends to generate more volatile reactions than yours.”
Nial shrugged. “They have experience in this, madam. I, too, am known to stir strong emotions in others.”
Khurshid’s smile broadened. “Which you are doing, right now. You are ever a trouble-maker, Nathaniel. Perhaps that is your way of getting along. But you have chosen to stir this pot, and so I am returning to England and leaving it all in your hands. I’ve learned that you’re more than capable.”
Nial inclined his head forward, in a nod of acceptance. “Thank you.”
She lifted a finger. “You do not get to play your chessgame with complete liberty, Nathaniel.”
He raised a brow, but remained silent.
Khurshid lowered her hand. “You simply cannot force this matter upon us all, willy-nilly. I understand, now that Cyneric has explained it to me more clearly, that exposure of the blood is unavoidable. I agree with your general theory, Nathanial. It is better to pick the time and style of our exposure and manage such a delicate matter than let the chips fall as they will. But exposure of the blood and revelation of each individual’s identity are two different matters.”
Nial frowned. “You want everyone to chose for themselves?”
She gave a nod that was regal in its stiffness. “You live in a country that prides itself on its love of democracy, do you not? Should not each of us get to choose? Is that not the democratic way?”
Nial remained silent for a few moments. “You can attempt to remain hidden, madam, but the humans, once they know of vampires, may unearth your real nature sooner than you would like.”
“That is a chance those of us who chose to stay hidden will have to risk,” Khurshid replied. She gave Nial a small smile. “We will be watching you and your liberators, Nial. And we will watch your new lifestyle among the humans. After a few years, more will see the freedom you are offering and choose to join you, I am sure. But while the human technology is still new and developing, those of us who have no desire to change things will have a brief sunset to enjoy things as they were. Let us have that time, Nathaniel. We will be forced to join you eventually…or not.”
Nial nodded. “Of course, madam. I understand. We can do it your way.”
“Thank you.” She placed her hands together in her lap once more. “Cyneric has all the information you will need
to deal with the unspoken ones that will rise because of your meddling, especially The Deadly Moon. Do not hesitate to use him.”
“Thank you, madam,” Nial replied, and there was no hesitation in his reply, no hint in his voice of reservation.
Khurshid tilted her head to look at him. “You’re lying,” she said flatly.
Nial stared back at her. “Madam?”
She was frowning, and brought her hand up to her chest, over her heart, to press against it. “You’re angry…” she whispered. “Betrayed.” Then she shook her head and looked at Winter. “Where is that drink?” she demanded, her voice a whiplash.
“I had to open another bottle of gin and the seal is stuck. A few minutes,” Winter promised.
“Hurry up!” Khurshid shrieked, pressing her fingers to her temple.
Winter lowered the bottle she was struggling with, staring at Khurshid curiously. She swivelled and held the bottle out to Sebastian. “Sebastian, finish the drink,” she said, her voice remote.
Sebastian slid along the seat.
“What are you doing?” Khurshid screamed, both hands at her temples, now.
“Shh…” Winter said, her voice warm and smooth. “I can help.” She transferred her weight over to the seat Khurshid was on. “Let me help.” She touched her shoulder.
Nial sat forward. “You’re telepathic, Khurshid?”
“Empath,” Winter amended. “She reads emotions. But I’m going to make all those go away for a while,” she added, looking into Khurshid’s eyes and speaking gently and softly, “Without the need for you to drink it away. Just for a while, to give you a rest.” She kept her hand on Khurshid’s shoulder, maintaining contact.
Khurshid drew in a shuddering breath and her hands dropped to her lap and lay there, twitching. Until, finally, they grew still. Khurshid sighed.
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