“Great. Now go freshen up. Jed and I will pick out your outfit for dinner.”
Chapter Fifteen
The bathroom door closed, and Jed turned to Dare. He’d been surprised to see Dare and Tru arguing, and he’d been even more surprised to see how well Dare had handled the situation. “You’re really coming into your own.”
Dare shrugged. “I’m just doing what feels right. I can’t believe how liberating it is to just be who I am.”
“I feel you.” Jed knew exactly what Dare was talking about. The first time a woman had submitted to him, he’d felt a rush of power unlike anything he’d experienced. “It’s natural for a sub to push back, especially one with backbone. If she doesn’t make you work for her submission, it’s not the real thing. You took her in hand and showed her that she could rely on your authority and dominance.”
Opening the third drawer in the chest of drawers, Dare extracted a neatly folded stack of clothing. “She definitely keeps us on our toes. I’m glad you came in when you did. Otherwise I think we might not have had such an amiable resolution. You worked your magic, and she calmed right down.”
Jed hadn’t done much. Both Dare and Tru were reasonable people, though lately he’d been noticing a volatile side to Dare’s temperament. He’d also noticed that Tru’s carefree, fun-loving attitude came and went with the tide. This woman had depth, the kind he could spend years exploring. “She’s stubborn, and that requires a little finesse.”
Since that night when Dare and Tru had bonded over cryptids, Jed had sometimes felt like a third wheel. Tonight he’d been the one to take her from upset to contrite with one simple question, something Dare hadn’t managed with his explanation. It made him feel more like his old self, suave and confident. He still had a chance to get the girl. Jed looked at the stack of clothing Dare was sorting through to find it consisted of intimate apparel—mostly teddies and half corsets.
He snagged a black corset that would push up and feature the tantalizing swells of her breasts. “She can wear this to dinner.”
Dare shrugged, and he appeared relieved that someone else had made the choice. “Where was she hiding this at the last place?”
“Probably in one of her suitcases. I noticed that she didn’t unpack everything, so she probably keeps the items she doesn’t think she needs put away.” This enigma of a woman had a practical side.
Dare’s cell phone rang, and the familiar ring tone distracted them. “It’s Brandy. She’ll want to know what I found out. She thinks we’ve been here for a few hours already.”
Neither of them wanted to tell Brandy that their asset had taken them for a dangerous detour. She’d pull the plug if she thought Tru was off her rocker. Jed didn’t think Tru was crazy, but she definitely was an adrenaline junkie. Jed held up the corset. “I’ll take this to Tru and keep her busy until you get off the phone.”
“Adair.” Dare shot him a nasty glare as he answered the phone.
He found Tru standing in front of the mirror with a towel wrapped around her torso. Her hair was up in a messy bun on top of her head, and she applied mascara with a steady hand. Once she finished, she smiled into the mirror at him as she replaced the cap. “Hello, handsome.”
He held up the corset. “I want you to wear this.”
Her smile stretched into something brilliant. “Let me guess—Liam’s the snoop, and you’re the hot delivery guy?”
Tugging at where she’d tucked the corner of the towel, he watched as it unraveled and fell away from her luscious, curvy body. “I’m your Dominant, Princess.” He wrapped the corset around her ribs, and then he reached in front to adjust her breasts so they fit the cups. “And I want to see you in this.”
She held still as he played with her nipples and kneaded her soft globes. All too soon, he heard her breath hitch. Yeah, he loved how responsive she was to his touch. She held the corset against her front while he took his time latching the little hooks in back that held the material together.
“Sir?”
Hearing his title roll from her tongue, the syllable soft and sibilant, gave him a thrill he’d felt very few times before. “Too tight, Princess?”
“No. It’s perfect. It seems though, that you forgot a lower half to this outfit. While I don’t mind wearing this when it’s just the three of us or if we’re in a public scene, I do mind dressing like this for dinner with friends.”
Somehow that hadn’t occurred to him. He chuckled and kissed the curve of her neck and let his hands wander over her exposed skin. “You can pick the rest of the outfit, preferably a skirt, though I don’t want you wearing underwear.”
“Of course not.”
He ran a caress down her hips and squeezed her bottom, and she only pressed her hands to the counter to help her balance.
“Widen your stance.”
Wordlessly she obeyed. For the time being, he avoided her offering and continued his slow, sensual exploration of her shower-soft skin. She closed her eyes and gave herself over to him, and that appeased the Dominant part of him that balked a little at sharing her with Dare. The scent of her arousal mixed with the lingering fog from her shower, and he slid two fingers into her pussy.
She moaned, a soft noise that didn’t carry far. Perhaps she didn’t want to bring Dare into this either.
“Keep quiet, Princess. Dare is on the phone with Brandy straightening out some of the issues you caused by making us get here late.” The whole time he warned and admonished her, he pumped his fingers into her.
She opened her eyes halfway and met his gaze in the mirror. “Yes, Sir.”
“This is one hot, wet pussy, Princess. Every time I pull my fingers out, it sucks them back in.” He curved them to hit the roughness of her sweet spot and to also stimulate the swollen, responsive tissues outside her vagina. Her eyes rolled back, and she grabbed onto his thigh with a grip that would leave bruises. He liked that she was active and physically strong.
Soon enough she came, her pussy walls throbbing on his fingers, and he wrapped an arm around her waist as her legs and knees shook.
Before she could come down and thank him, he extracted his fingers from her pussy and circled the puckered hole she’d denied him before. Shocked and still riding the waves of her orgasm, she gaped at his reflection in the mirror.
“Soft limit?”
She struggled to control her voice. “Yes, Sir.”
He inserted the tip of one finger that was still slick from her juices. “I’m going to push your limits tonight.” He moved his finger, stretching the muscle she’d already relaxed. “We’re going to take you at the same time—Dare in your pussy and me in your ass.” He and Dare had discussed this on a theoretical basis, and he wasn’t absolutely sure that Dare was on board. However he knew his friend would be up to trying if Tru agreed to it.
She looked away, heavy thoughts jerking her from the cloud of climactic endorphins.
Adding a second finger, he stretched her opening. “What do you think about that, Princess?”
She once again met his gaze. “It’s been a really long time for me. I think you should try anal sex without something in my pussy first, Sir.”
Jed nodded. With his free hand, he took a condom from his pocket. “Right now?” If she refused, he wouldn’t push the issue. This was a soft limit for a reason, and while he knew general reasons for someone not wanting to do this, he didn’t know her exact reason. “If you say no, I’ll honor your wish.”
At his assurance, the rest of her reticence dropped away. “Please go slow, at least to start with.” She snagged a fresh towel from the shelf next to the sink, and then she bent over the counter with her legs spread. The towel was under her head.
Jed wanted to see her face, but he reasoned that this was probably the best position to acclimate her to the act. However the lube was in his bag. He picked up her wet towel from the floor and wiped his hand. “Stay like that. I’ll be right back.”
Dare was in the far corner, tapping away on his keyboard and
talking into his phone. He waved Jed away, a silent signal that meant he needed to keep Tru away for longer—which is exactly what Jed had planned.
He returned to find her in the exact same position. Her face was turned toward the door, and she smiled to see him, but this one lacked her usual brash flirtation. He held up the lube to let her know the reason he’d left. He closed and locked the door. “Princess, stay quiet for this. Call yellow if I’m hurting you, and use your safeword if you need it. Remind me what it is.”
“Methotrexate.”
“Great. For this, you are allowed to masturbate. I’d prefer it if you had a climax too.”
“I’ll try, Sir.”
He smeared lube on his fingers and rubbed it into her tight sphincter, and then he cleaned his hands in the sink before adding a little to the condom. Then he aimed his cockhead at the target—he’d been hard since he’d taken her towel—and pressed forward. She exhaled without being told. He watched her face for signs of distress as he worked his way deeper. Soon he was all the way inside. “How are you doing, Princess?”
“I’m fine, Sir. I do like anal. I just don’t let it happen very often. Maybe once before.”
He heard her unspoken admission, that she’d given him more than she typically gave to a sex partner or even a Dom. He stroked a soothing circle over her lower back. Last night he’d felt like a temporary addition to a couple that included Tru and Dare. Now that all went out the window, and he’d never felt closer to another human being in his life. Navigating this triad was going to be tricky, especially if Dare was dealing with the same kind of turmoil concerning their gorgeous, captivating submissive.
She reached between her legs and began playing with her clit, and he took that as his cue to get going. He started slow, withdrawing carefully and sinking back into her heat. The noises she made came faster, and he increased his pace. She felt so good, so fucking tight and hot. Her inferno fed his desire, and he needed more. Soon he was fucking her the way he wanted, and she buried her face in the towel and screamed. Jed surged forward once more and swallowed his cry.
At dinner, Liam found himself distracted by thoughts of the job. He had a list of current guests at Zangari’s, and now he and Jed needed to find a way to narrow it down. He wanted to ask Tru if she knew any of the guests, but after her reaction to finding out that he had hacked into Alex’s system, he didn’t know if he should risk it. He needed to get Jed alone to ask his opinion, but ever since they’d had sex in the bathroom while he was on the phone with their boss, Jed had kept Tru close. First he’d helped her select a skirt to go with her corset, and then he’d held her hand or somehow touched her the rest of the time.
The five of them sat around Alex and Jewell’s rectangular table, the dark walnut in sharp contrast to the pale yellow walls, and ate salmon. Whatever glaze Jewell had used tasted excellent. This dish didn’t need ketchup.
“Liam?” Across the table, Tru watched him with a wrinkle of concern in her chin. “Is everything okay?”
“If you don’t like salmon,” Jewell said, “I can heat up something else. I have leftover stuffed pork chops from yesterday. Or I can get you something from the restaurant. Our chef can make a lot of different stuff on short notice.”
He smiled at Jewell. “This is delicious. I was just lost in thought. I left a tricky problem on my desk.”
“Leave work at work.” Jed, who’d artfully slid into the seat next to Tru, laughed. “Enjoy your vacation.” He squeezed Tru’s thigh under the table, but the way he did it made it obvious what he was doing.
Liam turned his attention to Jewell. “So how did you and Tru meet?”
At the foot of the table, Jewell giggled. “Let’s see. It was about four years ago, I think. I was at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere, New Mexico. It was super hot, like a hundred and ten, and I wanted to get inside, find some cold water and a bathroom, you know? Anyway, this trucker catcalls me. He says, ‘Hey baby, it’s ninety-eight-point-seven over here.’ I keep walking, do my business, buy some snacks and an iced drink. I run into Tru in the bathroom, and we had a laugh about the asshole trucker dude because he used some other dumbass line on her. She made me feel better—he really had freaked me out.”
Alex, seated at the head of the table, pressed his lips together. This was obviously a tale he’d heard before, and he’d probably come to terms with the fact that he couldn’t drop kick that back-alley scum out of existence.
Meanwhile, Jewell continued. “I leave, heading back to my car. The jerk is still there, and he says, ‘I want some stanky on my hang-down.’ I’m scared, you know? I’m really scared because this guy is bigger than me and covered with tattoos—real scary.”
Liam shot another glance at Alex. Though he had a lanky build, he was muscular and significantly bigger than Jewell. His arms sported sleeve tattoos. Those on his left arm came all the way up to his shoulder, and the art on his right arm was nearly that high.
Oblivious, Jewell plunged forward with her story. “Tru had come out right behind me. When that guy opened his mouth, she said, ‘If you don’t shut the fuck up, I’m going to break your jaw.’ So, okay, I know she’s like a heck of a lot taller than me, but Tru seems so nice and gentle, so I’m afraid for her too. Then the guy says, ‘I’ll break your jaw by shoving my dick in it, bitch.’ I’m trying to grab Tru’s hand and tell her to come on, but she’s not having any of it.”
Jewell giggled at this point, so Liam figured that Tru ended up with the last word.
Leaning forward as if to let them in on a big secret, she finished her anecdote. “Tru shakes me off and goes up to him—he’s sitting on a picnic bench about ten feet away—and she slaps her hands over his ears. He wasn’t expecting that, let me tell you, and I was thinking that we’d better run, but then he lets loose with this high-pitched scream and falls to the ground.”
Regarding Tru with respectful surprise, Liam said, “You ruptured his eardrum?”
She shrugged. “We didn’t stay to find out. We ran to her car, which was closer, and she drove me to the next city. I had a rental car that had broken down on the off ramp to the rest area, and I needed a tow.”
Jewell piped in. “It was only twenty miles, but I knew we’d be friends forever. Then she introduced me to Alex, and now my life is perfect.”
Liam had been under the impression that Tru knew Alex because she was friends with Jewell. He gestured to Alex. “How long have you known Tru?”
Alex finished swallowing his potatoes before responding. “About thirteen years. We met at a cancer survivor support group. Tru’s cancer had just come back, and she was having a tough time. I stayed after to talk with her, and we’ve been good friends ever since.”
Tru and Alex exchanged one of those looks that said they’d been through Hell and back together. This close friendship didn’t push any jealousy buttons, but it definitely bothered Liam that she hadn’t found an opportunity to mention surviving cancer—twice. Through this lens, her risk-taking took on new meaning. All this reading and research on personality and behavior that Jordan had been making him do flooded back into his brain. Six likely reasons for why she insisted on base jumping swirled through his mind—everything from chemo messing with her brain chemistry to her having an addiction to near-death-experiences. He exchanged a look with Jed, and he knew his partner had realized some of the same things.
“Cancer, huh?” Liam strove for a neutral tone. “How long have you been in remission?”
“Almost twenty years.” Alex sipped his wine. “I was fifteen when I was diagnosed with leukemia, and once I beat it, I became a counselor for a teen group. Tru was co-counselor with me.”
Liam wished Tru would have revealed all of this in private, but now that it was out in the open, he was compelled to ask follow-up questions. Call it a professional hazard. He loosed his interrogative skill on the woman he liked. “What about you, Tru? How old were you that first time around?”
She didn’t look like she wanted to answer, but she
did. “Nine the first time and nineteen the second time. Somehow or another, I didn’t get it again at twenty-nine. But, hey, there’s always thirty-nine, right?”
“Don’t talk like that.” Alex’s brows drew together in a severe slash. “You’re a survivor.”
“Yeah,” Jewell echoed. “You’re going to die peacefully in your sleep of natural causes when you’re ninety-three.”
That seemed an awfully specific sentiment. Jed’s short burst of laughter drew all eyes to him. “Ninety-three? Are you psychic?”
Liam sensed that Jed was going to work a way to make fun of him into the conversation. While he might believe that there were plenty of undocumented species out there, and that the government and big business were all up in people’s private lives, he did not believe in extra-sensory abilities or sixth senses. The one psychic he’d worked with before at the Detroit field office hadn’t been accurate about anything. Liam rushed to Jewell’s defense. “She’s being positive. Our Tru was very negative about her future prospects.”
“I’m not psychic.” Jewell giggled. “It would be so awesome if I was, though. Can you imagine being able to know what’s going to happen? It might ruin the ending of a couple movies, but those are so predictable anyway.”
Jed nodded thoughtfully. “I always thought it would be useful to be able to see the future.”
“Forensic psychics see the past.” Liam didn’t put much stock in them. “Shawn Spencer used observation and clues to deduce what happened at a crime scene, and he extrapolated what people might do based on evidence.”
“That’s a TV show.” Jed snorted. “Not real life.”
“But plausible.” Alex threw his support behind Liam. “More plausible than someone holding onto a scarf and saying they see the murderer—especially before it happens.”
Tru didn’t participate in the conversation. She merely listened while she ate, her expression tight and guarded. Liam wondered if she was still upset by the revelation that she’d beat cancer twice or if she didn’t like the current topic of conversation. If she was open-minded about the existence of cryptids, then she was probably a believer in the sixth sense.
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