Dev snorted and waved his hand in the air, dismissing her concern. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s something,” Kitty said, “or you wouldn’t have mentioned it.”
Dev ran a hand through his hair and plopped down on her sofa. She followed, tucking her legs under as she faced him. “Go on, tell me. You know you can.” She picked up his hand and kissed his knuckles. They were bruised and scraped.
Dev squeezed her hand tightly and then pulled her onto his lap. “I had to break a man’s fingers today,” he said gruffly, sniffing her hair. “I hate that sort of thing.”
“I know,” she said, neither horrified nor astonished over his confession. He’d had to do it in the past and would do it again if needed. She kissed his knuckles again. “I’m sure he deserved it.”
“Are you?” Devlin said with a small chuckle. “Why?”
“Because I know you,” she told him, and she meant it. Devlin could play the big man with everyone else, but she knew him deep down. Dev thought it was his job to protect the world. Their world anyway, people like they’d been back in the day, when they were young and used and powerless. “Tell me why you did it and I’ll tell you whether or not you should have,” she told him. She did this for him sometimes, acted as his conscience.
“He was short in the cut,” Devlin said. “I knew if he’d dare short me, he was probably shorting the whores, too.”
Kitty assumed as much. “Was he?”
Dev nodded. “I broke his fingers because he pilfered the till. I can’t have everyone thinking they can get away with that, can I?”
“Rufus could have done it,” she offered. Rufus did do it. That was his job.
“I’ve got to dirty my hands every now and then,” Dev argued wearily. “I’ve been out of sight for nearly a week. I can’t be seen as soft. They’ll be plotting behind my back, then.”
He was right. Kitty knew that world. The weak didn’t survive long. “Did you just break his fingers?”
Dev shook his head. “No. I broke them and then kicked him out to the street with ten quid to his name.”
Kitty chuckled. “More than I would have given him. Softie.”
Dev nuzzled her cheek. “Not very,” he murmured, thrusting his hips a little so she could feel his cock against her rump. She hummed in appreciation. A week was a long time to go without. She wasn’t used to it.
Rocking her bottom against his lap, she prompted, “And? Finish the story.”
“Not much to tell,” he said, brushing her hair aside as his lips moved from her cheek to her neck. “I divided the money amongst the whores, let the ones go who wanted to go, and offered fifty pounds to lure someone to take his place. I’m interviewing tomorrow.”
“Interviewing?” Kitty sighed. His tongue was tracing patterns on her nape. “Like a regular nob.”
He laughed against her neck and she shivered. “That’s me,” he agreed. He pulled back and met her gaze. “So? What’s the verdict?”
She nodded firmly. “He deserved it.” She squirmed in his lap until she straddled him, her feet up and resting next to his hips. “But you have to pay a fine.”
“A fine, is it?” he asked, tugging her closer with his hands on her arse, settling her on his lap more firmly. “To whom?”
“Me,” she said. “I’m judge and jury.”
He reached up and threaded his hand into her hair before tugging her mouth to his. He hummed against her lips in inquiry. “What kind of fine?” he murmured against her mouth.
“You have to fuck me, of course, silly,” she answered, and he laughed outright.
“I’m not sure that’s a fitting punishment,” he told her, already working the buttons on her dress free. “More like a reward.”
“Reward is what I meant,” she agreed breathlessly as he pulled her dress and shift off over her head. That was all she’d been wearing. She’d gotten very carefree in her dressing over the last week.
Dev gave up talking. He leaned over and sucked one nipple into his mouth, pulling on the other as he sucked hard. Kitty’s head fell back. She loved when he did that. She loved when he did anything to her. He knew her body better than she did. She ran her fingers through his hair and held him to her breast. She could give him this. She gladly gave it to him. She loved him for who he was, every part of him. He was hers in a way no one else had ever been. She bent over and kissed his ear, then lightly bit it. He growled and reciprocated on her nipple, which was what she’d wanted so she just grinned into his hair.
He was running his hands over her bottom, tugging her rhythmically against him. His cock was already hard. He was a randy thing. She adjusted so her cunny was sitting just right over his erection, and the next time he tugged her he bumped right against the perfect place. She moaned.
He laughed around her breast. “Found your spot?” he asked. He licked a path upward between her breasts and kissed her mouth.
“Mmm hmm,” she said. She licked suddenly dry lips and then kissed him open-mouthed, sliding her tongue over his. He tasted divine, as he always did. If he weren’t such a ruffian, he’d be a beauty. Everything about him was sensual and arousing, from his scent and taste to the breadth of his shoulders and the muscles in his arms and legs. He was so much man, but he was also a slave to his passions. Devlin loved to fuck, loved everything about it. Loved licking and tasting and sucking and fucking into you. He didn’t like to talk about the days he’d been a whore, but Kitty knew he’d developed a taste for it then. He’d taken to it more than Kitty. And she knew he missed some of it. He missed the things he could do with a man that he couldn’t do with her.
Kitty had to catch her breath as she imagined Dev and Thom doing those things. She jerked her hips against Dev, rubbing against his prick. She’d taken care of Thom this past week. He had the sort of cock that you wanted to suck. Long and thick and heavy on your tongue. And once or twice Thom had murmured Dev’s name in his sleep in a way that told her it wasn’t a nightmare he was having, but something much, much better. They were so close. She could taste it, taste the dream on her tongue as she licked into Dev’s mouth and made him groan. “Fuck me,” she whispered against his lips.
“I’m going to.” He glanced over at the open bedroom door and raised a brow.
“Leave it open,” she said. “He’s asleep.”
“And if he isn’t?” Devlin asked quietly. She could see the knowing in his eyes. There was no censure there, no hesitation. There might even have been just a hint of anticipation. He liked it. He liked fucking her for Thom.
“Then he’ll hear us,” she said breathlessly.
Dev pushed her off and rose from the sofa. He untied his cravat and threw it down, then yanked his shirt over his head. At the sight of his broad, hairy chest her breath caught in her throat. She came to her knees on the sofa and took one of his nipples between her teeth. Dev drove his hand into her hair and held her tightly against him, his chest rising and falling raggedly beneath her hands and lips. “Yes,” he whispered. “Like that. Rough.” She bit him a little harder and he moaned. Then he broke away and shucked his pants to his knees, sitting down to yank off his boots and then standing again to pull the pants all the way off. He didn’t wear smallclothes. Never did.
All she could do was stare at him, struck speechless as she always was by how gorgeous he was. And hers, all hers. She leaned forward and ran her hands over his shoulders and down his arms, and then across his chest. She looked up at beseechingly. “Fuck me, Dev,” she begged. “I want you.”
“Ah, Kitty,” he said. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her tenderly. “I don’t know what I’d do if you didn’t.” He kissed her again, deeper and harder and it wasn’t long before his passion got the best of him and he had her wrapped up in his arms, kissing the breath from her with wet, drugging drags of his tongue. She loved it when he was like this.
He broke the kiss and they were both panting. His eyes were so dark with desire there was hardly any blue left to them. “He might see,�
� he whispered. “Do you want him to see, Kitty?”
She couldn’t lie to him. Instead she let the truth show on her face. In return there was no anger or condemnation on his. Only desire and a truth unspoken. He wanted it, too. He sat down on the end of the sofa in front of the bedroom door and pulled her over to him. He gave her a wicked little grin. “Then let’s do it,” he said. He yanked her down and she laughed as she straddled him again.
Thom didn’t even try to pretend he wasn’t watching them. They were so caught up in each other they wouldn’t notice anyway. He’d tried not to eavesdrop on their conversation, but he couldn’t help it. He’d needed to hear what Devlin did, what he was capable of. It hadn’t diminished his desire for him at all. He respected that Devlin had taken on a certain role and he did it well. He kept the world here from blowing up in all their faces. Not many could do it. Not many wanted to.
He was curled on his side, his head resting on his arm as he watched. While they aroused him, he wasn’t interested in his own release tonight. He just needed to watch them, to see them, to be a part of it in some small way. He liked that they didn’t worry about his seeing them. They were right in front of the open door, the lamps burning. They knew he could see.
He wanted them. Wanted to be part of the laughter and tenderness and passion. They had such a…connection. It was hard for him to think of one without the other now, when all he’d known before was Kitty. They finished one another’s sentences when they bothered to use words at all. More often than not a look spoke volumes between them.
Devlin had just pulled Kitty back into his naked lap. They were equally desirable. Kitty was all curves and sweet-smelling skin, her hair a sable pelt down her back. He knew how soft it was now, had lain on her breasts and used them as a pillow. She’d taken his darkness into herself and shared her light with him. She was a part of him. And Devlin, he was all hard planes and angles and muscles and dark hair, but he’d held Thom, too, and tenderly wrapped blankets around him as he shivered. How many people got to see that side of him? Maybe only Kitty and Thom. It thrilled him to think so.
Thom’s breath caught and stuttered as Kitty rose on her knees and Devlin held his big, fat, hard cock for her. She slowly impaled herself on him, her hands gripping his shoulders. She gave a breathy moan and Devlin gave that wicked laugh again.
“Take me, girl,” he growled. “However you want.”
“I just want you,” she said. She settled lower in his lap, inhaling sharply. He must be deep in her now. Thom felt his own back passage quiver at the thought. He was still shocked by that particular reaction to Devlin but didn’t fear it. He’d come to terms with who he was and what he needed. This had been a hard week for him, but he’d come out the other end with an understanding he’d lacked before.
Kitty leaned over and kissed Devlin as she began moving atop him. She rose and fell in an age-old rhythm as their mouths melded together. There was no rushing, no hurried movements. It was slow and sensual and tender. Thom watched Devlin’s cock move in and out of her. It was mesmerizing. The pale cheeks of her plump bottom looked like a heart-shaped frame for the hard flesh of his prick, her slim pale legs contrasting sharply with his heavily muscled, hairy thighs. God, it was the most amazing thing to see.
Kitty sat up and hummed. Thom liked that sound she made, as if she were a purring cat. She cupped her breasts in her hands and Thom knew a moment of shock and awe. She looked just as he’d imagined her all those times he’d been fucking a stranger and wishing it was her. She kneaded her breasts and undulated on top of Devlin, a woman in total control of her own pleasure, and from the looks of it, Devlin loved it. So did Thom. For so long now he’d been a means to an end for women who feared that side of themselves and hid their desires in shame. Kitty’s open, sensuous nature was refreshing and exhilarating. Devlin’s big hands spanned Kitty’s waist, but Thom could tell he wasn’t controlling her at all. Just enjoying her. He understood completely.
“Mmm, Dev,” Kitty murmured. “I love it. It feels so good.”
“What’s the point of fucking if it doesn’t feel good?” Dev said tightly, and Kitty laughed as if it were an old joke. “You’re so damn good, Kitty, when you’re like this,” he told her. “You know you’re going to make me come.”
“I know,” Kitty said with smug satisfaction. “I want you to.”
Devlin’s breath was harsh in the quiet flat. “Why?”
“Because I like the way it feels. I like to be full of you.”
“I shouldn’t,” Devlin said. Thom saw his head move and he could tell Devlin was kissing her breasts.
“Why?” Kitty asked. Her pace had increased and the sight of her back muscles undulating in the lamplight was insanely erotic. She had the deepest little dimples above her derriere that punctuated her sensual thrust and retreat. She slid her forearms under her hair, along her nape, and up over her head, letting her hair cascade down across her shoulders.
“What if you get pregnant?” Devlin asked her, his hands moving from her waist to her hips. An image of a pregnant Kitty flashed through Thom’s mind and his breath stuttered. She’d be so beautiful, so perfect. Devlin’s hips were moving more now, a harder thrust, no longer relaxed, but excited and purposeful. He was going to come, and Thom wanted to see it as much as he wanted to see Kitty come.
Kitty hummed again and Thom felt the sound in the blood pounding in his temples, his chest, his cock.
“Then we have a baby,” Kitty said simply. She captured his lips again, her arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders. Dev leaned farther back in the sofa and his hips jerked fiercely, hard enough to make Kitty bounce above him. She held on tight. Devlin had clearly taken over the fuck.
“Kitty,” Devlin moaned, his hips making small, harsh jerks as his hands held her still, pressed down on him. She moaned and Thom wanted to join her. He imagined what it would feel like to have Devlin coming inside him and his cock throbbed. After a minute Kitty fought Devlin’s hold and moved on him again, and he hissed.
“So close, Dev,” she said, breathing heavily. “Fuck me. Do it.”
Thom smiled at her command. No one ordered Dev around but Kitty.
Dev gripped her hips again and slammed her down on his cock several times and then she shrieked and cried out, “Yes, yes, yes!” Each word was accompanied by a hard downward thrust of her hips and then she ground against him.
“Jesus,” Devlin said reverently. Thom couldn’t have said it better.
Kitty laughed breathlessly and collapsed against his chest. “Ah, Dev,” she sighed.
Devlin caressed her back and kissed her shoulder. “That was a good one,” he said with a smile in his voice.
Yes, yes it was. Thom closed his eyes. He was smiling, too.
A few moments later Kitty came into the bedroom and Thom opened his eyes and smiled at her, not even pretending to be asleep. She didn’t even blush as she winked at him. She still wore her shift; she pulled back the covers and climbed in next to him. She rolled over and faced him and then took his hand in hers and pressed it to her cheek. He could smell Devlin and sex on her and his cock, which had just started to relax, responded. He just enjoyed the feel of the arousal, not really caring to do anything about it. He just wanted to enjoy the freedom of feeling it for her. For Kitty. For Kitty with Devlin.
Thom glanced at the door. Devlin stood there in his half-buttoned pants, leaning on the doorframe, watching them. He took Thom’s breath away.
“Tell me about your day,” Devlin said. He walked over and settled into a chair in the corner.
“Nothing much happened,” Thom said sleepily. “Tell me about yours.”
And to his surprise, Devlin did.
Chapter Twelve
“Are you sure?” Kitty asked Devlin, her uncertainty ringing in her voice as she looked between him and Thom.
“I’m sure,” Devlin told her, exasperated. He was sitting in the corner chair in the bedroom, reading the Times. “Go see Kate. If you don’t I’ll not ge
t any peace around here. They’ll descend on us like locusts.”
Thom laughed from the bed, where he was sitting up, one leg bent and his arm resting atop it. “Anything but that,” he agreed. He wore pants and a shirt and nothing else. He’d had a bath and his hair was clean and shiny and curling around his face. His smile was boyish with delight, but the crinkles around his eyes spoke of his harsh experiences. She’d never seen him look so good. He was still too thin, but there was color in his cheeks and happiness in his eyes. She’d put it there. She still couldn’t believe he was here and that he was looking at her like that as he watched her dress. Though no intimacies had occurred between them, they were very comfortable together like this. It made her long for the real thing, for a relationship. For a marriage. She looked between Thom and Devlin. She wanted to consider herself married to both, as her friends were. How she envied them today.
There’d been no talk of his leaving yet. He hadn’t mentioned it and neither had she or Devlin. The unspoken questions hovered in the air around them but they all ignored them. Soon enough decisions would have to be made. Right now, this was enough. Well, not really enough since Thom hadn’t so much as kissed her yet. But he would. She’d set her mind on it, and so it would happen.
She put her bonnet on and efficiently tied the bow along her right jaw, at the perfect angle, without a mirror. She smiled at them triumphantly, but it was clear neither man appreciated what a feat that was and how long it had taken Kitty to master it. She really did need some time with her women friends. “All right,” she told them, “I’m going.” She kissed them both on the cheek, getting a little thrill out of the ordinariness of it. As if was the natural thing, for her to go about her business and take her leave of her two men. “After I see Kate, I’m going by the shop. I have no idea what’s going on.”
“Rufus has been keeping an eye on it,” Devlin said dismissively.
“That’s what I’m worried about,” Kitty said sarcastically. “He’s probably frightened away half my customers.”
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