FightforLove

by Samantha Kane

  He reached into Thom’s pants and encountered the bare flesh of Thom’s hard prick. Velvet over a rod of impressive girth and length. Dev was practically panting for it, his mouth watering. It was just the sort of big prick he used to love sucking. He wrapped his hand around it, spreading his fingers out so his pinkie was buried in the bush of hair at the crotch, his thumb brushing through the moisture in the slit on the soft head. Thom cried out and clutched his arm tightly.

  Dev worked his leg in between Thom’s, giving him more room to handle his cock. Thom moved his foot on top of Dev’s leg without protest, spreading his legs and letting Dev do what he wanted. So much trust there. Why? Why did he trust Dev to do this? To not take advantage of him when he was so vulnerable? Didn’t he understand who Dev was? What he was? He’d told Thom about his business, about how he enforced his rules. Did he think those were lies?

  Thom placed his hand on Dev’s thigh and squeezed as his hips jerked. “Dev,” he groaned. Dev damn near came. He eased his body back and Thom’s grip on his leg tightened. But he just rolled Thom onto his back. Thom’s eyes were tightly closed and he was biting his lip. His hands were still trembling.

  Dev didn’t let go of his prick. He was still rubbing his thumb over that wet tip, feeling the slit there, loving it. Thom’s pants were in the way. His fist was too big to move within their confines. “Push your damn pants down,” Dev growled.

  Thom obeyed instantly, raising his arse off the bed to push the offending garment down over his hips. Dev had to force himself to breathe. His eyes were drawn to a shallow dip near his hip, a soft, vulnerable spot, so delicate, so fragile in his lean frame. He forced his eyes away, determined not to feast on that hollow, to lick and suck and worship it. Christ, what the hell was wrong with him?

  Thom’s prick was even bigger than Dev had thought. He fucked his fist on it and Thom made a helpless little sound in the back of his throat that made Dev insane, desire clogging his throat. “Don’t do that,” he said roughly, too close to losing control. Thom immediately bit his lip again. That just made Dev want to kiss him, so he rose on one hand, leaned over Thom and sucked his cock into his mouth.

  Thom gave a hoarse shout, half rising from the bed, his hands clutching Dev’s shoulders. Dev ran his tongue over that silken soft skin, enjoying the contrast of soft covering hard. So damn hard. Dev breathed roughly through his nose, the sound harsh and grating in the small room. It took a moment to realize Thom’s breath matched his, as loud, as harsh, as out of control. Dev slid his mouth almost off his cock and tongued that delicious slit and Thom fell back on the bed with a painful groan. His hands fisted in the back of Dev’s shirt.

  Dev would have smiled in satisfaction if he hadn’t had a mouthful of dick. Thom wasn’t thinking about that fucking war now, was he?

  Dev reached between Thom’s legs and cupped his sac. It was heavy and full. Thom was every inch a man here, and Dev had never wanted him more. He wanted to own him, to fuck him and make him come so hard he flew apart. But he wasn’t going to. Just this. Just this for Thom. Because he wasn’t going to start something he had no intention of finishing. This thing Kitty wanted—and Dev was beginning to think Thom was building fairy tales as well—couldn’t be. As soon as they were strong enough Dev would go.

  He sucked hard on Thom’s prick, taking what he could now and blocking all thoughts of leaving. He focused completely on the moment, on the salty taste of Thom, the slick coat of his spit covering Thom’s prick, the earthy smell of him, the desperation of his breath and his voice as he moaned again.

  Thom’s grip on Dev’s shirt was so tight Dev was sure he was going to rip it. He didn’t give a fuck. Thom’s prick grew harder and hotter on Dev’s tongue and he knew he was going to come. He slid down to the end and sucked that sweet head, teasing the slit he craved, and Thom shouted. Dev tasted the first splash of his release and pulled away, fisting Thom’s cock. He covered the head, catching Thom’s release in his palm, each spurt against his hand causing Dev’s cock to jerk. When it was over, he wrapped his hand back around Thom’s still-hard dick and coated it in his come, loving the hot, wet feel of it. Thom shuddered and his hands slowly released Dev’s shirt.

  “Dev,” he whispered. Dev froze and slowly let go. “Now you,” Thom said, still breathless.

  Dev shook his head without turning around and facing Thom. “This was for you.” His cock ached, but he wasn’t going to give in.

  “Next time,” Thom said, sounding sleepy and satisfied.

  “Go to sleep,” Dev told him quietly, not bothering to tell him there wouldn’t be a next time. “I won’t leave.” He still didn’t look at him, just rose from the bed to wash his hand off in the basin on the washstand. He heard rustling from the bed.

  “Thank you,” Thom said, and his voice was sleepy. Dev turned to see him still sprawled on the bed, his pants pulled up, barely. He dried his hand and went over and buttoned them again, and Thom smiled but didn’t open his eyes. That was good. Dev didn’t want words now. He was stifling the words in his head that were trying to tell him he was a bloody fool for what he’d just done. But he couldn’t regret it as Thom’s breathing evened out and he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

  Dev climbed into bed next to him and took his limp hand in his. He wouldn’t wake up dreaming again, Dev was sure of it.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Where’s Devlin?” Thom asked her as he walked into the kitchen. He was still sleepy-eyed and tousled.

  “As soon as I got home he ran out as if his heels were on fire,” Kitty said with a laugh. “He said there was something that required his attention at the warehouse. I’ve no idea what and I don’t want to know.” She stared out the window at the deepening dusk. She’d wanted to tie Devlin to a chair and forbid him to go. But she knew that wasn’t the solution.

  “Oh.” Thom sounded odd, but when Kitty looked at him he smiled at her.

  “He wasn’t too awful while I was gone, was he?” she asked in sympathy. “He was in a mood when I got home.”

  “No, not at all,” Thom rushed to assure her. “He was…fine.” He looked as if he wanted to say more, but remained silent.

  “Well, all right,” she said. Her curiosity was beyond piqued. Something had happened while she was gone. She just wished she knew what, or better yet that, these two weren’t so closed-mouth. “Are you hungry?” Food usually loosened a man’s tongue.

  Thom nodded, still smiling at her. But the smile had morphed into something sweet and tender and her heartbeat quickened. “Yes,” he told her. “But let me help.”

  At that she had to laugh. “Have you ever had to make do in a kitchen?” she asked.

  Thom pretended to be offended. “Indeed I have,” he said. “I am a bachelor, you know, and not a very wealthy one.” The last was admitted rather ruefully.

  Kitty scoffed. “Money usually doesn’t make a man self-sufficient, nor does lack of it,” she said wryly. “I don’t care what he’s got in the Bank of England, you’d be hard pressed to find a man in London who can cook his own meals.”

  “Do we have to cook?” Thom asked with an eyebrow raised skeptically. “Because I could swear I smell something delicious wafting from the basket on the table.”

  “Maybe I cooked it downstairs,” Kitty said, pulling off the cover to reveal several cooking pots. Thom didn’t say a word, just raised that brow again, and she laughed. “All right. Mrs. Castle made it. She usually makes our dinner. It’s a nice stew with bread, she said.”

  “Then I shall thank the bounteous Mrs. Castle for cooking it and you for bringing it home,” Thom said. He walked over and kissed her on the cheek, and Kitty wished she’d turned her head and taken the kiss on her lips. But she didn’t, and Thom moved away.

  Dinner was intimate with just the two of them. Thom teased and flirted outrageously. Kitty had never seen him like this. She’d seen hints of it when she’d first met him. She just sat with her cheek in her hand, elbow on the table, and watched him animatedly te
ll her stories that made her laugh out loud. That seemed to be all he wanted from her, and she was happy to oblige. She could stare at him for hours and not complain.

  “Tell me about Devlin,” he asked as they cleared up the table. “How did you meet?”

  Kitty slowly turned to face him, leaning back against the kitchen counter. “Do you want the truth?” she asked. It was ground she feared to tread, but Thom should know before he got involved any deeper with them.

  Thom sat down again, facing her. “Yes.”

  “We met in the brothel where I turned tricks as a girl.”

  Thom’s expression didn’t change. She’d actually expected horror of one type or another. Either at what she’d done, or because she’d had to do it. It was the usual reaction. Instead, Thom merely looked as if they were having a pleasant conversation. “Did you?” he finally asked. “There has to be more to it than that.”

  She let out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “Yes, of course there is. Isn’t there always?” She turned back to scraping the dishes and a moment later Thom joined her at the counter, leaning his back on it next to her. “I was young, too young to be doing what I was doing. I’d been there a few weeks when Devlin came in. I remember how cocky he was then, rough and loud and hard as nails, just a little older than I was. He’d just stepped up into old Neddy’s place.” She paused and looked at him. “The money man for Shadler. He was a gang leader who ran boys in Holburn and Whitechapel back then. Mostly thieving. He didn’t want to bother with whores.”

  Thom winced a little, at her casual talk of that sort of life, she supposed. “Go on,” he told her. “You and Devlin…”

  “Yes, me and Devlin. Well, he was gorgeous, the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen and all the girls wanted him. He watched me that night and every night for the next two weeks, but he never chose me.”

  “Why?” Thom asked, frowning. “You must have been equally gorgeous. Judging by how beautiful you are now.”

  Kitty felt a blush color her cheeks as she peeked at Thom from the corners of her eyes. He was admiring her hair and his gaze travelled down from her head to her toes. There was an appreciative light in his eye that she wasn’t immune to. “Thank you,” she murmured. “As for Devlin, well he didn’t want to pay for it. Not from me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She thought back to their conversation a week or so ago. “He wanted me to want him. Not his money, not what he could do for me. Just him. And after weeks of teasing me with his looks, he made his move.”

  Thom chuckled at her dramatic tone, as she’d intended. “Did he? What did he do to win the heart of the fair maiden?”

  Kitty snorted. “I hadn’t been a maiden for quite some time, nor fair,” she commented wryly. “He snuck into my room at the house. Paid off the watchdogs and walked bold as you please into my room and told me I was going to fuck him for free.”

  “Well, that’s hardly romantic,” Thom drawled. He took Kitty’s hand and led her out of the kitchen. “It didn’t work did it?”

  “Of course it did,” Kitty said. “You’ve seen him, haven’t you?”

  Thom’s laugh was low, with an intimate quality to it. “Yes, I’ve seen him,” he agreed, and Kitty could tell he meant it just the way it sounded. He would have given in too.

  Thom let go of her hand when they entered the bedroom, much to her disappointment. He wandered over and picked up the chessboard from the dresser. They’d played for the last three nights. She was awful at it. But he and Devlin had played each match as if the fate of the world depended on the game. Devlin was two wins ahead. “Keep talking,” he said as he set the board on the bed.

  Kitty climbed up and rested on her knees while Thom put the board down between them and lay on his side opposite her. “He was so different when we were alone,” she told him. “So sweet and tender. He called me beautiful and perfect and made me feel like I was worth something. He came back the next day and the next. He told me about his life and what he did, and I made him feel better, I think. I already understood him. I understood he didn’t want to do it, but he had nothing else and no one else.”

  Thom was watching her carefully. “Have you always been together since then?”

  She shook her head. “No. He killed the pimp who ran the house and set me free.” She cut Thom off before he could say anything. “Oh, don’t go building fairy tales in your head, as Devlin would say. He had other motives. He took over Caldwell’s business. That was the beginning of what he’s got today.” She sighed and tipped her head to the side as she thought about it. “But I know he wanted to do it for me, too.” She started to arrange the chess pieces. “He helped me find the earl and set me on my course.”

  “The earl?” Thom asked.

  She smiled at him. “I won’t tell you which one. He was the first protector to keep me, to buy me a house and clothes and a maid. He hired a teacher who taught me to read and to speak proper English. He was wonderful to me. At least forty years my senior, and he could only manage to bed me every once in a while.” She wrinkled her nose. “You know how it is with older gentlemen.”

  “Indeed I do,” Thom said seriously. “I’m glad you found him.” Thom made his opening move and they played silently for a bit.

  “Does that change your opinion of me?” Kitty blurted out suddenly. She bit her lip as she watched him. He’d known a bit of her past, but it was the nicer bit, the part where she was a mistress of renown, considered a prize by gentlemen for her temperament and her intelligence as well as her beauty. And he knew the independent and shrewd businesswoman she’d become with Devlin’s help.

  “No.” Thom looked up at her, lying there propped up on one elbow, his leg bent. He was relaxed and at home and she wanted him to stay. “I love who you are now, Kitty. And I know that we are the sum of all our experiences.” He moved a pawn. “I’m a different man than I was when I was younger.” His grin was melancholy. “I used to be a bit of a firecracker, you know.”

  “Were you, now?” she asked, wiggling her brows suggestively.

  Thom laughed. “Yes, I was. I rarely attended to my studies. I was more interested in loose women and drink.” He got a thoughtful expression on his face. “Hmm. Perhaps I haven’t changed that much.”

  “Think I’m a loose woman, do you?” she asked.

  He colored. “I’m sorry. No. That’s not what I meant.”

  “It was, and I am.” She grinned at him. “I learned one thing in the sum of my experiences, and that is we women get very few rewards for all our work. One of them is a really good fuck.” Thom looked as if she’d struck him speechless. “I know most ladies want to act as if it’s a chore, but I love it. I love how powerful it makes me feel, how good it is, how decadent. It’s like chocolate and champagne and sunshine all rolled into one.”

  “Yes,” Thom said. “But only if it’s with the right person.”

  Kitty shook her head. “There’s more than one person out there who can make you feel that way. And you shouldn’t be ashamed to admit it. Oh, there are wrong people, don’t misunderstand. And some people are more right than others. But the choice to be with only one person isn’t about how good the fucking is. It’s about other things, like affection and respect and that connection you have with only a rare few.”

  “Like Devlin?” he asked quietly.

  “Yes,” she answered. “Like Devlin.” She tried to say and you, too with the look she gave him. But she was too afraid to say it out loud.

  “Kitty,” he said, his voice low and heavy. Every nerve ending danced under her skin, like the pleasant prickle she got when she walked out of the shade into the sunshine. Kitty wanted to devour him.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “This game is boring,” she declared suddenly.

  “Is it?” he said, sitting up. He looked away and cleared his throat. “We could play something else.”

  Kitty was tempted to sweep it all to the floor and pounce on him, but he seemed nervous so she dec
ided against it. “Let’s play vingt-et-un,” she suggested, plotting.

  He looked surprised. He must have been expecting the pounce. “Vingt-et-un?” he asked. “Um, all right.”

  Kitty got off the bed, but not without a great deal of fussing with her skirts and showing her legs. She’d worn pretty little white stockings today, embroidered with roses and tied with silk and lace garters. She may have to wear boring dresses, but her undergarments were her own business. She pretended not to notice Thom staring at her legs. She carried the board over to her dresser and set it on top and then searched her dresser drawers for a deck of cards. It necessitated taking out all manner of things to find it. She tossed stockings and garters and corsets and beautiful silk negligees casually about on the furniture. Devlin had given her some very naughty gifts, but she deemed it perhaps a bit too soon to reveal those. “Here they are,” she said triumphantly when she’d emptied out nearly all her unmentionables and draped them around the room. She spun around to show him the cards.

  He sat on the bed watching her with a knowing appreciation that made anticipation dance through her veins. Her breath caught a little and she practically skipped to the bed. When she climbed on the bed she yanked her skirts high on her thighs and scooted very close to him. These were games she used to play when she was a mistress, but they felt different tonight. Tonight they were for her pleasure. Thom lay back down on his elbow, just watching her with that heated gaze and she realized that perhaps it wasn’t him who was nervous. It was her. She’d thought about this for years, wondered what it would be like to kiss him, to touch him. Had he done the same? Would her story tonight have changed the way he’d do that? Would he treat her like a princess or a whore? Devlin had always treated her like a princess.

  She leaned over and showed him the cards. “See? Devlin bought them for me. They came all the way from Paris.” The cards had risqué drawings of scantily clad ladies on them.