Embraced By Passion

by Diana DeRicci

  She hoped they appreciated the little something she’d bought that afternoon besides the dress she was wearing while she was out with her mother. Thankfully, her mother had been in the fitting rooms and hadn’t seen it. It would have been hell trying to explain it.

  * * * *

  Ja’Rol faced forward, his hand covering hers on his leg. The warmth of her skin beneath his palm created a pulse of wanting. Slone was right. The wanting, the need, never went away, a low simmer underneath his skin. It wouldn’t take much to make that need become a roiling inferno for her, for them.

  He resisted the urge to tap his leg, nervous and impatient energy beating at him now. “When are we going to tell her?” Ja’Rol wasn’t stupid. He knew Slone craved their completion as much as Ja’Rol did, but as of yet, there’d been no mention of filling that final gap in their relationship.

  The one that was necessary to keep her, the one that would infuse her with their magic, their souls. And give them a piece of hers to keep and cherish.

  “Soon. Today was for her, and for Traci. You saw what it meant to them both.”

  Ja’Rol wasn’t denying that. But a nugget of fear had insidiously dug into him when she’d been gone for hours with her mother that afternoon.

  “I’m buying her a cell phone,” Ja’Rol informed Slone.

  “Patience, lover. In that, she is right. She is still coming to terms with what we are offering. Don’t you feel her when she has doubts?”

  Ja’Rol looked to Slone, then away. “Of course I do. She has many doubts, and they are groundless.”

  “Were they groundless when you met me?” Slone prodded gently.

  Ja’Rol swiveled back to meet Slone’s unique gaze. “When I… Because you are male?”

  Slone nodded. “I’m more than a century older than you. I have seen a thing or two, and I knew you weren’t expecting this to happen between us.”

  Ja’Rol caught the hiss of his exasperation behind his teeth. No, he hadn’t been expecting to bond with a male. He was the last child of his parents and though they had seen him to maturity, they passed when he was young, at least young in wyvern terms.

  “In truth, I never expected to mate with Inara, or love her the way I did, but she taught me you can’t fight fate, and this love, is beyond our control.”

  Ja’Rol offered his open compassion. “You don’t talk about her very much.”

  “She was a wonderful woman, whose time came before any of us had expected. I knew she was centuries older than myself. I didn’t understand what that meant to us until she was gone, though.”

  Slone stopped and looked out onto the street, his expression blank, his thoughts locked away and inward. It was one of the rare instances where Slone wasn’t readily open, and out of respect, Ja’Rol wouldn’t push.

  Ja’Rol’s head sagged a fraction. “So, patience?” Though he hated it. He didn’t want to lose the woman they both had grown to love.

  “Just a little longer. We asked her to learn to trust us, to know us. We have to give her that chance. And yes, I love her too. I love you both.”

  “I love you too,” Ja’Rol easily replied. “And I would be a fool to not love her as much.” Smirking in a self-deprecating manner, he finished with, “I am no fool.”

  Slone’s mouth curved and devilment lit his eyes. In that moment, Ja’Rol wanted to kiss him badly, but both men were disciplined, at least enough to not attack each other in the back of a horse-drawn carriage. The promises in Slone’s eyes said he would be expecting that kiss, and more.

  After dinner, Traci and Gene asked if they could have the carriage drive them on a tour.

  “Go have fun,” Slone told them, offering the guiltless chance to escape. After kisses and hugs and promises to be in contact before anyone left for home, Traci and Gene disappeared with their guide for the evening.

  “She is so happy,” Brigit breathed, a quiet yearning in the words. Ja’Rol wanted to fill that yearning with everything she could ever want, with all the love the two men could share with her.

  “Are you tired?” Slone asked her.

  “No, though I think dinner did slow me down. That was incredible seafood, whoever thought of it.”

  “That would be Ja’Rol,” Slone explained with a chuckle to match the gleam of laughter in his eyes. “He picks the best blindfolded.”

  “Well, he’s convinced me,” she replied, smiling beautifully for them both. It took a drawn breath for Ja’Rol to remember they weren’t going upstairs right away.

  “Let me dismiss our carriage. I think we can take it from here,” Slone said. Ja’Rol nodded.

  Slone stepped away and Ja’Rol neared Brigit, lowering his voice for her alone. “I want to kiss you.” Her blue eyes sparkled in answer. “I want to take you upstairs and treat you like that chocolate dessert you ate with such a teasing art. I still ache.”

  A heat began to spread on her cheeks, her face dropping from his to try to hide her pleasure in his desire.

  Slone walked up behind her, bracketing her between his arms as he cupped her waist within his palms. He buried his nose against her neck and Ja’Rol watched her eyes drift shut, growing sultry as her desire flared to life. “You smell wonderful tonight, pet.” He dropped a few slow kisses on her shoulder, then he stood. “What would you like to do, Brigit? The night is young.”

  “Let’s walk,” she said, enticing them both with a beckoning, winsome smile.

  “Do you want to change?” Ja’Rol asked.

  Both he and Slone loved the gown she’d purchased for the ceremony. A simple chiffon in very pale baby pink with satin trim, it was innocent but then daring with a low bust line and a half-bared back. It floated around her body with every motion. Low-heeled sandals only brought her an inch or two higher, giving her silky legs the kind of attention they truly deserved. It had been hard to let her walk out of the room without tearing it from her sweet curves. The dress formed to her as if to scream to the world that a beautiful woman lay beneath its shape, teasing anyone who looked with glimpses of pale skin and feminine lushness.

  She slipped an arm through each of theirs, saying, “Now, what would be the fun of looking fabulous if we were walking in street clothes?” Her bright, playful laughter turned many heads in the casino doors toward the street at the sound.

  “She is right,” Slone pointed out. He crooked an arm and Ja’Rol did the same, letting her fit perfectly between them. “Shall we, pet?”

  The smile on her perfect lips stole Ja’Rol’s heart, completely.

  Chapter Ten

  Brigit focused. “Am I doing this right?”

  Slone smiled down at her. “Very right.”

  “Can you both hear me?”

  Ja’Rol’s fingers covered hers on his arm. “Yes,” he answered, lowering to brush a light kiss to her lips.

  “How do I speak to just one?” she asked them.

  “It’s more a direct concentration.” They paused in front of the dancing water fountains of the Bellagio.

  “How will I know if I’m doing it right?”

  “You’ve already shown a strong ability; the rest is just practice.” Slone’s voice was warm and rich, flowing through her mind. “We’ll both help you learn to recognize the sensation. Believe it or not, but we both have a certain, vibration, I guess, to our projection.”

  “So that will make it easier to tell you apart?”

  “Completely,” Ja’rol finished.

  She nodded, thinking about what he’d said, realizing that he was right. She could tell who was speaking. Like their voices had a certain tone, or timbre, so did their thoughts. Slipping from her escorts, she palmed the designed concrete barrier between the sidewalk and the water, rocking back and forth on her heels, watching the play of water and light.

  The spotlights flashed and the sound of strings began to waft over the large lake. The show was starting.

  “Can I ask you two something?”

  They leaned on their elbows with her, boxing her in, but o
nly to be close. “Anything, pet.” Slone clasped his hands, their twitch timed to the beat of the symphony music.

  “What did you mean on the plane? And this morning? You said ‘us’ like you were a different religion, maybe. Does it have something to do with us, all of us?”

  Slone and Ja’Rol shared a look, and she swore Ja’Rol wanted to tell her something, his mouth opening then closing with a grunted snap.

  Ja’Rol looked away, avoiding her searching, a heaved breath rolling his frame.

  “What?”

  “It’s nothing you need to worry over, love,” Slone said. With a raised hand, he stroked a finger down her cheek. “It’s just, we don’t want to rush you. You’ve known us a very few days. Not nearly long enough for you to be certain.”

  “Certain?” she whispered. The heat in his gaze was mesmerizing.

  Ja’Rol’s hand curled over her hip and he turned toward her, his chest pressing closer to her back until his breath warmed her ear. “Do you believe us when we say we care for you? About you?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  Slone’s lips grazed where his finger had just been. “Do you believe it’s possible to love, unconditionally?”

  Her skin felt like his lips had branded her, their heat shooting clear through her.

  “Because we do. We believe it,” Slone said, wrapping one of her hands into his. “We want you, just like we said this morning. And yes, it would be permanent, if you can accept everything there is about us.”

  The slightest breeze blew over them, the heat of the streets fading under the cool moisture in the air from the lake. The Strip was busy with the menagerie of sound and light and people passing, laughing or talking, but none of the world penetrated. It was those three, and no one else.

  “Accept?” Her voice was almost non-existent. “Because you were already lovers?”

  Slone shook his head, and Ja’Rol dropped light kisses to the skin beneath her ear.

  “No, pet. Accept the real us.”

  She shivered, and as close as they both were to her, she found no way to keep it hidden. She didn’t think he was trying to sound ominous, but he was. “I don’t understand.”

  “I know, love.” Slone stepped back, creating breathing room. Even Ja’Rol straightened, though neither completely let her go. “Let’s go back to the room. I want to hold you both. I need to feel you, and I can’t do it here.”

  Each clasped a hand, their stride matching hers as they strolled with intent toward their own hotel.

  Barely yards had passed before she stopped, nearly frozen. “Wait.” Both turned to face her, neither letting her go. She licked her lips, her insides a swarm of confusion. “Are you saying you love me?” She whipped from green and blue eyes to honeyed brown, and back again. There was nothing fake or false in either man’s expression. “In just two days? You didn’t know me before I showed up in your office three days ago.”

  Her heart kicked into a hard paced tattoo, beating against her chest. This wasn’t how it happened. Love never worked this way, and never for her.

  “Would you believe either one of us if we said yes?” Slone asked her, patience and understanding woven into his words, felt through his touch.

  Brigit’s eyes closed. It wasn’t possible, was it? She cared for them. Both had been exceptionally wonderful, to her and to her mother. And as he’d said, they’d done nothing to generate mistrust from her.

  “I don’t know,” she admitted.

  “Don’t fear us, pet,” Slone murmured, coming close to whisper into her ear. “Don’t let your past make you see something that isn’t there. Don’t let it ruin this precious chance.” Then when he kissed her, so softly on the lips, she swayed.

  When her eyes opened, both watched her.

  “Let us love you, Brigit.”

  “Because, yes, we already love you.”

  Emotions blindsided her, but shock was one of the largest. “You do, don’t you?”

  “Completely,” they both said in unison.

  Brigit stood nearly frozen, the only movement was her eyes, flicking back and forth. She couldn’t begin to ask how they could be so sure. For them, it merely was, and they could accept it. She wasn’t that lucky.

  “Do you want to be with us?” Ja’Rol leaned forward then, deftly sipping at her ear before standing straight again.

  Brigit licked her lips and nodded. She did, in the most basic sense. She knew that.

  Ja’Rol’s voice purred through her, the tone as sweet on her senses as a spring breeze over a field of wild flowers. “I want to kiss you so badly right now. From the moment you walked into the room with that curl over your eye defying you tonight.” A smile accompanied his words, a memory flitting between them all to the start of their evening.

  Slone picked up the next seductive overture. “Ever since I saw you in your tight jeans, I have wanted to nibble on those firm cheeks. Wanted to run my tongue down the center to tease you. Your ass is perfect, firm and so sweet to look at.”

  It hit her rather solidly, that with their telepathy these two men could do so much more without restraint. Their bold seduction was melting her to the concrete of the sidewalk. And worse, neither was shy about stating his desires, their wants for her, to include her. To have her.

  Brigit quivered, though her steps didn’t falter with them guiding her when they began to walk again. The litany continued for the next three blocks, this mental seduction on her senses. Descriptions of their desires, images of their hungers. All three, kissing and naked. Or Ja’Rol slowly loving her while Slone enjoyed the energy of their lovemaking. Even just Slone and Ja’Rol, showing her what unconditional love could mean to a person. If they hadn’t directed her steps, she would have stood frozen on the sidewalk for the rest of the night, lost in the sexual onslaught of both men, and their deepest desires. With her. For her.

  By the time they rode the elevator to their suite, she was a trembling mass of nerves, liquid with need. Desire snaked through her, heating her blood. Her nipples had pebbled, rubbing mercilessly against the cups of her bra, shooting heat deeper into her bloodstream. The panties she wore were soaked with proof of her arousal.

  She barely heard the lock in the door when the key was inserted. Slone opened it, but didn’t push it all the way in.

  “Know this Brigit.”

  She snapped up to find him studying her. Her pulse hadn’t slowed down at all. When she swallowed, there was little moisture. Her breathing had been sharp, short pants for the last twenty minutes. She ached. Her entire body felt sensitive. Alive.

  “This was never about the sex. It is only one way we show our love for each other. We hope you can love us, the both of us,” he said, his tenor voice sinfully rich, more so than usual.

  “All of us,” she heard with a whisper of longing from Ja’Rol.

  She hesitated when he swung the door inward. “What are you hiding, then?” She raked her teeth over her bottom lip once, trying to calm the demand of her body’s crying need. Little helped.

  Slone glanced over her head and she knew they were talking. That vibration, she felt it, though she couldn’t hear them. Both looked at her, and it seemed they had come to an agreement.

  “Tonight, pet. Give us tonight and when we are home tomorrow, we will tell you. It’s not fair to you to do it here, where you have nowhere to go if you…” Slone stopped and his eyes closed. He drew a breath. “It is something very important to all of us.”

  “You have AIDS.” She almost squeaked trying to say it. No! They wouldn’t have done all of this, they wouldn’t have risked her, themselves, would they? Their immediate answer soothed the rush of fear and worry.

  Both Ja’Rol and Slone shook their heads.

  “No, we are incapable of contracting or sharing any human disease.”

  Brigit tipped her head, unable to look away from those intense eyes. “Human?” Why would he say something like that?

  “Tomorrow. We promise,” Ja’Rol murmured. He placed his palms on her waist
, his breath hot when he leaned over to nibble lightly on her neck. “Tonight, we need you. We both need you.” His voice dropped to a new rumble of delicious sound. He drew a breath right beneath her ear. “And I do think, you need us.”

  Tenderly, he walked her into the room, passing Slone who closed the door with the Do Not Disturb sign displayed.

  The room was dim, only two side lamps lit, spaced far apart, giving a sensual aura to the suite. The curtains were mostly closed, a thin line of light slicing the room down the middle. A crystal vase in the middle of the center table sparkled almost in defiance of the darkness, capturing any part of the light to send it back out into the room.