by Angel Payne
They looked so damn perfect like that. And as he looked on, all he could feel was one overwhelming sensation. Gratitude.
He wasn’t the only one. Lani affirmed it as she fervently whispered her thanks into Tait’s shoulder. “Mahalo.” She twisted her head, tucking it against his chest. “Thank you for helping to find him. For talking to him. For caring. For…everything.”
For an instant, Tait bent his head toward the top of hers. One of his hands clenched tight against her back.
In that simple action, Kellan observed that the thankfulness had reached full circle. Lani would never know how many needs she’d just met for Tait, but Kell did. Tait would spend the rest of his life trying to compensate for what he’d never been able to do for his mother—living for moments like this, where he could make things okay. Thanks to Lani, sharing her joy with him so openly, Tait soared as close to Heaven as he could without dying.
When they pulled back from each other, and Lani sealed her gratitude by giving T a sincere little kiss, Kellan wasn’t surprised—or hurt. The moment simply felt like another sublime gift from fate. And the instant tent that popped in his friend’s crotch? Wasn’t a stunner, either.
Nevertheless, he watched the exchange in more silence…and deeper curiosity. He waited for the “raging jealousy” part of the equation to rush in, but it never came. A lot of other sensations were more than happy to step up. Camaraderie. More erotic demand. But most of all…completion. To watch the two people closest to him right now, perhaps closest to him ever, sharing the same bonds he felt to them both…it really was a gift.
No. It was more.
A blessing.
The only things that didn’t fit were the scarlet flags across Lani’s cheeks, and the guilty twist of her lips. Huh? Why was she looking at him like that?
Okay, he understood the conventional answer to that—but when the hell had “conventional” applied to them in the last six days? Plain and simple, this was a moment for triumph and joy, not shame and embarrassment. How the hell could he yank her out of the societal straight jacket and see that?
The sky flashed again, but didn’t equal the burst of his mental clarity. The answer was easy. Were intense ops ever attempted alone? The truth was perfect as it was plain. He and Tait would be in this together, working together on the best mission of their lives: bringing this woman to the ultimate heights of her passion. The best thing? It wasn’t just what Lani needed. It was what Tait needed. And if the pressure in Kell’s cock could talk, it was sure as hell what he needed.
Lani was in the process of stepping back from Tait—and looking pretty reluctant about it—when Kell made his way to her side in three forceful steps. “Stop.”
Lani flashed a confused stare. “Excuse me?”
He nodded toward Tait. “You need to thank him again.”
“Uhhh…she really doesn’t,” Tait rebutted. “Dude, we’re good.”
“No, you’re not.” He didn’t waver his tone, more sure of this than aiming a tranq dart at an elephant’s ass on a windless day. With the same confidence, he guided Lani’s fingers back up to Tait’s neck. The air clutched audibly in Tait’s throat. “Guess that proves my point already.”
“About what?” Tait growled.
He ignored that. Balancing the command of his words with the tenderness of his touch, he smoothed back Lani’s hair. “You’re not done yet. Thank him again, starshine. Like you mean it this time. I’m going to watch every second. I want to be sure you don’t skimp on the effort.”
“Kell.” Tait’s comeback was a helix of shock and disbelief. “What the hell are you—”
“With all due respect, shut up. You want this, too, meathead. Every square inch of your body is clamoring for it.” He swiveled back to Lani, lifting a soft smile. “And sweetheart, every inch of yours is, too.”
As she snorted at him, the color intensified on her face. Goddamn. A little pissed-off turned the woman into a lot of enticing. “That has nothing to do with this.”
“That has everything to do with this.” He bit back a chuckle as they both fumed. “I care about you. And God help me, I care about this asshat, too. So what’s wrong with wanting to see you two share some joy after the ordeal of today?”
“What’s wrong with it?” Lani snapped. “Kellan, you can’t go ordering me to simply make out with your best friend, like—”
“Even if you want to? Even if I want you to?”
She swiveled her sneer to Tait, obviously in a bid for his support. “Is he always this much of a paˋakiki?”
Tait’s gaze narrowed. “Yeah. Pretty much.”
Kell punched his shoulder. “Like you understood that.”
“I know ‘bossy asshat’ when I hear it in any language.”
Lani arched her brows in victory. “And he agrees with me.”
“Perfect. That’s nnother thing you can thank him for.”
She bared her teeth, threatening to actually snarl. When Kellan didn’t alter his own certainty, her eyes joined the fight. “Fine,” she snipped, irises swirling with blue and silver heat. “You really want this?”
She didn’t wait for him to answer. Without any more hesitation, she grabbed both sides of Tait’s head, and pulled his mouth to hers again.
Kellan’s cock surged with new blood. He’d be stunned if Tait’s didn’t, too. The pure anger in which Lani first seized him coalesced into a passion that ignited the air and amped their connection. In a nutshell, it was fucking hot. If T wasn’t on board with that message with the first smash of her lips, he signed up for the program fast after that. A crease formed in his friend’s jaw as T shoved open Lani’s mouth with his own. The guy growled while stabbing his tongue down, ruthlessly invading her. Lani responded with a decadent moan, sweeping her arms around Tait’s shoulders.
More thunder growled overhead. Like it mattered. The energy shooting off the two of them was a storm in its own right, whipping Kellan into its vortex, too. He gulped hard, one of his hands on the back of Lani’s head, the other on Tait’s shoulder. A glance down showed that Tait’s cock was definitely up to speed on the direction of this mission. As his buddy continued kissing Lani, Tait cupped the generous swells of her ass, using the hold to slide her crotch hard against his.
“Damn,” Kell grated. He smiled when Lani moaned. “Sounds like you’re enjoying that, starshine.”
“One of us sure as fuck is,” Tait declared between harsh breaths when he pulled from her a little.
“Count me in as the next vote,” Kell drawled.
T flashed an intense stare. “Are you serious?”
“Hell, yeah.” Kellan stepped in to tug at Lani, redirecting her toward him. “Let me show you what I mean.”
Her eager sigh told him she supported that decision. It blended with Tait’s growl as Kell drew her closer, fitting her curves to his body before slanting his lips over hers in relentless need. As she palmed his jaw in return, he felt Tait press in and squeeze her ass again, working at the flesh through her clothes. Kellan groaned and claimed her tongue harder with his own. Her taste was a heady assault of rain, desire, and the spicy edge that had come from Tait’s kiss.
“Fuck.” Tait blurted it on a harsh breath. “You’re right, man. Watching’s as much fun from this distance as it was from the damn bushes.”
Lani lifted her face and looked at them both. “Not more fun?” Her eyes were as bright as a misbehaving fairy. Her lips trembled with a touch of fear…and a lot of lust.
To his credit, Tait breathed in and out, clearly thinking about his reply. Though Kellan was grateful for his buddy’s consideration, he finally prompted, “Just say it, man.”
“Say what?” Lani’s voice had turned into a sexy rasp.
Tait gave Kellan a meaningful glance over her head while pressing behind her. He fitted his crotch against her ass and tucked his mouth into her ear. “Sometimes, it’s not a good idea to let me slide too close, dreamgirl.”
Lani’s eyes drifted shut. Her thick lashe
s trembled against her cheeks. Goddamn, she was breathtaking. “Wh-why?”
“Because when I’m this close, I’m tempted to…do things.” He snaked his tongue along the rim of her ear. “Demanding things. Dominating things.”
She shivered. Her hands slid from Kell’s jaw to his shoulders, where she dug her grip in tight. “Like…what?”
The muscles in T’s arms flexed again. When Lani let out a sharp yelp, Kell did the math. The guy had found a way to pinch her ass good and sharp, even with her pants on. T-Bomb could be a creative fucker when he wanted, a fact which didn’t always make Kell happy. This occasion a huge exception.
“To start with,” Tait went on, “I’d want to grab every inch of this fine, gorgeous ass.”
“Errmmm, you mean like you are right now?” Her smirk was just as sarcastic as her jibe. Kell arched his brows in warning, though it was probably too late. The T-Bomb Dom had officially been awakened, meaning her sass would earn her at least a tiny swat.
Sure enough, the next sound out of her kiss-plumped lips was an enticing yelp, coinciding with the smack Tait delivered to her wriggling backside. The guy silenced and stilled her with his next move, pulling her hands off Kell to shackle them in a commanding grip over her head. With her wrists joined in his grip and her neck beneath his mouth, Tait growled low, openly enjoying the moment before spanking her a second time. “No,” he murmured, emphasizing with a wolfish bite over her carotid, “it’d be a lot more like that.”
Lani’s face went through a fascinating transformation. Kell looked on as her eyes widened a little, and her lips parted with new need. “Ohhhh,” she rasped, letting her head fall back. “Gods, why is it so warm now?”
“What is?” Kellan stepped forward to take advantage of her new position, spreading his hands across both her breasts. The camisole she wore under his sweatshirt had minimal padding, thank fuck. “Talk to us, starshine.”
“My—my backside.” Her forehead pursed as she clearly struggled for focus on the words—just the way he liked it. Her nipples jutted against his fingers. Her wrists writhed in Tait’s sensual captivity. “It’s hot. And tingling. It—it feels…so…aiwaiwa.”
“Mmmm. Yeah. Aiwaiwa. My point exactly.” Tait’s arm flexed as he massaged the stunning curves of her ass again. “It’s only the beginning of the treatment I’m fantasizing for these naughty buns of yours, girl.”
Her captivation seemed conquered by confusion. “W-wait. You want to spank me more? Like make me wear pigtails, call you daddy, and beg you for my punishment?”
Kell thanked God that elite sniper work required the ability to stifle emotions. But even his skill at the feat almost crumbled against his laughter at her suggestion—especially when guessing that Tait would drool a bucket if she appeared in a plaid mini, knee socks, and a knotted shirt over a red lace bra.
His buddy’s reaction, not restrained nearly as well, confirmed that supposition. After letting out a long rumble, Tait slipped his grip from her wrists in order to shove both his hands beneath all her clothes. From the positions of the lumps beneath her clothing, Kell guessed he’d dug his fingers in hard to the sides of her waist.
“You have the begging part right, dreamgirl. But I wouldn’t make you bend over for detention swats. Not your first time in Sergeant Bommer’s class.”
Lani’s tongue snuck across her lips. She looked a little drunk, clearly trying to comprehend how she stood here, pressed so intimately between the two of them. “So…what’s the purpose of class, then?”
Kellan watched as T worked one of his hands toward the front of her body. As he dipped lower, making her mouth drop in flagrant arousal, Kellan ground his teeth until his jaw ached. God knew, his cock was already there.
“Pleasure, Hokulani,” Tait told her in a husky murmur. “That’s what Sergeant Bommer’s class is always about. Your pleasure…and ours.”
He’d let a significant pause lead toward his last two words. And ours. Kellan watched T carefully after that, rewarded for his diligence when his friend glanced up. They smiled together. The shorthand of their friendship was up to speed once more, letting them silently agree on the same significant message.
Let’s give this goddess a night she’ll never forget.
Of course, that was their plan. Securing Lani’s buy-in on the concept was going to be a different challenge. As soon as she figured the intent of Tait’s words—and she would figure it—they’d learn just how high the wall of her resistance would be. In case they were dealing with a steel-lined fortress instead of a thatched fence, Kellan breathed down his erection a little. He noticed Tait doing the same as he extracted his hand from beneath her clothes.
Lani sure as hell didn’t make their efforts at composure any easier. Tait’s words had made her chest rise and fall with more urgency, and her gaze raced between the two of them like she sought permission to reach into Lucifer’s candy jar. Dear fuck, woman. If it’s sweets you want, I have some hard treats right here.
While his brain lingered in that torture chamber of a thought, she turned toward Tait. The result was a view Kellan would remember forever: her profile, soft and vulnerable in the lamp’s glow, yet so breathtakingly honest. And so thick with desire…
“I like the sound of this class,” she whispered.
Tait looked as stunned as Kell felt. And elated. Fuck yeah, elated. “You’re certain?”
Lani nodded, swiveling her magical gaze between them again. “I want to give you pleasure. Both of you.”
Tait leaned closer. “You’re really certain?”
Kellan shot his friend a glare. “Dude, don’t you know how to quit when you’re ahead?”
“And don’t you remember how I play this fucking game?” He snorted before turning back to Lani. The woman returned his gaze with worlds of expectation in her eyes. Normally, that kind of blind trust would scare the crap out of Kellan. But this was Tait Bommer, the one person on the planet who wasn’t going to abuse such a gift. Spending hours on rooftops with a guy didn’t leave a lot of his life unexposed, ensuring that Kell knew, better than anyone, about Tait’s understanding of broken trust and its lasting pain.
That didn’t mean T was going to be gentle about making his point to Lani. With another growl, deeper now, the guy used a ruthless grip in her hair to pull her back around to face him, latching her stare onto him. A gasp spilled from her lips. Her eyes dilated. Her chest pumped harder.
“Slash has told you I like a little control, right? Sometimes, that phrase changes to a lot of control.” He lowered his head in order to skim his mouth along hers in a back-and-forth tease. “Times like this one.”
A tiny sigh echoed up Lani’s throat. That, along with this incredible view of her unfolding passion, heated Kellan’s blood to unbearable levels. With a grunt, he shifted in his shorts. Unable to resist, he reached and palmed her ass for himself.
“Wh-what do you mean by…’a lot’?” she whispered.
Tait prefaced his answer by capturing her top lip between his teeth. “I mean that nothing makes my cock swell more than the idea of ripping those pants off you, bending you over the back of the couch, and laying into your bare ass with my palm until it glows deep red. Nothing turns my brain to fire more than wondering how your screams will sound because of it. And nothing makes my balls pound harder than thinking of watching Kell rub out the sting of my spanking, just before he plunges his dick into your pussy from behind.”
“Oh,” she squeaked. “Ohhhh.” It became a moan as T bit her bottom lip, too.
Kellan merged his groan to her arousal. “For the record, I’m really on board with that flight plan.”
“For the record,” —Lani’s rasp came between the little bites she gave Tait’s lips in return— “I am, too.”
Tait’s face went through a transformation. Kellan had seen it happen before, on the few nights he’d gone to the Bastille dungeon to witness the guy in scenes with eager submissives. The change happened when Tait crossed his final mental bridge into
Dom brain. His eyes gained hoods with their hot concentration. His cheeks sharpened. His mouth firmed. His very posture changed, tautening yet bending as he focused his power completely on his partner. T had attempted an explanation once. He called the process “being invited into her soul.” At the time, Kellan had openly laughed at his friend, had even called it a pretty crowd of words when one would do fine. Foreplay. Now, he rammed a mental boot up his ass for the foolishness.
Without relenting his hold on her head, Tait scanned her whole face before demanding, “Do you absolutely want this, dreamgirl? You completely understand what you’re asking for?”
Lani sent him a steady smile. “I may live on an island, Sergeant, but I read. And I dream. And I…fantasize.” She let the implication of that sink in for a few seconds before going on. “I want you to make my fantasies come true…please. I know what I’m asking for.”
T gazed hard at her once more. “Then you also know I’m not going to be gentle.”
Lani trembled. Her nipples jabbed to full erection, discernible even through the layers of her clothes. “Yes,” she replied. “I know.”
“And you know that unless you scream ‘red,’ your safe word to stop everything about this night, I’m going to smack that luscious bottom until I think you’ve had enough?”
She processed that one a lot longer. The moment Kellan figured she’d performed a “Lani mind game” on herself and declared this “fantasy” too wild for her reality, she looked back up and declared, “Yes. I understand. ‘Red’ is my safe word and I only use it for a full stop.”
Tait jerked half a smile at her in approval. “And the rest, too, babe. The part about my hand on your flesh…”
“Yes.” Her voice was a breath this time. “I understand.”
“And my will acting as proxy for your needs. That I’ll do the thinking…and you’ll do the feeling.”
“Yes, Tait.”
“Yes Sir will be just fine, dreamgirl.”
