Morgan's Mates (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Dani April

  They didn’t belong here, but he left them where they were. There would be time to take care of that later.

  Then he glanced to Morgan’s half of the closet. There were several new nighties hanging there. He didn’t remember her having those before. They were sexy and slim, and he ached to see her body in them.

  He smiled to himself. Those other two shifters had certainly been lucky to possess a woman like Morgan, if only for a little while. He hoped with everything in his heart that they had made her happy and taken some of the hurt and fear away when he was gone.

  He realized he owed those two a bigger debt than he knew how to repay.

  Morgan was standing behind him when he turned from the closet. She was brushing her wet hair. Her body glistened from just having come from the shower. She wore a nightgown that was sheer. Beneath it she was wearing nothing else. He remembered how he always used to love her in this gown. Remembered even more strongly how he used to love taking it off her.

  She opened her arms to him as he came up to hold her. The two of them were silent for a while as they held each other. They knew each other so well that sometimes words weren’t required.

  “I have missed you so much, Morgan.” She shivered beneath his touch. “Are you cold, darling?”

  “No.” She shook her head and looked up at him. “But this feels so different.”

  “Haven’t you been waiting for the past year for this moment?”

  “Yes. I have been.”

  “As have I.”

  Still, she shivered under his touch. He knew he would have to take it slow with her.

  “Come with me to bed?” he asked her.

  “Yes.”

  They sat on the bed on top of the covers, not yet bothering to lie down. Nathan didn’t want to rush her. He stroked her shoulder, and the touch of her skin under his fingers felt like a luxury. Finally she stopped shivering and sighed into his gentle touch. Still, he took his time with her.

  “Tell me about the other men?”

  She buried her face against his chest. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, only his boxer shorts. Already an erection tented them.

  “I don’t think I can.”

  “Then let me ask you some questions about them, all right?”

  “All right.”

  He brought his fingers up to caress her face lovingly and forced her to meet his eyes. “First and most important—were they good to you?”

  “Yes. They were very good to me.”

  Nathan breathed easier hearing her say that. He knew from the way she said it he could believe her. The other two shifters had indeed treated her well.

  “Did you make love to them in our bed?”

  She bent her head as if in shame, and he had his answer. But he lifted her head back up to face him. “No…no…don’t,” he admonished her. “It is all right. I’m happy you were with them. I am very happy they treated you well.”

  “I’m sorry, Nathan.”

  He brushed her lips with first his fingers and then his lips. “You’ve nothing to be sorry about. I won’t have you feeling guilty.”

  “I can’t help it. I do. I’m not a shifter like you. I feel like I cheated on you when you were away and needed me the most.”

  “I gave you my permission.”

  “I know. But now that it’s all over, it still doesn’t feel right.”

  He looked her square in the eyes. “Did you enjoy having two men?”

  She hesitated for the briefest of seconds. Then she nodded. “Yes, I did. They were incredible.”

  “Did you let them take you together?”

  Her face was fully hidden against his chest once more, he suspected to hide the pink blush that made her face so pretty. But he had her talking now. She had obviously come to care for those two shifters.

  “At first, no. Then later, after I felt more comfortable with them, yes.”

  “Shifter men can be very creative in pleasuring a woman. I’m afraid after I lived in Chicago all those years, I rather lost my touch. Tell me, did you learn anything new from them?”

  He took her chin in his fingers and brought her head back away from his chest. He saw a smile playing across her lips in spite of the embarrassment she must have felt.

  “Yes. They taught me quite a bit I didn’t know before.”

  He gently lifted her up for another kiss. She opened her mouth willingly to him, and his tongue danced on top of hers.

  “Will you tell me what you liked with them? We’ll do it as well.”

  “Maybe.” He saw she was breathless against his lips as he kissed around her face. She could barely talk now. Then she pulled away from him. “Do you see why it feels so awkward for me to be in this bedroom with another man tonight, Nathan? It is you, and I am in love with you, but it has still been a year, and during that time I shared a lot of intimacy with two other men.”

  “I understand.” He looked down at her beautiful face. He would have done anything for her. “If you want, I’ll just hold you tonight…I mean, would that be okay? It would sure make me sleep a lot better just to be holding you in my arms again while I slept.”

  She reached up and gave him a kiss, a relieved smile on her face. “Thank you, Nathan. I would love for you to hold me tonight.” Then she ran a hand up his chest and pulled her warm little body back in close to his. “Are you sure it’s okay with you if we don’t do anything else tonight?”

  “Yes.” He gave her a smile and a peck on her lips. “Everything is going to be okay from now on.”

  * * * *

  Morgan woke up in the middle of the night. Everything was back to normal. The hard, familiar edges of Nathan’s body were next to her under the covers. His arm was wrapped around her shoulder, and her head was cradled beneath his muscles.

  She gave him a kiss on the chest and looked up at the handsome features of his face in the dark of their bedroom. His eyes were closed and his breathing steady. He was asleep.

  She worried about him. Was he really well now? Or had he returned too soon just so he could keep his promise to her, a promise she would have never forced him to make if she had known how ill he was?

  She resolved that she would take him into town to see Doc Hughes in the morning. Now that he was back, protecting him and what they had together was going to be at the top of her list.

  Rearranging her position in his arms, her leg brushed the hardness of his erection. A smile turned the corners of her mouth. It had been a long time for him. He really did want her.

  She ran her hand down his chest and under his shorts. His cock was standing straight up his belly and didn’t seem to have enough room to breathe down there.

  Nathan had gone without for a year while Hunter and Drake had kept her more than satisfied during that same time. Morgan felt selfish for having denied Nathan her body that night. There was a need inside him, and she was the only one who could quench it.

  He stirred as she stroked him with her fingers and opened his eyes to look down at her.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  “You have my permission to wake me like this any time you want.”

  She moved up along his chest and brought her lips down into his. He opened his mouth to her. She explored his mouth with her tongue. He tasted just as she remembered. He tasted of his own unique flavor as strong and natural as the mountains surrounding their house.

  As their saliva mixed, her breathing became heavy, and her desire increased to match his. Beneath his shorts, his swollen cock was taking on a life of its own as she continued to stroke him. To her touch, it felt like the giant distended muscle was on fire. Exploring the tip with her fingers, she felt the first drops of his liquid prerelease forming.

  Her other hand ran up from his flat abs along his sculpted chest. These were muscles she had touched a hundred times in the past. This unyielding body beneath her belonged to her and her alone. In a year’s time she had almost forgot what he was capable of doing to her, of what he could make her
feel. Her sense of pride in knowing he was her man had always burned passionately through her.

  Now as she claimed him as her own again, all those old erotic feelings came flooding back. Warmth flooded her belly. His kiss made her dizzy. Between her thighs, her pussy was already wet and contracting in anticipation.

  “I was just going to hold you the first night back,” he reminded her.

  “That’s a stupid rule. You and I have waited a year for this. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait another minute.”

  His hands had roamed down her body and clasped her buttocks. Her gown had pooled around her waist. He gathered the hem between his fingers and lifted it up her body. She had to pull her hand out of his shorts long enough to lean up and raise her arms over her head.

  Nathan was swift and sure. In a single fluid motion, he had relieved her of that annoying gown. Now she was naked, free to touch him skin to skin.

  She went back to kissing him and exploring his body with her fingers. When his hands began to roam across her curves, she was gratified and moaned into their kiss.

  She got to her knees above him and helped him to slide his shorts down his legs. His erection positively popped out at her once she had freed it. He looked too good to resist, and she bent over him and took him in her mouth, once more tasting his unique flavor, savoring the beads of thick white liquid oozing from the tip as they coated her tongue.

  Finally he pulled her off. She knew she had coaxed him to the very edge with her playful tongue. It was obvious that he wanted inside her pussy, and she wanted to feel him there as well.

  Hiking a leg across his hips, she took his hardness between her fingers and guided his entry inside. Once the head had pushed past her lips, she sat down and impaled her body along his thick shaft.

  “I’d almost forgotten how it felt to be inside of you,” he whispered and pulled her down along his body so he could wrap his arms around her once more and go back to kissing her mouth.

  “I’d forgotten many things, too,” she confided in him. “But I never forgot that I loved you.” She moaned as he began to softly thrust up between her thighs. “I can’t believe this is happening, Nathan. Are you and I really back together?” She looked down into his beautiful eyes. “Are we going to be as good as before?”

  He sealed the deal with another kiss. “I believe we’re going to be better than we were before for having overcome this difficult time. What do you think?”

  He raised himself up inside her deeper. His tip touched her cervix. She groaned and knew she was agonizingly close. “I believe you’re right,” she answered him.

  She realized only she and Nathan could have had this kind of conversation in the middle of sex. They were truly back as a couple.

  Morgan enjoyed a very fulfilling orgasm that left her spent. Yet as she was trying to get back to sleep that night she realized her life couldn’t be perfect. Not just yet. There were still two pieces missing, and she had no idea how to fit them back into the puzzle.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The next morning Nathan was up at the crack of dawn. He left Morgan sleeping peacefully in their bed. After placing a loving kiss on her cheek he took a hot shower and then made himself some strong coffee out in the kitchen.

  He was pleased to see the two shifters who had taken care of things in his absence had stocked the refrigerator and the cupboards well. There were the makings of breakfast pastries. Morgan had always liked these, and he made a batch just for her.

  He took his coffee out onto their deck in back. It was chilly outside, but a light jacket and the hot coffee water kept the cool mountain air at bay.

  This morning he felt invigorated. There was a lot that he had to do now that he was home. His cell phone was with him, and he made a dozen calls, half business related, the other half personal. He had a formerly successful business to restart and a family to reconnect with.

  “Good morning and thank you.” Morgan came out on the deck with him. She had a cup of coffee and carried one of the pastries he had made for her. “You’re the one who’s been sick. I should be making these things for you.”

  He took her into his arms and touched his lips to the top of her head. “I’m not sick anymore,” he announced happily. “After our activity last night, I feel fully recovered.”

  She cuddled up next to him for warmth, and they watched the fog banks roll down from the mountaintops together.

  “Still, I want to make an appointment with Dr. Hughes for you today. There might be some medicine or treatment you need to have. I won’t feel completely safe until he pronounces you better.”

  “Already taken care of,” Nathan assured her and kissed her again. “I called him, and I’m driving into Wolf Creek to see him this morning. It’s just a formality, though. I feel great.”

  He held her tightly against him and took a sip of his coffee as he turned to look out at the majesty of the land. It truly felt wonderful to be home.

  “What man wouldn’t feel great in this perfect spot with you at their side?” He looked down into her eyes and caressed her face. She was blushing with happiness.

  However, he watched as she hesitated. There was something on her mind, and apparently she was having difficulty putting it into words for him.

  “There is something we should talk about, Nathan,” she finally told him.

  “What’s that?”

  Again she hesitated and looked down. “It’s the two men I was with when you were gone.”

  He smiled and ran his hand up and down her arm to ward off the morning chill. “I’ve already taken care of that, too.”

  “What do you mean? How?” She was suspicious.

  “It’s obvious they worked very hard while they were out here, and more importantly they were very good to you. I understand they’re businessmen in Wolf Creek. They probably lost time on their business while they were spending time helping out here, not to mention all the money they had to spend.”

  “That’s all true. They did.” Her voice was strangely far away when she spoke of those two.

  “It so happens I still have plenty of funds in my account at the bank.”

  Morgan scrunched up her face. She clearly didn’t understand where he was going with this.

  “I’m going to send them a large check for their time and trouble.” Nathan thought this the honorable thing to do. He could not foresee any problem with it.

  But Morgan didn’t take it very well. “You’re going to give them money for the time they spent with me?” She was incredulous.

  “Yes. I am. I understand they’re pretty well off and probably don’t need it. But I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t pay them back for all they did for us.”

  Morgan shook her head. She seemed angry, or perhaps even offended by his suggestion. “Nathan, this isn’t about money.”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t understand.” The last thing he wanted to do was upset her. Perhaps more had gone on between her and the two men than he realized. He appreciated the need to move carefully on this subject. “Explain to me what this is about?”

  She moved out of his arms and put her hands over her face, perhaps to wipe sleep out of her eyes or perhaps just because she was frustrated with him.

  “I don’t think I can explain it to you, Nathan. I’m not sure I really understand myself what all I’m feeling now. Honestly, I’m very confused about my own feelings. I’ve never felt like this before.”

  He set down his coffee and went to her, putting his hands on her shoulders. “I want you to be able to tell me anything—anything at all. Whatever it is, I’ll understand and we’ll get through it together. I just want you to share it with me.”

  “Do you want me to share with you that I’ve betrayed you?” She pushed his hands off her shoulders. She was angry. Maybe not with him but at the hand fate had dealt her.

  It hurt Nathan to see Morgan in pain. “You haven’t betrayed me. I’ve already told you I’m a shifter. I don’t think like the people you
knew back in Chicago. Other shifters have had your body. It’s just sex. They enjoyed you, and I hope you enjoyed them. It doesn’t matter because it’s in the past.”

  “But it’s not in the past.”

  Nathan felt lost. He really didn’t understand, though he wanted to very badly.

  “And it’s not just the sex,” she continued. “I fell in love with those men while you were away.”

  Suddenly it dawned on him as a revelation. He could see it in her eyes. Morgan didn’t completely belong to him anymore.

  He went to her. She tried to struggle away, but he forced her to accept his embrace. When he had her under control, he hugged her tight to try and let her know how he felt.

  “I love you, Morgan. Everything’s going to be all right. We’ll work through this. I promise you we’ll find a solution.”

  “I love you, too.” She embraced him with all her strength. “But I don’t think there is any solution to this problem.”

  But Nathan was determined there had to be. He loved her so much he knew he would find a way.

  * * * *

  The “Welcome Home, Nathan” party had nearly one hundred people in attendance. His parents’ home was large and had the room, and his extended family of aunts, uncles, and cousins filled it up.

  Morgan had come here out of a sense of duty to Nathan. She had come prepared to feel lost in the sea of shape-shifters that was his family.

  However, as she mingled with the family members, she found a certain kinship with them. She was not a shape-shifter, and many of their ways were still foreign to her. But the time she had spent with Hunter and Drake had taught her a lot. Shape-shifters were people, too.

  Nathan could not be at her side every minute. He had to go and mingle with his family and accept their congratulations at having returned and beaten his illness, so this left Morgan on her own.

  She was surprised when she found herself laughing with Nathan’s uncle Thaddeus and his aunt Thelma. Several of Nathan’s cousins had young children, and Morgan enjoyed watching them run around the backyard and play. One of the new mothers even let her hold her newborn baby. The new life in Morgan’s arms made her happy and feel hope.