Beyond Eden (37 page)

“Paul Guy!”

He felt like his body weighed a million pounds and he would have ignored the panicked shout if he hadn’t known on some level that it was Eve. It took more strength than he knew he had to blink his eyes open. She was fuzzy around the edges at first, but he saw her eyes wide and horrified as she cupped his face with both hands and he used that as an anchor to force himself awake.

“Are you okay?” she whispered as he continued to blink at her heavily.

“Yeah,” he mumbled, still fighting against the exhaustion that had him wanting to black out again. “I just passed out.”

“Just passed out,” she repeated in disbelief. “Does this happen often? Is this an important safety tip Danny Boy forgot to mention?”

Paul fought the white haze that had him wanting to bite his tongue rather than point out that Danny hadn’t mentioned it because he had assumed the two of them would behave and not end up playing around and fucking. The shower had been cold

way past the time Danny would have allowed him to indulge in his fetish after such a brutal beating.

“Sometimes, but not often,” he mumbled distractedly, willing the cold spray to wake him up more. “It’s been a really long time. That means you’re awesome.”

Eve laughed. “I want an orgasm that makes me pass out. That’s a neat trick.” “Danny doesn’t think so,” he said, pushing at her lightly and then looking at his

watch, finding that they had been in the shower longer than he realized. “Let’s go to

bed before he shows up. He will be seriously pissed if he finds out we’ve been sitting in this shower for over two hours and I’m way too sleepy to be punished anymore.”

“Yeah, you’re not allowed to get into any more trouble,” Eve said as she started to untangle herself from him. “Your back needs lots of healing time.”

Paul considered that and tilted his head to look behind him. A sinking dread washed over him as he stared down at the threads of blood running from dark red to pink the closer they got to the drain. Knowing Eve would probably wake up Danny and start a drama that would ruin a perfect moment, Paul reached up and helped Eve get shakily to her feet. She wavered where she stood and he had to hold on to her in fear of her falling.

“Go to bed,” he whispered, standing up behind her, being careful to keep his back out of her line of sight. “I’ll meet you.”

“I can’t leave you alone in the shower.” Eve looked up at him as if he were crazy. “You just passed out.”

“Right,” Paul said, reaching forward and pushing the shower door open. “Get out. I’m right behind you. We’ll go to bed. I’m dead tired. There is no way I am going to work tomorrow. Thank God it’s Saturday—people getting free work don’t usually complain when I call in sick.”

Eve stepped out and grabbed a towel, holding it to her as she stared up at him in concern. “You want a towel?”

“Nope, I like the cold water on my skin,” he said, reaching over and turning off the light in Danny’s bathroom.

“Whoa,” Eve said, leaning into him and grabbing his arm. “I’m dizzy too. This room gets so dark.”

Paul wrapped his arms around her as they walked out of the bedroom and toward Danny’s bed. “I’m sure you know the way.”

“Do you hate me for falling in love with Danny?” Eve asked in a soft voice as she crawled into bed and rolled over to the other side, making plenty of room for him. “I wouldn’t have if you had said no.”

“I could never hate you,” he said as he got into bed next to her. “I love him too. If being with you will help him once I get married, then I’m happy.”

“You’re sweet,” Eve said softly, reaching out to him, tugging on his shoulders and forcing him to lie over her so his cheek was resting in the valley between her breasts.

She stroked his wet hair softly, lulling him into sleep with every loving touch. “I think you’re an angel.”

He laughed even as his eyes drifted closed from the weight of his exhaustion. “Angels don’t wear dog collars.”

“Sure, they do,” she argued, sounding as tired as he felt. “Studly, silver-spiked ones at that.”

“Kinky bitch,” he said with a smile against her wet skin.

“Fetish whore,” she countered. “This is nice. It’ll be the first time you’ve ever slept with me until morning. I’ll get to wake up with you. I always wanted to be able to do that.”

Paul thought about his back and winced in reaction to what Danny was going to be like in the morning, but he was suddenly too tired to say anything. The exhaustion caught up with him and he wasn’t certain if he passed out or just fell asleep. The last conscious thought he had was to savor the lingering scent of flowers and dark, seductive perfume that seemed to cling to Eve no matter how long she stayed in the shower.

If there was such a thing as a sexual hangover, Eve had one. She wasn’t even sure why she was fighting the heaviness of sleep that had her feeling weighted and paralyzed. Opening her eyes was a challenge she had to work up to. She became aware of other things first, like the feel of Paul sleeping over her and the soft, warm puffs of his breath against the curve of her breast that made her feel like all was right in her world.

The two of them were in the exact same position as when they had fallen asleep. Even her fingers were still tangled in his now-dry hair. The gleam behind her closed eyelids told her it was morning and she pondered when she had ever managed to sleep that deeply without the help of lots of alcohol.

She sighed contently, but a strangely misplaced scent made its way into her clouded senses. Tobacco, Cuban coffee, expensive cologne, Paul never had that refined scent to him. Danny smelled like the city, but Paul smelled of the forest, like sandalwood and all things pure and masculine.

“You two better work faster at waking up,” a sharp, furious voice cut through the silence. “Because the longer I stand here, the most pissed off I become.”

“Like hell, it’s Saturday,” Paul moaned, his breath warm against her chest. His exhaustion made his Southern accent more pronounced as he mumbled, “I can’t even move and you expect me to wake up. You’re fucked.”

“Maybe the reason you can’t move is because you spent all night bleeding all over my bed,” Danny growled in a voice barely containing violence.

Eve felt as if she had just been doused with a hundred gallons of cold water, that’s how quickly she jerked from under Paul and blinked up at Danny. “Is he bleeding?”

“Um, yeah,” Danny said, his dark eyes swirling in fury. “Big surprise considering his stitches are all fucked up!”

Eve felt her breath rasp out of her in fear and she tried to roll away from Paul but a strong arm suddenly tightened around her waist, holding her in place. Paul lifted his head and stared at Danny. “She didn’t know I fucked them up,” he said evenly. “Don’t take it out on her.”

“She didn’t know,” Danny repeated skeptically as he reached out and grabbed Eve’s arm. He held her hand up as evidence. “Look at that, Paul Guy. Tell me she didn’t know when she was the one ripping them all apart!”

Eve stared at her hand in horror, seeing blood caked under her fingernails. She felt herself pale the longer she studied her hand while Danny held her wrist in a vise grip. “Oh my God. I hurt him.”

“That was maybe one or two stitches at the most,” Paul said reasonably. “She was just holding on to me. She didn’t know, I swear it, Danny Boy. She had no idea I’d busted the stitches. I didn’t tell her. I knew she would have told you.”

“What happened to the rest?” Danny whispered, his breath bursting out of him in shallow pants of panic as he looked toward the ceiling. “Please make it good, make it something I won’t want to kill him for.”

“Shower wall,” Paul said with a wince.

“Great,” Danny said, making it obvious he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. “The only thing that has more germs than fingernails—a fucking shower wall. Both of you get up.”

Danny stormed out of the bedroom to his bathroom and Eve froze in fear as Paul rolled off her. “One night with you and I feel fifteen again,” she whispered in panic. “Why didn’t you tell me you’d hurt your back? I want to see it.”

“No, you don’t want to see it,” Paul said, rolling onto his back to hide from her. “Stop panicking. Danny’s overreacting. He always overreacts.”

Eve’s eyes grew wide as she stared at the stains of blood on Danny’s sheets. How had she missed Paul bleeding that badly? She felt the guilt make its way past the horror and she realized there was a very good reason Danny hadn’t wanted them to do anything other than take a quick shower and go to bed. Paul’s need for pain made him a danger to himself and he really did need to be with a Master who was trained like Danny was. She had just ended up in the same category as all those Dommes who abused him because they couldn’t resist. Eve hadn’t resisted last night; she’d never thought to try. Danny’s words echoed in her mind, that Paul was too beautiful and obedient. He drove them insane. She realized now why—it had nothing to do with wanting to hurt him and everything to do with him being so very good at what he did that he made thinking about anything other than having him impossible. She had been so enthralled with him, she hadn’t even noticed he was bleeding.

Eve rolled out of bed, staring down at Paul in concern as the night before flashed back at her in bright, poignant images that were easier to sort through when she wasn’t under the spell of a beautiful angel. “Danny Boy,” she called out in alarm. “He passed out while we were doing it.”

Paul’s eyes grew wide in horror as he gaped up at Eve. “That’s not a good plan.”

Eve ignored him and turned around to stare at Danny who was glowering in the doorway to the bathroom. “Did you hear me?”

“Oh, I heard you,” Danny said in a low, furious voice. “He passed out while you were doing it and you didn’t think to wake me up? It never occurred to you that knocking him out might be the makings of an emergency?”

“He said it happens sometimes,” Eve mumbled, still staring at Danny with wide, horrified eyes. “Does it?”

“When was the last time you passed out, Paul Guy?”

“I dunno.” Paul stretched lazily and rolled over to sit on the edge of the bed. “Six, maybe seven years ago. I still love Circe for that. It was nothing like last night, but that was still a good edge game. Tell me that wasn’t a good game.”

“For you, yes,” Danny said as he walked out of the bathroom and came to stand next to Eve by the bed as he glared down at Paul. “For Circe and me, not so much. Unlike Evie, I freak out when the person I’m fucking passes out. Most sane people do.”

“Who’s Circe?” Eve asked as she watched Paul get to his feet in a way that made it hard to understand why Danny was so upset.

Paul looked relaxed and comfortable, as if he didn’t have a single ache in his body as he said in a bored voice, “Circe in the bane of my existence. Danny was interesting before she got a hold of him.”

“Don’t say that,” Danny growled at him as he gave Paul a disappointed look. “I don’t like that. Circe took care of us for a lot of years. Don’t disrespect her.”

“Yeah, if you like her so much, you go lick her and leave Evie to me,” Paul said sullenly. “Just put some alcohol on it and I’ll call Jason.”

Eve stared at his back in horror when he walked past her, seeing blood caked over the broad expanse of it. Most of the stitches were ripped open, leaving it looking worse than before Danny had fixed it. She covered her mouth with her hands, watching Paul walk to the bathroom as if all was right with the world. “How’s he ever going to marry Trisha without her knowing about this?”

“I’ve been wondering that myself,” Danny said darkly as he turned to glare at Eve. “I just realized there’s
no one
I can trust him with—no matter how much they claim to love him.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered in anguish as tears stung her eyes. “I won’t do it again.”

Danny stared at her, his eyes still narrowed. Then his shoulders slumped and he shook his head in self-recrimination. “I shouldn’t have left you two alone. The mistake was mine. I’m the one who’s sorry.”

Eve bowed her head, wiping at the tears rolling down her cheeks as Danny followed Paul into the bathroom. She stood there shaking, trying to get a hold of herself as she reeled over everything. In twenty-four hours, her life had just been turned completely upside down and she didn’t know how to make sense of it all.

By the time she gathered herself together, she found Danny and Paul in the shower. Danny was pouring alcohol over Paul’s back as Paul held on to the silver frame at the top of the open shower door, putting beautiful, muscular arms on display. She stood there, staring at Paul’s gorgeous, naked body as she reeled again over what she had discovered about both the men she loved. There was a look of profound pleasure on Paul’s face as Danny slowly poured alcohol on his back, making careful work of covering each wound thoroughly. It would seem like a sweet scene if it wasn’t for the fact that the light of morning had her realizing how completely bizarre all of this was.

“Who’s Circe?” she asked again.

“Bite your tongue, Paul Guy,” Danny growled as if sensing something smart-ass from him.

Paul raised his eyebrows as he gave Eve a look that said he had no intention of biting his tongue. He didn’t say anything, but he smiled at her in a way that told her he was in a very good mood this morning despite Danny’s irritation.

“Circe is the Domme who trained me,” Danny went on when he was obviously certain Paul would be quiet. “I realized I had my hands full with him, so I searched for the best Domme I could find and I got her to work with us. She helped me with Paul until she moved to New York six years ago.”

“Did you have to pay her?” Eve asked in amazement. “Is there a Domme service you can call up and order like pizza?”

“That’s an interesting question,” Paul mused thoughtfully. “I wonder if someone could make a living being a professional Dominant.”

“Most of her clients paid her,” Danny went on with a dark scowl at the back of Paul’s head. “But we never did.”

“We paid her,” Paul said with a laugh as he winked at Eve. “But not with money.” “I see,” Eve said, staring at Paul and Danny standing in the shower. Individually,