Beyond Eden (38 page)

they would make any woman wet and needy, combined they were awe inspiring in

their beauty. She could only imagine how they paid her. “Does she teach neat tricks, Paul Guy?”

“Yeah,” Paul said with another laugh, his eyes glowing as he stared at Eve. “She taught lots of neat tricks. I spent many, many hours on my knees for Circey.”

“As did I,” Danny said with wide eyes. “Dear God, that woman’s pussy is tattooed into my brain. I think I went straight cock for at least a year after she got married.”

“But you miss her,” Eve said softly, feeling a rush of jealousy. “You both love her.” “Not like you’re thinking,” Danny said, leaning down to pour alcohol on one of the

cuts on Paul’s lower back. “I’d liken her to a mother if that didn’t sound totally fucked

up. She took care of us and I appreciate her for it. Before her, I’d do stupid things like this because I hadn’t learned how to control myself. With Circe as your Mistress, learning to control yourself is
always
the better option. She can be very creative with punishments.”

“She really is the bane of my existence. I don’t care how many neat tricks she teaches. You used to be interesting, Danny Boy,” Paul said sullenly. “You bottoming for Circe was a terrible thing. She broke a perfectly fine Master and turned him into a male version of her. That’s so depressing.”

“What part of bite your tongue aren’t you getting?”

“I told him I didn’t want him to bite his tongue anymore,” Eve whispered, staring at Danny defiantly when his head jerked up to gape at her over Paul’s shoulder. “It does lots of nice things. Biting it is a sin against nature.”

“I see,” Danny said slowly, looking back down at Paul’s back. “Putting old skills to good use, Paul Guy?”

“Yeah,” Paul said softly, staring at Eve longingly, causing a shiver of desire to roll over her skin. “Keep Circe away from Evie. I want her to remain interesting.”

Danny rolled his eyes and then looked over Paul’s shoulder at Eve. “Open the medical kit for me. I can’t send him to Jason like this. He’s still bleeding.” He looked back to Paul’s back with a look of absolute disdain. “What a mess, Paul Guy. This pisses me off. I can’t believe you fucked up all these stitches for an orgasm.”

“It was a really good orgasm,” Paul said with a devious smile as he stared at Eve once more. “You can do whatever you want and it’ll still have been worth it. It was right up there, in the top three for sure. I’m gonna remember it forever.”

Danny got out of the shower and Eve turned on the sink so he could wash his hands and then turned back to stare at Paul inquisitively. The idea of Paul and Danny living a secret life would never stop being intriguing even if it was more than a little twisted.

“What were the other two?” Eve asked curiously as she grabbed the medical kit off the counter and opened it for Danny.

Paul shrugged, his body still relaxed and casual, making it obvious he was in an extremely good mood this morning. “Well, I suppose I’ll have to tie our first time and my first time with Danny as number two. Those were both awesome. I can’t put one in front of the other.”

Eve watched the way Danny stopped washing his hands as his entire body tensed. She could see the shock on his face and the shimmer of hope swirling in his dark eyes, but it was obvious he didn’t want to give himself away to Paul as he asked casually, “What was number one?”

“Last night,” Paul said as if it were obvious. “Being with the two people I love more than anything. It doesn’t get better than that. Two of the best orgasms of my life in the same night, no wonder I passed out. I’m still tired. I think I need coffee this morning.”

Eve studied Danny, knowing Paul was oblivious to the internal struggle going on right before his eyes. Danny was frozen there, his hands held motionless under the running water as his dark eyes glimmered, making Eve realize Danny had never known Paul truly loved him. Somehow, with all the years they had spent together, that one admission had been missing in a way that had Danny believing what seemed blatantly obvious to Eve.

“Do you want some coffee?” Danny finally asked, his hands still unmoving under the running water. “I can make you some.”

“Don’t worry about it. You’ve already washed your hands,” Paul said, looking at the sink pointedly as his arms still rested against the top of the shower. “I can just pick some up on the way to the doctor.”

“No,” Danny said as he flipped off the water. “Washing my hands is easy and you’ll pick up something dreadful from a gas station or something. I’ll make you some good coffee and then I can fix your back in the kitchen while you’re drinking it.”

“Okay,” Paul said with a frown at Danny. “But that was sort of a one-eighty. I thought you were pissed at me.”

“I am,” Danny said, sounding unconvincing. “But I’ll deal with it later. I don’t want to be an asshole this morning. I need coffee too.”

“So, you’re going to hit me when I least expect it? That’s exciting.”

“Sure, we’ll go with that,” Danny said distantly as he closed the medical kit. He turned to look from Paul to Eve, his eyes dazed and shining, making him seem near tears. “You guys need to put clothes on. You’re distracting. I can’t stitch up his back if you’re both walking around naked.”

“You think we’re sexy,” Paul said in a smooth, sensual voice Eve had learned from experience was the promise of wonderful things. “You want us on our knees.”

“Yeah, Paul Guy,” Danny said, turning around to eye Paul still holding on to the top of the shower, showing off his muscular, naked body without an ounce of inhibition. “I think you’re sexy.” He turned to look at Eve, his eyes running over her, sending shivers down her spine. “You too, Evie. Both of you are sexy. You need to put clothes on before I forget everything Circe taught me.”

“That’s not a good way to talk me into getting dressed. You forget everything Circe taught you and I’ll stay naked for you all day,” Paul hummed in the same husky voice as he stepped out of the shower. “We think you’re sexy too, Danny Boy, very sexy—too sexy. You are trouble with a capital T for straight guys like me.”

“Right,” Danny whispered as Paul walked past him with a spring in his step. “
I’m
the one who’s trouble.”

“Have you really dominated other people besides Paul Guy?”

Danny stopped washing the dishes and turned to frown at Eve, who was eating breakfast, making far slower work of it than Paul had before he left for the doctor. Danny was wishing he had told Eve to go with Paul rather than keeping her there with him because without Paul around things were suddenly awkward with a lot of difficult questions hanging in the air.

“I dominate you,” he said, turning back around and scrubbing the pan in the sink rather than look at her. “What did you think I was doing when I had you on your knees calling me Master?”

“That’s not what I was asking,” Eve said softly and Danny could feel her glare even with his back turned. “And don’t even think about being a smart-ass when you answer. Making Paul reveal his secrets and keeping yours quiet when you know it’s your fault he went apeshit over those cuffs is fucked up.”

“I made him reveal those secrets for his own good,” Danny said as he set the pan aside, finding that he had finished the dishes and had to just stand there with the water running to hide from Eve. “It worked out nicely for him. I haven’t seen him in this good of a mood in years.”

“Fine, you’re going to be difficult,” Eve said, making it obvious she was irritated with him. “Let’s try something easier—gay, straight or bi?”

“Bi—I like sex, it doesn’t make a difference to me if it’s with cock or pussy.” “Did you fuck around with guys in high school?”

“Yes,” Danny said with a smile to himself he was glad Eve couldn’t see. “Football players are such suckers, with all that tackling and ass smacking they were halfway there. Straight guys are such fun, broadening their minds is my specialty.”

“Paul Guy was on the football team.” “Was he? I hadn’t noticed.”

“Did you fuck around with my boyfriend in high school?”

“Nope.” Danny turned off the water rather than leave it running for no reason. “I tormented other straight football players because it was easier to pretend they were your boyfriend when they were dressed up like him.”

“That makes you sort of an asshole, Danny Boy.”

“I’m not denying that. You’re the one having a hard time grasping it.” Danny turned around to lean against the sink, folding his arms over his bare chest as he stared down at Eve, who sitting at the kitchen table in one of Paul’s football jerseys with a barely touched plate of food in front of her. “Ask me why I didn’t fuck with your boyfriend in high school.”

She raised her eyebrows, meeting his eyes evenly with a serious expression that looked misplaced on her face. “Why?”

“Because I loved you too much to hurt you like that,” Danny admitted with a pain in his chest that had him wanting to start drinking before noon. Between Eve and Paul, he was emotionally drained. “I loved both of you enough to let you have each other and just watch from the sidelines. I hated high school.”

“You were a god in high school. I mean, really, no one should be that popular. You were a fucking rock star.”

“Being popular just made it worse. Being able to have anyone but the two people I really wanted was horrible,” Danny said in anguish, the pain in his chest getting worse as he found himself admitting things to Eve he had kept hidden from everyone. “I thought loving someone and not having them was the worst feeling in the world for a lot of years, but even that misery wasn’t enough. Having someone you love and then losing them is a thousand times more painful. First my mom, just one day she’s dead, no closure, no chance to tell her how much I loved her. Now Paul Guy is getting married and leaving me after nine years of living and breathing for him. Beauty is

overrated and God knows it. He’s been playing jokes on me my entire life, being good looking is just one of many. Popular or not, high school sucked for me.”

Eve stared at Danny pensively as he pulled his cigarettes out of his pocket. He lit one, needing to calm his nerves. He took a long drag off his cigarette and tilted his head back to blow smoke toward the ceiling, staring at the plumes of it billow around the fan rather than see the look of disappointment in Eve’s eyes.

“The devil is the most beautiful angel,” Eve mused quietly, repeating his words from the night before. “Do you really think you’ve fallen?”

“Sure,” he said with an incredulous laugh, wondering what it would be like to be sweet and kind like Eve to the point that she failed to see the obvious. “Did you think I decorated Paul Guy’s back because he loves it?”

“Yes, actually.”

“I never planned for that to happen, not even close. What you saw last night was done because I was angry,” he admitted, taking another long drag off his cigarette and blowing smoke at her pointedly. “I was jealous because getting you to love me didn’t change things any more than spending nine years catering to him did. I wasn’t prepared for how desperate you two got for each other and it had me seeing red. I wanted to knock him off his feet. I wanted to have a reason to keep you away from each other. I literally ripped the man I love to shreds because I couldn’t bear the idea of you two loving each other more than you love me.”

“Well, you were wrong to think that,” Eve whispered, looking at him sadly. “He loves you as much as he loves me—but I think you’ve realized that this morning.”

“Yeah, after the fact was a perfect time to tell me. Nine years and he chooses now to tell me and he doesn’t even realize that I would literally die inside when I had to stare at his back and see what I did,” Danny said with a sad shake of his head. “We’ll just add that to the list of jokes God has played on me. Too little, too late has to be right up there.”

“I don’t know how to help you, Danny Boy,” Eve said with wide eyes as she pushed her plate away distractedly. “I love you, I want to help you—but I don’t know how.”

“Don’t let him marry her,” he barked at her, thinking it was obvious. He looked away from Eve and took another long drag off his cigarette when he felt his eyes sting. He blew out the smoke shakily and closed his eyes to fight the tears. “Talk him out of it now because once he marries her it’ll be too late. If he swears to love and honor her in a church, with his father as witness to it, he will be the most loyal and faithful husband in the entire world. He will never cheat, he will never do
anything
to betray Trisha. Him getting married will make him untouchable to both of us forever. He’s not leaving Eden in four months—we are.”

“How am I supposed to do that?” Eve gave a mirthless laugh, her green eyes shimmering with tears as she looked around the kitchen in a daze. “He let me go to

New York alone when I was eighteen years old rather than piss off his father. What makes you think I can do now what I couldn’t do ten years ago?”

“Because this time it’s forever. He gets married and you lose him for the rest of your life,” Danny said as he walked over to the table and tapped his cigarette against his ashtray. “I’ve never seen him rebel like he did last night. I didn’t know he could. If you can get him to do it with me, then maybe you can get him to do it with his father. He’s Paul’s real Master.”

“Yeah, that’s easy,” Eve snorted. “You’re not asking much at all.”

“You’ll never know unless you try,” he said as he sat down next to her and then reached out, grabbing one of her small hands in his. “I’m asking you to do this for me, Evie Girl. Please.”

Eve stared at him, her eyes still swimming pools of green. “Have you been using me to manipulate Paul Guy into breaking up with Trisha? Are you that much of a devil? Did you plan this all along? Was everything you did part of the grand design?”

He met her eyes evenly, knowing she would be able to see his honesty. “I seduced you because I love you. No matter what, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. But if you’re asking me if I dropped a pair of leather cuffs in Paul Guy’s room with the slim hope that bringing you into the game would convince him that Eden is as overrated as beauty—I sure did. I knew he wanted you because I had to whip the fuck out of him so he’d let you go.”