Guardian's Challenge (8 page)

“Neeve.” Asher, instantly awake, smoothed his fingers across her cheek. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

A wide, warm hand settled over her hip. “Are you all right?” Joseph asked.

Feeling foolish, she nodded. Then realizing they couldn’t see, she found her voice. “It’s the dark…I just…it’s so…” Embarrassment washed over her, and she fell silent again.

Joseph lifted his hand from her hip and murmured a few hushed words. Suddenly, tiny, golden lights formed in the palm of his hand and floated upward toward the ceiling. Hovering above them, the lights cast a gentle glow over the room. She could make out the shapes of both Asher and Joseph lying on either side of her.

Joseph’s hand settled at her hip again. “Better?” he asked.

She nodded. “Thank you.” Frowning, she sighed. “I’m sorry. It’s stupid. I’m a grown woman afraid of the dark.”

Asher tenderly brushed his thumb across her lips. “You didn’t fear the dark…before.”

She knew what he meant by the pause—before she’d run away. She glanced at the ceiling where the little lights shown like stars. She’d been terrified of close, dark places ever since she’d woken in the caves after the Caderyn warrior had attacked her.

“I know,” she whispered. On more nights than she could count, she’d awoken with the same nightmare—trapped in a tomb of dank stone—excruciating pain ripping through her chest—surrounded on all sides by inky darkness—knowing other people were in the cave, but not knowing who. Terrified, she had been taken prisoner by her attackers, she’d kept quiet, all the while screaming inside her head for Asher to come find her. But he never had.

With controlled effort, she attempted to block the memories and bury the old fear. They were in a ship on the sea, not a rocky grave. Asher and Joseph were with her—not Caderyn warriors. Fidgeting and unable to relax, she stared at the twinkling glow above them. Joseph pressed to her back and Asher against her front. As the worry dissipated, she realized she felt secure in a way she hadn’t experienced since leaving Maelgwn in what seemed a lifetime ago. Frowning, she knew the sense of peace she experienced was due to being with Asher again. She needed to get control of her emotions. This interlude with him wasn’t going to last. Pushing aside the sensation of comfort she felt, she focused on the expanding restless energy flitting through her body, letting arousal take the place of the fear.

As if both men sensed it, their cocks began to harden. Joseph’s pulsed hotly against her ass and the small of her back and Asher’s pushed into her belly. She shifted, loving the sensation of the hard, silky flesh gliding over her skin. Right now, she wanted to forget the soul aching loneliness that had plagued her for so long. Right now, she wanted to touch and be touched. By both men.

She didn’t worry about losing her heart to Joseph as she had to Asher. She liked him, and she certainly desired him, but she didn’t love him. The spark of an idea occurred to her and longing trembled through her middle. Sating her desire with both men might actually serve to protect her and prevent her from losing her heart to Asher again. Joseph might prove helpful in ways she hadn’t anticipated.

Asher studied Neeve in the glow of the other man’s false starlight. It was as if she’d shoved away the fear that had gripped her and was attempting to replace it with desire. He fought the need to ask her why the dark frightened her, sensing it would only serve to push her farther from him.

Lying in the half-light, he watched the other man trail his hand over the curve of her waist to follow the swell of her hip. It was obvious. Joseph wanted Neeve almost as badly as he did. Neeve’s heightened arousal as the other man had watched Asher fucking her had been breathtaking. He sincerely doubted she’d object to being taken by both of them.

Jealousy flared in his gut, but he couldn’t erase the images of both of them pleasuring her, taking her together, giving her the ultimate satisfaction. He wasn’t sure he’d survive sharing her completely with the other man, but for her fulfillment, he would try. Gently, he pushed on her shoulder until she was flat on her back between them. He glanced at Joseph’s hand, now resting possessively on her belly.

“Asher?” she questioned, her tone tentative.

Leaning toward her, he took her lips in a hungry kiss, delving into her mouth and tasting her. She whimpered against his lips as he laid his hand on her stomach next to Joseph’s.

Don’t think this will be a regular occurrence,
he spoke into the other man’s mind.
She is mine and always will be, but together we can give her a pleasure like no other.

Joseph’s acceptance rang loudly in Asher’s head.

Lifting his head, Asher stared into Neeve’s deep brown eyes. “You wanted us both earlier,” he murmured, gauging her reaction. “It’s time.”

Her eyes widened, and her lips parted. Before she could respond, the other man bent over her and took her mouth. Envy pricked him, but he focused instead on pleasing her. Gently, he nuzzled her neck, dragging his lips over her shoulder and the swell of her breast.

Slowly, he slid his hand up over her ribcage to tease the underside of her breast, noticing that Joseph did the same. A needy sound escaped her only to be swallowed by the press of Joseph’s lips. Envy and frustration swirled in his gut. It would be harder to share Neeve than he’d thought. He mentally shook his head at himself. He was being ridiculous—he’d shared plenty of women in the past. He’d lost count of the times he and Micah had together brought a willing woman to her peak. But this…this was different. This was Neeve. It shouldn’t matter, but it did.

Refusing to further examine his thoughts, he rolled Neeve’s nipple between his thumb and forefinger, watching as the other man did the same. She arched off the mattress, into their touch, wordlessly begging for more. Her golden skin glowed under the magical starlight, a velvet softness he couldn’t wait any longer to taste. With slow, deliberate motions, he lowered his lips to the crinkled flesh of her nipple while Joseph did the same. Together, they suckled deeply.

She cried out, the sound filling the small room as she tangled her hands in their hair. Pushing against them, she demanded more, her hips lifting into nothingness, pleading to be filled.

Asher slid his free hand over the trembling muscles of her stomach as Joseph’s hand followed close behind. Asher gently separated the silky curls, exposing her slick cunt to the other man who groaned roughly as he stroked her. It was impossible not to hear Joseph’s thoughts.

Do you want to taste her?
Asher projected into his mind.

Still sucking and biting her nipple, Joseph raised his gaze to Asher’s.
Gods, yes.
On the heels of that thought, he sent a fully-formed image into Asher’s head. Asher hardened further at the erotic vision.

Shifting, both men dragged themselves away from Neeve’s supple body. Confusion and annoyance warred in her expression. Asher settled at the edge of the bed and pulled her onto his lap.

“What are you—?”

Her words faltered as he lifted her slightly, and set the head of his cock at her snug opening. Slowly, he slid inside her pussy. The angle, the tightness and her broken moan nearly sent him over the edge. Black spots peppered his vision as she clenched him.

Asher slipped his hands beneath her supple thighs and lifted them so they rested over his, opening her further. Joseph sank to the floor between their spread legs. Kneeling, he edged closer until he could reach Neeve’s peaked nipples. Pushing her breasts together, he drew on one tight bud after the other, while she writhed, impaled on Asher’s cock.

Stroking the insides of her thighs, Asher kept still, knowing if he moved with her, it would all be over too soon. It might be anyway. He wasn’t sure how much of her agonizing squirming he could take. Her wet heat enveloped him, caressing his aching cock, squeezing every buried inch.

He couldn’t take his eyes off the sight of the other man sucking Neeve’s nipples—of his lips, tongue and teeth plying her soft flesh. How would it be to watch him fuck her? To plunge his shaft into her willing body? Could he do it? Could he stand by and watch her beautiful flesh stretched by another man’s cock?

As if he’d heard Asher’s thoughts, Joseph straightened and stroked his cock from root to tip before dragging the wide head through Neeve’s gathering cream. She cried out and clamped down on Asher as Joseph repeated the action, circling her clit with the now glossy head. Gripping the base of his shaft, he tapped it hard against her clit several times as she screamed so loudly, Asher was sure the ship’s entire crew had heard her.

Unable to look away, he watched as Joseph tapped her clit one last time. The sight of both of their cocks in and on her swollen, wet flesh was almost too much. Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply and willed away his building release. He was not going to come. Not yet.

He forced his eyes open, unwilling to miss a moment of what was occurring between the three of them. Joseph sank to the floor between their spread legs and gently lapped Neeve’s arousal from the inside of her thighs. She shuddered. Her entire body trembled as he crept closer to her slick mound.

“So beautiful,” Joseph murmured as he caught Neeve’s gaze. “So puffy and tight around his cock.” Extending a finger, he traced the spot where they were joined, his fingertip trailing over her pussy, before brushing carelessly over Asher’s cock. His body jerked at the sensation. He’d never had another man touch him intimately, but Joseph seemed completely unfazed by the action.

Keeping his gaze on Neeve, Joseph dragged the flat of his tongue over her exposed flesh. A harsh cry tore from her throat and she wrapped his hair around her hand and tugged him closer. “More.”

“Your will be done,” he murmured as he descended on her.

Neeve cried out, but she barely recognized the sound as her own. Never had she felt anything as decadently glorious as having one man buried completely in her needy body and another licking and sucking at her pussy.

Asher worried her nipples, twisting and pulling at them while Joseph swirled his tongue over her dripping flesh, groaning as she canted her hips closer—as close as she could while Asher shoved his cock through her swollen folds. She wanted to move on him, to give him the kind of pleasure he and Joseph were giving her, but she couldn’t get any leverage.

Joseph retreated slightly to nuzzle her inner thighs. She looked between her spread legs and watched Asher’s cock pulse and flex as it disappeared into her body. Working him with her internal muscles, she was pleased when she heard his breath catch. The satisfaction was short lived as Joseph seduced it away with a flick of his tongue over her clit.

She jerked hard at the sensation, and he did it again, his lips and tongue playing over her weeping mound.

“You taste even sweeter than I thought you would,” he whispered against her quivering flesh.

He’d thought about how she’d taste?

Asher kissed the sensitive skin behind her ear. “He’s wanted you since you first came to the temple at Maelgwn.”

Joseph traced her cleft with the tip of his tongue, before raising his head and grinning at her, his lips shiny with her juices. “Your lover doesn’t share well.”

“You’re mine,” Asher breathed.

A denial rose to her lips, but it vanished as soon as he sank his teeth into her earlobe as Joseph scraped his teeth over her swollen clit. Release swelled and washed over her without warning, battering her like the sea battered the boat carrying them. Her body shook almost violently as both men continued to slowly lick and thrust, gently bringing her back to the reality of the ship’s tiny cabin.

Joseph sat back and stared at her as Asher rocked in and out of her sated body. The contented feeling began to fade after several measured thrusts. It was impossible not to notice that he hadn’t come yet. She glanced at Joseph’s still hard cock. He hadn’t either. A thrill of anticipation rippled through her. They weren’t finished. Motioning to the man on the floor, she told him to stand.

A smile in his eyes, he complied. As soon as he stepped close enough, she reached out and grasped his cock. Thick and heavily veined, she traced her fingers over every ridge before closing her hand around it.