Moonlight Menage (14 page)

Or was it?

He couldn’t read her. Duke was much better at reading people than he was. The guy might not know what to say most of the time, or even care to say anything, but he knew what people were thinking, even when they didn’t.

Nic tended not to look below the surface. Usually because he didn’t want to see what people were hiding.

By the time Tira reached the porch, Nic realized what he thought was calm was actually determination.

His heart stuttered. She was leaving. Gods damn—

She opened the door as he stepped away from the window, ready to beg her to stay.

She
had
to stay.

He forced the demand back down his throat and took a deep breath as her gaze met his.

The look in her eyes…

Something had changed. He didn’t know what but a yawning pit opened in his stomach.

“Tira. What… Are you okay?”

She nodded. “Where’s Duke?”

He frowned. Her voice held a tone he hadn’t heard in years. At least not directed at him.

“At Kyle’s. Ti, what’s going on? Where were you?”

She nodded, her gaze dropping for two seconds before meeting his again. “I love you. You know that, right? Even though I haven’t said it, you know, don’t you?”

That pit kept growing. “Ti, what—”

“I went to Uni’s Temple. I wanted three days. I didn’t think that was too much to ask, but Nortia would only agree to one. Sunrise to sunrise.”

Vaffanculo
.
Nic thought he knew where she was going with this. “Sweetheart, what did you ask for?”

“You understand, don’t you?” She bit her lip, her expression falling as if he’d told her she’d done something wrong. “Why I had to.”

She moved closer and kept coming even when she reached that invisible barrier she’d never crossed before with him. He sucked in a deep breath then couldn’t seem to release it.

“You won’t turn me away, will you, Nic?”

“Tira, what—”

She lifted her hands, so slowly he couldn’t help but freeze, their gazes locked as he waited for the touch he craved.

The only woman he’d ever wanted to touch him held her hands centimeters from his face.

“Do you love me?” Her gaze burned into his.

“With all my heart, Tira.”

Her hands shook as she finally pressed her palms to his cheeks. They both drew in sharp breaths as her cool flesh met his overheated skin.

The look on her face was sheer joy and her wavering smile was a revelation.

“We have one day, Nic. She released me from my Gift for one day. No consequences, just twenty-four stolen hours. I don’t want to waste a minute.”

His body moved before his brain completely processed her words. Wrapping his arms around her, he brought her flush against him. His cock had already started to thicken by the time he put his mouth over hers and kissed her.

Blessed Goddess, he wanted to savor every sensation firing through his body. The silk of her lips under his, the rise and fall of her chest against his.

His eyes closed so he could taste her better. Desire, heat and desperation. He couldn’t remember if this is how she’d tasted so many years ago. Didn’t know why he even thought of that other than the fact that she
felt
different.

She’d been so slim the first time he’d held her when she was eighteen. A beauty with a hint of curves to come but tiny and breakable. Too fragile to release his full desire.

Since then, she’d filled out the promise of those curves. With her arms wound around his neck, her full breasts nestled against his chest. His hands latched on to her hips so he could lift her off her feet.

He wouldn’t drop her, he’d never drop her. He just needed to hold her.

She sighed into his mouth, a surrender if ever he’d known one.

And his brain simply cut off all higher functions. Such as thought and reason.

He knew only one purpose.

Get inside her. Make her his.

With one arm wrapped around her, he used the other to loosen her jeans. He didn’t have to tell her to take her shoes off. She’d already toed them off herself. When he pushed her jeans down her legs, they slid right to the floor.

He didn’t hesitate to rip her underwear off. He’d buy her as many more pairs as she wanted. All sky-blue silk to match her eyes.

Though they’d never match the softness between her thighs.

He moaned as he let his fingers glide through the moist lips of her sex. Wet and hot. For him.

“Nic.” She moaned his name, her mouth breaking from his to settle on his neck, nipping and sucking. His cock throbbed in his jeans, frustrated by the imprisonment. “Please. Hurry.”

“Yes.” He could only say yes. To anything she said.

He knew what she wanted. What he wanted.

He opened his eyes, his fevered brain spotting exactly what he needed.

Taking two steps forward, he pressed her back against the front door. With solid oak at her back and his body plastered to her front, she was trapped.

Thrusting his hips against hers, he nestled his cock between her thighs, let himself rest there for two brief seconds before he shoved the denim over his hips and freed his cock.

Warm air brushed against overheated skin, making his balls tighten. Her hips tilted the slightest bit forward to brush her sex against the tip, causing them both to shudder.

Mindless desire threatened to sweep him under and he wanted to take her hard and fast. Make her his completely.

He tried to rein in the impulse but his body had a mind of its own.

And Tira wasn’t helping. She moaned as the tip of his shaft brushed against her clit then wriggled until it happened again.

Flames licked through his cock and balls and up his spine as his head fell back. Her tongue swiped at his Adam’s apple before her teeth nipped at the tendon. Her labored breathing rivaled his own and the motion of her hips became demanding.

Her hands slid into his hair, her nails scratching along his scalp before her fingers curled and caught in the strands. She tugged on the curls he’d tried to tame. But the last few months he’d forgotten to get a haircut. Now he groaned at the sheer ecstasy of her hands tormenting him.

And how much better it would be when he got inside her.

He couldn’t wait any longer. Had to—

Grabbing her hips, he lifted her slightly and plunged home.

They both sucked in deep breaths, their gazes connecting as he buried himself in her warm, tight depths.

Her eyes widened as her lips parted and the look of sheer pleasure on his face made his blood pump furiously through his body. He wanted to fuck her so hard and long that she knew only him.

But that wasn’t going to happen. At least, not this time.

Already, his orgasm built in his balls, warning flashes of sensation prickling down his spine and through his cock.

He was going to come. Any second.

She had to come too.

Planting his mouth over hers, he kissed her hard, stole her breath as she moaned into his mouth.

Her fingers dug even harder into his scalp and her hips arched higher, forcing more of him into her. His hips took up the cause, faster and faster, shuttling in and out as her sheath rippled and flexed around him.

She sucked on his tongue with intense pressure as she mimicked the motion of his cock. So much sensation. Too much to hold back.

Gods damn.
He was coming, his cock spurting his seed hard and fast inside her. Frantic to make sure she came as well, he continued to thrust.

He dragged his mouth away from hers. “Come on, baby. Come for me. Now.” He thrust hard, ground into her. “Right now. I want to feel you give in too.”

Whether it was his words or his actions, she shuddered in his arms, her legs tightening around his waist as she sobbed out his name and climaxed.

Nic forced his knees to lock so he wouldn’t fall as she continued to ripple around him, milking his cock of every last drop of his orgasm.

Eyes closed, he soaked in the feelings. Her breasts crushed against his chest, her hands in his hair. Her pussy gripped his shaft as tight as a fist.

And the words spilled from his mouth. “Love you, sweetheart. So much.”

With a little sigh, she nipped his earlobe. But said nothing.

* * * * *

“So he won’t say anything?”

“He refuses to say anything, except to thank Tam for her medical care,” Kyle said.

Duke stood in the doorway of Kyle’s daughter’s bedroom, studying the sleeping
eteri
. Kyle had one of the guy’s ankles cuffed to the four-poster bed, allowing him some freedom of movement. Just not enough to make a run for it.

Kaine, in her wolf pelt, slept on the floor by the bed.

“Is that safe?” Duke asked. “Letting her sleep in there?”

Behind him, Kyle sighed. “Of course not, but she refuses to leave him.”

“Have you had Kaine talk to him?”

“She refuses to talk to him in her skin.” Kyle shook his head. “She’s got a fucking crush on the guy. She’s protecting him, won’t leave his side. She was so injured, I haven’t pushed it. But this is a fucking Greek tragedy waiting to happen.”

“You think he’s hiding something?” Duke turned his head to look at Kyle, standing a few feet behind him.

“Oh, hell yeah.” Kyle sighed and ran a hand through his hair, his frustration starting to show. “And he won’t talk because he thinks he’s traded one prison for another. But until we know who he is and why he was being held, I can’t risk telling him more than he’s safe and we don’t want to hurt him. I’m thinking about letting him go and having Kaine track him so we can put some eyes on him, see what he does. Maybe whoever took him will take another stab at him and we can follow him back to them.”

Duke nodded as he turned back to watch the guy toss and turn in his sleep. Kaine had erected a primitive but useful barrier spell around the room. Almost like a cone of silence except it only worked one way. The
eteri
couldn’t hear anything in the house but they could hear him. Not that he’d said anything, apparently.

“You think Nic’s up to doing some digging, see if he can find out who this guy is?” Kyle asked.

Duke nodded. “Yeah, he’ll do it.” Nic needed a distraction and this would be a good one. Especially when Tira left.

And she would leave.

His hands tightened into fists at his sides and he forced them to relax only through sheer willpower as he turned for the back door.

Gods damn, he wanted her to stay. Wanted her to be with them. He’d gladly take any little part of her she gave to him.

“Duke, wait. How’s everything going over there?”

Duke paused to snort before he continued to walk to the back door. As he shed the jeans and sweatshirt he stored here and set them in the cabinet by the door, he shook his head. “You know that Greek tragedy you got brewing here? Well, our fat lady’s already singing.”

* * * * *

Tira lay sprawled over Nic in his huge bed, wrapped as closely around him as she could possibly get.

Their legs tangled together, the warmth of his body seeped into hers as Nic slid his hands up and down her back in a gentle caress.

She felt like a lazy, satisfied cat. Sleep hovered around the edges of her awareness but while she closed her eyes, she fought to stay awake. She refused to waste one minute of their day unconsciousness.

She would demand they stay naked all day, preferably in bed, and eat only when they absolutely had to. Sleep was the enemy.

If she fell asleep, she wouldn’t hear Duke when he came home. And she needed to intercept him before he had a chance to see her and Nic in bed and decide he wasn’t needed. Or wanted.

As much as she loved Nic, she loved Duke equally. They completed her in a way she had never expected.

Sure, it wasn’t the norm, but she’d known how much these men meant to her since she was fifteen. She’d expected to grow up and make them both hers.

Of course, that’d been before she’d seen Nic’s death.

“Hey, babe. I can hear you thinking.” Nic’s voice held a sexy, satisfied tone she never thought she’d hear. “Shut it off for now.” He paused, his hands stilling. “Or do you want to talk about it?”

She had to laugh at the trepidation in his voice. No way did he want to talk. Not now. But guys did need a certain amount of downtime between sex. Although…

“Talk about what?” She let the hand resting on his shoulder begin a slow caress of his pec. Lightly dusted with dark brown hair, she combed her fingers through the silky fuzz to tweak his nipple.

His sharp, indrawn breath sounded like a hiss to her ears and his hands latched on to her waist.

And beneath her thigh, draped over his lap, she felt his cock twitch and stir.

“Ti—” He froze as her thigh shifted, rubbing against his balls. “Sweetheart. Wait a sec.”

“Why?” She moved just enough to be able to lick the nipple just under her cheek then bit it lightly. He rewarded her with a groan and slid one hand into her hair to hold her to him.

“Because we should probably talk…about…”

She continued to ply his nipple with her tongue as her hand began a slow descent. Over his ribs to his abs, the muscles taut and well-defined. She found the thin line of hair that led from his navel to his groin and let her index finger follow the trail.

His groan vibrated through her lips, making her sex tighten with desire. She wanted to fill it right now, to lift herself onto him and take him inside. But she also wanted to play. Needed that lightness, the simple joy of it.

“There’ll be time for talk later. Right now, I just want to be loved.”

Both hands now slid into her hair and tugged until she had to release his nipple or hurt him. She didn’t make it easy for him, though. She let her teeth graze the skin for a second, instinctively knowing he’d love it.

And if his indrawn breath was any indication, he did.

“And I will, baby, I swear,” he said. “Just…” He paused and his head cocked, as if something had caught his ear.

His darkened green gaze caught and held hers.

And she knew Duke had returned.

Nic nodded as if she’d asked a question. “Go,” he said. “He’s gonna fight you. Just don’t take no for an answer.”