Wedding Favors (22 page)

Thomas’s fingers loosened the blindfold and lifted it away. His eyes were dark, fixed on her. It was like looking into his heart, a mixture of desire, tenderness, excitement. She thought she loved him more at that moment than ever before.

Alexi, now. He nibbled her ear, whispered words she didn’t understand. He was pure excitement, pure sex, while Thomas was love and warmth.

Back and forth, they traded thrusts, Madison open and wet, the lube making things wild and slippery. Alexi was hard, but he glided in and out without impediment, encased in a condom, and so did Thomas. It felt so good, so good, so
fucking
good.

Madison started to come. She screamed with it, her heart in her voice, but they didn’t stop. They held her while she writhed in joy, let her settle, and then they brought her to climax again.

The second time, Alexi’s voice broke. “Gods, I’m coming.” He sped his thrusts, his chest rubbing her back, his breath hoarse in her ear. He pulsed, growling low in his throat, and then he slowed, making noises of pleasure as he kissed her hair.

“You want her alone?” Alexi asked, voice subdued. He lifted the weight of Madison’s hair, and air touched her damp skin.

“Yes,” Thomas said. His voice was soft, mouth warm on Madison’s. “I would. Very much.”

Alexi withdrew. Madison cried out at the absence of his heat, but the next thing she knew, Thomas had hooked his foot around hers and rolled with her until he was on top of her. He slid out in the process, but he went right back in again.

Thomas raised up on his arms, face-to-face with her, a conventional position, but Thomas made it unbelievably exciting. Madison wrapped herself around him, welcoming him in, letting herself move to climax once more. Thomas’s thrusts came faster and faster, the old bed creaking.

And then they were both shouting their pleasure, the bed thumping as they held each other and sought more. Madison was dimly aware of Alexi standing next to the bed, naked, hands on hips as he watched, but then her climax took over, and she saw and felt nothing but Thomas. She collapsed in his arms, him laughing and kissing her hair, and then she closed her eyes and dropped into profound sleep.

 

 

Madison
opened her eyes to sunshine pouring through the windows. Her body felt pleasantly tired, heavy, and for a moment, she couldn’t remember why. The warm weight at her back shifted, and Thomas’s hand came around to rest on her abdomen.

Everything flooded back to her, the dinner with Thomas and Alexi, the beginnings of pleasure in the kitchen, Thomas carrying her upstairs, the incredible sex sandwiched between him and Alexi.

It hadn’t stopped after the double. She’d awakened after a nap that had taken the edge from her sexual exhaustion, and Thomas had made love to her again, quietly and gently. When they’d finished, their bodies had been coated with sweat, both of them gasping for breath. They’d cuddled together after that, kissing and touching.

She’d been aware of Alexi pulling on his pants and moving out to the honeysuckle-covered balcony that ran across the back of the house, felt the cool air waft in from the door. Alexi had watched them from there as Thomas had touched and kissed and loved her again.

After that, she and Thomas had slept for good, spooned against each other on the tumbled bed. Thomas had pulled sheets over them to cut the draft, and they’d fallen into slumber.

Now in the bright morning, Thomas drew his fingers up her body, around her breast, the nipple tightening at his touch. “Good morning, Maddie.”

“Morning.” Madison yawned. “What time is it?”

“I don’t much care.”

“Neither do I, really. Where’s Alexi?”

“Around somewhere.” His tone said he didn’t much care about that either. Madison had the feeling that Alexi hadn’t gone, however. The air felt thick and heavy, slightly spicy, as it had last night, and she tied this to his presence.

Thomas caressed her breast then his touch drifted to her hip. “I need to tell you something, Maddie. Before this goes further.”

“Mmm?” she asked sleepily. “What?”

“It’s about me. About my family. And what I have to tell you can’t go beyond this room.”

Madison drowsed again, leaning into his warmth. “About how you and your brothers can shape-shift into animals?”

Thomas went so still that Madison turned to look at him. His eyes were fixed, pupils dilated in shock.

“Marc told me,” she said. “A long time ago.”

“Marc. Told you.”

Madison nodded. “He was in the same grade as me, remember? I sat next to him all through the fifth grade, had lot of classes with him after that. He told me, because he knew I liked you.” She snuggled back into him again.

“You believed him?”

“Not at first. But he kept insisting, so I dared him to show me. He did. Freaked me out at first, but I’ve gotten used to the idea.”

“Hell,” Thomas said. “I’ll kill him. He never bothered to tell me that you knew.”

Madison shrugged, liking the feel of his bare chest against her shoulder. “It didn’t work out between you and me, and then we all lost touch. I guess he thought it didn’t matter.”

Thomas resumed his caresses, though his breathing came faster. “You never told anyone.”

“Of course not. It was your secret. I figured if you and your brothers wanted other people to know, you’d tell them yourselves.

His strong hand rolled her onto her back. “Madison.” His voice was soft, thick with longing.

She smiled. “Yes?”

Thomas kissed her. It was a slow kiss, leisurely, a kiss because he wanted to savor her for a long time. He was hard already—his cock pressed her thigh then slid between her legs as he got on top of her.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

Madison opened to his touch, and he made sweet love to her in a pool of sunshine.

 

 

Alexi
watched from the balcony he’d strolled onto from the bedroom next to Madison’s, honeysuckle screening him from the neighbors. Clad only in his pants, he lounged on the chair Madison had placed there so she could enjoy the shade on hot summer days, and propped his bare feet on the railing. He watched, growing hard, as Madison took Thomas deep inside her once again.

She loved him. The fact screamed itself to Alexi, but Thomas, the dickhead, had no idea.

They were so beautiful together, Thomas’s long, brown body entwined with Madison’s more pale limbs, both of them a contrast to the crisp white sheets on the bed. Madison’s dark hair flowed across the pillow, and Thomas’s tight backside moved up and down as he loved his lady. They didn’t need a third, didn’t really need Alexi as their catalyst to find deep passion.

Alexi’s thoughts moved involuntarily to the loving couple he’d destroyed, so long ago that no man alive remembered it. They hadn’t been famous; no records existed of them. They’d simply been a man and woman destined to be together, and Alexi had ruined their lives.

Alexi had wanted the mortal woman, Sophia, lusted after her as only a god could lust. She’d been beautiful, his Sophia, her black hair flowing, her eyes dark like onyx. The man who’d loved her had been called Thanos, a young man from a decent, if dull, family. In Alexi’s opinion, no way good enough for Sophia.

Alexi had used his god magic to turn Sophia from Thanos. Alexi had tricked and coerced her into his own arms, where he’d made certain she found the greatest pleasure she ever could.

After weeks together, where she lived only to serve his every need, Alexi had been certain she’d love him without compulsion, and he’d removed the spell. But Sophia had looked at Alexi in fear, loathing, and hatred. She begged to be returned to her family, to Thanos, though by the culture of her people she was now ruined, having let Alexi take her virginity. Thanos, by rights, could shun her, and so could her own family.

In desperation, Alexi had tried to spell her again, to erase that horror on her face. But his magic wouldn’t work now that Sophia knew the truth. Sophia fled him, back to her family, where she killed herself in front of her father and Thanos to retain her honor.

Alexi hadn’t been able to save her. Alexi’s father, Eros, had explained to young Alexi that he’d violated the most sacred of laws, that the gods of love didn’t use their power for personal gain, especially when the mortal in question belonged to another. Eros had been charged to punish Alexi for his transgression, and Eros had cried as he’d explained. Alexi must either be killed or sent into exile until he did five thousand good deeds, one per year, in the name of love.

Alexi had chosen exile, being too afraid of to face a death meted out by the gods. After five thousand years, however, his loneliness was almost unbearable. He’d made friends of other demigods who made their home on this plane—Demitri, Nico, and Andreas—but they each had their own problems to solve, had found their own ladies to love.

Alexi lived doggedly century after century, each year bringing together a couple who, without his help, would have spent their lives in lonely solitude. Alexi was not allowed to manipulate their thoughts with magic; he had to rely on mundane means, though he could use minor spells, as he had locking the doors to Madison’s house so Thomas wouldn’t leave.

Some of the people he’d helped had been royalty, some peasants; some so rich they could purchase cities, some so poor they could barely afford to eat. Alexi had learned, as his father had wanted him to, that love cared nothing for wealth and class, race and rank. It was Alexi’s job to see that couples at risk worked through their problems and stayed together, else the deed would not count toward ending his exile.

Madison and Thomas were job number five thousand. If Alexi successfully brought these two together, his sentence would be lifted, and he could return home to his father and mother, his friends, his lonely exile over. If he muffed it, he’d be trapped on this plane of existence forever, stripped of his magic, made mortal.

Madison and Thomas.

Alexi hid a smile. In spite of his task being punishment, he liked his work. Nothing tasted more satisfying than watching two people finally open up and admit their love, the more vulnerable they had to make themselves, the better.

Thomas and Madison had been dancing around each other for years. And now...

Madison softly cried Thomas’s name. Her hips lifted, her breasts pressed his chest. Thomas’s head rocked back, his eyes closed, and he groaned as he released his seed.

Thomas was bare inside her. They’d been so engrossed in each other, neither one had given a thought to condoms, to protection.

They didn’t need it. Alexi could see with his magic that they were both clean, and if a child resulted of this day, it would bind them with an even stronger love.

Alexi also knew how to help Madison’s financial dilemma. The magic of this house had hidden what she needed, almost as though it—or Madison’s grandmother, a magic woman of some repute—had been waiting for Alexi to come and reveal its gift.

Thomas’s movements slowed, but he was still inside Madison, smiling at her, while she ran gentle fingers along his back. It was a beautiful moment. If they declared their love right now, Alexi could go home.

But they didn’t. Alexi had known it wouldn’t be that easy. These two had too much fear, held themselves too tightly to trust. They had to reveal their true selves before each could accept the other, before their love could catch hold and last.

Alexi might not be able to use coercive magic on them, as he had with Sophia, but he had a few non-magical tricks up his sleeve. He knew now what pushed Thomas’s buttons, and Madison’s.

Alexi rose from his chair and padded into the room and to the bed. Neither Thomas nor Madison looked at him, absorbed in each other.

“Well, my friends,” he said, touching Madison’s soft hair. “Ready for one of my famous breakfasts?”

 

 

Alexi
could cook, Madison gave him that. By the time she and Thomas had showered and descended to her kitchen, he’d made omelets stuffed with spinach and feta cheese, fried some sausage, brought out pita bread with hummus, and brewed rich-tasting coffee. Madison didn’t remember purchasing pita, hummus, and feta on her last grocery trip, but she no longer was terribly surprised at anything that happened around Alexi.

“So,” she said brightly as she sipped the coffee. They sat around the kitchen table, comfortably eating, talking a little, but mostly enjoying the languid quietness of this warm summer Sunday. “What shall we do today?”

Alexi smiled his dark, sultry smile. He really was a good-looking man and should have a woman to gaze at him adoringly. He seemed lonely, despite his sex-god looks, and Madison’s heart went out to him.

“I have many ideas,” he said.

Madison quirked her brows. “Do they involve sandwiches?”

Thomas nearly choked on his coffee. He’d worried that Madison would be ashamed of what they’d done last night, maybe demand that Alexi open the doors and let her out. But she sat haloed in sunlight, sipping her coffee, giving Alexi a teasing smile. She hadn’t even flinched when Thomas confessed that he was a shape-shifter. She’d known, accepted, and kept the secret. What a woman.

“They could,” Alexi said.

Thomas finished eating, deliberately keeping his imagination in check until he could swallow his food. He sipped coffee, savoring the smooth, almost malt taste.

He loved this. Sitting here comfortably with Madison, she in jeans and a tight top, he in his suit pants and white shirt from yesterday. He wanted with everything he had to live here with her, to eat breakfast in this sunny kitchen, to watch her sweet ass move as she got up to pour more coffee.

No wonder she loved this house. It spoke of warmth and family, of comfort, the happiness of generations soaked into its bones. Babies had been born here, couples had married, grandparents had watched grandchildren grow up, and the cycle had gone on. Madison was the last, and Thomas suddenly didn’t want her to be the last.