by Tate James
"Yes, what?"
A low, frustrated and supremely aroused growl rumbled from my chest. "Yes, sir," I corrected. "All the fucking time. The other night I woke up after a dirty dream about you, and I got myself off to the things you wrote."
There was a pause for a moment, then his lips moved on my shoulder in another kiss. "Next time you do that," he told me in a hoarse whisper, "send me a video."
My brows hitched, but shit, I was game. "Done."
Seeming satisfied, his hands smoothed over my wet hips, gripping my ass in a way that might leave fingerprints, then he slapped one of my cheeks hard enough to sting.
I let out a small yelp, and he hissed through his teeth at the way my cunt contracted. It was too much fun.
"Shit, Red," he groaned, smoothing his palm over my warm-ass cheek, his cock still buried deep within me. "You have no idea how bad I wanna fuck your ass right now."
Even if I wanted to lie to him, my body betrayed me as my pussy throbbed and tightened with excitement. He let out a low laugh, sliding his hand over my skin until his thumb stroked my back door, teasing.
Shit. Cass was going to be the death of me.
"Now I'm getting all sorts of ideas," he murmured, like he was just thinking out loud. His hips started moving slowly, fucking me in shallow thrusts and making me squirm.
I groaned and pushed back onto him, encouraging him to fuck me properly, and his fingers bit into my hip, holding me firm.
"So impatient," he commented, slicking his fingertip over my ass and applying a little more pressure this time. Shit. Now I was thinking about waking Lucas up again... and asking him to come join us. Not that Cass would ever go for that, but the mental image was so nice.
When he finally decided to quit playing with me, he pulled his dick almost entirely out of my pussy. Then slammed back in hard, along with his finger in my ass.
"Fuck," I yelped, then braced my hands harder against the wall and hung on for dear life as he worked me over into a panting, shuddering mess as I came in long, drawn-out waves.
He waited until I was nearly done before finishing himself in several bone-rattling thrusts that buried his dick so far inside me I could practically taste it.
For an extended amount of time, we just stayed like that, our bodies locked together and plastered to the shower wall as the water continued to fall. Both of us were breathing hard, and I seriously questioned my ability to stand up straight if Cass were to let go. But he had no intention of letting go.
Gently, with one arm around my waist, he eased us back into the shower spray and rinsed me off all over again. This time he kicked his sodden boots off and stripped his jeans down to leave him gloriously naked for my admiration.
"I'm gonna need a closer look at this," I murmured, running my fingers down the side of his tattooed dick. "A much closer look."
A sly smile touched his lips. "I thought I was on your shit list, Red. Don't you want me to make it up to you first?"
He had a good point. I released his dick, and he scooped me up in his arms.
"What—" I started to protest, then cut myself off. Fuck it. I didn't need to ask dumb questions when I already knew perfectly well what he was doing.
He bumped the shower off with his hip, then stepped out and placed me down on the edge of the vanity. No words were uttered as he spread my legs apart with firm fingers on my thighs. His mouth locked with mine, our tongues tangling in a violent kiss that made me feel like we shared the same breath, then I slid my hand up the back of his neck to grip his hair.
I gave it a sharp tug, pulling his face back enough that I could meet his eyes. Then I shoved him to his knees in front of me.
Cass gave a click of his tongue, like I was going to make up for that move later, but he didn't argue, just hooked his hands under my thighs and yanked me to the edge of the vanity as he dove face-first into my pussy.
His tongue found my clit with shocking accuracy, and I tipped my head backward as my legs draped over his broad shoulders. I still fully intended to get to the bottom of his mysterious absence before morning. But sue me if I wanted to reap the benefits before starting that conversation.
Besides. Somehow, I knew Cass wouldn't truly hide anything from me anymore. If I asked, he would tell me everything. Our secret-keeping days were done.
31
When I eventually fell asleep once more, I dreamed of stupid, meaningless things—wandering through the vineyard at Demi's winery in Tuscany and being chased by faceless men... but they weren't anyone I was afraid of. In my dreams I was full of happiness and light, laughing uncontrollably when one of them tackled me to the grass and his huge hands burrowed under my long, loose skirt as he showed me what it meant to be caught.
I woke up with a gasp as a hot, hard cock slid inside me, filling me up and making me moan. My legs wrapped around a firm waist, pulling me closer before my eyes even opened to meet Cass's dark gaze.
He didn't speak, just locked eyes with me, barely even blinking as he pumped between my legs, every thrust bringing me closer and closer to the orgasm that had started in my dreams. The command was clear, and I forced myself to keep my eyes open as I came, letting him see every damn corner of my soul while I shattered to pieces under him.
Only when my shudders subsided did his fierce expression change, and a smirk touched his lips as he fucked me faster and filled me up with his cum.
"You better have been dreaming about me, Red," he told me in a rough, sleep-thickened voice after rolling to the side. He tucked his arm around my waist, pulling me back into his chest as he kissed my bare shoulder.
We'd fallen asleep sometime before dawn after spending hours talking. Actually talking. It'd started out with casual pillow talk and sexy banter, but somehow morphed into a shockingly intimate discussion about our gang lives.
The secrets we’d shared would be enough to decimate either of our empires, but I wasn't even the slightest bit worried. Something I'd learned over the course of our discussion was that I trusted Cass, really trusted him, the way I trusted Zed. Maybe more, considering I still didn't trust Zed with my heart. Not anymore.
I gave a small laugh, kissing his forearm where he had it banded over my chest, holding me to him like he thought I might disappear any second if he let me go.
"None of your fucking business, Saint," I replied before gently biting his arm.
My stomach gave a loud grumble before he could respond to that taunt, and I realized how starving I was. Groaning, I rolled over in his arms and cupped my hands behind his neck to kiss him long and hard.
"As much as I love waking up with you like this," I whispered, feathering kisses over his cheek where a tiny tattoo was inked near the corner of his eye. "I'm fucking starving for something more filling than your cock."
Cass gave a mock gasp. "You take that back, Red," he growled. "My cock is more than filling." He kissed me back deeply, then released me with a sigh when my stomach continued grumbling. "Fine. Zed's going to blow a gasket when he figures out I broke into his fortress and spent the night buried between his woman's thighs."
I shot him a sharp glare as I climbed out of bed. "Excuse me? I'm not—"
"Aw," Cass wrinkled his nose and stretched out one of his long arms to pat me on the head. "You're still in denial. It's adorable."
He escaped out of the bedroom door a fraction of a second before the pillow I threw had landed. Lucky. Fucking Cass and Lucas were as bad as each other when it came to Zed and me. Almost felt like they'd discussed it.
Shaking my head, I hunted out some clean clothes, then headed to the bathroom to clean up the evidence of my wake-up call. Nothing worse than messing up a fresh pair of panties with sticky cum. Okay, that wasn't true. It was a million times worse to sneeze an hour later and realize you hadn't cleaned up that well.
Ugh. Dudes were so gross. Pity I was so addicted to the dick.
When I got downstairs to the kitchen, I found Cass sitting at the counter in his clothes from the night before--dr
y now, thanks to me making him put them in the dryer at some stage between him eating me out in the bathroom and me choking on his dick back in my bedroom.
Lucas was pouring coffee for everyone, yawning and looking gorgeously sleep-rumpled, and Zed was at the stove flipping pancakes.
For a second I paused in the doorway, taken aback by the strangely domestic scene the three of them cut. Then I noticed the angry set to Zed's jaw and the forceful way he slapped his spatula on the pancake he'd just flipped.
Cass had a decidedly smug look on his face as Lucas handed him a coffee, not to mention the swelling in his lower lip where I'd bitten him a little hard last night. Good thing his tattoos covered the rest of the marks I'd left.
As for Lucas...
"Good morning, babe," he greeted me with a kiss and a cup of coffee. Then he kissed me again deeper, his hand grabbing a handful of my ass as he took his time. "I missed you when I woke up." He whispered this in my ear, and my cheeks flamed hot.
Zed dropped a fry pan onto the stove with a clatter and glared at me. "Can I have a word in private, boss?"
Crap. I'd completely forgotten Cass saying he'd found one of our Wolves in possession of PCP last night.
"Yep," I replied with a nod, stepping away from Lucas's hold.
Zed stormed past us, leading the way through the house to his home office, which he rarely used. I reluctantly followed, knowing he was about to lay on a guilt trip that I rightfully deserved. I'd dropped my responsibilities last night in exchange for some dick. Seriously mind-blowingly good dick, mind you. But still unacceptable for someone in my position. People depended on my leadership. There was more at stake in the success of the Timberwolves than just money.
He slammed the office door shut after me, and I arched a brow at him. Yes, I deserved a bit of attitude for dropping the ball, but—
"We need to talk," Zed snapped.
"We do," I agreed. "Who was it?"
He jerked around to face me from where he'd started to pace. The expression on his face was complete confusion. "Who was what?"
I frowned back at him. "The kid caught with angel dust at Anarchy. Had he already been cleared by Alexi?"
Zed blinked at me a moment. Then shook his head. "That's not what I wanted to talk about."
"Oh." I rubbed the bridge of my nose, thrown off. "So, what do we need to talk about?"
The look he gave me said that he was actually questioning my intelligence for a hot second, then he closed the gap between us in three strides and grabbed my waist with both hands, holding me close as his chest rose with an emotion-heavy breath.
"I want you to do me a favor, Dare," he said in a rough voice. "For thirty seconds, thirty seconds only, I want you to be perfectly honest with me. Will you do that? Will you give me just thirty seconds of raw honesty?"
There was so much vulnerability and desperation in his voice that there was no way I could even considering denying such a simple request. So I looped my arms around his neck, hugging him back as I nodded. "Of course, Zed. Whatever you want to know..." I shrugged. Whatever he wanted to know I was happy to tell him because it killed me when we hid things from each other anyway.
But instead of asking me a question, he carefully, deliberately, placed his lips against mine. I froze, confused as hell, then I finally understood what was going on. He didn't want my honesty in mere words that could be so easily twisted and misinterpreted. He wanted my truth in actions. He wanted to feel it in my kiss.
And I'd agreed. Because he was one of the few people on the planet who I truly loved, so I couldn't... there was no way I could deny his request. So I kissed him back.
As I responded, kissing him exactly the way I'd been quietly wanting to do for longer than I cared to admit, the tension noticeably dissolved out of his tightly wound frame. He melted into my touch, his arms sweeping around my waist as he pulled me closer and groaning when my teeth scraped his lower lip.
He’d asked me for thirty seconds of honesty, and that's what I gave him—or thereabouts. Then I pulled on my deepest well of strength and pushed him away, breaking our kiss.
"Did you get the answer you wanted?" I asked him in a hoarse whisper.
His eyes flashed with anger and frustration, and he jerked a nod. "And then some."
Fuck me, my nipples were hard to the point of painful as I stared back at him while mentally scolding my pussy for getting so wet over one kiss.
"Good." I licked my lips and folded my arms. "Then don't do it again."
Zed stared at me for a long moment, disbelief written all over his face. Then he gave a short, humorless laugh. "I never took you for a masochist, Dare."
He didn't mean it in the physical sense, but that was how I chose to interpret. "Well then, I guess you don't know me as well as you think." I quirked a brow, thinking about how good it felt when Cass smacked my ass or slammed me against a wall.
Zed shook his head, his eyes blazing with fury. "You can't keep pretending there's nothing more between us, Dare. This is too real."
I tilted my chin up, stubborn as fuck. "I can, Zed, and I will. I won't lose my best friend over this. I won't ruin what we've got by mixing sex into the equation."
He groaned, stepping closer again, and cupped my face in his hand. "It's already ruined, Dare." His voice was husky and raw. Honest. "I can't ignore the way I feel about you, and in case you missed the point here, let me spell it out. I don't love you. I'm in love with you. No amount of hard-headed denial will change that. Neither will the added complications in the kitchen right now."
Panic chased through me, elevating my heartrate and making my palms sweat. I parted my lips, ready to disagree with everything he'd just said, but he was quicker.
"Don't even think about denying the truth of that statement either," he murmured, smoothing his thumb over my lower lip in a move that echoed all the way down to my pussy. "I know you feel the same way."
"Since when were we in a position to get everything we want, Zed?" I asked with an edge of bitterness. "And really? Right now? This is the moment you choose to confess your feelings for me after all the years we've had together. You wait until some fucking ghost of my ex is waging war on my empire and two other men are vying for my affections? And you thought... shit, why not?"
He withdrew slightly, frowning his objection. "What? That had nothing—" He cut himself off with a sigh and stepped away to run a hand over his short hair. "Yeah, actually you know what? Yes. Now. Because without all those extenuating circumstances, nothing would have changed. It probably would have taken me years to confess how I felt because I knew that I had your heart. You may have been fucking other guys, but you didn't care about them. You didn't trust them. You didn't love any of them."
My brows shot up so high they almost dropped off my face. "I don't love anyone else now."
He blinked at me. "Don't you?"
It wasn't a question, it was a challenge.
I scowled. "This is childish, Zed. Quit pushing me on this, or you'll push me away entirely."
His jaw tightened, and the muscles in his neck tensed. "Fine. Ball’s in your court, Dare." I started to leave the office, but he stopped me when my hand was on the door handle. "But in the meantime I'd ask a courtesy from you. As my friend, of course."
My eyes narrowed as I turned back to face him. "Of course." I gritted the words out with heavy sarcasm. "What's the favor?"
He cocked one brow at me. "Don't fuck them in my house. If I have to spend one more morning lying in bed listening to you come on another man's dick..." He trailed off with a short laugh, shaking his head in disbelief as he stepped closer once again.
Stubborn as ever, I met his gaze and raised my chin defiantly. "And if I do? What will you do about it, friend?"
A sly smile tweaked his lips as he braced his hands to either side of me on the door. Two months ago I'd have punched him for such a deliberately imposing move, and if anyone else had done it, I might have shot them. Yet now... now I was having a hard time convinci
ng my pussy she wasn't about to meet any new friends today.
"The next time I hear you moaning and panting while you ride some other guy's dick?" He leaned in closer, his face right beside mine as he whispered his threat... or promise. "I'll have to come in and join you." He moved away again and shot me a knowing wink. "Food for thought... friend."
32
After my little chat with Zed, I lost a good portion of my appetite. I mean, not enough that I pulled a dumb-girl move like skipping the meal entirely, but I was woman enough to admit the food didn't sit as comfortably as I'd have liked. Not with all the eyes on me, making me squirm.
It made me seriously question what the actual fuck I'd been thinking by getting so intricately tangled up with three men at such a god-awful time for my personal and professional life. But then Lucas stretched and his shirt rose up to show off his deep V and chiseled abs and I nearly choked on my coffee.
Yeah. That'd do it.
My phone rang somewhere in the living room, so I made a speedy exit out of the kitchen to answer it. When I saw it was my new lawyer calling, I swallowed a groan of dread.
Still, I took the call and brought my phone to my ear. "Gen, what's new?"
"I'm at Pink Panther," she told me, naming one of my smaller clubs in Shadow Grove. It had formerly been a sports bar, and I hadn't done a whole lot to change it up. Hell, it wasn't even a Copper Wolf venue; it was just a Timberwolf bar and infrequently visited by anyone outside the Wolves.
It also wasn't open at this time of day. "Why?" I asked, anxiety twisting my stomach.
She breathed a sigh. "You’d better get down here," she told me. In the background I heard the distinctive sound of police sirens and I stiffened. "I tried to handle things as best I could, but... this is getting a bit beyond my abilities, boss."
As new as Gen was to my company, she'd slotted in effortlessly, so much so that sometimes I forgot just how fresh she was.
"I'm on my way," I told her, rushing back through to the kitchen to wave a hand at Zed. "Give me the key points I need to know, Gen."