Aggie sat beside her again “Don’t. It’ll be fine. It always is.”
“How?” she asked.
Shrugging, Aggie laughed. “I don’t know, but I have a feeling.” She opened her purse again and dug through papers until she retrieved a handwritten list. She held it out to Valerie.
“In the meantime, I’ll contact Soren. Let’s make your visit a surprise for Hannah, yes?. While I do that, you need to start making calls. Work, bank, credit cards, etc. With the time differential, it’s best to get everything settled now, otherwise a little hiccup in time might turn into a major headache once you return to the surface. That’s if you don’t decide to stay.”
“That’s the third time you mentioned staying. Is there something I don’t know, or are you just being pushy?” Valerie asked, doubtful. “You said this was round trip. Or were you blowing sunshine up my butt?”
Aggie laughed. “Of course you can come home, but like your friend, you might find a very compelling reason to stay. You’ll have Hannah, of course, but Sam’s Geminis really want you, and they can be very persuasive. In fact, I’d go as far as to say, they already tasted the salt on your skin, and they want more. As in every place in between.”
Val’s eyes widened, and her mouth went dry.
“Ah. An open mind, at last.” Aggie nodded. “That’s all I ask.”
Valerie’s gut flip-flopped at the unreal reality of where they were headed. “About this trip. Is it awful? Will I get the bends?”
“Maybe.” Shrugging, Aggie handed her the to-do list.
“You’re not only a dirty old broad, you’re evil, too. You know that, right?”
Val swallowed the indecision tightening her chest. She was curious. More than curious, if she was honest. Still, there was a lot she didn’t know and didn’t understand. Yet. Two could play this game. She was never one to shy away from questions or uncomfortable answers, and she wasn’t about to start now.
With a wink, the old woman got up and headed for the door. “I may be all those things, Valerie, but I know what I see when I look at you. You need this trip. Now get going. So much to do in so little time.”
Chapter Five
“Damn airlines. Never ever on time when you need to make a connection,” Aggie grumbled, watching the men wait for their bags at the carousel.
“Our flight was nonstop, what are you talking about?” Valerie shifted the weight from her carry-on to her other shoulder.
“Not a connecting flight, dear. Our nautical connection. We missed the tide, and the next cycle isn’t until eleven-thirty pm. The boats won’t go out that late.”
“This isn’t the fifteenth century, Aggie. We don’t need to wait for the tides anymore.”
Sam dragged over the first of the bags to come off the carousel. “I thought we said we’d pack light.” He grunted, dropping them where the women stood.
Aggie’s answering sniff said it all.
“Don’t tell me. She asked for cookie dough and pop tarts.” Valerie grinned.
“Among other things. Her happiness is important to Soren.”
“Just Soren?” Val raised an eyebrow. “You sound very maternal, if you ask me. Care packages from home.”
She sniffed again. “So what if I do?”
“For such a dirty broad, you’re actually very sweet.” Val leaned over to peck the old woman’s cheek. “And I’m glad.”
Sam waved Zale and Adrian over once they had all the bags. “I suppose we’ll have to get a hotel for the night,” the old man said with a wink. “Room service and dinner in bed.”
The demolition duo chuckled despite Aggie’s halfhearted scowl. “Who said we were sharing a room, you old crab? Maybe I’m in the mood for a girls’ night.”
Sam nibbled the hollow below Aggie’s ear. “I said, you old trout, and you love it.”
High stain pinked Aggie’s cheeks and a teasing grin tugged at her mouth. “As long as I get the remote.”
Valerie pulled the handle up on her suitcase. “Now that’s settled, where are we headed?”
“Hotel Athena, of course.” Sam and Aggie shared a look, and what passed between them was nothing short of electric. Obviously, the hotel meant something. A memory, or perhaps a cherished secret.
The five headed for the taxi stand outside the airport, and Sam flagged two cabs. “We’ll meet you there.” He eyed Zale and Adrian, ticking off instructions in rapid fire Greek.
“What was that about?” Valerie asked, cramming into the back seat between the two giant hunks.
“Nothing,” Adrian replied.
“Sounded an awful lot like a warning.” She slid a sideways look at the two. “Was Sam telling you two to behave?”
Neither replied as they squeezed into the back of the taxi. European clown-car-sized vehicles never bothered her before. Then again, she was never crammed sardine-style in the back seat with two mammoth-sized men who made her sweat from their sheer hotness.
The sun was near setting as the cabbie careened through the streets of downtown Athens, but Valerie barely moved, wedged between utterly sex-on-a-stick maleness on either side. She didn’t trust her voice not to crack while pretending to look at the sights.
Each man was gorgeous in his own right. One light and one dark. The curve of full lips only added to the fantasies in her head, imagining how each kiss would taste. She wanted to dismiss them and the images they conjured. After all, they were complete strangers, and she wasn’t here to get her freak on double time. She as here for Hannah.
Zale seemed preoccupied. Almost as if weighing options. He frowned, but he wasn’t scary. At least not like he was at the townhouse yesterday. Or was that the day before? She’d lost all concept of time since Aggie and her crew walked into her life. If she was honest, she’d lost all concept of reality, as well. Still, her self-preservation instincts were intact, and if anyone posed a threat, she’d handle it. Or at least, she hoped.
If she was willing to take this leap into the unknown, then she might as well take the leap she really wanted. The one she’d been obsessing about from the beginning. Zale and Adrian.
She grinned to herself. Let the thrashing begin.
“I love the yellow flecks in your light brown eyes. They speak volumes, along with your scent,” Adrian said, letting a soft rumble edge his voice.
“Anticipation will do that sometimes.” Zale turned, and all former preoccupation faded.
She met Zale’s steady gaze and held her breath. “Anticipation for what?”
“For what we hope comes next. Your eyes argue, but your scent speaks truth. It’s up to you to decide which is more important. Your desires or your inhibitions.”
“I am not inhibited. In fact, I am pretty sex-positive, but you two make it sound like I’m some kind of buttoned up and butt-clenched nun, simply because I didn’t jump your bones the minute we met.”
Adrian let his eyes drift over her curves, shifting his body in the cramped space so he pressed closer. “What we meant was you have no need to be self-conscious with us. We find you as irresistible as you find us.” He tapped his nose as if saying a shifter’s nose knows.
Ugh. Was she that obvious?
They’re shifters, or so they and everyone else claim. So yeah, you’re that obvious. What if they call your bluff?
Punt?
Not funny, Valy girl. Think of something, because you suck at playing it cool, Ms. I do fine on my own.
The cab wove through thick traffic, making the ride take forever. Still, it gave her time to think. There was something about Zale and Adrian that pulled her in, and it was more than their amazing good looks, predatory sexuality and the tease of the fantastic.
The words meant to be popped into her head, but she dismissed them outright. Zale and Adrian were strangers. Except for Hannah, they were all strangers, and she was heading into a strange land.
Either that or crazy town.
Hannah was the only thing that kept her thoughts and emotions anchored, and right now she mis
sed her terribly. She needed to talk to her BFF about Zale and Adrian. About all this.
Relax. Aggie promised. She’d see Hannah soon enough.
Sitting thigh to thigh with Zale and Adrian, Valerie forced calm to the surface, though inside she fought the urge to spread herself wide right there on the cab’s cracked leather seat.
“You seem uneasy, Valerie. Can we do something to ease your tension?”
The loaded question left her cheeks burning to her ears. What was wrong with her? The cab slowed, finally turning into the hotel drive. This was going to be interesting.
Adrian got out of the taxi first, holding out his hand to help her next. The simple gesture sent the tingle in her stomach into a full butterfly dive-bomb.
She followed as the two left their bags with the porter, before getting the room key Sam and Aggie left for them at the front desk.
“Seventh floor. Room seven,” Zale said, palming the old-fashioned key. “Sweet. The top floor has a terrific view.”
Adrian pressed the button for the elevator, and the doors opened right away. “Ladies first,” he said, stepping aside.
She walked into the lift with the two hunks directly behind. The doors shut, and Zale hit the button for the seventh floor.
“Well, at least it’s not stifling in here,” she said, adjusting the strap to her carry-on. “Do you think our luggage made it to the room already?”
Adrian licked his lips. His eyes moved from her face to the soft swell of her breasts inside her camisole top. “You’re beautiful, Valerie,” he murmured.
His gaze was so intense, heat crawled from the top of her breasts to her cheeks.
“You’re embarrassed.” He took a step closer before closing his eyes and inhaling. A soft groan rumbled at the back of his throat. “Don’t be. Your scent is intoxicating.”
She backed up a step only to feel a hard wall of male shifter behind her.
Zale.
She was sandwiched between them again, only this time they weren’t going anywhere.
“You used that same word at Hannah’s place. Intoxicating. Why?”
“Why did I say it?” Adrian asked.
“No. Why am I intoxicating to you? You’re every woman’s fantasy. Both of you.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
Adrian’s eyes changed to yellow-gold streaked with green, the same as she saw in the mirror in Hannah’s bedroom.
“We might be every woman’s fantasy, Valerie, but there’s only one woman who tantalizes us and that’s you,” he replied.
Zale slid his hands over her bare arms to her shoulders, moving her long dark hair to one side. One finger caressed the tender flesh beneath her ear, tracing the dip to her collarbone.
“I’ve had a permanent hard-on since I walked into your friend’s flat, yesterday. You’re all I think about. Your smell. The feel of your skin. The way your mouth would taste.”
Adrian nodded. “Your panties went slick when I kissed you in your friend’s bedroom. If your sex tastes as sweet as it smelled, I will die a happy man.”
Her eyes widened.
“We keep telling you, love. We’re shifters.” Adrian’s lips curled, and he nodded again. “You were as aroused as we, and if Zale hadn’t ruined it, we would have tasted you already.”
Their words sent shivers down her spine and wetness pooled between her legs.
“Yes.” Zale let his hand drift lower to cup her breast through the thin clingy cotton. He flicked her nipple with his thumb and the soft peak stiffened.
Adrian stepped so close his body nearly scorched her with its heat. Her breath stilled in her chest. She licked her lips, swallowing the knot in her throat.
He cupped her chin, lifting her face. He kissed her hungry and hard, his tongue swiping the seam of her lips, demanding she open.
This was what she wanted. Had wanted since the moment she saw them on Hannah’s doorstep. If Zale hadn’t gone all tall, dark and scary, she would have spread herself wide for them both, instead of freaking out.
She pulled back, breaking Adrian’s kiss and startling Zale. “Elevator,” she gasped. “I know the doors are closed, but that doesn’t mean we’re not broadcasting our captive sexcapade to the hotel security office.” Valerie lifted her eyes to the lift’s ceiling, looking for the security cam.
“Zale, will you do the honors?” Adrian asked, pressing the stop button on the lift panel.
The elevator jutted to a halt, and Zale stepped back from her to stretch toward the ceiling, reaching it easily. He opened one of the ceiling panels and ripped the entire security system from its jack and tossed it to the corner of the elevator.
“Done.” Wiping his hands on his pants, he shrugged. He slipped in behind Valerie again and bent to kiss her throat. “Where was I? Oh yeah—”
She forced herself to focus. “Destruction of private property is a crime. The hotel will have called the police.”
Zale cupped her breast again, but this time he slipped his other hand around her waist, palming the full weight of the other, too. “They’ll charge the damages to the room. Stop worrying.” Feathering kisses along her neck, he nipped the back of her ear.
Her body was almost weightless with need, and she had about eight seconds before the point of no return. “Stop—” she croaked. “I want you both, but I’m not up for an exhibition involving the entire Athens Metropolitan Police. The hotel security office has to know you dismantled their cameras.”
“You’re so tense,” Adrian answered, hooking his fingers into her waistband. “No one is going to disturb our fun, let alone the authorities.”
He pushed her waistband down, letting his fingertips delve low to brush the top of her mound. “We have our ways.”
Her breath caught as his fingers dipped over her sex, spreading her lips. They had their ways. Hot damn, yes.
“Your tits fit my hands so perfectly. I wonder if your pussy will as well.” Zale’s chest rose and fell. His breathing was heavier, and his desire sent hers skyrocketing.
She reached for his cock, but he shook his head. “Right now it’s all about you, Valerie. This sexcapade, as you called it, is our gift. It’s all for you, love.”
“Our room,” she gasped, “I’m sure we…bed…” She could barely form a coherent sentence.
“Too late, my sweet.” Adrian kissed her again, claiming her mouth.
Tiny explosions thundered in her chest. She sighed into his kiss, deepening it, swiping his tongue into her mouth, demanding more.
Zale glided his fingers from her breasts to her waist and then around to her ass. He finished what Adrian started, rolling her sweatpants down to her knees. His palms cupped her ass as he guided her pants to her ankles before helping her out of them one leg at a time.
Adrian broke their kiss. With one knee, he pushed her legs apart. He knelt, spreading her pussy lips apart. “Mmmm, you taste as salty and sweet as I hoped,” he murmured, flicking her clit with the tip of his tongue.
She raised her hands to his hair, gripping the long, blond mass in her fists. Tension coiled in her belly, and her sex throbbed. She wanted them. Their bodies filling hers. She spread her legs even more, giving him full access.
Zale glided his hands over her ass again, spreading her cheeks. He tongued her hole, slipping his fingers into her wet slit as Adrian sucked her clit, biting and teasing.
She gasped, grinding her sex deeper into Adrian’s mouth. With a growl, he let go, scooping her up only to lay her down on their mingled jackets.
“Spread yourself for us, love. Spread your pretty, pink pussy and tease your slit,” Zale said.
She shook her head, letting her fingers trail slowly over her belly. “Nope. I’ll only do me, if you do you. I want to watch you jerk off. I know you said this is all about me, but if you want me to come hard, then you are going to let me taste you, too.”
She wanted to wrap her mouth around Adrian’s cock and watch him slide balls deep between her lips while her hand squeezed every last delicious drop f
rom Zale.
“I want to fuck you, beautiful,” Adrian said. “Zale wants you, too, but that’s not going to happen, yet.”
Zale slipped between her knees and pushed them wider, licking her from ass to clit. “So wet. So hot.”
His fingers curled into her slick cleft, two then three. His tongue circled her clit and he bit down.
She hissed, arching her back to grind her pussy further into his palm.
Adrian knelt beside her and took her mouth. Kissing her deep and hungry. He sucked on her tongue, pushing his own into her mouth, thrusting, and snarling. He growled deep in his chest and her body flamed.
Her body all but crumbled with the heat of his kisses. He peeled her camisole from her shoulders freeing her tits, and cupped them each, working her nipples hard.
Valerie gasped, ripping her mouth from his, but he wouldn’t relent. Adrian dragged his tongue over the soft swells, taking her hard peaks into his mouth while Zale sucked her pussy.
She rode Zale’s palm, grinding hard. Her walls convulsed, clamping his hand as her climax exploded. She bucked her hips, crashing pleasure juddered her body boneless. No thought pierced her haze as she came over and over.
They squeezed every exquisite drop from her until she slumped back onto the floor. Zale licked her juice from his hand, wiping his mouth on his forearm.
“You are as delicious as any dessert.” He smacked his lips and then cuddled in beside her.
Adrian spooned her opposite side, each tracing the curve of her breasts.
“You okay?” Adrian asked when she stayed silent.
Valerie inhaled, nodding. “Just don’t ask me to make any big decisions. Elvis has definitely left the building, and he took my brain with him.” She chuckled.
They each leaned in, taking her mouth one at a time for a gentle kiss. “Do you think you’d like to do this with us again?” Zale asked. “Like maybe for the rest of your life?”
Valerie’s half-mast eyes snapped open. “Uhm, what?”
Adrian exhaled, shaking his head. “What have I said about caution, not caveman?”
Valerie scooted up, not caring she was naked, and them fully dressed. “Are you two saying what I think you’re saying?”
Taming their Tailfins: Howls Romance Page 4