He was well aware that Dandy was also interested in the woman on a more personal level. God, I hope this doesn’t turn out like the last time. We are good enough for a few turns in the sheets, but the large ones never seem to stay interested long. If Dandy did decide to pursue her, Thistle would probably go along with it. If she couldn’t accept Dandy was bisexual, there was no use in his lover getting his hopes up, and if she did accept it, maybe Dandy wouldn’t get his heart completely broken when it ended.
Foxglove swam closer, until they were nearly nose to nose. “I hope you know I do not share Clover’s opinion,” he murmured throatily. “In fact, I should be honored if you and Dandy were to ever invite me to join you. There are only so many hints a man can make before he has to be a tad blunter.”
He pressed his mouth to Thistle’s, tilting his head to the side to get a little closer. His lips teased and plucked at Thistle’s until they parted, allowing his tongue to dart in and twine around Thistle’s. Foxglove broke the kiss to lightly run the tip of his tongue over Thistle’s bottom lip. “Just think about it,” he whispered huskily. That said, he swam away and exited the pool.
Thistle licked his lip, tasting Foxglove’s nectar. A warm curl of arousal kindled in his loins. Small fey nectar was an aphrodisiac. It had most likely evolved to entrap a mate or as a defense mechanism to confuse those who would try to capture them. Both sexes had it, but female nectar was much more potent.
Bemused, he watched the other man wipe the water from his body. Foxglove stretched with lazy grace, obviously unashamed of the impressive erection he was sporting.
Feeling confused, he made no move to help as Foxglove gathered the damp clothing back into his baskets and flew off.
He wasn’t sure if he was more shocked by Foxglove’s offer, or kiss. Most of the time the clan forgot about the quiet fey. He was one of those people who had an innate ability to fade into the woodwork unless he put himself forward. Unlike most of the male small fey, Foxglove had spent most of his time with the women. Not that he was overly feminine, but he had always said the women appreciated having him around to do the things they couldn’t while the men were off working with the bees.
Thistle could not recall Foxglove ever being involved with anyone either, come to think of it. If the other man had been, it was a quiet romance no one had remarked on. He also couldn’t think of any hints Foxglove had made that he had missed. They must have been beyond subtle.
Dandy landed beside the pool with a thump. “Wow. Did I see him kiss you?”
Thistle nodded slowly, watching his lover’s face for signs of jealousy.
Dandy pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Yummy.” He took his time stripping before sliding into the water and lapping his tongue across the same lip Foxglove had. “Mmm, very yummy.” He wound his lithe body around Thistle’s. “What else? Is he trying to steal you away from me?”
Thistle stole a deeper kiss. The nectar in their mouths lit a warm glow of arousal in both of them. He cupped Dandy’s ass and pulled him closer. “Mmm. He was letting me know he wouldn’t mind an invitation to join us in bed some night.” He bit Dandy’s earlobe for a moment before releasing it to trail licking kisses down his lover’s neck.
“Really?” Dandy asked in a breathy tone. He coiled his thigh over Thistle’s hip to rock their erections against each other. “What did you say?”
Thistle paused in his explorations. “I didn’t say anything. I was too busy feeling like someone had hit me in the back of the head with a board.”
His lover slipped free. “I wouldn’t mind.” That said he sank under the water and ran his tongue down Thistle’s chest. He paused and tickled Thistle’s navel before licking the tip of Thistle’s cock. Wrapping one hand around the throbbing length, he sucked it into the satin heat of his mouth.
Thistle groaned and tilted his head back to savor the sensation. No matter how often they drifted away from being lovers, they always ended up coming back to each other. Nothing had ever compared to the perfection they found with each other. He moaned in disappointment when Dandy stopped after only a few long, drawing pulls and rose out of the water.
Dandy started pushing him to the edge of the water. “I need you,” he ground out. He shoved Thistle onto the grassy bank and followed him to swallow his penis again.
Thistle arched into the aggressive suction. “Oh yeah. Turn. I want your cock in my mouth.”
Dandy moaned and wiggled around without letting go of Thistle’s member.
Thistle pulled him down and engulfed the curving length to the root with several practiced swallows. He ran his fingers along Dandy’s belly to find the hard nubs of his nipples. Pinching them lightly, he rolled them slowly between his thumbs and forefingers. He was rewarded by a vibrating groan along the length of his rock-hard shaft and Dandy’s involuntary thrusts into his mouth and throat.
The burning ache in his balls told him he wasn’t going to last long. It had been months since he and Dandy had come together. Thistle had been too depressed to feel desire, but his body was making up for the lack quickly. He screamed around Dandy’s cock as the other man drew up slowly, scraping his teeth along Thistle’s swollen lance. The almost pain was delicious and stopped just under the throbbing crown where Dandy tenderly bit down and tugged upward.
His climax came boiling out of him as he bucked and cried out against Dandy’s flesh. His seed shot into the other man’s mouth in pulsing jets of relief. A little stunned, he fell back to earth, eyes fluttering, as his lover swallowed every drop and cleaned him with long, lapping strokes of his tongue.
He moaned deep in his throat with languorous pleasure and hummed along the thick length beginning to pulse in his throat. Dandy lifted his face away from Thistle’s groin with a cry as he spasmed urgently. Thistle choked slightly before swallowing. After a moment Dandy withdrew and rolled off him.
His lover panted and shivered for a minute or two. “I’ve missed this,” the other man finally said hoarsely.
Thistle sighed contentedly and patted Dandy’s hip. “Me too. But, I’m glad no one else knows we went off like adolescent virgins.” His lover chuckled in agreement.
Dandy scooted around until they were facing each other. He slung his arm across Thistle’s hips and kissed him. “I hope you don’t think we are finished. I have a surplus of affection waiting for you.” The proof of his words was in the slow stiffening of his penis against Thistle’s waist.
“Good,” Thistle replied huskily. “Because, I’m feeling inspired today.”
* * * *
Rienne smiled nervously at Dar, who was carrying one of the huge trays she and Cass had maneuvered the honey rolls onto. The tall, pretty man was slinking around like a wet cat.
Cass was trying to juggle the pull-apart, tartar sauce, and a huge bowl of pepper slaw at the same time. “Leave it, Cass. I can come back out for it.”
“I can carry something for you,” a young voice said at her elbow.
Rienne looked down. It was the boy from the park. He smiled brightly up at her. “That would be very kind of you,” she said with a return smile, wondering why Dar had stiffened up beside her. “Could you get the pull-apart for her?”
“Yes. It smells really good. What is it?” He carefully took the pan from Cass who smiled gratefully. The boy paused to take a deep breath of the confection and sigh blissfully. “I’m gonna ask Declan to hide some for me so I get a piece.”
“It’s a peach and apricot cream cheese pull-apart,” Rienne answered as she followed Dar. The boy darted ahead of them and opened the pub door. “Thank you.” She flashed Dar a concerned look when he wheezed. “Are you okay, Dar? You sound like you’re coming down with a cold.”
“Fine,” he muttered, stalking to the table where food was being laid out.
Her shoulders hunched, and her stomach twisted as she wondered what she had done to upset him. He wasn’t acting at all like she remembered from the other times she had met him. It was making her rethink her decision to stay on t
he island. While he hadn’t said anything, his behavior made it clear he wasn’t happy she was here.
It seemed the only person happy to see her was Cass. Unfortunately, Rienne would probably go back to Uncle Hiram’s farm. She didn’t know if she was emotionally strong enough to deal with the stuck-up town when even Dar seemed put out she was visiting. If he continued to act like he had been, Rienne wouldn’t feel comfortable visiting with Cass.
Cass stopped beside her and glared at her husband’s back. “I don’t know what stick is up his ass, but he’d better get it out before I decide to twist it a few times.” A mortified look crossed her face when a muffled giggle sounded behind them. They’d both forgotten the boy. They spun around, a blush turning Cass’s cheeks bright red. “You did not hear me say that!”
The kid nodded solemnly, still trying to smother his laughter. He scampered to the table to set the pan down, then melted into the milling crowd.
Rienne noted how everyone stopped to greet Dar and also noted not a single person said hello to Cass. Wow, clannish much? No wonder she was so happy to see me. If this was how they treated Cass, she’d stay for no other reason than she wasn’t going to leave her cousin alone in such an obviously unfriendly town. Her shoulders straightened, and she leaned toward Cass, standing on tiptoe to hum a few bars of familiar banjo music in her ear.
Several people stopped talking and turned to stare as Cass’s rich, warm laugh rolled out. Cass bent down to press their foreheads together. “Thanks, Bumblebee, I needed that. I’m really glad you’re here, even if my husband is starting to resemble a douche bag with legs,” she whispered. “Every time Jonathon makes plans to visit, something happens. Aunt Sophie was supposed to come, and then she got sick. She never gets sick. I didn’t realize how lonely I was till today.”
Rienne nodded and pulled back. “I feel more alone in a crowd than by myself sometimes too.”
The women smiled at each other and then turned to set down the food. She followed Cass as the taller woman made her way to the bar. A very short man with the longest beard she had ever seen was walking back and forth, filling orders. His shining sable whiskers quickly captivated her. He might have been short, but he was massive. Corded muscles flexed in his arms. His shoulders were almost as broad as he was tall. Cass’s elbow digging into her side made her jump, and she realized she’d been staring for some time and it had grown very quiet around her.
“Got a problem with Dwarves?” the bartender ground out belligerently. There was a tinge of an accent she couldn’t place. A hard black gaze glared at her from under a set of bushy eyebrows.
“N-n-no,” she stuttered. “I was looking at your beard. It’s so lush.” She turned beet red, as the last bit seemed to fall out of her mouth. There were a few snickers behind her. Her stomach twisted, and acid surged up her throat. She swallowed convulsively, hoping she wouldn’t embarrass herself by getting sick.
The man preened and stroked a hand down his beard. “Well now, that is a fine compliment. ’Tis not every day a pretty woman says such to me.” The noise picked up around them again. “I’m Declan, and you must be Cass’s cousin, aye? What can I get for you ladies?” He stroked his beard again with a pleased expression.
“Hard cider, please, Declan,” Cass asked with a hopeful smile. She turned to Rienne. “Declan makes the most amazing hard cider.”
Declan puffed out his chest with pride and pulled two pint glasses out and began filling them from a tap. “Now, Miss Cass, you’ve never told me that. I’ll be getting a swelled head from these sweet words the two of you keep dropping.”
“It’s true, Declan. And Rienne and I would know. Hard cider is one of our favorite drinks. We’ve tried a lot of them,” Cass replied earnestly.
He set the glasses in front of them and looked at Rienne expectantly.
“Thank you,” she said shyly and set a twenty on the counter. Declan took the money and put it in a glass with her cousin’s name scribbled on it. She took a sip of the cold beverage and sighed with pleasure. It was crisp, sweet, and warming, the apple flavor not at all tinged with the aftertaste of vinegar as some hard ciders were. “It tastes like fall, Cass, just when the weather gets cold again and leaves are starting to turn.”
“Yup,” her cousin agreed inelegantly and took a drink.
Declan beamed. “You’ll do, missy. You can come here anytime.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. She wasn’t sure if it was the invitation or the alcohol that kindled a warm glow in her belly, settling the churning.
She and Cass wandered around for a bit listening to conversations briefly but moving on when no one made any effort to include them. “Kinda like high school again, isn’t it?” she asked, referring to the social hell both had gone through with Jonathon, Cass’s best friend, and a few other cousins. Dances had always been the worst.
“Yeah, without the acne and tacky satin dresses,” Cass agreed as they perched on stools behind one of the long tables placed parallel to the walls. “I thought you were gonna get us lynched, staring at Declan.”
Rienne laughed softly. “Like I’d have a problem with someone being short. My legs are barely long enough to reach the ground.” She paused to study the bartender for a moment. While he was short, there was absolutely nothing dainty about him. “Unlike me, ‘cute’ is probably not the first word people think of when they see him. So, I somehow doubt a date has ever tried to get Declan into a velvet dress and make him call them daddy. That must be nice,” she finished, wrinkling her nose a bit.
“Uh, eww.” Cass looked disgusted.
“Someone made you do that?” asked a voice at Rienne’s elbow.
She looked down in horror. It was the boy again. “You really have a way of hearing things you’re not supposed to!”
He grinned impishly and took off again.
“Whatever happened to that creep?” Cass leaned against the wall, her eyes on her husband who was laughing with his friends.
“Dunno. He disappeared.” Rienne smirked to herself. She noticed that despite his obvious grump, Dar kept looking to see where his wife was. Most people thought Dar and Cass made an odd couple. Cass never bothered with makeup and had a plethora of shirts with rude and sarcastic slogans on them. Dar, on the other hand, was always perfectly attired, never a hair out of place, and almost too pretty for words. Leave it to Cass to snag a flaming heterosexual.
Cass had caught that smirk. “What did you do? I know you, you did something.”
“Well, I tried talking to a cop, but they wouldn’t do anything because I was an adult.” She shrugged innocently. “The cop said there was no law against being a pervert and as long as he confined it to consenting adults, he could be as kinky as he wanted.”
“Uh-huh,” Cass drew the words out, lacing them with suspicion.
“Sooo, when I saw him talking to several little girls, I told the neighborhood drug dealers who happened to be hanging out across the street about his nasty little fetish.” She shrugged. “Like I said, he disappeared. Turns out they were the fathers of a couple of those girls.”
Cass goggled at her. “That’s brilliant.”
Rienne felt her face harden with anger. “No, that was retroactive abortion. If he wasn’t preying on children already, he was going to be soon.” She thought of the way the creep had been stroking his hands up and down one of those little girl’s arms. It had taken all the courage she could muster to approach the dealers. They had been crude and insulting until she mentioned the children. Growing up with predators in human skin had made her very adept at spotting full humans with the same qualities.
The smell of melting butter filled the air, and she took a deep breath of the pleasant fragrance. Beside her Cass tilted her face up and sniffed, chittering softly in excitement. “Smells like they are getting started on the clams,” her cousin stated.
They looked to the door when a large group of short, slim men suddenly trooped in. Without exception they all had huge wings attached to their backs. Ri
enne blinked a few times in surprise. Somehow she hadn’t expected a cosplay group to make its homes on the island. But, it was obvious these guys took it very seriously. The wings folded down out of the way as they weaved through the crowd. She found herself a little excited to see what they looked like when they were extended again. Some appeared to be butterfly wings, while others had wings more reminiscent of bees and dragonflies. I wonder how they folded them down. Their hands were full, so the mechanism must have been attached somewhere else.
Creamy linen shirts with full sleeves were tucked into perfectly tailored suede vests. Their muscular legs were encased in formfitting moleskin breeches. Knee boots of buttery, soft-looking leather completed their outfits. Their clothing definitely dated back to a time long past but seemed to suit them perfectly.
They were carrying pottery jugs, which they took to the bar and gave to Declan. Not a single one of them was more than an inch or two taller than Rienne. She blinked a few more times at their brightly colored hair. With the exception of two brunets, not a single one had a natural shade on their head. They were greeted warmly but with some obvious surprise.
“Pretty,” Rienne commented, admiring their muscular bodies. She tugged her shirt and smoothed her hair.
“Yeah, they are,” Cass agreed. “Dunno who they are though. I don’t think I’ve met ’em yet. ’Course there are a lot more people on the island than you’d think. They just tend to keep to themselves.” She leaned closer to Rienne. “I get the feeling there’s more to these people than Dar warned me about.”
“What do you mean?” Rienne asked curiously.
“We’ll talk later,” Cass said with a meaningful glance around.
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