Sleeping Beauty (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Beth D. Carter

  * * * *

  Alivia listened to them talk, tears running down her cheeks.

  She remembered that last day, the terror she felt when Kaden had rushed into her home to whisk her away. He said it was for her protection, for the protection of her mother, so she had gone without argument even though she had to leave her nannies behind. She and Kaden had boarded a ship and they had left Marvala. She remembered seeing the aerial view of her mother’s kingdom as they ascended high in the sky.

  She’d never been on a spacecraft before that moment. Excitement and wonder had warred with concern and fear. Once they’d reached space it had been big and black. Her planet had eventually become tiny and insignificant in the vastness of space, and tears had run down her cheeks.

  “I’m going to put you in stasis, my lady,” Kaden had told her and she stared at him in horror.

  “You’re going to freeze me?”

  “Not for long,” he assured. “A few months. Perhaps a year at most.”

  “Where’s my mother? What is happening in the Kingdom?”

  “There is fighting,” he told her. “Your mother has sanctioned for me to protect you by going to Jurdin Prime.”

  “And freezing me?”

  “Yes.”

  Not long after that, they landed at their destination. She had begged for more information but Kaden had been resolute. His loyalty lay with her mother, not her, and that was made abundantly clear when her pleas to not be frozen fell on deaf ears.

  And now here she sat, eavesdropping on the two strangers who had rescued her from a thirty-year sleep, learning about the fate of her world. A civil war. That’s what her mother and Kaden had protected her from. That’s what they had probably died from.

  “…Follow me.”

  The last words caught her attention, bringing her out of her silent reverie. She peeked at them again and saw Noah rising from straddling Ronan, saw the younger man steal a quick kiss off Ronan’s lips. Her breath caught in her throat. Two men kissing? She’d never heard of such a thing. Of course, her knowledge was limited. Everything she knew of sex came from listening in on her nannies’ conversations. Alivia had become a pro at eavesdropping.

  Her nannies had used words she didn’t quite understand but got the gist of, words like pussy and cock and fuck. When they left Valin’s small house, she followed, trailing after them through the moonlight. It was the same path they had walked earlier in the day so she had an idea of where they were headed.

  Finally Ronan stopped in a clearing, next to a huge boulder. She took position behind some trees, near enough to see and hear everything but far enough where they wouldn’t notice her.

  As Alivia watched, she saw Ronan lean down to capture Noah’s lips, kissing him almost ferociously. His hands roamed over Noah’s chest, rolling his nipples between his fingers, making Noah arch his back with little moans of pleasure.

  She realized she couldn’t peel her gaze away from the two men.

  “Please,” Noah begged between gasps of air, “fuck me. Please fuck me!”

  Suddenly, Ronan spun Noah around.

  “Put your hands on the boulder,” Ronan ordered. “Don’t move them.”

  She saw Noah comply but couldn’t see exactly what Ronan was doing to him, but from all the pleasurable moans and groans coming from Noah it had to be something good. Ronan yanked Noah’s pants down and stepped back. He flexed his arm and rotated his wrist and then, suddenly, swung his hand back and let it fly. The slap landed squarely on Noah’s ass cheek causing Alivia to jump in surprise. She expected Noah to curse and move away but instead she saw his hips wiggle as he pushed his behind out even more.

  “You like this?” Ronan taunted as he caressed Noah. “You want me to make this ass rosy red?”

  “Please,” Noah gasped.

  Before the word was even out Ronan resumed his spanking. A dozen slaps in a row that had Noah begging and writhing for more. As Alivia watched them, she felt something spring to life deep within her, causing moisture to flow from her sex. She had to clench her thighs to alleviate the sweet ache but discovered that only revved up the need even more.

  “I’m going to fuck you now.” Ronan growled and a second later his pants fell to his ankles. “Bend over more. Don’t let go of that boulder.”

  Noah bent over even more and Ronan moved behind him, but this position prevented her from seeing what exactly he was doing with Noah. A few seconds later she saw Ronan’s hips begin to pump back and forth.

  “Fuck!” Ronan cried. “This is so fucking good.”

  She watched as his hips withdrew only to ram forward again. Little by little, Ronan increased the tempo until he had a smooth motion going. And with each little breathy moan that Noah emitted, Alivia felt her pussy clench. She wanted so desperately to soothe the ache but she didn’t know what to do or how to do it. She wasn’t about to go to the men and ask them to help her out.

  “I’m going to come,” she heard Noah cry out. “Oh shit! Oh fuck!”

  “Yes!” Ronan moaned back, his hips undulating wildly. Alivia knew they were building toward something but she didn’t know what. It made her squirm. It made her heart pound and her mouth dry. But damned if she understood what was about to happen. All she could do was watch in breathless anticipation.

  And then both men cried out and stilled. Ronan collapsed upon Noah whose arms didn’t seem able to hold him anymore. They both fell upon the boulder, panting for breath. Somehow Noah maneuvered himself around so he could slip his arms around Ronan and, for a long moment, Ronan hugged him back.

  It was a tender moment between two lovers, so she slowly backed away, letting them have their time together. Her body throbbed with…something. She didn’t know what to call it or what to do about it.

  And she wished, oh, how she wished, she had been with them.

  Chapter Nine

  The next morning Alivia woke up to birds chirping right outside the small windows near the bed. She stretched and her elbow bumped a solid object on her right. She turned her head and met the soft, amused eyes of Noah Kabot.

  “Good morning,” he said.

  She opened her mouth and managed to say in a very husky voice, “Good morning.”

  “You can talk!”

  She shrugged. “Some. My throat doesn’t hurt so much anymore.”

  “Well, it’s a very sexy voice.”

  “What is sexy?”

  “You don’t know what that means?”

  She shook her head. “I grew up very sheltered.”

  “Sexy means being attracted to something, excited or aroused.”

  “Oh. Something that makes your cock hard. Right?”

  “Um, yeah,” he sputtered. “Where did you learn that word?”

  She blushed. “I used to listen to my nannies talk. I learned many naughty words from them. They’re good women but I figured out they had wicked social lives.”

  He chuckled.

  “Where’s Ronan?” she asked.

  “Breakfast, probably. You hungry?”

  She shook her head. “My stomach hasn’t really adapted yet to the thought of food.”

  “You need to keep up your strength. We’re going to be leaving later today.”

  “I’ll eat a big lunch,” she promised.

  “Okay.”

  “May I ask you a question?”

  “Sure,” he said.

  “Why do you have bionic ears?”

  His brow furrowed a little and he looked away.

  “I’m sorry,” she hastened to add. “That was rude. You don’t have to answer.”

  “No, it’s okay,” he assured as he reached up to absently rub his ears. “I had a shitty life before Ronan found me on Isaren. Do you know that planet?”

  She shook her head.

  “It’s an industrial waste zone. Toxic fumes, the whole works. Anyway, when I was about ten someone boxed my ears a little too hard and I ended up with two busted eardrums, which should have healed but didn’t. Infection, yada y
ada yada. So, long story short, when Valin got a hold of me, he gave me new ears as well as new lungs.”

  “New lungs?”

  He nodded. “Isaren, remember? I was half-dead when Ronan found me.”

  She reached up and gently touched his ears, tracing their shell before placing her palm on his chest to feel the rise and fall of his breathing.

  “You love Ronan, don’t you?”

  “Yes, but not because he saved me. I love him because he looked at me and saw…me.”

  She cocked her head, waiting for him to elaborate.

  He took a deep breath. “I used to feel like the universe was trying to swallow me up, to suck out my soul with all the shit it threw at me. I was a nobody with nothing, left to die. And then Ronan found me. He gave me a second chance at life.”

  “You were grateful.”

  “Of course. But gratitude isn’t love. It took me awhile to trust Ronan, but when I did, I found love. Love for him, love for myself.”

  She gave a faint smile. “That sounds wonderful. I’m jealous.”

  He took her hand in his. “Surely you had love.”

  “I don’t know,” she answered truthfully. “I had nannies paid to take care of me. I had a bodyguard ordered to protect me. I had a mother with higher priorities. How much love could they have had to abandon me for thirty-one years?”

  “Maybe they had no choice.”

  She linked their fingers. She loved how warm his skin was, how he rubbed little circles around her knuckles. Just being near him, he exuded a comfort that she found addictive.

  “What’s going to happen to me?” she whispered.

  “What do you mean?”

  “What if my home is no longer there? Where will I go?”

  “Alivia,” he said and she looked up. His eyes were deep, solemn. “If you can no longer stay or no longer want to stay, you’ll come with us. Me and Ronan. We’ll be your family.”

  She bit her lip. “What if Ronan doesn’t want me?”

  He shook his head. “Not going to happen. Trust me. Trust him.” He reached for a strand of her red hair. “Your hair is so soft.”

  “One benefit of tynilium, I suppose.”

  His finger trailed down her cheek. “Your skin is soft, too.”

  Her heart fluttered as she stared into his sky-blue eyes. She’d always wondered what attraction felt like and now she’d felt two different versions. With Ronan she felt…sexy, based on Noah’s definition. If she had a cock it would be sticking straight up. With Noah, however, it was almost as if she were treasured, or cherished, although his touch definitely sent shivers of delight through her body.

  “Why do you look at me like that?” she asked softly.

  “Like what?”

  “As if you’ve never seen a woman before.”

  “I’ve seen women. I’ve fucked women. But I’ve never been attracted to one before.”

  Her brow furrowed. “You’re attracted to me?”

  “Oh yeah,” he murmured, his hand caressing her face and trailing down her neck to her shoulder. “When I saw you in your cryo coffin, something about you drew me in. And even though I knew you were beautiful, it wasn’t just your beauty.”

  “How could you tell? I thought the tubes obstructed the view.”

  “Some, but I saw an angel, with fire-red hair and porcelain skin. Maybe it was because I was the one who found you that I feel so connected to you. Maybe it was because we were both abandoned.”

  She lightly touched his lips. “I feel it, too.”

  The birds kept chirping and she shot a glance out the window.

  “Can we sit outside today? I haven’t been outside for such a long time.”

  “Of course,” he said. He rose and pulled her body flush against his. She felt every hard plane of his body, including his cock that nestled against the juncture of her thighs. Her body heated up and she felt her pussy dampen as butterflies erupted in her belly. She rubbed herself against him, loving how the friction of his shaft felt against her.

  “Oh, my god,” Noah moaned. “Can I touch you, sweetheart?”

  “Yes, please,” she gasped.

  His hand cupped her face and then began to slide, very slowly down, over her collarbone, her chest, and then over one breast, being sure to rub her nipple until it hardened into a pebble. She moaned and arched her back, liking it, wanting more. But he denied her, his hand trailing even further until it disappeared into her pants. She gasped as his hand touched over the curls protecting her femininity and she couldn’t help but grasp his arm, halting him.

  “Shh,” he said soothingly. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

  She shook her head. “I’m scared. Just, well, I’ve never done this. I’ve never allowed someone to touch me like this.”

  “I know.”

  She swallowed thickly. “You’re touching my…pussy. That’s the word, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “And what are you going to do with your hand?”

  “My fingers are going to play with your clit,” he told her. “It’s going to feel heavenly, Alivia. Trust me.”

  Slowly, she released his hand, allowing him to continue. His fingers parted her curls and found the hot bundle of nerves that pulsed with need. When he touched her, fire licked through her. Her eyes went wide as she stared into Noah’s gentle, caring gaze.

  He eased his middle finger into her channel, using her own juices to guide his passage into her. It was such an odd sensation that she wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, whether it was pleasant or not. She shifted her hips and felt his hardness bump into her thigh and she determined she liked that feeling so she did it again. He used the momentum to slide another finger in and then he bent the finger upward. That touched something inside her that had her bucking like a wild horse so he did it again and again.

  “Oh…my!” she gasped.

  “Do you like that?”

  Her head nodded frantically.

  As his middle finger plunged into her tight channel, his thumb found the small bundle of nerves and caressed her into mindless oblivion. Everything around her disappeared. She forgot where she was, she forgot they had just met, she forgot even her own name as her body clenched into the beginnings of an orgasm.

  “Noah! What’s happening to me?” she cried out.

  “Let go, Alivia,” he told her. “Let it wash over you.”

  “Oh my god!” she moaned as her body convulsed and pleasure ran along every single nerve ending in her body. A moment later, her legs turned to jelly and she slumped against him as he withdrew his fingers and proceeded to lick them clean.

  “Mm,” he said. “You taste so good.”

  “What happened to me?” she panted.

  “You just had an orgasm, my sweet.”

  “That was amazing!”

  “Yes, they are,” he replied with a small laugh. “I’m quite fond of them as well.”

  “Is that what Ronan made you feel last night in the woods?”

  He pulled back to look down at her. “You saw us?”

  She nodded, looking down. “I’m sorry. I have a bad habit of spying on people.”

  “It’s okay. Were you turned on?”

  She wrinkled her brow. “Is that the butterflies I felt in my belly? And how I felt hot and achy?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then yes, I was turned on watching you two last night.”

  He placed a kiss against her forehead. “Would you like more of this? More of me and Ronan together?”

  Hesitantly, she nodded. “Yes, but…I was always taught that I should preserve myself for my husband.”

  “Well, I don’t know how to break it to you but any suitor you had is a very old man now.”

  She thought about that. “Do you and Ronan like older women?”

  His brows shot up. “We do now.”

  * * * *

  The vidscreen buzzed and Valin reached over to hit the accept button. A woman’s face appeared on the monitor and though Rona
n didn’t recognize her, Valin did. She wore a medic’s uniform.

  “Hi, Sasha,” Valin greeted. “How can I help you?”

  “I wanted to let you know that Pops was killed,” she said. Ronan set his cup down with a sharp click.

  “What?” Valin demanded. “We just saw him. What happened?”

  “He was murdered in his tent at the end of business hours yesterday. Shot with a blaster.”

  “Robbery?”

  “That’s what the enforcers are declaring.”

  She hesitated and Ronan felt something cold take root in his stomach.

  “You don’t agree?” he asked.

  She looked at him and shook her head. “He bought the supplies from me and happened to mention why. Now he’d dead. Somehow I don’t think it’s a coincidence. Are you in trouble, Valin?”

  Valin glanced at Ronan. “Am I?”

  Ronan didn’t know how to answer but he had a feeling something bad was coming.

  “I think I saw the man,” she went on. “Tall, built, a scar on his right jawline. Older man with gray at his temples. Please be careful, Valin.”

  Valin nodded. “You, too, Sasha. I think I’ll go on an exploring expedition this afternoon.”

  “I think that’s a wise decision.”

  Ronan turned and walked out of the kitchen, leaving Valin to finish talking with Sasha. He’d heard enough. Alivia was being hunted and his instincts had just been proven right. He headed outside and saw Noah talking with Alivia. They were side by side, heads bowed together as she listened to him talk. All of his anger evaporated as he stared at them, together. Some of the red strands of her hair had blown over to intermingle with his blond curls and the sight affected him more than he thought it should. His blood heated and his cock hardened as a vision of them in bed, Noah and Alivia staring at him with eyes full of lust, filled his head.

  What would Noah say if he told his partner he was attracted to someone else? And not to a man but to a woman. They’d never really discussed past relationships before so he’d never told Noah that he was more bisexual than anything else. He liked women, too, but he loved Noah. Noah had saved him, saved his soul.