“I won’t fall. Just hurry up.”
He braced for her touch but still wasn’t prepared when she brushed the cloth against his back. A lightning charge of electricity shot through his body, making every hair stand on end.
Her strokes were tentative at first, but became firmer as she washed his shoulders and back.
Uni’s ass, he could stand here forever if she continued. His shoulders dropped from their hunched position as the tension eased out of them and the pounding in his temples dialed down from excruciating to merely mind-numbing.
She moved in ever-widening circles down his back until she reached his waist, where she hesitated for several seconds before finally sweeping the cloth over his ass.
Desire for her bare hands on his body raged through him, but he knew he was reaching the end of his strength when his cock barely gave a twitch.
He had his mouth open to tell her to hurry the fuck up when she bent to take care of his legs.
She moved faster now, as if she wanted to get this over with.
“Can you turn?”
Good question. He was barely holding himself up now. Still, he wasn’t about to fall in front of her.
And he had to admit he wanted her to put her hands on his chest. And lower.
Yeah, he was a son of a bitch. A pathetic son of a bitch.
Praying for strength, he forced himself to turn, ignoring the dizziness in his head and the weakness in his knees.
Now the water fell on his nape and shoulders, making his eyes close for just a second. When he opened them again, he saw an emotion on Tira’s face that caught him off guard.
For a second, he thought he’d seen something hot and dark in her eyes. A yearning. For him.
He must be close to passing out.
He shook his head, spraying water droplets all around them. Tira quickly dropped her gaze and started to wash him again. Her left hand settled on his ribs, as if to brace him. The other swiped the washcloth as quickly as she could across his chest and stomach, then down his legs, carefully avoiding any contact with his balls and half-hard cock.
Vaffanculo, he hoped she didn’t make some smart-ass or offended comment about his state. Because in the frame of mind he was in right now, he’d want to press her against the wall and kiss her. Show her just exactly how he felt about her.
Gods damn it, he was sick and tired—
He swayed on his feet, his head feeling like he’d just taken a blow.
As if from a distance, he heard her gasp. His arms and legs started to shake and he had three seconds to think, Holy shit, I’m going down.
Then her arms wrapped around his waist and her body pressed full length against his.
Holy shit became Aw, fuck as every one of his senses lit on fire.
How many times had he dreamed about her like this? Okay, maybe not with the bra and panties but this was closer than he’d ever thought he’d get to those fantasies and his body leapt to attention as if he wasn’t about to fall on his face with exhaustion.
He felt her every breath, felt the lushness of her gorgeous breasts against his upper stomach. She was so much smaller than him, her head fit under his chin easily, which nestled his cock against her soft stomach.
He sucked in a deep breath as his naked cock rubbed against her naked skin. Jesus, he was completely fucked up. He wanted her until he throbbed but he could barely stand.
If he didn’t have his hands planted on the stall walls, he’d be lying on the floor.
He groaned.
“Duke? Are you okay?”
Huffing out a laugh that made her stiffen against him, he knew she thought he was going to say something stupid and offensive. Like he always did.
“No, I’m not. If I don’t get out of here soon, I’m gonna go down hard. I don’t want to hurt you, Tira. I never want to hurt you.”
Shit, his tongue was coming loose and that was dangerous. He had to get out of here and away from her. Now.
But his body had finally decided it’d had enough. The muscles in his legs shook like cooked noodles, his head swam in a fog. But damn if he didn’t have a hard-on.
Tira took a deep breath and he nearly groaned as her tight nipples rubbed against his chest. “Okay, let’s get you on the floor and then I’ll go get Kyle to help you out of here.”
He was too used up to argue with her. Instead, he let her maneuver him until his back was against the wall and he could slide down the slick tile until his ass hit the floor.
His eyes had closed for the trip down but when he reopened them, all he saw were her breasts.
She was bending in front of him, trying to free her arms trapped between his back and the wall. Her pale skin gleamed, the mounds of her breasts nearly falling out of that lace bra, which no longer hid anything at all. The water had turned it translucent.
If he could have, he would have leaned forward and sucked one of those pretty pink nipples into his mouth. Fuck the consequences.
But he couldn’t even lift his head.
Uni’s ass. He needed… He needed…
“Duke! Don’t fall asleep. Not yet. Just let me get Kyle.”
“What if I don’t want you to leave?”
He forced his head back far enough that his eyes could connect with hers and saw her complete shock at his too-truthful statement.
Idiot. I’m such a fucking idiot.
But, oh, sweet Blessed Mother Uni, she was beautiful. He wanted to kiss that rounded mouth, put his hands around her tiny waist and lower her down onto his lap.
Onto his fast-fading erection.
He turned his head to the side, resting his cheek against the cool tile. “Make it fast, babe. I’m gonna be out cold in less than a minute.”
Tira didn’t want to leave Duke on the floor of the shower.
She actually worried that if she left him, he wouldn’t be breathing when she returned. Logically, she knew that wasn’t going to happen but her brain wasn’t exactly up to speed.
And she wanted him to explain what he meant by his question. What if he didn’t want her to leave? What did that mean?
As she stared into his dark eyes, pulled in way too many directions to think straight, she put her hands on his cheeks and bent to kiss him on the forehead.
Except for washing his body just now, she hadn’t touched him like this in eight years. For so long, they’d been at each other’s throats, since she’d forced herself to give them up. To push them away.
Nic had seemed to understand why she’d done it. Why she had to keep her distance from them or lose her mind. Nic never made her feel guilty about her withdrawal.
But Duke… He’d taken her actions as a slap to the face. As if they’d become prize fighters in a ring, he’d backed into the opposite corner, his defenses up at all times.
And his tongue could wound at twenty paces.
Whenever he made a smart-ass comment, she couldn’t help herself. She had to fight back, even though she loved him just as much as she loved Nic. She wouldn’t be able to bear it if anything ever happened to either of them. It might just push her over the edge into the abyss her mom was in.
She didn’t linger, but she didn’t just give him a peck and pull away. She pressed her lips against his skin, tried to let him know how she felt without saying the words he didn’t want to hear. At least, not from her.
Blessed Goddess, she couldn’t lose them.
“Don’t move.” She forced the words out of her mouth as she rose and turned away to leave the stall. Avoiding Duke’s gaze, she wrapped a towel around her wet body and hurried back to the bedroom to get Kyle.
Fear made her freeze with her hand on the doorknob. What if something had happened to Nic? What if he’d died while she was in the shower with Duke?
How would they—
No. She couldn’t do anything about Nic. But Duke still needed help.
After a deep breath, she opened the door and looked for Kyle. He was standing at the foot of the bed, arms crossed over his chest a
s he watched Dr. Marone and Tam hover over Nic.
Blessed Goddess, he looked…
She swayed on her feet. He looked dead.
Choking in a breath, she wanted to run to the bed but couldn’t move.
“Tira, hey, it’s okay. He’s gonna be okay.”
Kyle stepped into her field of vision and she looked up at him, expecting to see confirmation of her fears on his face. Then his words finally sank in.
She wanted to drop into a puddle on the floor as relief made her woozy but she forced herself to remember why she was here.
“I need you to help Duke out of the shower. I can’t move him on my own.”
Kyle closed his golden eyes for a brief second before he shook his head as he moved past her. He headed to the bathroom, muttering under his breath the entire way. “That stupid, fucking— Why the hell didn’t he just— Shit, Duke. You’re a stubborn ass.”
“Yeah, and fuck you, too, decurio. Just help me up. I doubt Tam wants me as a permanent fixture in your bathroom.”
Tira’s heart stuttered. The language and the sentiment were all Duke. He made Kyle’s higher rank as decurio sound like a swear word even though his voice had all the strength of a newborn infant.
Kyle’s mouth pulled into a flat line, as if he too recognized how weak Duke sounded. He reached down to pull Duke off the floor, and his expression got grimmer as he practically had to carry Duke back to the living room. Before she left the bathroom, she grabbed several towels from the cabinet then hurried after the men.
Kyle had already gotten Duke onto the couch, where he lay with his head resting against the back cushion. His eyes were closed and he was so beautifully naked that it took her a minute to realize his skin was covered with goose bumps.
As Kyle stepped back, she moved in. The oversized towels still weren’t big enough to cover his entire body. Starting at his shoulders, she pushed him forward just far enough to get one around his back then draped another over his chest. The next she lay across his stomach and lap then she knelt down to wrap another one around his lower legs.
“Can’t stand the sight of me naked, huh?”
She bit back a sharp retort to his taunt and stepped behind the couch to wrap his hair in one of the towels. “You’re cold. I don’t want you to get sick.”
“Not gonna get sick.” Slurring more words now, his eyes closed, he was almost asleep.
Kyle stepped into her line of vision to get her attention, knowing she wouldn’t have heard or comprehended anything he said. All of her attention was focused on Duke. “I’ll go get a blanket for him and a pair of Tam’s sweats for you.”
As Kyle left, she looked down, realizing all she had on was a towel and her undies. She’d completely forgotten but now her own flesh broke out in goose bumps.
She shivered but Duke didn’t notice. She was pretty sure he’d fallen asleep or passed out.
Standing above him, she watched his rugged features soften as she gently squeezed the moisture from his longer-than-normal hair.
Now that the adrenaline rush was wearing off, she’d started to shake. Her hands trembled. She needed to ask Kyle for a comb. Duke’s hair would be a tangled mess if she didn’t get it combed out before it dried completely.
Not that he’d care. And not that she should.
They’d survived.
She hadn’t lost them.
And yet, nothing had changed.
“Tira.”
Tam’s voice cut through the growing haze in her head. She sniffled as she looked up, realizing her face was wet with tears.
“Nic’s asleep.” Tam’s voice was so soft, Tira had to concentrate to hear it. “Gio believes he’ll be fine but we’re going to have Nica come take a look at him if he starts to run a fever or has complications.”
Her best friend, Nica, had recently taken over her mother’s position as healer in the boschetta. As streghe, witches of Etruscan descent, she and Nica had been reared together in New Tarquin. “She, Tanner and Jensen took a…a trip to the shore for the weekend.”
The brothers and Nica were on a belated honeymoon and Tira would hate for them to have to cut it short but Nica would be here in a heartbeat if she knew Nic and Duke needed her help. Nica’s Goddess Gift of healing was a true gift.
Hers…
“Tira, maybe you want to sit down before you fall over.”
She forced a smile and shook her head. “I need to get him dried off so he doesn’t catch a cold. He shouldn’t catch a chill. Do you have a comb I can borrow?”
Tam nodded her head, her expression in nurse mode. Compassionate and calm. “Of course.”
“Tira, here’s the blanket and the sweats.” Kyle spoke from behind her and she jumped. “Hey, why don’t you let me take the towels and get him spread out on the couch? And why don’t you have a seat before you fall over.”
“No. I have to comb out his hair.”
A wide-toothed black comb appeared in front of her eyes as if by magic. “Here you go, hon.”
As Tam walked over to wrap her arms around Kyle’s waist, Tira saw them exchange a look. Kyle frowned down at his mate but Tam just shook her head as Tira began to comb the knots out of Duke’s hair.
It didn’t take her long and she knew she was starting to zone out but he was out cold and she could touch him to her heart’s content. Still, she knew she couldn’t do this all day.
She forced herself to stop after another minute then she stood there, unsure what to do next.
“Hey, hon,” Tam touched her towel-covered back, careful not to brush against any of her exposed skin. “Why don’t you get dressed then check on Nic? We’ll take care of Duke for a few minutes.”
“Okay, sure.” That sounded like a plan.
Turning her back to the room, she stripped off her wet panties and bra then pulled on the sweats Kyle had given her before she headed for the bedroom. She forced her feet to keep moving until she stood in the doorway, looking at Nic lying so still on the bed.
Dr. Marone was repacking his bag. The bench Kaine was lying on had been moved to the side wall where the wolf continued to sleep.
“Ah Tira. Looks like they’re going to be okay. Since I assume you’re staying, I’m ordering you to get some sleep as well.” He looked at her over his tiny reading glasses. “You look a little unsteady on your feet, sweetheart. Tam will obviously be here if anything should change. I’m headed back to the den.”
The elderly Dr. Marone had taken over as lucani army doctor two decades before she’d been born almost twenty-six years ago. Since she wasn’t lucani, they hadn’t had much contact but he looked exactly like her image of a doctor—short, round, bald and always smiling. She wanted to hug the man but she settled for a heartfelt though wobbly smile.
“I…” she wanted to say something. Needed to say something but she didn’t know what. Finally she nodded and walked to the side of the bed. “I’ll get some sleep. Thank you.”
He walked over to her and patted her on the back, making sure not to brush against her exposed skin. Her Gift wasn’t as strong as her mother’s, but skin-to-skin contact almost always triggered her visions.
Duke being one of the only exceptions.
Pulling the padded chair on the wall closer to the bed, she practically fell into it.
Eyes burning, she let her gaze eat its fill of Nic. From his gorgeous hair with its mix of shades from brown to red, to his starkly handsome features that never failed to make her heart ache. His skin tone was naturally pale but now looked ashen. That more than anything made her feel like crying.
She tried but couldn’t stop the vision as it ran through her head. The one she’d seen nearly a decade ago. She’d been a late bloomer, her Gift not kicking in until she’d been eighteen years old.
Blessed Goddess, she’d been so worried she’d never develop one. That she wouldn’t be the daughter her mother needed her to be. Would never be able to take her place in the boschetta when her mother finally decided to retire.
No
w she wished she’d never developed it.
“Tira, here.” A steaming mug appeared in front of her face, the hand holding it connected to Tam. “Drink this.”
Tira took it without thought. “Do you believe in destiny, Tam? Do you believe that your entire life is set out before you and nothing you can do will change it?”
Tam didn’t hesitate. “No, I don’t.”
Tira lifted her gaze to meet the other woman’s. “Then you don’t believe I see visions of the future?”
Tam sat on the edge of the bed, her mouth curving in a comforting smile. “Yes, I do. I believe some people are set on a path they won’t deviate from. But I also believe your path can change in the blink of an eye and that what might have been doesn’t have to come to pass.”
Tira thought about that for a moment. Then she sighed. “Has Kyle ever told you our tragic little story?”
Tam nodded, her smile fading away. “What he knows of it, yes. He said you touched Nic and had a vision of his death. He said it was your first. I can’t imagine how horrifying that was.”
She didn’t bother to argue or agree. It had been hell, pure and simple. “I met Nic and Duke when I was fifteen and they were nearly eighteen. It was that lightning-strike moment, you know, when you realize what the whole chemistry thing is about.
“Nic always had this big grin that just made you want to smile along with him and Duke was always so quiet but he had that glint in his eye, the one that put you on notice that he was trouble. Good trouble. He never had a malicious bone in his body.
“For two years, I waited and bided my time. They were notorious flirts with the lucani girls and I hated that they always treated me like a kid because I knew they had feelings for me. I mean, I know why they did it now. I was young. And they were wild.
“And then Duke’s dad died and his mom took him away for all those months.”
She stopped to shake her head and take a sip of the decadent hot chocolate Tam had made, letting its heat seep through her cold body. “When he got back… That glint was gone. His mother dropped him at Nic’s parents’ house and disappeared again. He and Nic had to start their legion service in days. Nic and I, we kept in touch while Duke was gone. Nic gave me a cell phone so we could call each other. When he called me to tell me Duke was back, I snuck away from the boschetta so Nic could pick me up and take me to see Duke. I was eighteen then. And still a virgin. And I wanted them.”
Moonlight Menage Page 3