Tangled
Page 15
He leaned in until his lips were next to her ear. “Or maybe you’d like to join us. Is that it? Does the thought of us both taking you make your cunt wet?” His hand slid downward by increments, his fingers stealing under the plunging, lace-edged neckline of her bed-gown. His mouth touched her neck, first lips, then tongue, then teeth, raising a shiver of need across her flesh.
“Please…” she whispered.
Please what? she had the lingering sense to wonder. God, definitely not please stop. If he stopped, she thought she might die. Her hands sought out the taut muscles of his abdomen through the fine linen of his shirt. Then his fingertips closed over her nipple and she let out a ragged moan, pulling him close.
That was all it took, that small gesture of acquiescence, for his calm to evaporate. The rasp of his stubble scraped her jaw as his lips sought hers, slanting over them, tongue plunging deep. His hand cupped her breast, squeezing, his thumb flicking across the peaked nipple, sending a bolt of pleasure straight to her soaking pussy. Pressing forward, he ground his cock against her mound, and she angled her hips to bring her clit harder against him. Her hands found their way under the hem of his shirt, clutching at the rough-textured skin of his back.
He tore his lips from hers, jerked the strap of her gown from her shoulder to bare her breast, lowered his mouth to it. Sucked so hard she had to bite her lip to keep from screaming.
He paused long enough to growl against her skin, “This is what you want, isn’t it? Tell me you want this.”
She was drowning in lust, one hand fisted in his hair, holding his face to her breast. God, she did want this, she wanted everything he’d said, all of it. “I…”
His lips closed over her nipple once more, pulling hard, his tongue flicking across the hypersensitive bead. She opened her eyes to watch the motions of his mouth on her flesh and in the periphery of her vision saw Collin standing in his open bedroom doorway.
With a cry, she shoved Harral away from her, slid down along the wall a few steps, distancing herself from them both. Swiped a hand across her mouth as if she could wipe away Harral’s kisses.
Collin, dressed only in loose Kahlian sleeping trousers, let his gaze crawl from her tousled hair and swollen lips to her exposed breast. Cringing inwardly, she jerked her strap up and fruitlessly tried to tidy her hair, then realized in horror that his gaze had settled on the junction of her legs. She glanced down to see a patch of her own wetness on her gown, a perfect match for the smaller one on the front of Harral’s trousers.
Her face hot, she resisted the urge to cover herself and forced her gaze to Collin’s.
“Please, don’t the two of you stop on my account,” he said quietly, his lips curling upward at one corner.
Oh, god, what had she been thinking, coming out here to spy on them? Yes, she wanted this. She wanted them both. Could hardly make herself think of anything else. But what she wanted and the safe, sane, intelligent choice were two completely different things. Regardless of what she’d told Collin in the library, this wasn’t just business to her anymore. She couldn’t afford to get involved with these men.
“I’m sorry,” she said hoarsely. “This was a mistake. If you’ll excuse me…”
She turned and fled down the hall, but Collin’s voice froze her with her hand on her doorknob.
“I have decided to accept your offer of payment, Aelis,” he said.
Her breath wheezed to a stop. Slowly, she turned to face him. Harral stood panting where she’d left him, his hair mussed, face flushed, eyes hot and hard. Collin, in comparison, was the picture of composure. She opened her mouth to rescind the offer she’d made him in the library, but he cut her off.
“I’ve taken the time to compile a tally of what you owe, from the clothing to the bill from the physician, and I will expect the money within fourteen days. You will not be charged for bed and board—I refuse to put a price on my hospitality—nor for any items you do not take with you when you leave my house. I want to make sure everything between us is fair and above board.”
She blinked, stymied. He wanted money? “Ah…thank you.”
He smiled coolly. “Good. Now that the matter of your debt is settled, I have just one more thing to say. This door—” he gestured toward his bedchamber—“is open to you should you wish to walk through it. It will remain open—in both directions—for as long as it pleases you. But know this—I will permit no more talk of debts or payment. Behind that door, there will be no trade between us but that of pleasure given and pleasure taken. Do you understand, Aelis?”
“Yes” she croaked, her throat so tight she was amazed she could get the word out.
“Freely,” he said, his gaze boring into her, “or it is worth nothing.”
She stared, stuck in place by her own terror. After a moment, Collin reached a hand out to Harral. “Come to bed, love,” he said softly, lacing their fingers together. He led Harral into the bedroom and, giving Aelis one last meaningful look, shut the door behind them.
She stood rooted to the spot just outside her own door. Smoothed one shaking hand down the front of her gown. The patch of wetness had cooled in the air, but between her legs she was on fire.
Why would Collin take her money and then invite her into his bed? He would have both my money and my body, he wants to profit twice from the same transaction, she thought fleetingly. But no. He’d said walking through that door was her choice. And he hadn’t even wanted her money until she’d made it clear there was only one other option, one that was unacceptable to him.
Freely, or it is worth nothing.
He wasn’t treating her the way a man treated a woman. He was dealing with her as an equal.
Her heart began to pound, hard and fast. Before she could talk herself out of it, she walked straight to his door and pushed it open.
Tangled
Karen Erickson
The girl can’t help herself…until she helps herself to a triple-hot fantasy.
Playing With Fire, Book 2
Always wanting what she can’t have. Scarlett learned this the hard way, and this time is no different. Drake, the one guy she’s hot for, isn’t hot for her. Nope, he’s hot for Trevor, the gorgeous, arrogant actor she works with. Maybe it’s time she let loose and let the right man capture her, for a change.
Trevor wonders why she can’t see that the right man is right under her nose. He’s crushing big time on the quirky, sexually confident Scarlett—a huge turn-on for a guy who’s not your standard looking-for-vanilla-sex kind of guy.
When an argument with Trevor explodes into the hottest sex of her life, Scarlett thinks nothing has ever felt so right—until Drake joins in and kicks it into white-hot gear. Trevor is astounded that she trusts him enough to make her three-way happen for her. But suddenly he’s not so sure he wants to share…
Warning: Contains m/m sex, m/f/m sex, naughty, delicious punishments and naughty, delicious everything. It’s filthy good.
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
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Tangled
Copyright © 2010 by Karen Erickson
ISBN: 978-1-60504-876-5
Edited by Bethany Morgan
Cover by Scott Carpenter
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: January 2010
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