Chapter 16
Ava awoke with the sense that she had missed something. The seconds ticked together and added up to the moment when she remembered everything.
As she grabbed a sheet to cover herself, Robert, Declan, and Sean all rushed into the room and crowded onto her bed. Robert’s hot hands ran up and down her bare back, making her feel both comforted and seduced.
There was something so utterly feminine and vulnerable about being naked around three dressed men. She had never thought of herself as particularly feminine. She always had to fight too hard to be respected as a professional and as an academic to indulge in any display of softness or vulnerability. She had been on her own for even longer, forced by her mother’s illness and early death to fend for herself. Being comforted and touched so caringly awakened her to a deep emptiness that she hadn’t even been aware of.
Declan caressed her cheek as Sean ran his hands up and down her legs. She looked from one to the other, straining to reconcile what she knew couldn’t be true with what she was fairly certain she had seen earlier.
“Are you all right, love?” Robert asked gently, leaning in to kiss her shoulder, sending shivers of desire trickling down her back.
“I’m thinking,” Ava replied slowly.
“Of what?” Robert asked.
“Well, (a) I’m naked, so I didn’t dream up having sex with Sean, who may or may not have turned into a werewolf in front of me; (b) Sean wasn’t in bed when I woke up, which throws (a) back into doubt; and finally (c) Sean is up and fully clothed, and you guys are here, which puts (a) back in the running.”
Instantly, Robert and Declan whipped around to glare at Sean, who looked embarrassed but resolute.
“She was under attack,” Sean said fiercely. “I had no choice but to break through the door.”
“And?” Robert said. His voice had that curious ring that made Ava straighten her spine and feel the need to confess something…anything.
Sean huffed and rolled his eyes. “And…I kept her company until she fell asleep.”
“And?”
“And…like a dumbass, I fell asleep, too, and shifted back.”
Robert growled, and Declan rubbed his face with his hands. Ava forced herself to stay focused on continuing to breathe.
“So…” she said finally. “This wasn’t a nightmare or hallucination on my part? This stuff actually exists?”
“Yes, sweetheart,” Declan said, gently taking her hands in his large ones. “Unfortunately, we do exist.”
“Why? How?”
“It’s time to go see Grace,” Robert said, cutting his brother off. “We’ve botched up enough explanations for Ava.”
The warm cage of Robert’s arms and the close, eager presence of Declan and Sean kept Ava from bursting into the overwrought tears that welled up in her. She couldn’t hold back a few desperate sniffs, and immediately, the three brothers were touching her, reassuring her, kissing her to make her better.
“I’m okay,” she croaked, weakly trying to wave them away. “It’s just this has been so much. So crazy. This month was supposed to be the epitome of boring. Now, I’m in a mess with demons, werewolves, and three lovers, and I still have half my dissertation to edit.”
Declan leaned in and gently kissed the corner of her mouth, his restraint jolting her with memories of how erotically controlled he had been just the day before when he had turned her body into a helpless instrument of desire.
“Tell you what, sweetheart,” he said. “After we go see Grace, we’ll take you around Blue Moon. The sun’s out, and it’s a beautiful day. We’ll take your mind off things for a little bit.”
“You mean I get to see the mysterious Grace today?” Ava exclaimed. “Finally?”
“Yes, finally.” Declan laughed as Sean jumped up and started digging through her closet and dresser, pulling out jeans, a T-shirt, and a sweater.
“Hey!” Ava said. “Stop that! I can get my own clothes.”
“Don’t you have any lingerie that isn’t ugly?” Sean complained, rooting through her plain, faded bras and panties.
“You could always go without,” Robert purred in her ear. His hand slipped beneath the sheet she held to stroke her belly and snake down to her pussy.
Ava sucked in a breath as his hot fingers skittered along her sensitive skin, practically leaving burns from the desire that flowed wherever he touched her. He dipped his fingers in her honey and slid them deep inside her, making her arch her back and gasp from the double sensation of pleasure and possession.
Declan came over and took her mouth with his, his hands firmly holding her face so that she couldn’t turn away. He kissed her fiercely, crushing her lips and punishing her tongue with his. He alternated between deep, sweeping kisses and slow, sensual scrapes of his teeth along her bottom lip, never allowing her to decide or guess which she was going to get.
Ava felt herself sinking into the fantasy created by her three lovers, that they could all be together, that this was a different world—one where she wasn’t alone, wasn’t forced to fight for her own survival. It was a world where pleasure was her right, and love was a natural state of being.
Sean tugged the sheet away from her, leaving her naked. In a flash, he was naked as well, and by the looks of it, ready to go again. He began to drop playful kisses and nips up her legs. She squealed and thrashed a little as he hit a ticklish spot by her knee. He grinned, tickling her for good measure, which made her buck against Robert’s searching fingers and Declan’s demanding mouth.
“Guess what I found out this morning?” Sean chuckled, taking a moment to stroke himself as he sat back on his heels.
“What?” Robert asked, drawing his fingers out of her and tracing a long, wet line up her belly, encircling each nipple with her own cream.
“Our Ava likes it wild and hot,” Sean said wickedly. “And I think she’s going to love it in her ass.”
“I, oh God, never said, unnnhhhh, that!” She gasped against Declan’s kiss as Robert began rolling and stroking her nipples between his fingertips.
“You liked my finger up there, baby,” Sean reminded her, crawling toward her hips like a…like a damn wolf stalking its prey.
“Yes, but…ooooh….that was your finger!” She panted, squirming in Robert’s grip as Declan held her still by the neck and began to kiss down her jawline and throat to her shoulder.
“There are so many ways we can please you, love,” Robert said. He paused for a moment to pull off his sweater and shirt then pull her back against his hot, hard chest. “Whatever you’ve dreamed about, fantasized about, love, we can do. Nothing is too dark or forbidden.”
His words set off a rocket-powered montage in her overtaxed imagination of shadowy games and brazen plays. She licked her dry lips to keep from blurting out all the crazy, kinky, voyeuristic things she wanted to try. They’d never look at her the same way if she told them. Besides, what if she didn’t like it once her fantasy became a reality? How embarrassed would she be to admit she had been stupid and naïve about an erotic game?
“I think,” Declan said, releasing her and shedding his clothing, “that we ought to start by investing in some new lingerie for our Ava.” He stepped closer to her and traced his fingers across her collarbone, slowly and deliberately, bringing every sensation in her body into focus.
“Lace,” Declan said quietly. “Black lace. Black silk. Delicate pieces that are sheer and held together by tiny satin ribbons. Fragile teddies that I can rip off her body with one hand. Satin gowns so that even as she sleeps, her skin is being seduced.”
Ava’s eyelids fluttered as she fought to keep herself from coming just from listening to his words. Her nub seemed to be throbbing in time with his voice. He made her want to be that ivory body in black silk and lace, ever open to her lovers, ever adored by a thousand hands and lips.
“Then,” Declan continued, letting his hand drift down between her breasts that were held up as offerings by Robert, “I would tie our Ava up with
the hard bite of leather and blindfold her with satin.” He tweaked her nipple with the softest of touches, sending her into a frenzy of impatient passion. “I would play with her for hours, never letting her come. Just a tiny flick of fingers against lace.” He brushed his fingers against her nipples. “Or pinch on her clit.” Suddenly, his hand was between her legs and searching her mound to pinch and roll her clit.
“Oh God,” Ava cried out. “Please, please!”
“Please what, Ava?” Declan whispered against her lips. He pushed three of his fingers roughly up into her, driving her to the edge with the sense of being used and filled.
Suddenly, he withdrew his fingers as he reached for her waist and pulled her up to kneel against him. She could almost hear the sizzles as their skin touched, her breasts smashed against his chest, and the burning steel of his cock pressed hard against her belly.
“Oh baby, your back is so beautiful,” Sean said reverently, coming to kneel behind her and running his hands down her back. “So soft and white, like a painting. That fine ass is a real work of art.”
“You have a fixation with my ass, Sean Molineaux.” Ava half gasped, half laughed as Declan leaned down to suckle her nipples.
“We all do, love,” Robert said, getting up and throwing off his clothes. “Especially when it’s so damn beautiful.”
“I never realized how much guys like, um, ass,” she said, melting into Sean’s arms as Declan’s mouth worked dizzying magic on her.
“Women like it, too, baby,” Sean replied, nibbling her ear. “You just have to be eased into it. Like this.”
As he spoke, he swiped two fingers through her cream and gently worked them up her tight ring. She cried out as her muscles burned to stretch and accommodate him, but there was also a growing awareness of just how full it felt, how forbidden it all was. She wasn’t prepared either for the way Declan spread her legs and thrust his long, thick cock into her pussy. The double fullness drove shivers from her belly out to every nerve ending she had.
She threw her arms around Declan’s neck to help hold on during this wild ride that she never wanted to have end. Her body slid up and down against his, the erotic friction overstimulating nerves that were already stretched to their limit before the endless tumble into pleasure.
“Ava, Ava! AVA!” Declan gasped as he filled her.
Her own wild, mewling cries of approaching ecstasy spiraled out to fill the room as Robert took Declan’s place. Sean withdrew from her as Robert turned her on her hands and knees to enter her from behind, filling her pussy with everything that he had in one fierce push.
Robert’s fingers found a sure rhythm over her clit as he rode her. Half-drugged from want, Ava looked up to see Sean offering her his cock. She took him into her mouth and sucked him hard. Using her tongue, she swirled patterns around the crown of his head, then alternated with sucking his entire shaft.
“Oh love, you’re so fucking tight,” Robert groaned as he swung into her harder and faster.
“Her mouth is amazing,” Sean added, his face tight and strained.
Hearing them say how much her body tempted them made Ava feel feminine and desirable like nothing ever had before. It was a feeling she wanted to bottle up and lock away forever.
“Ava, stop,” Sean said suddenly. “Stop, baby. I’m going to come!”
He tried to grab her hair and gently pull her away, but Ava’s need had made her delirious. Every inch of her skin was sensitized, and her mouth seemed just one more place in her body that begged to be filled. She attacked with her lips and her tongue, drawing from him a climax that had him shaking as he tried to hold on to her hair as he spilled into her mouth.
Robert’s wolfish growl and snap as he came, combined with his long fingers stroking and pinching her clit, finally launched her into an orbit of bliss. The gravity of pleasure grabbed her and spun her around and around her own heavenly body until she was lost in space.
As Robert laid her gently back against the pillows, she panted contentedly, letting her body shiver occasionally from an ebbing ripple of pleasure.
“Ava, baby,” Sean said, lying down next to her and looking contrite, “you didn’t have to do that for me.”
She smiled indulgently at him, feeling a warmth filling her heart that she couldn’t explain.
“I think mouthwash is the key.” She chuckled. She hadn’t particularly relished the taste or sensation of him coming in her mouth, but she loved the pleasure it gave him.
She stretched out, then sat up and looked sternly at all three of her golden-eyed lovers, fighting against the warmth that spread through her body at the sight of them.
“Now then,” she said with mock severity. “If you are quite finished distracting me from the impending doom hanging over my head, can we please go get some coffee and see this Grace person?”
Chapter 17
Big Al Boyer gave Ava an approving look as Sean paid for the four large coffees. The sun was shining brilliantly, and sunlight flooded into the windows of the General Store. Big Al looked bigger and burlier than ever to Ava.
“How do you take your coffee?” Declan asked, pausing by the cream and sugar at the end of the counter.
“Cream and sugar,” Robert replied for her. “Not too much sugar, though.”
Ava smiled faintly, studying Big Al’s icy-blue eyes. She had seen eyes like that before in pictures of wild black and white wolves. She was barely coping with the idea that werewolves existed, and by coping, she meant mostly ignoring it.
“So, now you know, eh?” Big Al said quietly to her as he handed Sean his change.
Ava stiffened and could barely bring herself to look at him. She managed a slight nod, and the memory of Big Al stepping outside and then the sudden wolf howls she had heard the day before slammed into her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“It’s, um, a little hard to swallow,” she murmured between clenched teeth.
“Yes, it is,” Big Al replied. “But, you’re going to have to get over it.”
His matter-of-fact words startled her back from the verge of panic. She looked at him questioningly.
“You have a job to do,” Big Al said. “And, you’re just going to have to tough it out and deal with a lot of strange shit until it’s over.”
“How do you know that?” she demanded, her heart falling like a lead weight into the pit of her stomach. “What do you mean?”
“We all know it,” Big Al said, nodding at Robert, Sean, and Declan. “It’s not for me to say more. That’s Grace’s job.” He turned to Sean and half smiled. “Now, get outta here. You’re crowding the register. I’m running a business here.”
The two women who had come to stand behind Sean laughed, and Sean slipped an arm around Ava’s waist.
“You spend more time talking shit than selling shit,” Sean retorted with a grin. “We all know Cookie’s the brains behind this business.”
“I’m not sayin’ as you’re wrong, pup.” Big Al chuckled. “But, you’re still crowding my register.”
Robert came over and hustled them all out of the store. He smiled at Ava, but his smile was grim. Outside in the cold, crisp air that smelled clean and salty, Ava could hardly believe that all of this was real. The bright sun chased away the shadows in her heart, and she felt that all of this could just be a bad dream. Maybe if she wished for it hard enough, she could make the true reality be that she was standing in the autumn sunshine with three men she adored, feeling cared for and content.
She tilted her face up to soak in the weak sunlight, only to feel kisses dropped on her lips, her cheeks, her eyelids and her forehead. Was there ever such bliss as this?
“Come on, sweetheart,” Declan said. “Let’s go see Grace.”
* * * *
The Blue Moon Library stood across the street from the General Store. Ava traced in its lines a mid-nineteenth-century two-story building with white clapboard siding, black shutters, and bay windows. Tall oaks towered over it, dropping dapples of su
nshine on the slate shingles.
Robert held the door open for Ava, and she stepped inside to find a surprisingly light, airy, and open library with tall ceilings. Tall windows lined opposite walls, letting in plenty of light. Shelves ran around the walls and stood in low rows. At the back of the enormous room was a fireplace that had a merry blaze going. In front of the hearth was a collection of faded sofas and easy chairs. A small shelf with a row of reading devices stood next to the seating area, and in the corner was a bank of sleek computers and printers.
“Nice,” Ava said, nodding and smiling in appreciation. “Very nice.”
“Thank you,” replied a light, musical voice to her right. “We do our best to keep up with the times.”
Sucking in a surprised gasp, Ava spun to see the most singularly soft, beautiful woman she had ever beheld in her life. The woman looked to be in her midthirties and had sunshine-gold hair that hung in full, silky waves around a delicate oval face. She had enormous gray eyes, naturally rosy full lips, and a creamy complexion that was both glowing and translucent. She was average height, but slender with perfect proportions, and as she came out from behind the circulation desk, she seemed to move with a flowing grace that was like a dancer. She wore a pale, dove-gray sweater and jeans with sensible flat brown leather boots.
“Grace Murray,” she said, her silvery voice transfixing Ava. “Librarian and Lorekeeper for Blue Moon.”
“Lorekeeper?” Ava replied, startled out of her reverie.
Grace smiled wanly, and now, Ava could see the strain of pain at the corners of her eyes.
“Yes,” Grace said. “Lorekeeper. Old title here in Blue Moon. One woman has always kept the records of the town, its families, bloodlines, and other, less tangible histories.”
“How are you today, Gracie?” Sean asked, concern and respect filling his voice.
Her smile faltered for a split second before she waved her slender, elegant hand in a dismissive gesture.
Blackthorne, Fiona - Moonstruck [Blue Moon 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 12