Spirits Shared

by Jory Strong

  A legal document wouldn't change that. When she gave her heart she gave it completely. It was a testament to her love for Clay that she'd allowed another man to touch her. Claim her.

  Tekoa's cock filled, an outward show of a desperate need, not only for her body, but for everything she had to offer a man. He wanted what Clay had, open declarations of love, the acknowledgment in public that he was one of two men in her life.

  He nudged her onto her back and lay between her open thighs. He lifted his mouth from hers. "Put me inside you," he said, and moaned when she grasped his shaft, sending fire racing up his spine.

  She guided him to her entrance and that alone was enough to have him struggling to breathe. It might be too soon to tell her he'd fallen hard and fast, but he could demonstrate the truth.

  He worshipped her with his hands and his mouth and his cock. His feelings deepening with each thrust, with each sweep of her hands over his back, with each of her soft whimpers.

  He gave himself to her. Swallowed her cries of pleasure and release until finally he couldn't hold back any longer, and then he poured his love into her with a hot rush of semen and whispered words in his native language.

  "What did you say just then?" she asked, long moments later, combing her fingers through his hair, her eyes again like deep, still water. Mesmerizing and unfathomable.

  He nibbled her bottom lip. "Maybe I'll tell you if you beat me at poker."

  The phone rang and she tensed. He gave her a hard, quick kiss. "I'd better get that. It's probably one of my deputies calling with an update on the convicts."

  He rolled away and Jess stood, snagged the discarded shirt and escaped to the bathroom. She paused in front of the mirror and the woman staring back at her wasn't a complete stranger.

  She looked well and truly loved. She looked like she often looked at home, after being with Clay.

  Only she hadn't been with Clay. She'd been with another man.

  Yesterday morning that wouldn't have been conceivable. But she couldn't say she'd given herself to Tekoa for Clay. Or even because of Clay.

  She got in the shower and the hot water cascading over her made her think of Tekoa's hands and lips. Of the fluid play of his muscles and the heat that radiated off his skin.

  This isn't casual for me, Jess.

  Unlike Clay's push-the-limits, grab-for-the-brass-ring approach to life, she'd always been more introspective, more cautious, but the end result was the same. No regrets.

  No regrets.

  If she'd met and dated Tekoa first, she would have fallen in love with him first. He had the qualities that were important to her in a man—honesty, strength, tenderness, intelligence, and that was a small sampling of what she'd discovered in him since he found her on the road. Add those to a body that was mouth-wateringly gorgeous… She'd never find a better man to share with Clay.

  Her heart throbbed harder, faster. They hadn't crossed that line.

  They would. And then what?

  Her gaze dropped, ache invading at the sight of her bare ring finger. Before the conversation that had led to The Revelation, they'd been talking about possible places to hold the wedding.

  She lifted her left hand to her mouth, rubbed the smooth back of her ring finger against her lips. There was no guarantee that this would work out. But if she spent the rest of her life running from potential hurt, that would lead to far greater devastation, a vast expanse of emptiness and waste.

  Taking a deep breath, she turned off the water. Resolutely pushing the uncertainty away, she left the shower, dried off and put on the red flannel shirt.

  One step at time, she thought and left the bathroom.

  Tekoa was still on the phone. He'd pulled on a pair of dark gray sweatpants but hadn't bothered with a shirt.

  Healer. Lover. Warrior. How could sex with him be anything other than a mystical experience?

  Her gaze flicked to the Thunderbird carved into the mantel. Her nipples beaded and her body hummed with pleasure, relived the minutes when he'd taken her from behind to a phantom drumbeat and ancient chants.

  She laughed softly, fairly certain it'd be a major ego stroke if she told Tekoa it'd seemed as if he'd brought the Thunderbird to life. She crossed the room and slipped her arms around his waist.

  He pulled her more tightly against him, his voice serious as he gave instructions to whoever he was talking to and she inventoried his bookcase. There were police-type books, texts about forensic science and criminal profiling, but there was also a surprising amount of fiction. He favored mysteries and true crime, though she recognized some of the wilderness survival books that Clay enjoyed.

  Tekoa hung up the phone. She said, "That was a long conversation."

  He laughed and rubbed his cheek against her hair. "That was actually my third call out in response to the one that came in."

  "Everything okay?"

  "As of a few minutes ago, seven of the ten convicts have been recaptured."

  "That's good."

  He slipped his hand beneath the shirt and cupped her ass. "Not as good as this. You make me feel like a guy who's just been let out of prison after serving hard time."

  She laughed. "Insatiable in other words."

  "Insatiable is an understatement." He nuzzled her neck, kissed his way to her ear. "Spread your legs."

  She shivered at the hard edge that was back in his voice.

  He fucked his tongue into ear. "You don't want to make me ask twice."

  Defy or submit?

  Those were the two moves in this game.

  She parted her legs and he cupped her mound, his eyes darkening, heating at finding her wet and swollen. "I'm not the only one who's insatiable."

  He slid two fingers into her and her hips jerked, her hands went to his hard biceps.

  "I want my shirt back," he said.

  "Now?"

  Her feline smile told Tekoa she was very aware of her effect on him. The sultry swipe of her tongue over her upper lip had his cock spasming, licking across his abs.

  "Now, Jess. Take off the shirt."

  He should temper his orders or he'd be the one paying the price given his promise not to punish her today. But he couldn't seem to stop himself. She was beyond anything he'd ever imagined having in a mate.

  The temptation to push him flashed in her eyes in a small hint of defiance. But his promise not to deliver carnal discipline was a two-edged sword.

  There were ways he could retaliate. And one of them would be to leave her hot little pussy empty and her body screaming for his touch.

  Her hands left his arms and went to the front of the shirt. Slowly, a button at a time, she bared herself, her channel sucking on his fingers.

  His cock banged against the sweats, screaming for freedom so it could imprison itself in her. "How often do you and Clay play these games?"

  "Most days."

  He laughed silently. Yeah, they might kill him off. But what a way to go.

  She reached the last button, undid it and pushed the shirt off her shoulders. Damn she was beautiful.

  His eyes went to her breasts. He fucked her with his fingers, had to grasp his dick when her back arched and she made a little sound of need. Living with her was going to make it hard to leave the cabin and get to the job.

  His heart did a quick spin, like the cherry light on top of an old police car. He blocked the worry that they wouldn't want to move to Thunderbird lands. Covered her mouth with his and swallowed her moan of needy pleasure.

  Her tongue greeted his as if they'd been separated for hours. Her hands glided over his biceps, his back, gripped his hair as her hips rocked and she fucked herself on his fingers.

  The scent of his soap and her arousal swirled off her body and surrounded him. He wanted to kiss downward and rediscover her sweet, erotic taste. He wanted to hear her scream and feel her spasm against his tongue. He wanted to take her clit into his mouth like a tiny penis and torture it with pleasure.

  His foreskin pulled back in readiness.
His cock pulsed in warning and the connection forged by their accepting the cups allowed him to sense Clay's location. His time alone with Jessica was about to end.

  He pulled his fingers from her channel, shoved his sweats down and lifted her onto the desk. Her lashes lowered, sending heat scorching through him.

  She leaned back onto her palms, knocking over the carved mother grizzly bear, tilted her head so her hair spilled over the wood of his desk like golden feathers.

  "Watch while I take you," he said, slowly entering her, unable to take his eyes off the place where their bodies joined, where darker, harder flesh slid into pink, delicate folds.

  She was so wet, so slick. And still her channel clung, gripped.

  Each time he slid into her she moaned. Each time he slowly pulled out, she whimpered.

  It was intoxicating to see her skin flush a darker shade of pink and her body arch with pleasure. It was exhilarating to hear the sounds of her enjoyment. It was completely and utterly satisfying to know she belonged to him.

  For long moments he tortured them both with the slow fucking in and out of her channel. But when her hips lifted in need with each inward stroke, when she begged him to come inside her, denying her became impossible.

  He braced his hands on the desk, anchored himself so he could give them both what they wanted. One hard, deep thrust became another, and another, and another, and his world became the hot, tight sheath of his mate.

  She cried out in release. Clamped mercilessly on his cock and pleasure scorched through his dick and his brain sizzled.

  His breath heaving, he rested his forehead against hers, afraid if he tried to move he'd stumble and go down like a drunk.

  Her arms went around his neck, her breasts pressed to his chest and still in her, his cock twitched.

  She laughed and wrapped her legs around his waist. "Definitely like a convict who's just gotten out of jail."

  He hugged her to him, held her as their breathing steadied and his strength returned.

  "A shower is definitely in order," he said, reaching over, picking up the fallen grizzly bear. His heart did a slow roll at seeing her engagement ring between a bear cub and the framed picture of Erik and Hunter.

  Ask her about it? Let it go?

  Instead of a drumbeat, his heart took on the cadence of an inmate pounding cell bars. He set the mother grizzly on her feet and lifted Jess off the desk.

  There'd be time to talk about the ring later.

  He carried her to the shower. And beneath the hot spray of water he cared for her, soaped her pussy and inner thighs, denied her when she would have tended to him, though he promised himself that next time, he'd accept her offer, he'd accept the willingness he read in her eyes to slide downward onto her knees and take his cock into her mouth.

  He dried her off, then himself, returned to the office and tugged on the sweatpants. Jessica reached for the shirt but he stopped her with a hand on her wrist. "No. I want to look at you."

  Jessica shivered. This was a game she played with Clay.

  It always made her feel deeply desired, but it also made her feel incredibly vulnerable.

  "Fair is fair," she said. "Take off the sweats."

  Tekoa pulled her to him. "It doesn't work that way."

  His hand went to her breast and she couldn't hide the tremor of pleasure. She liked to be touched. She liked being admired and petted and loved. Clay had taught her to enjoy this game though it always took some coaxing to get her to play.

  "Just until Clay gets back," she said.

  Tekoa laughed and the lines at the outside edges of his eyes deepened. "Are you telling me Clay prefers you wearing clothes?"

  She flushed at imagining Clay's reaction to walking in and finding her naked while Tekoa was bare chested and wearing sweatpants. Her heart fluttered and her sex grew more swollen.

  She buried her face in the crook of Tekoa's neck. Part of her wanted to hide but the other part trembled in anticipation.

  His arms went around her waist. He nuzzled her cheek, sucked her earlobe into his mouth. "Stay naked for me?"

  "Yes." It came out breathless.

  Intellectually she knew they were strangers in so many ways but that didn't stop her from feeling deeply connected to him. She'd always believed that for the most part people's choices dictated what their lives were like. But she also believed there were intangibles, luck, fate, higher powers that interceded for reasons of their own. Standing in Tekoa's arms it was easy to believe that one or all of the intangibles had something to do with their coming together.

  How would we find a third person? She'd asked in the car. And he'd come into their lives.

  She placed a hand on his chest. His heart beat strong and steady against her palm. His erection pressed hard and willing against her mound and she couldn't resist the temptation to rub against it, or the smile that came when his cock pulsed beneath the sweats.

  His arms tightened around her. "Clay will be here in a few minutes. I have no problem with him walking in and seeing us making love."

  She heard the truck's approach over the rain and instinctively reached for the shirt.

  Tekoa captured her wrist. "No." This time his voice demanded obedience.

  The engine noise grew louder. The cautious part of her wanted to cling to Tekoa and avoid seeing Clay's expression when he walked in and was confronted with the reality of her accepting another lover. But the part of her that had firmed with resolve earlier insisted that she tackle this head-on.

  She brushed her lips over Tekoa's, then left his arms and went to the window in time to see Clay park a red truck next to the white cruiser with the sheriff's department logo on the front doors.

  Clay left the truck and her heart tripped into a faster beat, not a pounding rush like the time he'd convinced her to bungee jump, but more like an exhilarating canter on horseback across a meadow.

  He disappeared from view once he got to the porch but she was already turning to greet him as the cabin door opened and he stepped inside.

  Christ, Clay thought. He wasn't sure what he'd expected but it hadn't been this. Jesus.

  In a heartbeat every drop of blood was in his cock. He was surprised his brain could function.

  His gaze flicked from Jess to Tekoa then back to Jess. There was a little spasm in his chest that might have been pain though he didn't allow himself to contemplate it.

  He'd wanted this. He still wanted this. But the reality…

  Jess had been well and truly fucked. And not only had she given her body, she'd given a piece of her heart as well. Otherwise she'd never play any sexual game with Tekoa.

  The big head claimed this turn of events was a good thing. The little head, where his heart seemed to have lodged, was screaming mine, mine, mine, mine, mine and wanting him to prove it with a caveman stunt like tossing her over his shoulder and carrying her away.

  Jessica's expression became uncertain, vulnerable and Clay's heart and brain and cock finally reached an agreement. He couldn't allow her to be hurt.

  She started to fold her arms over her breasts. He snagged her hand and pulled her into him. "Oh, no you don't, I'm all for this. I vote that you greet Tekoa and me this way every time we come home."

  He hugged her tight, smashed his mouth down on hers and the ache in his chest came back. She was his world.

  He wished a woman's touch was all he'd ever need but it wasn't. Even thinking about how close he'd come to the unforgivable was enough to have fear icing his skin. The only way this worked was if he paid the full cost, and that meant sharing all of Jessica—not only her body.

  His cock got over the feelings of possessiveness. It was gung ho about having Jess naked. It was primed and ready for sex, any kind of sex as long as it involved Jess or Tekoa.

  His heart was having a harder time when confronted by the reality of sharing. He was on the verge of screwing this up big-time. Jess was on shaky emotional ground and there was only one way he could give her the solid reassurance she neede
d.

  His tongue rubbed and twined with hers. Slowly he got his emotions under control. He would not screw this up.

  Taking her hand, he carried it to his cloth-covered erection. "He's been all alone and out in the cold. He's suffering. He needs you."

  "He knows I'll always take care of him."

  Jessica massaged his dick and he moaned. His breath shortened. He was tempted to push the sweatpants down and guide her mouth to his cock.

  Tekoa shifted position and Clay recognized the longing in Tekoa's eyes before his face blanked. He felt a twinge in his chest, at how easily he and Jess had slipped into an intimacy that excluded Tekoa.

  Clay gently set Jess aside and grinned at Tekoa. "Great minds think alike. I left Jessica's suitcase in the car because I didn't want her making things difficult with lots of layers of clothing."

  Tekoa laughed and Clay's heart responded to it. The sense of rightness and being home returned. "Heard on the radio that the eighth convict is in custody."

  "Good. Hopefully all of them will be before nightfall." Tekoa stepped close enough that it'd be easy to grab the waistband of the sweats and pull him forward for a kiss—and more.

  He'd told himself he wouldn't act on the attraction right away. That he'd give Jess time to get used to it, but he was having a hard time fighting the need to be with Tekoa.

  "If you'll bring in my case so I'll have something to wear," Jess said, her hands gliding over his back and drawing his gaze back to her face. "I'll go to the grocery store and pick up something special to cook for dinner."

  Her color was high but her gaze was steady, accepting. She was okay with this. She was willing to give him the same thing he'd given her, time alone with Tekoa.

  His heart flooded with tenderness and love. His glance at Tekoa was an invitation, and then his mouth returned to hers, each thrust of his tongue a proclamation of love.

  Tekoa stepped into their embrace. His chest touched Jessica's bare back and pleasure engulfed him. He'd been waiting a lifetime for this, could hardly believe he'd been gifted with two mates.

  He pushed Jess's hair out of the way and kissed her shoulder. Ran his hands up her sides, then slid them between her and Clay to cup her breasts.