by Lynn Burke
Need tensed my body tight, and the second we dropped our bags inside the door, I spun her around and attacked her mouth, my hands palming her ass and lifting her against my throbbing cock. “Need you,” I growled against her lips, gyrating my hips and showing her exactly how much.
She clawed at my t-shirt, sweeping her hands up over my pecs to dig her nails into my shoulders.
“Fuck.” I peeled her off me and ripped at my shirt, staring and salivating as she kicked off a sneaker and pushed down her pants, hopping to get one foot cleared.
Jeans around my knees, I grabbed her again, uncaring her pants hung off her other leg, trapped by the second sneaker still on her foot. One thrust seated me balls deep in her clenching pussy, and I groaned a few curses while pressing her against the wall and burying my face in her neck.
“Fuck, I wish he was here,” I said, pumping into her, my hips thrusting in abandon.
“Yes,” Dakota whimpered, her hands ripping at my hair, as I thrust into her. “Oh, God, yes…”
I licked along her neck, grunting and groaning, trying to split her body in half with my aching dick as visions of his intense gaze seared my brain. “His hands on me … on you…” I swear to fucking God the scent of him filled my nose, and Dakota cried out, her nails in my scalp, pussy clenching down on me hard enough stars exploded behind my eyes as my balls let loose.
Each spurt through my dick sent a shudder through me, rumbled a groan in my chest, and I clenched my jaw to keep from biting her. “Goddamn!” I growled between my teeth as the last pulse of my cock broke my body into goosebumps. Buried deep, I stilled, sucking wind with my mouth plastered to her neck. “Holy fuck.”
“Mmm.” Dakota’s hold on my head loosened, and she ran her fingers through my too-long hair. “I’m like a sex-crazed lunatic.” She giggled, and I squeezed her ass cheeks, trying to push my semi deeper into her body.
“That man has turned us into fucking nymphos,” I agreed with a mutter, her soft skin caressing my lips as they moved to form the words.
Dakota pulled my face away from her neck, her eyes still hazed by passion. “Do you think…” She bit her lip, a frown marring her brow. “I mean, this can’t be healthy. This … want.”
“I don’t know what the fuck it is.” I peered into her eyes, praying she could read the truth in my words. “It goes beyond the lust and fucking, baby. It’s like…”
“Like falling in love all over again?” she whispered, tears filling her eyes.
I blew a breath between my lips and held her gaze, knowing I could tell her anything—anything—and she would still love me. “Yes, but more than just with you. It’s like he owns a part of me.”
Dakota sucked her lower lip between her teeth and nodded, a tear sliding down her cheek.
I kissed the wetness from her satiny skin. “It’s going to be okay.”
“I’m scared, Jon.”
I kissed her lips, gentle and slow, tasting the sweetness of her breath. “Me too, baby.”
A heavy sigh rested her body against mine. “What if he tires of us before we’re ready to move on?”
My mind blanked at the thought. Fucking emptied, creating a hole in my chest. All I could do was hold her tighter, my arms and lips offering the assurance my mind couldn’t voice.
****
An hour later, we sat in the limo, hands clasped as the driver took us into Manhattan. The traffic, the buildings rising high overhead, smothered me in a way they never had before. All I could think about was returning to the mountains, the peaceful quietness of Elijah’s cavern house the next day. Hell, even our apartment hadn’t felt like home—not that it truly ever had. I’d tossed my shit into two duffle bags and had been ready to jet within twenty minutes while Dakota took more time to gather her photography things and laptop.
The building housing Tolzman’s Industries disappeared into the sky above us, and although I expected I’d be spending a lot of time there for work, the ruckus, the city scents assaulting my nose dented a frown on my brow that remained until a receptionist showed us into Elijah’s office fifteen minutes later.
He still sat in his meeting, but the scent of him, the quiet of his spirit, filled the room, and the second the door clicked shut behind us, I breathed a heavy sigh.
“I want to go back,” Dakota grumbled, wrapping her arms around herself. “I—I mean to Elijah’s house. It’s quieter.”
“Peaceful,” I said, falling into one of the chairs in front of his desk.
“I don’t remember hating the city this much,” she said, starting to sit beside me.
I grabbed her waist and pulled her onto my lap, tucking her against me where she fit so perfectly. “Same here.”
“Really?” She snorted a laugh. “I thought you loved the hustle and bustle.”
“I did.” Frowning again, I glanced around Elijah’s spacious office. Tidy as everything else about the man. Bookshelves, computers, pieces of art that must cost a fortune created a very Elijah-like room. “Where’s the classical music?” I wondered, noting the overhead speakers—and cameras—and actually missing the stringed instruments he loved to listen to. “Sybil, music.”
An instrumental piece—slow and boring as shit—filtered through the speakers, and I almost smiled as another part of my insides settled.
Dakota let out a sigh and melted against me. “Love you.”
“Love you more,” I said, but couldn’t find it in myself to grin like usual.
She snuggled against me, her cheek on my chest as I drew circles on her arm with my fingertips and considered where the road we traveled might lead. We were both falling in love with Elijah, and I feared the pleasure we would receive wouldn’t be worth the pain in the end. Fucking around and having an affair worked for a lot of people in the world, but actually having a three-way relationship of equal status and shared love?
How would it work? How could it? Dakota and I had been together since childhood. What man wouldn’t become jealous over that bond? What third party wouldn’t be filled with insecurities when trying to build a relationship of three?
I chewed on the inside of my lip before realizing it, released the tender flesh from between my teeth, and heaved a sigh as the music overhead built into a crescendo.
Elijah. My heart ached. Fucking hurt at the thought of being without him at the end of our affair.
A knock sounded, and not sure what else to do, I called out for them to come on in.
“Sorry to intrude.”
Dakota stiffed in my arms at the young woman’s voice, and she sat up, her gaze whipping toward the door.
A petite, dark-haired young woman smiled and moved toward us, a tray with a carafe and mugs on it. “Mr. Tolzman thought you might like some refreshments.”
I studied Dakota while she watched the woman cross the room. “I’m sorry … do I know you?”
I found myself smiling at Dakota’s words, something she’d asked countless strangers before.
The woman’s smile faltered as she glanced at Dakota, revealing purple-blue eyes so vivid, I wondered if she wore contacts. “I don’t believe so.” She set the tray on the table along the far wall and moved toward us. “I’m Ashley—one of Mr. Tolzman’s secretaries.” She clasped her hands in front of her. “He should be here shortly. Can I get you anything else?”
Dakota shook her head, her gaze glued to the woman until the door shut behind her.
“What?” I asked, rubbing her back.
“I—” She huffed, her brow furrowing even further as she continued to study the shut door.
“Jealous that gorgeous little woman has known him longer than you have?” I asked, smirking. Dakota opened her mouth as if to agree with exactly how I felt, but she pursed her lips.
I glanced at the closed door. “Elijah is—” He stepped through, cutting me off from telling Dakota he was just outside the door. Damn spidey senses … what was it about him? His smile flipped my stomach, and Dakota’s wiggle on my lap twitched my cock.
“You two ar
e going to be the death of me,” I groaned, staring as Elijah leaned down to kiss my wife.
“I missed you,” he murmured against her lips, resting his hand against the back of the chair beside my neck.
She sighed and relaxed against me again, but whimpered when he took his mouth from hers.
“Missed you, too,” he said, his pale eyes peering deep into my soul and making everything about the city just peachy in my mind. He brushed his lips across mine, the soft pillow and gentle caress like fucking kerosene to the flames licking at my skin from his nearness.
Lingering thoughts of his tiring of us flitted through my brain again, scattering the breezy thoughts of happiness into the wind. My stomach clenched, and good old fear slithered along my spine, slamming walls back up into place that I hadn’t realized Elijah had shattered.
I could trust Dakota with my heart, but him? Could I trust the emotions in his eyes, the window into his soul he seemed to leave wide open as he pulled back and smiled down at me? Self-preservation said no even though I longed to say yes.
I would share my body, hell, even my wife, but I could never share my heart—no matter how much the emotions he stirred in me felt like the kind of love that lasted a lifetime.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Elijah
Like a veil of mourning falling over his face, Jon shut me out.
My smile faded, and I stood, clearing my throat. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” I said, my body tensing along with the dragon inside me.
“It’s okay,” Dakota all but cooed, her eyes full of every emotion I felt deep inside my soul radiating back and forth between us.
Tchaikovsky’s “Waltz of the Flowers” filled the room as I rounded my desk, and my smile returned while considering which of the two had asked Sybil to play music.
“How’d it go?” Jon asked as I shifted a few files on top of my desk.
“Quite well.” Not finding what I needed, I hit the intercom button on my desk phone. “Ashley?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Did you print out the files for R5872 like I asked for earlier?”
Her muttered curse came through loud and clear. “I’ll have them shortly, sir.”
I didn’t respond, but turned my attention on my lovers.
Dakota still lounged on Jon’s lap, relaxed, her happiness reaching across my desk to soothe my annoyance over Ashley’s forgetfulness. Jon, however, emanated a swarm of emotions, of which distrust hurt the most. What had transpired in our short separation? Something only he seemed affected by.
They’d had sex—the slight scent of their cum clung to them—but I wasn’t bothered by their shared passion. I hated to miss watching or possibly participating, but couldn’t fault them for trying to slake their thirst for what they really longed for, even if Jon no longer trusted me.
He needed assurance, and I would show him that.
I focused on Dakota. “I’m sure a tour would bore you, mon coeur, but perhaps you would at least like to see the robots Jon has mastered?”
Jon’s gaze lightened, and for the next hour while touring the lab rooms, my mind raced along with my tumbling emotions. As much as Jon wished to keep me from burrowing into his mind, his heart, I’d already lodged myself there. If not by the taste of my cum and the draw of our shared dragonblood, then by his submitting to my kiss, his body to my command.
Like me, I expected he feared being hurt. Trusting the wrong man with his heart.
I needed to show him that I wanted more than just his body, that I wanted his every thought, his faults, and insecurities. I wanted to bear them all so he wouldn’t have to.
I wanted to set him free.
Neither of my mates had the required authorization from the government to see half of the things I showed to them, but they belonged to me—and I owned the items currently in my lab.
The armor, black and scale-like, drew them both to the glass enclosures they were kept inside like a museum’s greatest treasure. Fingers pressed against the glass, they stared, Dakota’s mouth parted.
“What do you think?” I asked, wishing I could watch them both at the same time—see what emotions played on their faces—see if they recognized what I’d fashioned for my robots.
Jon shook his head, his lips pressed tight as he stepped back.
Dakota’s pulse thrummed in her neck, and she couldn’t seem to tear her gaze off the scales.
Shoulders tensed and hands shoving into his pockets, Jon glanced back at me. “You dreamed of a dragon like I did as a child, didn’t you?”
“Something like that.” Oh, how I longed to tell them the truth of our fate since their birth, lay every last inch of my soul bare to them, but until Jon knew my heart and trusted me, he would probably see me keeping the truth from them as a lie, something I couldn’t afford him to think if he learned of the others I’d told.
“It’s beautiful,” Dakota whispered, her fingertips trailing down the enclosure. “Just like the dragon I dreamed about.”
The heat of Jon’s stare was like a lick of flames across my face, and I swallowed. “We could go to my apartment and eat some dinner, or we could eat out,” I said, needing so much and torn over what lay ahead for us that my throat tightened.
“Takeout sounds good to me.” Dakota flashed me a smile, her huge pupils letting me know she wanted more than just dinner.
“Jon?” I found he still peered at me, unsmiling yet a hint of vulnerability in his eyes.
“Yeah. Sure.”
I led the way, keeping my hands to myself lest my employees have something to gossip over. Rarely did I spent much time in the New York office, and with things wrapping up on the morrow with one last morning meeting, I looked forward to returning home.
“Mr. Tolzman!” Ashley’s raised voice pulled me up short of the office exit. She hurried toward me, a file in her hands.
Dakota stiffened beside me as my secretary drew near.
“The files you needed.”
I took them from her hands and stepped back, motioning Dakota into the elevator. “Thank you, Ashley.”
“Of course, sir.” She smiled at my mates and turned away.
I glanced down at Dakota to find her gazing after the woman, a frown furrowing her brow.
“I’m fucking starved,” Jon said, drawing my attention away from his wife. “Any place around here we can pick up a steak and some loaded potatoes?”
Chuckling, I pulled my cell from my pocket. “I know just the place—and they’ll deliver.”
“Thank fuck.”
While en-route to my apartment, Dakota once more sat between us, her fingers laced through Jon’s on her thigh, her head resting on my shoulder. A subtle hint of springtime flowers filled my nose, Jon’s wilder fall-like wind beneath.
My mouth watered to taste them, to feel their bodies beneath me. I’d promised Dakota we would be together that night, and I had no plans to disappoint my heart, my female. The sexual energy between Jon and me would demand he play a part, but would he open his heart? Would he submit his body once more to my command?
Dinner at my small table proved a silent affair, one filled with heated glances, one ripe with an aroma of arousal, and every second not touching them heightened my awareness of their pulses.
Soft classical played from the overhead speakers, and even Jon seemed so wrapped up in his own mind that he didn’t mention my lack of taste or tease me about my choice of music. No easy grin lifted his lips, no smirk of arrogance, but I made myself be content with the way he stared at my lips, with his enlarged pupils in the candlelight of my penthouse suite.
Dakota insisted on cleaning up our dinner things, and Jon and I sat before the windows overlooking Manhattan, me with a glass of wine, his hands empty and resting on his thighs. We studied each other, him with an inquisitive stare while I allowed him to seek out the truth of what he longed for in my eyes. The tension between us went beyond sexual, and while we’d once been vulnerable with each other in the dark of my home, the wall he
’d erected to keep himself safe sat like a literal mountain between us.
I considered ordering him to kneel at my feet so I could touch his hair, his face. I considered falling to my own and resting my cheek against his knee, showing my beta he owned my soul. Torn between knowing what he needed, I held my silence.
Dakota approached, but hesitated from sitting beside either of us.
Our buffer…
I set my wine aside and stood, holding out my hand. She moved toward me and slipped her palm against mine, her head tipped back, eyes luminous in the dim light. “Tell me what you want, mon coeur.”
She licked her lower lip, her gaze flitting to Jon and back. “I want to watch,” she whispered, her cheeks tinging pink at the confession.
Lust sprang to life inside me, and my dragon rumbled his approval. I focused on Jon’s face—his parting lips, the slight widening of his pupils as I allowed my inner desire to show on my face. Perhaps he would allow me to love him, but if not, I would give him all of me, everything he desired if it meant easing his fears.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Jonathan
“Come,” Elijah said, tugging Dakota’s hand and motioning toward the king-sized bed across the apartment.
My body fucking froze at Dakota’s confession. I’d expected her to want us both, and I was fine with that. Making myself available to Elijah didn’t sit well with me—except for my damn dick.
Aching and leaking, the fucking appendage couldn’t wait for his touch.
Biting back my groan, I stood and followed them, unable to say no to my wife. Hands fisted at my sides, I stayed back a few feet as Elijah pulled a chair close and Dakota curled her legs beneath her on its seat. He whispered in her ear, flushing her face, and she nodded up at him, the love in her eyes, the smile on her lips a mirror of what I felt coursing through my damn body.
My brain, though… My brain remained shut tight behind a thick wall, safe from manipulation, safe from hurt. He can own my body, I told myself, drawing closer as he turned toward me, burning my skin with his stare, electrifying every nerve ending with the energy snapping between us.