Bonds of Desire

by Lynda Aicher

  Allie took a deep breath that pulled her shoulders back before turning to face them. She wiped her hands on her jeans, lifted her chin and marched toward them. Her hair was down tonight, the curls springing to life to bounce against her brown sweater with each determined step. She stopped before the couch, her lean form blocking the television as she took them in.

  “You came back.” The statement was unnecessary, but it was all Seth could say. This was her show, and if they wanted her with them, they had to wait for her.

  She braced her hands on her hips. “There has to be rules.” No preamble or causal pleasantries. She just dove right in.

  “What do you mean?”

  “For us.” She swiveled her hand in a circle, indicating the three of them. “If we’re going to do this, there has to be rules.”

  He kept that spark of hope deeply buried and pulled out the cool reserve that was natural for him. “And what are we going to do?”

  Her eyes narrowed, her jaw going tight. “Don’t play stupid with me. That, that—” She stuttered and waved her hand at the kitchen. “What happened in the kitchen the other night. That. I won’t do it without rules.”

  “Why’d you come back?”

  Her focus dropped to Tyler. His question was searching for more than the simple obvious answer. She stepped forward and kneeled, resting back on her heels so she was at his eye level. “That’s a fair question. One I’m honestly not sure of.” She looked down then jerked her head back up to meet Tyler’s eyes. “I...dang,” she whispered, losing her battle to maintain eye contact.

  Tyler reached out and stroked a thumb down her jaw, a slow pass that ended at her chin. He tilted it back, her gaze darting up to Seth before yielding to Tyler’s silent command.

  “You’re sure about this?” Tyler brushed his thumb over her mouth, which parted on a soft sigh.

  She wet her lips, her tongue snaking out to pass over Tyler’s thumb as well. “As sure as I can be. But I need to know what’s going on.” She glanced at Seth. “And why.”

  “The why is as simple as we like each other.” Tyler leaned forward and drew her in until their lips touched in a chase kiss. He leaned back. “This feels good.”

  Her tongue tracked over her lips again, this time slower. “But there has to be more than that,” she insisted. “It’s not normal for three people to do this.”

  “And who defines normal?” Seth asked. He stretched out his foot to run a slow pass up her thigh, her jeans soft under his sole. Her small shudder wasn’t visible, but he felt it shimmy down her leg. “There’re many who have no problem with three people being together.”

  She stared hard and long at him. “And there are even more who do.”

  “You ran once,” Tyler interrupted, his voice low and challenging. “You gonna do that again?”

  Allie blew out a breath, her cheeks puffing with the effort. “That’s why I need the rules.”

  “What kind of rules?”

  She looked back to Seth. “The kind like your club has. Between clients. If I know the rules, I know how to play and what to expect.”

  Seth nodded. He understood that and gave her points for being smart about this. They might not be playing in The Den, but the risks where still there. For all of them. “Do you want it in writing, or is verbal enough?”

  Tyler gripped his thigh, his hand hidden from Allie’s view. They hadn’t talked about Allie’s departure. Maybe Tyler didn’t want this. Hell, they hadn’t figured out what, if anything, the two of them were doing. Adding a third would only complicate it. Yet Seth didn’t want to say no. To either of them.

  “Are you okay with this, Tyler?” Seth increased the pressure on the other man’s nape. “I want the truth.”

  The hold on his thigh tightened in time with Tyler’s slow exhale. The silent wiggling of Tyler’s toe ceased, and that alone sent sparks of power flashing through Seth. “Not if she’s running again,” Tyler stated.

  Allie jerked back, her eyes going wide. The doubt was back, along with an edge of vulnerability.

  Tyler didn’t shy away or lessen the hard tone of his voice though. “Either you’re in or you’re out. But don’t lead us on like we’re your private play things.”

  “But I,” she started, her head shaking in denial. “I didn’t do that.”

  “Didn’t you? It was a mind game to you until you found yourself pressed between the whore and the Dom. And you liked it. You roped us in then split when it became too real.”

  Her face turned stony, her eyelids dropping closed. The silence was filled with the patter of the rain that clattered like a chorus of out-of-sync tap dancers beating through the room.

  Tyler turned his head and pressed a kiss to Seth’s thigh. The moist warmth reached through Seth’s jeans and shot straight to his groin. It let him know that they’d be okay if Allie ran again. But Seth truly believed they’d be better if she stayed. Tyler needed the balance, and they both desired her.

  Seth rubbed his foot over Allie’s thigh, a silent support to her inner struggle. She looked at him through her lashes, the questions clearer than if she’d spoken.

  That was all he needed. “What are your rules, Allie?”

  The wave of relief that stretched unseen through the air was almost tangible. She placed her hand around Seth’s ankle and squeezed. “I don’t like pain. At all. The whole spanking, whipping, hitting thing I don’t understand or want.”

  “It’s not my kink either,” Tyler mumbled. Allie’s eyes flashed to Tyler’s back, the doubt displayed on her face. “That was for money. Not enjoyment.”

  She stared at him. “You need the money that badly?”

  The neck muscles under Seth’s palm tensed instantly. “Don’t you dare judge me.”

  The pain in those words was smothered under the defensive bristle that Seth now recognized. He gave Tyler’s neck a firm squeeze and let his thumb find that soothing stroke over his bristly nape hairs. “She wasn’t judging, Tyler.”

  “I wasn’t.” She pleaded with her eyes while she held Seth’s ankle in a death grip that matched Tyler’s hold on his thigh. “I’m trying to understand.”

  “Yeah? Well, I’m trying to understand too.”

  It was the tone, not the words that went too far. Seth had thought they were past that. And maybe he and Tyler were, but things were still touchy with Allie.

  “Tyler,” Seth warned. He gave one hard squeeze before removing his palm from Tyler’s nape. “I told you that doesn’t go in my house. The only one judging you is you.”

  Tyler turned his face into Seth’s leg. “Fuck.” The curse was muffled but still clear. The toe bouncing started up in earnest, the action so subtle that few probably noticed it. But Seth did. “Sorry.” The apology was as distorted as the curse, yet the sincerity was there.

  “So no pain.” Seth projected a low calm into his voice that was close to the one he used in his business negotiations. He looked to Allie. “What else?”

  She brushed her hair over her shoulder, her focus on Tyler. “That was the big one,” she said softly. “Plus none of the other extreme things, like blood or urine.” She paused to cringe. “And I won’t do humiliation. You call me a slut, and I’m out of here.” Her voice rose to match the fierce glare she shot both men.

  Seth smiled inside but kept his neutral expression in place. That was the spirit he recognized. “Never.” He bounced his leg, jarring Tyler with the movement.

  Tyler turned his head back to look at Allie. “You’re not a slut.”

  The starchy rigidness deflated from her spine, her grip loosening its vicious clamp on Seth’s ankle.

  “Is that all?” Seth prodded.

  “Yes,” she answered, but it didn’t sound convincing.

  “What is it?”

  She stared at that small space between her knees and the couch. “Will you listen if I say stop?”

  “Yes. Always. Do you want a safe word?”

  She glanced up, shifting only her eyes. “Sunflower.” T
he fact that she answered immediately without a barrage of questions, combined with her earlier demands, told Seth that she’d done her homework. The Allie who’d walked into The Den four months ago wouldn’t have known what a safe word was, let alone have one ready.

  He returned his hand to Tyler’s neck. The instantaneous sigh that eased from the man was satisfying in its own right. “What about you, Tyler? Any rules?”

  “No one’s going near my ass.” Crudely put, but clearly stated. Allie’s eyes widened. Obviously she hadn’t put all the pieces and parts together yet.

  “Not ’til you say so,” Seth agreed. One day though, he hoped Tyler would lift that restriction. But it wouldn’t happen until he fully trusted Seth.

  “None of that spanking, whipping crap either,” Tyler added.

  “That goes for all three of us, then. We don’t need it.”

  Tyler nodded. “No public displays. This stays here, between us only.”

  “God, yes,” Allie agreed. Her eyes were about as wide open as they could go. She pressed a hand to her chest. “I hadn’t even thought about taking this downstairs. But no. I won’t do that.”

  There was no way in hell Seth was sharing this with anybody. “No problem.”

  “‘Red,’ ‘yellow,’ ‘green’ are my safe words.” The toe stopped. Tyler held out his hand. “Come here, Allie.”

  She took his hand and shuffled forward until her knees touched the couch and her face was inches from his.

  Seth bit back a groan. They were so close and damn, but he wanted this threesome to work. He wasn’t exactly sure why or how it would succeed or if he wanted two subs, but he wouldn’t let this slip away. Allie seemed to give something to Tyler that Seth couldn’t, and he wanted Tyler to have that. The man needed to know that he was more than his occupation. That there were people in the world who wanted him for who he was. And Allie stirred something in Seth that he wanted to claim just as much as Tyler.

  “Kiss me.”

  Allie wet her lips, the nervous sign her only tell before she leaned into Tyler. It was the first kiss she’d initiated. She could have backed away or said no. Instead, she dipped her head and pressed her lips to Tyler’s.

  They were beautiful together. Her wide, open features next to Tyler’s more chiseled, harden ones was perfect. How Tyler got her to give so easily made Seth’s own controlling impulse sputter. Where she bristled with him, she softened with Tyler.

  Seth didn’t want to jump in and take over. He didn’t want to direct or appease or be in between them. It was so incredibly freeing to finally not be in the middle.

  The small sounds from the kiss were intimate and low. Allie’s eyes were closed and her hair tumbled forward to sweep over Seth’s hand, where it still rested on Tyler’s nape. She moaned, a low, humming noise buried deep in her throat.

  This close he could catch the faint scent of flowers that was Allie. One day he was going to define exactly what flower it was, but not now. It was light to Tyler’s darker, natural scent. He smelled of soap and man in a way that made Seth hard for the pure, gritty maleness of it.

  He lifted Allie’s hair away from where it’d fallen forward to block his view. The two of them kissing in his lap was an exquisite torture. Blood filled his dick, each soft suck and smack an aphrodisiac that made him burn.

  Allie braced a hand on Seth’s thigh, her nails digging into his jeans. He eased his hand under hers and lifted it to his lips. He placed slow, deliberate kisses on the tip of each knuckle. She pulled back from Tyler, her mouth parted in a small gasp. She was absolutely decadent. Her lips were red from Tyler’s kiss, her cheeks flushed with desire, her eyes so dark brown they seemed black.

  He tugged on her arm, and she came willingly. She leaned over Tyler to reach Seth’s mouth. Her lips were warmed from Tyler and so very yielding. He cupped the back of her head and pushed into her mouth, seeking the heat that tasted of Tyler and her.

  Tyler shifted, the back of his head rubbing against the long ridge of Seth’s erection. Seth’s growl was absorbed by Allie right before she released a high, sweet whimper. They both stopped and looked down to see Tyler lapping lazy paths over Allie’s abdomen. He held her sweater up just enough to expose the sensitive skin. Each lick moved his head over Seth’s hard cock, a motion that was more tease than anything else.

  Allie leaned her head on Seth’s chest, her eyes glued to Tyler. “What am I doing?” The breathy question was spoken more to herself than either of the men. There was still doubt in her voice, but there was also wonder.

  “What feels good,” Seth answered anyway. He swept her hair back, gaining access to the delicate shell of her ear. “What you need.” He whispered the last into her ear before sucking her lobe into his mouth.

  “No.” She shook her head slightly. “I don’t need this.”

  Seth grinned against her neck. “Maybe not now, but one day you will.”

  Her low sound could have been denial or simply consent as she gave herself over to them. It didn’t matter. She was here and not running.

  And there was so much they were all going to do together. Whether Allie admitted it to herself or not, she needed this. They all did for one reason or another.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Why don’t you two go to my room,” Seth said, interrupting Tyler’s exploration of Allie’s belly button. It was an outie and deserved the extra attention for being as unique as the woman.

  Tyler hummed his agreement as he ran his tongue over the small bump once again. Her salty skin was like a craving. He needed to keep finding more areas to lick and taste.

  He groaned in frustration when Allie moved out of his reach. He grabbed her hip to pull her back. The squeeze on his nape was all it took for him to let her go. The warmth that radiated outward from his neck was more imaginary that actual, but it opened something in Tyler that left him both exposed and content.

  Many clients had grabbed him there, swung him around or held him down. But Seth was the first person to hold him there. It was a trigger he hadn’t even known he’d had. One that now belonged to Seth alone.

  Allie was standing now, watching them with hesitant eyes. So out of his league. They’d both realize that soon.

  “Tyler.” Seth gave another squeeze, which motivated him to slide off the couch and stand.

  His back didn’t bug him that much anymore. It was tight, his skin still knitting back together where the bastard had sliced it open. But most of the sting was gone. He assumed the ointment Seth put on ritually was helping to accelerate the healing a bit. He’d never had that magical-healing shit in the past. If he was lucky, there’d be some left in the tube for the next time.

  His asshole was another matter. It still burned like a motherfucker whenever he forgot and moved to quickly or, worse, clenched. Seth still took care of that, too. Somehow though, it’d become intimate over the last few days. It was something Tyler would never allow anyone else to do for him. No one.

  He looked to Seth. “You coming?” Tyler’s gaze drifted down to the erection clearly outlined behind Seth’s jeans. Seth was nicely built from what he’d felt through the man’s pants. Not that Tyler had been allowed to do anything with it. Seth had made no sexual advances on Tyler since that one fantastic blowjob, and he respected the man for it.

  The desire to drop to his knees and suck Seth blind was suddenly front and center. The urge stole the breath from him. Sucking cock had been a street-survival skill that had kept him from starving. But sucking for pleasure was about the same as fucking for pleasure. A rarity.

  “No,” Seth said as if he’d read Tyler’s mind. Tyler’s eyes shot from Seth’s crotch to meet his. “You two go. I’ll lock up and be there in a minute.”

  Tyler was confused for a second until he yanked his mind out of Seth’s pants. Allie. Like he could forget her. He turned and took her hand. She had long, elegant fingers topped with manicured nails painted a deep plum color. Her palms were soft and a little damp.

  She was nervous. No
t surprising. So was he, and he fucked for a living.

  But this wasn’t just fucking, at least for him. He wasn’t admitting that, though. Seth already had too much of him. It was that vulnerability he felt in himself that touched him about Allie. She might be smarter and more sophisticated than him, but sex was his thing.

  “Come on, Allie.” His chest constricted when she came without question, resistance or even hesitation.

  She faltered only a step when they entered Seth’s bedroom. He flicked on the light and made his way to the bed. He hadn’t slept in the guest room since that first night, and Seth had a king-sized bed. They’d need the room. The covers were still rumbled from last night, and one glance at Allie showed that she was putting the facts together.

  “So you’ve been...” She glanced away from the bed and tried to tug her hand away. He wouldn’t let her. She had to accept that Seth and he were intimate, or this wouldn’t work.

  He faced her and lifted her chin until she had to look at him. “Say it, Allie. If you can’t say it, can’t accept it, then this is done.” Not that he wanted her to go.

  Her deep brown eyes were filled with more questions and emotions than he’d ever seen in one person. Most of the time, there was one or two emotions in the eyes of his clients. Lust, anger, fear, need, desperation—those were the common ones. But questions weren’t the norm.

  She bit her lip then immediately released. “I don’t have a problem with it. With you two...being together.” She glanced down, her eyes holding on his mouth before looking back up.

  “No?” He brushed his thumb over her lip, unable to resist now that she’d brought his attention to it. It was full and plump from kissing. “Then what’s the problem?”

  She blew out a little breath, her lips pursing just a touch. “That it turns me on when I watch you kiss. That it shouldn’t, but does. That I don’t want to be on the outside of you two, but I can’t stay away.”

  He heard Seth enter the room, his soft footsteps moving across the hardwood. The man came up behind him and laid his hands on Tyler’s shoulders. “This turns you on?” he asked before he kissed up Tyler’s neck. Slow, wet nips that made Tyler tilt his head to give Seth better access.