by Cara Adams
“Anu.”
After the dance the two men took them to a small square table at the side of the room, bought some snacks and coffee, and they talked happily about movies they liked until the dance music began again. This time Anu held her more closely, his leg sliding between hers as they danced. It was not as suggestive as the couple on the stage, but it was still a hint of what he’d like, she felt sure. Damn. Another one I’ll have to say no to.
When they’d all returned to the table, Anu asked, “Will you both join us in the dungeon?”
“Only to watch the Doms, and no sex either,” said Serena firmly.
Anu nodded and Paavo took Verity’s hand.
“Nothing at all,” said a very stern voice from behind her.
Serena whipped around and saw Noah and Ezra, both wearing jeans and sweaters and both looking upset. “Verity, it’s time to leave. Serena, I think you’d better come as well.”
“Armpits!”
“I’m sorry. It appears we’re not staying after all,” said Verity.
Noah kept hold of Verity and Ezra followed Serena, shepherding them out of the club. In the parking lot Serena opened her mouth to argue, but Verity shook her head. It was Noah who said, “All you had to do was say you wanted to come here, you know. We’d have brought you and looked after you.”
“I didn’t particularly want to be looked after,” objected Serena.
“Yeah, um, about that. Why don’t you let Josh and Pete explain? There’re always two sides to every story, you know,” said Ezra.
Not unless those onion-eyed, pukable puttocks had decided to stop acting like immature selfish boys, there wasn’t.
Noah and Ezra walked them across the parking lot to their bright-red Ford. “We’re taking Verity home. You listen to your men now and give them a chance to work things out.” Noah hustled Verity into the car.
Serena assumed that meant she’d be driving Verity’s car back to Carnal Connections, but when she turned around it was to face a wall of hard, muscled men. Josh and Pete stood behind her, feet planted wide apart, arms crossed over their chests, and matching grim looks on their faces.
“We have not been fucking half the countryside.”
“We haven’t been fucking anyone.”
“We were simply trying to explain—”
“—that we’ve never used condoms. As panthers we don’t need to.”
“How do you know you don’t have a pack of kids somewhere? And how long has it been since you stopped fucking half the town?” Serena was torn. They looked so strong and reliable standing there, the men she’d thought she was falling in love with. Until it turned out they were self-centered adolescents who placed their own fun and games ahead of caring for their women.
“We’ve only ever fucked panthers, and they always knew it was a fun thing, not a meaningful relationship. We’d have been told if there’d been any results of it. The pack isn’t hard to find,” said Josh.
“And we haven’t dated anyone since we first saw you. Hell. Half the time our Alpha has had us watching Sam out in the middle of nowhere or sleeping up on the north ridge, away from everyone, on guard duty,” added Pete.
“Can I trust you?” asked Serena, staring into their eyes, wanting to believe it was just a misunderstanding. She did want to trust them, truly she did. What they’d said in her bedroom had shaken her to the core. She’d thought she was in love with them. But now…
“We intend to make you ours in every possible way,” said Pete softly, holding her face in his hands.
His eyes were open and honest. There was no deceit or guile in them, she acknowledged.
She shook herself free and stepped back. “Well, why the fuck did you say that then?”
This time it was Josh who moved right in front of her. “It was the truth, Serena. The absolute truth. We’ve never ever used a condom, because there’s no need. We’re panthers. We’ve only ever shared a panther woman. And it’s always been someone who’s understood it was just a bit of fun, nothing serious. However, I apologize that we didn’t phrase it better, explain it more clearly to you at the time.”
“You hurt me. What you said seemed to turn everything I thought there was between us into something dirty.”
“We kind of gathered that after you trashed the building,” said Pete, a smile quivering around his mouth.
“We like that you’re feisty and determined.”
“But we wish you’d been a bit more trusting of us,” added Pete.
Serena sighed. Yes, in her heart she’d loved them and trusted them. Likely she’d flown into a rage more from disappointment than from logic. “So what happens next? Can we repair the relationship?”
“Do you trust us now, or do we need to get Omar to speak for us? Or you can choose. Ask anyone.”
Serena looked deep into his black eyes and knew Josh was telling the truth. They’d phrased what they’d said poorly. She’d been hurt and reacted without thinking. “I guess we’re even. You said the wrong thing and I got angry.” Serena smiled. “I wonder what everyone thought when they saw you half-naked in the hallway.”
“Honey, there’s no ‘wonder’ about it. People in the next county heard you scream at us and slam your door. Half the community watched while we cleaned up that hallway. Have you got any idea how hard it is to get tiny slivers of ceramic out of a rug when you’re in bare feet?” asked Pete.
But he was smiling. He may have been making a point, but he wasn’t angry.
“Well, that’s good. You’ll be less likely to upset me in the future,” she replied.
“Or we’ll never use china plates again,” quipped Josh.
They all laughed.
“Wait a minute. How did you know I was here tonight? And Noah and Ezra. None of you are dressed for a party. Why did you come here?”
“The bartender knew you were from Carnal Connections. He called Larry,” said Josh.
“Larry told Omar, and Omar told us. Larry also told Noah and Ezra,” added Pete.
“The BDSM community is small. Everyone knows everyone else,” concluded Josh.
“I should have remembered that.” Serena shrugged. It was inevitable that the bartender at the town’s only BDSM club would know Larry, the business manager at Carnal Connections, and that Larry would then tell the panther pack’s Alpha what was happening.
“Will you come home with us now?”
Serena knew Pete was serious. This wasn’t joking about the past. This was about making the future.
“All right.” Serena’s belly clenched with need. Bloody hell, yes. She wanted these two men. Wanted them inside her tonight and forevermore. Wanted the fucking she’d expected to have last night.
Perhaps she should have trusted them, understood they were as she’d originally thought, not selfish and immature and uncaring. After all, they’d waited patiently for her to turn twenty-one, and even though it was only a matter of months, they hadn’t tried to push her into bed until she was legally old enough for a ménage. Perhaps she’d been too fiery, too untrusting, too hasty to get upset last night. She ought to be prepared to give them a second chance. And I want them. Oh, how I want them. Tonight we’ll make love. Because I do love them. I still do love them.
Chapter Two
Josh Taylor pulled Serena Griffin closer to him and held her tightly. She was icy cold in that sexy black dress. It wasn’t quite winter, but this was Ohio and snow was definitely on the way. He glanced at his best friend, Pete Jackson, and Pete nodded and turned the heat all the way up in their truck. Pete drove east instead of west, and Josh guessed he was heading into town to spend the night at a motel instead of going back to Carnal Connections. After the riot she’d caused the only time they’d ever been in Serena’s room, this made good sense. It was bad enough, the entire community knowing they’d fucked up once, without them all watching to see if they got their seduction right this time.
Since there’d been trouble with a pack of rogue panthers, their pack had been staying
at Carnal Connections, a BDSM community with a lot of undeveloped land, the perfect place for shape-shifters to run free in. But the unmarried males all shared a couple of houses, so there was no privacy in his or Pete’s room. Likely the rest of the men would be sitting in the living room listening hard to count their orgasms. Going to a motel made a hell of a lot more sense.
Hmm. Some toys and lube would be good. And they really needed condoms after the last disaster, just in case Serena was serious about that. “How about we stop at the adult store on the way?” he suggested.
“Already thought of that,” grunted Pete, changing lanes as they headed for the next exit.
“What for?” asked Serena.
She was snuggled against his side and didn’t feel cold anymore. In fact, she felt damn good pressed against him like that.
“Condoms and lube,” he replied.
She nodded. Damn, I guess she’s serious about the condoms then.
“We’re clean, you know. You can’t catch anything from us, and we haven’t been with anyone else since we started dating you,” added Pete.
“Verity and I went on the Pill the month before we turned twenty-one. Just in case…you know…”
“Does this mean you’ve changed your mind and it’s okay for us to go bareback?” asked Josh. Oh hell yes, that’s what he wanted. To have nothing between them, just her silky heat surrounding his aching dick.
She stared at him, her hazel eyes almost brown in the dim light but still with some lighter flecks in them. She looked so serious, and he guessed this really was important to her. Hell. It was important to him, too. Did she trust them? Fully and completely?
“Yes. I believe you. I know that you’re both honorable men.”
“Ah, honey, we’d never intentionally hurt you. You should know that, too,” said Pete, pulling into the parking lot of the adult store.
As they got out of the truck, Josh rummaged in the back and found his coat, which he helped Serena put on. It came down almost to her knees, covering her thigh that showed every time she took a step in that sexy dress. It’d also help her stay warm.
Josh was happy to let Pete race around the store collecting everything he thought they may want for the evening. Josh himself wanted to stay with Serena and watch her face as she wandered around the store looking at items. From the way her eyes were big and round as she stared at a display of blow-up, anatomically correct dolls, he guessed she hadn’t spent much time in such a store before, if she’d been inside one at all. He stood and watched, carefully hiding his grin as she tilted her head this way and that checking out the “Adam” doll. From there she moved to “John,” who was even better equipped, and finally she stopped at the “Doug” doll, which came packaged with six colored rings to toss like horseshoes over the relevant appendage.
“Oh, I wish I’d seen these before our birthday. I’d’ve bought one for Verity,” she said.
“I prefer Racquelle,” replied Josh, pointing to an extremely well-endowed female doll.
“It’s lucky she’s made of plastic. I don’t think they make bras that big.” Serena was grinning widely.
Pete joined them just then. “Honey, anyone with tits that big isn’t going to hide them under a bra,” he said, making them all laugh.
At the checkout, once again Josh watched Serena’s face to gauge her reactions. Pete had chosen well, a medium-size electric-blue butt plug, aromatic massage oil, lube, fluffy pink padded handcuffs, and dainty, heart-shaped nipple clips. Serena didn’t blink at the items, so Josh could only assume she was okay with the program for the rest of the evening. Great.
Back at the car, Serena snuggled into his coat while Pete scrolled through his cell phone. “Here?” suggested Pete. Josh took the phone, looked, and nodded. It was a big, four-star hotel in the heart of town, which should be a nice place for their first time together as a threesome.
“Good choice. Let’s hope they have a room available for us.”
“What? You don’t plan on going back to my room?” asked Serena.
“First, your bed looked awfully small for three people,” said Pete.
“And second, I don’t want anyone kicking your door down if you scream when we give you an orgasm,” added Josh.
“That would be rather disruptive,” replied Serena, her mouth tilting up at the ends with humor.
“Guaranteed to kill a man’s erection stone-dead,” said Pete. “Oh, no, sorry, I was talking to someone else. I’d like to book a room for tonight please.”
Serena turned her face into Josh’s chest to smother her giggles. Josh concentrated on wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight. She felt so damn fucking good pressed against his chest. He wanted her there forever. Safe, in his arms, in his bed, in his life. No more running around wondering where she was or what she was doing but always knowing she was his, theirs, forever. He still found it hard to believe they’d made such a mess of it last time. Talk about “open mouth, insert foot.” From now on he’d be more careful to explain everything to her.
With so few shape-shifter women around, Josh had always known he’d have to share a woman, if he was so lucky as to find one who loved him. But when he realized that Serena had grown up from an annoying, loud, disruptive little girl into an entrancing, vibrant, woman, his cock had sat up and danced. He and his best friend Pete had looked at her, looked at each other, and determined to get to know her better.
Since shape-shifters had to be twenty-one before engaging in ménage sex, he and Pete had months to wait, and used them to watch her, to get to know the woman she’d become, and had, along the way, fallen in love with her.
Of course, they were all at work during the day, and he and Pete were sometimes sent away by their Alpha for a week at a time as well, but they’d thought they were ready to make a move and test their potential relationship a little further. And that was when they’d discovered their understanding of women in general, and Serena in particular, had gaps in it. But still, she was with them now and they’d do it right this time.
“Great, thank you. See you soon.” Pete clicked off his phone and shoved it back in his pocket. “It’s all organized. Buckle up and let’s go.”
* * * *
Pete was the kind of Dom who liked to carefully plan all his scenes, working out every possible combination and permutation so his subs received maximum pleasure every time. Tonight just wasn’t going to be like that at all. He and Josh had been sitting in the living room of the house at Carnal Connections that they shared with several other unmated panthers, watching a ball game on TV, when the call had come from Omar about Serena and Verity being in town at the BDSM club.
He and Josh had left so fast they hadn’t even stopped to change their shoes for sturdy outdoor boots, far less have a shower and get cleaned up for a hot night out. So tonight’s fun and games needed to start in the shower. He hoped the hotel had some fancy lotions and shampoo that Serena would like, because the adult store didn’t sell that kind of stuff. He’d looked at the chocolate body paint but decided to leave that option for another day.
Tonight will not be the monumental fuckup last time was. Tonight we’ll woo her, pleasure her, and make her decide she wants to be with us forever. It’s all about Serena tonight.
“Stay in the truck until I’ve registered us and gotten the room key,” he ordered as he parked the truck in the basement parking garage.
“Good thinking. It’ll be cold out there,” said Josh, looking at Serena.
She seemed all right wrapped up in Josh’s coat, but that little bit of nothing she was wearing definitely wasn’t suited to an unheated parking lot. When she walked in those fuck-me shoes, her dress opened almost to her hip. Which was very sexy, as were the shoes, but he’d rather as few people as possible saw those long, lean legs. Cougar legs, made for running. Or wrapping around his waist as he fucked her blind.
Pete hastily got out of the truck, adjusting his aching cock as he did so, before walking to the elevator and pressing the u
p button. Once it arrived he hit L for Lobby and only then turned and looked back at the truck. They were both watching him, so he gave them a little wave as the doors closed.
Five minutes later he was back, and when they saw him, Josh helped Serena out of the truck before picking up the bag of toys they’d purchased at the adult store. Pete pointed his key at the truck and beeped it locked then waited for them by the elevator. “Top floor,” he said as they arrived.
They stayed silent on the ride up to the top floor, but no one joined them even though the elevator doors opened automatically at the lobby and again at the conference floor.
Pete walked ahead and put the keycard in the door lock, holding the heavy door open as Serena and Josh walked through. The walls seemed to be solid, too, so hopefully a bit of screaming wouldn’t be noticed. Not that he knew whether Serena would be a screamer in bed. She’d surely screamed the house down when she was annoyed though!
The room looked fine to him. A king-sized bed, two nightstands with a light on each of them, a couple of chairs and a small table, even a small desk for business people to answer their e-mails or write their reports, and a bathroom off to the side. Pete grounded himself. It was time for him to take charge. “Our first step will be to shower. Josh and I left in a hurry without time to prepare for a night together.”
Serena nodded. “I can’t say I’ll be sorry to take these shoes off. My toes are freezing and my ankles hurt.”
“So why wear them?” asked Josh.
Serena looked at him like he was crazy.
“Hey, I’m a man. Sometimes you need to explain this girl stuff to a nongirl,” said Josh.
Serena shrugged off the coat and moved back from them until she was at the wall. Then she turned side-on so the slit in her dress faced them and posed, one hand on her hip, her knee bent, her breasts thrust forward. Instantly Pete’s cock grew another inch and begged to be let out of his pants. “That’s hot,” he said.
“Because?”
He stared at her, from her long dark hair and sparkling hazel eyes, across her pert breasts, past her narrow waist, over her lush ass, and down those long, long legs to her toes. Which had bright-red nail polish on them, he now noticed. Ungluing his tongue from the roof of his mouth, he swallowed and said, “Legs.”