Nella trailed off. She knew her homecoming would not be easy. She’d have to make sure that Linginian was properly dealt with, and she’d have to face her family and tell them what had happened to her. After the initial rejoicing, there would be pain.
Nella chose not to mention the faint tendrils of what might be the Bond between her and Rio. She might be mistaken, and if she was, better to cut the feeling and go on, no matter how much it hurt at first.
Aiden watched her closely, but asked no questions.
“Well then, I guess we better enjoy all the pleasure we can right now,” he said. Aiden lifted the next bottle out of the box. “I think you’ll like this one. Smells like jasmine, but with a little kick to it.”
*** *** ***
The entrance to Dr. Laas’ compound—her lair, some of the Shareem liked to call it—was hidden in an abandoned warehouse on Dekato Street. To the casual observer, cutting through the warehouse looked like a quick way across the district, and many people used it as such.
Sand-scoured alleys crisscrossed this neighborhood, filled with disreputable traders who cut and run at the first hint of sandstorm or patrollers. This soon after a storm, the streets were deserted, which suited Rio.
He strolled through the doors in the warehouse, which had long since rusted open, layers of sand coating a plasti-concrete floor.
The entrance to the underground complex was a door standing right in the middle of the warehouse, hidden by holo-illusions. When you approached, Baine decided whether you were admissible. If he thought so, the door would open, you’d walk through, and immediately step into a grav-controlled drop tube, which floated you down to the compound.
If Baine decided the visitor should not be allowed, he would generate another holo-illusion, in which the person would grow disoriented and walk around the door without knowing it or noticing its presence.
The warehouse was dry and empty when Rio entered it. Knowing the patrollers had also gone to ground during the storm, he headed determinedly for the door.
Baine quietly slid it open. Rio stepped into the drop tube, his stomach turning over as the grav unit lowered him. He hated drop tubes.
Once his feet touched solid floor, he let out a breath of relief and waited for the next door to open. This one led into a well-decorated hall with the lift at the end.
“Where to, Shareem?” Baine asked.
“Wherever Nella is.”
“Dining room,” Baine answered laconically, and the lift dropped, zooming Rio down fifteen levels.
“Thanks for the ride,” Rio growled as the lift skimmed to a halt.
He waited for his stomach to calm, then he exited the lift and walked down the hall to the dining room. On the threshold, he stopped, his Shareem senses alert.
Aiden lounged in a soft chair, his eyes intensely blue. Bottles of his scented oil were scattered across the table. Nella had a bottle to her nose and a dreamy look on her face. She leaned back, relaxed and loose, her hair trickling over one shoulder to pool in her lap.
The scents of Aiden’s sensual oils—spice, exotic fruits, and flowers—were overlaid with the sharp tang of sex. The scents and the pheromones, both Aiden’s and Nella’s, aroused Rio, sending his Shareem temperature skyward.
“Damn, what did I miss?” he asked.
Nella leapt to her feet, a smile of joy on her face. “Rio!” She ran to him and flung her arms around his neck. “You’re safe. I was worried.”
Rio held her, inhaling her scent, which was way more heady than any of Aiden’s oils. “I’m here, baby.”
Nella let go of him and stepped back, a look of embarrassment on her face. “I was afraid you’d be caught in the sandstorm.”
A warmth began in his heart and trickled through his body. No woman had ever looked at Rio with such concern and relief in her eyes.
He was a level-three Shareem, made for sex and the ultimate sensual experience. Women were supposed to beg him to dominate them, pleasure them—they didn’t worry about him.
“I got myself inside,” Rio said. “Caught up on some reading while I rode it out.”
“Bondage Today?” Aiden asked.
Rio ignored him. He broke the contact with Nella and laid the packages on the table. “I brought presents.”
Nella looked surprised. “For me?”
Rio opened the first package and held up the collar. “Definitely for you, sweetie.”
The collar was supple black leather with finely tooled designs of flowers and leaves. Since so few flowers and leaves grew naturally in the deserts of Bor Narga, artists loved to put them everywhere, even on collars made for subs.
Nella took the collar in her hands and examined it in wonder. “You bought this at a shop?”
“A shop with a back room, where they make special things for me.”
She ran her fingertips over the leather. “It’s beautiful.”
“Yeah, they’re artists.” Rio gently took the collar from her and slid it around her neck. His temperature rose as he fastened it. “You look gorgeous in it.”
The black leather offset her red hair and pale skin, making her more lovely and desirable than ever. He noticed Aiden’s appreciative look. Even if Aiden was fantasizing about another male Shareem, he certainly hadn’t lost his interest in females.
“It goes with this.” Rio opened the larger package and drew out the skimpy black leather dress.
Nella’s eyes got big. She took the dress in her hands as though she’d never seen anything like it before.
It hadn’t been difficult to tell the artist what size to make the dress, because Rio’s hands knew the exact size and shape of Nella’s body. It was part of his Shareem-ness, he figured, that his body retained an imprint of every detail of the lady he made love to.
“You want me to wear this?” Nella asked, still staring at it.
“Trust me,” Rio said in a quiet voice. “Put it on.”
She glanced at Aiden in some trepidation.
“Go ahead,” Aiden said. “I don’t mind.”
Rio folded his arms over his chest to keep himself from reaching for her. “You can go to your room if you really want to. Or, you can trust me.”
Nella looked at the leather, looked at Aiden, and then at Rio again.
The pulse in her throat beat quickly, as she tried to decide what to do. She knew Rio would be disappointed if she retreated to her room to change in private. Perhaps he’d even punish her.
Rio grew aroused watching her debate with herself. If she stayed, Aiden would watch. Aiden did not offer to leave the room, because he was Shareem. If a woman was about to get naked, he would stay put.
Slowly, almost as if she didn’t realize what she did, Nella loosened her baggy tunic and pulled it off over her head. She unfastened the leggings and took those off as well, then discarded the undergarments.
Aiden stirred, aroused. Yep, he definitely still liked females.
Nella took up the leather dress and looked at Rio. “Will you help me put it on?”
She had to ask? Rio took the dress from her, wrapped the leather around her torso, and fastened it in the back.
The skirt was short, baring her thighs, and the bodice hugged her breasts, pushing them high. The garment had no sleeves—it was a simple width of leather covering her torso. The dress was a hell of a lot better than the secondhand gray-white thing Baine had found for her.
“You look beautiful,” Aiden said, and Nella blushed.
“One last thing,” Rio said. He took out the chain he’d bought and linked the slender, silver length to the ring in the front of her collar. The chain dangled between her breasts.
“Perfect,” Aiden said. His beautiful, sculpted face wore a look of intense satisfaction.
Level ones could get off by just looking at a woman. So could level threes, but it was more fun to play with them too.
“Did she pick out her oil?” Rio asked.
Aiden nodded and lifted a bottle. “She likes this one best.”
/> “It reminds me of you,” Nella said.
Rio’s heart beat faster. “Good.”
Aiden got to his feet. Rio sensed Aiden’s pheromones shooting all over the place, readying him for what was to come. “Shall we start?” he asked.
“Sure thing.”
Rio lifted the chain and tugged Nella to him.
Chapter Eleven
Slow Love
Nella’s heartbeat sped, and moisture touched her sweat-dampened thighs. Rio held the chain securely, his eyes hot and blue.
“What are you going to do?” she asked, more curious than worried.
“Aiden is going to teach me how to love you slowly. Do you want to learn with me?”
“I’m always willing to learn,” she said.
Rio growled and tugged her to him. She landed against his leather-clad body, and he kissed her, lips hard on hers.
“Remember, you wanted to keep it to level one,” Aiden said, his Shareem voice growing even more deep and soothing.
Nella began to relax, her mind slightly fuzzy as Rio’s touch and the voices of two Shareem males softened her. Never in her life would she have the opportunity to be in close proximity with two men like this again, one with whom she was falling in love.
“What do you want me to do?” she whispered against Rio’s lips.
“While you are in this house, you will wear the dress and collar and come to me whenever I wish.”
“All right.”
He slid his large, hot hand to her back. “Anything you wish me to do to you, you ask me, right when you think of it.”
“Yes.”
“We will go to your bedroom now, and Aiden will show me how to touch you. And anything Aiden and I wish to do, you will do.”
“Of course.” Nella felt loose and happy. She rested her hands on Rio’s biceps, her fingers pressing the leather.
Rio chuckled. “You know, level threes like to be talked back to now and again.”
She looked up at him, liking the hard lines of his face, preferring his rough, raw sexuality to Aiden’s absolute beauty. “Why?”
“That’s part of the fun.”
“All right,” she said dreamily. “Tell me when you want me to disobey, and I will.”
Aiden laughed softly. “I think we’ve overdone it.”
“No.” Rio cupped Nella’s backside and scooped her to him. “I think she’s just right.”
“Shall we go, then?” Aiden asked.
Rio shot him an amused glance. “You talk so hoity-toity, Aiden. Shall we go? We shall get our asses down to Nella’s bedroom, yes.”
Nella smiled and warmed all over. No other man in her life had made her laugh like Rio did.
*** *** ***
Baine was silent as they rode the lift to Nella’s chamber. The hall was calm and quiet, the air soothingly scented, the walls a pleasing shade of yellow. Her bedroom, while plain, had been given lights of warm plum and cool blue, which blended to just the right shade.
Nella wasn’t certain who tidied the rooms, or whether Baine controlled a supply of cleaning robots, but her bed was an unwrinkled slab, and the blankets she’d scattered about while sleeping had been folded and set aside.
She took in the state of the room distractedly, not particularly caring. She was aware only of Rio leading her, and Aiden behind her, his body heat like a thermal blanket.
Rio’s hold on her chain was more than a physical link between them. She seemed to feel his energy coming up the length of silver to her throat, as though the chain was a conductor of the Bond.
She liked the feeling. I belong to him, and he to me.
Rio led her to the bed. Aiden set down the bottle of oil he’d brought with him and stripped off his tunic, while Rio told Nella to lie facedown on her bed.
Nella obeyed, settling the chain to one side of her, liking the cool feeling against her arm. From her vantage point, she saw Rio slowly remove his clothes, sliding the leather from his body until he stood in only a loincloth.
He snaked his hand through her loose hair, turned her head, and leaned down to kiss her. The kiss was possessive and hot, as though she needed reminding that she was his.
Somewhere above her Aiden said clinically, “We’ll need to put her hair up, out of the way.”
As Rio stepped away from the bed, presumably to look for a hair clip, Aiden gathered her hair in his broad hands and began to braid it.
It was a most sensual feeling, having this man comb his fingers through her hair, then gently plait it into a tail. She closed her eyes, enjoying it.
She knew Rio’s touch without opening her eyes. It was different somehow, his hands firmer and more aggressive. He wound the braid Aiden had made into a coil on the back of her head and pinned it in place.
Aiden’s fingers had soothed her, almost making her drowsy. Rio’s touch woke her up and aroused her.
“That’s why level threes think they’re better than the average Shareem,” Aiden said, as though he’d read her reaction.
“That’s why we are better than the average Shareem,” Rio said. “But I’m always willing to try something new.”
“This will be new,” Aiden assured him.
Nella felt fingers on the fastening of her leather dress—Aiden’s, she could tell now. He undid the catches and let the dress fall, baring her back and backside.
She felt Rio’s touch on her ass, thumb sliding between the cheeks.
“Not yet,” Aiden said.
Rio’s touch withdrew. “Oh, right. Feet first.” He sounded disbelieving.
She wondered what on earth feet first meant, but was too drowsy to ask. She heard the clink of the stopper in the bottle of oil, then smelled the patchouli and spice scent she’d chosen..
She closed her eyes, drowsing in the sensuality of the smell and of lying naked and facedown in front of two beautiful men.
The blatant sexual response she’d had to the oil in the dining room was muted now that the oil wasn’t right under her nose, but when Aiden first rubbed a bit on the sole of her left foot, she squirmed with the beginnings of wanting.
Aiden’s fingers tickled a little, making her want to giggle. Rio smoothed the oil over the bottom of her foot with a firm hand, soothing, but strong enough to make her want his hands all over her.
“Heels,” Aiden said, cupping her left one in his warm palm. “Get to know her whole foot.”
Rio’s hand slid over her right heel, rubbing the rough skin acquired by running through Bor Nargan streets in broken shoes. She remembered how her blisters had ached as she tried to find help without attracting attention.
Since she’d come to Dr. Laas’ compound, the blisters had healed, and now under Aiden’s and Rio’s soothing massage, the hurt went away completely.
“You have cute feet,” Rio said.
Aiden lifted her foot, cradling it against his bare abdomen as he expertly rubbed from heel to the ball of her foot and around to the top and her toes.
Rio copied the movement. “And adorable toes,” he said. Nella felt the sharp scrape of his teeth on them as he nibbled. She laughed, turning her cheek to the pillow and looking down the length of the bed at him. Rio winked at her.
“Slowly.” Aiden sounded amused. He massaged her foot a little longer, then replenished the oil and slid his large hand up her shin.
Rio did likewise, his massage deeper and firmer than Aiden’s featherlight touch.
“Really feel her,” Aiden said, his voice softening. He lifted her leg higher, pressing it against his torso, cupping her knee. She felt the muscles of his abdomen with her toes, and wriggled them against it.
Rio set her right foot against his chest, spreading her legs a little, skimming his hand up her shin. “I like the view,” he said.
“Oh, yes,” Aiden agreed. “There’s nothing like anticipation.”
Nothing at all like it. Air touched between her legs, their movements making her clit rub a little on the mattress beneath her. Umm.
“Thighs next?�
�� Rio asked.
“No,” Aiden said. “Hands.”
“You have a weird way of having sex.”
Aiden’s talented fingers pressed all around her knee and across the back of it, loosening muscles. “Slow build. Slow burn until she is dying for you, and you for her.”
“I’m level three. We build fast. I’m already dying for her.”
“I swear to the gods, you’re a walking hard-on, Rio.”
“I see you have one too,” Rio said to Aiden.
“A beautiful woman under my hands, scented pheromone oil, and a turned-on Shareem next to me, how could I not have a hard-on?”
Nella waited for Rio to make a quip back, but after a thoughtful silence, he merely said, “Hmm.”
Aiden laughed as though Rio had made a joke. She felt his chest rumble beneath the sole of her foot.
Much to her regret, Aiden gave her leg one last caress and lowered her foot. Rio followed suit, but drew his nails gently down her calf, scratching lightly.
The sensation excited her. Rio was telling her he could be gentle, but with a promise he might be rough later.
They started on her hands, Aiden on her left and Rio on her right, doing much the same as they’d done to her feet. Aiden massaged her palm slowly; Rio circled it with a strong touch, then licked each of her fingers from base to tip.
Nella closed her eyes as they worked their way up her arms to her shoulders. Aiden’s touch was completely different from Rio’s, so distinct that when their four hands moved at random down her bare back, she was able to tell which was which.
The massage both relaxed her and excited her. Her breasts were tight, nipples pressed into the sheet beneath her, and she knew the sheet would be damp with her wanting when she finally turned over.
They drew their hands down her spine, oiling her all over, dipping to her sides, massaging the small of her back, nearly, but not quite, touching her buttocks.
She kept her eyes closed and reveled in her other senses—the scent of the oil and Rio’s and Aiden’s skin, hot with wanting. The whisper of their hands against her, the quiet sound of their breathing, the occasional noise in Rio’s throat as his wanting grew. Best of all, the feel of four hands stroking, swirling, kneading her flesh.
Tales of the Shareem, Volume 1 Page 29