Chapter Thirty-Two
Kate raised the privacy screen as soon as the car pulled into traffic. Garrett and Roman had contrived to sit her between them again, which suited her just fine. Now she looked at them. “Kiss me. Both of you. I want to see if it’s as good the second time around.”
Roman glanced at Garrett. “The first time was off the charts,” he said.
“I’m sure I can improve on that.” Garrett bent and kissed her. At the same time, his hand smoothed its way along the inside of her knee, up along her thigh.
Roman didn’t sit back and watch. His hand captured her other leg and began to tease her inner thigh, while his mouth nibbled and feasted on her shoulder.
She oozed further down onto the seat, a warm pile of nerves and pleasure. How could she not have thought of this weeks ago? Why had she held back? The pleasure she had been missing out on…
When Garrett finally lifted his mouth from hers, she was panting. He didn’t pull away very far. Just enough to look at her. “You’re right. It’s much better this way. By a factor much more than simply two.”
Roman lifted his lips from the upper slope of her breast. “I’ve wasted a lot of time being pissed at you for nothing.”
“Had to go through it to get here,” Garrett said philosophically. He smiled at Kate. “And it had its compensations.”
She smiled back at him.
Roman caught Garrett’s head in his hand and drew him closer and Kate caught her breath, her amusement vanishing. Her whole body caught fire as she realized they were going to kiss, not just in her imagination but right there in front of her. Inches away from her.
Her genitals throbbed in hard blooming beats, in time with her heart, as she watched their mouths touch. They were tentative and she knew it was because of her. They were old time lovers. Kissing should have been as comfortable as slipping on gloves. But she was the new cog in the equation. As their mouths pressed together, as the kiss deepened, her breath caught. She couldn’t help it. A small explosion of pleasure swept through her.
It was the most erotic thing she had ever seen. And this was only the preview. The main attraction was coming up.
Garrett groaned and Kate thought she would die. Roman was making him groan. Her clit pulsed with excitement and Garrett’s fingers tightened on her thigh. He pulled away from Roman and looked at her. “There’s no need to wonder if ye’ like what ye see or not. I can feel the heat pouring off ye.”
Kate licked her lips. “You’re not exactly reluctant, either, Micheil.”
He glided his fingers up a little higher, until they brushed her bare pussy. “If I had my way I’d’ve ripped every shred off ye the moment we stepped in the car. Don’t tempt me.”
“And what would you have done with Roman?”
Roman grinned. “She’s discovered a taste for strong entertainment.” He looked at Garrett as he ran his fingertips over the top of her dress and along the deep vee between her breasts, tickling and teasing. He looked at Garrett. “What would you have done with me?”
Garrett looked down at her. “What would you like me to do?” His eyes were dark blue, almost black, the way they turned when he was deeply aroused. His thumb was stroking her inner thigh in restless little circles, making her body twitch.
“Take off his shirt,” Kate whispered, wondering how far they would obey her.
Roman sat up away from her, giving Garrett access. Garrett slid his hand out from between her thighs and leaned over her to slide Roman’s tuxedo jacket off.
“Mmm….now you really do smell like her,” Roman murmured.
“So do you, idiot.” Garrett dropped the jacket over the back of the car seat and stripped Roman of his tie and cufflinks. Kate opened her purse and Garrett dumped them in. “Thank you.”
Then he tackled the shirt buttons swiftly. But instead of just pulling the shirt open and off Roman’s shoulders and tossing it aside, Garrett slipped his hands inside the open shirt and laid them on Roman’s chest. He opened the shirt by sliding his hands up to his wide shoulders, caressing the flesh.
Roman drew in a deep, heavy breath, controlling his breathing.
Kate knew what he meant. She was back to throbbing all over.
Garrett slid the shirt down his arms and tugged it free of his dress pants. The shirt came adrift and landed on Kate’s lap.
Her excitement raised another notch as she stared at Roman in the dim interior lights. Occasional street lamps flashed by, illuminating his flawless flesh, the two ancient symbols writhing on each rounded shoulder and the belt of his pants, now resting low on his hips.
Garret was studying him, too.
Roman looked back, his eyes half-closed. His chest was rising and falling gently. “Damn, but I’ve even lost control over my pulse,” he muttered.
“Two of us,” Garrett said, his voice hoarse.
“I’d say three, but I never had control in the first place,” Kate said. “Roman, you need to at least even the score.”
“At least?” He raised a brow at her. “Good thing we’re heading all the way out to the Hills.” He grabbed the back of Garrett’s jacket at the neck and tugged. The jacket slid off and crumpled to the seat. He didn’t wait for it to land. He had already moved on. The tie and cufflinks were dropped into Kate’s purse with heavy clinks. But Roman didn’t bother with the buttons. He grabbed the front of the shirt and ripped it open.
Garrett shook his head. “Impatient sod.”
“Yep,” Roman agreed. He tossed the shredded shirt into Kate’s lap. “He knows I’ll buy him another one.”
“You’d better. That was imported Japanese silk.”
“Listen to him,” Roman said, reaching for Garrett’s belt buckle. “You’d never know the fussy bugger was one of the best sword fighters the Bruce clan had ever seen. He used to stand over his conquests and take them on two at a time, blood up to his eyeballs and a curse for every newcomer.”
The belt slid undone with a soft sound of leather on metal that made Kate’s heart flutter. She was listening to Roman, but her gaze and her heart was pinned to his fingers and what they were doing.
She thought her heart might explode with just a little more pressure…and Roman wasn’t stopping. He slid the fastener undone, then the zipper. Then he pushed his hand inside.
Garrett gave a choked groan, his eyes closing.
Kate caught at Roman’s wrist, feeling the tendons moving. “I want to see,” she whispered.
Roman kissed her, hard and fierce. His eyes were glittering. “Not here,” he said, withdrawing his hand. He nodded toward the window. “We’re almost there.”
Garrett grabbed the back of the seat, steadying himself. “Just as well,” he muttered.
* * * * *
Roman threw his keys onto a completely clutter-free and pristine kitchen counter as Kate and Garrett looked around.
It was a two floor condo at the top of a small, exclusive development tucked away in a cull de sac about five minutes from Kate’s house. But this was a much newer development than hers. Kate remembered when it had opened for sale by auction. The opening bids on the apartments had started at two million and that had been ten years ago. Of course now, with the real estate bust, the value might have dropped somewhat, but she didn’t think so. The Hollywood Hills were one area that tended to maintain their price unless the owner was in a hurry to sell.
The place was gorgeous. She could see why Roman had been drawn to it. She had spent six weeks in Turkey and three magical weeks in Athens, once. Combining the two, along with her research for the script, gave her a rough idea of what Constantinople might have been like when Roman had been growing up. He had created a pared-down version of it here.
The main floor, here, was a mix of terracotta tiles and mosaics for accents around the edges and features. The mosaics flowed up along the walls, too.
Beautiful Bokhara carpets were spread across the floor, softening it for bare feet and adding warmth. They should have competed with the colourful mosaics, but they didn’t. The two stippled collections of colour complimented each other.
This floor was dedicated to pursuits of the mind. A whole white-washed wall was taken up with a huge flat panel TV and shelves of electronic equipment that serviced it. There was a remote keyboard on the table in front of the sofa, which meant the TV was used for internet surfing and computing, too. This was a thinking man’s monitor, not just a sports enthusiast’s mindless surfing screen.
There weren’t any books lying around, which meant Roman read electronically, or they were stored somewhere else. Kate refused to believe he didn’t read at all.
Garrett was looking around with interest. “Nothing’s changed,” he decided, pushing up the sleeves of his jacket. His chest was bare beneath, just as Roman’s was under his.
Roman shoved his hands in his pants pockets. His jacket was open, which did interesting things to Kate’s insides as it spread apart with the movement of his arms. “What hasn’t changed?”
Garrett waved his hand around the room. “Mind here.” He pointed to the ceiling. “Body there.”
“What’s up there?” Kate asked curiously.
Roman shrugged. “Bedroom.”
“You don’t sleep.”
He smiled. “There are other things to do in a bedroom beside sleep.”
Garrett picked up her hand. “Let’s see what else he’s hiding up there.”
“Good, because I need the bathroom. And one of you is going to have to help me out of this dress.”
They both stared at her.
“I’m sewn into it,” she explained. “You’re literally going to have to unpick stitches to get it off me.”
Garrett looked stricken. “Roman – you worked for that tailor…”
“I did his books! Fuck, don’t melt, Calum. They’re tiny threads.” Roman waved him away. “Show her the bedroom. I’ll scare up some scissors.”
Kate giggled as Garrett pulled her up the stairs. “Clearly, you’re better with a blade the size of a broadsword than a little pair of scissors.”
Garrett looked about at the top of the stairs, spotted the bedroom and led her into it. “Roman’s more used to domestic stuff than me. He’s been married. I never got there.”
“Not once? Not even living with someone?”
Garrett shrugged. “Roman, on and off, but living with a man is different. You share accommodation and go on your usual way. Living with a woman changes you. I’ve watched it happen to Roman. After Mary I wouldn’t bring that sort of risk to another woman, so I suppose you could say I never got domesticated.”
Kate stared at him in horror. Five hundred years, alone?
But he wasn’t looking at her. He was glancing around the bedroom. “Well, he’s still a Byzantine at heart.”
Kate pulled her attention away from Garrett and looked around herself.
It wasn’t gilded the way the Hagia Sophia was, but there was no doubt where this room got its inspiration. Rich tapestries, glowing colours, silks, satins, embroidery, filigree and tassels adorned the bedding, the cushions, the rugs, pillows and furnishing, even the canopy over the giant bed and the curtains across the windows, turning the room into a decadent chamber.
She spotted the door to the bathroom. “Relief,” she murmured and hurried in and used it. It took time to reassemble the yards of material about her legs, so when she emerged, Roman had arrived, bearing scissors.
She turned her back to him, and pointed to the waist and sides. “I lost weight, so he took in tucks over the zip. You have to unstitch them to undo the zip.” She straightened up her spine. “Try really hard not to cut the material, huh?”
“So I should cut you, instead, if I need to make the choice?” Roman asked.
Garrett laughed and sat on the bed to watch.
“At least he’s trying, highlander. You turned white around the gills at the idea,” Kate accused him, as Roman snipped at the back of her dress.
“And I get my hands on you first, too,” Roman said. “I wasn’t born yesterday,” he added in a wise tone.
She pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh.
“Stop shaking,” Roman told her.
“Sorry. Can’t help it.”
He stood and stepped around in front of her, the scissors in one hand. With the other, he grabbed her chin and kissed her. It stole her breath and vaporized any need to laugh under a white hot jet of want that whooshed through her. Roman’s tongue thrust deep into her mouth, sliding against hers.
His hand traced down from her chin, her throat, to her shoulder, to fall from there to the back of her waist in a series of little featherweight touches along her spine. Then he pressed her up hard against him and Kate caught at his shoulders for balance. She felt flesh and silk under her fingers and stroked the sensuous mix. The flesh felt nicer and she pushed her hands under the lapels of the jacket and traced the rounded contours of his pecs, down to where her breasts were pushed against him, then along his sides, to his hips and around to his ass. She stroked, delighted by the shape.
Roman gave a guttural groan and stepped away, pulling his mouth away from her with a muttered word in Greek. “Garrett, keep Kate distracted, or I’ll never get this done.”
Garrett had moved from the bed. He stood a pace away, his eyes dark with lust. He’d been drawn to them.
Roman shrugged out of his jacket and threw it onto a chair sitting in the corner, then stepped back behind her again.
But Garrett didn’t take his place in front of her. Instead he knelt at her feet.
“What are you doing?” Kate asked.
“Something else I’ve wanted to do all night,” Garrett told her. He tugged on the bows at the back of her ankles, unravelling the ribbons. He coaxed the satin ribbons to coil into curls around her feet, running his fingers the length of her ankles and down to her toes. He drew her lower leg out of the shoe and pushed it aside.
Kate caught at his shoulder for balance as he slid his tongue along the top of her calf, up to the inside of her knee and higher still, until the silk of the dress stopped him from further progress. She was shivering when he was done.
Then he placed her foot on the rug and turned to the other. He forced her to transfer her weight and cast that shoe aside, too. But this time, he didn’t follow a path up her leg with his mouth. He stood up.
Kate looked up at him, disappointment blooming in her. “You stopped.”
“So Roman could start.”
She heard and felt the zipper on her dress being lowered. Garrett had distracted her more than adequately. She hadn’t noticed Roman had finished cutting threads.
“There are stays–” she tried to warn Roman.
“I know my way around a woman’s gown,” Roman growled. And he unhooked and unfastened the built-in foundation garments as he lowered the zipper, proving he was familiar with couture dresses – or removing them, anyway.
He made a small sound. “My, my, Ms. Lindenstream. You’re naked under your ball gown.”
Garrett gave a half smile. “I found that out in the restaurant.”
“Panties ruin the line. Tizzy would have murdered me.” She smiled. “And I’ve been waiting for you to find out.”
Roman’s hands spread over her bare back, then slipped under the now loose sides of the gown, around to her stomach. He pressed up against her from behind. “Pull her sleeves down,” he told Garrett.
Garrett tugged on the cuffs, pulling the sleeves down her arms. The dress opened up like a flower, the sleeves slid down her arms and the dress flowed to the floor around her feet.
It left her naked, with Roman’s arms around her. He ran his hands up her torso, and cupped her breasts. Kate shuddered. The sudden caress, with Garrett standing before her and reacting to every movement she made, was intensified far more than any touch Roman had ever given her.
Garrett’s harsh indrawn breath told her he was reacting with just as much intensity. He bent and kissed the upper slope of her breast, his lips pressing against Roman’s fingers. Roman obligingly let his hand smooth its way down her breast, tripping over the fire-tipped nipple with little bumps that made her shudder, clearing a way for Garrett’s mouth as he let his tongue and teeth and lips scrape and slide and caress their way down her breast. He hovered over her nipple as Roman cupped her breast, his other hand still gently squeezing and tugging her other nipple.
Warm delight rippled through her, arrowing almost directly to her clitoris and making it throb unbearably. But her whole body was alive and pulsing with the acute possibilities before her, and the almost constant stream of images playing in her mind – what had already happened, and what might yet happen.
She couldn’t stop replaying the kiss Roman and Garrett had shared. It made her hot and cold at once to think of it.
And now they were torturing her.
Garrett’s lips closed around her nipple and his tongue slid across the oh-so-sensitive tip.
Pleasure burst through her and Kate moaned. Trembling started somewhere deep in the bottom of her belly and spread to her limbs. She was going to fall down soon if she didn’t sit down. Or lie down.
She just wanted to concentrate on the pleasure, not the necessity of staying on her feet and balanced.
“My turn,” Roman demanded, and shoved at Garrett’s shoulder.
Garrett straightened up, smiling. “I have a better idea.” He bent and put his shoulder to Kate’s thighs, and wrapped his arm around the back of them. Then he lifted her with the speed and force of an elevator. She gasped and clutched at his shoulder as she folded over it like cooked spaghetti.
Garrett moved to the over-sized bed and leaned over the middle of it. He lowered her onto it, on her back and kissed her, hard and quickly.
Then he straightened up again and moved back to where Roman stood in the empty inner circle of Kate’s abandoned dress, watching.
“You, come here,” Garrett said, curling his fingers over the band of Roman’s trousers and tugging. He pulled him closer to the foot of the bed. Roman allowed himself to be led, a little smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Then Garrett grabbed the back of his head with his big hand, the long fingers curling around and tangling in his hair. He kissed him, while Kate watched, her breath halted. There was nothing to stop the kiss this time. No externals, no public, no excuses, and no more secrets. By the time their lips parted, Kate’s entire body was pounding with hard, driving lust as she watched them strain to inhale just a little bit more of each other. As the kiss went on they drew closer and closer together until their bodies were mashed together tightly.
She licked her lips, as they looked at each other. She could barely hear for the thundering of her heart.
“Not the same,” Roman muttered, his voice hoarse.
“It’s better.”
“Knowing...”
“Yeah.”
They both turned and looked at her.
Kate’s heart stuttered to a stop. She had to take three quick breathes to speak. “Now, will both of you please, please make love to me?”
They slid onto the bed, one on either side of her and Roman kissed her this time. She could see hot, bright wanting in his eyes and realized that for the first time he had let down his guard completely. He was telegraphing his feelings openly and it was a fiery furnace in there.
She couldn’t believe she had ever thought him icy.
Garrett reached over her hip and tugged at Roman’s trousers, one-handed. “Help me,” he murmured to Kate.
Roman’s breath expelled heavily as they both worked to shed him of the last of his clothes. His cock was rampantly erect and dark with blood.
Garrett drew his finger the length of it, making it twitch and making Kate catch her breath at the sight. “Kate’s demonstrated she likes seeing us play and I’m tempted to do just that. But there’s something else I want to do even more.”
“We’re of a mind on that,” Roman said. He rolled onto his back and tugged at Kate’s wrist. “Come here.”
Garrett picked her up around the waist and helped her straddle him. His hand caressed her ass.
Roman caught her face and drew her down to him to kiss him. “Remember the time I fucked you with the dildo inside you, Kate?” He guided her hips so his cock pushed its way inside her in slow increments.
“Mmm.” It was all she could manage to say. She was being fucked in front of another man. In front of Garrett. It was wildly arousing. Her climax was already starting to build. Her whole body was heating with the power of it, the nerves vibrating.
Roman’s cock settled deep inside her. “This is going to be so much better,” he said, pulling her gently forward so she lay against his chest.
Garrett’s hand smoothed over her ass again. Kate didn’t feel exposed, but she did feel wickedly wanton. His fingertips stroked her cleft, leaving tingling nerve ends in their wake, and she realized that he was spreading lubricant.
“Oh man, I may come if you keep that up,” Roman murmured. “I can feel it too. You’re making her clench around me.”
“Enjoy it,” Garrett murmured. “I won’t hurry this.”
Kate gave a choked moan as his fingers slipped inside her ass, spreading her, testing her. Her heart hurled itself against her chest and she clutched at the bed cover.
Then he spread her even wider and she realized with a rush of pure pleasure that this was Garrett’s cock, now. He was easing into her. She was taking them both in at the same time.
His fingers gripped her hips as he slipped into her tiny fractions of an inch at a time, letting her get used to them both.
Roman kissed the corner of her mouth. “Breathe,” he murmured. “And relax.”
She took in a breath and made herself relax and just like magic, Garrett was inside her, all the way.
Oh, and it was good.
She blinked, looking down at Roman, as Garrett’s lips pressed against the back of her shoulder.
“It feels…wonderful,” she whispered, awed.
“I can feel both of you,” Roman said, pushing her hair back over her shoulder.
She glanced at Garrett.
His mouth lifted at the corner. “I’m already addicted.” He was breathing heavily.
“You don’t have to do that, do you?” she asked. “The breathing, I mean. You don’t have to breathe all the time.”
He shook his head a little. “Right now, I do. I had no idea…” He shook his head and kissed her. “Enough. Roman, the lady made a demand. Let’s deliver and analyze later.”
“Listen to the bard,” Roman said, his hands sliding around her waist. “Anyone would think he’s worried about shooting his load too fast.”
“Philistine.”
“Highlander.”
Garrett thrust into her, just a little. She caught her breath at the delight that rippled through her. The intense sensation of fullness was leavened by the fact that the shafts penetrating her were both flesh, not the usual cock and toy combination she was used to. There was no unforgiving rigid device inside her and it made all the difference in the world.
Then Garrett and Roman between them began to thrust together, Roman driving his hips upwards. She sucked in a deep breath as sensations bombarded her. The pleasure spiralled quickly, driving her toward an orgasm that swelled enormously and kept building well beyond anything she had ever experienced before.
She clawed at Roman’s shoulder. “Oh, Roman,” she tried to breathe, to warn him, as the peak of the climax kept roiling inside her, swelling and not claiming her. The power of it was almost frightening.
“Come for us,” Garrett breathed, his arm under her waist, supporting her, even as his thrusts deepened. His voice was a dark whisper next to her ear. She could feel his lips on the nape of her neck, brushing over the flesh.
The knowledge that Garrett was going to bite her brought her climax on. Kate’s breath stilled. Her whole body locked in the grip of the silvered peak of exquisite pleasure.
Roman surged up from the bed and she saw the flash of his teeth extending, his lips parting. He bit the other side of her neck just as Garrett’s teeth sunk into her skin.
The double dose of the aphrodisiac hit her and snapped her spine taut with mind-numbing, shockingly sweet pleasure. It thrilled and trilled through her extremities, making every nerve sing with joy. The rush of heat and silver-blue glory swept from the ends to her middle, then up her spine in a wave, to her head. She gasped as it reached her brain, sending fireworks of indescribable colour and music dancing through her mind.
“Ohh…” she breathed.