Chapter 6

 

“You sure about this, Legs?”

“You’ve spent weeks talking me into it, are you chickening out now that we’re here?”

Ben leaned back in his chair at their private outdoor table at Rousseau’s café, lifting his face to the sun for a moment before shaking his head, a wicked smile curving his lips. “No way. I just want to make sure you know what you’re getting us into.”

“I don’t, but I’m doing it anyway.”

“Remind me to thank Mambo Toussaint for that gris-gris she gave you.”

Allegra raised her eyebrow knowingly. “I don’t think she meant it for you at all. In fact, I’m sure of it. I have a feeling she sees you as perfect son-in-law material.”

Ben flinched. “Sadly, I’m afraid her matchmaker skills are off when it comes to her daughter. I’m the last person in the world Michelle wants. She’s told me often enough.”

Not “I don’t want her” but “She doesn’t want me.” She’d been right. He had a thing for her best friend. Maybe she should have left him out of this. She just wasn’t sure she could work up the courage to do it without his help. “Are you positive you want to do this with me?”

He reached for her hand, catching her gaze with his own. “Are you kidding? You are a fascinating woman, and Rousseau is the best guy I know. Plus, I think you need a spotter.”

She started to choke, pulling her hand from his to reach for her bottled water. Ben’s expression of innocent concern wasn’t helping. “A spotter?”

“Like in gymnastics? A spotter is there in case someone takes a tumble.” He shrugged at her disbelieving expression. “What? My mother loves the Olympics. The point is, we trust each other enough and like each other enough to turn BD on and drive Rousseau crazy. I’m actually the star of this plan, so you can’t ditch me now that it’s getting interesting.”

“How exactly are you planning to drive him crazy?”

“Don’t look now, but it’s already working.”

Allegra turned her head to glance through the café window. Rousseau was untying his apron, motioning the last of the female stragglers out the door, his angry gaze never leaving hers. “Uh-oh.”

She watched, her heart in her throat, as he strode out the door, rounding the corner until he was standing beside them. “We’re closing early today. I’m going to need to take the table inside.”

“I’ll help.” Ben started to stand up, but Rousseau’s look froze him in his seat.

“It’s the middle of the afternoon. You two always come in the morning. What are you doing here?”

Ben shrugged lazily, his expression so relaxed Allegra wondered if he’d ever taken any acting classes. He had skills.

“We’re here for a—” He glanced at Allegra, who nodded adamantly. “Yes, I do believe we’re here for a threesome. Is the café closed for that?”

“Don’t start this. Not today.” Rousseau stepped closer to Ben, fists clenched at his sides as his friend got to his feet.

“Sorry, man. It’ll never happen if I leave it up to you. You’re too scared to go after what you want.” Ben’s words made Allegra groan.

“And you never think about the consequences. How do you think Allegra will feel when she realizes you’ve been holding a torch for her roommate for years?” He lowered his voice. “How do you think this is going to end, Ben? If you cared at all—” 

“I want you, Bone Daddy.”

Allegra slapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide as Rousseau whipped around to face her. She’d said it. She’d wanted them to stop fighting and the words came tumbling out.

“Allegra.” His tone was disappointed, but his handsome face lit with an excitement he couldn’t quite conceal. “Who told you?”

“Not you.” She lifted her chin stubbornly. “Do you want me to take it back?”

“No, damn it. Ben, get her upstairs. Fast.”

She saw the golden cast to his eyes and her heart started racing. Ben picked her up in his arms again and headed inside, ignoring the growl they heard behind him.

She leaned her head on his chest, trying to catch her breath and worrying about what happened next. “This is getting to be a habit.”

“I’d carry you anywhere, Legs. And that’s a fact.”

“Why didn’t he come with us?”

“I think he wanted to give you a chance to prepare.”

He slid open the loft door with one hand, carrying her into the large room and setting her down on a narrow kitchen chair. “Or maybe this is where I’m supposed to tell you that Bone Daddy doesn’t only want one thing. He craves it. It’s like food to him, and each bite he has makes him hungry for more.”

“Like food?” Oh, God, it was only sex he wanted, right? She’d known how he got his energy, she understood it was a sexual exchange, but the knowledge that it would be sex with a being straight out of fiction made all the terrifying things she’d ever seen or heard about voodoo flash through her mind. What if the more he wanted was brains for his zombie army? Or the souls of innocent children? Or her blood?

That rich, sensual chuckle filled the air, and Ben took a step away from her to give her a clear view of the man leaning against the door frame. Bone Daddy, she thought, a little hysterically, an image of a pile of skulls popping into her head.

“What an imagination you have, cher. Morbid, but amusing. I don’t make zombies or steal souls.”

Allegra glared over at Ben when he let out a surprised laugh.

Bone Daddy ignored him. “And blood isn’t what I want to taste on my tongue, to soak my fingers in when I touch you. I’m not that kind of animal.”

He could hear her thoughts. What was it with this city? Two psychic men prying into her mind and emotions was a little too much for her to take. But it didn’t take a psychic to understand his graphic words. He fed off sex.

“Not just sex, Allegra. Satisfaction. And today, it is your satisfaction I crave. Rousseau and I may be in true accord for the first time since we met. Neither one of us can wait to make you come. To finally experience it in the flesh.”

He strode toward her, his motions confident, predatory. He was a jungle cat stalking his prey, eyes golden and dangerous. What was it like, she wondered, to live underneath someone else’s skin? What was the draw that kept him tethered to Rousseau?

Allegra was still as a statue on the tiny wooden chair, clinging to it as he reached behind him and pulled his white T-shirt over his head.

Beautiful.

“Thank you.”

The muscles in his arms and abs rippled with leashed power as he reached for his belt. Every inch of skin revealed made her heart beat that much harder, that much faster. Made her mouth water in anticipation.

“You wonder why I stay, but you know better than anyone how delicious life can taste. You’ve sought it all your life. The thrill of blood rushing through your veins. The aches and pains that prove you survived another day. Hunger. Need. People take these things for granted, but until you know what it’s like to exist without them you shouldn’t judge me so harshly.”

She swallowed, her mouth going dry with desire and panic. He was mesmerizing. Convincing. Determined.

Maybe she’d overestimated her abilities. Her willpower.

Maybe this was a bad idea.

“Too late to back out now, cher. He tried to keep me away from you. To give you a choice. But you made it months ago, didn’t you?”

“Before I knew about your identity crisis.”

Bone Daddy threw back his head and laughed, his khaki pants falling to the floor to reveal him in all his glory. His thick, hard, fully erect—Oh, dear Lord.

“Did it matter all those mornings you spent in the coffee shop, pretending not to follow Rousseau’s every move? Or all those days you watched us from your window? Rousseau knew you were there. I told him. He watched you, too. Watched and felt an ache of longing at the sight of your sweet little body. The ache that you made that much worse when you came for us yesterday.”

She caught movement from the corner of her eye, saw Ben’s expression change to one of true surprise. Clearly touching her hadn’t told him she was a peeping pervert. But Bone Daddy knew. Rousseau knew.

Her face heated, but in spite of her embarrassment, she couldn’t stop her gaze from lowering to his erection. She’d felt it against her, seen it at a distance, but up close his cock was larger and profanely beautiful. Ridged and veined for pleasure. Hers.

Hot and restless, she shifted in her chair. A sharp twinge in her leg brought her back to herself with a start. She hadn’t been with anyone since her accident. She hadn’t even considered that hiccup. What if she couldn’t—

“We can’t have that,” he interrupted her worrying. “I’m not about to allow anything to distract you. Not now that you’ve finally called my name. I’m greedy for all your attention, Allegra. At least, until we are done.” He knelt down beside her, his rough palm smoothing over her left leg, from hip too knee.

Her skin was on fire. She jerked in the chair and pressed her lips together to hold back her scream.

“Legs?” Ben sounded frantic.

“Breathe, cher. It’s gone.”

Allegra gasped. The pain. It was gone again. Her leg hadn’t stopped hurting once in over a year, until the other night at the club, and then yesterday... Bone Daddy, with a single touch, had made it disappear. How had he done that?

Her shock must have shown in her expression, and he gentled his eternally wicked smile. Repeating the words that had echoed through her mind the day before, he said, “Don’t think, Allegra Jarod. Just feel.”

He kissed her. Bone Daddy. Rousseau. It didn’t seem to matter at the moment. This was the man she wanted, and his lips were just as soft as she’d imagined, just as warm.

He pulled back enough to look into her eyes, his own flickering like a golden flame. “Benjamin, since you’ve taken it upon yourself to be our third, I’ll ask you to make yourself useful.”

“I’m on it, BD.” She heard Ben’s footsteps taking him farther away, wondering at her confidant, masculine friend’s instant obedience, but she quickly forgot him as Rousseau’s mouth pressed against hers once more.

He had a way about him that clouded her mind. He was a walking aphrodisiac. It wasn’t fair.

“Life isn’t fair, Allegra. Isn’t it exciting?”

He ate at her mouth, biting at her lips, then soothing the pain with tender licks. She felt him tug her dress down once more, willingly lifting off the chair long enough for him to sweep it away completely, along with her brand-new pair of pink lace underwear.

Her inhibitions shed along with her clothes once again. His taste, the feel of his smooth skin burning beneath her hands was addictive. She needed more.

Focus.

She was only human, she thought as she wrapped both her legs around his waist to pull him closer. “You’ve talked a good game, BD,” she said saucily, using Ben’s nickname for the Loa. “Can you deliver?”

He growled, standing with her in his arms. “I knew you’d be like this. You’re made of fire, head to toe. You’ll burn us all and we’ll beg for more.”

He walked across the living room toward the large platform bed against the wall, Allegra holding on tight. “Rousseau thought you a hothouse flower, delicate and fragile. He didn’t think you’d be able to take what we wanted to give you. All the depraved and wicked things we wanted to do to you.”

“Was that why you danced with me at the club? To show him?”

He stopped, looking down at her with a surprisingly uncertain expression. He hadn’t expected her to make that connection. “That was my plan, yes. But he’s still concerned and it occurs to me he might not be wrong. You crave tenderness as well, I can feel it. Your pleasure is why I’m here. Should I turn Benjamin away, and cover you with rose petals? Grope you carefully in the dark beneath the covers? Is that what you want? Tell me now.”

“No.” She didn’t try to lie. “That’s the last thing I want.”

“Then what?” He moved forward again until his knees hit the side of the bed, his gaze alert as he studied her. She could see the Loa, but she was starting to see Rousseau in there as well. Two distinct entities, both waiting to hear her answer.

She meant to sound confident, sure, but her voice came out in a whisper. “All the depraved and wicked things you want to do.”

Ben groaned, making her jerk in surprise. “Good girl, Legs.”

He dropped a handful of condoms, a small bottle of lubricant, and what looked like a wooden bowl filled with dark liquid on the bedside table. Her eyebrows rose.

Rousseau’s golden eyes sparkled dangerously. “No, Benjamin. Bad girl. My bad girl.” Without warning, he tossed her on the bed.

Allegra laughed, a carefree, joyous sound that she’d almost forgotten she could make. This was what she wanted. No pity, no careful touches and no more platonic fuck buddies. Fun and fire. Heat and passion. All for her.

They stood over her like two opposite sides of the same heart-stopping coin. Ben with his blond, all-American good looks, and Rousseau, darkly handsome and irresistible. The only thing they had in common was the approval in their eyes as they studied her naked body on the bed.

She slid her legs against the cool sheets, loving the freedom of motion, loving how their attention followed her every move. Her hands caressed her thighs, uncaring of the small ridges scattered over her skin. The ones she’d been so insecure about every time she looked in the mirror.

It was impossible to ignore their admiration, their desire. Her scars didn’t bother them at all. And suddenly, they didn’t bother her either. Instead, they were proof of life. Of survival.

“You are a warrior woman.” The harsh voice growled in Rousseau’s throat. “In my world, you would be a queen.” He motioned to Ben, who’d unbuttoned his linen shirt, revealing broad shoulders and a well-defined chest. “We will not share her this first time. Neither of us can allow it. But you may watch.”

Ben held up his hands and stepped back. “With pleasure, BD. You know how I love to watch. As long as there is a next time.” He winked at Allegra, then Rousseau was leaning over her body, his hands landing on either side of her head as he studied her.

She licked her lips, loving the weight of him against her, his cock hard against her thigh. He dipped down to bite her chin. “I don’t think any of the others we’ve had have ever felt as right as you do against us. There is something special about you.”

She narrowed her eyes, surprising herself by lifting her head to bite his jaw in return. “Note to Bone Daddy, mentioning other women while naked is not high on my list of exciting foreplay options.”

“Oh, I do like you, little one,” he purred, his eyes flashing. “We’ve never told anyone what we are, other than Ben. It’s very liberating, this honesty. I don’t know why I’ve never tried it before. Shall I tell you what Rousseau thought of the very first time he saw you?” He smiled. “He says no. Perhaps I will just show you instead.”

He slid down her body, his breath hot against her nipples, the soft curve of her belly. “Freckles. You have freckles everywhere. They are incredibly distracting.” He stopped to lick a small patch of them clustered on her hip, making deep sounds of appreciation against her skin.

“You, ah, you really do like freckles then? Oh, that feels...mmm.”

“Like cinnamon sprinkled all over your body. They taste as sweet to me. You have one on your lip I couldn’t stop staring at. Rousseau never understood my fascination. But he does now.”

His lips glided along her hip to her thigh, his fingers tugging the wet red curls of her sex, making her moan. She curved toward him, lifting her hips in a silent plea for more.

He smiled against her skin. “Good. You aren’t shaved. So many women are these days, but I love a natural woman.”

“You and Aretha Franklin.”

He chuckled, tugging again, and Allegra felt her clit pulsing in response. “This is what Rousseau thought about most. He wanted to fall to his knees, press his face between your thighs and worship you. To spread your legs and feast. He was so hungry for you, cher. So hungry he couldn’t hide it from me.”

He lifted her legs over his shoulders, kneeling on the floor beside the bed. “She’s so wet. So pretty and pink and wet for us.”

“She’s beautiful.”

Allegra lifted heavy lids to look over Rousseau’s shoulder, catching Ben’s gaze. His blond hair fell over his glittering eyes as he watched them together. She’d almost forgotten he was there again, that he was a witness to the most intimate experience of her life.

It didn’t make her uncomfortable or nervous now. It felt right. She wasn’t sure if he was here as her spotter or here for Rousseau. Maybe both. It didn’t matter now. Not when he was fulfilling one of her fantasies by watching her succumb to desire. And another part of her, apparently more debauched than she’d realized, was hoping that he’d get another chance to touch her as well.

Bone Daddy tugged on her curls again, a little harder this time. “I must be boring you if that pale empath can take your attention away from me. I think I’ll have to do something about that.”

His fingers spread the lips of her sex open and he lowered his head, his tongue exploring her newly exposed flesh with a skill she could only react to.

“Yes.” Her back arched off the bed, eyes closing in ecstasy at the sensations flooding her system. It had been so long. And it had never felt like this.

He sucked her clit in his mouth, his tongue swirling to gather every drop of her arousal. He groaned aloud at her taste, gripping her hips to pull her closer, burying his face deeper between her thighs.

Her hands curled into fists around the sheet beneath her, the heels of her feet digging into his back as his short hair tickled her thighs. “Please.”

She couldn’t help lifting her hips and rocking against his mouth as his tongue thrust deep, feral sounds of approval rumbling in his chest. She gripped the back of his head, holding him close and fucking his beautiful mouth. “More.”

More. She didn’t know whose thought it was, but it repeated in her head like a melody played to the beat of her pounding heart. Her skin was on fire, spine tingling with the power of her rising arousal.

His hands slid from her hips to the cheeks of her ass, squeezing, caressing, spreading. She was drenched with need, her sex and thighs soaked with it. Rousseau’s fingers, too, were slick and coated with her heat.

Allegra’s eyes opened wide when she felt the firm pressure of his thumbs against her ass. Without lifting his mouth from her he met her gaze, his own glowing with determination and untamed passion. He wasn’t asking for permission, he was demanding she submit.

She breathed out on a trembling sigh, and the pressure increased. She’d experimented with toys in the past, mostly out of curiosity, but she was sure she would never allow anyone to take her there. But she’d been sure of a lot of things a few days ago. Sure she wasn’t into threesomes, or voyeurism, or men with split personalities.

The Bone Daddy Effect. That must be it. How else could she explain her wicked behavior? Her sudden impatience to feel him filling her from behind?

His growl grew louder, and his thumbs pushed inside her in small, short thrusts. Fiery bursts of pleasure exploded through her body. Oh God, it was too much. Overwhelming. His mouth, his hands... Too much.

Come quick this first time, cher. We’ve waited too long for a taste of you.

Her cry was loud in the stillness of the loft. Her neck arched at an impossible angle, eyes sightless with the strength of her orgasm. She was shaking, her flesh sizzling with electricity.

She lifted her head, seeking connection. She wanted to see him, to look into those eyes and know she’d pleased him as much as he’d pleased her. That she wasn’t alone in this.

Her vision cleared in time to witness the battle. He hadn’t stopped, if anything he was more voracious, greedier for her taste. But his eyes were changing, flashing hazel and gold and back again. She knew what was happening. Rousseau wanted out. Wanted to experience this—her—firsthand.

Yes.

She shivered, her hips jerking against his mouth as the waves of her climax continued to break over her. She pushed against his thumbs, loving the sharp, stinging stretch—already wanting more.

He lifted his head, his full lips shining with the evidence of her pleasure. His upper lip curled, snarled as he pushed away from her, standing to step back from the bed. Every muscle in his body was tensed and his hands were fists at his sides.

Was Rousseau struggling for control? As she recovered from the most intense climax of her life, he paced restlessly. She noticed Ben leaning against the wall, his eyes never leaving his friend.

She’d wondered how it felt for the Loa, but what must this be like for Rousseau? To have his choice taken away while someone else enjoyed something he wanted. How had it happened? Why? And what did his father have to do with it?

Golden eyes turned her way. “The only trouble with honesty is how inconvenient it can be. No lies, isn’t that what you said, cher? Benjamin, take off your clothes now and get on the bed. I will tell you both a bedtime story.”

Allegra bit her lip, wondering if he was punishing himself by including Ben in this. It was clear he wasn’t enjoying the idea.

He gripped his cock as he watched Ben obey, coming to sit behind a nervous Allegra. She wanted to turn around, to study Ben’s bare body the way he’d studied hers, but she couldn’t tear her gaze away from Rousseau.

He tightened his fist around his erection, knowing he had a captive audience. “Once upon a time, there was a man who wanted to fuck. He didn’t want to fuck his adoring wife, the mother of his three children. He didn’t want to fuck the lovely little piece he already had on the side. No. He wanted to fuck a woman who didn’t want him or trust him. A woman who was not swayed by his charm or outward appearance, but saw him for exactly what he was.”

He stepped closer to the bed, and Allegra couldn’t help but lower her eyes. The way he was touching himself ensnared her. She wanted to touch him like that. She heard him speak again and fought to focus on his words, knowing they were important.

“He was a practitioner of voodoo, this fucking man. More faithful to it than he’d ever been to any woman. He should have known better, but he asked the spirits for help. He wanted to force the object of his desire to love him. He wanted her to want him more than she wanted to live.”

Ben’s hand slid protectively over her back as he listened. “I thought that was taboo. A Loa can’t make someone do what they don’t want to do.”

Rousseau’s lush lips quirked. “Can and should, Benjamin. Two very different words. We can do anything. But most Loa wouldn’t poke a request like that with a stick. Most would turn their backs in disgust and never acknowledge the priest again.”

Allegra was beginning to understand. “Except for you.”

He shrugged. “I am too soft-hearted. He was a desperate man and being the occasionally impulsive creature that I am, I didn’t see the entire picture until after I’d agreed. And what he was offering in return was impossible to resist.” His fist tightened around his cock, and he thrust into his own hand with a groan.

“He offered you his son’s body.” Ben sounded disgusted. She’d like a few minutes alone with Rousseau’s father herself. “And he died before he could fix it.”

The laugh was distinctly Bone Daddy’s. It gave Allegra a sensual shiver. “As if he would. He laid his family out on a platter for my sampling pleasure, so I gave him what he asked for. The woman loved him well that night. Loved him as though she would die without him inside her. The next morning they found them both dead in the hotel room, she with the gun still in her hand. Seems after all he went through to get his true love, the damn fool refused to leave his wife for her. His reputation, what there was of it, was too important.”

“How could he barter with other people’s lives like that? His family’s lives?”

He lifted a hand to Allegra’s forehead, pushing a strawberry curl out of her eyes. It was gentle, totally at odds with the ugly story he’d just dropped in their laps. “Don’t be sad, cher. Sadness doesn’t feed me. It isn’t the way to get rid of me either.”

Something in his tone put Allegra on alert. If sadness wasn’t the way, that meant there had to be another. A way to get Rousseau out of his father’s debt and a way to satisfy Bone Daddy. Just like the old man had said.

A shadow of surprise crossed his face, and then his smile widened. “No more stories. You’ve had enough time to recover, cher. Are you ready for round two?”