Lilly had only been home two days, but already it seemed as if she’d never been away. Her time at the dragon clan and all the crazy things that happened began to feel as insubstantial as a dream. She yawned and stared at her reflection. She’d been awfully tired these last couple of days and supposed it must be jet lag. She looked tired, too, which didn’t bode well for the party she’d be attending later with Missy. A party she dreaded as she’d need to face Zach and sort things out between them once and for all.
Applying another dab of under eye concealer, she narrowed her eyes. A horn sounded outside, and she glanced out of her window to see Missy pulling up in her Mercedes. Time to go. She spritzed some Chanel on her wrists and fluffed her hair a little, and then she tottered out of her room. God, the heels took some getting used to after ages wearing her comfies at the clan.
Tomorrow, she’d be back at the shelter, and she found herself more excited at seeing her furry friends than she was for Zach. A sad state of affairs when she thought back to how much she’d cared for him once upon a time.
“Bye, Mom. See you later.” Her mother strode out of the living area, her sensible shoes clacking on the tiled floor.
“Oh, darling. You look lovely. Have a wonderful time.” Her mother air-kissed her cheek and headed off to the kitchen. Probably to get her father’s evening meal sorted. He’d been late in last night as usual.
Lilly got into the car and nearly choked on Missy’s overpowering perfume. She looked at her friend and stared for a few seconds. Her lips were different. Bigger, much bigger.
“Babe, what did you do?”
Missy laughed. “Oh, I got some filler. Do you like?” She pouted. “Blow job lips. Maybe I’ll get me a guy I deserve, finally.”
Lilly thought it sad that Missy believed she needed to inject a load of chemicals into her lips to find true love, but she didn’t say anything. She’d never have to do anything like that to make Rhyndor or Callum like her. But then, she reminded herself, Callum only wanted her to help Rhyndor. He talked about Zach using her, but he’d proved to be no better.
Missy pulled out smoothly onto the quiet road and drove sedately, every now and again popping her gum. As they sailed down the road, Lilly happened to glance to the side and gasped. They glided past a parked sedan, and inside, visible despite the dark interior of the car, was her father. Her father and another woman. Kissing.
She wanted to be sick. Reaching her hands out, she braced herself against the dashboard.
“What’s wrong?” Missy shot her a concerned glance.
“I think…no, I know, I’ve just seen my dad kissing someone. Oh, fuck. What if Mom and Dad are going to get a divorce?” She blinked back tears.
Missy didn’t say anything for a short while, but then she sighed and drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. “Hon, I love you. But you’re so naïve. Your dad has been playing around on your mom for years. As does my dad with my mom. They aren’t going to get divorced. Why should they? It’s what these guys do. They have the trophy wives at home, the perfect kids, and then their bits on the side. The wives don’t say anything…ever. I mean, they’re more like pets, aren’t they, than wives? Kept in their gilded cages. Tons of money but not much else. Think about it. My mom has a better degree than my dad. But she gave up work when she had me and my brother and never went back. She spent her time at playdates and mommy lunches. And if she and Dad ever do split up, she’ll be well-rewarded. It’s the unspoken rules. They get to have fun too. Mom had a blazing affair with her tennis coach, and he’s hot as fuck. It’s the way people like us live.”
“Why?” Lilly didn’t get it. Who’d choose such a life? Her head spun, and the nausea rose further. She’d often suspected her father of infidelity and knew her parents’ marriage wasn’t all warmth and deep love, but seeing the evidence shocked her. And the woman he’d been kissing looked so young.
“Why? Who cares? It’s the way it is. These guys work hard. They earn a fuckton of money. The women go to the best colleges, have a short-lived career, and pack it all in when they find the guy to keep them in the lifestyle they want.”
“So, you’ve been to college, and now you’re going to work your ass off, to what? Live with some guy you expect to cheat on you? Why bother with the whole college part?”
One of the reasons Lilly herself hadn’t gone to college yet, much to her parents’ dismay, was that she didn’t know what she wanted from her life. Not really.
Missy shook her head. “Firstly, I didn’t say I was going to do any of that. But my point still stands. You’re naïve. Why get the degree? Because these women need the degree, the pedigree, to have gone to the right school to fit in. Otherwise, pretty as they may be, they’ll be the one getting kissed on a dark street in a parked car. It’s the way things are among our set. You know this. You’ve lived with us long enough. We’re the upper crust of the upper crust. Different rules apply, baby.”
Lilly turned to her friend in astonishment. “Are you going to follow this well-trodden path?”
Missy shrugged. “I haven’t decided what I’m going to do. I mean, it’s not all bad. But then again, I’d quite like to do my own thing. Although, look at my mom. She plays tennis, golf, swims, goes to the spa, has a riot with her friends. It’s hardly a bad life. And if you do get with Zach, it will be your life, too. You will do the charity thing like your mom. Look amazing. Have great friends, beautiful holidays, everything you could ask for.”
“Except love.”
Missy nibbled on her lip. “You’ll have love. Your kids will love you, your friends will love you, and Zach will love you, in his own way. Don’t go confusing romantic love with the foundations you build a family and a successful life on.” She sighed. “I’m not saying you should opt for the gilded cage scenario. I’m just saying you need to be aware of what you’re getting into. And then choose wisely.”
Lilly’s phone beeped, and she glanced at it, expecting to see something from Zach, but she didn’t recognize the number. She brought the long message up, and her heart flipped violently.
Hey, Princess. Callum here. I wanted to know you’re okay. You’re a naughty girl running off like you did, worried us sick. But I get it. It all got a bit too much, and you needed to bug out for a while. Not that I want to add to your emotional overload, but I need to tell you something. You matter to me. You matter as much as Rhyndor. I didn’t make it obvious, and I regret it now. You’re important to me, Princess. C.
Holy shit! He did care. She already believed Rhyndor would lay down his damn life for her. He’d do almost anything for her, but she hadn’t let herself think about anything with the guys as she’d assumed Callum only wanted her for Rhyndor, and eventually, it would lead to all sorts of problems. Not that she wanted to be with them. Of course not. The notion was purely ridiculous. She’d only known them days. Yes, she missed them. But they’d shared some intense times. Now, she needed to get her head on straight and decide what to do with her life. And for the first time, she felt terror when she thought of the future, because she couldn’t map it. No way would she be with Zach in some sort of horrible corporate marriage. But without him, who was she? Who would she become?
It seemed so damned ironic. She had two sets of men wanting her, but neither offered her a realistic future. One future was too cold, too clinical. The other too crazy, too impetuous. And she began to understand that if she wanted to be happy, she needed to make her own future. Do something she loved, and that was helping animals. Her parents had enough money to help with shelter start-up costs, and she’d never asked them for anything. She wasn’t stupid, and with some study, she was sure she could figure out the legal ins and outs of setting up a charity. Excitement filled her as, for the first time, a plan, an idea for the future, formed.
“I’m sorry if I’ve upset you.” Missy’s voice broke into her reverie. “You know me. I can be blunt. But this is the sort of life we live in our social circle. And it’s a good one in many ways. You’ll have a husband who earns a ton of money at a Wall Street firm or a hotshot law firm. You’ll earn some good money yourself in the early years, then you’ll have kids, and you get to spend time enjoying them when they’re young. And you’ll live a lifestyle most can only dream of—and without having to work fourteen-hour days for it. I mean, my parents are well-off, but they will hopefully live a long time. This might sound cold, but either I work for it or marry it, unless I want to wait until I’m maybe in my sixties to inherit it. Same goes for you. Or…we walk away from it and do our own thing. We’d still be comfortable. I hardly see either of our parents letting us starve.”
“I get what you’re saying, and you’ve not offended me. You’ve helped clarify things for me. I don’t care about the money, and I do care about love. I want it all. I want the fantasy, and for me, the fantasy always included love. Real, true love. Not some sort of affection with monetary-strings-attached kind of a deal. I want a guy who’d lay his life down for me.” Oh, shit. She really did. And she hadn’t understood as much until that moment.
Missy laughed. “Honey, you ain’t ever going to find a man like you’re describing. They don’t exist.”
“Not true. You remember the article!” She referred to a story in the newspaper a few years ago, about a local man who’d laid his life down for his fiancée. The woman in question had been charged by a bear, and he’d distracted it, screaming for her to run. The article showed his picture, and he’d been handsome as sin. For the longest time, they’d both declared they’d never settle for anything less.
Not wanting to talk anymore, Lilly turned to stare out of the window as the night passed by. Once they pulled into the driveway of Zach’s family mansion, the nerves were fluttering like crazy. This night would be make-or-break for them, and her heart leaned way more toward break. Despite everything he’d done to her over the years, it still took courage for her to end it completely because, in other ways, he’d been her anchor. The person she’d thought she felt safe with. Now, she realized much of those feelings were mere wishful thinking. She intended to have a good long talk with him.
If someone told her a few weeks ago she’d be in this place in their relationship, she’d never have believed it. Maybe she was finally growing up?
Getting out of the car, Missy smoothed her long, golden locks. The girl looked like a cover model; she had no need for the new pillowy pout.
“Hey, guys.” Renee, one of the gang, ran over to them and pulled them both into a hug. “Come and get some drinks. There’s some hot guys here, some friends of Zach’s who have flown in from California. One of them is an agent for the movies!”
Missy’s eyes lit up, and Lilly bet she’d drop any vague ideas of wifely servitude in a hot minute if she thought fame and fortune beckoned. Hating the bitter way her thoughts kept going, she followed her friends into Zach’s palatial home, waving hellos here and there to people she knew.
It took half an hour before she saw Zach. The first thing she noted was how small he looked. He stood five foot eleven, so not a shoddy height. But compared to the six foot five or so of Rhyndor, and Callum’s only slightly shorter stature, he looked…insignificant. Add in his lean build and preppy style, and he couldn’t hold a candle to her dragon males.
She sipped at her drink and leaned against a dresser she knew cost upward of twenty thousand dollars. She knew because Zach told her once when she’d spilled a drop of wine on it. Luckily, the liquid wiped off the lacquered surface easily.
A flash of anger at the memory of seeing her father with that woman washed over her, making her grit her teeth.
A petite, curvy blonde sashayed over to Zach, and Lilly bit back a bitter smile at the way his eyes ran all over her ample attributes as they talked. The blonde laughed and tossed her hair over her shoulder, and he licked his lips and ran a finger down her arm. Lilly rolled her eyes. The guy’s flirting came built in to his DNA. As much a part of him as his green eyes and sandy blond hair. He looked good. Relaxed, handsome, oh-so-sure of himself. But the usual kick in the gut, heart-lurching feelings weren’t there as she watched him.
Deciding they needed to talk, she pushed off the wall and strolled over to the flirt show going on at the other end of the room.
“Zachary.” She used his full name and liked the confusion that washed over his features at her cool tone.
“Lilly! I was about to come and find you.”
She glanced at the blonde. “Looks like it.”
He narrowed his eyes, and she nearly laughed. He hated it when she made a scene. And suddenly like scales falling from her eyes, she saw his act of generosity, of taking her under his wing all those years ago for what it really was. Control.
He’d been there for her, but only so long as she’d behaved how he wanted her to. She had to put up with him pushing her away and pulling her back. He never got tired of telling her how stupid the things she loved were. He’d paid for her lessons in horse riding, tennis, and skiing, which she’d thought generous but now viewed as another attempt to mold her into someone he could tolerate being married to.
“You look amazing.” His eyes dragged down her body.
“So…do you want to swap details? About the job?” Hot blonde simpered up at him.
“Use the contact form on the company website.” And just like that, he dismissed her.
Two months ago, Lilly would have felt a jab of triumph in the moment, but now she only experienced a jolt of contempt for the nasty way he dismissed the other woman.
He leaned in close, and she smelled vodka on his breath. “You’re the hottest fucking thing here.”
“You got bored of your conquest, then? Came running back to me, tail between your legs?”
His face grew pinched, and he pursed his lips. “Don’t be a bitch, Lil. Doesn’t suit you.”
“I don’t know. I think it’s a long time coming. You can’t keep dumping me to go off with your latest fling.” She sighed and glanced down at the floor, before forcing herself to look back at him.
“I’m going home. I need to rest. Jet lag’s killing me.” She smiled and kissed his cheek. She knew they needed to talk, that she had to end it once and for all, but now wasn’t the time. There’d be no second, or more like tenth, chance for Zach because she simply didn’t trust him with who and what she was.
A hand grabbed her elbow, and she spun to see Missy, eyes alight. “Holy shit. I’ve seen the two hottest guys ever. I mean, amazingly hot. One of them desperately needs a haircut and a fashion consult, but damn, you don’t do the nasty with your clothes on.”
Lilly glanced around the room, her heart rate picking up speed. Surely, it wouldn’t be. Couldn’t be.
“You don’t get to come in here and act all high and mighty and then simply fuck off home. I came back for you.” Zach’s voice rose. “What about your texts when I first left? ‘Zach, don’t do this,’” he mimicked in a singsong voice. “‘Zach, not again. Don’t I mean more to you than this? Zach, I miss you.’ Blah, blah, blah. And now what? You’re suddenly over it? Over me? Over us?”
“No, Zach. I’m not suddenly over it, as you put it. It hurts. But I’ve found some things out about myself these past few weeks, and I’m not going to be messed around by you anymore.”
His eyes flashed, but he reined in his temper. “I won’t mess you around. I’m done with it. I’m a guy, Lil. You can’t expect me to marry my childhood sweetheart without having any other experience. But I swear to you, I’m done.”
Those words would have soothed her soul a month ago. Before she knew she had her own flesh and blood to love her in the form of two sisters. Before she knew she could create fire with her hands and bring down huge men twice her size. Before she knew she’d have a home in Scotland or Wales, if she wanted it. Before she knew what incendiary sex felt like. Before she had a tentative plan about her future. She’d changed so much in a short span of time, there’d be no going back to the needy girl of a month ago.
“And what if I’ve popped out three or four kids and my boobs are sagging and my stomach’s no longer taut, and you’re bored. Bored of the same woman every night. You going to stay faithful to me, then?” She didn’t bother to talk about the fact that she couldn’t have kids, which for someone like Zach, who wanted to ensure the family line, would probably be a deal-breaker.
“Of course.” The words rolled off his tongue, glib, easy. A lie.
She did something then. She looked into his eyes and held his gaze. And he shifted from one foot to the other. His gaze darted away from her, only to land back on her like an agitated insect.
“So, if you swear to be faithful to me in the eyes of God, you intend to honor that vow?”
“Of course.” His tone shifted, irritation there under the smooth words. And his heart rate picked up. His breathing increased too.
He lied. She damn well nearly tasted it on the air. Oh God, she read him so easily. Like a book! Why hadn’t she discovered this talent years ago?
“I’ve got to go. We’ll talk tomorrow.” She gave him a gentle smile and turned to leave.
“What the fuck?” Zach’s angry voice echoed after her and stopped her in her tracks. He never got openly livid with her. Zach liked to use impatience and dismay and other subtler ways of getting her to do what he wanted. He never raised his voice to her in any real sense, but then, she supposed he’d never needed to.
“I organized this party for you.”
She turned to him, shrugged, and put her head to one side, regarding him. “No, Zach. You did this party for you. Like everything else in life. I’m tired and jet-lagged, and I’m going home.”
“Not truly home, though, is it?” he sneered. People were watching them now, mouths agog, and some shithead helpfully turned the music down so they could be heard clearly.
Not sure what he meant, she pivoted on her heel and walked on through the living room, hating the clack, clack, clack of her shoes echoing off the walls.
“You’re a cuckoo in their nest. They wanted their own child but couldn’t conceive. Your mom’s fault, of course. Daddy has a real kid of his own holed up in some apartment downtown. Your mom knows all about it. She keeps quiet because it doesn’t suit the family image. When they came home with you, people talked. Called you a gypsy because of how you look. Your weird accent.”
She snapped then, her face burning, her heart breaking at the news her father had another child. A real child of his own. And she had been a cuckoo in their nest. She’d felt it all along. Only, Zach didn’t understand why. They’d clearly taken her in to shield her from any effects of her heritage catching up with her. Perhaps adopting her had been a favor, or maybe a duty. Who knew? And she determined there and then to find out who the people were who’d taken her and her sisters and parceled them out to strangers, and why they’d done so. But for now, she wanted out of this horrible party with the fake people who didn’t care for her one bit.
“My accent is British, you utter arsehole, and has nothing to do with gypsies, not that it should matter if it did. And when you stop being a racist dick, you might wish to go and take a look in the mirror. You’ve some food on your lip.”
Head high, she began to walk again. His voice once more rang out in the room.
“You walk away now, and we’re done. And no one else will want you. You were my pity project. That, and you’re kind of hot when you’re not wearing weird shit. Although you’re boring in the sack, truth be told. But we can work on it.”
As she neared the large glass doors leading outside, she couldn’t resist turning around and getting the last word in, as childish as it might be. “You’re useless in the sack, and you’ve got a tiny dick. You’re neither a grow-er nor a show-er.” Then she mimicked him and tacked on, “Truth be told,” before waggling her little finger at him and smirking. A few people around the room chuckled.
Proud of her quip, and one calculated to hit close to the bone because he did have a hang-up about his dick, she walked out and past the glimmering pool. Footsteps sounded behind her, and she turned in time to see Zach running toward her.
“You fucking bitch.” He shoved her hard, and she went flying forward, feet spinning from under her as she tripped on her stupid heels. Her hands shot out, but she couldn’t stop herself, and she went airborne.
Ice-cold water hit and she gasped. Disoriented, she coughed and spluttered as she bobbed to the surface of Zach’s decidedly unheated pool.
Humiliated, soaked, and choking, she treaded water as tears stung her eyes. A loud splash to the side of her, and her head whipped around. Callum!
He swam to her and treaded water beside her. “Come on, Princess. It’s cold. Let’s get out of here.” She struck out for the edge of the pool, and Callum followed by her side, swimming with her. Once they reached the edge of the pool, Rhyndor reached down and hauled her out.
Once they’d got her on the side, she spluttered and coughed some more. Nose running, eyes streaming, looking delightful, she was sure. Christ, it was freezing. Her teeth clattered, and Rhyndor immediately pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around her sodden shoulders.
Zach paced up and down, fuming and raging to people around him. He seemed to be demanding someone come throw them out. Jesus, how much coke had the idiot done? Clearly on something more than just vodka, Zach was acting like a crazy person. He rarely did drugs, and the few times he had, he always swore would be the last.
“That’s it, take a few deep breaths.” Rhyndor’s gorgeous gruff voice washed over her, and it felt like coming home. Oh God, how could it be so good to hear him when she’d known him mere days?
Overwrought by it all, she started to cry in earnest, which only made the whole nose and eyes situation a million times worse. Someone handed her a napkin, and she turned bleary eyes up to see Missy smiling at her.
“You sure know how to make a scene, babe.”
She sniffed and giggled.
“Who the fuck are you two rejects from the eighties, and how did you get onto my private property?” Zach stalked over with a few of his friends milling around him.
Rhyndor pulled himself up to his full height, and Lilly struggled to follow suit. Zach might be off her Christmas card list for good, but she didn’t want to see him die a fiery death.
“Oh, I’m scared. What are you going to do? Kill me with your hair? Or your bad dress sense?” Zach smirked.
“I prefer to use my fists, but I can kill you with my hair if you so wish,” Rhyndor deadpanned.
Callum stood and pulled Lilly to her feet. “You ought to shut your mouth, right now.” He cautioned Zach.
“Oh, look, the other one speaks. Fuck me. Are you with one of these freaks?” Zach asked her.
Callum smirked and nodded. “She’s with both of us.”
Oh Lord. Please let the ground open up and swallow her right now. A collective gasp ran around the area.
“Excuse me?” Zach’s face turned an unbecoming shade of red.
“Way to go, girl.” Missy gave her a fist bump on the shoulder.
“It’s not… We’re not together. They’re…” She ran out of steam. What the hell to say? And she’d kill Callum later. Why were they here?
“I say go for it. They’re like some sort of extra-hot BOGO offer.” Missy giggled.
“BOGO?” Her night grew more surreal by the passing second.
“Buy one, get one free,” Missy snickered and nudged her in the ribs.
“I want you two idiots to leave my property.” Zach pushed his way past a bemused-looking Rhyndor and grabbed her arm. “We need to talk, darling.” His fingers dug in, and she winced.
The moment Zach touched her, Rhyndor’s expression changed, and he glowered.
“Let go of her, right now.”
“Fuck off.” Zach tossed over his shoulder as he tried to drag her away.
All Zach’s jock friends were standing around, their stances aggressive, and she sensed a fight in the air.
“Listen, Zach. I’d let go of my arm if I were you. We can talk tomorrow. I’m exhausted tonight and need to rest.”
“I’m not letting you go with these guys. Jesus, babe. Look at them. You look old.” He gave Rhyndor a disgusted stare.
“You have no idea.” Rhyndor grasped Zach by the neck and whispered low and deadly. “Let go of Lilly.”
Zach scowled, but when Rhyndor applied more pressure, his eyes widened and he dropped her arm.
“Right choice, kid.”
“You fuck with him, you fuck with all of us.” Lee, Zach’s buddy and fellow Mr. Popular, flexed his biceps.
Bigger than Zach, he didn’t seem intimidated. And why should he be? There must be twenty of them and only two of her guys. She shook her head, trying to dislodge the idea of the two men being hers in any way.
Callum grabbed Lee and threw him into the pool with one arm, as if tossing a napkin aside. Then he dusted his hands off and looked around the group. “Anyone else?”
Some big lunkhead, she had no idea of his name, charged at Callum with a roar. Callum put his hand out, palm straight up, and hit him dead center in the chest. The guy went down, wheezing.
People started to step back. And then things went seriously downhill. A tall, skinny guy, one of Lee’s gang, came out of the house carrying a gun.
“Take your hands off Zach, or I’ll shoot.” His hand shook slightly as he held the gun.
Rhyndor rolled his eyes. “Kid, you shoot, and you’re more likely to kill Zach than me with the shaking you’ve got going on. I am about to let him go anyway, no need for the dramatics. We’re leaving.”
“Not with Lilly.” Zach scrabbled at Rhyndor’s arm uselessly, his face turning an unflattering shade of red again.
“Why do you care so much? You spend most of your time wanting a break so you can have fun with other women.” Her temper snapped, and her voice rose. “What’s wrong, babe? Can’t stand to see me having some fun in return?”
“You’ve been with both these deadbeats?” Zach’s face went rigid, eyes narrowed. “I thought they were joking, but you’re telling me you’ve slept with two men. You know who does that, Lilly? Sluts and whores.”
Those words were his undoing.
Rhyndor pushed him to the ground, and she gasped because it left him in clear line of sight of the guy holding the gun. Skinny arms shook as he kept the weapon aimed right at Rhyndor. The dragon didn’t glance at the threat. Instead, he stared down at Zach on the pavement.
“You’re a slut and a whore, then. Because what else do you call a guy who spends two thousand dollars on three hookers for the night in Vegas, while his girl is home waiting for his call?”
Tears flooded her eyes. She remembered the weekend. Zach said he fell asleep after too much booze and forgot to call, and she’d believed him.
What if she’d caught something from him? Her skin crawled at the image of him paying for sex and coming back to her the next day.
“All guys do it.” He looked from Rhyndor to her, and his tone turned pleading. “It’s a guy thing, babe. As if either of you have never done anything like it.”
“Never,” Callum said with a self-satisfied grin. “Don’t need to pay for it.”
“Lilly.” Rhyndor turned to her. “I’m sorry if my words hurt you. But you need to realize this boy will never make you happy. This isn’t about whether you choose us or not. It’s about not choosing him. He’s bad news. And I’d hate to see you waste your life on him. Do you want to come with us now? We will drop you home if you’d prefer.”
She nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. “I’ll come with you.”
Rhyndor took her arm and led her out of the grounds of Zach’s home. She turned back one last time to look at the place she’d always viewed as her second home, and she wiped again at her cheek as more pesky tears fell.
Rhyndor opened the door of a…what the fuck? She turned to them. “You guys drive a Maserati?”
“He does.” Rhyndor jabbed a finger in Callum’s direction. “I’ve got a battered-up old Land Rover.”
“No understanding of the finer things in life.” Callum rolled his eyes.
She got into the back of the car, her mind whirring at all that had happened. Wow, but Zach’s mask had well and truly dropped this evening. She shuddered as she thought of being with the idiot long term.
Rhyndor and Callum climbed into the front, and Callum turned the key in the ignition. The engine purred to life, and he pulled smoothly out of his slot and down the driveway.
“Where to, Princess? Home?”
No way. She didn’t want to have to look at her father’s lying, cheating face after tonight. She sighed. “Can you take me to a hotel please?”
“Why not your house?” Rhyndor turned around.
“It’s complicated.”
“Come to our place.” Callum said it as if it were oh-so-simple. Thing was, despite everything going on in her life, she still wanted them. There, in the car with them, their big forms taking up so much space and their gorgeous scents wrapping around her, she wanted them more than ever.
Her core throbbed with desire, and she bit her lip and looked out of the window. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”
“Why?” Callum asked.
“Because…things are weird between us. Complicated.” Her whole bloody life seemed complicated these days. The ground had moved beneath her, and she didn’t know her safe place anymore. She shivered and not from the cold. She also wanted to do things for herself. Not get involved with these two straight after splitting up with Zach.
Rhyndor turned around and watched her a moment. She could grow to love his face. The thought slapped into her and scared her some more.
“You’re scared.” Rhyndor didn’t ask; he said it as a statement.
“Yes. Everything is changing. I don’t understand who I am. What I am. Or where I belong.”
“I get it’s scary. I do. But you have many options open to you. You can choose to stay here in this life. Just, please, not with Zach. He’s a major douche. If you decide on this course of action, we will leave you alone.”
“Like you left me alone to come home,” she shot back.
“We worried about your safety.”
“Why?”
“The witch who enchanted me may be aware of some of the things going on for all of us right now. But if you don’t want us in your life, Nathan says he’ll get you protection while it is needed. We’ll leave you alone.” His eyes clouded. “It will hurt us both deeply, but we’ll leave you alone, and you can live your life as a human. Or, you can return and live with either of your sisters, which would be a safer option than the protection detail. Maybe at some point, you’ll meet some other dragon males. Although, I doubt they’ll match you as well as we do, but you might be readier then to accept this. You can learn our magic. Yours is strong. You could become a Warder of the clans. A powerful position. Most Warders don’t get mated, although some, such as Rhiannon, do. There are options and choices. You aren’t trapped, and you aren’t alone.”
His words soothed her and helped ease the panic some.
“If you want to come back with us tonight, we’ll take your lead. You want us to leave you alone, we will.”
“Of course, if you want us to give you so many orgasms you can’t walk straight, we can be of service there, too,” Callum added.
Her lips twitched in what felt like her first smile in ages. “Take me back to yours, please.”
Callum nodded, and she sank back into the seat and contemplated the wreck of her life. Maybe Rhyndor was right. From this, she might find her way to a new life, a better one. She’d never fit in with her adoptive family. The way of life they and their set enjoyed wasn’t for her. Zach used to represent her haven because after losing her birth mother, her first adoptive mother, and then ending up in what she now understood had been a cold and dysfunctional family, she’d clung on to the first person to show her kindness.
And he had been kind, at first. But as he’d grown, he’d changed, and she’d tried to ignore it. To pretend it wasn’t happening or a mere blip. Because the alternative would be facing the fact that yet another person had left her.
But her sisters wouldn’t leave. They’d said so, and they were close to one another. She’d have family by her side if she joined one of the clans. And something told her these guys wouldn’t leave her either, if she joined them. Finding it easier to talk with Callum driving and not looking at her, she began to speak.
“I didn’t think you were all that into me, Callum.”
She plucked up her courage to go on. “I thought you only wanted me around to help bring Rhyndor back to you. To… I don’t know… You…talked about how dragon men need to protect their female mate, and I thought you wanted me to make Rhyndor stand up and fight again.”
A long beat of silence passed, and then Callum spoke. “You weren’t wrong, Princess, about Rhyn. But I always wanted you, too. Always. I must admit, though, I didn’t understand how much until you left. It gutted me.” For once, his words were serious. Solemn.
She let his words sit with her as the car glided through the dark streets. Soon the view gave way to country roads, and they began to climb. They finally reached a spot by a lake, and she gasped at the moonlight reflecting off the water. A large house stood to one side of the lakeshore. There were boathouses down by the lapping water’s edge, two of them, lit up from inside, and she saw what looked like a small motor boat and then a speedboat.
The car crunched up the gravel path to the front of the house. The bottom part of the building looked like stone, but the upper part, where the main living area seemed to be situated, came constructed in warm-toned wood. A large wooden deck ran around the building, and huge windows on the first floor were lit up with a warm golden glow from inside.
“Looks like Greta has lit the fire,” Callum said.
“Who is Greta?” She hated the irrational stab of jealousy.
“Our housekeeper. She’s human,” Rhyndor said. “Doesn’t know what we are, and we’ll let her go before she notices the distinct lack of aging.”
“You have a live-in housekeeper?”
He gave a casual nod and opened the door, climbing out and getting her door for her. She liked his manners. Zach never did such a thing, despite his supposed breeding. She looked up at the house and already felt welcomed by it. Despite its size, it looked warm and cozy.
Callum locked the car with a beep of his key fob and led the way up the stairs to the side of the decking. He entered through a side door into a spacious, warm hallway. The evening air had turned distinctly cold, and she shivered in her wet clothes.
“Come on. Let me show you upstairs, and you can take a shower and get warmed up.” Rhyndor indicated for her to go upstairs, and he followed behind her.
When they reached the top, he turned left. “This is one of the spare rooms.” He pushed a door open, and she peered in to see a large, comfortable-looking room with a huge bed and a chaise longue, with a low window overlooking the dark, glassy lake.
Rhyndor walked fully into the room and gestured for her to follow him. “I’ll try to find you some clothes. Maybe Greta has something you can borrow. She’s not the same size as you, but she’ll be a much closer fit than Callum or me.” He crossed the room and went through a door at the far end where he hit a light switch.
Following him, she gave a small cry of delight. A stunning bathroom stood before her. A huge claw-foot bath dominated the center of the room, and there were double sinks, then to one side a massive shower with two bench seats in it and double shower heads, both as wide as a large dinner plate. The whole room had been tiled in warm tiles with stone accents. Glass bottles full of all sorts of different colored liquids sat on a shelf near the bath.
She’d always wanted an old-fashioned claw-foot bath. Her bathroom at home was opulent, but it was modern and bland. This looked both old and new. She approached it and trailed a finger along its curled edge. Yep, cast iron. Maybe an original? But the bright purple color of the side suggested not. She cast Rhyndor an inquisitive glance. “Is this original?”
Grinning, he nodded. “Yeah. The woman who owns this place has good taste.”
She frowned then, and he raised his brows. “What?”
“It’s too weird, you renting this place to be near me. It’s so intense…a bit stalkery, really. Don’t you think?”
He sighed. “It is intense. If you were brought up Dragonea, you’d accept it is the way of our kind, but you’ve been raised human. One thing, though, Lilly. I keep saying it, and you’re not listening. You tell us you don’t want this, and we will leave you alone. You want to take it slow, we can do that too.”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, no more following me. If I don’t stay with you, you have to trust me to take care of myself. You dragon men need a manual for how to date human women.”
“You’re not human.” Her impatience must have shown because he changed track. “When we scented you, we were shocked as shit to find a dragon female living amongst humans. We were concerned and unsure what to do. Of course, if I hadn’t been in hiding myself, then I’d have gotten a clan involved, but it wasn’t possible. So, we moved near to you once we’d found out where you were, and hired a human PI to keep tabs on you and make sure you were safe, while we decided what to do.”
She must have looked increasingly livid because he held up a placating hand. “We weren’t being stalkers. I get that it looks fucking bad, but we needed to know you weren’t in danger or trouble. We only got a basic report once a week. We didn’t ask him to tell us any details of your life, like where you’d been that day or who you saw. All we asked to be told was that you were safe. Of course, we were told about Zach.” His mouth tightened. “And then when you were taken to the Scottish clan, we knew we needed to act because we’d heard about Nathan’s beauty parade of eligible males. But before then, we watched from afar and only to ensure your safety. Our plan was to come and introduce ourselves to you and tell you what and who you were. We were convinced you needed to be told, but we weren’t sure how the hell to go about it. We aren’t great at putting things into words. This is the most I’ve said in months.”
He smiled, but uncertainty shone in his eyes.
She didn’t know what to think about it all. Their actions hardly seemed moral or ethical. And Rhyndor might try to sugarcoat it, but to her, it seemed stalkery as fuck. But she also understood why they wanted to know she was okay. If she’d used her magic or harmed someone or gotten sick, she might have been found out by the human society she lived in, and then God alone knew what would happen to her. And she also understood why they couldn’t easily involve other dragon clans in approaching her, not with Rhyndor’s past.
“The thing is, we had no solid details of your heritage, but we guessed you were maybe Havsa, which made us worry for your safety all the more. The history between your clan and the British clans is a bloody one. You could have been killed. Look what happened to your sister Claire when she was kidnapped and tortured.” Lilly shuddered at the memory of Claire telling her how she’d been taken by a female from the Welsh clan and beaten and tortured.
“Christ, Lilly. We went back and forth, arguing over what to do.” Rhyndor paced a short circuit, looking at the floor before glancing back to her. “Callum wanted to approach you way before you went with Nathan and Claire, but I was worried Celine might be tracking me and I’d lead her to you. I suppose we wasted months worrying about how to actually introduce ourselves to you, and then Nathan took you from under our noses.”
She nodded. Claire had explained their birth mother’s past and how some dragons hated them still.
He ran a hand through his hair. “We had no clue Nathan had found Ice…Claire…or about Mia, until the PI we’d hired told us you’d gone to the Scottish clan. Once we’d considered everything and learned it all, we came to find you and tell you the truth.”
She still found it weird they’d been following her over the last few months of her life, and she’d known nothing about them.
“I think you should have simply introduced yourselves to me.” she said.
He laughed. “Right. Hey, hello, Lilly, we’re dragon shifters and you’re one of us. I can see it working. Not.”
His use of the modern expression made her laugh.
“We showed great patience in waiting for you, Lilly.” Callum joined them in the room, but his words pissed her off.
“No, you didn’t. Don’t act as if you’re all holier than thou. You paid someone to follow me! And write reports to you. I don’t give a shit if he only wrote one line saying, ‘She’s fine,’ or he gave you a breakdown of what I ate every day. It’s wrong. What you did is wrong. And a bit creepy. In fact, it’s a lot creepy.”
He hitched up one shoulder. “We’re dragons, Princess. You’re ours. Made for us, as we are for you.”
“Holy fucking caveman. You need to stop with the Neanderthal shit. Right now.”
She put her hands on her hips and faced Callum. “Made for you. Yours. You make me sound like a trinket.”
He laughed and shook his head. “You’re way more trouble than any trinket, darling.”
Oh, the insufferable…
Rhyndor shot Callum an impatient glance and tilted her chin, making her look at him. His blue eyes were open, honest. “You are made for us. Biologically speaking, at least. And we are made for you. We are yours as much as you are ours. There’s no caveman shit or whatever in this fact. There’s no difference between how much you are ours, or we are yours. The three of us match perfectly. It’s a rare and precious thing, and it is an absolute fact. That being said, if you don’t want us, you can walk away at any time. If Nathan hadn’t taken you to Scotland, once we’d gotten to know you, we’d have told you your heritage and shown you your magic. Made sure you understood it. We’d always said we’d show you how to be dragon so you could then choose. A dragon life or a human life.”
He walked to the window and looked out, before turning back to her. The cool moonlight streaming in from outside highlighted the planes and dips of his face, making handsome into devastating. “There’s someone we want you to meet. If you’ll come back with us to Britain. She’s your age. A latent, like you, only she’s always known she was dragon and lives with her latent mother. She was adopted as a youngling, and she and her mother live outside of dragon life. They are still friendly with those in their birth clan in Wales, but they mostly travel. Her mother is an artist, and the daughter is into travel and surfing. They live as free spirits. We want you to meet her. She’s called Gwen, and she’s cool. I think you’ll like her. Talk with her about her life, so you can see how it is for someone in a similar position to yourself who has chosen to live amongst humans. As I say, then you can choose. Human life or dragon life.”
“Or the life we have.” Callum fixed her with his warm eyes, and she tried to stay pissed at him. “We live as dragons, but amongst humans. When we want to change form, we take a forty-minute drive into the hills at night and go for a fly. Now that things are out in the open and Steffan and Nathan are aware Rhyn is alive, we’ll visit their clans and spend some time among our own. But we’ll also spend time here in the human world because we’ve grown used to it, and we like it. I believe we can have the best of both worlds and create a happy home together. Question is, do you?”
He leaned in close and kissed her forehead. Dry, chaste, but tender, it touched her. As did his words about them creating a home together. Her first adoptive mother made their house a home. Lilly had had warm, loving years with her until fate cruelly took her away. But her time with her new adopted family had been cool, aloof. Lonely, if she were honest. And she wanted a home. Wanted a place to belong. Why else had she clung desperately to Zach, despite his major asshole ways?
As a child, she’d loved old TV shows like Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons. She wanted what those people had. Didn’t care about money or things or big houses; she simply wanted a loving, close family. It’s why she liked volunteering at the shelter. Dogs gave you so much love. Abandoned dogs, more so. And she had plenty to give in return.
Something struck her then, a small nugget of self-knowledge. She didn’t only crave to feel love but to give it, too. As a child, new in her opulent home, she’d run to give her new mommy a kiss and hug, but her mother would hold her in stiff arms, moaning about her sticky fingers. Never cruel, but never warm and loving, either. Lilly bit back a sigh and smiled at the two men.
Callum left the room, tossing her a wink, and Rhyndor handed her a pile of fluffy towels from a closet. “Help yourself to lotions and stuff. We got Greta to buy these. They’re the best. And I’ll get her to come in and leave some clothes on the bed for you when you’re done. Do you like hot chocolate?”
She loved the stuff. Nodding, she licked her lips at the thought of the tasty treat, and Rhyndor followed the movement with hooded eyes. He might not be as brash or as forthcoming as Callum, but she guessed deep down he might be more intense when it came right to it. Her previous experience with the two of them backed up her assertion.
“I’ll leave you be, Lilly.” He said her name on a whisper, and it caressed her as sure as if he’d touched her.
Half an hour later, she descended the stairs, washed, dried and dressed in a pair of comfy sweat pants and a light cotton sweater. She hesitated a moment at the bottom of the stairs but then heard voices and followed the sound.
The two men sat in the living room, close on the sofa, talking in low murmurs and every now and again sharing quiet laughter. Rhyndor leaned in and kissed Callum on the lips, soft, gentle, and loving. Something in her sparked to life, deep in her belly and warm. She wanted them so much. Despite every single damn thing that had happened to her these last few weeks, she still wanted them.
The light from the flickering fire cast them in a golden glow, and she reveled in their beauty. They were the most gorgeous creatures she’d ever seen, seated close and intimate together. And suddenly she imagined herself with them, sitting there too. Squeezed in between them, her head resting on Callum’s shoulder, Rhyndor’s arm around her waist. Their home was beautiful, and she’d still be able to see her friends at the shelter if she stayed here with them a while. But they also planned on spending time at the Welsh and Scottish clans they’d said, which meant she’d get to spend time with her sisters as well. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to date them? If by dating, she meant possibly live with. Casually.
Oh, who was she kidding? It wouldn’t be casual. Tempting though it all may be, what rational person took up with two men she’d only recently met? It seemed her body didn’t care about rationality. It merely desired them with a burning she’d never experienced before, so she needed to let her head rule her heart before she did something stupidly rash.
Nervous for some reason, she entered the room, and two pairs of eyes swiveled to look at her. Rhyn smiled, the action crinkling the corner of his eyes and warming his stern face. Callum shot her a cheeky grin and patted the sofa beside him.
“Come sit with us, get warm.”
She didn’t need any help with getting warm, thanks very much. Still, she tiptoed into the room, hesitant and unsure. Suddenly, she felt like prey. The way they watched her, hungry, alert. It sent all her senses on edge. The air in the room grew warmer and warmer, and she glanced at the fire, half expecting to see the flames roaring twenty feet high.
“It’s the bond.” Callum’s voice came out thick, wracked with lust.
“Oh.” She didn’t know what else to say.
Maybe she shouldn’t tempt them. “Do you want me to leave? To go to my room?”
“Go to your room. Why? Have you been a bad girl, Lilly?”
Callum’s words shocked her and reminded her of when he’d praised her in the field while practicing her magic. Good girl.
Rhyndor rolled his eyes. “Ignore him. He’s joking.”
But somehow, she didn’t think Callum was, not entirely. And his positively filthy smirk backed up her assertion.
Images of him spanking her while giving her a dirty smile flooded her mind, and she blinked them away. She’d hate getting spanked. Wouldn’t she?
“You have been somewhat naughty. Running away. Scaring us.” Callum watched her, and his eyes were knowing. “You ought to be punished.”
Her breath caught in her throat, and she hesitated, one toe touching the ground, the rest of her foot arched in the air, not daring to take the decisive step toward them.
“But I don’t think a spanking is the right thing. No, not the right thing at all. Maybe making you scream with pleasure, rather than pain, should be your punishment.”
It was a corny line, but it still made her shiver.
“Gods above, Callum. Cut it out.” Rhyndor smiled though, and she loved seeing his normally somber face light up.
“What, you don’t like my lines?” Callum looked from her to Rhyndor and back again, waggling his eyebrows. “Anyway, I meant every word. You worried us sick, Princess. And I need you something fierce right now, if you feel the same.”
Did she? Still frozen to the spot, she didn’t know what to do. Her body screamed yes, but her mind whirred with all the ways this could go wrong. And shouldn’t she have time to get her head together after the whole horrible scene with Zach earlier?
“Give her some space, Cal.” Rhyndor stood and moved toward her. “Come into the kitchen, and I’ll make you a hot chocolate.”
She didn’t want hot chocolate, though, which surely was a first in her life. She wanted…needed something much more elemental and base. Maybe Rhyn didn’t want her? He talked about hot chocolate as if the air in the room hadn’t turned into a sauna, or more accurately, a steam room. Hot, humid, dripping with sex. One look at his taut face, his eyes almost black instead of their usual blue, told her he felt it, too. He simply wanted to be a gentleman. To give her space.
“I don’t want hot chocolate.” Her voice sounded alien, husky and deeper than usual.
“What do you want?” His dark, dark eyes pinned her to the spot.
She trembled, but her words came as if she had no control over what she said. “You.” She turned and pointed to the troublemaker on the sofa. “Him.”
Rhyndor groaned low and deep in his throat, and it rumbled through her. “Are you sure, Lilly?”
She nodded once. Like the worst thirst, when you’ve lain outside too long on a hot, hot day, her lust needed quenching. And these two magnificent males were there for the taking like two cool pitchers of lemonade. Tempting her. Taunting her with their big bodies and their beautiful faces.
She’d already had a taste of them, and it nearly proved her undoing, so God knew why she’d come back for more. Except, like a moth to their flame, she couldn’t resist their light.
Her legs left the ground, and she shrieked. Callum swooped her up into his arms and stalked out of the room. “You coming?” He threw over his shoulder to Rhyndor.
Rhyndor’s answer was a growl. An actual fucking growl, and it made her all tingly between her legs as her core throbbed.
Callum took the stairs two at a time, turned left at the top, and kicked open a door, marching into a vast bedroom.
The room was epic. Gorgeous. Like something out of a fantasy. Plain walls highlighted the floor-to-ceiling picture windows with views out over the lake. Gauze curtains were open on either side of the windows and fluttered ever so slightly in the breeze from the open door. A fancy modern fireplace filled one side of the room. It hung from the ceiling on a long black pipe and balanced in the air above the wooden floor. The main part of the fireplace was a big, oval-shaped orb with flames gently flickering in it. Four chairs were scattered around the fireplace. Off to the other side of the room stood a big closet, and a large leather sofa, a chesterfield it appeared to be, looked out over the view from the windows.
She’d never seen such a stunning room. Simple and gorgeous, it was masculine but beautifully done. The bed snagged her attention next. Leather-framed, in a shade to match the sofa, it was massive. The sheets were a dark gray. Above the bed, a black-and-white, photo-realistic painting of two horses running matched the gray sheets with its monochromatic colors and stark lines.
The whole room delighted her.
Callum placed her on the bed and groaned. “You look right in our bed, Princess.”
Rhyndor looked down at her, his face tight, all the hard lines and beautiful contours highlighted by the rigid set of his features.
How did they go about this? The last time, it kind of just happened. Out of the blue, out of control. Now her body ached for them, but her mind kept getting in the way. Only sluts slept with two guys at once. Only sluts slept with men they’d been with mere days.
“Stop thinking, Princess, I can hear the wheels turning in there.” Callum trailed a finger down her cheek.
“I don’t want to be a slut.”
“Whoa.” Rhyndor fixed her with a stern glare. “You’re not a slut for enjoying yourself, for doing something consensual and beautiful.”
She smiled at him but shook her head. “I’ll think you’ll find the idea of a woman sleeping with two men she barely knows equals slut in most people’s minds.”
“I think you’ll find those people are all human,” Rhyndor shot back. “And humans are totally fucked up about sex. Honestly, they are a mess. The ones who like to preach the most about what others should and shouldn’t do are normally the ones with the biggest, darkest secrets to hide.”
“Try to shut off your brain. Enjoy tonight, and tomorrow we can return to the UK, and hopefully, you will get to meet with Gwen and her mother.” Callum climbed onto the bed beside her. “No pressure.”
Shut her brain off, easy for them to say, difficult to do.
“Tonight is going to be all about you,” Callum murmured in her ear.
Sounded great, but she didn’t want to cause any problems for them. “I don’t want to come between you two.”
“You never will.” Rhyndor kissed her neck. “And we might only have tonight with you. We want to cherish it.”
A sharp pang of sadness hit her, right in her sternum, but Rhyndor shook his head. “No, no sadness, sweetness. Not here in this room. Let’s find joy in one another.”
Cheesy words, like Callum’s of earlier, but Rhyndor didn’t mean them in a jokey or lighthearted way, and they touched her. She drew in a deep breath and smiled. She could do joy. Forget all the crap waiting for her to get her head around, for one night, at least.
“What’s your biggest fantasy?” Callum asked her.
She giggled because, talk about pedestrian. “You’ll laugh it’s so tame.”
He shook his head.
“Okay, a great massage. To be stroked and massaged from head to toe.”
Rhyndor frowned. “Not that it’s tame as such, but…surely you’ve done this with Zach? Not,” he added with a clenched jaw, “that I like to think about the fucker touching you.”
“Nope. Never.”
“Fuck it. Let’s go whole hog!” Callum jumped off the bed and shot out of the room.
“He can be impetuous.” Rhyndor raised one eyebrow in the direction of the door.
“Yep. You balance one another well.”
He reached for her and brushed the back of his knuckle down her cheek. “You’re so beautiful, Lilly. So fucking beautiful.”
“You guys swear a lot.” She smiled at him, no rancor in her words.
“I guess we do. Sorry, we’ll try to put a lid on it.”
She knelt up on the bed and kissed him lightly. “No need for me. I’m not some sensitive soul, you know?”
Callum bustled back into the room. He held a load of stuff in his arms and began to set it down. A silver ice bucket he placed on the bedside table and pushed the bottle of champagne cradled in his arms into it. “No glasses, I’m afraid, but with what I’ve got planned for this sucker, we won’t need them.”
Then he placed four pillar candles around the room and rummaged in a drawer for a lighter. He placed a bag with something in it on the floor before going around the room, lighting the candles. Then he opened the bag and pulled out petals. He threw them in the air over the bed, and she began to laugh. They weren’t rose petals, but lilies.
“Didn’t have any roses, but Greta always buys a few bunches of flowers and places them around the house, and I found some lilies. Thought it apt.”
“Bouquets not bunches,” Rhyndor corrected. “And you tore them up?”
Callum shrugged. Then he picked up a remote and pressed a couple buttons. The lights dimmed, and the strains of a harp filled the room.
“You romantic fucker, you.” Rhyndor laughed, but Lilly didn’t.
Her face froze, and her blood turned to ice in her veins as she remembered her dream. The harp, the candles. Oh Lord. It wasn’t the same. They weren’t both taking her, and it sounded as if that was not in the cards tonight, but it was too similar to her dream to be a coincidence.
“What’s wrong, Princess?” Callum tipped her chin up.
“I dreamed something like this, right down to the harp.”
Callum didn’t seem surprised. “See, Rhyn. Down to the gods themselves. I tell ya.”
He planted a soft kiss right on her forehead and then dived onto the bed.
Rhyndor went into the bathroom and came back with a bottle in his hands. “Massage oil. Will Madam please disrobe?”
Her face flushed and those damned nerves came rushing back. But for once, she wanted not to be ashamed of her body, and so she rose from the bed and began to take her clothes off. The men watched her with hungry eyes.
She wiggled out of the clothing that didn’t fit right, pulling the top over her head, revealing her naked back to them, and then shimmying out of the sweat pants. One of the men behind her gave a sharp intake of breath as she straightened to show them her fully nude back. Slowly, she turned around, and two sets of ravenous eyes ate up every curve, every line.
“Come, lie on the bed.” Rhyndor pulled her to the bed, and she went willingly, lying on her front. She felt much more comfortable starting off that way.
“Your skin is amazing.” Callum trailed his fingers down her back. “Like velvet.”
Rhyndor uncapped the bottle and poured some massage oil over his hands and then over Callum’s. “We’re going to start with a hand and foot massage,” he said.
She’d expected something more erotic, but she liked them starting out slow. Callum moved to the bottom of the bed and lifted her feet, placing them on his bent knees. Rhyndor lifted her right arm and began to massage the pad of her palm with strong fingers. Callum’s hands dug into the tender flesh on the soles of her feet, not too hard to be painful, but firm enough not to be ticklish. Within moments, she was in heaven.
These guys must have taken a massage course or something. They were better than the Thai lady her mother paid vast amounts of money to come to the house once a month and give them both a deep muscle massage. She sighed into the pillow and closed her eyes.
Rhyndor moved down from her hand and swept his way along her arm, kneading the knots in her biceps and triceps. Once her limb stopped being all tense and began to feel like a string of spaghetti, he moved to the other side.
Meanwhile, Callum worked his way up her legs. They took their time relaxing her, stroking her, touching her. Their hands on her skin felt exquisite and it turned her on no end, but it did something more. It connected her to them in a strange way she couldn’t name. As if they were all meditating together or something.
When Callum reached the top of her thighs, he swept his thumb between the gap in her legs, brushing her lips and making her shiver. But he didn’t linger on her sex. Instead, he began to work the flesh of her buttocks, using the same sure strokes he’d employed on her feet and legs. The massage still relaxed her, but it also began to build an inferno of desire within her. One spot on her right buttock seemed to be supersensitive, and Callum homed in on it every time, as if he read her mind.
Rhyndor kneaded her back until each knot and every tense muscle became supremely relaxed, and now his hands were at the base of her spine. The soft sound of kissing drifted to her, and she lifted her head to see the two men kiss one another as their hands continued moving. They ended the kiss, and Callum smiled down at her.
“Turn over, Princess.”
She swallowed, suddenly vulnerable under their gazes.
They were clothed and she was naked, and it was hot as hell. She did as they instructed and turned over, fighting the desire to cover her breasts and her sex.
Once more, Rhyndor popped the top on the oil, but this time he didn’t rub it into his hands but drizzled it all over her body. Over her breasts, down her stomach, dripping it into the gap between her thighs. “The bedding will be ruined,” she mumbled.
His big palms covered her breasts, and he gently caressed them, smoothing over her sensitive flesh, palming it and then letting it go, before repeating the process again.
Callum started at her feet again and slowly worked his way up her legs. When he reached her pussy, he swiped his thumbs between her hairless lips and grazed her clit, making her gasp. At the same time, Rhyndor started to pay attention to her nipples, pinching them softly and tugging at them with his thumb and fingers.
She’d begun to move restlessly on the bed, needing more and, at the same time, less. It was too much and nowhere near enough. Total sensory overload.
The harp played on in the background, filling the room with the magical sound, and the candles flickered, their scent of figs rich and sensual in the room. It began to resemble her dream as she almost floated out of her body, relaxed but taut. Chilled out but on the edge.
“You seem so hot. Do you need cooling down?” Callum asked.
She frowned, not sure what he meant. He reached over her and ice-cold fizzy liquid splashed over her breasts as he tipped the champagne. Gasping, she arched her back, and Rhyndor bent down and licked a path up the middle of her chest, swirling his tongue around her breast before sucking her nipple deep into his mouth.
Callum took a swig of the drink straight from the bottle and then put it back. He lowered his head between her legs and sucked her clit straight into his mouth. Cold, so cold, and tiny pings of needle-like bubbles conspired to make her emit a small squeal of surprise. She moaned when he began to lick and suck at her in earnest. Rhyndor continued to play with her breasts, and Callum swept his hands over her stomach, smoothing them back and forth in a regular rhythm.
She was going to come any minute now, and it built and built. Part of her didn’t want to let go because it felt too big. But she couldn’t hold off, and with a loud cry, she came, pressing herself into Callum’s face and grabbing Rhyndor’s hair as she held him tight against her chest.
Wave after wave of pleasure rolled over her, and when it started to subside, Callum pushed one thick, oiled finger inside her and set her inner walls clenching against him, which sent her into a second orgasm.
“Oh God. God. God,” she chanted. Rhyndor kissed her, demanding and heated. He pushed his tongue into her mouth, and she opened for him, giving him access.
She fell back, her head resting on the pillow. Chest still heaving.
Her arms were floppy, her legs like jelly. She turned to look at Rhyndor and rolled her eyes. “I think you broke me.”
He laughed and pulled her into him.
“Your turn now,” she said, but he shook his head.
“Tonight is all about you, baby. Come on, get under the covers.” He pulled them back, and she got in.
Rhyndor shucked his clothes off and climbed in beside her. He’d left his boxer-briefs on, and the bulge in them told her he was aroused. Callum did the same and snuggled under the covers on her other side. Both men wrapped her in their arms, and Rhyndor kissed her hair.
“I want to take care of you two.” She reached for Callum, but he moved her hand away.
“No. As Rhyndor says, tonight is for you. And you look beat.”
She was exhausted. After the shock of seeing her father, the trauma of the scene with Zach, the plunge into the icy pool. Her eyes were heavy, and she yawned. But she hated getting her rocks off and leaving them all worked up.
Rhyndor kissed her again. “Sleep, angel. I’ve got you.”
He began to talk to her softly, telling her some sort of story of his younger years. He told her how humans in Britain used to live, how he witnessed them go from living in hamlets and dying young from disease and malnutrition, to inventing scanners and planes and other amazing contraptions. He talked about how dragons used to be able to fly in the dark skies before satellites, and how they had to use powerful magic to protect their tiny areas of land from prying eyes. And as he talked, his voice low, she began to drift off.
She woke with a start to sun streaming in through the windows. Callum lay curled around her, snoring softly, but Rhyndor wasn’t there. She missed him already. Missed his warmth and his bulk on the other side of her.
Her heart was starting to get involved, and she didn’t know what to do.