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  “Actually it’s okay.” Her eyelids lowered with sleepy seduction, and for just a second he saw the impish side of her peering out from beneath her long lashes.

  His balls drew up tight and he bit back a groan, wondering for a moment what sort of ironic game Nature was playing, pairing him and Darek with Lily Sinclair. “Go on then.” He pointed to the door, avoiding her eyes.

  The second she closed the door, Bane lifted the duffel and looked at Darek.

  “So. Hide-and-seek or blind man’s bluff?”

  Darek’s mouth curved in a slow, wicked smile. “I always have liked the way you think.”

  Lily brushed and towel-dried her hair, trying to tune out the tight knot in her stomach. Not to mention the odd sensation in her ass. Neither feeling was easy to ignore.

  She put the brush down on the sink, rested her hands on the counter and studied her reflection. Who are you? So many things had changed in such a short time.

  Lifting her chin, she examined the mark at the base of her throat. The detail in the design was exquisite. If she looked closely she could see individual scales on the two tiny dragons. Their intertwined bodies formed a near-perfect circle, ridged around the edge by the spines on their backs. The colors were so vivid the creatures almost looked three dimensional.

  She traced the outline with her fingernail and nearly screamed when she saw the dragons move. She blinked, rubbing her eyes. The blue dragon’s head had turned to look back at her in the mirror. Lily leaned closer, holding her breath.

  There was a knock at the door and this time she did scream. She clapped her hand over her mouth, feeling foolish.

  “Everything okay?” Darek asked.

  Lily cleared her throat and tried for a calm tone. “Fine!” she called back.

  “All right,” Darek replied, sounding unconvinced. She wasn’t surprised. Taking one last look in the mirror, Lily wrapped the towel around herself again and opened the door.

  She stepped out and straight into Darek’s arms. She smiled and put her arms around his neck, standing on tiptoe to kiss him. Before she could reach his mouth, something soft, silky and black dropped over her eyes. Bane had come up behind her and was securing a blindfold around her head.

  She put her hands on his arms, tugging them down instinctively.

  “Uh-uh,” Bane said in her ear.

  She stopped pulling but kept holding his forearms. “Um… Guys?” Blinking was pointless. Eyes open or closed, everything was black.

  A calloused hand stroked her back. Darek, she thought.

  “Are you afraid of the dark?” Bane asked.

  She jumped at the sound of his voice, her heart pounding. “No. I’m afraid of the things in the dark.”

  Both men laughed, a deep, resonant sound somehow all the more ineffably male for its disembodiment. Her nipples tightened against the cotton towel and goose bumps traveled the length of her arms. She shivered, feeling very small.

  “A wise woman,” Darek said.

  Bane put his hands on her shoulders, gathered her hair to the side and placed a soft kiss on the back of her neck. Two sets of powerful arms wrapped around her in the near-palpable blackness and she held on for all she was worth. Their scent, salty and clean and comfortingly familiar, soothed her nerves.

  “It’s all right. It’s just a game,” Darek said. He stepped back, leaving her standing with Bane behind, his hands resting on her shoulders. The towel loosened then dropped to the floor. Fingers pinched her nipples, rolling and teasing.

  Her breathing quickened. “Ohhh I like that,” she murmured.

  The satiny warmth of Darek’s mouth replaced his fingers and Lily cried out. The darkness heightened the eroticism as he nipped, licked and suckled her. Her back arched in invitation and she reached to take his head in her hands… And then he was gone.

  She whimpered, frustrated, searching blindly for him in the sudden void. Bane took her hand and led her forward in the direction of the bed. The stone was cool beneath her feet as she followed him and she swore she could feel individual air particles brushing against her skin. He stopped in what she guessed was the middle of the room.

  “Are you ready to play, love?” Bane asked. His voice was low, his breath warm against her neck.

  “Yes,” she answered. Oh God, yes. He grasped her shoulders and turned her to face him.

  “Yes what?” he asked, closing his fingers tightly on her nipple. Her mind raced. She felt his breath on her neck and the tip of his erect cock, slick and wet, tapped her belly. He lifted her chin with one knuckle and the soft material from the blindfold tickled the skin of her back. He placed a deliberate line of kisses down to the mark at the base of her neck, never letting up the pressure on her nipple as he did so. She trembled, wanting, struggling to think—the mixture of pleasure and pain confusing her senses. What did he want?

  “Say it again and address me properly,” he said patiently, breathing warm air over her mark. The memory of the restaurant came to her, of his hands sliding up her thighs as he pulled up her skirt, and she remembered.

  “Yes, Bane.”

  “Good girl,” he purred approvingly. Lily frowned, though at herself or Bane she didn’t know. She really, really should not like it when he said th—

  “Ow!” As uncomfortable as the pinch had been, it hurt more when he let go. He said nothing in reply but led her forward until her knees touched the bed. She put her palms on the soft covers, grateful for their solidity.

  “Come up on the bed, Lily,” Darek said from somewhere in front of her. She knelt on the mattress, shivering from nerves and arousal. The bed dipped as Darek approached, taking her hands in his. “Do you have any idea how lovely you are?” he asked.

  She hesitated, not sure what to say. Then his mouth was on hers, his warm hands covering her breasts in the chill of the room. The bed dipped behind her and Bane’s shins bracketed hers, his hand clasping both of hers firmly in the small of her back, urging her closer to Darek. Without her eyesight, Lily’s world became one of sensation, and they were its beating heart. Surrounded by their bodies, she felt secure, safe, wanton.

  “Tell him what you want, Lily,” Bane murmured in her ear.

  “I want you,” she said immediately, her voice cracking. She felt more than heard his deep laugh behind her. Wet warmth encircled one of her breasts as Darek licked and kissed it, and a hand—Bane’s?—tapped lightly between her legs, just above where she ached and wept for them. She tried to open her legs, yielding, but Bane’s knees around her own prevented it.

  “Which one of us, love?” Oh God. Lily thought she might burst into flames.

  “Both of you,” she managed. A calloused finger touched her lips and she opened her mouth, sucking and laving it with her tongue. The tortured sound from in front of her told her it was Darek’s finger in her mouth.

  “I want to hear more,” Bane said, the stubble of his jaw rasping against her ear. “Tell me what you felt the first time I kissed you,” he demanded, tapping the plug with his fingers. Her head spun.

  “B-branded,” she stammered. “You smelled so good.”

  “And later, when you rode Darek’s cock? What did you feel?”

  An incoherent noise escaped her as she tried to verbalize for him. She wanted—no, she needed to be fucked so badly. “So full. I wanted…” She searched for words. “I wished there were two of me. I felt greedy. I wanted to be as full of you as I was of him.”

  Hands—Darek’s?—settled on both sides of her waist, lifting her. At the same time, Bane released her and she grasped Darek’s shoulders for support. He lay back, drawing her over him so that she straddled his waist. Once she had her balance, she reached behind her and found Darek’s cock, wrapping one hand around the thick shaft and exploring the silken skin of his balls with the other. Darek groaned.

  “Take me, Lily. Ride me right now or I swear to God I’ll die on this bed,” he growled, his voice cracking.

  She didn’t need to be asked twice. But… “Bane?” she aske
d.

  “Right here, love.”

  “I want you in me too,” she said. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought she felt him tremble. There was a pause, long enough to make her wonder if he’d heard her, and then he spoke again.

  “It will be easier if you mount him first,” Bane told her, struggling to keep his voice even. His cock was so hard it hurt and his heart was pounding with anticipation. She did as he said, lifting her hips for Darek, who guided his thick girth into her with a joyous shout. Her head fell back and she whimpered. Bane watched them for a moment, entranced by the sight of Darek’s cock, glistening with her wet heat, thrusting deep into her welcoming body.

  Bane had always prided himself on being in control. After all, he was older than Darek and had long been his mentor. But right now he was terrified to take what she offered. She was so sweet, so perfect, and he was so goddam horny. He was either going to come all over her like a yearling before he even penetrated her—or he was going to lose control and fuck her like an animal in heat and hurt her. Sweat beaded on his brow.

  He was staring at his hand, considering other options, when he felt a gentle, feminine presence in his mind—soft, like a caress. Lily?

  A picture formed in his mental theater—himself and Darek, filling Lily completely, together. In the vision she turned her head, pinning him with her exotic amber gaze, full of desire. The yearning he felt was hers—a need to be consumed, taken, loved by both of them. The sound of her voice was faint in his mind but her words were clear.

  I know you, Bane. You won’t hurt me. I want both of my mates, both of my dragons, to make love to me. Now.

  Bane moved forward on his knees between Darek’s legs. Darek grew still.

  Bane put his palm in the center of Lily’s back, pushing down lightly. “Lie on top of him, love,” he told her.

  Obediently she lay over Darek, touching his face with her hands as if to read his expression. Darek smiled as her fingers traced his lips and she smiled back. Keeping her fingers on his mouth, she leaned down to kiss him.

  Bane watched them, marveling. He could feel her in his mind—not a vision now or coherent words but a bundle of emotions. Profound affection, excitement, anticipation and something that he sensed was entirely new to her—hope. Wanting nothing hidden from his gaze, Bane reached forward and slipped the blindfold off. She blinked in the light and turned her head, smiling at him radiantly. His chest tightened.

  “God, you’re stunning,” he murmured. He touched the back of the plug. “Push against me while I take this out.”

  She nodded and he slid it out of her in one smooth, deliberate motion. She tensed but he sensed he hadn’t hurt her. He stroked her back, running two fingers down her spine.

  “Are you ready for me, Lily?” he asked. She nodded again, this time vehemently, a shiver following his hand down her back.

  He positioned the head of his cock above Darek’s at the rim of her pink rosebud entrance. With great care, he pushed forward until he slipped inside the tight ring. She gasped, squeezing him hard, and he paused, keeping himself very still.

  “It’s okay. Breathe and give yourself a second to relax. I won’t move until you’re ready,” he reassured her. Then Darek took a couple of long, slow strokes inside her and he wondered if he could keep his word. He and Darek had shared women before and on those few occasions he’d tolerated the sensation of another man’s cock against his. But this—sharing Lily felt right. Exquisitely, perfectly right. He waited patiently, enjoying the feel of her soft, submissive, feminine form beneath him.

  Lily moaned, her hips twitching in response to Darek’s gentle thrusts. After a moment he felt the inner ring of her anal muscle begin to relax around him. Her breathing was more even now and deeper. Experimentally he pushed forward, giving her another inch of his thick erection. She cried out, her thighs trembling, her legs spreading wider to accommodate him.

  “Oh—oh wow,” she breathed.

  Darek chuckled. “Is that a good thing?” he asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

  “Oh yes, it’s good,” she purred, curving her back slightly to look at Bane. Her hips tilted invitingly, offering him better access. “More,” she crooned, and for a second he thought he might lose it.

  At any other moment, he’d have been inclined to make her earn it somehow. But right now she was every bit the seductress that was her birthright…and every bit his mate, asking to be claimed. He could deny her nothing.

  He pushed forward, sinking his cock into her. His eyelids drifted closed as he listened to her soft cries of pleasure and astonishment. At last he hilted in her, the slick, velvet heat an amazing sensory contrast with Darek’s hard cock on the other side of her inner wall. Placing his hands on her shoulders for leverage, Bane began moving in and out of her in a measured rhythm that Darek matched.

  The effect on Lily was explosive. She rode them with abandon, sheathing their cocks with her succulent body. Charmed, Bane watched with Darek as their once quiet, shy librarian dropped the last of her defenses. She asked for exactly what she wanted, told them precisely how and where she liked it. The Dom in him was silent for once and Darek didn’t utter a single objection. They gave her everything she asked of them, bringing her to climax over and over.

  At last, Darek wrapped a restraining arm around her waist and held her firmly. “Lily, I won’t last three seconds more and I’m not ready to come. Please, slow down.”

  She calmed some then, letting them set the pace. She turned her energies to raining kisses on every part of them she could reach, from Bane’s fingertips on her shoulders to Darek’s face, lips, ears and neck. Darek laughed and exchanged a glance with Bane over her shoulder.

  Bane could not remember ever seeing Darek so carefree. “Lily, you are an exquisite creature,” Bane said. He thrust into her welcoming body, taking what she offered and giving what she asked with a pleasure so sublime it was almost painful. Her wild little cries were erotic music to his ears. He lingered in her mind and he sensed Darek there as well. The pairing was nearly complete.

  In their shared mental space, he and Darek felt her orgasm approaching. They would join her this time. Her thoughts fragmented and her body jerked, her cries increasing in frequency and pitch. He felt Darek drive balls-deep into her pussy and he followed suit, filling, possessing Lily utterly. She shouted, a sound that morphed into a groan, and held on tightly to Darek. Bane felt her storm of sensation condense into a single, brilliant grain for an endless, aching moment then explode, leaving her whimpering and shaking in its wake. The pulsing tide of her pleasure took both men with her over the edge. Bane came deep in her in long, shuddering waves, Darek’s simultaneous shout echoing in his ears.

  Lily was drifting, lightheaded, feeling sleepy, relaxed and owned inside and out. She lay sated in Bane and Darek’s dual embrace, the last shudders of her climax gripping their still-hard cocks.

  “My God, woman,” Darek murmured reverently, brushing his thumb from the side of her breast down to her waist, resting it on her hip. She smiled and sighed deeply, tucking her head into the crook of his neck. “You amaze me.”

  Lily felt Bane withdraw from her. Her back curved reflexively at the unexpected sensation and she sighed at the loss. Immediately his hands were on her, spreading her cheeks to examine her.

  “Are you all right, Lily? Did I hurt you?”

  She laughed, swatting at his hands. “Yes, Doctor, I’m fine,” she told him, but he must not have been satisfied with that. He continued to inspect her, his hands slipping on her lubricated skin. She waited, keeping her face buried in Darek’s neck, grateful that she didn’t have to look either one of them in the eye right now. After a moment she felt him push a finger into her entrance. She yelped in protest, awkwardly half turning on top of Darek to glare at him.

  “I. Am. Fine,” she said firmly. Unfazed, he rotated his finger in her, his expression clinical and distant. Darek laughed aloud, causing his cock to twitch unexpectedly in her pussy. Lily gasped at
the disturbing conflation of post-coital joy with a rectal exam from her other lover. She started to move up, protesting, but Bane’s firm hand on her hip held her still. “Bane!” she yelled, outraged.

  “Hush. Be still, Lily,” he said, reaching deeper. Her back flexed harder in response. Damn. He was using That Voice, the one that caused a funny feeling low in her belly. She ceased her protests, making an emphatic “humph” sound against Darek’s chest—just in case he hadn’t gotten the gist of her displeasure.

  Darek gathered her hair back with one big hand and patted her insulted bottom with the other. “He’s just making sure you’re safe, Lily.” She growled, indignant, and turned to give Bane a piece of her mind—but before she could speak the offending finger was gone. He smiled, the doctor delivering good news, ignoring her murderous glare.

  “You’re fine.”

  “You… You… I told you that!” she sputtered. He swatted her butt affectionately and picked up one of the forgotten towels at the foot of the bed, drying his hands.

  “And you got your medical degree where?” he asked, backing off the bed. She moved to go after him but Darek held her fast, chuckling.

  “It’s okay, Lily, really. Just let it be.”

  “I’ll make it up to you!” Bane called from the hallway. With what? she wondered, her ill temper receding with his footsteps. The answer came unexpectedly, a blinding vision of herself from his perspective, wild in the throes of orgasm. From within his memory, she could feel the tight ring of her anus stroking the length of his cock, the pressure building in his balls as he approached his own climax.

  The shift in perspective from female to male was fascinating. She felt in his memory the masculine complement of her feminine needs. As instinctive as her own urge to yield was his to thrust, to fill, to lose himself in her. Interesting. Bane’s amusement filled her mind as clearly as the words he conveyed over their psychic connection—

  Always the scholar. You are fascinating, Lily Sinclair.

  “Oh,” she murmured, her eyes wide. The intimacy of the psychic contact was unexpected. It left her a little dizzy. She’d felt their “conversation” a few moments ago, had struggled to show him how she felt, but she hadn’t been aware of forming words. She tried to form a reply in her mind, to respond along this new line of communication, wonderment filling her. But as quickly and easily as he’d penetrated her thoughts, Bane was gone.