Beyond Eden (42 page)

“I have been crying all night,” Eve said bitterly. “What the fuck am I supposed to do about it, Danny Boy? I don’t have pretty olive skin that hides all manner of sins. Talk to my parents if you’re pissed off about it.”

“Okay,” Danny said passively as he set her coffee down in front of her. “You do need coffee.”

Eve didn’t respond, she just drank her coffee and worked on her hair silently. The knots were worse than usual and she was kicking herself for not braiding it before she fell asleep. She’d just been too exhausted by the time she had cried herself out to do

anything other than crawl into bed next to Paul and hold on to him as she fell to sleep to the warm, comforting scent of sandalwood that always surrounded him.

“Oh, come on, Evie,” Danny moaned, bringing her out of her thoughts. “What?” Eve said, shaking her hand to get more long red hairs off her fingers.

Danny stared to the floor, a look of disgust on his face. “Your hair is everywhere.

Why can’t you do this in the bathroom?”

“You’re worse than my mother,” Eve said, pulling a face at Danny as she took a long drink of her coffee. “I think you have a disorder.”

“Not wanting hair that’s three feet long scattered all over the place where I cook and eat is not a disorder,” he said, rubbing a hand over his face tiredly.

Eve rolled her eyes at him but left her hair alone because Danny looked as if he were about to have a minor breakdown. Despite his olive skin that hid his tears from the night before, he did look exhausted and broken in a way that tugged at her heartstrings. She could overlook him being an obsessive neat freak because she loved him and hated to see him so miserable.

Eve went back to drinking her coffee while Danny started sweeping the floor. Working on cleaning up the few strands of hair Eve had shed got him started on a full-out project of scouring the floor. Eve just watched as he went from sweeping to vacuuming, working on the corners and underneath the lining of the refrigerator with a raw determination that she was certain there was special medication for.

She was still watching Danny with heavy-lidded eyes, one eyebrow arched in concern for his mental well-being when Paul walked into the house. She turned around, desperate for a distraction against Danny taking his stress out on hardwood flooring. She admired Paul wearing nothing but a pair of running shorts. His face was flushed, his muscular body glistening in sweat, making him look too delicious for words as he held his fingers to his neck and looked at his watch.

“Don’t sweat in my kitchen,” Danny growled, pointing down the hallway. “Go take a shower.”

Paul frowned at him as he stood at the edge of the kitchen. He stopped taking his pulse and ran both his hands through his hair that was drenched in sweat. “Why are you vacuuming at seven in the morning?”

“He’s having a moment,” Eve offered blandly. “I shed in his kitchen and it triggered an episode.”

“Look at this,” Danny said, gesturing to where Paul was standing. “Why do you have to work out until you’re dripping wet? No one needs to exercise that intensely.”

“Yeah, ‘cause he’s not obsessive about anything,” Eve said dryly as she took another drink of coffee.

Paul stared at Danny in concern and then turned to Eve in confusion. “How much did you shed?”

“Go look at my vacuum cleaner,” Danny said, pointing toward where he set it down. He grabbed a towel and dropped it at Paul’s feet, using his foot to clean up the sweat with a look of disgust. “It’s filled with her hair. Living with her is like owning a dog.”

“I’m not touching that,” Paul said, shaking his head as he turned to walk toward the shower.

Eve waited until Paul was down the hallway before she turned back to Danny, watching him as he fell to his hands and knees and worked at cleaning the floor where Paul had been standing.

“I thought we were going to be perky,” Eve said, raising her eyebrows at him when he lifted his head to glare at her. “Savor the moment and all that jazz.”

“I’m working on it,” Danny growled as he went back to cleaning the floor. “You really do shed worse than a dog. I’m not kidding. I find your hair everywhere.”

“This is a disorder,” Eve said in concern. “You’ve been getting worse and worse. I think Paul leaving is making you more obsessive than usual.”

“Maybe,” Danny admitted as he stood, holding out the towel and then walking toward the laundry room. When he returned, he looked to Eve hesitantly. “I didn’t mean to call you a dog. I like your hair, even if you shed worse than a golden retriever.”

“You call me a dog all the time,” Eve said over the rim of her cup. “Doesn’t faze me anymore.”

“I call you a puppy,” he corrected her with an endearing smile. “A cute puppy.” “Save it,” Eve said in annoyance. “Lay your charm on Paul Guy.”

“Fine,” Danny said as he walked to the sink and started washing his hands. “You want breakfast?”

“Sure, why not?”

When he was showering alone Paul took very quick, efficient showers. Danny wasn’t even done with breakfast before Paul was back in the kitchen, dressed for work in an expensive black suit and blue tie that brought out his eyes. His hair was wet, pushed away from his face that was clean shaven and handsome this morning despite his newly developed habit of drinking himself to sleep.

“You look sexy,” Eve said, looking up at him when he walked into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. “I like that tie.”

“Thank you,” Paul said and then turned back around and eyed the cup in her hands. “Need a refill?”

“Sure,” Eve said, holding out her cup gratefully. “I had a bad night last night.” “Did you?” Paul asked as he filled up her cup.

Eve pointed to her face. “Obviously.”

“Evie,” Danny growled, turning around from the stove to glare at her.

“What?” Eve snapped at him. “He’d have to be blind not to notice. I look like total shit.”

“I don’t think you look like shit. You’re beautiful.” Paul grabbed the sugar off the counter and placed in front of her on the table. Eve rolled her eyes as she started putting sugar in her coffee, while Paul sat down next to her. He tapped at her foot lightly with his shoe to get her attention. “Why’d you have a bad night?”

“Hangnail,” Eve said without looking at him. “They’re so annoying. Kept me up all night.”

Paul sighed, running a hand through his wet hair as he took a long drink of coffee. “I don’t want you to have bad nights,” he whispered softly, looking at her intently as she continued to add more sugar to her coffee. “I want you to be happy.”

“I want you to be happy too,” she said, dropping the spoon back in the sugar bowl and giving him a strained smile. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I am worried.” “Don’t be.”

“I’ve decided we’re going to New Orleans,” Danny cut in as he put a plate in front of Paul. “You need to talk to your boss and get the time off.”

“Forget it,” Paul snorted as he reached over and picked up a piece of bacon off his plate. “I can’t get the time off. I’m already taking two weeks for my honeymoon. That’s all my vacation time.”

“It wasn’t a question,” Danny snapped at him. “Take a four-day weekend, all you need is Friday and Monday off. I know you have sick time. Make it happen.”

Paul took a bite of his bacon and then turned around to look at Danny who was putting food on a plate for Eve. “What am I gonna tell Trisha?”

“Fishing trip,” Danny said simply.

“We live on a lake. We fish whenever we want.”

Danny walked over and put a plate in front of Eve and then turned back to Paul. “Deep sea fishing. I’m renting a boat. We’re going out for four days. She’s a military brat, surely she understands that we need a boys’ weekend before Armageddon. Don’t all Marines love male bonding?”

“I’m not a Marine, but I’m all for male bonding,” Eve offered as she picked up her own piece of bacon, biting it with a show of her teeth at Paul.

Paul laughed. “Only if you get to watch.”

“Guilty,” Eve said with a mischievous smirk. “New Orleans could be fun. How hard is it to get a few days off?”

“I dunno.” Paul picked up his fork and pushed at his scrambled eggs. “Lying to her is just asking to get caught.”

“She’ll think we’re on a boat in the middle of the ocean,” Danny said as he sat down across from Paul with his own plate. “That means no cell service. We’ll have four days just to ourselves. It’ll be great, I promise.”

“I do love New Orleans,” Paul said, still pushing at his eggs as he stared at his plate with wide, unseeing eyes. “It’s a deviant’s paradise. We haven’t gone in years.”

“It’s already decided, we’re going,” Danny said firmly. “I want to go, I want you two to go with me and I always get what I want.”

“I think the employees knew there’s something up with us,” Paul said as he sat down on the large bed in the penthouse suite Danny had gotten for them in New Orleans. “Why else would three people share a room with only one bed? They think we’re queer.”

“Nah, they don’t think you’re queer,” Eve offered as she tossed her purse on the dresser and then jumped onto the bed next to Paul, bouncing on it in a way an excited child would do. “They just think I’m a whore.”

Danny laughed, staring down at her as she kept bouncing up and down. “You are a whore.”

“I wish you wouldn’t call her a whore,” Paul said, giving Danny a look of irritation. “I hate when you do that.”

“I am a whore. Any chick that gets it from two guys whenever she can is officially a whore, get over it.” Eve fell back against the bed, her long hair fanning around her as she stared up at the ceiling. “This place is posh. I don’t even want to go to Bourbon Street. I just want to stay here and fuck you two until I’m raw.”

Danny raised his eyebrows at Paul. “That’s pretty whorey.”

“She’s not a whore,” Paul said as he leaned over Eve, stroking her hair softly, pushing it away from her face as his eyes ran over her longingly. “She’s just— affectionate.”

Eve giggled, covering her face with her hands. “That’s creative. I like that.”

“Yeah, she’s affectionate, all right,” Danny said with a laugh. “She’s also drunk off her ass. Those Hurricanes went straight to her head.”

“Free Hurricanes,” Eve reminded both of them. “They’re so nice to you when you’re paying a thousand dollars a night. I felt bad for them, though. You’re such a bully, Danny Boy.”

“I paid way too much for this room to have to wait for them to get it ready,” Danny said, looking around the room with a critical eye. “They should have given us more than a few free drinks. That’s bullshit. I’m still pissed. I’m getting a free night, wait and see.”

“You are a bully,” Paul said as he reached behind his neck and tugged his shirt off with one fluid motion. He set it on the edge of the bed and then draped himself over

Eve, leaning down to kiss the curve of her neck as Eve sighed contently, her fingers threading into his hair. “Come bully me, Danny Boy.”

Danny snorted as Eve used her grip on Paul’s hair to bring his lips to hers. They kissed hotly, in a way unique to them, as if they needed the connection like others needed air. He arched an eyebrow as Eve wrapped her legs around Paul’s waist, her feet hooking together in the small of his back as she ground herself into him. Desire washed over Danny, his cock growing hard as he admired the two of them. Somewhere along the way he had developed his own voyeur fetish. Once he had gotten past the jealousy he had discovered that watching Eve and Paul together was extremely erotic. There was a beauty to the way they connected. An odd purity pulsed from their mating that had become almost sacred to Danny. He would do anything to preserve it if only he could.

Danny reached into the pocket of his leather jacket and pulled out his cigarettes. He lit one and then shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over the chair by the desk in the corner. Deciding that watching was more fun than playing for the moment, he sat down, stretching out his legs and taking a long drag off his cigarette as he found an ashtray on the desk and pulled it closer.

“Aren’t you coming to play?” Eve asked, her voice already heavy with desire as she sat up long enough to pull off her jacket, tossing it on the floor and then tugging her shirt off with Paul’s help. “I thought you were going to take your anger out on him?”

“No,” Danny said as he took another long drag off his cigarette. “I like watching.” “Suit yourself,” Eve said carelessly as she struggled with her bra.

Paul took his cue from Eve and soon they were both stripping off all their clothes, shoes, socks, pants and underwear—it was all tossed aside between kisses and sighs. Then they fell back against the bed fully naked with Paul trailing kisses over Eve’s beautiful, slim body with a look of reverence and adoration on his handsome face. He licked and teased at her breasts, sucking on them until her pale skin became flushed with desire.

“Why haven’t you painted yourself with him?” Danny asked with his eyebrows raised as Paul fell to his knees on the floor with a groan and tugged Eve to the edge of the bed.

“W-what?” Eve rasped, her head tossing on the bed as Paul pressed his lips to the inside of her thigh, licking and kissing his way slowly to Eve’s pussy. “Use your fingers too, Paul Guy. I like that.”

“I want a painting with the two of you,” Danny said firmly, wondering why he hadn’t thought of it before now. “You got a whole series of Garden of Eden paintings, but none of them have Adam and Eve together. That’s wrong.”

“It’s called Eve’s Temptation. What’s tempting about seeing herself? I hate self-portraits.” Eve spread her legs wider and Paul took the invitation, dragging his tongue over her pussy, making Eve gasp out loud. “Shit, yes. Lick me, baby. Do it good and I’ll let you fuck me.”

“I want a painting with both of you,” Danny said, not distracted from the point. “And you’re going to paint it for me.”

“Whatever,” Eve said dismissively, her fingers tightening in Paul’s hair as he licked

her.

Danny wasn’t even done with his cigarette before Eve was crying out in pleasure,

her back arching off the bed as her body shuddered from the pleasure caused by Paul licking her and fucking her with his fingers. He really did have a special talent when it came to providing oral pleasure. Like everything else he did in life, once Paul set his mind to learning something, he almost always mastered it. Danny was going to have his hands full with Eve once Paul left, because he spoiled her completely rotten.