Beyond Jealousy (17 page)

And it wouldn't be tonight.

He turned back to find Rachel making her way slowly across the floor, her eyes on him. She wound her way around writhing bodies and kissing couples, finally drawing close enough to speak. "Dance with me?"

"Always, sweetheart." Though calling what the O'Kanes got up to
dancing
was generous, at best. He pulled her to him with a hand at the small of her back. "You having fun?"

"Not as much fun as you and Ace promised me." She slipped one hand under his shirt at his side and stroked her thumb over his skin.

Fire raced through him at her touch, and he shuddered, rocking his hips against hers. They'd promised her debauchery, implied if not explicitly, and Cruz felt poised on the edge of something vast. Not just claiming them both, but doing it in public--that fed into all the worst urges he pretended not to have.

No more pretending.

He smoothed his hand lower, spreading his fingers wide over the curve of her ass and using the grip to haul her astride one of his thighs. "Are you wearing anything under this dress?"

"Not much." She dropped her free hand to the hem of her dress and tugged it up a single scant inch. "Want to see?"

He wanted to see. He wanted
everyone
to see, and to know they couldn't touch. Watching her face for any hint of unease, he fisted his hand in the stretchy fabric of her dress. "Lift your arms."

She obeyed instantly, with complete trust in her eyes, and Cruz undressed her slowly, letting the cotton rasp over every inch it exposed. Her thighs, her hips, the soft skin of her belly, the long line of her spine.

Up and up, and he wasn't surprised when Ace appeared at Rachel's back just before the dress cleared her breasts. Her nipples had contracted into tight peaks, and Cruz paused, dragging the hem back and forth a few times, teasing her.

She gasped, then moaned his name. Her hips shifted, grinding down on his thigh. Those sweet, barely there panties couldn't be much protection, so Cruz finished stripping her dress away before nodding to Ace. "Dance with us."

Ace didn't need much prompting. He never did. In the span of a heartbeat, he was pressed up against Rachel's back, forcing her higher on Cruz's thigh until she was up on her toes, riding his leg in earnest.

Rachel closed her eyes, leaned her head back against Ace's shoulder, and threaded her fingers through his hair. "I need you both so much right now."

They weren't the only ones putting on a show. Jas and Noelle had found a couch and were trading lazy kisses...with his hand lost under her skirt. Noah and Emma were straight-up fucking against the side of the cage, Emma's hands clutching at the metal siding as her mouth opened on a silent scream.

It was simple, just like Bren had said. Simple to cup her breasts, to catch those tight nipples between his fingers and tug at them until she whimpered.

Simple, but so satisfying. "Ace?"

"Yeah, brother?"

Cruz pinched harder. A whisper of pain, and it arched Rachel's back in agonized pleasure. "Show me how you touched her this morning."

Ace twisted his hand in those tiny panties and jerked. The lacy fabric ripped away, baring her pussy to his searching fingers.

She tipped her hips back, this time angling toward Ace's touch. "Not like this morning," she pleaded. "It won't be enough, not right now."

Christ, she was already wet. He could see the proof of it on Ace's fingers as he stroked between her pussy lips only to spread them wide. She was flushed, too, so pink and pretty, her clit ready to be touched or licked or sucked.

Some other night he planned to get lost between her thighs, mapping every sensitive spot with his tongue, memorizing the topography of her pleasure. It would be the best damn recon he'd ever done, but it would take hours.

She couldn't tolerate hours, not tonight. "How bad do you want it, honey?"

"Bad." Her fingers traced around to his stomach, her nails scratching his skin as she reached for his belt. "But I'd do slow, just for you."

"I know you would." He caught her wrist and lifted her fingers, kissing the tips as Ace slicked lightly over her clit. "That's why you get to choose. We can spread you out and lick and suck until we can't make you come anymore..."

Her breath caught. "Or?"

Too far,
whispered that tiny voice, the last gasping breath of sanity. It died as he met Ace's gaze. Dark brown eyes stared back at him, devoid of shame or restraint, daring him to push farther.

As Cruz watched, Ace dragged his tongue over Rachel's earlobe. "I know that look, angel. He's about to say something beautiful."

Maybe to Ace, it would be. Holding the other man's eyes like a lifeline, Cruz stepped over the edge. "Or we can see how much of my cock you can take between those beautiful lips with Ace as deep as he can get in your pussy."

Rachel froze for an unending heartbeat, then bucked on his leg and shuddered. "
Yes.
"

There were couches everywhere, some filled with O'Kanes watching avidly. Cruz had never given less of a shit. He hauled Rachel up against him and crossed the four steps to one tucked back against the wall, cloaked in the illusion of shadow.

Everyone would be able to see. Cruz might forget, but he knew Rachel wouldn't. The exposure would magnify every moment of vulnerability, make her wild.

She was wild already.

He sank to the cushions with her on his lap and dragged her face to his for a rough kiss. She shivered against him, again when Ace slid his arms around her, but she didn't break away. Instead, she licked Cruz's lower lip and then teased him with the barest hint of teeth.

Cruz caught her face between his hands and held her there. "You're a brat with Ace, but you're so sweet and good for me, aren't you?"

"Always," she breathed. "I love the way you look at me, especially when you stop fighting yourself."

He'd touched her lower lip a dozen times, but now he pressed the pad of his thumb against it knowing he'd soon feel its silky softness rubbing along the underside of his cock. He still couldn't reconcile the dichotomy, how the desire to stroke her like this could coexist with the urge to see her lips stretched wide and helpless around his shaft as he fucked into her mouth with selfish hunger.

The paradox of wanting both should have swallowed the damn universe. But it didn't, because she wanted both, too.

He traced his thumb back and forth. "Find her something to kneel on."

Ace pressed a kiss to Rachel's shoulder and drew back, returning a moment later to urge Cruz's feet apart, wide enough to accommodate a cushion. Cruz edged the tip of his thumb into Rachel's mouth. "The more of my cock you take, the harder I'll let Ace fuck you."

She clenched both hands on his shoulders and whimpered around his thumb. Then she knelt on the floor with her hands folded in her lap--the perfect picture of lust and submission.

Her lashes fluttered, and she looked up to meet Cruz's eyes. "I told you before, I don't know how. And you said Ace would show me." The words were innocent on the surface, but a wicked awareness lurked beneath them.

She knew what she was asking. God save him.

God had better save him, because Ace sure the hell wouldn't. He groaned and knelt behind her, gathering her hair up off her neck. "You're not a good girl at all. You're a delicious, filthy girl who wants to lick my tongue while it's all over Cruz's cock. Does that make you wet and achy, angel?"

She slid one hand into his hair--and pulled hard. "I want to see if it makes you as hot as I think it does. And if it gets him off as hard as I know it will."

Ace smiled, and Cruz had seen that look before. It had curved his lips the first time Cruz had rasped out a command to help a woman suck his cock. Smug victory, followed by the words that had changed everything.

I thought you'd never ask.

Cruz spread his arms out on the back of the couch and focused on Rachel, on her sweet anticipation and her big, beautiful eyes. "Take out my cock, sweetheart."

She moved slowly, tugging open the button and then easing his zipper carefully down over the hard, prominent ridge straining against his fly. "Is this what you want?" she asked as she parted the denim and brushed her knuckles over his erection.

He dug his fingers into the leather cushions to keep from reaching for her--yet. "Take me in your hand," he commanded softly. "Stroke me."

Her eyes flashed with anticipation that turned to satisfaction when he hissed as she wrapped her fingers around him. "I like this." The words whispered over his exposed flesh. "So much power, and I can't even tell who has it."

Ace groaned, twisting her hair tighter around his hand. "You do, angel, start to finish. You've got so much power over the two of us, you should be drunk on it."

"Not drunk," she countered. "Happy." She squeezed her fist around Cruz's shaft and leaned in to lick the spot just below the crown.

It was almost too much. Pleasure prickled up his spine, but it was the
sight
that made him truly dizzy. Rachel, the flat of her tongue pressed against his cock, staring up at him with wide eyes while Ace gathered her hair around his fist.

And then Ace made it worse. Better. He covered Rachel's hand with his own, tightening her hold. "Not very obedient, are you?" he murmured, using his grip on her hair to drag her head back. "I think you should ask, angel. Ask for permission to lick his cock."

Her throat worked, and her eyes locked with Cruz's. "Please." Her other hand drifted up beneath his shirt. "Let me?"

"No," he growled. "Not until Ace does."

Her shudder melted into a moan. "Don't tease me like that."

The corner of Ace's mouth lifted. Smug, all right, and he remembered the first night, too. He must have, because he edged Rachel to the side and bent low. "I thought you'd never ask," he murmured.

He slid his lips around Cruz's cock, taking half its length in one smooth glide.

Cruz groaned, his hips lifting into the unforgiving heat. Ace wasn't tentative or gentle. He went fast and hard, sucking while he worked Rachel's hand up and down the rest of Cruz's shaft.

She watched, fascination and arousal painted across her features. Then she nuzzled Ace's cheek, kissed his jawline, and licked his earlobe. When she spoke, it was in a heated whisper, so low Cruz almost couldn't hear it.

"Swallow him," she urged. "Show me how."

Ace lifted his head, his gaze never leaving Cruz's. "The trick is to get him all slick and wet first."

The words were as much for Cruz as for Rachel, a quiet nudge in the right direction. So Cruz gave him what they all wanted--the roughness of a command. "Do it, Rachel. Help him lick me."

She joined in eagerly, drawing her tongue from where her fingers wrapped around him all the way up. Another slow lick, and she met Ace's tongue, whimpering as he drew her into a wet kiss that enveloped the head of Cruz's cock.

Sweet
fuck
.

His hips lifted again, pushing toward their mouths, and the leather of the couch creaked under his clutching hands. "No one'll be swallowing me if you don't get to it," he grated out. Not that there wasn't a whole different appeal in the idea of coming like this, spilling across Ace's filthy smile and the sweet bow of Rachel's lips.

Christ, he was a twisted fucker, but the thought of it turned him on, fast and hot.

Then Rachel's lips parted. He sank into the heat of her mouth, deeper and deeper until she gagged.

"Shh," Ace soothed, tugging her hair until she eased up a tiny bit. "Relax, sweetheart. It takes practice. Take him as far as you can again, until you're almost choking, and hold him there. Can you do that for me?"

She made a soft noise of assent and sucked again, gliding deep before drawing up short with a trembling moan that vibrated around Cruz, sweet and wicked, and he almost lost it. Ace murmured encouragement and held her there with one iron hand on the back of her head.

Then he lifted his gaze, and Cruz drew in a breath at the wildness there. "She's a good girl, isn't she?" Ace murmured. "Willing to choke on your dick to please you. Have you ever seen anything more perfect, brother?"

"No," Cruz answered honestly, freeing one hand to stroke Rachel's cheek. "Nothing could be."

She whimpered. Her hand flexed around him, fell away, and her head bobbed down. She swallowed him, the muscles at the back of her throat stroking as they worked.

Fuck.
Fuck.

His vision narrowed, but Ace's words still hit him, twisting with the sight of Rachel struggling to swallow more of him. "Someone's been spending too much time with Lex. That's right, clever girl. Nice and slow..."

It was too fucking much. Cruz pulled Rachel up, his voice coming out low and desperate. "Do you want Ace inside you?"

She gasped for breath, and her voice was husky, hoarse. "Yes. I'm so empty. I ache."

"Ace will fill you up," he promised, dropping his free hand to tug at her nipple. Ace was already scrambling for his belt, tearing it open with shaking hands, and at least Cruz wasn't the only one fighting for control.

He wasn't the only one riveted, either. Cruz turned Rachel's face toward a nearby couch, where Lex and Dallas watched avidly. "And they're going to watch him do it."

Rachel half-laughed, half-groaned, stroking him as she stared back at their audience. "Lex is memorizing every second," she said. "She held me down, once, fucked me with her fingers. The whole time, she was whispering in my ear about all the things you and Ace could do to each other. I came so hard I almost blacked out."

Lewd words, but even with pleasure dulling his brain, Cruz saw the deeper truth there. Lex had been trained in battle strategy as surely as Cruz, trained to fight a war where lust and fantasy were her primary weapons. If she'd chosen dirty whispers to break through Rachel's defenses, the subject of those whispers was significant.

And useful. As Ace opened his pants, Cruz urged Rachel's gaze back to his own. "Maybe I should have her make me a list."

"You don't need one." She leaned down and rubbed her cheek against his shaft.

"No, we don't," Ace agreed, smiling as he ran one hand down Rachel's spine, smoothing over her ass and lower. Rachel arched and rocked back against him. "God, Rae, you dirty girl. So fucking ready."