Come Undone (33 page)

‘Xane, do you like having your balls licked?’

Women didn’t generally ask what he liked. That’s exactly what made her different and convinced him he’d been right to make a commitment to her, despite their earlier to-do.

‘Only if you’re extremely gentle,’ he replied, ‘and I won’t be able to take much of it.’ His balls were already trying to crawl up inside him at the thought of getting some attention. They were sensitive like that.

He needn’t have worried.

His toes curled. His tendons stretched. And his cock got ridiculously hard. Too hard, in fact. He’d be useless for anything more than nought to sixty inside three seconds. ‘That’s enough. Really.’

She nevertheless feathered her tongue over their fuzzy surface again before returning her attention to his shaft. Her tongue teased the aching head of his cock. She lapped at the slit, stealing the beads of arousal that were already leaking out. It was all far, far too bloody sweet.

‘Dani.’ His hips jerked. He couldn’t stand any more teasing. He needed to thrust. Had to come. ‘Suck,’ he pleaded.

Smiling, she obliged. ‘Harder?’ she enquired after a few tentative pulls.

Xane’s blood roared in his ears. ‘Yes,’ he bellowed, far too loud. He needed to get deep and go fast, really fill her mouth.

Dani, God bless her, seemed to understand perfectly. She was over him, her mouth wide, claiming him. She rolled with the motion of his hips, worked her fist, matching her pace to his until he was soaring.

A serrated groan clawed its way up from his lungs. Xane’s release poured out of him, and the minx – the woman he realised he was desperate to keep – swallowed his seed as though it were cream. She lapped up every damn drop, held him in her mouth until he’d lost all his hardness, only releasing him once he’d floated all the way down from cloud nine.

‘Think you’ll sleep better now?’ She snuggled up beside him, moulding her curves to his form, one leg cocked over his thighs. Xane couldn’t see her properly, but he felt her grin, her cheek lifted where it pressed against his shoulder. Thank God, she was smiling again and they were apparently OK after that nonsense earlier.

A yawn stretched his mouth wide. ‘Come up here and I’ll see if I can repay the favour before I pass out.’ Already his brain had begun to shut down, but he didn’t want to be the sort of bastard that left his lady unfulfilled.

‘It’s OK, Xane,’ she insisted, leaning across him to kiss his brow first, and then his lips. She tasted strongly of his come as her tongue thrust possessively into his mouth. He kind of liked that. ‘Sleep, baby. You can owe me one. Get some rest.’

Dani couldn’t get back to sleep. She lay against Xane’s shoulder and listened to him breathe, until she was sure he hadn’t plunged back into the nightmare. His cries had alarmed her, especially when she’d woken in unfamiliar surroundings to find him thrashing around like that. He seemed peaceful enough now, but her mind went on whirring.

She sat up, pulled on Xane’s discarded shirt and slipped out of the room, leaving him to sleep. At home, she’d have gone to the kitchen and made a hot drink, and chances were that, within a minute or two, Ginny would have joined her. Ginny was psychic like that, and she loved relating her latest exploits over giant mugs of cocoa, while they licked gooey marshmallows from their fingertips. Dani wished she could talk to her now. Ginny would set her mind at ease, tell her not to get worked up over something so stupid.

Ginny would say, ‘Hey, I’ve kissed a girl,’ before smacking a kiss right on Dani’s lips, and then laugh raucously at the idea that she was likely to give up men because of it.

She knew it was silly to be upset about Xane’s admission. He’d done pretty much everything else sexwise, why would he sweat over a bit of same-sex contact? Not that Xane was the primary issue here. The problem was her and her inability to believe in him and trust him. Just because her dad had left her for another man didn’t mean Xane would automatically do the same.

No one said it would be plain sailing, Dani, she chastised herself. She’d already risked becoming estranged from her mum in order to be with him, but that didn’t exempt her from further challenges. She had to view this as one of them, and not let it defeat her. She had to trust him, which admittedly wasn’t easy, especially when she hardly dared believe any of this was real anyway.

As going downstairs would mean enduring another round of extreme licking from Ric’s dogs, Dani headed upstairs instead, hoping she’d find somewhere comfortable to sit and think.

She ended up in Ric’s studio, where she flicked a number of light switches. She paused to gape at his set-up. Equipment: lights, tripods, computers and at least eight cameras filled the room. Yet, despite all the photography kit, there was not a single print on the whitewashed walls. Instead, stacks of framed photographs sat propped against the skirting boards.

To her delight, she found a coffee-maker in one corner, along with sample-sized cartons of UHT milk and a box of sugar lumps. Ric obviously liked to have supplies to hand while working. She set the coffee machine going and then, once it had brewed, settled herself amongst the saggy beanbags.

Why hadn’t she realised before now how Xane was? The clues had all been there, plain as day, now she thought about it. Things like what he’d had her do with her fingers, and how he wasn’t in the least perturbed by the idea of fan boys lusting after him. Oh, God – and when he’d been describing how anal sex felt, he hadn’t been talking about being inside a woman at all. He’d been recalling the sensations of being done.

The thought made her tearful.

She sniffed. Hastily, she put her drink to one side and reached for a tissue. Conveniently, there was a big box within easy reach.

Don’t do this, Dani, she thought. Don’t think about it. He’s here with you. He’s not about to run off. There’s no one here for him to run off with.
There were only three other people on the island and they were already a merry old threesome.

Of course, Zach had commented on how hot he thought Xane was.

No. No. She really wasn’t going to torture herself like this.

‘Sinner, what do you expect,’ she heard Sister Anna saying, as if she were in the room. ‘He’s a man. All he knows is lust. Once he’s had his fill of you, he’ll move on. Love is not an actual part of his makeup. It’s what you’re projecting in order to excuse your own sins.’

‘No, it fucking well isn’t,’ she growled at the empty room. ‘He’s said it himself, and I didn’t prompt him to.’

‘Is somebody up here?’ a voice called from below.

Oh, shit! Now she was going to have to explain herself. ‘It’s me. Dani.’

Ric padded barefoot into the room. He had on a pair of lounge pants that were slung so low on his hips they were in danger of falling off. While he didn’t have Xane’s piercings, his bare chest was sculpted from the same divine mould. He turned to look around, thus giving her a swift view of his back. Most of its surface was covered with an absolutely breathtaking tattoo of an ankh filled with roses.

‘I’m over here. Sorry. I couldn’t sleep. I’m not touching anything. I’ll leave if you don’t want me up here.’

Ric padded forward to where she sat. ‘I see you found the coffee machine.’

‘Did you want one?’ she asked, rising.

Ric waved her back into her seat. ‘Actually, I’d prefer something stronger. I’m not doing too fab on the sleeping score myself. Zach’s hogging three-quarters of the bed.’ He crossed to one of the picture stacks and produced a bottle of brandy from behind it.

‘And Kara?’ she asked, wondering if she was occupying the other quarter.

‘Went back to her place,’ Ric said. He collected two tumblers from out of a drawer, and carried them back to where Dani sat. ‘Can I tempt you?’

‘Um, I don’t know.’ She raised her coffee cup to show him she already had a drink, but Ric misinterpreted and splashed brandy into her mug. He sat facing her on the lacquered floor, his legs crossed, and poured himself one.

Dani bit her lip, not sure what to say to him. The heaviness in her chest remained, along with all her doubts about Xane and their future together. Having Ric here only made her more tense.

If Kara had gone home but Ric and Zach lived in the same house, did that mean that really the guys were a couple and Kara was just someone they experimented with? Maybe neither of them could truly admit that they were gay.

‘You look as if you’re trying to solve a cryptic crossword,’ Ric remarked. He eyed her thoughtfully over the top of his glass. ‘Give me the clues and I’ll see if I can work it out.’

‘I’m not trying to work anything out.’ She’d already made the mistake of sharing her thoughts on the subject with Xane, and see where that had got her. She’d almost wrecked everything. The image of how affronted, how haggard he’d looked when he’d stepped out of the little boat remained burned into her memory. Everything seemed to be good again between them. She’d tried hard to show him that was so by comforting him after his horrid dream but, truthfully, she felt desperately insecure.

‘Are you and Xane at odds?’

‘No.’ Dani gulped a mouthful of coffee. The brandy gave it a peculiar taste, which she wasn’t entirely sure she liked, but maybe the alcohol would make her sleep. ‘We’re good. He’s sleeping. I couldn’t wake him and I didn’t want to.’

‘Right. It’s just that earlier …’ Ric rolled upwards onto his feet again. He pattered over to the nearest bank of equipment. ‘I wondered … seeing as you didn’t come back to the fire.’ He removed a camera from its rig and began swapping its lens over. ‘And now you’re up here at 3 a.m. looking as though you’re brewing a headache.’

‘There’s nothing up between Xane and me,’ she informed him. At least, nothing that needed discussing with someone she hardly knew, who definitely wouldn’t understand her concerns.

‘Fair enough.’ Ric shrugged with his hands raised. ‘I guess we pissed you off then.’

Her mouth opened in denial, but Ric swung around three of the tripod-mounted spotlights and pinpointed her at the centre of their beams. ‘Don’t say it,’ he warned. ‘I can’t stand liars.’

Dani shifted uneasily under the glare of the lights. She tugged down the hem of the man’s shirt she’d put on, so that her legs were tucked up inside it. Rather stupidly, she’d failed to put any underwear on, which made her feel horribly exposed. Nor was it nice being with someone who knew you had issues with them.

‘Shall we play a game?’ Ric asked, drawing her attention. He stood poised with the camera in his hand. ‘I’ve a good one. It’s called snap.’

‘I’m guessing this version doesn’t involve playing cards.’

‘It’s a question-and-answer game. You have to be truthful. That’s the only rule.’ He raised the camera. Dani blinked dazedly in response to the flash going off. She raised her hand to protect her eyes as he took a second shot.

‘Um, I don’t really like having my picture taken.’

‘If you come into my studio, it’s compulsory that you get photographed.’ He reviewed her image on the digital screen. ‘Cute,’ he remarked. ‘Anyway, the game’s easy. I ask you a question and then snap your answer.’

It didn’t sound terribly fun. ‘How can you photograph an answer?’

‘Easy. We communicate in plenty of ways that don’t involve words. Think of this as a study of micro expressions.’

Dani defensively folded her arms, not sure she liked the sound of it. Given what she knew about Ric’s work, she didn’t envisage him asking her what her favourite colour was, or if she’d ever owned a goldfish. He was likely to ask squirm-inducing things, like what her favourite part of Xane’s anatomy was, or which she liked better, cunnilingus or fellatio. Or, worse – why she was up at 3 a.m.

The result would be twenty identical pictures of her with scarlet cheeks.

‘How long have you known my cousin?’ he asked.

Was this a game question or just a question? ‘Three days in person, but I’ve been a fan for ever.’

‘Uh-huh.’ Ric startled her by taking a shot while she was looking straight at him. ‘Ace expression. Try to ignore the flash. So you must have made an impression. Three days isn’t very long for him to have asked you out. I guess you’re hot in bed.’

Was that supposed to be a question? She wasn’t answering it.

‘How many times has he shagged you since you met?’

‘Um, none of your business.’ That said, she still did the mental arithmetic.

‘That many?’ Ric drawled, watching her figure it out. ‘He’s still a fiend in the sack, then?’

‘I don’t like this game.’ Dani folded herself up small, so he couldn’t see her face to photograph, not that it stopped him taking pictures.

‘You can ask me a question if you like.’

‘I don’t want to know anything about you.’

‘I never said it had to be a question about me. Really, nothing?’ Ric hunched his shoulders, which drew attention to his ridiculously ripped torso.

He’d barely given her time to think of a question, let alone fathom out how to phrase it so she didn’t reveal far too much about herself.

‘Couldn’t you choose between Zach and Kara?’ she asked.

A broad smile stretched across Ric’s face. ‘Good one. To give you the truth, if it was up to me, I’d never have chosen either of them. I only bowed to the current arrangement under pressure.’

Confused, she sat up straight. ‘Don’t you love them?’

‘God, yes.’ He rested his hand against his heart. ‘They’re both wonderful. But so is no-strings sex, and it’s simpler. It doesn’t come with any baggage. It doesn’t mess up your life, or drive you insane with its constant presence. Unfortunately, Zach is Mister Commitment, and, since he’s stuck with me for seven years, I figured I owed him. Having Kara around stops us plunging into sitcom territory.’

‘Is Zach your first serious relationship, then?’

He shook his head, making his long hair swish. ‘I used to be married.’

Dani covered her face with her hands. ‘Divorced?’ she asked, peeping through her fingers. It was exactly like her mum and dad all over again. Guy and girl meet, get together, get married, have a baby. Guy discovers he really likes other men. Everything goes kaput.

‘Scarlett committed suicide.’