Louisa Neil (23 page)

Sloan began to push faster in Dane’s body, his strokes becoming shorter and shorter until he was hardly pulling out yet thrusting harder. “She can direct me any way she wants, as long as she knows we’re her future.”

“I’m gonna come, Sloan. I don’t know what you’re thinking about, but you just surged inside me.”

“Stoke your cock. I’m going to come.”

Dane wrapped his hand around his cock and began to rub himself. “Now, Sloan. I’m going to come now.”

“Do it,” the other man told him all but breathlessly.

Dane felt Sloan’s fingers biting into his hips, holding him tight to him while his cum spurted inside him. Dane came in his own hand and continued to rub it on himself. Sloan dropped over his shoulder and watched his movements. His cock stirred inside Dane’s body, and he laughed. “Getting hard again?”

“Only a bit. I’m exhausted, but you keep going.” Sloan pulled from Dane’s body and with a few steps dropped backward, sitting on the bed. “Come here and let me watch you.”

Dane didn’t need to think twice. He moved beside the bed and continued to manipulate his own cock. When he came a second time, he sprayed his cum on Sloan’s chest. Then he dropped to his knees and started to suck it from the other man’s nipples.

“Imagining they’re her nipples?”

“Yes, but they’re not, and that’s good, too. Soon I’ll have both of you to suck.” He continued to lick and suck his cum from Sloan’s chest until he was exhausted. His cock wasn’t getting hard again, so he finally stopped and stood, crawling beside Sloan on the bed. “I’m done. I can’t get hard again.”

“Neither can I. I’m tired, too, mentally and physically.”

“Maybe she’ll call tomorrow or stop by.” Dane’s voice was groggy.

“It’s a possibility, but I wouldn’t count on it. Don’t be disappointed if she doesn’t.” Sloan wrapped his arm around Dane and pulled him close to his body. Dane dropped his arm over Sloan’s belly and let himself drift to sleep.

* * * *

Diana was in the labyrinth, light from the Minotaur’s chamber showing her the way to him. She was running through the pathways, her fingers tracing along the stone as she went. When she reached the doorway she paused, noting her monster sat behind the trestle table in a large thronelike chair. It was carved of wood and had no material coverings. He sat watching the doorway, as if he expected her to come. She waited until her breath was normal before taking her first steps into the room. His expression didn’t change. As she walked toward the table, she realized the only thing she wore was her earrings, feeling them brush against her neck with each movement.

“Why are you so agitated?” he asked. His tone was deep, normal sounding to her ear.

“I was afraid…”

“Of me?” he asked, laughing at her, the expression new to her. She’d seen him give her a sly smile of satisfaction in the past, but he never laughed. Diana wasn’t sure she liked him laughing at her.

“I was afraid you wouldn’t be here.”

“Why?” Her monster sat still, watching her every move.

“You of all people should know that. If you’re a figment of my imagination then you know where I was tonight and with whom. You know how I let him touch me.”

“Did you not want him to make love to you? From my perspective, you were the one to initiate the acts. You asked him for more.”

“Yes, I did. Are you him, or is he you?” She moved closer and rested her hip on the edge of the table, bringing her closer to him. In the brighter light, she studied him openly. Yes, he had the body of an exquisite man, chiseled features and all muscle. In the candlelight, his body looked as if it had been oiled, slick and shiny. She noted the light covering of black hair on his chest and knew it wound down his belly, encircling his cock. As she continued to look at him, his long black hair and black eyes became more humanized. Only the horns coming from his temples made her believe he was technically a monster.

“I am a figment of your imagination, Diana. Yes, Sloan and Dane prompted you to start thinking about me to serve their purpose. You’re the one who turned me into a nightmare.”

“I’m not afraid of you anymore, haven’t been from almost the very beginning.”

“As I recall, after your first dreams you referred to me as your
bête noire
. That means a nightmare, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, but that was so long ago. I’ve come to trust you, to look forward to visiting you.”

“To look forward to my fucking you?”

“Yes. Now in this brighter light, I see you look more like Sloan.”

“That’s your doing, Diana. I haven’t changed. I’m still the monster you dreamed.”

“Not a monster for a long time. I’ve been calling you Martin.”

“No matter what you call me, I am your nightmare come true.”

“If I go with Sloan and Dane, will you still come to me in my dreams?”

“You have no use for me now. You’ve let Sloan touch you in real life. You’ve listened to his story of your history. It’s up to you to believe it or not. It’s your decision how you follow through with the men.”

“Can I conjure you just for my own pleasure?”

“Only you can decide that. I fear the time has come where you don’t need me as a buffer between the men and reality. What can I offer you? I’m only a monster in your dreams.”

“No longer a monster.” She waited for him to accept her words and remembered she was the one who had to believe. Finally, she slipped to the floor, slowly walking around the long table. Diana didn’t hesitate to climb up on his lap and rest her head against his chest. She let her hands roam his naked skin, trying to commit his feel to memory. “What if I need someone to talk to?”

“You’ll have Sloan and Dane.” He gently lifted her face with his fingers to look at him. “Sloan is stable and elegant. Dane is more down-to-earth and carefree. You’ll become the anchor for them both.”

“Is their story about the jewelry true? Can I trust them?”

“That will be your decision. Might I suggest you take your earrings”—he lifted his finger and touched one of them, making the stones gently sway and skim her neck—“to someone who can tell you more about them. Someone who knows stones and will tell you what they truly are.”

Diana snuggled closer to him, wrapping her arm around his neck. “I’ll miss you, my
bête noire
. I’ll miss you as a monster and as a man I named Martin.”

“But you’ve outgrown me now. You’ve gone past the apprehension of your men.”

“Will I ever feel the same love for the men as I’ve come to know with you?”

“In time, Diana. There will always be angst and upheaval of some sort in your life. Dane will help you to laugh at the problems. Sloan will help you solve them.”

“Since I let Sloan touch me tonight, you won’t touch me now, will you?”

He laughed at her, but his arms came around her body and held her to him. “You don’t need a dream to make love with you.”

“But the marks on my breasts, the cum on my skin. If you’re not real, how did that all happen?”

“I don’t know of your life, only that when I did touch you, to me it was real.”

“Is there any way you can come into my real life, my everyday life? Please tell me I won’t lose you forever.” Diana let her tears come, not fighting to hold them back.

“I’m not your reality, my sweet. Sloan and Dane are your reality.”

“Martin, do you know what happened to my birth parents and why they gave me up?”

“Sloan will have that answer. But you’ve been right not to think to contact her.”

“She didn’t want me then, and she wouldn’t want to hear from me now.”

“I think that will be impossible. I don’t think she truly knew who your father was. And she gave you up to have a better life. Hers was cruel to her in many ways. I wouldn’t think she’s alive or has been for many years.”

“You can’t go back,” she whispered. “Somehow I must have known that or felt it. That was why I never looked for her.”

“Remember, she made sure you were cared for. Beyond breath, that was her greatest gift to you.”

“Am I really some long lost descendant of the original Ariadne? Is that how the earrings came to me? Are Sloan and Dane ancestors of the original Minotaur and Theseus?”

“Does it really matter anymore? These men are a match for you, just as the necklace and bracelet match your earrings.”

“Can I stay here for a while, even if you won’t fuck me? Just let me hold you.”

“For as long as you need.”

“I’ll always remember you, Minotaur, always hold you dear.”

“Sloan and Dane will hold you dear, Diana.”

Diana shifted on his lap and reached for his cock. Grasping it with one hand, she left her other arm around his neck, holding him for strength and comfort. Martin held her tight to him.

When Diana woke, she was in her bed. The only difference was that she was wearing the earrings. She knew she’d taken them off before dropping onto the bed, but they were back on. At this point in her life, she wasn’t going to question the details. What surfaced immediately was the sorrow she felt at the loss of her Minotaur. Deep inside, she knew she’d not dream of him again. All her
bête noire
fears were gone. The second thing that surfaced was his suggestion of having her earrings appraised by a real jeweler. She cried into the pillow for a while and let herself drift back to sleep. When she woke later, she felt refreshed but sad. What she knew for sure was that tomorrow she would take her earrings to a jeweler and get them appraised.

She spent the rest of the day relaxing and lounging. When she thought to call Sloan, she put the telephone down. When she thought to get dressed and go to the men with her questions, she didn’t, wouldn’t until she knew more about her earrings. Diana knew exactly which jeweler she would use for the appraisal, the one she always passed and admired the collections in the window. She’d never stepped inside, knowing their pieces were way above her budget. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t look. They would be the place to start. To keep busy, she went to their website and left a message she would be in the following day around noon for an appraisal. She left her e-mail and phone number for them to contact her.

The rest of the day she searched her computer to find stones that looked like hers. Until yesterday, she’d always assumed they were costume jewelry. Now she wasn’t sure, but it was difficult to match them to photos on the computer. There were a few that seemed similar, but she couldn’t even pronounce them. And they were all precious stones, rare and old. Closing the computer, she knew she had to get out of the house. She dragged on comfortable chinos and a white T-shirt. She made a point of putting her earrings in a safer place, not just lying in a box on her bureau top. Grabbing a black sweater, she took her money, identification, cell phone, and keys and left quickly. Outside it was a beautiful afternoon, sunny but with a light breeze. Diana made a point of walking in the other direction from Sloan and Dane’s home.

She wandered along the streets, window shopping and watching other people. Actually, she walked in a foglike state, all the information she’d been given last night exploding in her brain. Over and over, she tried to make sense of it all. As she was nearing home, she stopped in a small market and grabbed a container of soup to take home for her supper.

At that corner, she could have turned one direction and gone home. If she turned in the other direction, she would be very close to Sloan and Dane. With definite purpose, she walked to her home. After a quick shower, she was back online, searching for more information about both the men, delving deeper into their backgrounds. Unfortunately for Diana, everything they had told her seemed accurate. That didn’t mean they couldn’t have planted information, but why bother? She was not a woman of means, not one to be played for money or a pair of earrings.

With a resigned breath, she went back to a clean search and typed in a single word—Minotaur. For the rest of the evening, she scanned the information and read many versions of the myth, all of which were similar to what she’d searched after her first nightmares, so similar she became completely mind-boggled. Closing the cover on her computer, she warmed the soup and found solace on the sofa with the television remote in hand. Mindlessness and sleep were her only sanctuaries now.

Tomorrow she would find out more. Until then, she’d keep to herself and away from the men she was rapidly becoming attached to. Men she’d let touch her, men she wanted to touch again. Men she felt a connection with, even if it was based on a myth she wasn’t sure was real. It dawned on her she was no longer thinking in terms of a man, rather, both men. What would that be like in reality, she wondered. Was there the possibility where she could have the best of both worlds, both men with their very different personalities? What they seemed to have in common was their home, business, and her. Could something like that ever work in reality without jealousy? There were enough trapping in any two-person relationship to end many, so could the three of them find a comfort zone where they all prospered? Diana laughed, knowing there was no real peace in any relationship all the time. For her, it would be a matter of how much they annoyed her on a daily basis. Time would tell, but it was an interesting concept to dream about.