Moore, Gigi - Desiree's Lone Wolves [The Double R, Book 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (18 page)

“Do you?”

“I think we probably should, but I suppose it might be better if we’re all three present.”

Sam nodded and bent his head to nip her earlobe. He wasn’t in any rush to discuss the situation between them, especially without Carson. He knew he would reveal the wrong thing or too much. He didn’t want to scare Desiree away unnecessarily.

“You boys like nibbling on me, don’t you?”

“Can’t speak for Carson, but I definitely do. I like sweet-tart treats.” Sam pulled back to look at Desiree as she rubbed the soft spot where her neck met her shoulder and noticed the hickey. It looked like it hurt, but maybe she bruised easily and it looked worse than it was. He needed to talk to Carson about dialing down the passion. Desiree wasn’t a shifter or even a hybrid like their mother and might not take too kindly to shifter sex practices. To a full human, shifter sex could be downright brutal. Sure, shifters had their moments of slow tenderness, but Sam knew Carson really liked to get down with his women when he did couple. It’s what worried him about Carson and Desiree together, alone, without him to act as a buffer. She’d do well to tie
Carson
up, but Sam was pretty sure his brother wouldn’t agree to it, not after what had happened to him at Remy’s stronghold.

Sam only had a vague idea of the ordeal his brother had endured during his brief but brutal incarceration. He knew it was brutal only because of the scars he’d seen on his brother’s back, chest, and around his wrists and ankles when they’d broken him out. Only through seeing his brother’s battered and bruised body did he know Carson had been bound and beaten, that Remy’s men had probably drugged him to prevent his shifting and consequently healing.

Carson, however, never confirmed or denied any of this. He never talked about what he’d gone through. He didn’t have to. Sam was there to hear his brother’s cries in the wee hours. He was there to see his brother racked in the throes of his nightmares,

Sam couldn’t count the times he’d sat awake in bed with his arms wrapped around his knees, fighting the urge to go to Carson, and wake and comfort him. He’d known, however, that his brother would have been far from comforted to realize he’d shown weakness to his younger brother, even if it was during his sleep. “Starting to regret things already?” Desiree cupped his cheek with one hand.

“No, not at all. Why would you ask?”

“The look on your face.”

The only thing he regretted remained his having to hide his makeup. He wondered if Desiree would be able to accept his and Carson’s true nature. He wondered if she was tough enough to eventually accept and even enjoy shifter sex with not just one shifter but two. Sam had to keep reminding himself when they were having sex that she was a full human, easily hurt and not as strong as even the weakest shifter female.

He refused to believe that Carson was right, refused to consider the possibility that being with Desiree wasn’t a good idea. If they cared about each other enough, they could all work this out. They just had to get her to care.

Sam reciprocated Desiree’s gesture and cupped her face. “I don’t regret one moment of being with you, even if I didn’t have the most explosive orgasm of my life.”

“Did you?”

“Have an explosive orgasm? Most definitely.”

“Me, too. Actually, I had at least more than a couple.”

Sam chuckled, liking her lighthearted tone and the wide-eyed look of wonder on her face, as if having an orgasm proved unprecedented for her. He liked, too, that she was comfortable enough to talk with him. He remembered how nervous she had been when she’d brought him her pie. That woman was a different woman than the one who lay in his arms now or the one who’d boldly asked if he’d let her tie him up. He didn’t want to see the former woman again but knew he needed to address the elephant sitting in the bed between them. Bringing Remy into the sanctity of Desiree’s bedroom seemed like one surefire way to stir the pot and ruin the vibe, but how could he not, at least eventually?

“Your mind’s with your brother and work, isn’t it?”

“Something like that.”

“Where were you guys heading when I saw you in the woods earlier?”

“To the stream. We like to hang out there every chance we get.”

“Maybe I could hang out there with you one of these days.”

“We’d like that.”

The smile she gave him proved as mischievous as any of Maia’s. “Sure I wouldn’t be impinging on your male-bonding time?”

“Who says we still wouldn’t be bonding?”

“You’ve got a point.”

The woman just didn’t know what she was asking or how important it was for her to see and accept them in their favorite habitat, and Sam couldn’t tell her—not yet.

“Samson?”

 
Sam cringed at the hated name. He’d wondered if Desiree had picked up on it earlier. He should have known. “Yeah, that’s me.”

“I like it. It fits you and goes with Quarry perfectly. They’re both solid and strong.”

Would she think Samson went with his real family name, Guidry, just as well?

The truth sat on his tongue like bad medicine and Sam swallowed it down. Carson would kill him if he revealed too much too soon, probably if he revealed anything at all.

Lying killed Sam, though. He’d never been good at it, even though he had been doing it for most of his twenties, by necessity. He’d never had to lie to a woman he’d been intimate with, though, since he hadn’t really been close to a lot of women, certainly not as familiar as he had been with Desiree. One-night stands didn’t count, and he hadn’t had too many of those, either. Compared to some of his brother’s sexploits, Sam practically remained a virgin.

“My middle name is Galen,” he murmured and leaned in to nuzzle and kiss her neck.

“Giving out your middle name, hmm. That’s personal.”

Sam chuckled. He could tell her a lot more personal stuff that would blow her mind,

“I think I’m falling in love with you, Desiree,” he blurted.

“I like Galen. It’s…fanciful, like the name of a mythical being—an elf, a wizard, or a Wiccan maybe.”

Had she not heard him, or was she just ignoring what he’d said?

“Desiree?”

“I can’t, Sam. Not now.”

The
maybe not ever
hung in the air between them, and Sam let it. It hurt him not to address her rejection, but he didn’t want to fight with her over it, not yet anyway. He’d done enough damage already. He knew
Carson
would think so.

“What would you know about all those mythical beings and Wiccans?” Sam asked, trying to put back together the broken thread of their conversation.

“Maia’s a free spirit and into all that New Age stuff, or hadn’t you noticed?”

“I noticed she’s special.”

“She mentioned the psychic thing to you?”

“She did.”

“Wow. She doesn’t share that with too many people outside of the immediate family. Sometimes I wish she didn’t share it with me.”

“Why? I think what she can do is cool.”

“If you’re into Neo-paganism.” Desiree grimaced. “I guess you’d be real impressed to know she’s a practicing Wiccan.”

Now that was something he hadn’t heard through the grapevine. “No kidding?”

“No kidding.” Desiree sat up in the bed, pulling the sheet up to cover her fantastic breasts, and that’s when Sam knew that he was in hot water.

Damn, he should have kept his mouth shut! In trying to deflect the conversation, he had just put Desiree into a defensive snit. He didn’t know whether to be thrilled by her obvious jealousy or upset.

“I think you’d better leave now.”

“Not while you’re mad.” He reached for her and she avoided his touch to get out of the bed, taking the sheet with her.

“I’m not mad.”

Sam sat up in bed and watched her walk around the room in her makeshift toga, lips kiss-swollen, long waves mussed and chin tilted high, looking more regal than any queen he had ever seen and, yes, angrier than a fire-breathing dragon.

He fairly drooled at the image her wild, copper-brown curls and heated whiskey gaze made and got out of bed, naked, to go to her. “Sure about that?” He knew how intimidating he must look with nothing on and his cock pointing at her like a weapon, but he refused to leave until he knew she had sufficiently settled down.

“I’m sure I need to be alone right now.”

Sam put his hands on her shoulders. “I’ll leave for now, but you need to know Maia doesn’t do anything for me.”

“Sure about that?” she teased, already pulling out of her bad mood.

He liked that she didn’t hold a grudge. “I’m sure you’re more than enough woman for me and my brother.” Sam leaned in to give her a hard, passionate kiss, leaving her suitably breathless by the time he pulled back.

He silently left her, gathering and donning his discarded clothes before going to the door. The whole time, he’d felt her eyes on him as he moved around the room and around her motionless form.

Sam stood at the door with a hand on the knob, waiting for her to ask him to stay, but knew her pride wouldn’t allow that. Which is why it surprised him when she walked over to him and said, “Sam, the last man who told me he thought he was falling in love with me, he…he did some unspeakable things to me.”

He put his hand on her arm, squeezed it, but stopped just short of pulling her closer. It killed him to restrain himself, especially when he sensed the pain she was in. Something, however, told him that she wanted,
needed
the distance after her admission. He decided to give it to her, for now.

“If it makes you feel any better, I think I could love you and Carson, if I was going to love anyone.”

“Throw the dog a bone.” He grinned, heart thudding with grief for what she’d gone through and his inability to fix it.

“I don’t have anything else to give you and your brother, Sam.”

“You’re wrong, Desi, and I’m going to prove it to you.”

“What? Is it your personal mission now to make me say ‘I love you’?”

“I’ll make it one if I have to.”

She chuckled, but Sam sensed her utter resignation beneath. She surprised him again, however, when she stood on her toes to gently kiss his lips. “You’re a good man.”

“See you tomorrow?”

“Okay.”

He left then, ready to hold her to that single word as he closed the door behind him and turned just in time to bump smack-dab into Maia.

He couldn’t have avoided her if he tried, not with her standing in the middle of the hallway, arms folded across her chest and an adversarial glint to her espresso eyes. She looked about as formidable as any shifter in attack mode that Sam had ever come across.

“So when are you going to tell Desi about you and Carson?”

“Tell her what about me and Carson?”

“That you’re the wolves she’s been seeing in her dreams.”

Chapter 11

Carson stopped and jerked around to see Sam shadowing him through the woods. He smiled and traced his steps back to his brother, surprised he’d left Desiree so soon but glad he’d have company out at the stream. That is, until he saw who Sam brought with him.

“What is she doing here?” Carson pointed at Maia bringing up the rear.