Perfect Alignment (34 page)
Authors: KB Alan
Eventually, when the tears had stopped and the ragged breathing had smoothed out, he managed to reach for the glass of water without upending her, and held the straw to her lips. She lifted her head from his chest just slightly and drank her fill, then dropped heavily back into place. He slid a hand under the blanket to stroke her arm. After a long few minutes she sighed heavily and lifted her head up to meet his gaze.
He smiled at the exhausted pleasure on her face.
“You have my permission to test my boundaries occasionally,” she told him, affecting the haughty tones of a queen.
“Yes, ma’am.” He kissed her lips. “Thank you, ma’am.”
Her joy shone brightly and he gave thanks that she was his and he was hers.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed Perfect Alignment! If you'd like to know when new books are released, please sign up for my newsletter. Newsletters are not frequent, they are only sent to announce new releases.
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There are more books in the Perfect Fit series! Turn the page to find out about Perfect Stranger, coming soon, and for an excerpt from Perfect Formation, Book 1 in the series.
On my website you can find:
Dana goes into the BDSM club not quite sure what she needs to move forward with her life. When she discovers the club is hosting a charity auction, she makes a desperate plan. If she can secure one of the men being auctioned, maybe she can find the peace that she's looking for. A stranger with no expectations - it just might work.
Eric agrees to be part of the club's annual charity auction because he's between subs at the moment, and it's for a good cause. He's a Dom used to knowing what a sub needs in a scene with him and how best to provide it. But what happens when the thing a sub needs most is for Eric to drop to his knees at her feet?
Keep reading for an excerpt of Perfect Formation...
Friends for much longer than they’ve been lovers, Taryn and Richard enjoy each other’s company while looking for “Mr. Right”. When they meet Caleb the attraction is instant and mutual–for all three.
Caleb wines and dines them then shows them how good it can be if they trust him to lead the way. One night is all it takes to prove that the three of them are a perfect match, at least in the bedroom.
Taryn has to decide if explosive sex and the feelings that are quickly overtaking her are worth the risk of losing it all–she knows only too well that you can’t count on fate to always go your way. Richard sees Caleb and Taryn as the perfect couple but isn’t so sure there will always be room for him. Caleb has to suppress his urge to tie them both to the bed until they understand that they belong with him, but if they don’t come around soon, he’ll be pulling those ropes out after all.
Caleb Black checked his watch as he exited his SUV. It was almost one o’clock in the morning. His destination was a lively Irish bar on the main street of town, owned by his brother Sean. He had been working later than expected but Sean and his wife Lisa were closing tonight, so the late hour shouldn’t be a problem.
Up ahead, the door of the bar,
Roisin Dubh
, swung open, emitting a man and a woman clinging to each other, clearly drunk. The woman’s laugh captured Caleb’s attention. Her long, thick hair was rich brown and his fingers itched to run through it. The man’s hand on her ass showed off her sexy curves to great appeal. For that matter, there wasn’t anything wrong with the man’s ass, either.
They stopped under a streetlight at the curb in front of the bar, hanging on to each other. Caleb chuckled as a wayward curl defied the man’s clumsy attempt to push it back and it flopped onto his forehead, the muted light picking up golden highlights in the light brown locks. His eyes tracked down over strong features to full lips that invited a nibble or two.
Caleb suppressed a slight groan as the woman brought one hand up to the man’s neck and rested her head on his shoulder. He wanted to feel that slight weight on his own shoulder. Well, on his chest anyway, she wouldn’t have been able to reach his shoulder. Something about the two of them together hit all of his buttons just right. He tried to determine which he found more attractive as he began walking again, heading toward the pub door.
The man started to fall, obviously trying to let go of the woman so as not to drag her down with him. She was just as obviously trying to hold him up, and not about to let go. Caleb hurried to reach them and held the man steady while he got his feet back under him.
Bracing one hand on Caleb’s shoulder, the man closed his eyes in an obvious attempt to gain his equilibrium.
“Thanks.”
Caleb looked at the woman who was eyeing him like a box of chocolates.
“Yummmmm,” she murmured under her breath, though Caleb heard it clearly. She put one hand out and laid it on his chest, her eyes glassy, her expression dreamy. She gave a tiny whimper and her fingers gripped tightly into him. Caleb worked hard not to smile. He checked her companion for a reaction, but the man’s eyes were still closed.
“Taryn,” the man said, then went quiet.
“Richard,” Taryn answered.
“Taryn,” Richard tried again. “Are we still moving?”
Taryn seemed to think this over for a minute, but then lost track of the question.
“Ricky, he’s so frickin’
hot
,” she said, somehow under the illusion that Caleb couldn’t hear her. Her eyes hadn’t left his chest, but now they began to make their way south.
Richard blinked his eyes open, looked at Taryn, then followed her gaze straight to Caleb’s crotch. He licked his lips. His hand clenched where it rested on Caleb’s shoulder as he swayed.
“Taryn.”
“Richard.”
“Taryn, you are really drunk.”
“Okay.”
“No, I mean really. Are you aware that you’re staring at this nice man’s crotch?”
Taryn considered this. “Yes, but I don’t think it’s real.”
Caleb gave an astonished gasp, while Richard blinked some more. “It looks real to me. It looks real big. It looks real…” He licked his lips again, swallowed hard.
Taryn’s brows crinkled in confusion. “No, I mean, I don’t think the man is real. This is a dream, or maybe an hallucination. He’s like, our dream man or something, don’t you think? What’re the chances a perfect man would be standing right here, right now, while we’re really drunk?” she asked.
Richard started to nod his head and then started to fall over. Caleb stepped in closer to prop him up, bringing the three of them into a tight formation. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been so entertained by such nonsense. Drunk people tended to strike him as very stupid, but he liked these two. And not because they were attractive, but because they seemed like nice people. He snorted his disbelief at himself. His movement closer to the girl had gotten her hand moving and it began to roam his chest.
“Well,” Richard said. “Is it your dream, or my dream?”
This stumped Taryn for a good minute.
“Maybe it’s my dream,” Caleb threw in.
Taryn’s hand on his chest tightened and Richard’s moved down from his shoulder to his biceps.
“Huh,” they both said, then looked at each other.
“Do you know this hot man, and you’ve been holding out on me? Is he gay?” Taryn asked Richard.
“No. Do you know him and you’ve been holding out on me, worried he’d turn gay if he met me?” Richard asked in return.
“No,” Taryn said, then turned back to Caleb. “It can’t be your dream, you don’t know us.”
“I’m Caleb,” he said.
“Oh,” Taryn said.
“Huh,” Richard said.
“This must be your dream,” said Taryn. “If it was my dream I’d be naked by now.”
“You don’t think we’d be naked by now if this was my dream?”
“Oh. Maybe it is my dream, ’cause if it was your dream, I don’t think I’d be here right now. You don’t dream about me with other men, do you?”
“I never have before, but it seems like a fine time to start.”
“Do you dream about Richard with other men?” Caleb asked Taryn.
“Well, I had that weird dream where he was being stalked by that creepy doctor guy on that show
Doctor England, MD
. Remember that, Richard?”
“No,” Richard said. “I don’t think I was there for that dream.”
“And then there was the dream with that hunky action hero, from that movie this summer, remember, Ricky?” Taryn went on, not listening. Her eyes got wide and dreamy. “That was an
excellent
dream. You were still seeing Bruce then, so I might not have told you about that one. I was getting horny, because we hadn’t had sex in like, six months. I had to go buy a new vibrator after that dream.” She closed her eyes, smiling as she remembered.
“Huh,” Richard said. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about that one. Taryn.”
“Ricky.”
“I don’t think we’re dreaming.”
There was silence for a few minutes.
“I don’t ever remember dreaming that I was going to throw up before.”
“Maybe you guys should walk down to the diner on the corner. Get some food into you,” Caleb suggested.
“How long have we been out here?” Taryn asked. “The taxi still hasn’t shown up.” She looked up and down the street in irritation.
“About fifteen minutes,” Caleb told her. “You should get some food into your systems, soak up some of the alcohol.”
Taryn looked at him some more, blinked a few times. Then the color washed out of her face. “Oh shit. I’m not dreaming, am I?”
“Nope. Neither am I. Neither is Richard.”
She blushed. “I’m sorry, I don’t usually drink this much. I’m sorry we’re acting like idiots. You don’t have to stand here. We can wait for the taxi.” Her eyes were fixed on his chest, but not quite in the awe-inspired way as before.
“Don’t worry about it.”
Richard spoke up. “I think the food thing is a good idea, Tare. We should have thought of it. We’ll go down to the diner. By the time we sober up a bit, maybe we’ll have managed to forget that we’re idiots.”
“You guys don’t do this kind of thing much, do you?” Caleb asked.
“Proposition studly strangers?” Richard asked.
“Caress strange men in public?” Taryn asked.
“Drink,” Caleb answered.
“Caleb?”
“Yes?”
“I just wanted to say, before I get sober enough to care that I’m a fool, that I’m pretty sure I’ve soaked through my panties as well as my jeans, ’cause you guys are so fucking sexy. Thank you. Bye.” With obvious care, she took her hands from both men, turned around and began walking toward the diner with only a slight wobble to her gait.
“Damn,” Richard said.
“Damn,” Caleb agreed.
Richard began to follow Taryn, and Caleb began to follow Richard. He pulled out his cell phone and sent a quick text message to his brother to let him know he wouldn’t be in tonight.
Taryn feared she was sobering up. She was not completely sure, as she wasn’t used to being drunk in the first place, but she was pretty certain that an hour ago she would have hardly remembered she’d said those words to Richard and a stranger, let alone be freaking out about them.
She walked into the diner and straight to a booth, sitting down with her back to the door, not wanting to see who might follow her inside. She managed a weak smile at the waitress who materialized and asked for a cherry Coke and a chocolate milkshake. Taryn put her elbows on the table and her head in her hands and stared down at the table.
She heard the two men slide into the seat across from her and managed, just barely, not to whimper. She was sure her face was still as red as the table, though. She heaved a huge sigh and sat back, her gaze straight ahead, right between the two men’s faces. Richard ordered a strawberry shake and an iced tea, Caleb ordered black coffee, and the waitress left.
“Taryn.”
A beat. Then two.
“Caleb.”
“You’re not allowed to say things like that then walk away.”
“I’m not?” Her brow crinkled. “Says who?”
“Me.”
“Huh.” Taryn looked at Richard, raised her eyebrow at him.
Richard just shrugged his shoulders and mouthed, “Oh my
God
.” Or maybe it was “He’s so
hot
.”
Either way, Taryn had to agree, so she nodded her head, looked at Caleb and said, “Sorry.”
Caleb nodded in return.
“Caleb.”
“Richard.”
“What are you…I mean, why are you…I mean, who…” Richard stopped.
Caleb looked at Taryn for an interpretation.
“I’m just as confused as he is. We don’t usually do strangers.”
Caleb’s eyebrows went up, Richard began to choke and Taryn’s eyes went wide.
“That’s not what I meant,” she squeaked.
“So you do,” Caleb purred at her, “do strangers?”
She whimpered.
“What she meant was, we’re kind of shy and besides, we think most people are irritating, so we don’t do so well at the whole ‘meeting new people’ thing.”
Taryn nodded emphatically, giving Richard a grateful look.
The waitress brought their drinks. Caleb looked at them sternly and said, “Food.”
They both ordered burgers and Caleb ordered a piece of cherry pie. The waitress left. Taryn tried to think of something to say that had nothing to do with sex or strangers. She tried to remember if she had
ever
been so instantly attracted to a man before. Maybe it was being drunk. Maybe she should try that more often. Of course, with her luck, not to mention family history, she would be an alcoholic before the year was out. Probably not worth it. She sucked on her milkshake, eyes staring down into the glass, while she considered what had happened since leaving the bar.
“Taryn.”
She looked up at her best friend.
“He’s still here.”
Taryn glanced at Caleb then looked at Richard, confused. “Huh?”
“He hasn’t called the funny farm to come take us away. Or the prude police to come lock us up.”
Taryn considered this then looked back at Caleb. Almond-brown eyes watched her. The man was gorgeous—short, dark brown hair, his skin tan, different from Richard’s natural olive, as if he spent a lot of time outside. Muscular, but not overly so. She couldn’t get the phrase “tall, dark and handsome” out of her head. Her eyes began to glaze and she forgot what she’d been thinking about. The corner of his mouth quirked up as if he knew that.
