Samantha Kane (8 page)

said when he’d used the word “taste”.

said when he’d used the word “taste”.

Nick fel to his knees and yanked Oliver’s pants down to mid-

thigh. Al right then, apparently he’d meant it. Before he could do

anything, however, Oliver cupped his jaw and forced his face up.

The raw desire he saw there nearly knocked him to his knees

with Nick. “Are you sure?” he rasped, hating to ask but feeling it

necessary.

“Yes, dammit,” Nick snarled. “Let go of me so I can suck you.”

“God, Nick,” Oliver said, dropping his head back against the

wal with an audible thump. “Do you have any idea how long

I’ve waited for you to say that?”

Nick laughed. “Not words of love, but ‘let me suck you’?” he

teased. “That’s my Oliver.”

“Yes, I am,” Oliver agreed. “Now suck, before it’s too late.”

Nick didn’t waste any more words. He’d already said more in

the space of a few minutes than he had in years. It was enough.

It was almost too much when Nick grasped the base of Oliver’s

cock in his fist, but then he put his mouth on him, sucking on the

ful head of his engorged rod, and Oliver cried out before he bit

his lip. He slammed his palms against the wal to keep from

grabbing Nick’s head and fucking his gorgeous mouth hard,

which is what he’d always wanted to do.

Nick sucked cock like he kissed. He licked around the head and

nibbled and sucked lightly on it, savoring it, in between hard puls

on it, nearly sucking Oliver’s soul out.

“Dammit, Nick,” he growled. “I can’t last. It feels so damn

good.”

Nick hummed around the cock in his mouth, and Oliver

trembled. Then Nick slid his mouth down to meet his fist,

engulfing nearly al of Oliver’s cock in the warm, wet cavern of

his mouth, and sucked deeply. He moved his fist and his mouth

in tandem, and Oliver was lost. The only warning he could

manage was a strangled moan.

Instead of puling off, Nick stayed and Oliver came in his mouth.

After an initial gag as Oliver shot into his throat, Nick drank him

down smoothly. Oliver wasn’t proud of the whimper that

escaped, but he was too intoxicated from his orgasm to care

much. Nick continued to suck his head gently, his tongue sliding

over the sensitive ridge beneath it, as Oliver softened in his hold.

Even when he’d gone soft, Nick licked and sucked him as if he

couldn’t get enough. Oliver was shaking from the intensity of the

feelings, both physical and emotional, coursing through him at

Nick’s attentions. He put his hand on Nick’s head and ran his

fingers through his hair while he caught his breath.

“How did I taste?” he asked finaly.

Nick chuckled and let Oliver slide out of his mouth. He stood up

and rubbed his lips on Oliver’s. “You tel me,” he whispered

right before he kissed him.

Oliver pushed his tongue into Nick’s mouth and tasted the

sharpness of his come. It was bitter, perhaps a little salty. So

different from a woman’s. Nick took over the kiss, holding the

back of Oliver’s head, sucking his tongue before shoving his own

past Oliver’s, into Oliver’s mouth, filing him and devouring him.

Oliver suddenly couldn’t breathe, but instead of wanting to break

the kiss it made him want to hold on tighter and let Nick be his

air, his lifeline, his anchor.

Nick’s hold gentled as if he understood what Oliver needed. He

slid his hands down and around Oliver’s chest, hugging him,

nipping at his lips now with a soothing swipe of his tongue along

the sting after. Oliver wrapped his arms around Nick’s broad

shoulders and let him do whatever he wanted.

“I liked it,” Nick said against his lips. “I liked the way you felt

and the way you tasted. I liked being in control of you like that,

and making you come for me.”

“Oh God, Nicky,” Oliver said with a weak laugh. “Now you’ve

done it, you’re going to go al out, aren’t you? You’re going to

drive me mad with your love talk.”

He could feel Nick smile against his mouth. “I hope so. Are you

hard again? I want you hard al night, you know.”

“I know,” Oliver whispered. But there was a worry in the back

of his mind, and he wasn’t going to pretend. Things had gotten

too serious for that, now. “What about Vanessa?”

Nick let him go then and retreated to the far wal. He gestured at

Oliver’s pants. “Better get dressed. You’re right. We’re

supposed to be down there in a few minutes.”

“No,” Oliver said, though he started straightening his clothes. “I

mean what about her? I love you, Nick, and I loved what we

just did. I’ve been dreaming about it for years. But I stil want

her. There’s something about her…I don’t know.”

“Her eyes speak to you?” Nick asked. He didn’t sound

disappointed. “I feel the same way. I think that if we hadn’t

found her and been with her tonight, I might not have found the

courage to finaly tel you how I feel.”

“Why?” Oliver tugged his coat into place as he waited for Nick’s

answer.

“I’m not sure,” Nick said, clearly frustrated. “But I know that I

can’t imagine this with you without her involved in some way.”

“Does it make it easier for you to want me knowing there’s a

woman you want, too?” Oliver tried not to let his hurt show.

woman you want, too?” Oliver tried not to let his hurt show.

“No,” Nick said dismissively. “Don’t be an idiot again. It’s just

that she wants us. She wants us both. Not you, not me. Both of

us. I like that. I like being part of something with you, part of a

whole. Does that make sense?”

Oliver laughed in disbelief. “Actualy, yes. I think that’s what

drew me to her so strongly. When she caught us with that girl,

what was her name?” He shook his head. “Never mind, it

doesn’t matter. But when she saw us there was no censure, no

shocked dismay. If anything her eyes showed even more longing.

Did you see, that first night?”

“Yes, yes I saw.” Nick straightened from the wal and dusted

Oliver’s shoulders off, tightening his cravat before patting him on

the chest. “And it’s more fun. I’m not going to pretend that

wanting you has ruined my attraction to women. I stil want to

fuck a quim, too.”

“Thank God,” Oliver said with relief. “I feel the same. I like

women. I like the way they smel and taste and feel. But I think

we both know we like them better together. There’s nothing

better than being with a woman with you, Nick. It’s everything I

want.”

“And I have a feeling that once we’re with Vanessa like that,

we’l never want another woman,” Nick said matter-of-factly.

we’l never want another woman,” Nick said matter-of-factly.

“We’ve never reacted to a woman like this. Whatever it is that

makes Vanessa perfect for us…wel, there it is. She is. Perfect, I

mean.” He opened the door and peered up and down the hal,

then gestured for Oliver to folow.

As Oliver closed the door behind them and folowed Nick to the

stairs, he hoped that Nick was right. He wanted that for them.

He wanted someone who wanted them both and could accept

them as they were. He’d never thought to find that. It might be

too much to ask of an overworked deity, but Oliver asked

anyway.

Vanessa was shaking by the time she found some privacy and a

mirror to repair her appearance. She had to sit down.

That hadn’t gone at al the way she had planned.

She covered her face with her shaking hands and took several

very deep breaths. It succeeded in settling down her racing heart

a little.

That had been the most exhilarating, terrifying, magnificent

experience of her life. They had been with her. Wel, of course

they were with her. But they had noticed her, enjoyed her, in a

way no one ever had before. There was nothing perfunctory

about their attentions upstairs. Oh no. On the contrary, every

about their attentions upstairs. Oh no. On the contrary, every

move, every breath, every touch was inspired by passion.

Passion for her. They’d desired her responses, had demanded

them and indeed had climaxed from them. Touching her body

and kissing her had excited them beyond their control.

Vanessa bit her lip and shoved her hands between her knees to

stop herself from laughing out loud and dancing around the smal

room like a lunatic. She’d never felt this alive. Her body was stil

sensitive from their lovemaking. Her breasts were tender as they

rubbed against the muslin of her undergarments. The place

between her legs—God, she’d nearly swooned to hear Nick cal

it her cunt—tingled and throbbed, wanting one of their hands

there again. Or their mouths. They’d promised mouths, and

licking.

Vanessa spun around on the smal stool to face the mirror. Her

cheeks were flushed. Her usualy plain brown eyes sparkled. Her

hair was a mess. When she saw the tangled disaster of her

coiffure Vanessa gasped and sent a prayer of thanks that no one

had seen her on her way downstairs. How Very had managed to

keep everyone away was a mystery, but Vanessa would have to

find some way to repay her. She took the pins from her hair and

used the brush beside the mirror to tame her hair. What dul hair

she’d always had, long, straight, blonde. Incredibly boring. Until

Nick had buried his hand in it and kissed her breath away. Until

Oliver had pressed his nose to it and inhaled her scent and

rubbed his cheek on it. Now it was the hair of a siren.

rubbed his cheek on it. Now it was the hair of a siren.

Vanessa laughed at her fanciful thoughts. Siren, indeed. She was

very aware of her inexperience after being with them. How they

must hate having to hold back, waiting for her to catch up. They

didn’t have much time for that, did they?

She slowly lowered the hairbrush to her lap as her smile

disappeared at that sobering thought. Just Christmastide, realy,

and that was half over. As soon as her parents returned the

rounds of parties would end. There would be dinners and teas,

of course, with the right sort of people. Not at al the gay crowd

of holiday revelers she’d enjoyed the past week. And no Oliver

and Nick. Her father would never alow them to cal upon her.

Perhaps one of them? Perhaps her father would find one of them

acceptable. But which one? Vanessa didn’t possibly see how

she could choose. They’d become rather entangled. Oliver was

so playful and flirtatious, and Nick was so serious and quiet. But

when he did talk, he was outrageous and took her breath away.

Oliver seduced her and Nick claimed her. She wanted both.

What did that mean? Perhaps they weren’t right for her, then, if

neither was enough alone.

She shook her head and frowned at her reflection. No, that

wasn’t right. If she’d only met one or the other she’d have been

just as attracted to them. She was drawn to Nick when he first

stared at her over Melinda Dorsett’s shoulder in that dark

halway, when she didn’t know Oliver was there in the shadows

halway, when she didn’t know Oliver was there in the shadows

with him. And when she and Oliver had danced that night she’d

loved the feel of his hands, the way he danced, the way he made

her feel. But there was something about them together…the way

they complemented each other and satisfied al her desires. She

was able to have the light and the dark, the sweet and the

demanding al at the same time, in two men who were as close as

brothers.

Closer even, perhaps. Though they’d given no indication of it

tonight, Vanessa wondered if they were lovers, as Very’s two

men were. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She tried to

imagine Nick kissing Oliver the way he’d kissed her. She nearly

fel off the stool as she lost her balance at the decadent thought.

Maybe they’d do that for her if she asked? After al, this brief

affair with them was certainly the only chance she would have for

decadent pleasures like these. She couldn’t imagine any of the

staid gentlemen she knew engaging in such pleasures of the flesh.

Determinedly she twisted her hair up and pinned it in place. If

this was the only time she would have, then she would use it

wisely. She would enjoy as much of their company as possible

over the next six days. Surely they seemed to want her company,

as wel? Starting with their help tomorrow at the orphanage. This

was Vanessa’s holiday gift to herself. She would surrender to

passion and desire and al those things she’d been taught to

repress since birth. For six days. And then she would go back to

her life as if it hadn’t happened. She would seek a respectable

her life as if it hadn’t happened. She would seek a respectable

husband that her father would approve, however. She did not

wish to be on the shelf, alone and never again having the

intimacies she’d shared with Nick and Oliver. She couldn’t

imagine doing those things with anyone else, had no desire to do

so at this point, but a future without any love at al seemed quite,

quite bleak now that she’d tasted it.

She wanted them. For whatever reason, for as long as she had