Shared Too (17 page)

My body was buzzing and my heart racing. I was doing to Quinn what he did to me, invading his body, owning his insides. As my head bobbed slowly I set up a steady in-out rhythm with the vibrator. It smoothed in easily and I was careful not to let it slip all the way out on each glide.

His moans were loud yet strained and his body and cock twitched. My own excitement grew. I wanted him in me. I wanted to fuck him.

I let his cock slip from my mouth. “Are you ready?” I asked breathlessly.

“Oh, Jeez, yes, fuck yes.” A sheen of sweat coated the skin above his top lip, beading in his stubble.

“So what do you say?” I asked. Shuffling upward, I positioned my pussy above his cock and left the vibrator lodged high inside him.

“Please, please, Ariane, now.” He pulled at the cuffs.

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“Please what?”

“Please, fuck me, Ariane, fuck me now, please. I need you. I need you so much.” Hearing him beg almost tipped me over the edge. His voice was so desperate, so frantic. I recognized the same primitive need that he generated in me when I was his hostage.

With my hands spread on his pecs, I sank down and took him deep into my swollen wetness.

We groaned in synchrony as he filled my pussy with his steely hardness. For a moment I stilled, relishing him inside me. Then I sat up, reached behind myself and treated him to another few inches of hard invasion.

“Fucking hell,” he shouted, shock and pleasure tangling in his tone. His arms yanked at the cuffs and his hips thrust upward. He rammed me to the hilt, butting at my cervix.

I cried out in delight and began a fast, hard grind against him. It took only seconds for my already excited clit to catch fire again and I upped the pace as greedy nerve endings climbed to climax.

He moaned long and deep. The bed rattled. I tightened my boots, which were folded at his hips, although I suspected he’d forgotten about them as he was overtaken with the things I was doing to other parts of his anatomy.

Quickly my second orgasm was there to be claimed. But I wanted Quinn to join me.

It doubled the pleasure if we came together.

I sank my hand behind myself again, fumbled finding the base of the vibrator, then flicked a tiny switch.

Instantly it hummed to life, the vibrations juddering into the very core of Quinn.

His hips bucked and he yelled, “Oh my god, Ariane. Jeez, what the—?” 132

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I kept my hand on the base, holding it high and firm as my own climax consumed me. It was the thought of what I’d created inside him, in his secret, virginal place, that was so exciting.

I grated my clit against him, pussy out of control as spasms rocked me. In the height of carnal sensation, I tore open my eyes and saw his face contorted as if in pain.

But I knew he wasn’t in pain, the way he was shunting into me with raw, wild power told me he was at the opposite end of the spectrum to pain.

“Oh, fuck—” he gasped as his cock pulsated, twice, three times against my cervix.

He filled me with his hot, delicious seed—his orgasm stretching on and on, his body taut and writhing, his breaths as short as if he’d run ten miles, the handcuffs clattering wildly on the headboard.

When finally he stilled, I switched off the vibrator, pulled it from his body and collapsed on top of him, satisfied beyond belief.

“Oh Jeez,” he whispered into my hair. “I’m sure that shouldn’t have felt so fucking incredible but it did.”

“I’m glad.” I dropped my face onto his underarm, inhaling deeply and kissing soft, silky strands of damp hair. “That was the plan.” I reached up and pushed the blindfold up his forehead.

“Have you lain there all those times, wondering what it would be like to trade places with me?” he murmured, tugging his arms but keeping his eyes shut tight.

“You want me to uncuff you?” I asked, not wanting to answer the question. The truth was I’d never thought of it. It was seeing Eve dominate him that had given me the idea.

“Yeah, please, my shoulders ache.”

After lying entwined for half an hour, catching our breath and letting our heart rates steady, we headed downstairs for coffee and croissants.

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Quinn read the newspapers at the kitchen table as I took coffee into Liam, hoping he was ready to finish working. He was in a darkened room frowning at a computer and had three more screens flashing beside him. He barely acknowledged me but I didn’t push it. Trying to rush Liam with a technology problem was like poking at a cobra. I would get bitten.

I sat opposite Quinn and we read the papers together, pointing out snippets of interest. Sophie called and we both spoke to her and then Rebecca about how their week at school had gone. They were in a rush to finish the conversation—something to do with a cross-country ride to a nearby farm for hot dogs.

I was a little sad that the chat with our daughters was so short, but as Quinn and I donned wellington boots and set off across the paddock with the dogs, he took my hand and said it was much better than having them sad and missing us. Better they were busy and having too much fun to be homesick.

We walked for well over an hour, the dogs delighting in the chance to stretch their legs. The leaves were turning gold and the ground held the first of fall. Despite the fact it was midday when we arrived back, the sun was noticeably lower in the sky. Winter would soon be upon us.

I set about preparing a joint of beef to roast for dinner, clattering oven trays and scooping vegetables, stuffing and batter mix from the pantry.

“You want a hand?” Quinn asked.

I studied him for a moment. He looked so relaxed. It was the first Sunday morning in several that his pager hadn’t gone off. I silently sent up a prayer for it to stay that way for the whole day. It would do him a world of good. “No,” I said. “Go light a fire and sit down. I’ll get this going and I’ll join you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Okay, I’ve got that documentary from last week to watch on new NHS policies.” 134

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I smiled and slid the beef into the Aga, feeling as content as I ever could when the girls weren’t here.

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Chapter Ten

“You watched us?”

“What?” I looked around from peeling potatoes. Quinn stood behind me with his eyes flashing and a flush of red on his cheeks.

“You watched us,” he snapped again. “I just flicked through the channels and there’s a fucking camera in the spare room.”

I dragged in a breath, surprised at how angry Quinn appeared to be at the discovery. I hadn’t thought to remove the camera and of course Liam had been in his office for hours. I swallowed tightly. No point denying it, plus Liam had said it wouldn’t matter to Quinn if we watched.

“Yes, we did,” I said, turning back to the potatoes with a shrug.

“What the fuck possessed you to think that would be all right, Ariane?” He paced to my side and his eyes narrowed as he stared down at me. “Seriously, what the hell were you fucking thinking?”

“Don’t swear,” I snapped, dropping the knife on the board and ramming my hands on my hips. “You know I don’t like it.”

“I’ll swear if I fucking want to. You overstepped the mark, you and Liam. Really overstepped the fucking mark.”

My temper rose like a tidal swell. How come I was suddenly the guilty one? “No, Quinn,” I said. “You overstepped the mark by thinking it was okay to bring another woman into our home and…and screw her.” My voice was rising. I couldn’t help it.

“You told me to, for crying out loud. You told me to fuck her.” Quinn was shouting too.

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“Only because I know what you’re like. You wanted her.” I poked my finger at his chest and jabbed hard. “You wanted her so bad and I knew if I didn’t let you have her you would be like a damn terrier after a rat. You wouldn’t let up.”

“That’s so unfair. I’ve never cheated on you, never gone behind your back.” He shook his head incredulously. “I don’t know how you can even say that let alone think it.”

“It was just around the corner, Quinn,” I shouted, flicking my arm to the side. “I’m not blind.” Although I was so angry right now black and red spots had invaded my vision.

He stared at me, his jaw tight. “Well, you’ve been wrong about two things then, haven’t you?”

“How do you figure that?”

“I wouldn’t have pursued her and she’d gotten the message loud and clear from me. Nothing else would have happened, ever. It was over before it had begun until you said otherwise.”

I swallowed tightly. Did I believe him? He said the words but my instincts told me something else.

“And also,” Quinn went on in a loud, superior voice. “You’ve been wrong to completely violate someone’s privacy. Eve thought she was in a safe environment, having sex with someone she knew. Everyone had consented, yet you and Liam were downstairs watching. It’s horrendous, an outrageous breach of trust.”

“I don’t trust her and after what she did it’s just as well we were watching. You couldn’t move, Quinn, you couldn’t have protected yourself if you’d needed to. If things had gotten out of hand you would have been hurt.”

“But
I
trusted her and she damn well trusted
me
. We were in it together, because you said we could, damn it. I knew I wasn’t going to get fucking hurt.” He paused and tipped his head. “Is that where you got the idea from to tie me up this morning? It is, 137

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isn’t it? You watched and you didn’t want me to have done something with her that you hadn’t done with me.”

“So what if it was.” I folded my arms over my chest and tilted my chin.

“After what I said about making love to you last night, Ariane, I thought you got that we were special and then, then you do that to me and I thought it was about us having sex and showing our love but for you it was about claiming a part of me.”

“Well, isn’t that what you do with me?” My voice was so loud it rang through my head. “How is it different, Quinn? Tell me, how is it different? You claim that part of me all the time.”

“Stop shouting!”

We both turned.

Liam stood in the doorway, his face twisted and a palm over his forehead. “For Christ’s sake, stop shouting,” he said in a quieter voice. “I can’t stand it.” As I stared at him, my heart skipped a beat and a terrible well of nausea opened up in my stomach. Suddenly I could see what I’d been missing. All this time Quinn and I had been wrapped up in Eve, an unimaginable horror was unfolding.

“Liam,” I said, stepping away from Quinn. “How long have you had a headache?” He dropped his hand and glanced at his feet.

“Liam,” I said again. “How long have you had a headache over your eyes?” I paused and scanned my mind backward. “It’s been for the last few weeks, hasn’t it?”

“Weeks?” Quinn’s voice was like a snapping whip around the room. “For fuck’s sake, Liam, you’ve had a temporal lobe headache for weeks and you haven’t thought to mention it?” He glared at Liam, then spun his angry black eyes to me. But behind the anger I saw fear—real, alive, pulsating fear. His brows dropped low and his jaw locked tight enough to crack teeth. Then he strode from the room, fast and furious.

I swallowed and the acrid taste of bile burned my throat. Squeezing my hands together to stop them from shaking, I fought to stay upright. The sleeping monster, the 138

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thing that scared me most in the whole world because of its absolute savagery, had awoken. It had awoken and charged into our lives as gracefully as being hit by an express train.

Liam walked over to me. “I’m sorry, baby,” he said. “I don’t want to give you something else to worry about.”

I looked into his eyes, eyes the color of the sky before a storm. “Liam, this is your health, this is
the
priority.” My voice was shaking, I couldn’t help it. “Over everything else, this takes precedence.”

“Damn right,” Quinn said, arriving back at our side as fast as he’d exited the room.

“This way.” He cupped Liam’s jaw and spun his head to his.

“It’s just a dull thud,” Liam said, looking directly at Quinn. “I thought it would go.

Thought I was just tired. The Yoni thing has been full-on.” Quinn grunted something incoherent, but it started with F.

“Liam, you’ve been tired before and not had headaches,” I said as Quinn shone a small white flashlight into Liam’s eyes, first his left, then his right and back to his left.

“And—” I gasped and brought my hand to my mouth. A sweet memory had suddenly turned sour.

“What?” Quinn said, drilling me with his gaze. “What else, Ariane?”

“He, he called me horse.”

“When?” Quinn asked.

“The other night, in bed, instead of hot he called me horse.”

“I was half-asleep,” Liam said, shrugging. “I was just dozing off, thinking about that big new horse in the field by Ridgeway Farm and you climbed on top.”

“You’ve had dysphasia and you didn’t tell me? Un-fucking-believable.” Quinn tutted.

“One word.” Liam frowned and tried to jerk his head from Quinn’s hand. “One lousy word, okay?”

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“I haven’t finished. Open your eyes,” Quinn snapped, wielding the flashlight like a sword.

Liam dragged in a sharp breath. His wide chest pulled up and puffed out. I reached for his hand and twined our fingers together.

“Pupils equal and reacting to light,” Quinn muttered. “At least that’s something.” He poked his pen-sized flashlight into his jeans pocket. “Arms.” He held his own arms out as if demonstrating the size of a fish. Liam placed his just inside, so the backs of his hands were against Quinn’s palms. “Resist,” Quinn said.

For several seconds, both men’s arms tensed against one another. They’d obviously done this before, but not that I’d ever witnessed.

“Press,” Quinn said, switching their positions so the backs of his hands were against Liam’s palms. Again their muscles tensed.

I stared at Quinn’s face, looking for clues as to what he was doing and what the results were. “Well?” I asked, gnawing at my bottom lip.