arms into my Polo shirt and pull it over my head. “He punishes by withholding orgasms.”
She gasps. “He wouldn’t.”
I toss my head back and guffaw. “My sweet, luscious cupcake. Theo is going to eat you alive and won’t let you reach a climax…over and over and over again. He will fuck you senseless, spank that sweet little ass of yours, and not let you come no matter how much you beg. And he knows how to stop an orgasm in a snap. He had me on the edge of coming for a week straight, when I was particularly defiant once.”
Her jaw drops and her eyes widen. “A week?” She bites her curled finger.
I nod. “He was being very generous tonight, but I know why.” Warmth spreads over my heart for both Theo and Karina.
“Why?” Her face brightens.
“I think you and I have scratched an itch he’s had for a very long time.” I grab my shoes and socks and sit on the bed beside her. “I’m sure you’ve noticed how hard-working he is?”
She nods her head emphatically.
“Mr. Praesidio is a bit of a perfectionist.”
She snorts. “Yeah, tell me something I don’t know.”
I grin. “I talked him into doing a little delegating tonight, and I also pulled Maximus aside and asked him to try and handle the operations of the club while we were in here. I think this is the first time Theo’s had the chance to relax in ages.”
She leans her shoulder against mine. “You’re right. I don’t get to see that often. I loved seeing him laugh, Alex.”
I throw my arm around her and kiss the top of her head. “So did I, cupcake.”
I pat her back and bend to the task of putting on my socks and shoes while she gets dressed in a form-fitting pair of yoga pants, tank top, and sneakers. I lounge back on my elbow and watch her brush her damp tresses and throw them up into a loose bun with a scrunchie. She perches her black-framed glasses on her freckled nose and grins. Casual and disheveled from our lovemaking, she’s that girl-next-door kind of beauty.
“What?” She plops her bottom onto the mattress and nudges me with her knee. “What are you looking at?”
“The most beautiful girl in the world.” I sigh with longing.
She leans over me and nuzzles her nose against mine. “You’d better stop this, Mr. Clay. You and Mr. Praesidio are going to steal my heart and then you’ll never get rid of me.”
“Promises, promises.”
We grin, gazing into each other’s eyes, and the scent of her arousal—and blood—tease me, but remind me she’s human. And that Theo and I still haven’t reconciled completely. Fucking me is one thing. Letting me back into his life is another. For a few blissful hours, I was able to pretend the three of us lived happily ever after. And in moments, the dream shatters.
I kiss her tenderly, savoring the last painful shards of the fantasy. “I’ll be back shortly.”
Chapter 6
Alex leaves the room, and tears sting the backs of my eyes.
How can I fall so fucking hard, so fast?
I’m going to get my heart broken because these two beautiful men deserve so much better than a deceitful little bitch like me. I bury my face in my hands, wishing I could rewind time by two years. Hindsight’s twenty-twenty. If I knew then what I know now, I never would have left Tucson to go to college in New Orleans. I never would have walked into the Crimson Dungeon and fallen under Marcel’s spell. I never would have started spying on Toxic, and gotten myself into this goddamn mess.
Woulda, shoulda, coulda. I hate those three phrases with a passion. They’re the words of regrets, of stupid mistakes, of the frustrating inability to see clearly down a path of destruction, and having to pay the bitter consequences for that lack of vision.
I check my smartphone and thumb through my messages. I learned earlier from Zoe that Lucius and Selene are out of town, but no one knows where they are. I haven’t passed that information on to Marcel yet. My fingers hover over the keyboard. Fuck. I bite back the fresh flow of tears and growl in frustration. Why did I listen to Marcel? Why did I even start this stupid task of his?
Because he can still press charges against me for theft.
I toss my phone into my purse, and cry.
Here I am, in Marcel’s debt, his favors making me choose between a promise I made,