Tara drew her legs up close and watched Steve belt out a chorus unlike anything she’d heard. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard that song, but it was the first time she’d felt it. Experienced the breathtaking love in it. And to see Lucian dancing with her Gramma had to be the best gift she could ever get. Love filled her heart until she had to let out a sob so she wouldn’t burst.
Tara let out another sob when Lucian placed his face next to Gramma’s with his eyes closed. What a sight. She was going to kill him for being so frickin’ damn sweet. His mouth moved to the words and she realized he was singing to her.
The song finally ended and Gramma smiled like a shy girl and Lucian gave her a hug before heading back to Tara.
“Well, I’ll be,” Gramma gasped. “I’m sure glad you can sing. Lots of people around here like to punish the air with their singin’, and I’m one of‘em. But I can’t be havin’ nothin’ but the best at my Tara Mae’s weddin’ and well… I must say, that is the best singin’ I’ve heard. Better than the radio even.”
Steve’s laughter boomed before he gave her a hug. “That is a true compliment, Dorothy.”
Meanwhile, Tara sat next to Lucian on the couch, stroking the hair at the back of his neck while giving him soft kisses along his cheek. “That was beautiful, baby.”
“You heard me singing?” he joked.
She smiled softly into his playful gaze, her body slowly reminding her of the immeasurable pleasure he was capable of giving.
He leaned in and kissed her lips, the softest touch. “You seem breathless all of a sudden.”
The noise of Gramma and Steve chattering about singing and wedding songs slowly faded as Lucian angled his nod at the stairs. Her heart raced as Lucian pulled her up and made their excuses that allowed them to steal a moment away.
****
Lucian sat on Tara’s bed while she locked the door. Memories of his first time in her room rushed in—when she’d tried to run from him. “Stay like that,” Lucian said quietly.
Tara went still at the door, barely glancing over her shoulder toward him.
“Remember my first time in this room?”
“Yes.”
Lucian’s body reacted to the desire in her voice with a flood of heat. He took off his shirt and stood. “I’m taking my clothes off. Don’t look.”
She glanced over her shoulder then realized she was disobeying and turned her face back to the door.
“I want you to undress now. Without turning. Leave your panties.”
With perfectly ungraceful movements, she did as told then faced the door. Red, boy cut underwear. He was sure it was the first time he’d seen her ass in that color and it affected him in an unpredictable way. Who would think such a thing would fill him with a smashing urge to cherish and protect her? Maybe because he knew she selected panties the way a child selected crayons. Not for passion and whimsical pleasures, but for purpose. The logic. Skies were blue, the sun was yellow, the grass should always be green, and hearts... hearts were red.
He walked to her until he stood right behind her. Not touching. “Red panties?” he whispered at her ear. “Why red?”
Her breaths came erratic and she looked over her shoulder. “I… I just grabbed.”
His tongue moved in his mouth as he swept the brown silky hair over one shoulder. “You just grabbed,” he repeated softly, gazing down her spine at the succulent curve of her ass. Because panties were for covering your bottom, not expressing your feelings.
Desire dropped him to his knees and he yanked her panties with him. He lifted one of her legs and pinned it to the door, gazing at his prize. “You torment me.” The whisper came harsh as he nibbled along the soft skin, his fingers biting as he kissed his way to his mark.
In one swift moment, he buried his mouth right between her firm ass cheeks. “Oh God,” she cried.
Lucian licked and probed the tight entrance of her ass with a ravenous passion. The feel of that part of her on his tongue, drove him to taste more, faster. He worked himself around until his nose pressed her clit and began to devour up every bit of the gift she gave— her desire, longing, need—all pouring out for him, on him, in him. With ragged gasps he branded her hard with his love, marked her with his undying loyalty. He listened carefully as she told him all about it, in every breath and moan. His wife. His heart, and soul.
Lucian worked his middle finger inside her hot silk while forming a suction on her clit with his lips and tongue. She gripped his head in both hands, her cries turning desperate as the surface of his tongue lapped like a wave on her clit.
Lucian groaned on her as she suddenly released, bucking herself on his mouth with moans and gasps.
Before she was entirely done, Lucian stood and sheathed his cock inside her. Holding the column of her neck in one hand and her waist with the other, his raging desire lit into her until the door banged in the jamb with his thrusts.
“Oh God,” she gasped, looking back a little.
Dominance took him over and he grabbed her hair—her trigger—and pulled her head back. He would do that until he reformatted that pretty mind and body to respond in the right way. “Play with your pussy while I fuck you.”
She gave those submissive, helpless grunts and moans that set him on fire. “Spank me,” she whispered.
The helpless beg commanded his dominance. “Spank you,” he muttered, leaning to her ear while holding her head back by the hair. He bucked his hips once and caught her gasp with his mouth. “Spank you where?” He flicked his hips again, bringing another sharp gasp.
“My pussy.”
Lucian moved inside her faster, turning her face to him more. “Say it again.”
“Spank my pussy,” she cried.
“Your naughty pussy?”
“Spank my naughty pussy.”
Lucian devoured her mouth while feeling for his mark. He flicked the tip of his middle finger over the very top of her clit. “Here?”
She erupted with shudders and continuous high pitched moans.
“Your pussy says yes.” He flicked his hips several times. “It’s clamping my fucking cock so hard.” And it was time to give in to that raging orgasm gripping his balls and ass now. “Fuck my cock,” he barely managed. “I want you to do it fast and hard.”
She braced her palms on the wall and fucked him until the head of his cock pounded her core. With the ends of his three fingers, he spanked her clit until she screamed his name.
It triggered a white hot explosion that reduced him to feral, senseless passion. “I’m coming!” Animal sounds clawed their way out of him as he fought to maintain control over the power moving through him in that fucking orgasm.
“Shit,” she whispered, when the avalanche finally slowed.
“Did I hurt you?” The question shot out on ragged breaths, worried at her exasperated tone.
“God no, no. Not hurt.”
He turned her to him and pulled her in his arms, kissing her forehead and hugging her close. “I don’t want to hurt you. Ever.” He stroked her back and ass, burying his mouth on her shoulder then neck. “Never want to hurt you, baby.”
“I know, I know,” she kissed him now. “I won’t let you hurt me, don’t worry.”
He let out a sigh of relief. “Good. Thank you.”
“Don’t let me hurt you either.”
Just the idea made him gasp out a chuckle. “I’m not too worried about that.”
“Until you’re tied up,” she whispered, breathless still.
He smiled and nudged her face with his. “Okay. Please don’t ever hurt me.”
She nodded with a light laugh. “Can’t promise you anything.”
Chapter Sixteen
“What you got?” Lucian asked Steve, grabbing Tara’s hand beneath the diner’s table. He hated the winter for the fact he couldn’t feel her when he touched her.
Steve answered him by sliding his tablet before them. “I got us a place. On the outskirts of the town but still in walking distance t
o everything. Not too noticeable. It actually used to be a book store so I was thinking converting it to a type of learning facility would go off easier. And…” he tapped a section of the page slowly. “I got five prospect couples,” he whispered.
Lucian removed the glove on Tara’s hand and laced his fingers in hers as she studied the names on the list. “You got a pen?” Steve pulled one out of his breast pocket and slid it to her. She bit her glove off of her other hand and then circled two of the names, then wrote “extreme haters and high risk”.
Steve angled his head, reading. “Oh.” He sounded surprised as he darted careful eyes around. “Are you sure?” he whispered. “They seemed so receptive.”
“Yes,” Tara whispered, “but with those women, the term seemed is the same as lying backstabbing hypocrite.”
His brows raised. “We’ll mark them off, we can’t have that. I’ll find more.” He looked back at the paper. “So those three are ok?”
“Not positively,” Tara said, “but it’s a start. Shelly is in the middle of the road. It’s hard to know, we’ll have to do a bit of homework. Krista… eh. Tammy is the only one I feel the least good about and that means I’d trust her to watch my bike while I went into the store for five minutes.
“Geeze,” Steve said, sounding shocked.
Lucian turned to the waitress dressed in her pink, fifties style dress next to the table for their order. “We’ll just all have coffees for now, please.”
“Three coffees. Got it.” She hurried off and Lucian was glad it was the morning rush. Less time for people to be curious.
“And whatever you do,” Tara whispered, leaning to Steve. “Do not talk to the waitresses at this diner. They thrive off of gaining as much information about everybody as they can—the dirtier the better. And if there’s any empty blanks, they just fill them in with nasty Missouri mud.”
Lucian angled his body as though blocking out the noise. “I don’t mean to rain further on the parade but, having a place in town, even the outskirts, seems like a bad idea.”
“What else then?” Tara asked.
“I don’t know, maybe we can add on to the house and… we could… take up some kind of craft and give classes on it as a front.”
“And how do we keep Gramma from figuring it out?” Panic edged Tara’s words.
“Love, it’d be a lot easier to keep it from one person than an entire town. If we want to have privacy, I don’t give a damn how much the town hates that, we need it. If we open ourselves to the town’s scrutiny, we’re done before we start. We need to make it as hard as fucking possible for prying eyes, and if this property is private, we have a lot more legal say and control over what happens. Town on the other hand, adds obligations to local ordinances and laws that we don’t need.”
“He’s got a good point,” Steve said, sitting back. He turned the page in the tablet to a clean one. “So, we add on to the house. A…” his brows raised, “guest house?”
“Guest house works, yes,” Lucian said.
“Farmhand residence. That’s more common around here.”
Lucian nodded. “Perfect. It’ll be fully equipped and have a large enough living room to conduct craft classes of our choosing.”
“I like that,” Tara said, “much better.”
“You can build a cellar too for the… supply store.” Steve raised his brows.
“Absolutely. One with a huge padlock.”
“A vault,” Tara said.
“Made of titanium,” Steve nodded with wide eyes.
“Your wife comes in tomorrow too,” Lucian said. “We agree we should keep this from her still, for her own good?”
Steve nodded rapidly. “Most assuredly. And boss man said the delivery will positively arrive after the sixteenth?”
“That’s what he said to me, personally,” Lucian said. “But look at me. Do I trust the buzzard farther than I can pluck him? Double hell no.”
“Which is why we’re tracking it,” Tara said. “It hasn’t left the warehouse according to the update.”
The waitress came with their coffee and they all smiled while Steve chattered out a round of smooth-as-silk verbiage.
When they were left alone again, Steve gave them both one of his crazy grins. Lucian was learning to distinguish between them. This one was entirely mischievous. Those seemed to always come with a certain glint and radiance to his smile.
“So,” Steve said, glancing at both of them. “I’ll come up with a farmhouse plan and get it to the two of you for approval. Then we’ll plan on how to proceed from there, a time schedule, etcetera. And meanwhile, I was thinking…” he slowly angled his head until he peered at them with mostly one eye, capped with a quirked brow, “… that we might just find our couples at the wedding. I think she invited the entire town, and I think a lot of them will come with their attached family, if you get what I mean.” Slow nods.
“It’s worth a shot,” Tara said. “I’m not sure how we’ll pull that off while having our wedding, though.”
Steve put up a stop-sign hand. “Leave those details to me. I happen to be researching entertaining games for couples during the reception.” Wide crazy eyes with slow nods. “Games that will give us the answers we seek.”
Tara and Lucian exchanged impressed glances. “One of the reasons I chose you for this job, my man.” Lucian put his hand over the table for a shake and Steve took it, pumping it in glee.
“I will not disappoint you,” Steve said with brusque loyalty.
****
Lucian pulled Steve into Gramma’s room and shut the door. “What do you mean you told your wife!”
“I had to! Guess what came late yesterday afternoon?” Lucian’s heart raced with that. “Satan’s shipment!” Steve nodded with huge eyes.
“What?! W--where is it?”
“In the van!” he hissed back. “Filled to the blinkin’ brim!”
Lucian paced, gasping. “Holy shit! Last night?”
“Yes sirree.”
“Fucking figures they’d deliver it the night before the wedding!”
“At least it didn’t come on your wedding day!”
“So how did she take it?”
His eyes slowly grew gigantic and he shook his head.
The door shook with a hard knock and Lucian opened it, jumping in alarm when Tara and Steve’s wife barged in dressed in bath robes, hair rollers, and green gunk on their faces.
“How could you have kept this from her?” Tara demanded to Steve. “Something of this magnitude and importance? She is your wife,” Tara hissed at a shocked Steve, widening her eyes extra big until she looked even more comical. “She just wants to be involved.” Tara nodded rapidly, her eyes still big and flicking repeatedly toward Susan.
Involved? Was she saying what Lucian thought?
Susan chimed in. “He thinks I’m such a prude, but I’m not. He’s the prude! I know things.” The large busted woman with the matching tone nodded with a stern look that would have frightened any man even without the mask. Including Steve judging by the way he looked. Like his entire body had a cramp and he fought not to go into a fetal curl.
“I know about the Dom Wars even.” Susan nodded while holy shit slammed Lucian. They were doomed. Before he could wonder exactly how much she knew, she added, “I know he took a job for that company. “Top secret, Steve had said. He wouldn’t confide anything in me.” Like that hurt her the most.
Lucian wanted to be relieved with that but needed to know more. And something about her said there was more to this sob story.
“I could have lost my job!” The incredulity in Steve’s tone said she’d been told that a thousand times. Susan gave a sharp lift of her chin like her response each time had been don’t give me that lose your job bullshit line.
“Can I have a moment with him?” Lucian asked. “Talk some sense into him?”
“You do that,” Susan said nodding. “Tara and I have things to tend to. She’s getting married in a few hours and everything need
s to be perfect.” She pointed a hard finger at Steve who jumped like she’d stabbed him. “Make this right, mister.”
They left out and Lucian locked the door this time before turning to face Steve who appeared like he’d seen God and would die in five minutes.
“Talk, man,” Lucian said. “I just need to know what she knows, it’s not a big deal. If she knows everything, we’ll trust her to keep quiet. Pay her even.” Steve remained with that shocked look. “We’ll pay her whatever it cost. Jesus Christ, stop looking at me like everything is fucking doomed.”
He nodded slowly, walking in a daze till he sat in the small seat next to the door. “It is,” he whispered then.
“What is what?”
“Doomed,” he whispered, staring into the air before him.
“Why, why should it be?”
He sat silent until Lucian wanted to shake the answers out of him. “Because…” he slowly looked at Lucian. “She’ll want in on it. All of it. Every bit of it. The classes. The money. Everything.” He listed them slowly, each seeming detrimental to him but Lucian still didn’t get why they would be.
“She’s your wife man. I don’t get the problem.”
He turned a wide horrified gaze on him, slowly shaking his head. “She’s not a wife. She’s… something else. A demon I think,” he said, serious as shit. “Sent from a previous life to torment me for my grandfather’s past sins, maybe. I don’t know, I’ve asked God to show me so I can repent. She only plays like a wife. She spends all the money. She eats and diets non-stop. She spoils our son so that he hates me when I do what’s right for him.”
“What do you mean she’ll want a part of the classes?”
His eyes slowly grew wider with more horrific details. “She’s also a floozy. She reads these books. She doesn’t know that I know, but I’ve seen them and they’re full of sex. I am sure she sleeps with other men when I’m gone, with the way she carries on with me when I’m home.”
“Carries on with you?”
“When I am home,” he hissed. “She is a living, breathing, penis-raping-machine.”