The Satin Sash

  “Come here, Toni. I’m more than ready to give you exactly what you’re itching for.”

  She fisted her hands at her sides. “I’m itching to slap you. Both of you.”

  “You’re itching to have my mouth on yours, and I’m going to give it to you. Come get your kiss, kitten.”

  “Not with the same tongue you put inside that . . . that . . .”

  “That juicy pussy of yours.”

  She tensed in her seat.

  He stretched an arm out, palm up. She had never heard him speak so harshly, had never fully understood how dangerous he could be until he stared at her this moment. He looked uncivilized and ready to do damage—the gleam in his eyes was as grim and brutal as the iron edge in his words. “Come here. I’m going to tongue you so hard you won’t be able to breathe, much less continue to speak.”

  “Fuck you, Heath.”

  “All right, that’s enough! Both of you.”

  “Fuck you, too, Grey!”

  All those times she had begged for a silly, stupid kiss from Heath, he’d been playing Grey’s obedient little dog.And Grey! The control freak. So calm. Like a god. Nonchalantly notifying her of the fact: I told him not to kiss you. Damn them both, and damn her for letting it hurt so bad.

  When they arrived at the house, Grey pulled her into a shadowed nook down the corridor.

  “Toni . . .”

  “Don’t ‘Toni’ me!”

  “You’re getting too worked up over a kiss, princess. Take it if you want it.”

  She yanked free of his hold, her gaze shooting bullets at him. “Don’t talk to me, Grey.”

  “Antonia.”

  “I don’t care if you want to control your schedule, the room temperature, and the way you organize your freaking clothes, but don’t ever try to control me again! I may like it in bed, but I assure you I don’t like it outside of it.”

  “I know,” he said with a solemn nod that only served to increase her anger tenfold.

  She bumped into a rigid chest when she spun around. A straining blue vein trekked up Heath’s throat, his body motionless as a statue. He was so tense, so still, so vividly craving her kiss, she could feel the waves coming off him like blankets of fire. It had festered between them, this elusive, stupid, silly kiss, and now the need for it felt violent. It would be a kiss that would bleed, and Toni would bite her tongue before she let him have it.

  She tried going around him but he lifted a hand, sank his fingers into her hair as he lowered his lips. “Give me my kiss.”

  She slammed her palm into his chest, aware of his hand trembling. “No!”

  He tightened his hold on her hair, muscles flexing on his face. “Give it to me.”

  “Don’t touch me, Heath, or I swear I’ll get sick all over you.”

  “Give. Me. My fucking. Kiss.”

  “I said no.”

  He let go of her and left his hand open in the air, as though it itched, as though he couldn’t close it. And he gritted, “Then give it to Grey.”

  Heath wanted to pound something. The wall. The mirror. Oh yes, the mirror—seven years of bad luck. He welcomed it. Any other kind of pain except this one.

  He adjusted his nuts inside his pants, feeling pain when he touched them, then grabbed the phone on the nightstand and punched some numbers, checking for flights to Chicago. He had to get out of here, get a grip on himself, get far and fast and away from Toni.

  When he hung up, Grey stood by the window, his profile chiseled with shadows from the night.

  “Booking a flight?”

  “Yes.”

  His friend. His only friend. Heath did not like the fact that he was considering hurting him over a woman. He did not like questioning his loyalty to him. Heath had always known, in his heart, that the day he went against Grey, life as he knew it was over.

  Grey tucked his hands in his pockets and spared a distracted glance at the room in general. “So.”

  With that single word, Grey waited for Heath to speak. It was an opening. Heath took it.

  “She’s nothing to me. Nothing. I can goddamn kiss whoever the fuck I please.”

  When Grey remained pensive, Heath slapped his wallet on the nightstand. He wanted to punish her for not being his, for calling him a loyal dog, for pushing him until he felt like cracking. He wanted to pound and pound and pound Toni until she screamed Heath!

  “Do you want to go grovel with me?” asked Grey, regarding him as though he thought Heath might actually say yes. “It’s not that bad. Once you get a smile, you know you’re safe and feel such a sweet victory.”

  Heath met his gaze in stony silence. Apologize. For what? For wanting her? For not being able to have her? “I am not fucking sorry.”

  “I am,” Grey admitted, raking a hand through his hair.“She had a right to know what I asked of you.” He flexed his shoulders, visibly restless. “I had no right to set terms she didn’t know about.” He fixed Heath with one of his most commanding looks. “Let’s apologize, Heath. Then we can make love to her.”

  No. Not make love. Heath would fuck her. He would rape her lips with his, force his kiss on her, force his tongue right into her, search everywhere in her mouth. And even then he wouldn’t be done with her—oh no, not nearly. He’d just be getting started with his pillaging, because then he wanted the rest of her, every inch his.

  The sound of slamming drawers from the other room echoed within the walls of his.

  Heath kicked his shoes off, heard them plop against the marble. “She’s all yours, Grey,” he said, lying back on the bed to stare at the ceiling.

  Another slam reverberated, followed by Grey’s long, lingering chuckle. “Ah, I do like a good handful.” From the threshold, he sent an admiring look in his friend’s direction and said,“You know, sometimes I envy you, Heath.You don’t need anything but yourself. You don’t crave money; you don’t depend on luxury for comfort. You don’t give a shit what people think.”

  Heath managed to keep his grunt to himself, all while thinking Grey was wrong. Heath had nothing. His days came and went. His life came and went. All because he kept leaving, avoiding rejection. He left, he moved on, the few acquaintances he made forgotten. If he didn’t want anything, he wouldn’t care if he wasn’t wanted. But he wanted Toni. He wanted that rosy-cheeked girl, and even fantasized at this very moment about tearing her away from the one person he’d always cared for—Grey. Nobody, ever, had made Heath want to hurt Grey.

  When Heath did not reply and continued dwelling on his grim thoughts, Grey said, “The door’s open, Heath.”

  Heath propped a pillow behind his head, bracing himself for the sounds of their lovemaking. Soon they filtered through the hall. Murmurs. Words. Heath dropped his arm over his eyes and drew in a breath.

  Then he heard it.A little moan. His chest caved in on itself.Another one. So tiny. Only in the dead silence of the house could he hear it. Grey’s deeper, pleasured groan. He squeezed his eyes shut, furious at the jagged sound of his own breathing.

  She could never be his. The knowledge destroyed him, frustrated him, made him feel helpless. He cursed and lunged to his feet. She was his for this weekend, damn it.

  Out in the hall, he pushed at the slit of their bedroom door, widening the opening.

  Grey’s body covered hers on the bed. He was still dressed in his dark shirt and slacks. His hips circled between her parted legs, his head moving over hers. He was kissing her lips—those lips Heath wanted—and then he was draping one of her legs around him, his hand stroking her ankle. “Kiss me back, Antonia. . . .”

  A whimper. Of protest.

  “I’ve admitted it: I’m a greedy bastard. I wanted this mouth to be just mine.”

  Heath pushed a bit more at the door to enter, and the hinges screeched. Everything went still. Even Heath’s heart.

  In a smooth, startling move, Grey rolled on the bed and sat her up, facing the doorway. She squeaked as though stunned and her eyes fluttered open. They glowed in the shadows. In the light
streaming from the hall, he saw every luscious inch of her. She wore a gauzy white peignor buttoned from her neck down that showed her nipples and had a bit of lace around her neck. Her hair tumbled down her shoulders in a shimmering cascade, and in a swift jerk Grey pulled her arms above her head. She gasped, her breasts stretching the sheer fabric, pushed up and into it. Her nipples created two tiny, dark bumps.

  Her eyes were glazed, and she didn’t look angry but lost. So lost. So well-kissed.

  Heath could not breathe.

  He came forward, watched his sun- roasted hand engulf her soft cheek. What could he say? I’m sorry? For being rough. For wanting more than what you can give. For losing my mind. Sorry you belong to Grey. Please give me my kiss.

  She stared at his throat. His pulse beat there; he couldn’t control it. He let go a breath and flicked one button of her robe open.Then a second one. Her breasts moved with her breaths. Heath wanted her with every burning cell of his body, but suddenly he could not unbutton more. He felt beaten and pummeled and defeated. He burned and throbbed, but inside he was nothing but a mass of aching.

  Nevertheless, he clamped his jaw and yanked up his shirt. It fell at his feet, and his hands went to his belt. “How do you want it? Hard? Soft?”

  She straightened her spine, shoulders firming. “Don’t bother.”

  “If you two will just relax,” Grey injected lightly. “Come on, darling. I’ve got to make some points with you. Let’s have fun tonight. It’s our last night in Cabo.”

  “You get three points if you leave me alone,” she said petulantly.

  With a quiet laugh, Grey bumped his nose along her neck, lowering her arms at her sides and stroking her wrists with his fingers. “Not the number I was aiming for.”

  How easy that she loved him, that she would forgive him anything. Grey could screw up, and minutes later be touching her. And chuckling. And everything would be all right. He wouldn’t feel ripped or beaten. He wouldn’t feel like shit.

  He wouldn’t leave tomorrow and never see her again.

  “As far as I know, I’m still in the doghouse until Heath kisses you,” Grey was saying.

  “Think only of yourself, Grey, why don’t you?” she accused.

  “Eat your words, Toni; you know I live for that little smile of yours. Be a good girl and kiss and make up.”

  Heath clenched his hands tight.There was no order to what he wanted to say, to what he felt. So many emotions, he didn’t know what to do with them. He wanted to spill them all back into her and to be left alone. Like he was before. Before the first time he’d ever heard Toni.

  “Do you want me or not?” he demanded.

  Her silence grated on him.

  His temples throbbed when he ground his teeth, his legs tensing with predatory power, ready to tumble her down. “Grey, I’m feeling a little viperous.”

  “Viperous. Is that your new word of the day? Must use viperous in a sentence.”

  Heath no longer tried to hide the fact that he was panting. “Take off your robe, or I’ll tear it off with my teeth.”

  “I like this robe very much, Heath, and I do believe I paid for it.Toni loves La Perla.”

  “I’ll pay you back.”

  Toni wrapped her arms protectively around herself. “Don’t you dare!”

  Heath manacled her hands and moved them aside so fast she gasped. “Take. It.The fuck. Off. Damn you!”

  It was an almost imperceptible movement, Grey sliding from behind Toni, rising to his full height, saying in a low, dangerous voice, “Heath?”

  It was all the warning he got. The next second a fist smashed into his gut, and when Heath doubled forward, he was being yanked back by the arms until Grey’s lethal murmur poured into his ear. “Apologize.”

  Heath bucked his arms up, ready to tear free, but Grey tightened his hold, his voice once more ringing in his ear. “Fucking. Apologize.”

  He made a strangled sound, his tormented mind registering that it was Grey speaking, his voice of reason, his common sense, and it demanded he calm down. Another voice spoke, this one soft as a whisper.

  “Let him go, Grey,”Toni said.

  The breath tore out of him when Grey rammed an elbow into his back, pain shooting up his neck as he dropped him down a notch. “He apologizes first.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “You either get yourself under control, or I take care of it for you, Heath.”

  Heath slammed his head back, intent in breaking his nose, but Grey was fast, ducking to evade the blow while Heath managed to yank free. A wide distance crept between them as they faced each other, their gazes colliding with conflict.

  Heath clamped his jaw tight. Grey was not what he wanted. “I’m not going to fucking hurt her,” he snapped, his attention shifting to Toni.

  Heath glared past Grey’s shoulder, his lungs burning for air, his eyes holding a pair of vivid green ones in the darkness. In a hoarse, broken voice, he said, “I still want to fuck you until you scream.”

  Her reply was what he’d expected, but her words held no force. “I still want to claw your eyes out.”

  Grey stood guard beside the bed, his tension palpable as Heath approached her. Deliberately slowly, he lifted her hand and set it against his cheek. “Do your worst to me,” he whispered.

  She was panting softly. God, would his cock stop coming up for her? How many times must he screw her? A dozen, two dozen? Her hand lay motionless on his jaw. He was trying to be calm, drawing in big gulps of air, taking her fingers and raking them across his face. “Hurt me.”

  She was staring at him.

  “Hurt me.”

  She tried drawing her hand back, but he flattened it to his skin, digging his fingers into the back of hers until her fingertips bit. “I’m asking you to hurt me.”

  “Stop it.”

  And he groaned in anguish. “Fuck, do something to me.”

  “Heath.” One second she was staring up at him; the next she was grabbing his face and crushing his mouth, and he was growling, opening, stealing inside.

  Like taking a bite from a ripe peach, her taste exploded in his mouth. He tasted Baileys . . . mint . . . Toni. His chest expanded, his lungs stopped functioning, and he poured every ounce of himself into that kiss. It soothed his soul, all of the anger in him, and left in its place something mellow and supple and hers. And for the first time in his memory, he wanted to weep in joy. He had never felt so connected, so free.Through his rioting mind, amid the hunger and longing spreading like a firestorm through him, he held on to one thought alone: I’m home.

  It was for all the times he hadn’t kissed her . . . and it lasted an eternity. It lasted until her lips felt puffy and red and violated. It lasted as he grabbed her pretty La Perla robe and tore at it. And she whimpered when he did, no longer caring about the gown, only wanting to feel his hands on her, his mouth everywhere, wanting to feel Heath . . . one last time. Heath. His hands shook as he pulled at the tatters, yanking every scrap of fabric off her. And then he was grabbing at her head again, delving for her mouth. “Fuck, Cat, forgive me. I’m losing my mind.”

  She fondled his face, his mouth so forbidden, so delicious, so hungry on her. “I’m losing mine, too.”

  His tongue blistered her lips, her tongue. He was so hot. His hands were hot, his mouth, his skin. Sweat coated his every lean inch, smearing her with his fever.

  Then she was lying back on the soft bed, and it was Grey in her mouth.The taste of wine and the cool, fresh savor of Grey invaded her. Her heart soared with love for him. She was in a daze, floating, dying, living. Her hands clutched at his hair, holding him to her while she plunged her tongue into his sweet mouth. Heath bit at her breast, stroking wetly across her nipple. Then hands rolled her to her side, bodies flanked her. Hot, naked bodies. And Heath was behind her, stroking a finger down the crevice between her buttocks, his voice terse.“I feel like deflowering you. Right here. Right in this tight, warm little passage. Give me something that’s mine, Toni. Something just f
or me.”

  Grey was snaking his tongue into her mouth even as she breathed, “Yes.”

  Grey’s hands traced the contours of her hips, his cock rubbing up her thigh. “Can you take us both, princess?”

  Toni undulated between them, wanting to be as close to them as she could. “Yes.”

  “Slowly, Heath,” Grey said, shushing her noises. Petting her pussy with his hand while she heard the slick sounds of Heath lubing himself. Heath’s hands clamped her waist like manacles. His cock probed.The breath shuddered out of him, fanning the back of her neck as he entered. Pain sliced her, stretching her. A burn flared from her core and she sobbed. She wanted it, wanted more. It was a startling pain, a sweet pain. She wanted to give it to him.

  “More,” she gasped. Grey wound her leg around his hips, bringing his column against her pussy.The position opened her ass to Heath.

  Heath pulled out, and her heart protested with a jarring beat. She cried out when he came back in. She cried into Grey’s mouth as Heath thrust deeper. She slid her hand around Grey’s waist, clutched at his buttocks, mewling helplessly against him.

  Grey’s thumb circled her clit, then searched deep into her pussy. Two fingers parted her, probed, and readied her engorged opening for another cock. “Think you can still take this?” Him. Grey. Fat and long. Easing inside.

  She gasped and flung her head back, agonizing in pleasure. Heath stopped moving, his cock pulsating within her anus to give Grey entry.Their exerted breaths echoed in her ears. She did not seem to be breathing herself when the two of them were embedded deep. Grey groaned when she bit his neck, and he began to move.A careful slide that brought a staggering wave of ecstasy through her.

  “Move slowly, Heath. See if she likes it.”

  Heath moved. Slowly. His fingers sank into her skin at her waist and his rocking motions gained pace as he set a rhythm. It was merciless; each time he was fully seated, he was tearing her apart. She liked it. She wanted it. Grey licked her lips, his breathing arduous on her face. “I can feel every little ripple of your pussy.”