“Is that okay?” I’d heard Sorley and Baxter call him that, but maybe I should have asked. I hated my own name being shortened.
“It’s more than okay. I love it. Feels intimate when it comes from your mouth. Like youseeme, all of me.” He drew back tolook me in the eye. “Thank you for stopping me. I will always listen to your limits and heed them.”
“But…” I gestured between us where the ridge of his cock was making a frankly obscene tent in his trousers. “You didn’t?—”
“You said stop, James. Edwin won’t die from blue balls. Or do you think relieving his mild discomfort is more important than protecting your boundaries?”
We both swung to face Trace, who was standing in the corridor with an intense, hungry look on his face.
13
EDWIN
As soon asthe words left his mouth, Trace’s expression shuttered. “I shouldn’t be here. I came to find you and couldn’t stop watching. You’re beautiful together.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll get going. Terrance will wait for my return…if you’re still okay with me?—”
“Fuck’s sake, man, stop bleating. Wasn’t like you found him balls deep in me.” I winked at James and grasped for his hand, hoping he wasn’t embarrassed to be discovered in a state of such blatant arousal. “Not that I’d be bothered if you had. I have it on good authority I have a great arse and a photogenic cock, and from the feel of him, James is hung like a porn star.” I ignored the shocked gasp from my shadow and beckoned Trace nearer. “We were talking about you before we got distracted.”
Trace advanced a pace. “You were?”
“Of course. It was your suggestion, if you recall.” I tched. “Come closer, man, I don’t bite.” A stifled giggle from James. “Well, all right, I do, but…” I threw one hand up and waved it about a bit. “You know what I mean.”
“He wants to kiss you,” James said in a tumble of syllables.
The kitchen felt suddenly electrified. I could sense James holding his breath. Trace flipped his gaze from James to me, then back again. “Is that so?” he finally drawled.
“Mm hmm.” James’ voice crackled with a mixture of what I could tell was desire and fear. “He wants you to fuck him as well. I…I want that too. I want him to get what he wants, b-b-but I want-to-watch.” He ran the last words together as if he was out of puff, which was entirely likely if the rosy hue sweeping across his face was any indication. I felt my cock redouble its efforts to escape from my trousers. I was a helpless slut who craved a good seeing-to, there was no way around it. But I had to wonder, did James really want to watch, or was he too scared I’d get one thorough dicking from Trace and be instantly converted from shadow-love to witch-worship?
Trace licked his lips. “You’re making it almost impossible to say no.”
“Then don’t.” Bold and clear, James threw down the gauntlet.
Trace met my eyes. “You’re good with this?”
Oh God, you have no idea.I nodded.
“Justthe kissing?”
I think I whimpered.
Trace closed the gap between me and him, then glanced down at my right hand still entwined with James’ left. “You good, James?” he asked, his tone rough. His pupils were huge dark saucers in beautiful eyes fringed with long, thick lashes, startling on such an otherwise plain man.
James made a garbled sound that passed for agreement. His fingers tightened over mine and I squeezed back. My entire skeleton felt too large for my skin. I was aware I was probably vibrating at the same frequency as the electricity pylon down the road.
Trace laced the strong digits of one hand around the back of my neck, bringing us eye to eye.
“Fuck me, but you’re a pretty one,” he murmured. He ran the thumb of his other hand over my lips and on instinct, I parted them. He paused, mischief creeping into his expression as if fully aware of how much I craved the hard press of that work-roughened pad on my tongue. Then he removed his thumb, slanted his mouth over mine, and took control.
We both moaned. The heat of him surrounded me, his scent earthy and outdoorsy, flowery but somehow almost metallic-sharp at the same time. He took his time exploring the contours of my mouth with his tongue, licking over my teeth almost lazily, but stoking the flames I could feel rising from my beleaguered dick which was once again clamouring for attention.
Without warning, the kiss turned dirty. Trace plundered my mouth, shoving me against the unit behind me, angling my head by tugging on my hair. Responding to his aggression, I relaxed, letting my thighs fall open so he could grind against me, while my free hand slipped under his shirt to cop a feel of his wiry, muscular form. The pressure of his cock rubbing against mine after such a long time without getting laid made me dizzy with want. “Trace,” I gasped when he paused to breathe, “we should take this to the bedroom.”
He pulled away and regarded me. His lips were reddened and his eyes glazed. He swallowed and inhaled a deep breath, loosening his hold on my neck to shove a hand between us and sigh as he evidently managed to relieve the pressure on his cock. “If James is all right with that?”
I wrenched my head around to smile at James. His eyes were huge, hazy, and luminous, his breaths shallow, and he had one hand in the pocket of his jeans. It didn’t take a genius to know why.
“You okay with that idea?” I said gently. I was hornier than I’d been for months, but I wasn’t prepared to spook him, not even for a roll in the hay with Trace, who I realised I’d wildly underestimated in the sexy stakes.Holy hellfire,the man could kiss.
His throat bobbed and he nodded. “Yeah.” It was a needy rasp.
