Awakening Veronica (15 page)

Her shaky breath left her in a rush as Travis tilted his head and pressed his lips to the curve of her shoulder above the neckline of the red dress. “I knew very little about domination when I met him. I thought he…never mind.”

Hank murmured, “You thought he could give you what a Dom would? To take control? To take charge. Take care of you?”

“Yes.”

“He couldn’t do it, could he?”

“N–No.”

Travis whispered, “We can, though.”

She blinked and pulled back from Hank’s gentle grasp to look at Travis. “W–We?”

Craving for her licked up Travis’s spine. “You didn’t know, Nika?”

Veronica’s eye’s widened. “Know what?”

Travis took delight in her surprise. “I know a thing or two about domination, too, sweet. You didn’t answer the question.”

“Huh?”

Travis dragged his upper incisors along the fragrant column of her throat and his cock hardened painfully as her essence intoxicated him. “Do you want to be dominated? Or do you simply want to talk?”

He sensed Hank closing in on her other side and she whimpered as Travis stroked his knuckles beneath her breast, teasing her. Her body vibrated and her chest rose and fell with every breath. “Yes. I’m still not sure exactly what you’d want to do with me, but yes, I do. You would do that? Even though you know I’m only visiting?”

Their eyes met behind her head and Hank winked at him. He’d only been back a week but already he felt like Hank could read him.

Hank removed his lips and tilted her chin so she would look into his eyes. “Can I trust you to not speak about what happens between us to anyone?”

She closed her hand around his wrist and nodded, sincerity burning in her eyes. “I promise.”

“Travis has some business to take care of next week. He’s looking into an opportunity that may take him away from Divine again.”

“Really?” She glanced at him and regret flickered in her eyes for a split second before she averted them.

“Yes. I’m retiring from life as a government employee, and this opportunity could be something that I’d really enjoy. I won’t know until I get to the interview next week. I have to admit though, staying in Divine is sounding more tempting by the minute.”

She swallowed and her brows furrowed a bit. “But if you have a chance to work at something you enjoy, you should take it. I know what it’s like to love what you do for a living, and you should have that chance.”

“We’ll see. But I want you to know that
I
understand about you just visiting. Although I hope you’ll consider extending your visit.” He knew she needed the reassurance, but he was afraid that the path they were treading ever so carefully would lead to pain if they had to part after discovering a connection. In the lifestyle, he had a feeling Veronica was their proverbial needle in a haystack.

“I could stay l–longer. I’ll need to do a little shopping to extend my wardrobe.”

Hank chuckled. “Let Grace know and she can take you shopping. I’m glad you’ll stay for a bit longer. We won’t interrupt your work schedule if you’ll promise…” He brushed his lips against her collarbone and growled softly.

“Promise what?”

“To give control to us while you’re here. Do as we command.”

“Command?” A shudder rippled through her. “Two Doms?” She breathed deep and looked off to the side and then surprised him with a smile as she took another deep breath and said, “Yes. To both of you. This is what I need if I want to move forward with my writing.”

Hank slid a hand up to her throat and closed it around the delicate column, just enough for her to feel snared. “That’s Veronica Benedict, the successful author. What about Veronica Benedict, the woman?”

She gulped nervously and a sense of accomplishment licked up his spine. She was going to be such a pleasure. Lifting her gaze to his, she said, “I have no idea what form your Dominance will take but I’m willing. I consent, as long as we can talk about anything I’m not comfortable with.”

Hank moved his hand and kissed her rapid pulse where his thumb had rested moments earlier. “Of course.”

He rose from the couch and pulled her up with him. “Nika, we’ll always talk with you. Neither of us is interested in limiting your speech unless we’re in a scene and we’ve giving you specific instructions for silence. Even then, we wouldn’t stop you from voicing yourself if you needed to.”

Travis chuckled evilly and added, “Unless you get mouthy.”

“Mouthy?” Veronica murmured and smiled. “I don’t think you’d have to worry about that with me.”

Travis smiled at her, understanding exactly what she was saying, and a little saddened by it. The sass had been trained right out of her by her family. Once she felt comfortable with him, he hoped a little of that sass surfaced. He’d love to see that part of her come out to play.

Hank led her into the center of the room and stroked her long hair. “Will you be working tonight?”

She nodded and Travis noted the eagerness in her response and the way she smiled. “I feel like I’m bursting at the seams and need to get it all out before I lose it.”

“You’re not too tired?”

She shook her head. “Second wind. I’ll sleep afterward and then get back to it after lunch. At the rate I’m going right now, I’ll probably be done in a week or so. Then I’ll take a break.”

“Are any of your evenings free?”

“I can make them free. It’s not a problem. I’m having supper tomorrow night at the ranch house with Grandma Kate, Grace and the others. I don’t think Grace would mind if you came, too. I’ll be free afterward.”

“I think we could work that out. We have only a few simple requests for you tonight.”

She nodded and didn’t take her eyes off of his.

Hank slid his hand down her left forearm and urged it around his waist and took her other hand as another song played on the stereo. “Dance with me. Nothing fancy, and Travis will dim the lights. After we dance, I want to watch you dance with him, and then we’ll get you ready to write.”

Her jaw dropped and Travis wondered at the thoughts that must be racing in her head. Travis dimmed the lamps and turned out the lights in the kitchen, bathing the two of them in a muted circle of light as Hank pulled her close. He knew what was next on Hank’s list, so he went around the house, which had an open floor plan except for the bedroom and bathrooms down the hall, closing all the drapes, blinds, and curtains. Veronica would need privacy if she was going to be up late.

Travis turned up the volume on the music and took a seat on the couch to watch them. She looked up at Hank, her eyes filled with questions. Hank lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her as he swayed gently with her to Jason Aldean’s “Talk.”

Travis smiled as her eyelids slid closed and her auburn hair drifted in a silky wave over Hank’s arm around her back as she tilted her head and deepened the kiss. Travis could almost feel the silky skin at the back of her neck as Hank stroked it and then ran his fingers in a lingering caress down her spine. His cock hardened as he imagined his turn with her in his arms.

When Hank released her lips, she looked up at him, and whispered, sounding breathless. Hank looked at her tenderly and caressed her cheek, then shook his head negatively. Her gaze shifted to Travis as Hank turned her so she could see him. Her eyes were glazed with passion and her lips were full and rosy from her kiss, just waiting for his lips, too.

“Look at you, Nika,” Hank murmured. “You’re dancing.”

A soft smile drifted across her lips as she looked between the two of them as the song receded. “I didn’t step on your toes or knock you down or anything.”

“Nope. Travis looks like he wants a turn, too.”

Travis rose from the couch and went to her as Hank released her. “Must Be Doin’ Somethin’ Right” by Billy Currington began to play on the radio. The sexy smile on her face and the soft sigh that escaped her lips as she went to him more than willingly said it all.

“You’re a Billy Currington fan?”

She nodded. “I love his voice but if you put on any country-and-western male vocalist I’m a happy girl.”

He loved the way she drew out the word “girl” as she melted against him and let him lead her in a simple swaying rhythm, turning a slow circle on the wooden floor. The sexy red heels she wore brought her up to the perfect level for a kiss and he took full advantage as she looked up at him when he stroked her chin. “Can I have a kiss, Nika?”

Her answer was the willing tilt of her chin and the subtle parting of her lips as she looked up at him. She trembled in his arms as his lips touched hers, rubbed against them, reveling in the satiny warmth before delving his tongue into the heat of her sweet mouth. He’d wanted very much to kiss her succulent lips when she’d been a teenager, and the woman she’d become surpassed all his fantasies about her in the intervening years.

Her hand slid up his back to his shoulder, as his hand slid down, caressing her in a long line from her shoulder blade down to the upper curve of her hip and her ass cheek. She was warm and silky all over and her eyes were glazed with passion that he craved to sample. He didn’t know how he’d ever be able to walk away tonight, but he would. They both would. But first they’d take her higher than she’d likely ever gone before.

The song ended much too soon, with most of it spent kissing her. When he allowed her a chance to catch her breath, she whispered, “I wanted you so much back then.”

“Nika. You torture me.”

“I don’t mean to. I feel like I’m living a fantasy tonight.”

“I promise you, sweet, we’ve barely gotten started. We won’t push you much tonight. We know you have work to do.”

She bit her lip and looked like work was the last thing on her mind. “I’m afraid.”

“Of what, Nika?”

“What this might do to my heart.”

Travis’s heart thumped in his chest at the fear and lingering hurt in her eyes. Was she already bracing for disappointment? “It would break my heart to know I hurt you, Nika. Don’t be scared.”

Her eyes fluttered closed and she laid her head against his shoulder as he guided her around the floor.

Unsaid between them was the admission that none of them could know what the future held.

* * * *

“Open your eyes, Nika.”

Veronica looked around, realizing they were on the other side of the living room, near the writing desk, which was really a larger-sized dining room table, with all her papers, folders, and computers spread out on it.

“Ready, Nika?” Hank asked softly from behind her as the song changed again.

“Yes.”

Rivulets of pleasure and tension warred inside her as he settled his hands on her shoulders while Travis still held her. She couldn’t help the sigh that slipped from her lips. Chris Young sang “She’s Got This Thing About Her” and the experience was the closest thing to true ecstasy she’d ever known with clothing still on. She had a feeling that what they had planned would easily eclipse any experience she’d ever had without clothes on as well.

Gathering her hair in his hands, Hank lifted the thick bundle over her shoulder and said, “Tonight is about light, pleasurable play. You won’t even need a safeword. We simply want to explore with you.”

He slowly lowered the zipper at the back of her dress, sending gooseflesh dancing across her skin as his knuckles slid along her bare flesh. He gave a soft groan when he reached the red lace teddy and red satin bra she wore beneath the dress.

Grace had taken her shopping for lingerie to wear beneath the dress and she’d fallen instantly in love with Discretion and the incredible array of naughtiness they sold there.

“Damn, that’s sexy, Nika,” Hank whispered as he finally reached the end of the zipper and found the thong-back of the teddy. She looked up at him to gauge the truth of his reaction and he smiled at her, understanding in his eyes before he turned her in his arms so she now faced him and had her back to Travis.

“Holy hell, Nika,” Travis said in his deep, husky voice. “You’re luscious.”

She shuddered as his hands slid up her back and peeled the clingy dress from her shoulders before laying a kiss on her shoulder blade, raising more ticklish sensations and gooseflesh on her skin.

Hank lowered his lips to hers as the neckline of the dress descended to her waist and Travis slipped her arms from the three-quarter sleeves. She trembled and gasped as his warm fingertips slid the fabric down to her hips, a soft growl leaving his lips as it fell to the floor in a rush, leaving her bared to their view. Her insides tightened as she hoped for kindness from them about her dimples and her full thighs. Standing in the high heels and teddy, she felt incredibly vulnerable. Travis stopped her hands from creeping up to cover herself.

“Stop, Nika,” Hank whispered, his fingertips on her chin, drawing her eyes. “You’re beautiful. Perfection.” His words were softly spoken but somehow also forceful—no—insistent. He wanted her to believe him. Was the doubt in her eyes that obvious? It must have been.

Travis’s hand strayed over her right ass cheek and she jumped as he patted it gently, making it jiggle. She looked over her shoulder at him, suddenly worried as she found him watching her ass as he patted again. He smiled as he did it again and then glanced up at her. Lust, not ridicule, was in his eyes. She bit her lip and smiled at him, wishing she could quell her uncertainty long enough to tease him a little.