Davies, Corinne - Steam-Driven Seduction [Steampunked Lust 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (7 page)

“Understood, sir. Out.”

Julien placed the intercom back in its holder and smiled to himself. This would really anger her, but he needed her to stay here until he could figure out how to make it permanent.

“I can understand now why you took her desertion so hard,” Miguel commented from his position on the sofa. “What made you decide to collect her now?”

Julien remembered a conversation he’d had with Yzzi a few months before. He’d confessed to her that he’d decided to wait for Kassandra to return to him instead of continuing to chase her. Yzzi had told him he was an idiot, and she was right. That bit of truth was hard to swallow. Liam and Tristan were acting much as he had with Kassandra, and he hadn’t wanted them to suffer the same consequences. At the time he’d hoped that giving Yzzi insight into their point of view would help her understand what leaving them might lead to. “A conversation with a friend who was on the verge of making the mistake I did.”

Miguel sipped from his teacup and watched him from over the rim. Julien knew he’d essentially made the same mistake with Miguel as he had with Kassandra. Of course having them both here at the same time only exacerbated the problem. He was on completely unknown ground here. He’d grown up in a family that didn’t show emotion, not that he was certain his parents ever felt any. In fact when they were both killed, it had taken him weeks before he felt any kind of loss.

Having someone as vibrant as Kassandra in his life gave him a sense of feeling. He was happy when she was. She had a natural passion about her that made him hunger for more. Miguel had made him feel the same way, but he knew that multiple partners in a marriage wasn’t as accepted in Espa
ñ
a as it was in the Old World.

“So this friend, what did they say?”

“Essentially, she told me I was an idiot and my expectations were outrageous.”

Miguel smiled and Julien felt his cock twitch with excitement. One of Miguel’s best features was his beautiful smile. He’d seduced hundreds of women with that grin and who knew how many men. “Sounds like a good friend.”

“She is and thankfully took her own advice.”

“With a bit of help from you?”

“All I did was lock her men in…in this room, come to think of it.” Julien looked around. There used to be a secret passage to the lower levels from here, but Julien had it barricaded. No one would be using that again.

“And how long did it take you to collect her?”

“Longer than I expected. She’s gotten sneaky. Why?”

He sat in the chair across from where Miguel lounged back against the sofa. His arms were stretched out along the back cushions again, open and inviting Julien to do whatever he wanted. But that was before, and he knew that part of his life was over. In order to keep Kassandra he was going to have to give up a lot of things, but he’d do it to keep her happy.

“I’m curious about your woman. You told me quite a bit about her, do you remember?”

“To be honest, no.” He’d spent more days drunk than sober in the weeks following her abandoning him. After she left he continued to feel everything too acutely. It was excruciating and the only relief was drinking to dull the emotion that pounded against him.

“It was enough that I was curious to meet her.” Miguel’s smile curled his lips, once again intriguing him.

“How did you find her?” Julien had to admit he was a little annoyed that Miguel had an easier time than he did looking for her.

Miguel stretched and arched his back slightly like a cat on a warm windowsill. “It bothers you? It shouldn’t, she wasn’t hiding from me.” He placed his hand in his lap and rubbed his cock through his pants before putting his hand back up on the back of the cushions.

Julien kept his eyes off Miguel’s lap, knowing the man was deliberately baiting him. Being this close to Miguel and not touching him was making him as crazy as Kassandra did. The one moment of indulgence in Kassandra wasn’t enough, and he wanted more, but he wanted Miguel there, too. There was something hardwired into him regarding these two.

“I found her in a brothel.”

Julien felt the bottom of his stomach fall out. He hadn’t heard anything about that, not that it made him love her any less. She was his and no other man would touch her from now on.

“You really can be an idiot.” Miguel shook his head. “I said I found her in one. She didn’t work there. She’s really quite genius. The women in that place are incredibly faithful to her, and she was protected and hidden.”

“How did you know she was there?”

Miguel shrugged. “I waited until she’d gone on a mission of some sort and broke in. It wasn’t hard to figure out which rooms were hers. I’m good. I made it in here, didn’t I?”

“That’s more than a little unnerving. I need to increase the training of my crew.”

“I do think I’m losing my touch though. You’re still wearing your clothes. I believe last time I had your pants off you before you knew my name.”

“Last time, I believe we were under the misunderstanding that each had information the other one wanted.”

Miguel graced him with another smile. In their short time together Julien learned that this particular smile was not one that other people saw. The intensity of their affair burned hot, and the two of them got to know each other much faster than he ever dreamed possible. He let his eyes drift to Miguel’s lap and saw the tent his cock was making of his pants.

“Do you love your wife, Julien?”

Julien quickly lifted his gaze back up to Miguel’s face. Guilt ate away at him. He had no business staring at another man’s cock when he’d just brought his wife home. “Yes, I do.”

Miguel locked his gaze with Julien’s and moved across the space that separated them. Julien’s heart skipped a beat as he watched the other man draw near. He knew he didn’t have a future with him, but he wanted one last touch. A taste to carry as a fond memory of a man he could’ve shared his life with.

He dropped to his knees in front of Julien. They leaned close enough their breaths mingled. Julien could smell the exotic vanilla spice that always reminded him of Miguel. “What if I was to tell you I still craved your touch?” Miguel whispered against his lips.

Julien sat completely still, his cock throbbed hard in his pants, and a part of him wanted to tackle Miguel to the floor and plug his cock deep into the other man’s ass. He wanted to wrap his hands over his hard ass and pound until Miguel cried out as he had that last night they were together. He wanted to place Kassandra between the two of them and ride her together.

“What if I was to tell you I want you both?”

Julien drew back, uncertain if Miguel had said those words or if it was only his imagination.

“Could you share her with another man? With me?”

He gripped the arms of his chair tightly as Miguel’s strong hand lightly traced a line up the inside of his leg. Light strokes with his thumb teased and promised more pleasure.

“My plan was to seduce you separately and then bring you together. But, now you have made this so much easier for me.”

“Do you understand what you’re asking?”

“To stay here with the two of you. To promise my life to you both. I know exactly what I’m asking. I’m asking you to share your life and your woman with me. I’m not from the Old World but I know the customs. Espa
ñ
a is very locked in its traditions. I would be an outcast, but I have enough information to stop them from hunting me.”

“You don’t understand.” Julien lifted one hand and stroked the backs of his fingers along Miguel’s cheek. “I have to give it all up for her. She is part of my soul but will never understand what you need from me.”

This time Miguel leaned back on his heels, his hands still resting on Julien’s thighs. “You said you found her in the dens. She’d been in a pit for long enough to develop a fear.”

Julien nodded. “I cannot be parted from her any longer, but she cannot accept that part of me.”

“It makes no sense. If you give up your whip and your need to be in charge, you give up a part of your soul. You will no longer completely be the man that she loves.”

“I’m not entirely certain she loves me anymore, but I plan to fix that.”

“Oh, she still loves you. No woman with as much passion as she has gives up a man’s touch unless she cannot stand the idea of allowing another man to touch her.” Miguel stood and rested his hands over Julien’s. Bending close, he lightly brushed their lips together.

Julien couldn’t have stopped kissing him any more than he could stop the currents from pushing
Atlantis
through the ocean. He tasted of tea and brandy and uniquely male. Their tongues collided, and Julien pulled his hands from under Miguel’s and grabbed his hair. Taking control of the kiss, he deepened it, biting Miguel’s lower lip hard enough to sting but not break the skin. Miguel groaned low in his throat, and when Julien let go he dropped to his knees in front of him again. “Look at me, Miguelito.”

Miguel’s eyes flicked open at his command. Julien kept one hand locked in Miguel’s hair, his head tilted back. He traced the delicate bow of his upper lip. This mouth was made for kissing. “Could you truly share me with Kassandra, Miguel? Could you love her with your entire being?”

“Yes,” Miguel answered, and Julien saw the truth in his face. His lover never allowed anyone to see his true personality, but Julien had demanded no less and Miguel had gifted him with that. The circumstances that pulled them apart had more to do with the path of self-destruction Julien had set for himself than anything else. Ironically it was having Miguel walk away from him as well that pushed Julien back on track.

“I watched her for a very long time, wanting to figure out what it was about her you couldn’t live without. She’s a complex woman who fascinated me. I’ve watched but never touched. Do you know you were not the only one looking for her?”

Fear struck Julien’s heart. “Who?”

“That I do not know and I wish I did. But someone learned that she is your wife, and there are rumors that she knows a bigger secret that the New World wants kept quiet.”

“Gold.” Julien had heard the rumor. During the raid on the slave den that held Yzzi, there had been two men there. They were interrogated by the slavers for information about rumors of alchemy being done in the West. Like the children’s tale, a man had learned not to spin hay into gold but to change normal stone into something much more valuable.

“Even Espa
ñ
a hungers for precious metals, and they want her.”

“Was your trip here for more than one purpose, Miguelito?” Julien tightened his grip on the other man’s hair. Pulling his face closer, he whispered, “Will you betray me and take my wife?”

“Never,” Miguel replied, and Julien could see the annoyance that crossed his features at being questioned about this. “I swore a fealty to you. I would never do anything as dishonorable as going back on that.”

“She is our future, Miguel. I wish I could say she is happy here, but the first chance she gets I know she’ll try to leave. We’ll make certain she’s happy enough so it never crosses her mind.”

“If we both come at her, she’ll run in the opposite direction.”

“Agreed, we have to lull her into a false sense of security and then sneak in under her defenses.”

“She needs to face her fears.”

“That may be more difficult than you can imagine. Her fears run deep and are well deserved.”

“You could use me as an example?”

Julien let go of Miguel’s hair but pressed a quick kiss against his lips so he would know he wasn’t being rejected. “I’m afraid that’s what drove her away in the first place.”

He stayed on his knees in front of Julien and began that maddening stroking with his thumbs. Julien’s cock stood up hard and solid under his kilt. It had been a long time since he’d come close to playing dominance games, and Julien had missed it. “She saw you whipping someone?” Miguel’s thumb stroked up Julien’s leg and brushed his sack. A teasing stroke, testing the waters to see if he would be accepted.