The Reluctant Dom (34 page)

“See you two in the morning,” he said with a smile, winking at Seth.

Leah snuggled tightly against Seth's side. “Well?”

“Well what?”

Her hand settled in his lap. “What now?”

He kissed her, slowly brushing his lips across hers. “We've done things your way. Tonight, we do them mine.”

Seth wouldn't let her rush him. He took his time teasing her, tasting her, gently flicking his tongue against hers.

She tried to squirm against him and he held her tightly until she relaxed against him. Eventually he pulled her across his lap, curled in his arms, still kissing her.

“I love you, babe,” he whispered against her throat as he slowly worked his lips south. “I love you so much.”

Her fingers tangled in his hair. “I love you, too.”

He made her look at him. “I'll let you keep your collar on tonight but it's just you and me and no protocols or titles or anything. Okay?”

“Okay,” she softly agreed.

He stood, carrying her to his bedroom. He used his foot to push the door closed behind them and then gently laid her on his bed. If he was supposed to enjoy this night guilt-free, he would take full advantage of it in a way he usually didn't push for.

Seth took his time, carefully exploring her body with his lips and hands, forcing reality out of his brain. He could pretend she was his without a looming cloud of grief to taint his emotions.

He made love to her, taking his time, the way he always wished he could. Gently, tenderly, easing her through two climaxes before he finally entered her and slowly stroked.

“Look at me, babe,” he whispered.

She opened her eyes.

“I love you.”

She smiled. “I love you, too.”

He felt his release build. “There will be a lot of nights I need this and not the other stuff,” he said.

She nodded. “I know.”

“I'm going to have to be enough for you.”

“You are.”

“I promise I'll take care of you and love you, babe. Forever.” He grabbed her hips, thrusting.

“I know.” He leaned forward and her hands slid down his hips, around his ass, her fingers brushing against his balls.

“I'll do nearly anything you need done but I've got to be enough for you.”

Her nails gently raked against his sac, sending a pleasant shiver through him. “You are. Now shut up and fuck me good, baby,” she whispered in his ear.

That finished him. He cried out when he came. Leah wrapped her arms and legs around him, tightly holding him. When he caught his breath he rolled them over, still inside her, Leah on top.

He thought she'd fallen asleep when she spoke. “What do I have to do to convince you?”

“What?”

She lifted her head. “You and him and no one else. Ever. You guys are like twins.”

Seth snorted. “Not even fucking close.”

She nodded. “Yes, you are. Maybe you don't see it, but I do.” She laid her palm along his cheek. “I want you to believe me.”

It was still hard for him to believe she wanted him in the first place, not when she had Kaden. If Kaden wasn't enough for her, how the hell was he supposed to do it all?

He kissed her palm and rolled to his side with her still nestled in his arms. “Let's go to sleep, babe.”

It felt so good, so right holding her. Good enough to keep the mental heartbeat away that night.

* * * *

They still went to the club on occasion. Seth preferred not going alone with Leah, even though he would if Kaden asked it of him. Seth realized he didn't enjoy the public sessions as much as he did their private ones.

“Why is that?” Kaden asked one morning when they were discussing it out of Leah's earshot in the den.

Seth shrugged. “I don't know. I guess I feel self-conscious for one thing. And I don't like her being naked.” With things open between the three of them, it was fun incorporating sex into their private play.

Hottest sex of his life.

Kaden leaned back in his chair. “You need to find what works for you. She'll understand. What she gets from a scene is different than what you get from a scene. You can tailor things to work for you and for her. You can save the more intense stuff for at home.”

“She won't mind?”

“No,” Kaden said. “I mean...” He laughed. “Between you and me, I don't like her being naked either. She saw it once with someone else, asked if we could do it.” He took his glasses off and looked at Seth. “
That
one took me a while to get used to.”

“I bet.”

“I mean, I don't mind her being naked with you, obviously. That's different.”

* * * *

Later that afternoon, Seth ran out to the grocery store and left Leah at home with Kaden. Seth tried to limit Kaden's exposure to crowds as much as possible. He didn't want him getting a cold or something that, with his already compromised immune system, could put him at risk for worse problems than he already had.

No sense in speeding up the inevitable if they could avoid it.

When he returned over an hour later, they were on the couch, Leah naked and straddling Kaden's lap. While Seth didn't look over the back of the couch, he guessed what was going on.

“Whoa, sorry guys. Didn't mean to interrupt,” Seth joked on his way to the kitchen.

Kaden laughed. “You're not. Why don't you hurry up and get that stuff put up and come join us?”

“Don't have to ask me twice.”

The irony struck him that now, the better part of a year since this crazy mess started, he didn't have to be asked twice.

He put the cold stuff away and walked out to the living room. Seth suspected it was a bad day for his friend, easier on Kaden to sit up, less uncomfortable than lying down. Not that Seth would say anything about it and spoil the mood.

Leah rested her head on Kade's shoulder, her eyes closed, her hips moving in a slow, seductive grind against his lap.

Seth detoured to the bedroom and grabbed the bottle of lube. He'd finally popped his cherry, so to speak, in that department. Now that he knew it wouldn't hurt her, he had no qualms about taking her from behind.

And she sure loved it.

He stepped behind her and stripped, dropping his clothes to the floor. He'd started going commando because it was easier logistically considering how often Leah jumped him or vice versa.

Seth stroked her back, drawing a soft, pleasant moan from her. He kissed the nape of her neck. “I think I know what you want, don't I, baby?”

“Mmm hmm.”

She stopped moving as he lubed her and himself, then carefully nudged his cock against her puckered ring. Kade reached around her and gently spread her cheeks.

“Tell me what you want, babe,” Seth said, grabbing her hips.

“I want Master and Sir to fuck my brains out.”

Both men groaned. Seth slowly slid home.

Kaden pushed her up. Seth wrapped his arms around her and played with her nipples while Kaden stroked her clit.

“Are you going to come for us, love?” Kaden asked.

Her head lolled against Seth's shoulder. “Yesssss,” she sighed.

This was one thing Seth knew he would miss ... after. Leah loved having them both together. He still couldn't claim to understand how Kaden felt compersion, but as the odd man out, Seth no longer questioned it. He couldn't honestly say if their positions were reversed that he could be so magnanimous.

He also knew damn well that ... after, there would be no more sharing.

Seth cupped her breasts in his palms, tweaking her pebbled nipples between his fingers. He gently nipped her neck and she shivered. “Don't be stubborn,” he coaxed. “Give it to us, baby.”

Her body responded to their touch, tensing, her muscles throbbing around them as their combined efforts drove her toward release. She reached behind her with one arm and slipped it around Seth's waist. With her other, she grabbed Kaden's free hand. She cried out and both men felt her muscles clenching around them as her orgasm hit.

When they knew she'd finished, Seth lowered her into Kaden's arms and thrust inside her as Kaden drove into her from underneath. It didn't take them long to finish. As Seth's release took him he braced himself on the back of the sofa so he didn't fall on them.

Breathing heavy, he kissed her shoulder and carefully withdrew. “You okay?”

She nodded against Kaden's shoulder, her eyes closed and forehead damp with sweat.

Seth went to clean up and brought her back a wet washcloth. Then he sat next to them on the couch and Leah shifted position so she was curled up with both of them. Something else he'd miss, the quiet cuddling together after they were all spent. Something he'd never felt before this all happened.

Something he'd never felt with his exes, or anyone else for that matter, except for that one time years ago, together with Kaden and that girl...

Seth closed his eyes. Occasionally he'd lie in bed in the mornings when he woke up and pray he'd open his eyes and find himself in his bed in his brother's house, the past several months a strangely twisted dream.

That wasn't happening.

How could it have taken so long to find this peace? And now that it was within his grasp it was also slipping away, day by day, before his very eyes.

* * * *

Two weeks later, Kaden surprised them. “We're going to Disney!” he announced.

Seth looked up from the morning paper. “What?”

“I made the reservations. It's been years since I've been. I want to go.”

Seth hoped the “we” meant Kaden and Leah. He was definitely not in a Mickey Mouse mood. “I'm sure you'll have a blast.”

Kaden laughed. “Oh, no you don't. You're going with us.”

Crap.
He should have known he wouldn't get off that easily.

Like most residents of places where there's some sort of major attraction, Seth rarely ventured to Orlando. When he did, it wasn't to visit Rat World. But three days later, Seth was loading up the trunk of Leah's Lexus with their bags. When the three of them were together, she rode in the backseat and let the men ride up front. Seth always volunteered to drive now, mostly because he saw Kaden's increasing discomfort, even though it wasn't all the time. If a spell hit him in the car, it was easier for him to hide it from Leah when he wasn't driving.

Seth suspected there were things she actively chose to overlook. If it helped her cope, he was fine with that.

When they spotted the large, mouse ear-shaped electrical pole next to I-4, Kaden guided Seth to the right exit. They'd stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, visiting that park first over three days. Then he planned two days at the Magic Kingdom, followed by three at Epcot.

He'd gone whole hog, in typical Kaden fashion. A suite with a king-sized bed—answering Seth's question about sleeping arrangements—with a Savanna view. They could look out their windows and see the animals.

There was also the “safari” trip package, where a private guide drove them in a vehicle out onto the grounds to see the animals close up and personal in a way most park guests usually didn't.

Leah was in heaven. Kaden indulged her, spending as much time shopping for souvenirs as they did touring the parks. No photo op went wasted, either. Leah made sure Seth was in most of them, the park employees always helpful and offering to take pictures. She also took quite a few of her two men together.

While they did make love a few times, most nights they were too tired to do anything but curl up in the luxurious bed with Leah happily nestled between them. Seth worried Kaden was wearing himself out but Seth wouldn't put the kibosh on their activities. All he could do was slow his own pace, forcing Leah and Kaden to take it a little easier.

Seth wasn't sure on the first day how to handle being together with them in public. This wasn't the club, where he discovered poly relationships weren't even a blip on the oddity scale. You had to be a true freak, like having three testicles or six nipples, to raise those sometimes heavily pierced eyebrows.

When he tried to trail behind and look like he wasn't part of a “couple,” Leah would grab his hand and force him to stay by her side while she walked hand-in-hand with Kaden.

At first, Seth imagined every eye was on them. After a few hours he realized it was all in his head. Families were too busy keeping track of squealing children. Couples were too busy looking at the attractions or each other.

As they stood in the queue for the Kilimanjaro Safaris ride later that afternoon, Kaden leaned in to Seth. “Relax and have fun. Enjoy being here with her.”

Leah hadn't heard, too busy taking pictures of everything around them.

“Easy for you to say, dude.”

“We're strangers here, buddy. Who gives a shit what the hell they think?”

It finally slammed home for Seth that this was yet another of Kaden's carefully executed plans.

“You didn't just want to come to Disney, did you?”

He shrugged, but from Kaden's sly smile, Seth knew his suspicion was on the mark. “She should have a chance to be happy with us and not worry about being self-conscious. It's a small world, after all, and we kind of just blend in here.”

Seth groaned at the bad pun. “Aw,
fuck
me, dude.”

Kaden laughed. “Still not doing you.”

Seth loosened up. Leah especially enjoyed being able to dote on both her men. Kaden responded to her joy. And Seth enjoyed seeing them happy.

What was supposed to be their last morning there, Kaden left the room for a little while and returned with a satisfied smile.

“What did you do?” Seth asked.

“Got us three more days,” he replied.

Leah squealed with delight.

Seth pretended to groan. Inwardly, he smiled. If it made Leah happy, he'd gladly do it.

It certainly seemed to make Kaden happy. Seth had to admit it was nice not giving a flying fuck what anyone thought of the three of them going somewhere together.

They walked the parks hand-in-hand, Leah between them. This was the most relaxed she'd been in months. Their entire time there, they'd only engaged in a little playful spanking one night before making love to her.

She'd really needed this.

Seth would never deny her a chance to have these memories, or this time to decompress. God knew they had some damn dark times ahead of them.