Chapter 44
Chapter Forty-Four
Aurelia
A s Bastien’s question lingers in the air, Lorenzo takes my hand and raises it to his lips.
I meet his eyes with a skip of my pulse that’s not only desire. “Are you okay with this? I never meant to mislead you…”
He draws my chin toward him. As his mouth melds against mine, his voice weaves through my thoughts. “I made my own assumptions. If this is what you want… all I want is to see you happy. There’s no one in the world other than these two I’d trust to look after you.”
When he pulls back, a sly smile crosses his lips. “It’ll be interesting to see how much pleasure we can offer you together.”
“Gods, yes.” Raul guides my head around so he can claim my lips for himself.
His kiss is just as fierce and demanding as I remember, hot enough to make my head spin. I’ve barely caught my breath when a wisp of air tingles across my neck beneath my hair.
My eyes lock with Bastien’s where he’s still standing a couple of paces away in the small room. He doesn’t move, but the breezy current trails down my skirt and wraps around my ankle. It gradually spirals higher, stroking around my bare calf to my knee like the lightest of fingers.
“Loosen her dress,” he says in an even but firm tone that rings with understated authority.
Raul’s grin widens. He follows his older foster brother’s orders without complaint, working at the spots Melisse pinned the slightly over-large dress around my waist and bodice.
Lorenzo presses a kiss to the corner of my jaw and follows suit at my other side. As he fiddles with the fabric, he grazes the back of his knuckles against my breast, stirring more flickers of desire.
This is really happening. I am wanton, inviting three men to indulge in every carnal pleasure we can imagine.
Why should there be anything wrong with that? Why should my husband-to-be get to enjoy every woman who catches his eye while I wait patiently in the wings?
These three men and I understand each other as no other could. We’re pampered pawns, bound to our duties on gilded leashes.
We can take what we need from each other and recognize how much it matters… and how much it can’t.
As the gown slackens around my torso, Bastien steps forward. He teases his fingers along my jaw and kisses me with an intensity that feels more pensive than Raul’s but just as potent.
Then he eases back half a step and flicks his hands upward .
Wind ripples under my skirt. It courses across my legs and lifts the dress with it.
I raise my arms instinctively, and the silk flows over my body as pliant as water. The gown floats up over my head and then drifts down into a puddle of cloth near the doorway.
A heady shiver races over every inch of my skin in the wake of the conjured breeze.
All of these men have seen me naked before, but I feel abruptly shy stripped down to my chemise and drawers. I grip the front of Lorenzo’s shirt and tug, surest of the reaction I’ll get from him. “If clothes are going to be flying, it’d better be more than just mine.”
With a chuckle, he helps me peel off his shirt. Then he dives in for another kiss, wrapping his arms around my waist and hooking his fingers beneath the bottom of my chemise to trace my bare belly.
Raul hums low in his throat. “I like the way you think, Shepherdess.”
He yanks his own shirt up over his head, ruffling his sleek ponytail. When Lorenzo releases me, I can’t resist drinking in the larger man’s uncovered form—all that massive muscular brawn on full display, even more impressive than when it’s hidden beneath his clothes.
I reach toward Raul and glide my fingers across his chest, noting the paler lines that mar his tawny skin where weapons in the arena or perhaps elsewhere pierced his flesh around the sigil of Kosmel slanting over his sternum. He makes a rough sound and lowers his head to nip the shell of my ear.
One of his hands settles on the small of my back, the other cupping my breast. He squeezes the pliant flesh through my chemise and rolls the peak beneath his thumb to shock a gasp out of me.
His husky murmur tickles into my ear. “I’ve wanted to attend to this perfect chest since the moment I saw it. So many possibilities in the right hands…”
He pinches my nipple to set off a spike of bliss. I can’t hold back a whimper, my fingers digging in where I’m gripping his broad shoulder.
At my other side, Lorenzo leans in and nibbles a path down the side of my neck. He massages my other breast and then slides his fingers along the top of my chemise. When I turn my head to seek out another kiss, he drags the thin fabric down over my shoulder.
Our mouths meld together. His hand dips beneath the chemise to fondle my breast skin to skin, and my sigh mingles with his eager groan.
“Nothing has ever felt as good as touching you, Rell. Or as having you touch me.”
With a quiver of pleasure, I tease my fingers over Lorenzo’s scalp through his thick hair and glance toward Bastien. The eldest prince is watching his foster brothers from the same spot right in front of me.
He’s barely touched me except with his gift-driven air currents, but then, we’d barely done anything intimate at all before now.
I reach out tentatively and grasp the front of Bastien’s shirt, with a slight upward tug in question. His pupils dilate. He unfastens the buttons by the collar to open it and hauls it over his head with my assistance.
When he drops the shirt to the floor, he stares back at me with an expression that’s almost defiant. Is he afraid of how I might judge him in comparison to his foster brothers?
It’s true that his shorter, slimmer frame isn’t as overtly impressive as Raul’s or Lorenzo’s. But the compact muscles that line his slender chest and arms look like they were carved out of marble. His pale skin shines in the lantern light, unblemished except for the sigil of Jurnus branded in the middle of his chest and the faint pink scar running over the edge of his ribs, where the cleric and the temple medics removed his lung.
He's absolutely gorgeous in his own way. I’d laugh at anyone who tried to say otherwise.
“Come here.” Curling my fingers around the back of his neck, I pull him to me.
Bastien’s mouth crashes into mine hard and hungry. He angles his head to deepen the kiss, and his tongue flicks between my lips to tangle with my own.
He’s got no lack of confidence in claiming what he wants from a woman once he’s sure of her interest—that’s obvious.
It seems as though he likes to be in charge in all sorts of ways. When our lips part, he casts his gaze toward the men on either side of me. At the glint of promise in his eyes, a fresh wave of heat washes over my skin.
He inclines his head to Lorenzo. “Let’s get her chemise off, Lore. Raul, put that mouth of yours to good use in something other than bragging.”
With no sign of offense, Raul guffaws and helps Lorenzo strip my chest bare. The massive man wastes no time bending down so he can suck the tip of my breast into his mouth.
The first flick of his tongue shocks an embarrassing mewling sound out of me. More bliss pulses through my chest with each rhythmic swipe, sharpening with the graze of his teeth.
I tangle my fingers in his hair, loosening the dark brown strands from his ponytail. “Raul… Don’t stop.”
Not one of us is dedicated to Ardone in all her sensual glory, but I feel as if I owe the godlen of love several prayers of thank you for this divinely ecstatic encounter.
Smiling in approval, Bastien captures my mouth again. His hand travels over my other breast with a swivel of his palm against my nipple to provoke a whimper, then on down my side to my hip and back up again.
Lorenzo fulfills the promise of that downward journey first. He trails kisses along my spine and the lower edge of my shoulder blade before slipping one hand around my thigh to test the aching dampness between my legs.
At the first delicate probe of his fingers against the crotch of my drawers, a moan tumbles out of me. Bastien breathes it in and kisses me harder.
“Fuck,” Raul mutters against my breast.
Lorenzo teases his fingertips up and down over the silky fabric until I’m swaying to draw him closer. With a grin and a kiss to my shoulder, he draws a small, torturous circle around the neediest part of me. “I love feeling you urge me on.”
Raul clicks his tongue at the other prince. “You shouldn’t leave her wanting, Lore.” He tucks his hand beneath the waist of my drawers—and all at once a velvety-soft pressure has formed against my skin all across my pelvis.
He’s caught the shadow there. It undulates against my core and delves between my thighs, stroking every sensitive part of me at once.
The heady sensation leaves me quivering. “Oh, gods…”
Raul keeps his other hand against my back to hold me steady. “Take it in, Princess. Imagine how much I could do for you in a dark room where there’s nothing but shadow to play with. Working over every slope and dip of your body at the same time…”
Bastien’s authoritative voice comes out electrifyingly raw. “You’re not the only one who can get her off. Make sure she’s ready for me. ”
He sinks lower so he can close his mouth over the breast Raul abandoned.
Raul gives a mildly disgruntled sound, but the swath of shadows he’s maneuvering firms. He eases it between my folds, part of it still rubbing against my clit.
I gasp, my grip on his hair tightening. He steals a kiss and rocks his shadowy toy deeper into me. “Oh, she’s ready all right, Bas. Completely drenched for us.”
Bastien tugs my nipple between his teeth to earn himself a gasp of his own and glances up at Lorenzo. “Get those drawers off her.”
As I wriggle out of my last scrap of clothing with Lorenzo’s aid, I trail my free hand down Bastien’s chest again, all the way to the bulge behind his trousers. Touching his rigid length through his pants ignites a deeper flare of need between my legs.
My voice comes out more breathless than husky. “It feels like you’re ready for me too.”
Bastien’s chest hitches, and he yanks at his trousers to unfasten them alongside me. With the rustle of his pants dropping, he spins me around between the other two men so my back is to him.
“Hold on to the chair,” he says in a commanding tone, but his caress down my side to my ass is all tenderness. I’m not sure which turns me on more.
Raul jerks the chair around so I can brace both of my hands on its back. He sinks down beside me, dappling kisses across my hip. His fingers skim my inner thigh, nudging me higher. “Let’s see you spread your legs for him, Princess.”
As I push myself up on the balls of my feet, Bastien strokes his straining cock between my thighs from behind. The pressure of his hardness sliding over my slick folds propels another moan out of me .
Then he pushes inside, and all I can do is clutch on to the chair and pant for mercy.
Bastien grasps my hips, pulling me tight against him as he deepens his thrust. While the feeling of fullness radiates through me, Raul eases up again to return his attention to my breasts.
But his brief stint down below must have inspired Lorenzo. My first lover’s eyes gleam avidly. He sinks to his knees and scoots between me and the chair.
I have no idea what he’s up to before his mouth meets my clit, just above the place where Bastien and I are joined. A sharper cry breaks from my chest alongside the flare of bliss.
Bastien inhales raggedly and bucks into me, his breath searing my shoulder. Each rock of my body propels me into Lorenzo’s eager mouth. I’m being stretched from within and savored from without, and nothing in my existence has ever felt so glorious.
Raul teases his tongue along my earlobe. “You love it, don’t you, Princess? Being locked between them, letting them worship your body every way it needs. They’re going to take you right over the edge, higher than you’ve ever flown before, and I’ll be right here to catch you.”
At his words, the pleasure building in my core spirals through me even faster.
Bastien picks up his rhythm, every slam of his cock into me setting off a surge of delight. “So good. So fucking good. Come for me, Aurelia. I want to feel that precious cunt clamping around my?—”
Lorenzo flicks the edges of his teeth across my clit, and I careen over the edge.
Stars spark behind my eyes. I shake and cling to the chair, swept up in a rolling wave of pleasure .
Bastien groans, his hips stuttering against mine. With a hissed curse, he spills himself inside me.
While my legs are still trembling, he eases me around and combs his fingers into my hair. His mouth seeks out mine to offer the sweetest of kisses.
After, he stays close enough that our noses touch. “You’re incredible, Aurelia. You deserve to be treated like it every fucking day for the rest of your life.”
A pang peals through my chest. “ You’re incredible. All of you.”
Before the ache of the knowledge that I won’t be worshipped like this for all time—or probably ever again—can take hold, Raul draws me toward him. “We’re not even done yet. I can offer you even more.” His lips curl into a smirk. “But I’ve got a lot to handle, so I think I’ll let you set the pace.”
He guides me the few steps over to the settee, kicking aside his pants and drawers as we go.
He wasn’t lying about having a lot to handle. When he sprawls out on the cushions, his thick erection juts into the air, as intimidating as the rest of him.
As Melisse suggested, nothing bulges beneath his cock other than a couple of slight protrusions that must be all that’s left of his balls. But the absence only makes his member look even larger.
Raul guides me up to straddle him and slicks his thumb between my legs. “Gods be damned sure you’re ready now. Fuck, you’re so wet. Bastien used you well, didn’t he?”
Something about his phrasing stings even though it could be said I’m using them too. Then Raul pushes the head of his cock up into me while massaging my clit, and the blissful burn sweeps every other thought from my mind.
The other princes have followed us to stand beside the settee. As I ease down over Raul, Lorenzo strokes my face and kisses my forehead encouragingly. Bastien teases caresses up and down my sides and over my breasts.
Raul exhales in a rush and lifts his hips to fit us together more closely. One hand keeps strumming the sensitive spot above my entrance, but the other closes over one of the hands I’ve braced against his brawny chest.
“You can take it all, can’t you?” he murmurs. “I knew it from the moment you threw my words in my face and refused to back down. Never needed a woman like I need you. That’s right. Show me that wildness.”
An embarrassingly desperate sound quavers up my throat. I’ve lost my capacity for actual words. Even after my orgasm, he’s a tight fit, but with every fraction he slides deeper, my body craves more.
And not just of him. Where Lorenzo’s standing, I can’t ignore his neglected erection straining against his pants.
The memory of his lips working me over while Bastien pounded into me makes me shiver giddily. My mouth waters with the urge to return the favor.
Clutching Raul’s fingers, I lift my other hand to tug at Lorenzo’s pants. My appeal stumbles over my tongue. “You too.”
The rough noise that escapes him tells me he’s caught my meaning. As Raul rocks up into me, Lorenzo sheds his pants.
The moment he’s freed his stiffened cock, I tilt forward to lap my tongue over the tip. The salty flavor laces my mouth, turned delicious by Lorenzo’s urgent groan.
He steps closer, and I take him all the way into my mouth as I slide the last inch down onto Raul. The man beneath me gives a ragged laugh. “You’re a fucking marvel. Ride me as hard as you like, Princess.”
I rock up and down over him—at first only a little as I find my rhythm, then rising up and dropping down more emphatically once I’ve steadied myself. With each pulse of Raul’s cock inside me, I bob back and forth over Lorenzo’s, swirling my tongue around his length, sucking on the head to hear his fragmenting breaths.
Raul slides his hand farther back to give my ass a light slap that sparks a strange mix of prickling pain and sparkling pleasure. He traces the cleft between my cheeks. "Someday, I’d like to see you take two of us this way. Maybe even all three. But we’re not prepared for that yet.”
The thought of what he might mean makes my face heat—and my sex dampen with even more arousal. The throbbing need for release is swelling inside me again even though I just climaxed a few minutes ago.
I chase the high, bucking harder over Raul until his breaths grow shaky too, sucking down Lorenzo’s cock as deep as I can without choking.
Lorenzo clutches my hair, his hips jerking to meet my mouth. Even his illusionary voice has gone raw. “You feel amazing, Rell. I don’t think I can— I’m going to come.”
He moves as if to retreat, but I clamp my lips around him emphatically.
That’s all it takes. The salty spurt of his release fills my mouth.
His frenzied mix of praise and curses stokes the flames inside me. As he eases back, I lean over Raul.
The massive prince pushes himself up on one elbow to meet me. Clamping his hand around my hip, he propels us together again and again with even more force. Our mouths crash together in a frantic kiss.
With one more flick of his thumb, my second orgasm sweeps through me, bowling me over with its force. I’m sagging into Raul and soaring away all at once .
He hisses through his clenched teeth through a few more thrusts that propel me even farther into ecstasy. I’m vaguely aware of the flood of heat inside me.
Our colliding bodies slow into a gentle rocking and then a slumped embrace. The other princes sink down next to us, Lorenzo tipping forward to claim a kiss.
Bastien rests his hand against my back. His smile has gone uncharacteristically dreamy. “You really are something, Aurelia. Was that everything you were wanting?”
I can’t hold back a dazed giggle. “Very much so. I wish?—”
I catch myself, an uneasy tremor penetrating the afterglow that’s clouded my head. Some things will only be more painful if said aloud.
Perhaps the three princes understand me in that too. Raul tightens his embrace. Lorenzo’s mouth twists.
And Bastien’s eyes shimmer with unspoken emotion. “So do I.”
I close my own eyes against a much less welcome sort of burn. The rest of what he said echoes through my head.
I certainly intend to really be something. And that means I can’t forget why I came here.