Chapter 29
Twenty-Nine
Ivy
Ithought being enveloped between two stunning men in the meeting room was a thrilling experience. Finding myself pinned between them in the steamy water of the bathtub, our naked skin softened by Casimir’s oils, is so overwhelming I might be drowning in delight.
It’d certainly be an incredible way to go.
With every brush of their hands over my body and every collision of our lips, the anguish of the past day melts away. I tug Alek even closer, arch back into Casimir’s caresses, longing to lose myself in the pleasure of this moment as deeply as I can.
So much of my life right now is out of my control. It’s barely mine at all.
But this—the unexpected connection I’ve found with these two men that I can hardly believe is real—is all mine. I want to own it, revel in it.
I shift around to reclaim Casimir’s mouth, and he strokes his hand over my bare breast. As I gasp into the kiss, Alek slides a tentative but no less eager hand down my side to my hip.
My head is spinning with the heat of the water and their bodies, with the sensations flooding me from both sides. Julita drew back into the farthest depths of my skull sometime after we got into the bath—I can barely sense her presence.
But through the blissful haze, a thread of uneasiness wriggles into my awareness. The memories of Benedikt’s face revealed beneath the shroud, of his smirk when he raised his bow to shoot at me, linger on.
If even he would betray us…
I hesitate, and Casimir notices my reaction immediately. He eases back to catch my gaze. Alek goes still at my other side.
I sink back down onto the ledge so I can look at both of them.
My hands instinctively reach for theirs.
“You know you never have to worry about where my loyalties lie, don’t you?
I still think the scourge sorcerers are maniacs and criminals.
I have no interest at all in buying into their mad philosophy, no matter what I’ve done to convince them. ”
Casimir chuckles and trails his free hand down the side of my face. “Of course. I never even considered it.”
Alek is frowning. “Have we done or said anything to make you think we don’t trust you?”
A lump rises in my throat. “No. Nothing like that. I just— You knew Benedikt for longer than you’ve known me, and he startled all of us. I figured I should make my position clear.”
Alek’s fingers tighten where they’ve intertwined with mine. “I’ve never worried either. You of all people would be able to recognize harmful magic when you see it.”
Casimir dips his head to kiss the peak of my shoulder. “And every time you’ve talked about their initiation rituals, it’s been obvious how uncomfortable you were with them. I hate that you’ve had to go back to them at all—I know you’d rather never deal with the conspiracy again.”
The fleeting panic that gripped me unwinds from my gut. I relax into their combined embrace again, but the doubtful part of me—the part that’s having trouble understanding how a street-rat thief won a brilliant scholar’s and a noble courtesan’s devotion—insists on one final clarification.
I glance at one and then the other. “And you’re really okay with what we’re doing here? With me being with both of you? I never would have expected—I wouldn’t have asked—”
“I think we both know that too,” Casimir murmurs, releasing my hand to tuck his arm around me. “I’m not the jealous type, Kindness. The happier you are, the happier I’ll be too.”
Alek’s smile twists. “I never thought I’d be able to have anything like this at all. I know you caring about Casimir doesn’t take anything away from whatever we’ll have together.”
He pauses, his gaze sliding to the other man with a hint of shyness. “And maybe Casimir will help me ensure I’m making you as ‘happy’ as I possibly can, since I can’t say I know what I’m doing in that area all that well.”
Casimir beams at him. “I can always offer advice. We should look at this as a collaboration, just like our investigations. We each bring our own approach and talents to the task at hand, and we’re better for combining them.”
I narrow my eyes. “Now you’re making it sound like work.”
The courtesan laughs and tugs me close against him. His voice drops to a murmur by my ear. “I can assure you what we’re doing here is nothing but a pleasure. And I’m looking forward to seeing how much pleasure we can bring you.”
He nibbles a path down my neck while teasing his fingers along my inner thigh. Alek leans in for another kiss, and just like that, I’m lost again.
I want them to feel good too. I want them to know just how much I cherish the affection they’re offering me. How much I cherish them and everything they’ve brought into my life.
I stroke my hand over Alek’s toned chest and across his stomach. He hums approvingly against my mouth.
My ass has settled into Casimir’s lap—against the rigid length of him that tells me how much he’s already enjoying this interlude. Shifting my weight, I rock against him in what I hope is a provocative motion.
It must work, because Casimir’s breath hitches. He groans, and his hand slips up my thigh to cup the most sensitive part of me.
At the bolt of pleasure that races up from my core, I can’t restrain a whimper. Alek lets out a hungry sound and kisses me harder, massaging my breast.
I trace my fingers over the lean muscles of his abdomen until they graze the jutting length of his cock. When I wrap my hand around it, he bucks into my grasp with a groan of his own.
Casimir swivels his thumb over my clit and delves his forefinger inside me. The pressure sends bliss pulsing through my nerves.
As my head tips back with a gasp, he nips my shoulder and starts to adjust our position. “There’s one talent I’d like to bring to bear that I haven’t gotten a chance to yet. And this is the perfect place for it…”
He lifts me out of the water, Alek adding his arms to the task when he realizes what the courtesan is up to. Together, they set me on the smooth, wide edge of the tub.
Casimir motions to the scholar with a tip of his head. “You should get out too—I’d love to know someone’s keeping her satisfied up above while I see what magic I can conjure down here.”
He winks at me with an impish grin—and nudges my knees apart so he can lower his head between my legs.
At the first press of his mouth against my sex, the jolt of pleasure shocks a mumbled curse from my mouth. “Fuck.”
I’ve heard women talk about this act, even seen it performed once, but none of my previous, momentary lovers were attentive enough to try it.
Gods above, I never imagined it could feel so good.
Casimir laps his tongue across every sensitive bit with exquisite care, as if he’s charting my most private domain with his mouth. Each flick and swipe sparks even more of the heady delight now flooding my body.
I moan and clutch at Alek, who’s followed Casimir’s suggestion to clamber out next to me.
The scholar embraces me from behind, branding my neck and shoulders with heated kisses, caressing both of my breasts with his agile hands, tweaking my nipples to set off sparks through my flesh.
His breath has gone ragged as if he’s as affected by the sight of Casimir’s attentions as I am by receiving them.
The courtesan curves his tongue between my folds. Then he sucks on my clit with just the right force to make me shudder with need. My fingers dig into Alek’s arm.
A strained noise escapes the scholar, and then he’s scooting back around me. “Can I— I’d like to do that for her too.”
Casimir grins up at us with a lick of his lips. “It’d be selfish of me to keep this treasure all to myself.”
As Alek sinks into the water, Casimir eases onto the side of the pool next to me. A pang resonates through my body at the loss of contact, but Alek wastes no time taking the courtesan’s former position.
He considers me with his intense gaze. His bright brown eyes have never felt more penetrating. As he runs his thumb over my clit, they light up with an enthusiasm that might be academic as well as passionate.
“I’ve read about techniques,” he says, lifting his gaze to Casimir. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if you know better than any account I’ve happened across in the library.”
Casimir’s smile only grows. “Take your time. Enjoy every part of her, and she’ll enjoy it too. Put your whole head into it, build up the pressure and a rhythm. And follow her encouragement.”
He nuzzles my cheek. “Why don’t you set one of those clever hands on Alek’s head? Give his hair a tug to show him when he’s doing particularly well.”
I reach out to tangle my fingers in Alex’s thick locks. Casimir helps me keep my balance, looping his arm around my waist to stroke my belly and palming one of my breasts with his other hand.
The first few swipes of Alek’s tongue are tentative, but in my sensitized state they’re giddying all on their own.
I urge him toward me, and he captures my sex in the most thrilling sort of kiss.
The coarse texture of his scarred cheek rubs against my inner thigh with unexpectedly delicious friction.
As he works me over, gaining confidence with every gasp and whimper he provokes, he glides his hands against my thighs. Somehow that touch amplifies the pleasure of his mouth beyond anything I was feeling before.
“Very good,” Casimir murmurs, tweaking my nipple between his fingers in time with the rocking of Alek’s head. When his fondling stirs another moan from my chest, he brings his skillful mouth to the crook of my jaw as if in reward.
At my tugging of his hair, Alek exhales roughly across my sex. He delves in deeper, picking up the pace of the movements of his tongue.
There’s no doubting his devotion to the task now. He devours me as if he’s intent on conjuring every bit of pleasure he can from my body, and all I can do is arch into his mouth.
The bliss that’s been building inside me swells higher, tingling through every limb.