Chapter 1 #3
“When I first joined Bay Rebels, the team and I would play games for rewards like beer or the chance to choose the locker room music.”
Shay lets go of my hand, bouncing up and down with enthusiasm. “Beer sounds good. Can we throw in kisses? Cock rings?”
“Books,” Eden suggests. His gaze slides to me. “Breakfast in bed. Cups of tea. Cats.”
“Naked butlers.” All three of them look at me. My cheeks tint. “You’d be the naked butlers.”
“I’ll call the game…” D’Angelo tilts his head, considering. He deliberately ignores our suggestions. He places down his own cards on the forest floor and slides out a spare pack of cards from underneath the heap of clothes, “the deck of pucking.”
Classy.
D’Angelo fans out the cards with the skill of either an amateur street magician or someone who really has spent too long in cocktail bars.
“If we win a game, then the highest scorer gets to pick a card by chance from the pack. Each suit means a different reward.” He flips an ace of hearts, and it hits Shay on the nose.
“Roleplay.” An ace of diamonds. “Fantasy list.” Ace of clubs.
“Toy from our play chest.” Ace of spades. “A mystery reward that I’ll make up.”
Shay rubs his nose. “Why does the mystery one scare me?”
D’Angelo gives a devilish smile that makes me shiver.
“Because you know me, cucciolo. This season is at a tipping point. We have the best chance of our lives to head to the playoffs, if we can just win the next couple of games. Now, can we concentrate? I almost have my two favorite pets naked and at my mercy in the middle of the woods.”
Shay sucks in a sharp breath next to me.
“Fold.” Eden throws down his cards.
He kicks off one of his boots into the middle of the circle.
He sits back on his hands, appearing far more interested in simply watching how this will play out.
“Why don’t you fold as well?” D’Angelo taunts.
I narrow my eyes. “Not a chance. Those diamond cufflinks are mine.”
Shay is glancing nervously at D’Angelo’s shark smile now. But he’s not conning me. Shay loves being the prey.
He set himself up to lose.
“Are you sure?” D’Angelo tightens his tie. “You’re about to lose…” His gaze scans down the line of my curves to my white, lacy panties. “…everything.”
“What have you got?” I turn to Shay.
Shay hesitates, before sheepishly tossing down his cards. “Nothing.”
He doesn’t even pretend to be sad about his loss as he rips off his socks and hurls them onto the floor because being naked out here in the open to him is winning.
His enthusiasm infects me.
I challengingly raise my eyebrow at D’Angelo, before placing my cards onto the log with a flourish. “Pair of aces.”
D’Angelo stares at the cards just long enough for me to think that I’ve beaten him.
Then a beat too long.
Uh-oh.
“That’s an excellent hand.” He sighs. “Or it would be if I didn’t have a royal flush.”
My eyes widen, as D’Angelo slams down each card with the precision of an assassin’s gunshot.
Asshole.
“Strip.” D’Angelo’s eyes glitter with dominance.
Shay bounds to his feet eagerly, pulling me with him.
Then he whispers mischievously into my ear, “Follow my lead, love. They only win this, if they catch us.”
He drops to his knees, lifting my foot and pulling off my sock by agonizingly slow degrees.
He kisses the arch of my foot and up to my ankle.
My skin tingles. Heat floods through me.
When Shay looks up at me through his butterfly lashes, my core throbs. I remember the phantom feel of his tongue, which licks down my pussy, teasing my clit to a mind-blowing orgasm almost every morning.
By his knowing look, he knows what I’m thinking about.
By the way that his cock twitches, he’s thinking about it too.
Shay leans forward and then tormentingly by degrees, pulls down my panties with his teeth.
I struggle to stand still, clenching and unclenching my hands at my sides.
Shay’s golden hair tumbles over his eyes. But he’s as focused on his job as he is when he’s scoring a goal.
It’s overwhelming.
I look over Shay’s head and meet his twin’s gaze.
Eden is intently watching every flicker of my expressions, as if he is trying to memorize them.
Finally, Shay eases off my panties, and I step out of them. I pet his hair in thanks. He leans into my touch.
“Good boy,” I murmur.
And he fucking melts.
Shay leans against my bare thigh, curling an arm around me with his eyes shut like kneeling at my feet is his favorite place in the world. His breaths are slow and steady. His plush lips press one final kiss to my thigh.
But then, his eyes snap open, and when he looks up at me, I just know that he’s going to say something reckless. “Run.”
He scrambles to his feet and snatches me by the hand. Then he turns and pulls me on a naked streak through the forest.
“Shay Prince,” D’Angelo roars, as if his full name has some sort of power over him.
It doesn’t.
Behind me, I hear Eden dragging on his shoe and stalking to his feet.
My heartbeat spikes.
I grimace, as sharp twigs dig into my bare soles. “Ow, ow, ow.”
“Come and get us, grumpy wolf,” Shay calls over his shoulder, almost slamming straight into a tree.
“Brat,” D’Angelo growls.
“Beast.”
“Beauty.”
Despite myself, I laugh. The sound echoes through the quiet wood.
I feel free but safe.
I’m stumbling, hopping, crashing into Shay.
Unexpectedly, strong arms grab me around the waist, hauling me away from Shay. I let out an exhilarated shriek, as I am lifted into a bridal carry by Eden.
How did he follow us so silently?
He holds me close to his chest, carrying me resolutely down a narrow path between the undergrowth.
Wait, did D’Angelo and Eden plan this between them?
I struggle, glancing over my shoulder.
D’Angelo has caught his prey.
He has pinned Shay against a tree and is holding his hands above his head, forcing the smaller man onto his tiptoes. He is kissing him hard enough to be a punishment, but I know that it will only be a reward for Shay.
Finally, D’Angelo pulls back and throws Shay over his shoulder like he isn’t a six feet tall athletic hockey player, briskly slapping his hip. “Remarkable that you wouldn’t have realized that someone with bare feet in the middle of a forest could never outrun someone who is wearing shoes.”
“Bastard,” Shay says, affectionately. “Ehm, we’re going the wrong way if you’re intending to ravish your captured prisoners in the backseat of your car.”
“Are we?” D’Angelo strolls to join Eden, following him down the path.
I cuddle closer to Eden, enjoying his warmth. But then, I stiffen in shock.
The trees are thinning.
I squeak in embarrassment, blushing all over, as we break the tree line and walk straight out into the back garden of someone’s mansion.
I stare at it in shock.
Not just someone.
This is the governor’s mansion.