7. Eden
Eden
You won’t actually pass out from embarrassment.
It’s not a good defense mechanism.
I tremble, looking at my feet. Their gazes sear me, and I swallow, trying not to let my panic grow. I cannot, will not, have sex with that man. A dark stain on my new shirt catches my eye, and I examine it. Not paint, I realize. Grease . His shirt had engine grease on it.
A hand grasps mine, gently twining our fingers. Lucky tugs me toward him into a loose hug. My head barely tops his shoulders. He rests his chin on the top of my head, and his chest rumbles with a nervous laugh. “ You know, that went better than I thought it would.”
Just like that, the wary tension in the room eases.
Jasper gives a wry laugh. “ Would you like a drink, Eden ?”
Dom sits back down across the room, flipping open his book—somehow managing to do all that without once looking my way, as though he hadn’t just been holding me up.
Beau slumps on the couch, right by where Lucky and I are standing.
“ Better than you thought it would? What did you think was going to happen?” he asks incredulously. “ Another whiskey, Jaz ? Make it a double.”
“ I want a double monkey master mix! Get us two!” Lucky calls to Jasper .
The light catches on Jasper as he looks down on us from the raised bar, making a halo of his dark hair and turning the angles of his elegant face wicked.
To my surprise, Lucky stills entirely under the stare—it’s the first time he’s stopped moving since I met him, I’m sure of it. I twist to take in his expression, but he blinks and then shoots me a grin, as though he hadn’t just drawn taut as a bowstring.
With an easier smile, Lucky waves off Beau’s question and addresses me, “ Aw , Jayky’s okay, he just gets nervous around pretty girls. Trust me, he’s more scared of you than you are of him. Deep down he’s a real sweetie.”
“ He pawed at her,” Jasper cuts in smoothly. “ It’s inexcusable.”
Lucky sucks in his lower lip, considering that. “ Deep , deep down.”
Jasper gives him a disparaging look, but I think I detect a hint of humor in the too-determined press of his lips. He pours the whiskey and his own glass of red wine with exacting precision. “ I don’t know how to make your ridiculous drink, Lucien . You need to make it yourself.”
Lucky huffs and releases me.
“ You’ll see that I do all the important jobs around here.” That earns a reluctant smile from me, and Lucky joins Jasper up at the bar. “ And he was always going to paw at her; he’s an animal. It’s all those primal instincts—pheromones, you know.”
I shift. “ Would he have...?”
“ No ,” Dominic says, finally looking up from his book.
“ Jaykob might be rough, but he wouldn’t hurt a woman without a damn good reason.
We wouldn’t keep him around otherwise. He wouldn’t have touched you if we hadn’t already told him you’d agreed to this.
But he is rough. He likes it that way. He is that way.
” He grimaces. “ If I had to guess, that was a test.”
I cross my arms, realizing with relief that the movement covers my breasts. The silk shirt truly hides almost nothing. “ A test I failed, I take it?”
He gives me a blank look. “ Did he hurt you?” When I stay silent, he shrugs, turning back to his book. “ Not really that different to what Beau did at the lake then, is it?”
Beau scowls at his friend, and my back stiffens.
“ That was not even close to the same thing,” I mutter.
When Dominic looks up again, I try not to squirm. He reminds me of a medieval king. There is something so forbidding, so rough with power about him, that I feel the urge to kneel and ask for mercy whenever he directs the full weight of his attention to me. His presence is a physical thing.
He studies my face. I know Beau is looking at me too, but I can’t bring myself to meet his eyes. I’ve been in the wild long enough to know to keep my eyes on the biggest predator in the room, especially when he seems about to pounce.
Dominic’s lips purse in a considering way and he shuts the book with unnerving finality. “ You liked the way Beau touched you?”
His golden gaze traps mine and won’t let go. Mortification spreads through me.
“ Answer me, little librarian. This is just the beginning of the inquisition.”
An inquisition. Oh , yes. I could just imagine him now, giving direction from his throne.
Demanding cuffs and chains and exquisitely painful torture devices.
Watching with those heavy-lidded eyes as his inquisitor spreads me open, bare and naked for the king.
The two of them working me over until I scream and expose my every secret.
Expose every part of myself and... and. ..
My breaths start coming in shallow pants I try to hide but know he doesn’t miss.
Lucky gives a low laugh from the bar. Jasper makes his way back down and hands off a whiskey each to Beau and Dominic , then takes a seat beside the king.
Jasper would make a good inquisitor , I think before I can control my ridiculous fantasy.
Dominic is still waiting on a response, but embarrassment makes me snarky. “ I’m here, aren’t I ?”
A golden-tanned hand catches the bottom of my silk shirt and tugs.
After a moment of hesitation, I let Beau pull me down.
At the last moment, he directs me to his lap, rather than the seat beside him, and I shoot him an indignant look.
He smiles lazily and picks his drink back up from the side table.
His other hand remains wrapped around the hem of the shirt, his fingers stroking absently over my inner thigh.
I become very, very conscious that I’m wearing nothing under the dress shirt.
Lucky comes down from the bar, two large, bright orange cocktails in his hands.
“ C’mon , Dom , you saw it. She practically mounted him on the bank.
” He offers me one of the frothy concoctions.
When I hesitate, eyeing the obnoxious color dubiously, he says, “ You should take it, sweetheart. The boss man will want to cover the bases, and I’m thinking you might need some good ol’-fashioned liquid courage.
Double monkey master mix’ll sort you out. ”
I dart a look at Dom and take the drink.
Lucky settles himself back in front of his game, only partially turned our way.
His own drink is precariously balanced on a raised coaster beside him.
With his long dark-blond hair escaping down his back, I can’t decide if he looks ludicrous or completely right.
After a moment of strained silence, Lucky laughs and adds more quietly, “ He’ll cover all the bases with you. First , second...”
Beau throws a pillow at him.
Looking for any distraction, I take a sip of my drink and immediately wrinkle my nose. It’s cloyingly sweet, almost a syrup, and obviously devastatingly alcoholic. I’m running on an empty stomach too, but I don’t want to seem as though I’m complaining. I’ll just go easy on the booze.
“ How many men have you slept with?” Dominic asks bluntly, drawing my attention from the frosty glass.
“ Is this really necessary?” I reply, a prim press to my lips.
To my surprise, Jasper answers from where he’s perched beside Dom .
Not a hair is out of place around that breathtaking face.
“ We need to understand who we’re dealing with, what kind of experience you have.
We’re not going to treat a virgin the same way we would someone who has been in the lifestyle for years. ”
“ The lifestyle?” I tilt my head, confused.
Beau reaches up and plucks at the tie in my still-damp hair. “ Kink , darlin’. Someone experienced with BDSM .”
I move to pull my hair out of his grip, but it only tightens.
His lips tilt in an entertained smile, and I sigh, deciding it isn’t worth the struggle.
As soon as I relax, he resumes pulling the tie out of my hair until the locks tumble down my back.
Looking at Beau seems like the safest option at the moment, now I’m cradled on his lap—at least while Lucky is only half paying attention. Or pretending like he is, anyway.
I lick my lips. “ So are you... ah, all into that kind of... ?”
His hand trails down my back, then down my hip until he goes back to making those slow, shivery strokes along my inner thigh.
“ Mm -hmm. To different extents, and in different ways. We were all in a private kink club off base when the first strikes went down—a couple of us used to go there to blow off steam whenever we had leave. We hauled ass to get back to base, but it was blown to shreds by the time we got there. We stuck around for a bit to see if there was anything we could do, but it was chaos. We couldn’t find the rest of our platoon. Not ... not much of them, anyway.”
His face grows grimmer as he speaks. I can almost see the memories scarred in his eyes. Without thinking, I lift my hand to brush my fingers over his cheek, wishing I could brush away the hurt as easily.
Beau leans into my touch for a moment, and continues roughly, “ Jasper guessed his retreat might be safe—he was our shrink, and our friend, before he retired. Dominic and I’d been out here a few times and agreed it was our best option.”
“ You know I don’t like that term, Beau ,” Jasper says, disapproval sharp in his tone. The way his chin lowers makes the angles of his face seem sharper, pooling darkness in the hollows.
Lucky mock gasps. “ Yeah , we’re not friends .”
“ Don’t test me, Lucien .” Jasper isn’t warm and bookish now. “ I do not find derogatory remarks amusing.”
Lucky glances up from his game at Jasper and color floods his cheeks when he takes in his expression.
“ Our psychologist,” Beau corrects, inclining his head apologetically.
“ Sorry , Jasper ,” Lucky mumbles.