19. Beau
Beau
Trust your doctor.
They know what’s best for your body.
A s soon as I turn toward the house, the face disappears and her curtains are yanked back into place. A slow, stupid smile works its way across my face.
Nice try, little subbie.
I let myself into the sitting room, planning on hunting her down... only I don’t need to.
“ Oh . Good morning, Beau .”
Eden looks down on me from the top of the stairs, haloed by the lights behind her.
The sight of her slides into me like a needle, and I’m not sure if I’m being infected with the cure or some terminal disease.
Eden’s in a cute little dress today—a pink one that sets off her mahogany hair and brings out the flustered color in her cheeks.
Her hair is out of its usual bun, and I’m surprised to see it flows almost to her waist.
I want to see it spread out beneath her as she comes apart.
“ Mornin ’, darlin’,” I finally say, remembering I have a voice.
Her mouth swings up on one side in a sweet smile, even while her eyes dip down and linger over my bare chest. Seeming to remember herself, she snaps them back up.
“ Were you working out?” Eden asks, pure and innocent as her namesake.
And a filthy little liar, apparently.
I bite my lower lip, then release it with an amused smack. “ You just finish cleaning up?”
She smooths out invisible crinkles in her dress. “ Mm -hmm.”
Like she wasn’t just staring at us like she wants me to pocket her eyes just so she can keep them on my ass.
Crossing my arms, I lean against the wall. “ Come on down here, then.”
She casts her eyes around the room, lingering on the partly open curtains behind me.
“ Is , um, Dom around?” she asks.
Dom .
Jealousy cuts through my amusement in a way that never used to happen before. Before , we always shared. Before , having a subbie ask me about Dom would have filled me with satisfaction. Now I’m just wondering if she’s asking because she likes him more.
God damn Heather .
“ He’s gone upstairs for a bit.”
Eden darts a startled glance behind her, then starts down the stairs, a definite haste to her steps. When she reaches me, she looks back at the top floor with a frown between her brows, anxiously adjusting her glasses. “ Will , um... will he be out soon, do you think?”
My annoyance turns to confusion. She’s not asking because she wants to see him. She’s asking because she doesn’t .
I sigh. Why doesn’t that make me feel any better?
“ Not sure, darlin’. I’m not his keeper.”
Casually , I stretch my arm up on the wall so I’m leaning over her, then flex my pecs. Just a bit.
Eden blinks and then focuses her attention back on me fully. She looks down, then jolts as she notices how close we’re standing. The delicate line of her throat works as she swallows. Her eyes lift until she’s peering up at me through her lashes, and her fists tangle in her pink skirt.
“ Hi ,” she says again, softly.
My heart melts in my chest with one tiny splash. It’s as natural as breathing to press a light kiss against her rosy lips.
“ Hi ,” I murmur back.
I win that small, shy smile from her again, and I’m about to steal another kiss when Lucky bursts through the door, whistling obnoxiously. Eden jumps a foot in the air, pressing a searing, steadying hand against my chest.
When recognition crosses her face, she scowls.
Huh . Not the warm response Lucky usually evokes. Especially not the one I thought she’d be giving him after what I heard yesterday.
He strolls over and leans against the wall on Eden’s other side, effectively pinning her between us, and presses a kiss to her cheek. “ Hey , beautiful.”
“ Lucky ?” I prompt. “ Do you mind?”
It does sound a lot like “fuck off” when I say it out loud like that.
Lucky looks at me in surprise. “ Oh ! Of course. Sorry .” He leans up and kisses me on the cheek.
“ You’re beautiful too, Beau ,” he says seriously.
I snort, but Eden sucks in an audible breath, eyes darting between the two of us from under her glasses, then back at our half-naked bodies pressed around her.
Her hand absently rubs against my chest for one cock-stirring moment before she snatches it back, cradling it against her throat as if she felt the blistering heat as fiercely as I did.
“ S -sorry,” she stammers.
I give her a slow smile. “ You don’t ever need to apologize for touching me, Eden .”
“ Yeah . Or for peeking through your curtains and eye fucking us for forty minutes. We’re cool with that too,” Lucky chimes in cheerfully.
Eden’s head whips toward him. “ What ?” Her voice is pure panic. “ I did not —”
My lips twitch. “ Word to the wise, darlin’, it ain’t a real good idea to lie to your dom.”
Her mouth opens, then snicks shut, and I watch as the rose color in her cheeks deepens, then rolls into the tips of her ears.
“ You really saw me?” she asks in a small voice.
“ Oh yeah.” I grin. “ We saw you.”
She squeals, burying her face in her hands.
Lucky snickers and ruffles her hair. “ I’m going to make breakfast. You watch that sweet butt of yours, Eden .”
She bats his hand away and glares after him as he leaves.
At my confused look, she scowls. “ Lucky is the devil himself, and if he gets me killed, I would appreciate it if you buried him next to me so I can haunt him in our next life.”
I frown. “ I thought y’all played a game of Twister . That doesn’t sound—”
“ Have you ever played one of Lucky’s games, Beau ?” she asks in her gorgeous, husky voice. The blue-gray of her eyes spears me, not seeming at all shy in that moment.
The sound of my name rolling off her tongue hits me low in my stomach.
“ A few times,” I tell her, surreptitiously looking her over for burn marks. “ I’m usually his best bet for anything close to a game.”
“ Well , I’m surprised you escaped unscathed,” she hisses, darting another nervous glance at the stairs. Then she blinks and bites her lip with a little wince. “ I don’t want to talk about Lucky .”
I don’t really want to talk about Lucky either.
Taking her hand, I lace our fingers together and tug gently. “ Come sit with me for a minute.”
Hesitating , Eden looks up at the top floor, then at me. But when she meets my eyes, her shoulders relax, and she follows me easily.
I walk backwards toward the sitting-room chairs, enjoying the bashful little looks she’s giving me. As we sit, I shift the med bag I dumped when I got back the other day.
To my surprise, she looks it over curiously. “ Are those your medical supplies?”
“ Some of them.”
It’s not often anyone pays any mind to my gear. Not unless they need me to patch them up, that is. Or when they get carried away on the booze and come begging for painkillers.
“ May I ?” she asks.
Tickled by her interest, I unzip it for her and lay it out on the coffee table. She leans over the bag, examining the contents with open fascination. She turns a bottle with one slender finger.
“ You have diazepam, morphine—oh, and a cricothyrotomy kit! Narcan , antibiotics...” She shakes her head, and her hair shivers prettily around her shoulders. “ You could have bars of solid gold in here and they’d be worth less.”
I nod absently, then nudge her with a questioning look. “ How do you know about all this? The guys went through first responder training, and some days I still doubt they’d be able to perform a crike, even with the kit.”
Eden sits back. Rueful eyes meet mine. When she twists her mouth like that, I notice how her nose crinkles... though I have no idea why that detail should have my heart thundering like a herd of horses.
“ I don’t know that I could perform one, either. I’ve only read about them.” One shoulder lifts lightly. “ I studied what I could, but the herbology books were more helpful, since I didn’t have access to medicine like this. But I’ll take any tips you have, in case this doesn’t work out.”
Something in my gut drops. “ Why wouldn’t this work out?”
Dom . Damn it, I knew he was scaring her off.
“ Oh , I just mean, I ...” Eden pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “ I’m not sure this is sustainable. What we’re doing. And all these rules... I don’t know that it... That I’m —”
“ Eden , you don’t need to worry. You’re perfect—more than enough for any one of us.” I take her hand again, rubbing my thumb over her knuckles. “ No one’s kicking you out. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
She stares down at our hands, and a strange look crosses over her face. After a moment, she shakes her head, disentangling our fingers. “ I know I haven’t,” she says quietly. “ I’m following your rules perfectly.”
Something about that hits all wrong, but I can’t pinpoint why.
Then she takes a deep breath and smiles up at me nervously, and I’m distracted by the curve of her breasts. The trepidatious quaver of her lips.
By all that’s holy, she’s the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.
“ Actually , I did want to ask about something,” she blurts. “ Ask you about something, specifically, I mean. You’re a doctor, you see.” She winces. “ I don’t know why I said that like you don’t know. Oh , I’m saying this all wrong, but because you’re a doctor, I was going to ask—”
My lips twitch despite myself, watching her get all flustered. My darker side wants to come out and play, but unlike some of the others, I do actually have some restraint, so I force myself to be patient.
“ You want to ask me a medical question?” I prompt, having mercy on her.
Eden blows out a breath. “ Yes . Yes , a medical question,” she agrees, tugging one of her elegant fingers anxiously.
“ I wanted to talk about— To ask about—” She clears her throat.
“ You said the other day you would do a check-up for me. So we could revisit the conversation about protection. We’re going to need to do it sooner or later, isn’t that right? ”
Blinking in surprise, I study her. “ Darlin ’—”
She rushes on. “ I do know that we need to think of diseases, and be careful, but you said you were as sure as you could be that the others were clean, right? It would be good if I could offer the same thing, is what I was thinking. But I don’t want to impose on you, because you’re so busy, and I really don’t want you to feel uncomfortable—”
“ Eden —” I try again, amusement bubbling.
She frowns but doesn’t seem to hear me. “ I’m not even sure how we do this without testing available. Do you still take a swab? No , that would be pointless, I suppose. So I guess you must just ask me questions, and—”
“ Eden !” I break in, voice edged hard in stern command. “ Enough .”
At my tone, she pulls back, her mouth snapping shut, and her hands clutching at her skirt. Her eyes darken with awareness, and spots of ardent color appear on her cheeks.
As much as I like her sweet, trusting looks, I also like this... the fearful way she trembles, caught in that nectarous place between arousal and alarm.
Hiding a smirk, I lay my arm along the back of the couch behind her. If she thinks I’m all apple pie and slow talk, she’s in for the shock of her life.
“ You want me to give you a check-up, is that what you’re askin’?” I drawl.
She stares at me wordlessly, her breaths shallow. Her pink tongue darts out to swipe at her lower lip, and the wet trail it leaves is nothing short of profane.
“ I — Maybe ?” Her voice is gorgeous, husky. Ripe with desire.
“ That’s very considerate of you,” I tell her, and start playing with the loose strands of her hair. Goosebumps lift the small hairs on her arms. “ Gettin ’ yourself prepared so we can all spread you out and fill you up with our cum.”
Eden’s hand flies to her throat, and her pulse pounds like frantic wings against the delicate skin. “ Beau ...”
My cock thickens, and I part my legs to make room, drawing her eyes. They press shut, then flutter open again, her pupils blown as she takes me in.
“ You want me to do it here?” I ask thickly. “ Open you up and see where you’re all pink and pretty? Right here, where anyone could walk in?”
My finger trails down the line of her throat, then along her collarbone, following the low collar of her dress. My fingertip grazes the tops of her breasts, and she trembles.
“ Does it make you wet? Thinking about me spilling inside that sweet pussy of yours? You want me to take you bare?” I run my other hand up the inside of her thigh, and her legs part so eagerly that I need to adjust myself.
“ Do you want me to fill you up? Or do you want me to paint those pretty breasts?”
Eden’s breath is snared by a moan as I taste her lips with the barest brush of my tongue. “ I’m askin’ as your doctor, pet.”
And as if a whirlwind had blown through the room, I feel her arousal snuff out. She stiffens under me, but I’m already pulling back, searching her face.
“ What’s the matter?” I ask gently. “ Talk to me, darlin’.”
She closes her legs, eyes averted, and slowly pulls the fallen strap of her dress back over her shoulder, not speaking.
Finally , she asks, “ What do you see me as, Beau ?”
“ See you as? What do you mean?” I reach out to touch her hand, and she pulls back, out of reach.
My stomach drops as I realize I’ve hit her somewhere soft.
Her eyes meet mine, soft and serious. “ What is my role here?”
I hesitate a moment too long, trying to work out what answer she’s wanting here. “ You’re here for us. So we can keep you safe.”
I know I got it wrong when her shoulders square.
“ Where were you and Dom the other day? What happened during your ‘scuffle’?” She purses her lips. “ What aren’t you telling me?”
I grimace, shifting. “ Where’s this coming from? You don’t need to worry about any of that, pet.”
Eden’s hands clench around her skirt, her lip trembling... but it still takes me a second to recognize it for what it is.
Anger .
She takes a deep breath, then smooths her dress back out deliberately.
“ I’m not your pet , Beau ,” she says. “ I am your equal, despite what you all seem to think. I’m more than just your plaything. I can choose to leave at any time if this isn’t working for me.” Her chin lifts with quiet pride. “ I’m here for myself—not for you.”
“ I don’t want a mouse for a pet.”
Dom really should take five minutes to speak with her. Eden is no mouse.
She’s a force to behold.
And his stupid, patronizing plan is going to drive her away from us.
“ Eden , if any of us have made you feel... if I’ve made you feel—”
A door slams loud enough to echo through the house, cutting me off and shattering the serious moment.
“ LUCKY ,” Dom roars.
All color drains from Eden’s face, leaving her white to her lips.
Ah , shoot, now that’s a shame. I give her a regretful look.
Maybe Lucky really will get her killed.