Page 152 of Blood Stone

Then he placed her foot on the rug and turned to the other. He forced her to transfer her weight and cast that shoe aside, too. But this time, he didn’t follow a path up her leg with his mouth. He stood up.

Kate looked up at him, disappointment blooming in her. “You stopped.”

“So Roman could start.”

She heard and felt the zipper on her dress being lowered. Garrett had distracted her more than adequately. She hadn’t noticed Roman had finished cutting threads.

“There are stays–” she tried to warn Roman.

“I know my way around a woman’s gown,” Roman growled. And he unhooked and unfastened the built-in foundation garments as he lowered the zipper, proving he was familiar with couture dresses – or removing them, anyway.

He made a small sound. “My, my, Ms. Lindenstream. You’re naked under your ball gown.”

Garrett gave a half smile. “I found that out in the restaurant.”

“Panties ruin the line. Tizzy would have murdered me.” She smiled. “And I’ve been waiting for you to find out.”

Roman’s hands spread over her bare back, then slipped under the now loose sides of the gown, around to her stomach. He pressed up against her from behind. “Pull her sleeves down,” he told Garrett.

Garrett tugged on the cuffs, pulling the sleeves down her arms. The dress opened up like a flower, the sleeves slid down her arms and the dress flowed to the floor around her feet.

It left her naked, with Roman’s arms around her. He ran his hands up her torso, and cupped her breasts. Kate shuddered. The sudden caress, with Garrett standing before her and reacting to every movement she made, was intensified far more than any touch Roman had ever given her.

Garrett’s harsh indrawn breath told her he was reacting with just as much intensity. He bent and kissed the upper slope of her breast, his lips pressing against Roman’s fingers. Roman obligingly let his hand smooth its way down her breast, tripping over the fire-tipped nipple with little bumps that made her shudder, clearing a way for Garrett’s mouth as he let his tongue and teeth and lips scrape and slide and caress their way down her breast. He hovered over her nipple as Roman cupped her breast, his other hand still gently squeezing and tugging her other nipple.

Warm delight rippled through her, arrowing almost directly to her clitoris and making it throb unbearably. But her whole body was alive and pulsing with the acute possibilities before her, and the almost constant stream of images playing in her mind – what had already happened, and what might yet happen.

She couldn’t stop replaying the kiss Roman and Garrett had shared. It made her hot and cold at once to think of it.

And now they were torturing her.

Garrett’s lips closed around her nipple and his tongue slid across the oh-so-sensitive tip.

Pleasure burst through her and Kate moaned. Trembling started somewhere deep in the bottom of her belly and spread to her limbs. She was going to fall down soon if she didn’t sit down. Or lie down.

She just wanted to concentrate on the pleasure, not the necessity of staying on her feet and balanced.

“My turn,” Roman demanded, and shoved at Garrett’s shoulder.

Garrett straightened up, smiling. “I have a better idea.” He bent and put his shoulder to Kate’s thighs, and wrapped his arm around the back of them. Then he lifted her with the speed and force of an elevator. She gasped and clutched at his shoulder as she folded over it like cooked spaghetti.

Garrett moved to the over-sized bed and leaned over the middle of it. He lowered her onto it, on her back and kissed her, hard and quickly.

Then he straightened up again and moved back to where Roman stood in the empty inner circle of Kate’s abandoned dress, watching.

“You, come here,” Garrett said, curling his fingers over the band of Roman’s trousers and tugging. He pulled him closer to the foot of the bed. Roman allowed himself to be led, a little smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Then Garrett grabbed the back of his head with his big hand, the long fingers curling around and tangling in his hair. He kissed him, while Kate watched, her breath halted. There was nothing to stop the kiss this time. No externals, no public, no excuses, and no more secrets. By the time their lips parted, Kate’s entire body was pounding with hard, driving lust as she watched them strain to inhale just a little bit more of each other. As the kiss went on they drew closer and closer together until their bodies were mashed together tightly.

She licked her lips, as they looked at each other. She could barely hear for the thundering of her heart.

“Not the same,” Roman muttered, his voice hoarse.

“It’s better.”

“Knowing...”

“Yeah.”