Page 34 of Savage Blooms (Unearthly Delights #1)

“Your turn, sparrow,” Eileen said to Nicola, too sharply, too brightly.

She hated being caught in a moment of hurt, and Finley’s words had sliced right through her heart.

Never mind her feelings; dead was dead and no amount of crying would bring her parents back.

She couldn’t have done anything about it, no matter what Finley did or didn’t see that night.

“Be a good sport or else I’ll have to seduce the truth out of you. ”

Nicola gave a nervous laugh that sounded like she wouldn’t mind that at all. It was a pretty mental image: Nicola whimpering in tortured delight as Eileen slipped her hand underneath the hem of Nicola’s floral dress.

Adam opened his mouth to ask a question, but he never got the chance, because Finley beat him to the punch.

“Do you believe in faeries?” he asked.

“I believe in lots of things,” Nicola said simply. “God, true love, astrology… Faeries don’t seem so far-fetched, especially considering how long people have been telling stories about them.”

“Good, an honest answer,” Eileen said, taking back the reins of the game.

They were getting lost in the weeds of the supernatural, which wouldn’t do at all.

There would be time for that later, after everyone had been properly warmed up to each other.

She had only intended to use the magic question to set the scene for more intimate talk.

“Back to you, Adam. Have you ever thought about sleeping with Nicola?”

Adam made a choked noise.

“We’ve never slept together,” he said tightly.

“She didn’t ask if you had, she asked if you had thought about it,” Finley said, a flash of command in his tone.

“This is a stupid game,” Adam blustered. “I’m tired. You all have fun, I’m going to bed.”

“Game’s not over, Adam,” Eileen said. She hated it when people cut games short, and she hated it even more when people were sore losers.

And then, in a windfall of good fortune, Nicola took Eileen’s side.

“There’s no harm in answering one question,” she said, batting her pretty eyelashes like she was asking to cheat off his chemistry test, not asking him to crack open his ribs and expose his beating heart.

There was a sharp shine in her eye, as though depending on how Adam answered, he might win riches beyond his wildest dreams, or he might get his hand bitten off.

Adam looked miserably to Finley, knowing better than to seek any solace in Eileen. Finley merely looked him up and down, disappointed in his sexual cowardice.

“All right,” Adam bit out. “I’ve thought about it.”

“I had to give details so you do too,” Finley said, twisting the knife.

Adam had insulted him, and in response, Finley would humiliate Adam in front of his fair maiden, just for the pleasure of watching him squirm.

Eileen was under no illusions about being wicked, deep down, or about the perverse thrill she took in Finley’s flashes of cruelty.

Watching him torture Adam was as erotic to her as a striptease.

“Come on. Let the lady know how you feel. She’s been so patient with you.

Years and years of knowing each other, isn’t it?

Don’t you think she deserves a little decency? ”

“I’ve thought about it once or twice,” Adam muttered, staring at the ground. “Maybe more than that, if I’m being honest.”

“Adam,” Nicola sighed, and pushed onto her hands and knees and crawled the few feet between them.

She sat back on her heels and searched Adam’s face, her expression beatific as a Botticelli angel.

Everything unspoken between them pulled taut, moments from either snapping or pulling them closer together. “I want to know.”

Adam met her eyes. Somehow hungry and penitent all at once.

“I don’t want you to hate me.”

“I could never hate you,” she said, and kissed him on the mouth.

Eileen silently reached out and gripped Finley’s knee. He sat still as a statue, but the muscles beneath Eileen’s hands were tight.

Adam surged up against Nicola like the waves against the shore, cradling her face with the most delicate touch even as he devoured her.

Nicola braced her hands on his thighs and leaned in close, making a sweet, sighing noise as she parted her lips wider and slid her hot, searching tongue into Adam’s mouth.

If Eileen had been skeptical about them never having gone to bed together before, she was soundly proven wrong.

This was not the kiss of two people who had enjoyed intimate access to each other for years, or even for one wild night before.

This was the kiss of two people who had been longing for each other every day of their lives without a single moment of consummation.

Eileen and Finley may as well have not been in the room.

When Nicola finally pulled away, Adam stared at her as though under some spell, his fingertips resting lightly on her cheek.

“Do you remember spring break, when I convinced you to come to Barbados with me?” His voice was barely audible. It was like he was in a trance. In the week she had known Adam, no matter how bated his breath when Eileen walked into the room, she had never seen him look at her like that.

“I do,” Nicola said. Her mouth was wet from his kiss, gleaming tantalizingly in the low lighting of the parlor. Eileen wanted to kiss the taste of Adam right off her.

“We went out to the dancehall and you were wearing this tiny dress, with all your hair piled up on top of your head because it was so hot. You were dancing on some guy and I couldn’t stop looking at you, or imagining pulling you into the bathroom and pushing up that little dress and…

I wanted you so badly it hurt. I couldn’t sleep, remembering the way you looked. ”

“That was the first time?” Nicola asked.

“Yeah. But not the last.”

“A very good answer,” Eileen said. “God, I love this game.”

Adam’s eyes cut over to her. He was not pleased with her question, despite the obvious boon he had won by answering with courage.

“Have you ever slept with anyone else besides Finley?” Adam demanded, before anyone else could say a word.

“And why would that be a concern of yours?” Eileen scoffed. Adam wouldn’t try to make her confess. He wasn’t bold enough, not yet anyway. She hadn’t had her talons in him long enough to shape him to her liking.

Unceremoniously, Finley laced his fingers through Eileen’s hair and yanked her head backwards, exposing the white curve of her throat.

Eileen gasped but didn’t struggle, utterly dazed.

She hadn’t expected Finley to act as Adam’s champion in this battle.

She hadn’t expected Finley to push back against her at all.

“Answer the question, Isla,” Finley said, giving another tug. His grip was punishingly tight, giving her the real, white-hot pain she so craved in private. He wasn’t pulling his punches any more, audience or not.

“Never,” she ground out, blinking back the water in her eyes. “There’s never been anyone else I wanted.”

It was Finley who spoke next, not Adam.

“And what about now?”

“No doubling up on questions,” Eileen said with a mocking smile. Despite the pain tingling along her scalp and the way her sex throbbed in response, she would not give him the satisfaction of making her beg for release in front of her guests. “Your turn, dearest. Do you want to fuck pretty Nicola?”

Hatred flashed in Finley’s eyes. How quickly the two of them spun from affection to bitterness, like ice dancers caught in a death-defying spiral.

“That’s enough, Eileen,” he said, letting her go as though he had been burned.

“If Adam had to answer, then so should you,” Nicola shot back, strapping her arms over her chest. She had more spirit than Eileen had assumed, and if there was anything Eileen appreciated tremendously, it was a high-spirited woman. “It’s only fair.”

“All’s fair in love and war, right?” Adam asked bitterly, glaring at Finley.

“I’m not answering that question,” Finley said.

Nicola jutted out her chin, offended by Finley’s recalcitrance.

“We’ll see about that,” she muttered to herself, then stood and crossed the circle.

“What are you doing?” he asked, looking up at her with wide eyes.

He looked truly terrified, like he had just witnessed a Marian apparition.

Eileen loved seeing Finley unravel and lose his tight grip on himself, but she wasn’t used to seeing anyone else hold that power over him.

Yet somehow, sweet smiling Nicola with her birdsong laughter and strawberry hair had wrapped Finley’s leash tight around her fist.

Nicola braced her hands on Finley’s shoulders and sat down on his lap, straddling his hips so they were face to face. The back of her dress hiked up a few extra inches, revealing the generous curve of her bottom beneath a pair of sheer panties.

Finley made an irritated sound, but his hands came up to rest on Nicola’s lower back of their own accord, holding her secure against him. She draped her arms over his shoulder, brushing her nose against his in a torturously tender gesture. Adam and Eileen just stared, gobsmacked by the gambit.

“Is it true?” she asked quietly. “Do you want to fuck me?”

Finley had always been bad at Confession; he was too reactive and most importantly, too likely to get frustrated or even wounded by prodding questions. So Eileen wasn’t surprised when he scowled at Nicola like she had ruined his night. But she was surprised at what he did next.

Finley made a noise in his throat very much like a growl and crushed his mouth against Nicola’s.

Nicola squeaked in surprise and then melted in Finley’s grasp.

She pressed her body against his, kissing him deeply as he dug his fingers into the sensitive skin of her lower back.

Her dress was thin and insubstantial, better suited for an American summer than a Scottish spring, and Eileen could see every curve of her body through it.