Page 17 of Slaying With Sylphs (Haven Ever After #6)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CONNALL

T his is a first for me. Sexually dominating a client only to be caught in the act. Paint drips down my body, my knot swollen, hard and uncomfortable. My wolf paces behind my breastbone, panting with the desire to get out and do something with all of this heat.

Our session went exactly where I worried it’d go, yet somehow I can’t find it in me to be too concerned about that. It was what Lou wanted, and the way she reacts to me is so perfect, so natural.

She is perfect. Beyond perfect.

And maybe physical affection and interaction is at least part of what she needs along her healing journey.

Lou joins me in the doorway. Paint mats the hair on one side of her head, and her cheeks are flushed. Not to mention, she smells delicious, like she was just fucking around with me. It takes everything in me not to bury my nose in the crook of her freckle-covered neck and inhale. She smells like strawberry lemonade to me normally, but all riled up, the strawberry takes on a burnt, sugary edge that makes my mouth water.

Dirk beams at her, eyeing her paint-covered clothes and hands. “Louanna, my sweet. I thought I might pick yeh up to find yeh’d spilled yer heart out to Connall and had a great session. Seems like yeh spilled something else.”

She lifts her chin, that bratty nature rearing its head. “We were just doing some painting. Therapy and all that.”

I can’t hold back a grin. “Not therapy. Let’s not call it that.”

Dirk beams at her, rubbing one hand along his jawline. “Painting. Hmm. Last time I saw Connall paint with a client, his dick wasn’t hard, my sweet.”

Irritation snakes through me until Dirk turns to me with a serious look. “That was before I agreed to stop spying on yeh, Wolf. I haven’t spied since that promise.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him “good boy,” but I shouldn’t have to thank him for not spying on me. His dark brows curl mischievously upward.

“Well, Wolf, don’t let me stop yeh from tossing paint around. I’ll happily stand in the corner and watch.”

For a second, I think Lou might agree, based on a deepening of her strawberry lemonade scent. It goes hotter and silkier at the edges, spiked with pepper, caressing my senses. But she shakes her head, slapping Dirk on the chest with a paint-covered hand. Purple paint splatters his gem, but he beams like he couldn’t be more thrilled.

His eyes flick to me. “Och, Connell. I can see why this woulda been fun. Perhaps I need therapy as well, if this is what we can do during it.” His smirk becomes a full-on smile, his sharp teeth showing as he grins at me.

But his offer reminds me of something I’ve been thinking about.

I return his smile, then glance between him and Lou. “Would you both come to dinner at my place tonight? I’d love to cook for you, and for us all to get to know one another and talk a bit more. Last night, we didn’t do as much of that as I’d have liked.”

Lou’s scent explodes hard, saturating the air. I glance at Dirk. Can he scent her like I can? I’ll admit to not knowing that much about elementals before him. Not that many of them elect to live within the haven system. Based on the desirous look on his face, he’s reading her the way I do.

I shift from one foot to the other, trying to ease the pressure between my legs.

Lou looks up. “I promised Bellami I’d help him for a few hours this afternoon, but dinner sounds great.” When she glances at Dirk, his lips split into a lascivious grin.

“I’m always available to the two o’ you. So, whatever your question is, my answer will always be yes.”

Lou rolls her eyes, but pink dusts her cheeks. Chuckling, Dirk swipes his fingers through the paint dripping down his chest. He reaches forward and scribbles on her neckline as she shifts backward, trying to see what he’s writing. I can’t stop looking at the way his long fingers move over her soft skin. When he’s done, I chuckle.

Lou frowns. “What did he do? What does it say?” She glances down again but can’t see the writing from her angle. It’s tucked at the base of her neck.

“Mine,” I say on a growl, my wolf’s tone threading through. He’s at the front of our consciousness, watching for her reaction when I say it.

On cue, she blushes, the pink traveling over her cheeks and neck and, gods, down into her shirt. I want it off, want to see how far that pink shade goes.

She lifts her chin and crosses her arms over her chest. Doesn’t she realize all that does is highlight how soft her large breasts look? Before I can think too hard, I lift a hand above her in the doorframe, backing her against the wood surface. She purses her lips and stares up at me as Dirk comes to my side, caging her in.

“Mine,” I say again, nostrils flaring to drink her scent in. The way she smells caresses my mind. Not for the first time, I wonder, if I bit her, would we develop a bond the way wolves do? She has no wolf…so what does that mean for us?

She lifts her chin higher. “This sure is a lot of alpha male posturing. I’m human, you know, maybe I don’t even like this.” She waves her free hand between us.

A laugh rumbles out of me. Bending down, I bury my nose in the base of her throat and drag it up to her ear. “Your scent’s calling you a liar, Lou.”

Throaty, soft noises leave her lips.

“Yer made for this, Louanna,” Dirk continues. “Made to take us separately, together, all in a tangle. Best to give in now, my beauty.”

The moment he says “give in,” she tenses and tightens. My woman’s competitive, and giving in equals losing, in her mind. Breaking her bratty nature down in the bedroom will be so fun. That final submission is a beautiful thing. And it’ll only happen if and when she trusts us—trusts me—enough to surrender control.

Parting my lips, I nibble a gentle, teasing path to where her neck and shoulder meet. When I reach that spot, the spot I’d bite to claim her, I nip harder. Lou jerks and gasps, head falling against the doorframe as she seeks to give me better access.

Now is the perfect time to pull away, to leave her wanting, to edge her so, when she comes to dinner, she’ll be aching for more of me.

Of us.

She’s soft and pliant against me, eyes fluttering closed as she waits for my lips.

Pulling my shirt over my shoulders, I step backward and smile at Dirk. But his eyes aren’t on my face. No. They rove my chest and stomach and…lower. When he drags them back up, his grin is bigger than I’ve ever seen it.

“Beautiful,” he sighs.

It shouldn’t feel good for another male to call me that. But my wolf preens and drops to his belly, fully focused on the other male. Wolves are pure instinct, and where normally he’d assess a non-packmate male in a critical way, he’s interested in Dirk, searching for a wolf who isn’t there. I bite my lip to hold back a smile and turn to Lou, wiping the paint from her upper chest.

“Aww, that was a lotta work,” Dirk grumbles playfully.

Lou and I say nothing, but her amber eyes flash in the afternoon light as I brush my shirt over her skin until all the purple paint is gone.

Dirk nudges me in the side. “Wolf, let’s go drag wood for Louanna so she doesn’t have to do it herself, shall we?”

Without pulling my eyes from hers, I smile. “I’d be delighted to pull wood for her but I have another client soon.”

Her eyes flash and narrow, then she dips out of the cage of my arms, her bratty side rearing its head. Muttering under her breath about dudes always needing something from her, she tosses her long braid over her shoulder and heads up the street toward the gnome village. Before she disappears, she turns around and shouts something about returning with a cleaning potion.

“I’ve got one, Sweetheart. See you soon?”

She beams at me before spinning on her heel and continuing on her way, hips swinging as she walks.

Dirk and I stand companionably in front of my office, watching her go. When she disappears into the village, he turns to me with a grin. “Looks like you two had fun, Wolf. Shall I help you clean up?”

I think he’s offering more than cleanup help, but I’ve got another client in ten minutes, and I’m still feeling out what it means to be in this sort of relationship. Being alone with Dirk feels different now, knowing what he imagines our future to be.

“I’ve got it,” I say softly, hoping he doesn’t feel like I’m rejecting him as a monster. “I’ve got another client coming in ten minutes, and somehow I feel like your cleanup might take a little longer than that.” I jerk my head toward the kitchen. “I’ve got a cleanup potion to make it relatively quick, but…”

He straightens, rolling his shoulders back. The leather straps across his chest tighten, accentuating his cut musculature and the lightning that flashes across his pale skin. “Och now, Connall. I can be quick when the occasion calls for it.” His smile grows dark, a tongue the color of the sky peeking out to run suggestively along his lower lip.

My cock kicks in my pants, still hard from playing with Lou and touching her. But this? I don’t know what to do with this. But despite that, I’m curious.

“Tonight.” I let my eyes drop to his chest again, admiring him. I thrum the backs of my fingers over one of his leather chest straps. “Does this ever come off?”

Dirk’s nostrils flare as his hands fall loosely to his sides. His body is tense, poised as his gaze locks onto me. “Only for you ‘n’ her. I’ve not taken it off since I was a teen.”

Goosebumps cover my skin, and I can’t help but take a step closer, bringing my face closer to his. “I’d like to learn more about that tonight, on our date.”

Goddess, I’m going on a date with another male.

“I’m an open book.” Dirk tilts his chin up as he gazes into my eyes.

“Good,” I return, reaching down to rub my cheek along his. It’s an affectionate gesture that’s common among shifters, but at the rough scratch of my stubble against his smoothly shaven cheek, he tenses.

I nuzzle my way along his skin, testing how he feels about this sort of touch. But to my surprise, he sighs and lets his head fall back, inviting more. I’m standing in the doorway to my office on Shifter Hollow’s main drag, but for some reason, I can’t stop touching the male in front of me. I tell myself it’s the affectionate cheek rub I’d give anyone, but as the edges of my lips touch his neck, I know that’s a lie. I recognize it, sit with it for a moment, then let the thought float away.

Dirk’s skin is colder than mine and Lou’s, refreshing and calming against my much hotter temperature. Realizing I’m standing there with my mouth hovering above his neck, I pull back and straighten.

He stares into my eyes, his look almost a challenge. Do it , he seems to encourage as his mouth pulls up in one corner.

“I’m looking forward to tonight,” I share. “I’m excited, Dirk.”

“Good, Wolf,” he barks. “Because I cannae wait to put my mouth all over that gorgeous body.”

Fuck. I don’t know if he’s talking about Lou or me. But either way, I think I’m down.