Page 26 of Upon Blooded Lips (Vengeance #1)

NATE

I pull the car into the hotel’s underground parking lot and park as close to the elevators as I can. Eric turns in his seat, his face softening at the sight of Tessa sleeping in the back seat. “Want me to get her?” he whispers, and I nod before getting out and quietly shutting my door behind me.

She said yes. For all my certainty that she would, there was a small part that expected her to take the money and run.

And why shouldn’t she? After everything she’s suffered, everything she’s endured, she deserves to start a new life far from Willowmen, from Illinois, from this whole fucking country.

I can picture her wandering the streets of Paris or London, exploring castles in Scotland or sailing up the fjords in Norway.

But even more, I can imagine her dripping in the blood of her enemies, her eyes glowing with the satisfaction of the kill.

Why can’t she have both? It doesn’t have to be one or the other.

True. And she fucking deserves both. Now that she’s chosen us, I’ll ensure it.

Once she’s ended those sick fucks, we’ll show her the world.

Eric helps her out, and I smile when she wraps her arms around his neck and sighs, her long lashes fluttering as she falls back asleep.

Once we’re back in our suite, I turn down the covers.

Eric lays her on the bed and gives me a nervous glance.

“We can’t leave her like that,” he murmurs, gesturing toward her clothes.

“Grab one of my tees.” While he heads to our room, I slide off her shoes and set them under the armchair in the corner.

The rest of her clothes follow, and I grit my teeth, doing my best to keep my gaze on her face and off her luscious body.

My dick doesn’t listen; it never does when it comes to her or Eric.

My brother hands me the shirt, and he lifts her shoulders, helping me pull it over her head before sliding her arms through the sleeves. “Should we take her bra off? It doesn’t look comfortable,” he asks.

I purse my lips and weigh up whether it’s worth waking up to a knife in my eye.

Or to a severed cock. But he’s right. Can’t have one of those wires coming loose and stabbing her in her sleep.

If she feels the need to avenge her honor, I’ll take her into the boxing ring in the basement and let her have at it.

This time, I lift her, her head resting on my shoulder while Eric slides his hands under the shirt to unclip the bra.

“Saw this in a video once,” he says with a chuckle, drawing the bra out of the sleeve and preserving her dignity.

He tosses it onto the chair while I arrange the blankets over her.

I pause, staring down at her, still in awe that she’s mine.

Ours. Eric leans over, brushes a strand of hair off her forehead, and places a gentle kiss there.

I raise a brow, and he shrugs, a rare blush tinting his cheeks. Fuck, he’s cute.

I stop in the doorway, giving her one last glance before closing the door quietly behind us.

A soul-destroying scream renders the air, the terrified sound ripping into me with the force of a mortal blow.

Eric leaps out of bed, racing out of the room before I’m fully awake.

I grab my gun from under my pillow and hurry after him, my gaze sweeping the hall for intruders.

Eric throws Tessa’s door open with no thought to his safety.

He’s trained better than that, and when we get back home, his ass is going to feel the weight of my displeasure.

He pulls up short, his face twisting into uncertainty.

Tessa lies sprawled across the bed, the sheets twisted around her legs, her brow covered in sweat.

Her back bows, her unseeing eyes flying open, haunted by the nightmare gripping her.

She screams again, her hands pushing away an unseen foe.

“No, no, no. Stop,” she cries, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Shh, angel, it’s okay,” Eric murmurs, sliding his hands under her and lifting her into his arms. Tessa stiffens, her cries cutting off as the remnants of the dream fade and she wakes, her eyes focusing on him.

He carries her back into our room and lays her on the bed before climbing in beside her and wrapping himself around her.

She buries her eyes in her fists and sobs into his chest, her heartbreak evident in each gasping breath that tears itself from her throat.

Fuck. I hate what those fucking monsters did to her.

And I hate feeling this helpless. It’s not something I’m used to.

Someone hurts Eric? They don’t live to breathe another day.

I want nothing more than to tear out of this room and hunt down her parents and uncle so that I can tear them into pieces and lay them at her feet.

But I can’t do that to her. I can’t take away her revenge.

Eric jerks his head toward the bed, pleading with me to help. I swallow hard, set the gun on the dresser, and climb into bed, running a hand through Tessa’s hair while my brother strokes her back and whispers gentle words to her.

I’m not sure how much time passes; it could be minutes or hours, but she eventually settles. She draws in a shaky breath and removes her hands from her eyes, tilting her head to glance between us. “Please take it away,” she rasps.

“Take what away?” I ask.

“Him. I-I can’t take the feeling of his hands on my body anymore.” She draws in a harsh, ragged breath. “Please make me forget.”

I brush the hair off her forehead before cupping her cheeks. “We can do that. If you need us to stop at any point, just say.”

Tessa wets her lips and gives a hesitant nod.

I lean down, our breaths mixing as I run my lips over hers in the barest of touches.

Her muscles tense, but she doesn’t push me away.

I keep my kiss gentle and teasing, waiting for her to relax, for some sign to press further.

Eric continues to whisper to her, stroking her hair and running his fingers down her arm, letting her know she’s safe with us.

After what seems like an eternity, the tension bleeds out of her body and her lips part.

I deepen the kiss, swiping my tongue into her mouth.

She wraps one arm around my neck, playing with the short hair along my nape, causing goosebumps to erupt over my flesh.

Heaven isn’t a place I’ll ever enter, but here, right now, with the three of us together? It might be the closest I’ll ever get.

Tessa tears her mouth from mine. “I need more.”

Eric chuckles low and runs a finger over the collar of the T-shirt of mine she wears so beautifully.

Her back arches, just a little but enough to encourage him.

He slides his hands down her body and grips the hem of the shirt, pulling it up inch by inch, teasing the both of us.

Her simple cotton panties, which I normally wouldn’t find appealing in the slightest, somehow transform into the sexiest things I’ve ever seen, simply because it’s her wearing them.

The shirt rises farther, revealing the soft slope of her belly and ribs.

Tessa gasps when it trails over her tits, her nipples pebbling under our combined gazes.

Eric yanks the shirt over her head and tosses it behind him, uncaring where it lands.

“So fucking gorgeous,” he whispers reverently, trailing a finger down the valley between her breasts.

We each lower our heads and suck a needy nipple into our mouths, greedily nibbling and sucking on the taut flesh.

Tessa winds her hands into our hair, tugging on the strands, the most delicious melody of sharp inhales and low moans falling from her pouty lips.

My cock hardens beneath the confines of my boxers, but no matter how much I want to make her mine, tonight isn’t about me.

I meet Eric’s eyes, and he gives a slight nod, popping off her breast and brushing kisses down her body while sliding down the bed.

“What… what are you doing?” Tessa asks, before throwing her head back when Eric slides his tongue through her folds. “Oh, fuck.”

I chuckle against the column of her neck before nipping her pulse point. “My brother’s going to make you come on his tongue, aren’t you, Eric?”

Before Eric can answer, Tessa says in a small voice, “I can’t.”

“You can’t what, angel?” Eric asks, leaning up on his elbows.

Tessa closes her eyes and turns her head away. “I can’t come,” she whispers.

I prop myself up on my elbow and run my finger over her cheek. “Look at me.” She shakes her head, the lines around her eyes tightening as a single tear leaks out from underneath her lashes. “Tessa.”

“I’ve tried, but it never works,” she mumbles. Even in the dark, the flush spreading over her cheeks is clear. “I think I’m broken.”

Placing my hand under her chin, I turn her head toward me and kiss away the tear.

“You are not broken, little one. You’re a survivor.

Your uncle had no right to take what he did from you, and trust me, we’re going to make him suffer for it.

Now let us erase all traces of his touch and show you just how not broken you are. ”

Tessa’s eyes flutter open and meet mine.

After a moment, she gives a nod. I’m so fucking proud of her.

It can’t be easy to fight the horrors of her past, to not get lost in the shadows of her memories.

The fact she trusts us like this means fucking everything, and we’re the luckiest bastards on the planet to be the ones to awaken her sexuality.

I concentrate on her luscious mouth while Eric eats her pussy like it’s his last meal.

When Tessa tries to push him away, I wrap a hand around her wrists and pin them above her head before sliding my free hand down her body and circling her clit.

Her back arches off the bed, her muscles tightening.

“You’re safe, Tessa. Let go. Come for us.

” I pinch her clit, and she shrieks, her heels digging into the mattress as her first orgasm consumes her.

Eric laps up her release, his eyes glowing from the moonlight streaming through the windows.

After Tessa slumps back onto the mattress, he kisses his way up her body before leaning over and capturing my mouth with his.

Tessa’s and Eric’s combined taste floods my senses, making my head spin.

I growl low in my throat and twist my fingers through Eric’s curls, pulling him closer.

Tessa makes a surprised noise below us, but I take my time fucking my brother’s mouth with my tongue, consuming every drop of her release.

Eric breaks away, panting, his pupils nearly swallowing his gray eyes.

I’ve never been one to wish time away, but goddamn, I wouldn’t mind fast-forwarding our relationship to where I could fuck Eric while he eats her out.

But I don’t want to push things too far too fast. This is all new to her, and I want to do it right.

I don’t want to take the risk of fucking it all up, even if the little spy already caught us together once.

“Can you give us another one?” I ask, grinning down at her.

“I don’t know, big guy. Think you’re up to it? Maybe Eric’s the one with all the skills,” she sasses back.

My brows kiss my hairline. Where did the shy, emotional Tessa go?

If one orgasm turns her into a brat, what would two—or even five—do?

I chuckle, the sound dark and foreboding.

I trace my fingers down her body, her cunt calling to me like a siren.

“Oh, you’re just asking for it, aren’t you?

” I murmur against her ear before biting down on the lobe.

“All I hear is talking,” she replies with a sparkle in her eyes.

Fuck me. I want to flip her over and spank her until tears stream down her face.

I want to fuck her until she screams my name.

I want—fuck. It doesn’t matter what I want.

But soon, soon I will teach her all the ways I punish smart mouths.

She’s not quite ready for me yet, but I can’t wait for the day she is.

Instead, I slide a thick finger inside her, cursing under my breath at the way her walls clamp down on me like a vise.

“Hold her down,” I tell Eric, who scrambles to do as I ask and pins her arms over her head like I did earlier.

I push a second finger in, stretching her.

She arches her back, moans slipping through parted lips.

I curl my fingers, finding that delicate bundle of nerves, and her eyes fly wide, staring up at me with a mix of awe and panic.

“Such a good girl taking me into you. Can you take a third?”

Tessa shakes her head, so I increase my movements instead, fucking her with my fingers before using my thumb on her clit, harsher than I should.

Her hips rise, circling, encouraging me to keep going.

Soon, Eric and I will explore every inch of her delectable body, making her ours in every way.

We’ll break down the wall she’s erected around her heart, conquer her demons, and build her up into the queen she was always meant to be.

Tessa shouts my name as she shatters beneath us, a sight that will remain in my memory until I’m old and gray.

Something settles inside me, a part of me I didn’t even know was missing snapping into place with a finality that makes my breath catch.

After Tessa submits to exhaustion and falls asleep in our arms, I realize there’s no going back. Not now, not ever.

She’s irrevocably ours.