The Power of Three (15 page)

“
I’m a fool.”

She placed a hand over his heart. “You’re the
smartest man I’ve ever met.” She paused. “Have you thought about
all the power you’re denying yourself by not joining fully with
me?”

He kissed her again. “Sure I’ve thought about
it.”

“
And it’s still not enough?”

“
Soreya, I don’t want to force you to
make choices that benefit me, or Esca, or the Etruscans. You’ve
spent your whole life being dictated to. Even when you met Esca you
had little choice but to go along with what he wanted if you wanted
to survive.”

“
Is that what he told you?”

“
It’s what he felt, that he had no time
to explain anything to you, that he just had to claim you while he
had the chance.”

“
I’m glad he did.”

He searched her grey-blue eyes and saw only a
watchful need in them, which made his mating instincts rise to the
fore. He forced them back down. He could be civilized. It was
essential to maintain his façade.

“
I just want you to decide what you
want for yourself.”

“
Why is it so important to
you?”

“
Because I never had any choices
either. I was singled out as exceptional at an early age and great
things were demanded of me. I’ve spent my life living up to that
image.”

Had he ever put that thought into words
before? He didn’t even think he’d told Esca.

She cupped his cheek. “What would you’ve done
if you’d had a choice?”

“
Explored the universe? Run wild and
untethered by family expectations or demands for me to excel
at
everything
?” He swallowed
hard. “I don’t know. I was the youngest male ever elected to the
Senate. That’s been my life ever since.”

“
What about Esca?”

He smiled. “He’s my rock. He hates all the
political meershit and keeps me sane.”

“
He loves you.”

“
I know.”

“
He wants us all to be
together.”

“
I know that, too, but it has to be
your decision.”

She leaned back a little to study his face,
her expression calm. “Are you afraid that if you gain more power
your life will become so enmeshed with the Senate that you’ll never
get free?”

“
With the addition of your abilities, I
could rule the Senate.”

“
Is that what you want?”

“
I want you.”

She sighed against his mouth. “So?”

“
I want all of you.”

She drew in an uneven breath, took his hand
and placed it over her heart. “I’m afraid.”

“
That I’ll hurt you?”

She looked away. “Not physically.“

“
What is it?” He bit down gently on her
lip, and she shivered.

“
I’m afraid that if I let you in
completely, I’ll never be whole again, that if you change your mind
and shut me out, I’ll fall to pieces.”

He held her gaze. “Don’t you think I fear the
same thing?”

“
But you’re so
strong
.”

“
Not when I’m with you.” He slid his
hand around the back of her neck. “With you I feel
vulnerable
.” He forced a smile. “Even
admitting that makes me break out in a sweat. I’m not allowed to be
weak. I’m
Ash
.”

“
What if I promise never to tell anyone
and treat you like a god in public?” She moved closer to the edge
of the countertop and put her hands on his hips drawing him between
her legs and against her sex. “I’ve tried to tell myself that
you’re too big a risk, but I don’t think I can live here without
wanting all of you.” She hesitated. “I want to be with you, and if
you don’t want that, I think I should go.”

“
No
.”

He kissed her hard, his tongue in her mouth,
his hands roving her body so that he could feel every inch of her.
She moaned into his mouth and kissed him back, her wet panties
dragging against the fabric of his pants and the hard ridge of his
cock. He picked her up and walked into his suite, kicked the door
shut and laid her in the middle of his bed.

She made no move to leave as he stripped off
his clothes and came down over her, his aching shaft trapped
between them as he took off her T-shirt and buried his face between
her breasts. Cupping one soft mound, he licked and sucked at her
nipple until she was moving against him, her hand buried in his
hair, urging him on.

He couldn’t stop now. Instinct and need won
over caution and training. He wanted her and he wasn’t going to
stop until his cock was buried deep inside her and their minds were
joined as fully as he could manage.

“
Ash, please…”

One part of him wanted to take her fast and
hard, the other to linger and savor every moment of this amazing
longed-for encounter with his female.

“
Ash.” She pulled his now-loosened hair
and he rose over her, parting her knees with his thighs. “If you
don’t fuck me right now, I’m going to cry.”

He stared down into her beautiful eyes.
“Don’t cry.”

Then he plunged his cock deep. She was wet
for him, but it was still a tight fit. She lifted her hips to take
more and he gave her everything he had—his body, his mind, and
whether she wanted it or not, his lifelong loyalty. As she opened
to him, her power spread through him like the roar of a tidal wave,
igniting his nerve endings, making him thrust into her as though it
were the end of the world, and that he could truly become part of
her.

She climaxed, her internal muscles clenching
his shaft and he kept pounding into her, finesse and technique
forgotten in favor of a more basic need to satisfy his mate and
make her scream his name as she came.

“
Gods.” Ash didn’t want to stop. He
fought the gathering need to come for as long as he could, and then
lost control, sinking deep into her, his seed filling her with hot
sharp pulses that wouldn’t end.

He didn’t even have the energy to roll off
her and just lay there, his face buried in the crook of her neck as
he remembered how to breathe.

* * *

Soreya stared up at the ceiling and
tried to piece the scrambled parts of her head back together again.
The expression I’m going to fuck your brains out’ had never meant
anything before now. Even though Ash had climaxed she still felt
him, his cock inside her and his mind…Gods, and the
power
…

And he’d shared it with her, given her
everything he was. She touched his now-damp hair and he groaned and
moved onto his back. She went with him, his cock still inside her
and straddled his hips, flipping the light by the bed on so that
she could see him better. He groaned again, but didn’t complain,
his gaze on hers, his expression more open than she’d ever seen it
before. Did Esca see this man as well? If so, he’d given her a
precious gift.

While he watched her, she traced a finger
over the sharp edges of his cheekbones, his firm jaw and incredibly
tough, sexy mouth. He touched the tip of his tongue to the tip of
her finger and it felt like an electric shock.

“
Mmm.” He shuddered. Inside her, his
cock jerked.

She continued her exploration, running her
hands over his shoulders and muscled arms, the soft, fair hair on
his chest and his tight nipples. Leaning forward, she let him see
her tongue flick them, and felt him grow even larger. His hand
moved to cup her ass, pressing her against him, his fingers dipping
between her buttocks to where they were still joined and wet. As he
circled the pucker of her ass, an image seared through her from him
of Esca behind her, his cock wet and ready to penetrate her. Her
clit throbbed and she clenched her inner muscles around his
thickening shaft.

“
Would you like
that?”
His wet fingertip probed her and she shuddered.
”
Esca and me
?”

“
I don’t know.”

“
Liar.”
He
smiled at her and rocked his hips until she caught her breath and
started moving over him. “
You’ve thought
about it.”

“
How do you
know?
”

“
I’m in your head—you can’t
hide your desires from me any longer. And that’s how it is supposed
to be. The three of us united in all ways.
” His finger
slid deeper and she gasped. “
You watched us
fuck. You liked that too
.”

She rose over him and then slowly
lowered herself down on his still-thickening cock.
“
I’d like to see you do it
again
.”

“
I’d like that too, and this
time, instead of running away, you can join in, suck cock, have one
of us using their mouth on you until you come, or decide who you
want to fuck
.”

She moved faster, one hand gripping his
shoulder as she ground herself against him. He took her hand and
placed it over her clit.

“
Come for me.”

She was so sensitive that it didn’t take long
for her to fall apart and sink into pure sensation. He wrapped a
hand around her neck and brought her down to him, his hips
thrusting, his mouth sucking at her nipple until she was mindless
with the pleasure and only capable of powering her way to a climax
using his body in anyway she needed it.

She hadn’t believed her second climax could
be more intense than the first one they’d shared, but she wailed
with the pleasure of it as he fucked her back, his feet flat on the
bed, one arm keeping her rammed down on his incredible cock as she
couldn’t stop coming. He came, and she felt every spasm and shiver
of his heat and wetness and Gods, she wanted it again.

“
Give me a few minutes,” he murmured as
if he’d caught her last thought.

Of course he had…

She collapsed over him and listened to the
erratic beat of his heart. She’d never be the same ever again. Hot
tears crowded her throat and she let them fall, defenseless for the
first time and not sure if she liked it.

“
Soreya?”

“
I’m fine.”

He sighed. “If it’s any consolation, I feel
like joining you.”

She raised her head an inch to look into his
icy blue eyes. His smile was wry.

“
I’m terrified. You are…”He shook his
head. “So much more than I ever dreamed of. How can I ever live up
to you, and give you what you need?”

She managed a watery smile. “I suppose we’ll
both have to try our best.”

He kissed her forehead. “After we sleep for a
while. Will you stay?”

“
I don’t think I can move.” She stroked
his chest. “Not that I want to.”

“
In the olden days a mated couple met
at the temple and stayed there for at least a week in bed with each
other. I can understand why now. When Esca comes back, we’ll have
to take a few days off and just stay in bed.”

“
Mmm…” She yawned and cuddled against
him.

He gathered her close. “Go to sleep. I
promise I’ll still be here when you wake up.” He finished the
thought in her head. “
There’s nowhere else
on this planet I’d rather be.”

* * * * *

“
Ash is here to pick you up—again.” Bev
stage-whispered with a lascivious wink.

Soreya shut down her workstation and hoped
she wasn’t blushing too hard. Ever since that first night together
she and Ash had spent every moment they could having the most
incredible sex. Just thinking about him waiting for her made her
wet.

She pushed in her chair. “I’ll see you
tomorrow then, Bev.”

“
If you can see and walk straight,” Bev
muttered.

Soreya pretended not to hear and hurried out
toward the front of the building, where Ash’s limo awaited her.

“
Private Lang?”

“
Yes?” She paused to look behind
her.

“
Are you meeting Senator
Ash?”

“
Yes I am.”

He held out an envelope. “Can you give him
this? It’s the information he requested from the ancestral
database.”

“
Sure.” She took the envelope and
stuffed it in her bag her mind already too deeply connected with
Ash’s to pay attention to another person. Continuing down the
steps, she spied the limo and headed straight for it. Ash was in
full business mode and was engrossed in a telepathic conversation
with another senator about some foreign power. He smiled at her and
she sat quietly waiting for him to finish. After a couple of
minutes, she put her hand on his knee, and walked her fingers up
his thigh toward his groin.

He didn’t stop communicating, but he didn’t
stop her either. With a grin, she cupped his balls and rubbed her
thumb slowly up and down the rapidly lengthening side of his cock.
After another minute, his hand clamped down over hers and held her
still. He was so aroused that she could feel the fast beat of his
heart through his cock. Undeterred, she hooked her knee over his
thigh and rubbed herself against the hard muscles of his leg until
her panties were wet, and the scent of her arousal was all around
them.

His expression tightened as his fingers slid
into her from behind and pumped back and forth. She had to bite her
lip to keep from moaning. It took her a minute to notice the limo
had stopped moving. With a sigh, she disentangled herself from Ash,
got out and walked to the elevator. He was slower, but she didn’t
wait for him. If he wanted her, he knew where to find her.