Page 98 of Catastrophe

Like gravity, she pulled us all together, closer, until Baelen and I were at her back and her bonds surrounded her.

“Safe.” Dralie approved.

CHAPTER 24

CLAWDIA

Zaide kissed me tenderly, and I shivered. “Let’s get you warm, little cat. You are so cold your lips are turning blue.”

“I’m fine,” I told him through chattering teeth, determined to enjoy the moment and to concentrate only on my men.

My bonds purred in my chest with the contentment I felt. As Zaide swam toward the dock, his scars illuminated the surrounding water in a lovely purple light, and his muscles rippled against my naked chest as he moved. Even shivering, a flutter of lust warmed me.

“I don’t want to get out.” I complained as he lifted me up to the boardwalk. I squirmed in his grip but ultimately, had to grip the wood and heave myself out. Like a seal dragging itself onto land, it was undignified and unsightly for my men to witness, but I knew they loved me, anyway.

Charlie laughed as I huffed and pouted. “I’m getting chilly. I’ll come up with you. Keep you warm,” he said with a wink. He nudged Zaide. “Give me a lift, big guy.”

“You are naked.” Zaide narrowed his eyes.

Charlie gasped and placed a hand on his chest. “I’m offended. You can’t touch a man who doesn’t have clothes?”

Zaide sighed heavily, not rising to the bait, before he hauled Charlie out of the water and tossed him onto the deck. The sight of it made me laugh.

“Oh sure, laugh it up. Every man wants to hear chuckles while he’s naked.” Charlie grumbled as he stood up and wiped himself down.

“You know I like you naked, Charlie. But seeing you lifted out of the water like a troublesome child is amusing. That’s not my fault.” I shrugged and laughed again at the infuriated expression on his face.

He picked up a towel and roughly dried my body and then my hair and I did the same to him, ruffling his hair until it stood upright on a point so he looked like something from a children’s tv show. I laughed again as Zaide hauled himself up onto the wooden planks and reached down to help Baelen.

We weren’t clean. Dralie disturbed the lake too much for the water to be clear and instead we were streaked in mud, but we felt better. Sometimes laughter and playing heals us more than soap and clean water.

Charlie growled, “Stop laughing at me. If you’re making me look funny, that’s your fault.”

“Never,” I whispered and kissed him. “Even on our deathbed, I want you to make me laugh.”

“Let’s not think about death, shall we?” Baelen said as he picked up Zaide’s braid and squeezed out the water, his biceps flexing. It made me want to bite it.

“We’ve got a long time before that, right?” Charlie asked as he attempted to comb his fingers through his hair.

I licked my lips at the picture they all made as Zaide bent to pick up a towel and his back and buttocks tensed in delicious, erotic ways. He wiped it over his body slowly, as though he knew I was watching. His cock twitched. Baelen took the towel from him and his eyes admired Zaide in the same way mine did.

They are going to be such a sight when they finally come together. Just imagining it made me bite my lip.

“You’re thinking hard.” Charlie asked as he wrapped his arms around me from behind, his cool, damp skin cooling my sudden flash of heat and making me shudder. He whispered in my ear, “What’s got you in such a tizz?”

“Nothing,” I singsonged, but I couldn’t peel my eyes from my men.

Their bodies were so beautiful and so complimentary, gold and bronze, muscular and chiseled like they were cut from stone to be pushed together like asymmetrical bookends. The dips in their abdomen and particularly the hollow of Zaide’s neck seemed perfect for Baelen to rest in. I wanted to see them so close.

“You can’t lie to me, Clawdicat. I can feel your emotions.” When I still said nothing, his arm brushed my stiff nipple as it lifted across my body to turn my face to his ear. He mumbled, “Whisper it.”

“Zaide and Baelen look very … handsome.”

Charlie scoffed. “They're all right for otherworlders, I suppose.”

I rolled my eyes and turned in his arms to pat his chest. “You’re very handsome too, Charlie.”

“Thank you.” He preened, his hands settling on my hips before looking over my head at the men. “So you were wondering what they’d look like together? Are you curious? Do you want to watch?”

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