Page 29 of Fool's Bargain

“When you sayessences, you don’t mean blood?” she asked.

Dorian smirked from the corner of the bed, his hand dropping to his crotch. “No, honey. We don’t mean blood. Three tastes of each other is enough to reach our souls. It isn’t permanent but renewing the bond is half the fun. If it ever fades, it’s a good sign it’s time to move on.”

My faint meld to her gave me a peek into her thoughts and emotions. A wave of lust rolled through her along with an image of Dorian’s face buried between her thighs, his deep blue eyes staring up at her with salacious mirth as he devoured her. His smile grew wider.

Flustered, she pushed past me and fled toward the bedroom door, snagging a robe on the way out.

“I’m going for a swim,” she shot back over her shoulder. As she stepped over the threshold into the next room, her body dematerialized and the air rushed in where she’d been with a loud pop. A second later a splash came from outside. We ran to the window and peered out at the thrashing woman in the pool down below.

She came up sputtering and cursing in the center of the water. “What the fuck!” She spun, treading water to stay above the surface, and stared up at the window where we stood.

“Looks like some drifting lessons are in order,” Kyril said as we broke into laughter.

15

Zarya

Afew quick breaststrokes brought me to the edge of the pool and I hauled myself out, jeans clinging to my legs. A gentle ocean breeze caressed my skin, raising goose bumps on my arms and across my torso. Standing, I shoved my jeans down, hurrying to peel the wet denim off so I could dive back into the heated water. My silk bathrobe floated on the surface, the hand-dyed jellyfish on the back looking like a mutant sea creature with the pool lights shining through the material.

On either side of me, the air pressure changed with a popping sound and two pairs of legs appeared. Dorian moved in front of me.

“Let me help,” he said, crouching down and peering up at me with a glint in his eyes. My panties were around my thighs and I swallowed, realizing he’d caught me in a very compromising position. I’d intended to just get naked and dive back in but now I was pretty sure all bets were off.

But he didn’t pull on my jeans. He didn’t even venture to touch me. Instead, he let his hands hover about an inch over the fabric, swiping them down my legs. As his hands moved, the fabric relaxed and I realized he was somehow pulling the water from my jeans with his hands.

While he did that, Kyril wandered to the side of the pool and knelt, reaching one long arm out to snag the floating robe. He dragged the dripping thing out of the water, held it up, and a deluge sluiced down the length of it, as if every last drop of moisture had been banished from the colorful weave. The ends of the soft cotton belt fluttered in the breeze.

Dorian continued down to my booted feet, the squelching wetness inside my shoes disappearing within a few seconds. Then he hooked a hand around the back of one heel, and I obediently picked up my foot. I dropped a hand to his shoulder for balance as he slipped off one boot, then drifted warm fingers up my leg to tug down my sock. My naked groin was less than a foot from his face, yet he kept his attention focused on my foot, gripping my heel in one palm while he slowly pulled the sock down my leg.

How the act of a man taking off my sock could be erotic was beyond me, but my body responded. My core grew warm and tingly and fresh wetness coated the tops of my now dry thighs. Dorian’s nostrils flared as he inhaled, but he had no other reaction beyond lowering my bare foot and switching to the other.

When I was barefoot, he paused and looked up at me, his black, shining hair a perfect frame of soft waves around his handsome face. Somewhere in his gaze I sensed a plea, and even though he was only kneeling to help me, I knew I was the one in control, that whatever I asked for he would give me, and that he was more than happy to kneel through it all. The weight of that realization scared me. I was torn between pulling up my pants and escaping again or diving in both literally and metaphorically with all three of these beautiful men.

But there was one who I owed a return favor first. “Where’s Theo?” I asked, glancing around but seeing no sign of him.

“He went to retrieve our liquor,” Kyril said. He came to stand at my other side, holding up my robe as Dorian helped me step out of my pants. His gaze swept down my naked body, lingering over my nipples, which were rock hard and aching more with the memory of his touch than with the chilly air. “You look cold. How can you stand being naked in the winter like this?”

I took the robe but instead of putting it on, I tossed it onto the chaise where Dorian had placed my clothes. “Well, first of all, this is Los Angeles. It’s not really cold here. Where I grew up it would be snowing right now. Second, my plan was to be in the pool. It’s heated. I just intended to strip first.”

“With training you’ll learn to control the drift better. Young nymphaea often spontaneously drift places without intending. You must have had a rather urgent need to go for a swim, which in this temperature makes me question your nymphaea blood. We aren’t exactly cold weather creatures.”

My teeth began to chatter and I made my way to the edge of the pool. “Neither am I. There’s a reason I moved here. Now I’m getting back in before I actually freeze.”

I pushed off the edge, diving deep beneath the water. The rush of the plunge felt just like the sensation I’d had in that split second between standing in my bedroom door and finding myself in the pool. The chill in my flesh disappeared and I relaxed enough to form complete thoughts again by the time I emerged from the surface.

The pair of them watched me from the other end of the pool, Dorian still crouching, Kyril standing close to his side. Appearance-wise the three of them were very different, aside from their immense size. Dorian was the dark one with eyes of deep indigo blue, Theo the blond with eyes like ice, and Kyril squarely between with a mop of thick, wavy brown hair and turquoise eyes.

I couldn’t deny a deep desire for them, but after the afternoon I’d had with Deva, I craved something soft too. Women were so different from men, alluring in ways that a man could never replicate. Women were the smooth sweetness of rich, dark chocolate while men were the bite of the tannins that gave it its bitter edge.

I’d seen Llyr change though. He’d become a woman before my eyes, so I knew it was possible for these guys to do the same. Would it be crazy of me to ask? Would I risk insulting them if I confessed that I didn’tjustwant dicks?

The ache between my legs pulsed as if to prod me. Theo had given me one hell of an orgasm with just his hand, but I’d felt the tree trunk in his jeans, seen how hard all three of them had been. They may not have breasts and pussies, but they definitely had a lot of fun parts worth exploring.

Swimming back to the center of the pool, I called, “The water’s perfect. You guys should get naked and come in!”

Dorian’s intense gaze locked onto mine, his jaw set as he dipped his hand into the water. His eyebrows lifted and he looked up at Kyril. “She’s right. It’s as warm as the seawater in the Haven.”

An instant later, his head and hands were no longer visible, and his clothing remained suspended for a second before collapsing into a pile on the bricks. A shape appeared beneath the water, long and sleek as a big fish, slicing toward me in a blur.

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