Page 159 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
Theon huffed a laugh. “How is that different?”
“Because it’s… It wasn’t— I don’t know how to say this without it sounding ridiculous,” he finally managed to get out.
“We’re discussing sharing a wife. Not sure it gets much more ridiculous than that.”
“It’s because it’s you,” murmured a sleepy, feminine voice. Then she stirred, languid and slow. She didn’t even open her eyes when she added, “He doesn’t care whenyoutouch his things.”
“Is that so, little storm?” he asked in amusement, lifting his gaze back to Luka.
He wouldn’t look at him, instead already getting up to retrieve coffee for Tessa.
She rolled over, her ass and bare legs pushing against him now, and this was the part he wasn’t sure what to do with. If Luka wasn’t here, he’d already be between her thighs. His tongue first and then his cock.
Dammit.
Tessa turned and glanced up at him from beneath her lashes, a small quirk of her mouth telling him she knew exactly what he was struggling with. But if she thought he wasn’t going to touch her, she was sorely mistaken. He might not fuck her right now, but…
As she pushed into a sitting position, he reached over and grabbed her throat, tugging her to him. His mouth landed on hers, and he swallowed her surprised gasp. That surprise quickly became something else, and her lips melted against his. Soft. Pliable. His tongue invading her mouth. Claiming and owning and taking something she was willingly giving him.
He pulled back first, more than satisfied by the dazed look in her violet eyes and the flush on her cheeks. “Good morning, beautiful,” he purred, tucking hair behind her ear. “Luka has your coffee.”
“Right. Coffee,” she murmured, turning to Luka. She took it, glancing up at him and then back to her cup. She cleared her throat. “This is awkward, right?”
“You’ve woken up in a bed with both of us before,” Luka said flatly.
“Well, yeah, but… Not… This is different, and you know it,” she finally said, irritation creeping into her tone.
“How is it different? Did you not sleep well? Was coffee not delivered to you?”
“That’s not?—”
She saw the lip twitch at the same time Theon did, and Theon turned his head to hide his own smirk.
“Gods, you’re such an ass,” she grumbled, wrapping her fingers around her mug and bringing it to her lips.
Luka sat back down on the edge of the bed, taking a drink of his own coffee.
“It’s new territory for all of us, Tessa,” Theon tried. “But it’s something we need to figure out how to navigate before we let the rest of the realm know.”
“Which is why I’m saying if it needs to be just the two of you?—”
“No,” Tessa interjected, almost panicked. The bands of light on her wrists flared, illuminating their Union Mark, and those dark embers crackled at her fingertips.
“Easy, baby girl,” Luka said, reaching over to brush his hand along her arm at the same time Theon ran his fingertips down her spine. “I’m not going anywhere. All I’m saying is it might be easier for both of you if my role in the relationship isn’t advertised.”
“You’re not some secret fuck buddy, Luka,” she said flatly.
“We’re not hiding anything,” Theon agreed. “Again, we just need to figure out things between the three of us. Then we can present it to the kingdoms, and they can fuck off if they don’t like it.”
“But maybe we should wait to share everything until after you’ve secured the Arius seat,” Luka said. “We’re already going to be up against opposition when it’s learned you took Tessa as your wife. She’s still technically your Source, and she’s the most powerful being in the realm. Add this to it,” he continued, gesturing between the three of them. “They’re not going to like any of it, Theon.”
He pulled on the back of his neck as he mulled that over. He had a point. A lot of really good points. If he suddenly showed up wanting to throw off every tradition and norm, they could easily fight him about it all and deny him everything.
“You might be right,” he started, but he didn’t get to finish.
“No,” Tessa interrupted, shaking her head. “No. You knew my stipulations for this, Theon. I’m not hiding who I am. I’m not becoming less than because it’s not what they want. I’m not… No. It’s one thing if Luka doesn’t want this, but if it’s only because it will make things more difficult. No. I’ll be as fucking difficult as I want to be.”
Then she was passing her coffee mug back to Luka before she crawled—fuckingcrawled—to the end of the bed to climb off it. She stalked across the room, slamming the bathroom door behind her, and still all Theon could think about was the way her ass had looked peeking out from the bottom of her shirt when she’d crawled across the bed.
