Beyond Eden (13 page)

Danny had forced her to fall in love with him by fucking her like a dirty bitch on the unforgiving floor of the house he shared with Paul.

When the pleasure became too much, Eve slipped one hand between their straining bodies, her fingers finding her clit. She started rubbing eagerly, making Danny groan louder. “Come for me, Evie Girl,” he gasped in a voice gravelly with the need for release. “Do it and I’ll come with you.”

“Mmm,” she hummed in agreement because words were beyond her.

She turned her head and Danny took the invitation, leaning down to drag his tongue up the line of her neck in the same way he had first lapped at her pussy. The reminder of it had Eve suddenly clenching around him without warning.

The orgasm slammed into her more forcefully than the first one. Her entire body stiffened from the impact of it as the pleasure washed over her once more. Eve choked back a scream as her body continued to tighten around Danny’s cock, making him tense above her. A low, rumbling groan burst out of him as he started fucking her to the rhythm of his own climax, drawing out hers for what seemed like an eternity while she shuddered and gasped in ecstasy beneath him.

The hot gush of him coming made the slide of his cock in her easier as his movements slowed to a more languid rhythm. Their lips met in lazy kisses, Danny’s tongue pushing into her mouth in time with the thrust of his cock as they both rode out the aftermath of their climaxes.

“Let’s do that again,” Eve moaned desperately when she was finally able to find her voice. “And again and again.”

“Let’s,” Danny agreed, his voice low and sated. Eve’s eyes blinked open to admire the way his face glistened with sweat and his dark eyes pulsed with satisfaction. He gave her an indulgent smile as he thrust his hips against hers once more. “I’ve got a bed. Want to see it?”

She returned his lazy smile with one of her own. “Sure.”

Eve moaned when Danny rolled off her, falling heavily to his back next to her on the floor. He tossed an arm over his eyes as he fought to get his breath back. She admired the way his chest rose and fell with each breath as his smooth, olive skin glimmered with sweat. When his breathing started to even out he reached down and pushed at his jeans, kicking them off impatiently.

“Nice,” Eve said as she admired Danny fully naked. “I don’t think you’re going to get dinner tonight. It’s been a long eleven months.”

“It’s been a long twenty-three years. I’ve wanted to be your boyfriend since kindergarten,” Danny said with a look of adoration. “You’re all the dinner I need. I want to taste you again—that was divine.”

“Really?” Eve asked in surprise. “After you came in me?”

“You’re not the only one who’s dirty,” Danny assured her with a naughty smirk. “I like it sloppy too.”

“Bonus,” Eve said in excitement, her eyes wide as a tingle of fresh desire washed over her. “You’re a real catch, Danny Boy. I’m keeping you.”

“That’s the plan,” he said warmly. “I’m yours for as long as you’ll take me.”

It was on the tip of Eve’s tongue to say it could possibly be forever, but that word made a different image appear without warning. She recalled lying sated and sweaty next to another man, one who would be home in a few short hours.

“Show me your bed,” Eve said rather than dwell on the past. “And then we’ll discuss your dinner.”

Paul sat in his car, the radio blaring angry rap music as he stared at Eve’s Ford Escort still parked in front of the house. He closed his eyes, hoping to God the two of them hadn’t fallen asleep, because he would rather stay in his car until morning than go into the house with Eve there sleeping naked next to Danny.

It was past midnight. Danny was definitely going to owe him for this. Even Paul wasn’t submissive enough to put up with Danny fucking his ex-girlfriend while he sat there in his car and waited for him to get done. He was tired. He had a long day tomorrow and he needed to get some sleep. If he didn’t get to bed soon, he would have to skip the gym in the morning and that was something he couldn’t afford to do. He was too tense. He needed the punishment of working out until his muscles burned in agony. It was one of the few socially acceptable things he could do that catered to his pain fetish. Giving it up was more than he was willing to do.

He pulled out his phone to text Danny. The letters blurred from his exhaustion and he had to squint at the screen to keep it in focus.

I’m home, motherfucker.

Paul tossed his phone onto the seat. He glared at the porch, waiting to see how long it took Danny to get Eve out of the house when Paul had made his annoyance blatantly obvious. They had evidently been doing something other than sleeping, because the outside light flipped on within a few minutes.

Paul knew that meant he was free to walk in but he still made slow work of putting his cell phone in his briefcase and turning off the car. He wavered when he got out of the car, pushing the button on his key to lock it as a wave of depression washed over him. He stood there in the grass as his emotions went wild and he reeled over the onslaught of jealousy. He wanted to be the one fucking Eve until past midnight. If this punishment didn’t rid him of his fetish that had him longing to be abused, he didn’t know what would because this was agony.

Eve appeared then and Paul growled under his breath as he studied the relaxed lines of her shoulders and the mussed look to her long red hair. She waved to Danny before she turned to look at Paul. Time seemed to pause as the two of them stood there separated by the long yard. The light from the porch illuminated Eve in the darkness, making an eerie glow surround her that wasn’t helped by his exhaustion. Paul studied her, fuming at her for looking so beautiful and appealing when he wanted to hate her.

She had done more than betray him—she was stealing Danny from him.

That was the real agony. He was hurting twice as badly because he couldn’t bear the thought of Danny falling for Eve in a way that had him forgetting Paul when they only had a few more months together.

Eve stiffened as he stood there fighting his fury. Paul realized she could read his anger as easily as he could read her sated relaxation. Even from a distance they still knew each other from subtle nuances—a gift that came from loving someone so completely you memorized everything about them.

Eve actually shook her head, as if trying to rid herself of the guilt as she stepped off the porch and walked out to the yard. “I’m sorry,” she said as she tucked her hair behind her ears and avoided his eyes. “We got caught up watching a movie.”

“Sure you did,” Paul snorted as he willed his feet to move, wanting to get past her and into the house as quickly as possible.

Eve stopped, pushing her purse higher on her shoulder as she glared at him, her green eyes glowing furiously in the darkness. “We already had this discussion. You told me it was fine.”

“I’m having second thoughts,” he admitted before he could stop himself, because like everything else, being honest with Eve was a habit that was hard to break. “This fucking sucks, Evie Girl.”

“Christ.” Eve groaned, putting a hand to her eyes and wavering where she stood. Her voice cracked in anguish as she whispered, “I wish you would have said something before.”

“Why?” Paul growled at her, his eyes narrowing as he studied her closely. “No, lemme guess. You tasted the Danny drug and you want more. You’ll do anything for it. You’re standing there shaking because you know you’ll have to have him again even if it hurts me. Is that it?”

“You’re an asshole,” Eve snapped as she took a menacing step toward him. She reached out and actually hit his chest, shoving him hard enough to make him take a step back because Eve had always been much stronger than she looked. “I asked, Paul Guy. I gave you the courtesy and you said it was fine. Now you’re standing there angry when you’ve got a fiancée and absolutely nothing to offer me. How dare you!”

Paul took a shuddering breath, looking away from her with wide eyes as he tried to push away the sudden tidal wave of lust that surged through him without warning. “I’m sorry,” he whispered frantically, trying to fight down the deep-seated instinct in him that made him hard and desperate when a woman he wanted as badly as Eve was that domineering and angry at him. He realized with a shock Eve had never been genuinely mad at him before. If he had known it was going to do this to him he would have avoided it at all costs because his knees were actually shaking from the effort it took not to drop down in front of her on the dirt. He rubbed at the back of his neck, searching anxiously for sanity. “I’m really—” he choked on the apology, knowing that repeating himself was going to give him away.

“He’s tired,” Danny’s voice cut through the tension. “Ignore him. He wakes up at five every morning to go to the gym before work and he’s dead on his feet.”

“I didn’t know that,” Eve mumbled. “You should’ve come home sooner. We don’t want to put you out.”

“It’s fine,” Paul whispered, still staring at the ground with wide eyes. “You can put me out. I don’t mind.”

“What?” Eve asked, her voice suddenly mystified. “But you just—”

“Did you eat?” Danny asked Paul in a sharp voice that helped anchor him to reality in way Eve couldn’t, not when he could still feel the force of her push against his chest. “He’s got low blood sugar. He gets irrational when he doesn’t eat.”

“Is that true?”

Paul nodded, not really certain what he was agreeing to, but knowing Danny wouldn’t steer him down the wrong road when he had suddenly lost touch with reality.

“Go ahead and take off. I’m going to heat him up something. I’ll call you tomorrow.

He’s fine.”

“He doesn’t look fine.”

“Tell Evie you’re fine,” Danny said, his voice low in warning.

“I’m fine,” Paul repeated obediently. He turned to look at Eve, seeing that her eyes were still narrowed at him in both anger and suspicion. He wilted, his voice taking on a completely different tone as his eyes ran over her longingly, “I’m so sorry, Evie Girl. I didn’t mean to—”

“Dinner,” Danny cut him off abruptly.

Danny’s interruption was disappointing because Paul had seen the way Eve’s eyes had glazed over from that simple apology. She would be so easy to seduce into dominating him and then she could take out her anger in a much more productive way. He raised his eyebrows as he considered her wearing leather for him instead of Danny.

“Paul Guy—” Eve started, her voice seductively raspy. “Do you want me to come inside? We can talk while you eat?”

“No way,” Danny growled, obviously losing his patience with both of them. “It’s late. You leave any later and the drunks will be on the road.”

“Oh, Danny Boy,” Eve said, wincing as she turned to look up at Danny with pity, obviously thinking about his parents who had died from his father drinking and driving. “You can’t be paranoid like that.”

“That’s not paranoia, that’s a legitimate fact,” Danny said softly, giving Eve a pleading look. “Please go, drive carefully and let me feed this asshole. I promise you he’s fine.”

“Okay.” Eve’s shoulders slumped as she turned to look at Paul once more, her cheeks flushing. “Apology accepted,” she said softly, giving him a guilty smile. “I didn’t mean to lose my temper.”

It was on the tip of Paul’s tongue to say something along the lines of it being understandable when he was worthless and out of line but Danny’s foot connected with his shin in a lightning-fast move Eve didn’t see. Paul jerked from the impact, choking back the words that would have probably gotten Eve hot for him in a way he had been fantasizing about for ten long years.

Eve sucked in a surprised gasp, looking up at him in concern. “Are you okay?” “Bad knee,” Paul choked out, his eyes wide as he fought the desire pulsing through

him to the point that he was about to give away both of them to Eve. “Long day.”

“Go inside,” Danny said slowly in a voice that was clearly a warning. “You need to get off it if it’s hurting you.”

“Right,” Paul said, walking toward the house, being too far gone to pretend that having a bad knee was an imposition. “Night, Evie.”

“Night,” Eve mumbled, her voice still mystified. “He shouldn’t be doing the Iron Man and working out like he does if it bothers him.”

“I tell him that,” Danny said, his voice still sharp in irritation. “But he doesn’t listen.”

Paul rubbed at the back of his neck, walking toward the house without looking back. He abandoned his briefcase the moment he was behind the safety of the door and walked straight to the kitchen. He got a beer out with shaking hands. It was a small miracle he didn’t shatter the glass from the force he used to twist the cap off. He leaned back against the counter, taking a long drink with the thought that he should have opted for whisky instead.

Paul was nearly finished with the beer, his body still physically shaking, when Danny walked in, closing the door harder than needed and flipping the lock. Paul tossed his empty beer bottle in the sink and wiped at his forehead that was beaded with sweat.

“Is she gone?” he asked frantically.

“Yes,” Danny said in a dark, furious voice. “What were you thinking?”

“I’m sorry,” he moaned, burying his face in his hands and fighting to stay on his feet. “I didn’t know she’d hit me. It blindsided me.”

“What were you going to do?” Danny growled as he walked into the kitchen. “Drop to your knees and beg her to punish you?”

Paul sucked in a sharp gasp of pleasure as Danny’s words made dark, decadent images blossom in his mind. “Maybe.”

Danny stood there silently. Paul’s body grew tense while he waited, not knowing if he had somehow pissed him off. He had fallen completely into submissive mode when Eve had hit him and that side of him never wanted to disappoint his Master.

“You wouldn’t want to do this to her. Evie’s sweet. You don’t want her to sacrifice her humanity for you,” Danny finally whispered solemnly. “Don’t use that voice on her again.”

Paul squeezed his eyes shut, disappointment washing over him. He sagged back against the sink, hating his life, wishing he had some way to fix everything. But it was all such a tangled web of love, friendship and pain. If Eve hadn’t left, Paul would have never ended up being with Danny. That was as painful a thought as never having loved Eve to begin with.