Beyond Ecstasy (Beyond #8) (17 page)

Hawk tugged on a lock of her hair. “You were going to learn a whole language in three days?”

“Oh, she learned a lot of it. She knew tons of words.” Gia tapped the side of Jeni's head lightly. “This little brain of hers is a wizard at memorizing things. She can probably still read French. But when she tried to
pronounce
it…”

“It was a disaster.” Jeni's cheeks heated as she recalled trying to stumble her way through the simplest of conversations. “Neither of us could understand a goddamn thing the other was saying. We were communicating with notes when Gia stepped in.”

“There is one universal language,” Gia murmured. She stroked a finger down to curl another lock of Jeni's hair around
her
finger, and the embarrassed heat in Jeni's cheeks turned into something else entirely. “He was actually sweet once I got him on his knees. Especially when he saw the flogger. Begging is downright
poetic
in French.”

“She's being modest. She had him crying for his
maman
—and loving every second of it.” Hawk was watching her with a warm, lazy smile, and Jeni cleared her throat. “So he bankrolled the entire expansion, and Gia paid him back in record time. With interest.”

“Naturally.” Gia sighed wistfully. “Business was good in those days. Everything in Eden was so placidly dull. Sneaking out here to enjoy fine wine, good conversation, and a little mild perversity was practically a rite of passage for anyone who wanted to
be
someone.”

Hawk tugged at Jeni's hair again, but beneath the table his other hand found the slit in her dress and eased the fabric aside. “Only mild perversity? That's disappointing.”

“Maybe I have a different definition of
mild
than you do,” Gia replied, running the backs of her fingers over one of Jeni's flushed cheeks. “Or maybe not. Does he tease you terribly, Jeni?”

She gulped the rest of her wine, then looked at Hawk. He stared back at her, his expression as tight as his hand on her leg, laden with unspoken command.

Answer her
.

She couldn't look away as she obeyed. “Sometimes,” she whispered. “If I get too greedy.”

“So all the time?” Gia smiled fondly as she glanced at Hawk. “Ace talked to me, you know.”

“Oh?” Hawk's earlier unease had vanished. Something about the silent undertones to their conversation tonight had grounded him, and it was more than just Gia putting him at ease.

The darkly confident Hawk who'd flipped her onto her stomach and fucked her breathless had returned.

And Gia could tell. “He thought you might need some guidance, like Cruz did in the early days. Someone to show you how good it can be to put a sweet, trusting little angel on her knees. Or over yours.” Gia's voice dropped to a husky whisper as she stroked Jeni's flushed cheek again. “But that's not what you need at all. You know exactly what you want.”

Hawk's fingers slipped up Jeni's inner thigh. “I want her.”

Jeni's heart thumped harder. It would be a strange sensation for most people, she supposed, listening to a conversation that was
about
them but not
for
them. A discussion that had everything to do with their needs and desires, but didn't require their input, not yet.

For her, it was like the wine. It flowed through her, warming places that even Hawk's touch couldn't reach.

Gia touched the collar at Jeni's throat. “You already have her. So tell us what you really want, Hawk.”

No, Gia wouldn't be like Ace, blunt and confrontational, challenging Hawk's claim and undermining his feeling of control. Gia was too clever, too subtle.

Gia would make him admit the truth.

His hand rested heavy on Jeni's thigh, his fingers spread wide. The silence built between the three of them until the tension
hurt
, but when Hawk's voice came, it was rough with desire. “I want someone to help me find the lines.”

“You want to learn how to hurt her without
hurting
her.” Gia sat back and reached for her wineglass. “How to do it just right.”

Hawk finally looked at her, his eyes intent. “Does Gia know how to do it just right, Jeni?”

What she knew was both simpler and more complex. She knew the places pain could take someone, how the mind and body would react in different ways. How some people would scream, and some would cry, and some would enter a sort of ecstasy that was almost religious in its transcendence. When you put lash to flesh, it stripped away all pretense and left behind only the purest bleeding truth.

Hawk could take her to that truth with a word or a look. It was a different sort of trust, the kind wrapped up in dominance and submission, something Jeni craved as much as the pain. But if she could have both, and have it with
Hawk
—

“Yes,” she said breathlessly. “Gia knows.”

He cupped her cheek, turning her so that she couldn't see Gia, only him, as he leaned in close. “Would you like it, Jeni? If I asked her to show me. To
help
me.”

It wasn't a question, not really. But she nodded anyway.

Hawk swept his thumb over her mouth, then teased at her bottom lip. “Is there someplace private we can go?”

Everything was private tonight. Gia wouldn't have invited them over if she were open for business, and her staff knew exactly when to make themselves scarce. But there was one place Jeni needed to go. One place that meant something. “My room.”

“Why don't you show him there?” Gia slipped out of the booth. “You two can discuss things, and I'll be along once I've settled the place down for the night.”

Her room was in another wing of the house. Jeni gripped Hawk's hand and led him down the quiet, dimly lit hall. Her stomach fluttered, even through the relaxing edge of the wine. “Now I know how you felt,” she confessed.

“About what?” He squeezed her hand. “Showing you my room?”

“Yes.” She paused at the door, then pushed it open.

Inside was the same as the day she'd left. White and blue walls, a patterned carpet over the hardwood that Gia had imported from somewhere, white furniture, and a huge bed that took up the entire center of the room.

It was nothing like her room back at the compound, which was draped with mismatched silks and pillows in bright, clashing colors. But it was still a part of her, and having him here felt like showing him every secret she hadn't realized she was keeping.

He tilted his head, his gaze drifting slowly across the room, cataloging everything. “It's not what I expected.” He laid his hand on the back of her neck. “But it fits you.”

She wanted to turn to him then, feel his hands slide down, all over her—but she'd seen the questions in his eyes at the table. “What do you need to know?”

His fingers tightened slightly—possessive, pressing the leather of the collar closer to her skin. “I need to know if there's anything you don't want to happen. Any way you don't want her to touch either of us.”

She wasn't accustomed to being on this side of things. If this question had been asked before any of her previous sexual encounters, it had never been directed at her. She'd always been the temporary visitor, the guest. The reason they needed the rules.

It was arousing as hell. “No,” she whispered, tugging at his jacket, watching his eyes. “I know what's mine.”

His lips curled into a smug smile. “You'll use your safe word if anything is too much?”

“Yes.” She clenched her hand in the warm leather. “You should, too. If you need it.”

He dragged his fingers down her shoulder and hooked one under the edge of her dress, pulling it down. “How would you wait for Gia, if I wasn't here?”

“Naked. She'd like that.”

Hawk leaned down until his lips brushed her ear, and his words came on a low, sexy-as-hell growl. “Then do it, Jeni. Get naked.”

The shoes had to go first. Jeni bent to unbuckle them, acutely aware of Hawk's gaze on her. Then she straightened, stepped out of them, and reached for the side zipper of her dress. A slow, sexy unzipping was hard at the best of times, and her hands were already shaking. It only got worse when Hawk shrugged out of his jacket, his shoulders flexing as he moved, and dropped to the padded bench at the foot of the bed.

Her dress hit the floor, and she left it there. She had things to do—things like kneeling beside Hawk, the plush rug soft under her knees.

He stroked her hair, his touch as tender as the look in his eyes. “Tell me one thing you want from tonight. One fantasy.”

A gentle flush was already sweeping through her, warming her until her skin prickled and her nipples hardened. “I want to make you feel this good. I want to show you that I can.”

“How good do you feel? Show me.”

Jeni shivered as she eased her legs wider, baring herself a little more to his gaze but mostly to her own touch. She glided two fingers over her slick pussy, shivering again when she grazed her clit. Then she raised her hand, showing him the wetness that clung to her fingertips.

“So ready.” He caught her wrist and dragged her hand up, close enough for him to swirl his tongue around her fingers. “Does it turn you on so much, imagining trying to please both of us?”

“Yes.” She glanced at his lap, at the hard length of his cock still trapped in his jeans, and swayed closer. “What turns you on this much?”

“You.” Hawk caught her chin and tilted her head back. “Knowing Gia will see how sweet and obedient you are for me. Because no matter who's touching you, you're mine.”

There it was, the very edge of the darkness she craved. “That's it,” she whispered. “If I could have one thing tonight, it would be for you to let go. Whatever filthy thing you want, I'll make it beautiful for you.”

His chest heaved. His eyes blazed. But before he could respond, a soft knock sounded at the door. Hawk held her chin, held her gaze. “Come in.”

The door opened, but Jeni couldn't turn her head. She heard it close again, then the soft click of Gia's heels as she circled the edge of the carpet. “My, what a lovely sight.”

Jeni had been naked in front of Gia—
for
Gia—hundreds of times. But she'd never knelt for her. This was entirely new territory, and having it all happen under Hawk's hot, watchful gaze…

There it was again, the tingling, plucking at the parts of her that needed so much to
give in
.

“We talked,” Hawk said, his voice beautifully dark. “Jeni wants to be a sweet girl, do anything that pleases me.”

“Of course she does.” Gia's footsteps became muffled as she stepped onto the carpet, and Jeni could
feel
her behind her. “What would please you first?”

His thumb edged up over her lower lip, but this time he worked it into her mouth, onto her tongue. “Having you show me how hard I can fuck this sweet mouth.”

Jeni moaned, the sound subdued by his thumb, and laid her hand on his knee.

A light touch drifted over her hair, a moment before Gia asked, “May I?” Hawk nodded, and Jeni felt the brush of Gia's skirts on her bare back, sensuous silk that slid over her as Gia circled her and sank to the bench next to Hawk.

She was waiting, too. Not for Hawk to command her, but for Hawk to give her permission to command Jeni. Because they might be under Gia's roof, enjoying Gia's hospitality…

But Jeni belonged to Hawk.

The same realization flared in his eyes. His lips curved into a smug smile as he eased his thumb away and sat back. “Be good for Gia,” he murmured. “Obey her. Can you do that?”

There was nothing he couldn't ask of her. “Yes, sir.”

“Oh, Jeni.” Gia's voice held nothing but warmth as she stroked Jeni's cheek. “You shine for him, don't you? It's beautiful. Now open his pants, and we'll show him how much brighter you can glow.”

Her fingers skipped over his belt buckle. She stroked the soft fabric of his T-shirt, and he dragged it over his head. The warm lights burnished his skin, and Jeni stared at him as she undid his belt.

Gia's touch shifted to the collar at Jeni's throat. She traced the silver medallion with a smile. “I understand this now. It's charming, the way she matches you.”

Hawk's chest rumbled with something too low to be called laughter. “
Charming
isn't exactly what I'd call it. Hot as fuck, more like.”

“I imagine so.” Gia reached lower, stroking over the swell of Jeni's breast to circle one nipple. Jeni arched reflexively, seeking more, especially when Gia's next words rolled over her. “You should get her some clamps. They look so beautiful on her, and she
squeals
when they come off.”

Hawk stared at her breasts, already locked deep in the fantasy, so deep that Jeni felt it pulling at her, too. He could be so gentle, but there was another part of him, one that could be so deliciously rough. One that would pinch and tug and twist until she was sore as hell,
on fire
with possibility.

She popped open the button on his jeans and smoothed her hand over his caged erection as she reached for his zipper.

Gia's thumb and forefinger pinched tight without warning, turning the pain from her fantasy into shivery reality. Jeni's eyes fluttered shut, and her hands fumbled.

“Shh,” Gia soothed, rubbing away the sting with the pad of her thumb. “You see how little it can take to get a reaction? Pain isn't always about
how much
. Especially with someone so desperate to please.”

Hawk reached for Jeni's other breast, his fingers broader and rougher than Gia's, though they mirrored her slow caress. “Then what's it about?”

The toe of Gia's shoe nudged the inside of Jeni's knee, commanding her silently to spread her legs wider. “Knowing her, darling. When she needs you to break through what's holding her back, and when she's already so exposed that you can shatter her with the lightest touch.”

Hawk slid his free hand over Jeni's, pinning them both in place against his open fly and the erection straining behind it. “Open your eyes.”

She obeyed, her ears ringing, her heart thudding painfully.

His thumb circled her nipple, slow and taunting. He teased it to a taut, aching point, his gaze locked on her face as if she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. “You're exposed. Naked for us. Wet. We're going to play with until you can't take another second of it and beg to stop coming.” His fingers pinched tight, sparking bright pain through her. “And then I'll make you come one last time, just to please me.”