Tidal Wave Read online

  “I’m sorry—”

  “Hush, I’m not looking for you to apologize anymore. I’m trying to tell you I understand why you did it. Anthony and I talked this morning after you left, and the depth of the whole emotional connection between water shifters is, well, it’s not like anything I’ve ever heard of in the human world.”

  She touched his mouth tenderly, her thumb rubbing at his lower lip. He let his tongue touch her skin, licking at the salty and sweet essence that was Alexia. “You and Anthony…talked?” He glanced over her shoulder to meet his cousin’s gaze. Understanding, longing, passion for the special woman in their arms passed between them.

  “Among other things.” Her body shook again and Joshua cursed, grabbing at the towel on the floor. Alexia laughed as he tried to force Anthony’s hands away to wrap her up. “Joshua, I’m not cold.”

  “Bullshit. I’m taking you upstairs and you’re getting into bed. There’s a tunnel connecting the cavern with the shed outside your house.” Her giggles continued and Joshua worried it had all been too much, that she was growing hysterical.

  “Now you’re talking sense. Bed is exactly where I want to be. With you. And Anthony. But I don’t want to leave the cave yet.” Her lips were on his neck again, hot moisture igniting his blood to boiling.

  * * *

  Anthony waited impatiently as they spoke. There was nothing he could have added to their conversation, other than wishing he too could share with Alexia how much she meant to him. It wasn’t his place, and he wasn’t going to assume anything.

  But right here, and right now, he knew what she needed. And he was more than willing to make sure it happened.

  He rearranged the cushions to form a nest on the grass mat, and Joshua deposited Alexia, trying to cover her with the heavy comforter. She continued to laugh and resist his attempts, Joshua wrestling with her.

  “Alexia, you need to rest. Lie back and we’ll warm you up. It’s all been too much, hasn’t it, sweetheart? Maybe a nap would be good,” Joshua said.

  His cousin’s heart was in the right place, but his brain must have melted from too much time in his fire form. Anthony planted a hand in the middle of Joshua’s back and shoved, knocking him to the surface of the bed next to Alexia who willingly wrapped her body around him like an octopus. “Stop fussing. She’s not shaking from the cold or from shock. Listen to her, she’s telling you what she needs. I don’t think it’s a nap, is it, Alexia?”

  “Hmmm, no nap. Just you.” Alexia licked the side of Joshua’s neck as she forced him onto his back in the middle of the bed. She straddled his waist and turned to face Anthony. “And you. Both of you.” She reached out for him and Anthony went willingly to her side, taking the kisses she offered, giving back his own worship of her lips and tongue.

  The woman had him tied up in more knots than he’d ever believed possible. He was someone who tried to walk the quietest route possible most of the time. Alexia released all the darkest and most passionate parts of his psyche. Emotion swept him along, needy and deep, and he knew he could no more stop the next events from happening than he could stop the tide from turning.

  His kisses grew hotter as Anthony took control and plundered her mouth. The fear that had covered them during the attack transformed into something more earthy and primitive as Alexia raked her fingernails down his shoulders and he growled. “God, yes. More. Give it all to me, to Joshua and me. Light us on fire. Burn us with your fire.”

  Alexia’s eyes flashed blue within the brown, hunger and lust spilling over like a tangible force.

  He lifted her, pushing her legs to the side so she knelt above Joshua’s body. Anthony looked at his cousin and saw the barely controlled heat in his eyes, the same dark desire rocking his own body.

  “Joshua is going to go down on you, love. He’s going to eat your pussy until you’re not able to move.” He watched Alexia’s eyes grow wider and wilder as he spoke. What she needed called to him, but she wouldn’t say it. He sensed it, knew the words were impossible for her to say even after knowing them intimately.

  So he said it for her.

  “When you’ve come so many times you’re ready to collapse into a puddle he’s going to fill you with his cock and I’m going to take your sweet ass and together the two of us are going to give you what you need. We’re going to cover you inside and out with everything in us. Our seed, our bodies and our hearts.” Anthony leaned in and kissed her open mouth as she gaped at his words. Just a touch, then he drew back and watched her eyes flutter shut as Joshua closed his mouth over her.

  As heat swept through her body, an innate sense of rightness came with it. Joshua lapped at her tender labia, his fingers separating her to let his intimate caresses reach where he directed them. With her eyes closed, all she felt were sensations, tingling and electrifying every nerve in her body.

  Anthony rubbed her neck, his fingers dragging into her hair the only warning before his mouth descended and took the very air from her lungs. Any of the slow tenderness he’d shown her through their lovemaking the previous night was erased as his body vibrated with sexual tension next to her. Something dangerous that had been caged within him was loose, and she was the one who would be the hunted, the one his passions took to the next level.

  Mouths joined, tongues mated, Anthony adjusted her head to another angle and drew her closer, all the while making sure she stayed suspended above Joshua’s talented mouth. Her heart swelled as she received from them, took what they wanted so badly to give her. Anthony’s words describing what he planned for them had brought her to the edge of orgasm, and a ripple of satisfaction started to flow through her body, the thrusting of Joshua’s tongue against her sensitive tissues enough to make her come.

  Anthony growled and tore her from her position, his green eyes dark with restrained passion as he arranged her to his liking on her hands and knees, her bottom thrust into the air.

  “Enough. I can’t wait to taste you. To feel you around me.” His voice scratched at her ears, low and husky, and another shiver knocked her off her hands to her elbows, opening her even wider to where Anthony waited behind her.

  A soft chuckle in front of her made her open her eyes to see Joshua smirking at his cousin. “Changing the game plan in mid-throw, are you? Damn impatient asshole, I wasn’t done with her.”

  Anthony’s warm hand covered the cheeks of her ass, his fingers tracing the open seam between them slowly until he slipped one thick digit into the wetness of her pussy. “Sorry, Joshua. Deal with it.” His concentration was completely on her, and she swore his gaze burned into her backside as one hand caressed and one hand dipped into her depths again and again.

  A gentle touch landed on her cheek, and Alexia looked up to see Joshua smiling at her, his cock in hand. She turned her head to lick at the moisture beaded on the swollen crest, and he rewarded her with a primal groan. She willingly opened her mouth and sucked him in, his flavor bursting over her tongue and relieving some of the dire need she’d felt build and rebuild ever since taking the medallion.

  Joshua cradled her head, supporting her as he rocked his hips forward and back, his heavy cock stretching her lips wide. She sucked as he withdrew and his hiss of pleasure echoed in the room.

  Behind her, hot moisture covered her pussy as Anthony feasted on her. His tongue laved the entire length of her slit rising to the puckered hole hidden between her cheeks. He brought her to another climax with his tongue and fingers on her clit, the pressure high and hard, while Joshua fucked her mouth with his cock. The tremors were smaller this time, the pressure within her continuing to rise instead of releasing. Anthony lapped at her, rimming the sensitive tissue of her ass until she was shaking hard enough to fall over.

  Anthony moved her again, this time returning her to the original position she’d taken straddling Joshua. Wordlessly she gyrated over him, rubbing like a cat in heat over his cock, dragging it over her erect clit and purring with delight at the sensations.

  “Put him inside you, Alex
ia, and let me get you ready. You’ve done this before, haven’t you?” Anthony’s hand stroked her ass and she had to concentrate to be able to respond.

  “A few times. I like it, but…” She stared at Joshua. “Not while I had another man in my pussy. It’s going to be too much.”

  Joshua ran his hands up the sides of her body, avoiding her bruise, skimming the rounded edges of her breasts. “You’ll be full, but it won’t be too much. It’s going to be wonderful. Anthony’s right, you need this to be able to make the transformation.”

  “Screw that.” Anthony barked and he clasped her neck and planted another barely controlled kiss on her lips. He pulled back leaving them both breathless. “This isn’t so you can transform, Alexia, it’s because I fucking need you. I need to be buried inside you so far you forget we’ve ever been apart. Ignore Joshua. He needs you too, but the bastard is too stupid for words and can never manage to say it properly. Did we tell you I let him copy all my test papers in school so he’d pass?”

  Alexia’s heart soared as she laughed at the expression on Joshua’s face.

  “Damn, Alexia, I didn’t mean for it to sound like—oh fuck!”

  Alexia and Joshua both gasped as Anthony pushed on her shoulders, spearing her down on Joshua’s cock. “Holy shit, that feels wonderful. You’re so hot and tight around me. Arghhh.” Joshua let his head fall back on the mattress.

  Alexia lifted and lowered a few times, loving the sensation of the hard crest stretching her passage. A firm hand stopped her motion, pressing her breasts into Joshua’s chest.

  “Kiss him, and let him know you forgive him for being an idiot. Besides, if he’s kissing he can’t talk and say stupid things.”

  Alexia giggled and nipped at Joshua’s lower lip.

  “I do need you, you know that, don’t you?” he whispered, his hand brushing her cheek. The love in his eyes spoke better than his words ever could. They had a deep connection but she really didn’t know the man yet. She’d fallen in love first and would have to get to know him better afterward, the complete opposite of what she’d imagined.

  Get to know them better. She sucked in air as Anthony probed her back passage, one finger slipping into her and pumping slowly. Joshua kissed her cheek and distracted her for a minute as she savored the sensation of being filled in her pussy and her ass at the same time.

  Something wet dropped on her skin and more pressure opened her. It stung a little at first but the pleasure of Anthony’s touch increased quickly as one hand pumped in and out, one hand rubbed the soft skin of her hip and ass.

  “Two fingers, Alexia. I’m adding a third.” Pressure increased again and she moaned into Joshua’s mouth. He pulled her tongue into his mouth and sucked it. He rocked his hips a few times, rubbing his hard abdominal muscles over her clit until there was nothing but pleasure everywhere.

  Anthony stretched her as he wiggled his fingers. It felt good but suddenly it wasn’t enough.

  “Now, I want you now.” She pressed back, trying to get him to fill her more and he laughed out loud.

  His cock was at the ready so quickly she had no time to take a deep breath. Moisture, warm and slippery, covered her and when he pressed the rigid head of his shaft into her there was no burning friction. Only hot, hard pressure that stretched and pulled at her. His cock was far larger than his fingers had been and with Joshua in her pussy there was no room to move. No room to retreat as pain flared for a second before the fat head of his cock popped through the tight ring of muscles and her body hummed with delight.

  Slowly, an inch at a time, Anthony entered her, his cock firing the nerves within her to an extreme pitch. She knew she made noises, sounds of passion escaping her lips as there was nowhere for her to go but deeper into the men around her, accepting them into her body and her heart.

  Finally he was all the way in, his groin a brand against her butt. Anthony stroked her ass cheeks, his touch light and tender before he withdrew from her body in one smooth pull, stopping with the head of his cock tucked behind the band of tight muscle.

  Joshua joined the movement and Alexia lost control. One cock at a time thrust into her as the other retreated, the filling and emptying, both as erotic and intoxicating as the other. The electrifying pressure of orgasm that had hovered for so long tripped the switch as her sheath tightened around Joshua, squeezing him closer than before. He swore and adjusted his pace, joining with Anthony’s thrusts.

  Alexia was overwhelmed with the pleasure that raced through her body, nerves pulsing with delight. Her body clenched around their thick cocks as Anthony’s fingers dug into her hips. He thrust into her, words of love pouring from the two men even as they skewered her apart with passion. A blue glow lit the entire room, fire raged outside and within.

  Anthony cried out and stilled, buried deep in her body, shooting his release. His climax triggered the others and Alexia shook as both cocks jerked within her, the scalding fluid coating her insides. Joshua dropped a kiss on her cheek and pulled her tighter into his arms. His hips gave a final involuntary thrust, like he was reluctant to leave her warmth.

  Boneless satisfaction covered her like a blanket as she lay on top of Joshua, their pounding hearts synchronizing, bodies relaxing together on the mattress. Anthony kissed her shoulder and pulled slowly from her body, the loss of his presence leaving an ache behind. Emptiness she wanted filled. By the time he was back with a cloth to clean her up, Alexia was on the edge of sleep, resting in the arms of one lover, waiting to be joined by the other.

  Everything would work out fine. It had to. Alexia kissed Joshua, then rolled to cuddle in Anthony’s arms as she basked in the glow of the love of two.

  11

  Peace settled over the house momentarily when Gram returned at dinnertime and apologized prettily. Then she threw them all for a loop, hauling a prepacked suitcase from the closet and announcing she was headed on a week-long shopping spree with her friends.

  Three other gray-haired ladies, giggling like schoolgirls, waited outside in a sturdy SUV. Gram waved off Alexia’s protests and queries, dropping a noisy kiss on her granddaughter’s cheek, before hopping behind the wheel and peeling out of the driveway. Alexia made a few choice comments to her lovers about meddlesome and manipulative relatives.

  Over the next days, they were inseparable. It became clear to the community that the three of them were an item, and Alexia worried about her reputation until her men managed to soothe her fears.

  “It’s not like they haven’t seen it before,” Anthony insisted when they sat to talk through all the pertinent issues in the privacy of the house. “The merfolk members of the community expect you to have at least two consorts, and the others will simply think it’s the same set-up as Gram had arranged. You know, poor relative moving in to help with chores and housekeeping when you travel.”

  Joshua snorted. “I get the poor-relative label, right? Starving artist and all that?”

  “I still can’t believe Gram was sleeping with both Gramps and Unca. I never suspected a single thing and I stayed with them for how many summers?” Alexia shook her head as she snuggled in Joshua’s lap on the couch.

  “Where did you think Unca slept?” Joshua brushed a loose curl behind her ear. He couldn’t get enough of touching her and wondered if the need would ever diminish.

  “He had the room at the top of the stairs to the side of Gram and Gramps, and I guess I never twigged to the fact it not only has a connecting door to the master bedroom, but it was also usually immaculately clean.” Alexia dropped a kiss on Joshua’s mouth before rising to her feet and stretching like a cat.

  She turned and stared hard at Anthony. “Did you say at least two consorts? Do you mean they expect me to…?” Her face grew bright red and Joshua squeezed his lips together to stop from laughing out loud.

  This one he’d let Anthony answer. His cousin had turned out to be rather adept when it came to taking charge of their lover. She was the one who would guide the pod, but she seemed to enjoy the rath
er dominant behavior Anthony exhibited in the bedroom and in their personal life. Joshua watched contentedly as Alexia was surrounded by Anthony’s arms and swept into a passionate embrace, the two of them losing track of time and location as they kissed. Anthony tugged her hips hard against his, rubbing her intimately before letting them up for air.

  “Merfolk follow our dolphin cousins in our sexual habits. It’s not like werewolf legends where there is one predestined mate for each of us. You might want another lover at some point. Your Gram married Gramps, and it wasn’t until years later that Unca joined them on a semipermanent basis.”

  Alexia’s mouth opened and closed a few times soundlessly before dropping her head onto his shoulder. “Thanks, Anthony, that’s just not the mental image I needed to have.”

  “Sorry, love. The fact you have the two of us in your bed doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve made a lifetime commitment to us.” Anthony lifted her chin so he could kiss her again but Alexia pushed him back, her expression shocked.

  “You don’t think this is forever? What we’ve been sharing?” Alexia asked, her gaze darting between the two of them.

  Joshua rose and went to comfort her as her tension rose. “You’re not hearing what he’s saying correctly.” Damn if Anthony hadn’t misspoken this time. It appeared even wordsmiths could blow it. “He’s saying you’ve made no formal commitment. He’s not saying anything about what we feel for you.”

  Alexia shook her head violently. “We started fooling around because I was craving chemicals and was on a hormonal high. Do you think I’d still be having sex with you if I hadn’t made some kind of emotional commitment?” She slapped at Joshua’s hands as he tried to hug her close.

  A loud laugh rang through the room. “Alexia, stop it. You’re getting upset over nothing.” Anthony trapped her in his arms. The anger and tension in her body slowly receded as Anthony stroked her hair, kissed her softly, murmured words in her ear. “I love you, Alexia. I’m always going to love you. Joshua told you he loved you as well. That’s what we feel for you. It’s not caring for you as our matriarch but caring for the woman you are.”