A Summer in Paradise (12 page)

“
You should have what,
Pearl?” Jarrod moved quickly, gathering her into his arms. “You
should have known they were out of their minds? You should have
left your loved ones sooner?” He shook his head. “What should you
have done, Pearl?” His eyes burned and a lump formed in his
throat.

He couldn’t bear to think of what she’d
gone through. What she endured during those dark times. He held her
to him, wishing he had been there for her—wishing they both had
been there for her.

Instead, they had been off fighting the
war that would one day free her and everyone else in Paradise.
Jarrod held her close, her face pressed against his chest. He
inhaled deeply, taking in her sweet scent.

This is what he and Duncan fought for.
This is what they were willing to die for. They still were willing
to die for Pearl. Closing his eyes, he held her tight and willed
her to see reason.

Chapter Twenty

Pearl leaned into Jarrod. God knew she
wanted to stay with them, but could she trust that feeling? For
years she’d made the wrong decisions about where to live, whom to
trust.

Even now she second guessed herself.
She wasn’t certain that her move to Scotland was the right thing to
do. Hell, she could get over there, be thousands of miles from home
and find out her boss was more of an animal than the people of
Paradise ever thought of being.

What decision was the right one? She
closed her eyes and searched her heart. Maybe that was what was
wrong with her choices. She always tried to use her head. She chose
to date Glenn because her head told her it was the sensible thing
to do when all along, her heart had wanted Duncan and
Jarrod.

Could she do it? Could she take the
leap and tell them okay? Could she trust them to not hurt her even
though they spoke of spanking her? Would she ever have the strength
to leave them if they ever hit her in anger?

Just the thought of leaving made her
feel bad. How could she leave them again, especially after last
night?

“
Don’t leave us, Pearl. We
need you.” Duncan said as he gently pulled her from Jarrod’s
embrace and drew her into his arms.

“
Yes, baby. We
do.”

How could she turn them down,
especially when she didn’t want to? She’d spent years dreaming of
these two, hoping for just one more day with them and now they
offered her the fairy tale. Her only fear was that it was too good
to be true.

“
Please, Pearl, give us a
few more days. Stay till the end of the summer. Can’t you spend one
summer in Paradise to be sure that a life with us isn’t what you
want?”

Pearl sighed. She couldn’t make them
beg her like this. She didn’t want that from them. She pulled away,
shaking her head. “Stop it. Just stop it. I can’t bear to see you
two like this.” She had to tell them the truth.

Standing, she paced away from them, her
arms crossed. “Ever since Gemma told me things were different in
Paradise, I’ve dreamed of returning.” She looked at each of them in
turn. Her face burned with embarrassment at what she was about to
say. “I—I hoped that I could come home and be with you
two.”

She smiled at them. “Even if I tell you
no, I won’t marry you, how can I mean it?”

They both rushed to her and gathered
her in their arms. “You won’t regret it, baby. I swear,” Duncan
whispered in her ear.

“
No, you won’t regret it, if
those two are anything like my two men,” Gemma added. She looked up
at them and grinned. “They’re bossy as hell, but they’re worth the
effort to try and train them.”

“
Train us?” Merrick’s brows
rose as both of Gemma’s mates crowded her. “You train
us?”

Gemmas cheeks grew rosy and she
shrugged. “I try.”

Merrick cupped her face in his hand
while Matt wrapped his arms around her from behind, his big hands
cradling her stomach.

Matt nuzzled her neck with a chuckle.
“That’s okay, baby. Whatever it is you’re doing, keep it up. We
like it.”

Duncan moved to take Pearl’s hand.
“Shall we go?” he asked looking around at the few curious onlookers
who had gathered. “We’re drawing a crowd.”

Pearl could see why. While having
multiple mates was becoming the norm in Paradise, four men loving
on two women was an oddity in the human world.

“
Yes,” Pearl agreed, her
fingers tightening around his. “I think it’s time we all went
home.”

“
I believe it is,” her two
men said at the same time.

They led her to the parking garage and
helped her into the front seat of their car. “Move over, baby. I
need to sit next to you.”

Pearl slid to the center of the seat
with a smile. “I didn’t even know they made cars with bench seats
anymore.” She fastened her seatbelt and looked through the
windshield, her entire body already going up in flames with the
thought of what they would do to her when they made it
home.

She worried her bottom lip, wondering
if they would spank her. Cream soaked her panties at the thought.
She felt her face heat. Getting a spanking shouldn’t turn her on,
should it?

Jarrod slid into the driver’s seat
after a few quiet words with Duncan. When Duncan slid in beside
her, Pearl’s womb clenched at the thought that her two men flanked
her and there was no escape. Not that she was thinking about
escape.

Starting the car, Jarrod put it in gear
and drove out through the empty space in front of them. Duncan
wrapped his arm around her shoulders and drew her close. A strange
buzzing in her ears made her wonder if they spoke to each other
using the telepathy she knew their people sometimes employed and
wondered if they felt as though they had something they needed to
hide from her.

She bit her lip as she stared out at
the passing scenery. It was a good thing the airport was on the
edge of town. She wasn’t sure she would have survived a winding
drive through town before they got out on the open road and sped
back toward Paradise. Her nerves were already shot, with wondering
what kind of punishment the men would come up with. The bad part
was that she had about six hours to worry about it.

Duncan drew her close, tucking her
under his arm. “Try to get some sleep, sweetheart. We know you
haven’t had any.”

The words,
you’re going to need it,
hung in the air between them and Pearl swallowed
thickly.

“
Okay.” She leaned against
him and closed her eyes. It took a while before she finally relaxed
against him and knew no more…for a little while at
least.

Pearl didn’t know how long she’d been
asleep when she felt a warm mouth tugging on her right breast.
Groggy, she opened her eyes to see Duncan’s head bent over her
torso as he expertly suckled her nipple.

Her clit throbbed, pulsing with every
long pull of his mouth on her flesh and she groaned.

“
She’s awake,” Jarrod said
from her left side. “Perhaps it’s time to show her one of the types
of punishment she can expect for doing something
stupid.”

Duncan raised his head, his eyes
glittering with some undefined emotion as he agreed, “You’re right,
Jerry. I think it’s time I showed her that some punishments can be
worse than the spanking she fears so much.” He stared down at her,
a mixture of love, tenderness and anger in his eyes.

Without warning, he grabbed the hem of
her shirt and dragged it up over her head. “Lean forward so I can
unclasp your bra.”

Pearl stared at him wide-eyed for a
moment before she shook her head. “No.”

He raised his brow. “No?” He looked at
Jarrod, his expression unreadable. “What do you think Jer. She said
no.”

Chapter Twenty-one

“
Then I think her punishment
gets worse with every
no
we hear.” Jarrod glanced at her. “We won’t hurt
you, Pearl, but you must see you need some sort of reminder to
never do something like this again. You put yourself in danger.
What if Gemma and her mates hadn’t insisted on coming with you, or
what if we hadn’t shown up to protect you?”

Duncan nodded his encouragement as she
leaned forward and let him release the clasps. He pulled the straps
down, her beautiful breasts spilling out as he removed the
bra.

Pearl brought her arms up, covering
herself. Reaching up, Duncan pulled her arms back down.

“
Someone will see,” she
gasped as he held her hands in her lap.

He stared at the dusky pink tips and
licked his lips. He couldn’t wait to wrap his mouth around them
again. The cool breeze from the air conditioner caused the little
buds to tighten and his cock stood up in response.

“
There’s no one to see what
we’re doing. Gemma and her mates have taken the lead and are miles
ahead of us and the road is deserted. There is nothing to worry
about,” Jarrod said as he kept his attention on the
road.

Taking in a deep breath, Duncan scented
Pearl’s arousal. She may be afraid of someone seeing her, but that
didn’t stop her pussy from drenching her panties. Reaching down, he
unbuttoned her jeans and slowly pulled the zipper down.

Each movement he made had Pearl panting
harder. There was no doubt in his mind that as much as she balked
at what he was doing, she liked it, just the same. “Lift your hips,
baby.” He pressed a kiss against her neck and she
shivered.

“
I can’t.” Her voice came
out little more than a whimper. “Someone will see me and we’ll all
get arrested.”

No one can see you. Only a truck driver
could see you and we aren’t about to let one pass us. You’re ours,
baby. No one covets what’s ours.” Jarrod stared out the windshield,
his right hand moving to squeeze her leg.

Reluctantly, Pearl lifted her ass off
the seat and Duncan pulled her jeans and panties down in one quick
move. No way was he giving her the opportunity to change her
mind.

“
Put your feet on the dash
and let your knees fall apart.”

“
Oh, God,” she whimpered as
she did what he asked and he reached between her legs, his middle
finger circling her clit.

“
That feels good, doesn’t
it?”

Pearl nodded. Perspiration dotted her
brow even though the air conditioner was set to medium. She closed
her eyes, her muscles tightening as she reached for her first
orgasm.

Her beautiful hazel eyes flew opened
when he stopped fingering her wet slit. Wisps of sable hair grew
damp and stuck to the sides of her face.

“
You don’t get to come until
I say so.” He leaned down to suckle her breast once more before
looking at Jarrod.

“
What do you think, Jer?
Should we let her come or make her wait the hour and a half before
we get home?”

“
Wait,” Jarrod said with a
nod. “We should definitely make her wait. Since spanking still
scares her a bit, there’s only one other punishment available to
us. I think we should make her wait to come until we can fuck her
and we certainly can’t do that in the car.”

“
I won’t do it again. I
swear.” Pearl whimpered.

She sounded so pathetic, Duncan almost
gave in, but then thought of what that crazy shifter could have
done to her had she been alone. He pressed his lips together and
shook his head.

“
No, darlin’. That’s not
going to cut it. You have to have a punishment to remember so the
next time you’re tempted to do something foolish, you’ll think
twice about it.”

He waited until Pearl’s muscles relaxed
and her legs began to drift closed before he said any more. “Keep
your legs open, Pearl. We want to be able to look down and see that
pretty pussy, all wet and waiting for us.”

Reaching back between her legs, he
fingered her clit for a minute, before thrusting a finger inside
her channel. Pearl’s inner muscles clamped around his finger as he
stroked it in and out of her. He found her g-spot and gave that a
few strokes as well.

Pearl, obviously forgetting she was in
the car, exposed to the world, lifted her hips off the seat in an
effort to get him to give her what she wanted. After a few more
strokes, Duncan again pulled his hand from between her
legs.

Lifting his hand to his mouth, Duncan
made sure Pearl watched as he licked her cream from his fingers.
“Mmm…you taste delicious, Pearl. I can’t wait to get back to
Paradise where I can lift your legs over my shoulders, suck your
clit into my mouth and make you come.”

Pearl groaned and reached between her
legs as though to bring herself off. Duncan grasped her hand in a
firm grip and pulled it away. He placed her right hand on his thigh
and her left on Jarrod’s.

“
Don’t move your hands again
unless we tell you to, Pearl. If you move them without permission,
your punishment will be much worse. I might not let you come until
tomorrow.”

“
Please let me
come.”

“
No, Pearl. This is your
punishment. Will you ever leave us without telling us where you’re
going again?”