A Summer in Paradise (8 page)

“
I—I can’t.” She rested her
forehead against Jarrod’s breastbone feeling a shame so deep she
didn’t think she would ever get over it. How could she tell them
that she wanted them to fuck her, really fuck her hard and
fast?

“
Yes you can.” Duncan’s
voice was firm.

Pearl’s muscles clenched around their
cocks at Duncan’s commanding tone. What was it about her that
wanted him to tell her what to do? She never would have accepted
that from Glenn. Why now and why with these men?

She knew what to expect if she defied
them and why would she defy them? She need only tell them what she
wanted and they would give it to her. She knew that on a visceral
level, yet she couldn’t bring herself to tell them because there
was something else she wanted more.

“
Don’t make me spank you,
Pearl. Not here. Not now.” Duncan leaned down to kiss the small of
her back. “I want to love you tonight, not punish you.” He paused,
or is that what you want?” he asked when her muscles clenched
around him at his threat.

Oh, God.
He figured it out and so soon! How did he know? How could he
know that was what she needed?

What was wrong with her that she’d been
through so much abuse in her life and now she wanted to ask for it.
Maybe she needed to go back into therapy.

“
I think our little mate is
just a tad submissive, old friend.” Jarrod’s voice rumbled in her
ear.

No! She wasn’t submissive. She didn’t
have a submissive bone in her body. If they even tried to make her
do something she didn’t want to do she wouldn’t do it. Cream
flooded her vagina as she thought of the consequences of not doing
as they wished and she closed her eyes.

“
Why now? Why with
them?”

“
Because we are your mates,
Pearl. Your heart knows we would never hurt you, even if your mind
doesn’t.” Jarrod whispered in her ear.

Pearl didn’t even realize she’d spoken
aloud until Jarrod answered her.

“
Now, tell us what you
want.”

Stubbornly, she shook her head at
Jarrod’s demand. She would prove to them she wasn’t submissive.
Wouldn’t a submissive do what they bid?

Stinging pain radiated from her right
buttock for a split second before her body shuddered. Her womb
clenched and her sex grew wetter. Jarrod nipped her right nipple,
then used his tongue to lave away the slight sting.

She almost wanted to cry
out
yes!
Yes,
that
was
what she wanted, what she needed, but something inside her wouldn’t
give the men that much. She
couldn’t
give them that much. Not yet. Not until
she…

Pearl shook her head at the
realization, at what she finally discovered about herself. Was it
because she’d been abused, or did she seek out men like Glenn
because she’d wanted a dominant male, not an abusive
one?

After soothing her left buttock with
the gentle stroke of his hand, Duncan gave her another swat on her
left cheek then repeated the gentle strokes, soothing the slight
ache. He didn’t hurt her, not really and the pain made her womb
spasm and her inner muscles clench with need.

She clamped her lips shut, wanting them
to ride her hard and she wanted the strange, pleasure-pain of
Duncan’s big hand swatting her rear. She wasn’t well. She should
leave this place and swear off all men forever.

Yet she couldn’t bring herself to do
anything but stay locked between them as they continued to slowly
stroke in and out of her, torturing her like no other man had
before. She needed more than she had ever needed before. Each long,
sure stroke pulled at her nerve endings, her very sanity until the
need to come overrode her need to prove to them she wasn’t exactly
what they claimed her to be.

Submissive. Perhaps, but only in the
bedroom.

“
Please!” She begged. Unsure
of what she wanted, she placed her hands on Jarrod’s chest and
pushed away from his questing mouth. She wanted nothing more than
to feel her hard nipple clamped gently between his teeth as they
both rammed themselves into her waiting flesh.

“
Please, what, princess.”
Duncan still held his hand over her buttock, covering the globe,
holding in the heat of his last gentle blow.

“
Fuck me, dammit. Fuck me
until I scream.” God, what had she become?

“
Anything else you’d
like?”

She shook her head while Jarrod’s mouth
homed in on her right nipple, his teeth grazing the tender flesh.
“Yesss!” Pearl arched her back, pressing her breast against his
face. She wriggled her ass when Duncan withdrew. “Spank me, Duncan.
Oh, God, what have I become?”

Duncan withdrew, then surged forward
his cock ramming into her as Jarrod’s withdrew. They managed a
rhythm that drew her closer and closer to the climax she sought.
Still, there was something missing. Duncan hadn’t done as she
asked.

“
Please, Duncan,” she begged
as the two powered into her. “Please. Spank me. Make me
come.”

“
No, princess. I cannot
spank you for needing this. You told me what you want.”

He shook his head, when she looked back
at him.

“
I need it.”

“
No, princess.” He leaned
forward, pressed a kiss to the side of her lips and smiled. “You
need this.”

Large incisors grew from his gums as
his mouth partially shifted into that of his cat. Without warning,
he opened his mouth and sank his teeth into her
shoulder.

Scalding heat filled her senses as
Jarrod did the same to the back of her shoulder and she arched her
back and screamed.

Surge after powerful surge, her men
pumped into her until they both released her shoulder, threw their
heads back and groaned. The sounds came from deep in their chests.
Warmth flooded her womb and her ass as their bodies stiffened, then
suddenly went slack.

Duncan rolled off her with a groan
while Jarrod held her to him, his hands gently massaging her back
before they slowed and became still.

With a sigh, Pearl rested her head on
his shoulder and smiled, though she really wanted to cry. Yes, it
had been as wonderful as she thought it would be. Yet, she still
couldn’t stay.

She couldn’t bring her troubles to
their door and she refused to take the chance that Glenn would find
out she liked it when Duncan spanked her. What Duncan did was so
much different, but Glenn would never see it that way.

Slowly, Pearl rolled off Jarrod and
rested her head on his shoulder. She wanted nothing more than to
stay here with them and make a life, but she couldn’t. Resting her
hand over her rounded belly, she closed her eyes and prayed for a
child to come from this union because she knew she couldn’t stay
here and she would never let another man touch her. Not after this.
Not after knowing what it felt like to make love with the two men
she’d loved for what felt like forever. No man could ever compare
to them.

When they both began to snore, Pearl
eased from the bed, gathered her things and quietly wrote a note.
She had to leave. She could use her lantern and it would be light
in just a few hours. She had to find Gemma and say
goodbye.

When she reached the door, Pearl turned
and gave the two one last look before she swiped the tears from her
cheeks and quietly closed the door.

Chapter Fourteen

“
Son of a bitch!” Duncan
slammed his fist onto the table. “I’ll spank her little ass again.
Only this time I’m not going to make her come afterward.” He picked
his jeans up off the floor where he’d kicked them and jerked them
on.

“
What?”

Jarrod looked up at him through the
bleary eyes of a man who’d come too hard and needed sleep. Hell,
he’d probably looked like that when he’d first awakened. At least
until he’d found Pearl’s note.

“
Is she fucking crazy?” He
looked out the window and wondered how long she’d been gone.
“Jesus. The sun’s up.” He pressed his face against the glass and
looked up. “It looks like it’s around ten o’clock.”

For the first time in his fucking life,
he’d slept like the dead and Pearl had to go and do something this
fucking stupid.

Bending down, he picked Jarrod’s
clothes up off the floor and threw them in his face. “Get up off
your ass. Pearl’s gone.” He ran his fingers through his hair. She
left a note saying she planned to bathe in the lake, but I have no
idea how long ago that was.”

He yanked the door open and left the
cabin. Fuck waiting for that lazy fuck Jarrod to climb his happy
ass out of bed. He had a mate to retrieve from the lake—if that
damned boar hadn’t attacked her.

Stupid, stupid,
stupid.
Why hadn’t one of them stayed
awake. They knew she felt she had something to prove. She wanted to
let them know that she was her own woman and she wouldn’t take shit
from them outside of the bedroom.

Okay, Pearl. I get
it.
He shoved his fingers through his hair
again as he stomped toward the lake. Pausing, just out of sight, he
took a deep breath to try and rein in his temper and
frowned.

“
What’s the matter?” Jarrod
asked.

“
I can’t smell
her.”

“
Of course you can’t smell
her if she’s in the water.” Jarrod shook his head and moved toward
the lake.

“
I can’t smell her at all,
Jerry.” He took another deep breath. In through the nose, hold it,
then out through the mouth. “I should be able to smell the clothes
she wore.”

Jarrod sniffed at the air. “You’re
right. I can’t smell anything either.”

Refusing to give up the hope that he
was wrong and that they would find their mate soaking in the lake,
or washing up, they both sprinted to the shore.

No Pearl.

“
Shit!” Jarrod paced in
front of him. “We have to find her.”

“
No shit, Sherlock.” Duncan
smacked him on the back of the head. “We need to find her before
that boar does.”

“
Yes, we do.” Jarrod started
to strip. “Because that was no boar. It was a shifter.” He threw
Duncan an apologetic look. “I meant to tell you last night, but I
got a bit…sidetracked.”

No shit. Duncan had been more like
freight-trained, himself. “An all shifter?”

“
That’s just it.” Jarrod
said as he stripped the last of his clothes off and threw them on
the grown. “He could’ve shifted into anything and overpowered me if
that were the case.”

The air shimmered around Jarrod as his
bones contorted and his face changed shape, growing broader and
larger to sustain the cat’s teeth and wide jaw.

But he didn’t.
Jarrod continued while he waited for Duncan to
shift his shape into that of his beast.
The
fucking coward ran to the edge of a cliff and jumped into the river
below instead of face me. He had to have been nothing but a boar.
Otherwise, why let me live?

Not to mention that every
all shifter we’ve ever met seems to be inordinately good.
Finished with his shift, Duncan looked around the
woods. His cat’s eyes saw everything differently. It was almost as
though he could see the life force of every living thing, while in
this form.

He lowered his head to the ground,
trying to pick up Pearl’s scent while Jarrod did the
same.

You don’t suppose he
snatched her closer to the cabin, do you?

I’d like to think we would
have heard her scream, if that were the case.
Duncan took the lead in heading back the way they came. They
inspected every inch of the trail to be certain they didn’t miss a
thing until they made their way back to the cabin and finally
picked up her scent.

Son of a bitch.

You’re saying that a lot
this morning.

That’s because Pearl is
pissing me off a lot this morning.
Duncan
lifted his lip with a snarl.
The little
brat left a note saying she was going to take a bath in the lake,
not that she planned to hike down the fucking mountainside by
herself.

He shook his head. Didn’t the woman
have an ounce of self-preservation in her body? Didn’t she think of
the wild animals up here on this mountain? She could run into a
hungry bear, some wolves, that fucking shifter who disguised
himself as a goddamned boar.

Taking off at a run, Duncan didn’t give
a damn if Jarrod kept up with him or not. He was going to find
their mate and spank her round little ass until it glowed a pretty
shade of pink.

Then and only then would he stop long
enough to hug her, tell her he loved her then start all over again.
No one scared him like this and got away with it. His entire body
trembled with the realization that she could be out there
somewhere, broken or bleeding because of an animal attack or
because she’d fallen down a cliff.

Hell, it had been fifteen years since
she’d hiked this mountain. Nothing was the same. Trees grew larger,
landmarks changed. What if she was lost?