She tensed as the now-familiar rumbling of Axe’s pickup climbing the driveway reached her ears.
“They’re here.” Bandit stalked to her side. “Take a deep breath, darlin’. Now, smile. Your tasting menu’s delicious, eclectic, and a complete winner. If this idiot can’t recognize you’re a five star chef, then he doesn’t deserve you.”
Tania shot him a grateful glance. “I can’t thank you enough.”
She swept a glance around the other Prymal members. “All of you. I couldn’t have finished all this without you. I owe you each and every one of you. Big time.”
“Did we tell you our newly adopted motto? All for one and one for all.” The Kydd smiled at her.
Jurango studied the ceiling for a brief second and shook his head.
The back door eased open.
“That’s quite the tale, Sidonie.” Axe’s deep voice resonated through the kitchen.
Tania held her breath, her gaze glued to the widening space between the door and the kitchen wall.
She blinked. Knuckled her eyes and re-focused.
A walking sex bomb pranced into the room.
The curvaceous woman had to be no more than five feet, but the six inch stilettos she wore thrust an alluring décolletage forward, and gave her the illusion of height.
She shot Axe what could only be described as a come-fuck-me, sex-kitten smile. “Querido call me Sid. Everyone does. Hmmm, this kitchen smells so delish, I’m about to have a foodie-orgasm.”
Tania bit her tongue.
Fisted her hands.
She had just so lost the job of chef at The Grape Escape. If ‘Sid’ so much as touched Axe. the woman would have two black eyes and be thrown down the deck stairs.
Wild strawberry blonde curls danced around tanned, muscle-defined bare shoulders when Sid did a half pirouette. Her piercing blue eyes honed onto Jurango, slouched in his usual corner between the fridge and the counter. She waved slender fingers with oval-shaped lilac-painted nails. Her focus never wavered from Jurango. “Introduce me, Axe.”
Tania worked her jaw when the sleaze planted one hand on her hip and assumed a perfect red-carpet-pose.
Eva sidled closer to Tania. “What the fuck is she
not
wearing?”
‘Sid’ almost wore a jeans skirt, a mauve spaghetti-strapped tank top with a short unzipped denim jacket. The pastel purple tank should’ve clashed with her hair, but instead somehow made her perfect ringlet curls glow. The skirt’s hem just, just brushed the apex of Sid’s shapely and toned thighs.
Tania barely managed to jerk her thoughts from murderous mayhem when Axe said, “Sid, this is my fiancée, Tania. Tania, meet Sidonie, the owner of The Grape Escape. Sid, in order, meet Eva, Jurango, The Kydd, Bandit, and Lycus.”
Tania spread her lips. Snarled, “Hello
Sid
. You’re late, Axe.”
Axe quirked a brow.
“Oh, dahling, don’t blame your hunky man. It was all my fault. I had to clean up a little ‘situation’ at the wine bar.” Sid beamed and ringed a finger around the tank’s neckline.
Not once had Sid looked Tania’s way.
The woman couldn’t haul her stare from Jurango’s scowling face. “Jurango, was it? Such an unusual name. Are you part of Tania’s cooking retinue?”
Jurango straightened. “No ma’am. I’m a simple ranch hand. With work to do. Later.”
Sid flinched as if struck physically. She recovered her aplomb in a millisecond and flashed a flawless, dimpled smile. Bright pink washed over her cheeks, but she firmed her chin, and traced Jurango’s rapid exit. Inspected the floor for a mere half a heartbeat. Took a deep inhale. “Not one for words, your Jurango.”
“Don’t take it personally, darlin’. He’s like that with everyone.” Bandit’s pleasant tone belied the anger glistening in his blue-black eyes.
Thumb hooked in a belt loop, the Kydd ambled over to Sidonie, and flashed her the smile that had won the retired UFC fighter turned actor a million followers on Facebook. He tipped his Stetson back to a rakish angle and drawled, “An absolute pleasure to meet you, sugah. The Grape Escape’s just become my favorite watering hole. I’ll round up my Hollywood buddies for the grand opening. Anything else you need, sugah, just whistle. I’ll get your cell from Tania later. Expect my call. It pains me to have to leave, but I’ve a prior commitment.”
Stunned, Tania couldn’t do anything but stare at The Kydd. She missed Sidonie’s reply to The Kydd’s declaration, and traced him as he strolled out the kitchen doorway.
Axe, looking prickle-pear cactus irritated, engaged Sidonie in a low conversation.
“Is it me, or did Kydd Kolton just announce Sidonie’s his newest fuck target?” Eva whispered.
Tania managed to retrieve her jaw from the floor. “Wow. I do believe that we just witnessed the formation of a sexual triangle inferno.”
“The static electricity in this room could fuel half of San Diego.” Eva did a mock-swipe of her forehead. “Whew.”
“Pay attention, Tania,” Bandit muttered, sotto voce.
Tania squared her shoulders.
Sidonie stared directly at Tania. “Shall we get down to business? I have to be back at The Grape Escape in ninety minutes.”
An hour and a bit later, Tania collapsed onto the mattress in their bedroom. “I swear Sid’s a cyclone. The woman’s non-stop.”
Axe looked down at her, a sexy grin playing about his lips. “At the beginning, I thought you were going to bust her balls. Or give her a shiner.”
She wriggled trying to ease the tightening ribbon knot abrading her clit. “I might have. If I could’ve managed to move without having a mini-orgasm.”
“Tsk, tsk. Another order disobeyed. I may just leave you all tied up for the rest of the night.” He pulled his T-shirt over his head.
Tania focused on Axe’s obvious arousal. She slowly eased into a sitting position. “Wrong sailor-boy. I obeyed your command to the letter. I did not bring myself off. Though you have no idea how much I wanted to. I figure I’ve earned a reward.”
“You do, do you?” He leered at her while working free the waist button on his pants and then unzipping. “What do you have in mind?”
She did an imitation of Sid’s come-fuck-me half-hooded glance.
Axe burst into a chortle. “Your eyes just about jumped places there.”
“How come it’s sexy on Sid but not me?”
“Sid’s all guile and artifice. You’re real, Tania. Nobody’s sexier than you.” He shrugged out of his pants and boxers, ambled over to the bed, and stared down at her
Tania blew out a long sigh. Her mate had the most beautiful cock on the planet. She wrapped both hands around the base of his erection and nuzzled the sticky pre-cum leaking from his slit. “Blow job. Want to lick your balls, mate. Suckle on them.”
Axe worked the elastic out of her hair and finger-combed the freed waves. He fisted a thick strand and drew her head back so their gazes met. “First time. You called me mate.”
She loved that his voice had coarsened to gravel. “I love you, mate. I love you, Axe.”
“Sweet girl. Mine. All mine.” He dropped to his knees between her spread legs, framed her face, and kissed her until her bones liquefied. His rough tongue danced with hers, rubbing and flicking the roof of her mouth, the sensitive nerves right above her canines. She gasped when he licked her…her fangs. Wrenched her lips from his. Ran her forefinger over her teeth.
“Axe? What’s happening?”
“Don’t know, sweet girl. But I’m fucking ready to shoot my wad.” He tugged the braided ribbons ribbing the undersides of her breasts, slid the silky fabric across her nipples, which sharply tightened the knot resting on her clit.
Her pussy clenched. She arched.
“Not yet.” He released the ribbons. Cradled her gently in his arms and climbed onto the bed. The knots straddling her pussy folds slid back and forth when he eased her onto her hands and knees. He nudged her thighs apart and kneaded her butt cheeks. “Fucking beautiful.”
Tania tried to imagine what Axe saw. He’d wound twin braided ribbon strands around her neck and her underarms, then twisted them so the fabric framed each breast in tight diamond-shapes, circled her waist twice, and looped another band of ribbons from the center of her back, along the seam of her ass, through the center of her pussy, and tied the braid right above her navel.
“Down.” He palmed the back of her head and settled her cheek into the soft down covers. Pinged the rope constricting her crack.
She shuddered and grabbed handfuls of material.
He wrapped an arm around her waist.
His cock rubbed up and down her seam. He worked the ribbons to one side. Fingered her swollen, aching clit. Her internal muscles spasmed. She was so ready.
He drove into her.
The peak torpedoed through her. Violent contractions wracked her vaginal walls. He filled her to bursting. Too thick, too long. Before she could adjust, he began pounding her pussy. She tried to wriggle and ease the ferocious battering, but he held her fast. His powerful thrusts, the pain-pleasure of the Shibari ropes’ pressure, proved too much.
Tania shrieked as orgasm after orgasm sizzled her clit and her g-spot. Each time his cock slammed into her, the ribbons framing her breasts slid to her nipples. Her pussy pulsed, her nipples sparked.
His fingers bit into her waist.
One hand slipped to her mound. His thumb pressed her burning clit.
“Mine,” he roared.
She collapsed, chest to the cotton. Sensations whirled around and around and in topsy-turvy waves from tingling scalp to curled toes.
He hammered into her. His testicles slapped her folds and her climax coiled higher and higher. Stars danced around her shuttered eyelids. She cried out his name.
When Tania regained some semblance of sanity and reality, she lifted heavier than lead lids, and focused on glistening bronzed skin stretched taught over Axe’s ribcage. “Wow.”
Somehow she lay on her side with one bent leg resting on Axe’s belly and one arm thrown across his chiseled pecs. His one hand cradled her back while the other combed her hair.
“Ditto.” His warm palm caressed the length of her spine. “You good?”
“Hmmm.
So
much better than good. I think I passed out there at the end.” She glanced down her naked body. “When’d you untie the Shibari?”
He chuckled, tipped her chin, and grinned at her. “About ten minutes ago. I couldn’t coax you into opening your eyes. Damn, sweet girl. You’re going to fuck me dead.”
“What a way to go, huh? All the cliché descriptions of orgasms seem more appropriate each time we screw. You know, le petit mort, the little death, yada.” She rubbed her toes up and down his sinewy calf.
He stroked her belly.
She stared at his brown fingers on her pale stomach. “I ordered a whole bunch of books today on pregnancy, labor, and newborns.”
“You found the time to do that and cook that incredible tasting menu?” He traced a figure eight around her navel.
Tania draped her thigh over his waist and propped up onto one elbow. She met his gaze. “Really? Incredible?”
“Definitely. You wowed everyone. But you’d wowed me with Chili, sweet girl. And those fantastic garlic rolls.”
“You know when Sid walked in with sleaze-sex oozing out of her pores, I was positive nothing would work out.” Still amazed that not only had Sidonie hired her as the sole supplier for The Grape Escape’s entire ‘small bites’ menu, but also agreed Tania had carte blanche to vary the menu as she pleased.
Sid also acquiesced to the stringent terms Axe had imposed on the two women’s working relationship. Tania would work exclusively from the ranch save for Friday and Saturday nights, when Axe would accompany her to The Grape Escape.
After their initial rough start, the two women had found common ground in their approach to food, and their eerily similar taste for eclectic tapas-style menus.
“You didn’t see Sid’s face when she tasted your wild mushroom tart. The woman had what she calls a foodie orgasm.” Axe tweaked her ear.
Tania crinkled her nose. “I think I may actually grow to like her. When she drops that in-your-face brazenness, Sid’s not too bad.”
“Noticed that. Her nails-tough, bawdy sex-kitten act. Wonder why Sid thinks she needs it?” Axe scrubbed his jaw. His gaze flicked to hers. “Your eyes are closing.”
“Hmmm. I’m exhausted all of a sudden.” It was true. All the oomph had whizzed out of her. But her mind refused to stop whirling. “Axe, what’s going to happen, now? I mean, do we trust Breede and Mishe? Is it safe for me to go out on my own?”
“So many worries buzzing around your gorgeous head, mate.” He kissed the center of her forehead. “I won’t take chances with your safety. For now, you’re not allowed off property without a Prymal escort. I know that’ll be frustrating at times—”
She set two fingers to his mouth. “I’m not taking chances with our baby. I’m not objecting, Axe. I just want to know the SOPs we’ll be operating under.”
Tania snickered at her mate’s genuine eyebrow-climbing surprise. “See. I’m reasonable.”
Axe raised one brow. “On occasion. I’ll grant you that. BUD/S begins in one week. Will you marry me before then?”
Her heart turned over in her chest. She couldn’t draw in a breath. Tears flooded her eyes. Unable to get her vocal chords to work, Tania nodded.
“I need you to say it, sweet girl,” he cradled her face and stared into her eyes.
“Yes. I’d love to marry you whenever you want.” Her voice shook and she snuffled a couple of times.
“Thank God.” He dropped fervent kisses over her face.
“You sound as if you thought I’d say no.” She nuzzled his palm.
“Jaz said you were determined not to ever marry.”
“I was. But that was before I met my mate.” Joy blossomed and unfurled in a rush of warmth and bubbliness. She rubbed her flat belly and tried to imagine her tummy rounding.
“When I picked up Sid from The Grape Escape, she gave me a tour of the place. There’s a garden courtyard. Might be a great place—”
She sat up. “We could get married there. I can do a practice run for the opening. We were planning one anyway. Oh, wow. This is perfect. Can we go see the place? I’ll ask Eva to stand up for me. Will you have a best man? Obviously, it’ll be small. Think maybe we could face time with my family? So they can see the whole thing? Maybe Dad can virtually give me away?”