Page 144 of Illusory

He paused to look at me, his thumb skimming over the seam of my lips as he smiled. “Happy birthday, Jemma,” he said and then gently kissed me.

Before I could react or say anything, he pulled away, his mouth already finding other spots to kiss as he slowly made his way down to my neck. The sound of his fangs descending and the feel of his lips on my skin made my thighs and stomach clench in anticipation.

Dominic’s palm flattened against my abdomen as though he had felt the surge. As though he knew I needed the anchor amidst the storm that was brewing deep inside me, his touch almost searing me through the thin fabric of my shirt. Before any rational thought could rear its head, Trace bit down, histeeth sinking into the skin just below my pounding pulse, and the storm broke free.

Ripple after ripple of toe-curling rapture rolled through my veins, making me sigh and melt into the small space between them. My lids fluttered hazily as Trace drank from me, each pull sending another wave of bliss crashing over me, pulling me deeper into the riptide I never wanted to escape.

The feeling was burning and ardent, radiating from where his mouth was latched onto my neck and suffusing every inch of my body with white-hot heat. There was no more thought, only the feel of his mouth on me and the rush of Dominic’s fingertips as he slipped his hand under my shirt.

I bit down on my bottom lip, suppressing the moan that wanted to surface. Iwould notmoan. It would bewrongto moan.Completelyinappropriate.

Shivers cascaded all over my body as Dominic traced teasing patterns against my abdomen, writing love notes against my skin that made me want to forget every vow I had ever made to let them go. All I could think about was Trace’s soft lips against my neck and how good it felt to have Dominic touching me again…even as his hand veered dangerously close to my underwear.

“You’re doing so good, angel,” he murmured beside my ear, his breath flitting over me like butterflies as he rolled his hipsonce—deliberately—as if to show me what I was doing to him.

My breath hitched as he moved his knee up against the back of mine and slowly eased my legs apart, his hand sliding into my underwear as he dragged his long, agile fingers down my center. A pleased noise sounded at the back of his throat, and then his fingers were moving again, slow at first, and then maddeningly faster as he applied just the right amount of pressure to make my vision blur.

I shuddered, arching into his hand as Trace continued to drink, his mouth wet and demanding against my throat. The harder Trace sucked, the faster Dominic’s fingers circled me, coaxing and tantalizing me with each deliberate stroke as they buried me in a haze that simultaneously detonated every nerve ending in my body.

My body writhed between them in need of a release, the pressure steadily climbing higher and higher, until I was sure I was floating off the bed, tethered to this world only by the hands and mouths of the two men who owned me.

Trace groaned against my neck as he took one final pull and then reeled back to look at me—towatchme—his hooded eyes practically fucking me as he waited for me to come apart.

Stars exploded behind my lids and his mouth was on mine, swallowing up my moans in a kiss that was meant to brand me. Pulsing waves of liquid fire roiled through my body, making me buck against Dominic’s hand and Trace’s mouth as I rode out every last drop of my orgasm until they gentled their touches and slowly shepherded me back down from the high.

As my breath steadied and the tremors gradually ebbed, the haze in my mind began to lift, leaving me acutely aware of every point of contact between our bodies. Trace’s lips on mine, his tongue teasing my bottom lip. Dominic’s hand between my legs, his fingertips resting gently against my sensitive core. Their chests rising and falling in tandem with mine as I struggled to catch my breath.

It felt like the quiet before the storm, and I could practically taste the freak-out edging its way to the surface.

Trace pulled back, looking at me with heavy-lidded eyes and a satisfied smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He looked every bit like the cat who’d just gotten the cream, but it did nothing to ease the budding storm in me. None thewiser, Dominic pressed a kiss to my temple and then slowly withdrew his hand from between my legs, the drag of his fingers nearly making me whimper at the loss.

I felt a flush creep up my neck as my rational mind whirred back to life again, the full weight of what I had allowed to happen—what I hadwantedto happen—crashing down on me like eternal damnation.

Oh God. I fucked up.Badly. I’d lost my mind and let things go too far. Crossed lines that could never be uncrossed. The throbbing aftermath still pulsing between my legs was proof of it.

Shame and guilt rose up in my chest, warring with the lingering euphoria and a swell of other emotions that threatened to choke me. Panicked, I tried to push up from the bed, to get away from them and what we had just done, but both their hands came out to stop me, pulling me back down to the spot on the bed between them.

“You’re freaking out,” said Trace, his hand cupping my cheek, his thumb rubbing soothing circles as he tried to calm me through our soulmate bond.

“What? No, I’m not.” My ears were ringing hysterically.

“Liar,” whispered Dominic, his hand splayed against my stomach again.

An unholy silence fell between us, drowning out everything but the thundering in my ears.

“I shouldn’t have…we shouldn’t have…” I stammered, my words barely above a whisper as I tried to voice the regret that was suffocating me. What would become of us now that the line had been so spectacularly destroyed? I had no idea how to navigate the wreckage, and worse, I wasn’t sure if any of it could ever be repaired again.

“Shouldn’t havewhat, angel?” asked Dominic, his hand still resting on my stomach, anchoring me to him even as Itried to pull away. “Taken what each of us wanted?”

My cheeks burned as I tried not to swallow my tongue.

“Come on, Jemma. Just lay back down and relax,” urged Trace, his baritone voice vibrating against my skin as he ran his nose along my neck. “You’re overthinking it.”

Overthinking it?!

“Well, don’t you think someone needs to?” I shot back, because clearly, neither one of them were thinking about anything at all.

“Why?” he snapped, pulling back to meet my eyes, his own narrowed. Upset. “So we can all go back to being fucking miserable again? So I can wake up without you for the rest of my life, feeling like I’m choking on ash and drowning in bloodlust? Is that what you want me to go back to?”

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