Page 57 of Allure
“This is really good,” she hummed when she had a piece of mango. She loved fruit, all kinds, but mango and pineapple with Tajínin the morning had been her go-to choice when she was with Marco.
Here is another way this man was showing you how well he paid attention.
“There’s my good girl.” Asli made sure she didn’t leave any pieces of fruit behind. The way he tentatively fed her while Marco watched, his hand making lazy circles against her bare thigh felt intimate. It felt like the three of them had done this all before, and this small moment was always going to be theirs.
She let out a breath, trying to steady her rapid pulse. Her body was a live wire, each touch, each murmured praise from Asli had her body melting into theirs, and she wondered for a moment if she was still sleeping. This had to be one of her many dreams and she was a second from waking up alone in her bed with her hands cupping her sex, wishing it was them.
Asli moved and Marco took his place. She opened her legs even wider to let him in. Her breath got caught in her throat when both his palms grabbed her thighs and he leaned in to kiss her. It was quick, chaste, but when he went to pull away, she gripped his shirt and held him steady. She hadn’t realized how needy she’d been for him, and maybe that had to do with her dreams, or last night even, but she couldn’t deny her want for him. She could taste the coffee on his lips, and when his grip on her thighs tightened, she whimpered into his mouth. She hadn’t wanted last night to end. She wanted to crawl into him and stay put because she knew in his arms she found her freedom and her safety. She found her passion again, if her sketchbook was an indication of the art left inside of her.
“Estrellita,” Marco murmured against her lips. “Did you miss me?”
“Yes, and Asli too,” she whispered the truth against his mouth, knowing he was going to ask about his friend next.
Marco pulled away, only enough for Asli to take a step closer to her. “We didn’t get to talk about last night and where your head was at after it happened.” Marco’s voice was soft, his eyes searching hers with concern. “If you want to have this conversation with just me and you first, that’s okay too.”
Syra fidgeted with Marco’s shirt as she nibbled on her bottom lip, trying to collect her thoughts so she could have the conversation she knew was coming—the one she wanted to have. She smiled to herself thinking how ready she’d been to turn down working with Garrison Inc. She’d been worried that being so close to him would end with them being in bed together again. That’s exactly what happened, though the fear she had in the beginning wasn’t there anymore. There was nothing holding her back from staying in Lockwood and staying with Marco and maybe Asli except the three people in this room.
“No, it’s okay. Asli should be here for this too.” She looked at him. “If he wants to, of course.” Asli smiled and nodded so she continued. “Last night was amazing, and if we’re going to be honest with each other, I wouldn’t mind that happening again,” she looked back at Marco, “with you and Asli.”
No one moved for what felt like forever. Marco’s features ranged from excitement to remorse to happiness and sadness again. She wanted to climb into his mind and pull the words out herself because now she felt exposed in a different manner. Their silence made it feel like she completely misread what she thought was brewing back between them—between her and Marco especially—and she almost wished she could take it all back until Marco whispered her name.
“I’m sorry,” he started, “I sometimes forget you’re here with me again and hearing you say you want a repeat of last night took me a minute to digest. I have to be honest with you.”
Oh, she hated that term. In her experience, it never led to good things. It was always the end of something or something mean disguised as good intent.
“Whether this stays as sex between us or we get to be something more, you need to hear this,” he continued, and she watched as Asli seemed to step to the side to give them space. She knew whatever Marco had to say was probably going to hurt, so she braced herself for the impact, hoping to lessen the blow.
“I knew about you and your friends the moment you walked into the club six months ago. I knew it wasn’t a done deal, but the prospect of having you back in Lockwood had me off my feet and coming to you. I could never stay away from you, even though I was pissed you were back.” He started to ease away from her as he continued to talk.
“I had this grand scheme that I don’t even want to say out loud because it sounds so stupid now. I’ve kept tabs on you since you left me. I hated you, hated that you could so callously throw what we had away with such ease it almost made me think I imagined our time together. I’ve made your ex’s life a living hell here in Lockwood after you left. We had beef before, but it got worse when you went back to him.”
Syra couldn’t keep the surprise off her face. How had Joel and Marco known each other? It wasn’t like she was privy to all of Joel’s friends and acquaintances, but she felt like it would have at least come up once.
“We run in the same circles. He used to own a lot of real estate up here, and before you ask,” he shook his head, already seeing the question forming on her lips, “I didn’t know you were the wife he liked to boast about until after you left me for him. I didn’t know you were you when we first met. It wasn’t until your second art show and when you left that I realized he was the man who had your heart. You never told me his name when you talked about him, and I didn’t care to ask.”
Her mind went back to every interaction, every argument and snide remark Joel made to her when she had come back to live with him in Ivywood. He’d been unnecessarily cruel to her, ranging from leaving her alone entirely and acting like she didn’t exist to nitpicking everything about her. She had to wonder if Joel took out his anger on her not only for leaving him in the first place but because she’d been with Marco; a man he hated.
“What was this plan of yours?” she whispered, scared to ask. This all felt unnecessarily complicated.
Marco backed up even more, and her heart beat wildly in her chest, expecting the worst of it. “I couldn’t get you out of my system after you left. I tried to forget you—I desperately wanted to erase the imprint you left. I buried myself in work and women, but after a while all I saw was you in them. It drove me crazy, so when Ms. Santiago emailed our offices, with you and Ms. Lopez name on the contact information, I knew this was my chance to finally figure out a way to forget you.”
He took a step closer to her. He hesitated before he settled in between her legs again and grabbed her chin. His touch and the blaze in his eyes set off a chain reaction in her body. She knew she should have pushed him away—waited until he told her the rest of his truth before she accepted him—but her legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him in closer to her.
“This was my chance to get you underneath me, purge you from my system but bury myself in yours so you could feel even a fraction of the torment you left me with. I wanted to watch you shatter under my touch, watch Asli break you apart with his, and leave you in a mess of your own needs and desires.”
And that’s exactly what happened last night. She left Orchard Tree a mess—had felt their cum leaking out of her as they both took their time cleaning her up. They marked her then, made her mindless for the things only they could give her and made her dizzy with a need to have them both again. He had gotten what he wanted—they were buried deep in her marrow—Marco a little further down, but Asli was well on his way. She could feel him moving around them, watching and waiting for the tension that was building to snap in either direction.
“And now?” Syra challenged, keeping her gaze locked with his. She wanted to push him, wanted him to spill all of his truths about his feelings for her. Even though his actions had proven what she meant to him, she wanted to hear it in his gravelly voice.
Marco’s dark chuckle made her nipples harden, and this time she squirmed, trying to get closer to him. “And now?” He turned until his eyes clashed with Asli’s before he looked back at her. “And now, you’ve found yourself deeper in my system, estrellita. I’m not giving you up again, and I don’t think Asli wants to either.”
Asli walked toward them, her sketchbook in his hand. She felt her face get hot when she saw that it was open to the page of the sketch of all three of them. Marco dropped his hold on her and unhooked her legs from his waist, letting Asli get closer. She wanted to snatch the thing out of his hands, nervous about what they thought of her work. While she did that sketch for herself, it wasn’t finished and wasn’t meant for the eyes of others.
“This is beautiful, little star,” Asli murmured, running his hands along the lines of their bodies on the paper. She fidgeted and drummed her fingers against her legs. It had been forever since she let someone in on her artwork, and she never got used to people looking at it with such a close eye. She knew she could draw, but having it out there for others to judge had been something she needed to work on, and right now she was stressed because Asli was an artist himself—he knew what to look for.
“Is this all three of us? There’s no color on the drawing yet, but I can feel it—feel what it’s supposed to do to me.” His voice dipped as he looked back at her. He flipped the sketchpad around to show her what she had drawn. This particular drawing was from six months ago; it showed Syra bound and blindfolded. She was on her knees, a dildo, deep inside of her while Marco fucked her face and Asli watched, stroking his cock. Both men’s faces were drawn with pleasure stretching across their features; it was almost impossible for Syra not to see the power she held over them.
“Is this what you want, little star? Both of us at the mercy of you?” Asli stepped in between her legs as Marco took the sketchpad from him.
