Page 179 of The Next Lie

She makes a sound into my mouth.

I swallow it.

Then I take the sound apart slowly, lick by lick.

My hands go to her leggings. I hook my fingers into the waistband and stop. She lifts her hips before I ask. I pull them down with her underwear, lowering myself with the movement until I am kneeling in front of her. Shiloh keeps her upright from behind, his mouth at her shoulder, his hands working the bra up and away until she is bare from the waist up, too.

She looks down at me.

The nervousness is there now. Not regret. Scale.

She understands what she asked for.

I press my mouth to the inside of her thigh, and her fingers catch in my hair.

Shiloh murmurs something against her skin. I don’t catch the words. I do catch the way her body softens back into him.

I kiss higher. She trembles.

“Ever.”

I look up. “Yes?”

“Don’t be gentle because you’re scared.”

Shiloh’s eyes meet mine over her shoulder. He heard it too.

I drag her closer to the edge of the bench. “Hold her.”

“With pleasure,” Shiloh says.

His arms band around her, one across her chest, one low at her stomach, and he anchors her against him. I put my mouth on her.

Reva jolts, but Shiloh has her. Her hands go to his forearm, nails digging in while I work her with my tongue until her knees start to shake. I don’t tease long. That is Shiloh’s art. Mine is precision. Find the pulse. Apply pressure. Keep her present.

She tries to close her eyes.

I pull back. “Look at me.”

Her eyes open, furious and dark. I slide two fingers inside her and seal my mouth back over her clit. Shiloh’s hand covers one breast, thumb moving over the nipple in a slow rhythm that makes her curse. He bites lightly at the curve of her neck, and that combination draws a broken cry out of her.

She gets close fast. Too fast for what she wants.

I ease off, and she curses me.

Shiloh laughs quietly into her shoulder.

“I hate both of you.”

“No, you don’t,” I say.

Then I stand. Her glare is unconvincing with her mouth parted and her body shaking.

Shiloh turns her face to his and kisses her while I strip. He takes his time with her mouth, distracting and deep, and I watch him do what he does best. He makes wanting feel easy. Makes her forget to defend against it for a few breaths.

I step back in and catch her lower lip between my thumb and forefinger until she looks at me.

“Still yes?”