WINNIE

I should have known that agreeing to play strip poker with Bash would result in me being half naked within just a few rounds. It was my own hubris that got in the way.

As a party girl, I’ve played my fair share of card games, including the stripping kind. I even have a pretty decent track record.

Of course, those were boys.

Bash is a man.

An immortal, banished, fae prince.

I never stood a chance.

Behind him, the setting sun shines through the bank of windows that overlooks the ocean. The sharp light paints him in traces of gold. The night is warm and muggy and a floor below, a bunch of the Lost Boys are getting rowdy.

Up in the loft, it’s just Bash and me. Kas went out fishing hours ago. Pan and Vane…well, I’m not sure where they are.

Bash lays down the latest hand and doesn’t even bother to hide his smug grin.

There are two aces in his hand. With the two aces in the community cards, he’s clearly won over my meager pair of jacks.

His smile grows bigger.

“Are you cheating?” I ask. “I feel like you’re cheating.”

“Oh Darling,” he says, “when you’re this good, you don’t need to cheat.”

I roll my eyes.

“Go on then.” He leans back in his chair, folds his hands behind his head. He’s shirtless after I got lucky with a flush. All of the muscles and tendons in his chest, and along his shoulders twine as he shifts his body into position, ever the eager audience.

I’m in just my bra and panties at this point. I lost a borrowed cardigan, a pair of leggings, two socks.

To be an asshole, I stay beneath the table as I shimmy off the panties, hold them up on the end of my pointer finger and then toss them.

Bash laughs, then dips his head beneath the table to steal a look. I make sure to keep my legs crossed.

“Clever little darling girl,” he says when he straightens.

“Your deal,” I say and shove my discarded hand toward him.

Footsteps thud up the winding staircase.

I know who it is before I see him, before I look.

My body is always tuned into Vane’s presence.

When he comes into view, his hand trailing along the carved banister, my heart kicks up. And when his mismatched eyes land on me at the table, most of me naked except for my bra, he hesitates on the top stair while he puts a cigarette between his cruel lips.

When the lighter clacks open in his hands, his thumb gives a turn on the wheel and the flame ignites. He drags in a breath. The tobacco glows as the embers flare.

I can’t take my eyes off of him. Every movement he makes results in an echoing quake in my belly.

The way his index finger curls over the cigarette, the way his lungs hold in the smoke as his eyes burn into me, the naked line of my waist, down to my hips, my thighs.

I’m suddenly starving for a meal I have no recipe for.

“Shall I deal you in, Dark One?” Bash asks.

Please say yes, I think.

Please say no.

I’m not sure if I want Vane in on the game or not.

It’s not as if I have many more rounds to give anyway. And there is nothing I think I’ll hate more than losing in front of Vane.

The Dark One crosses beneath the hanging canopy of the Never Tree, comes over to the table and pulls out a chair.

Fuck.

He sits. The wood creaks.

My heart is a drum in my ears.

I swallow back the anxiety and straighten my spine.

“It’s strip poker,” I say. “You can’t start mid-game with all of your clothes on.”

Bash laughs beneath his breath while his nimble fingers shuffle through the deck.

Vane narrows his eyes at me.

“Well go on,” I say.

“We don’t make the rules,” Bash adds.

Vane takes another hit from the cigarette, then clips the end between his fingers and turns it around to rest it on the edge of the table while it continues to burn. He grabs his t-shirt at the nape of his neck and pulls it off with a quick yank. His hair is ruffled now and I have to fight the urge to reach over and smooth it back.

He tosses the shirt aside and reclaims the cigarette.

“Is that better, Darling?” he asks. “More skin for you to ogle.”

I make a pfftt sound between my lips, but I can’t deny it, now can I?

“Here we go,” Bash says, with far too much levity in his voice.

I don’t get very good cards—just a ten and a king. The community cards don’t help me either.

Once we’ve finished betting, we lay down our hands.

I still have absolutely nothing and sweat breaks out on my spine. Bash comes in second with two pairs. Vane wins with a straight.

“Goddammit. I swear you’re both cheating just so I’ll lose.”

Bash chuckles. “You could have folded at any time, Darling.”

“What? I didn’t know that was an option!”

“It’s poker.”

“Yes, but—ugh never mind.” It’s pointless to plead my case. I’m already in too deep.

I reach around and unhook my bra and let the straps slip from my shoulders. Vane takes a long drag on his cigarette, the embers eating away at the paper with a bright orange glow.

When I let the bra fall away, the boys’ gazes are locked on my taut nipples.

It may be warm tonight, but the attention has me shivering.

“I suppose that’s the game,” I point out. “Considering I have nothing left to take off.”

“Well…” Bash gives me a lecherous grin. “There is something else you could bet with.”

I feel like I know where this is going, but better to play coy. “And what’s that?”

“Whoever loses the next round, uses their mouth to pay up.”

Vane finishes his cigarette and crushes it in a crystal ashtray, blows out a quick breath of smoke.

“And what does the Dark One say to that?” I counter. No way in hell he’ll agree to that when—

“The Dark One’s mouth knows how to pay,” he says.

Holy hell.

I swallow.

“Darling?” Bash prods.

“Fine,” I answer because I’m determined not to be a total loser. At least if I end up on my knees for them, I know I’ll have won something even if it’s not the poker game.

Vane takes the cards from Bash and shuffles them. He splits the deck, taps it on the table to straighten them out, then bends them so he can shuffle them back together.

Down below, the Lost Boys are shouting and cajoling one another. I can smell the bonfire, the burning wood, the hot flame.

Vane deals us each two cards.

Before I look at them, I send up a silent prayer. Just let me win one round for god sake.

When I see two queens in my hand, my belly dips and I use every ounce of self-control I have not to betray my excitement.

We place bets. Vane flips over three cards. Another queen.

Fuck yes.

I watch their faces to see if I can glean anything from them, but both boys are expressionless. I can’t read anything in their eyes.

Three queens is a great hand, but they seem to have excellent luck at putting together flushes and straights.

I swear, if I lose this time…

Vane flips over another card.

It’s the fourth queen.

Holy shit.

Okay keep it cool.

I bite my inner cheek to try to stop a squeal of delight.

When it comes time to reveal our hands, I’m practically buzzing with excitement.

Bash has three of a kind and Vane has a pair.

I lurch from my chair and hoist my arms over my head.

“Fuck yes! I fucking won! Take that you assholes!”

Bash leans back in his chair and laughs. “Well done, Darling. Keep bouncing.”

I come to a stop, remembering that I’m naked.

“Who pays up?” I ask.

Bash runs his tongue along the inside of his bottom lip and then looks over at Vane. “Technically you lost.”

Just the mere suggestion that Vane’s mouth might be on my pussy has me clenching up with anticipation.

It could be both brutal and pleasurable. Sublime and torturous.

Vane’s chest rises and falls with a deep breath and then he’s suddenly on his feet and coming around the table to me.

If it’s possible to have a heart attack from excitement and anticipation, I might be in trouble.

He dwarfs me easily and instinct has me backpedaling before he catches me around the waist with his strong hands. “Have you not learned your lesson, Darling?” he says on a rasp. “Don’t run from me.”

I gulp and nod, belly full of knots.

He hoists me up, setting my ass on the edge of the table.

A little yelp of surprise escapes my throat before I quickly clamp my mouth shut.

Vane’s violet eye gleams in the light.

Is he really going to do this? Is he really going to give me what I want?

His mouth on my pussy might be akin to a firecracker in a birthday cake.

I want the spark and the danger. I’m afraid of the burn.

“Daddy Vane is about to get a tasty snack,” Bash says.

Vane’s nostrils flare, then he looks over my shoulder and across the table at Bash and says, “Never call me that again.”

Bash laughs and I get the distinct impression he will never adhere to that now that he knows it annoys Vane.

My chest is still rising and falling far too quickly. I can’t catch my breath. Wetness is already spreading between my legs, clit swelling with needy anticipation.

Is he really going to eat my pussy? Right here on the table? Right here in front of Bash?

Vane reaches back, hooks his boot around the leg of my abandoned chair and drags it across the floor, then takes a seat in it.

His face is eye-level with my pussy and when his gaze goes to that sensitive V between my thighs, I can’t help but burn with desire.

“You’re making a mess of the table, Win,” he says and looks up at me, one black eye, one violet.

“Why don’t you clean me up then?” I counter.

He nudges my knees apart, lets his fingers trail slowly up my bare thighs.

Goosebumps erupt on my flesh and my shoulders lurch from the sensation. Bash’s hands are suddenly on me, warm and coaxing and he pulls me back so I’m lying on the table blinking up at the rafters of the loft.

Bash’s face appears overtop of me, his hair a dark wave against the golden glow of the pixie bugs.

“You may have won this round, Darling,” Bash says, “but I really do feel like you lost overall.”

Vane’s hands slip closer to my center and I tremble beneath his touch.

“When the Dark One is done making you come, perhaps we’ll use you for our own victory.”

I shudder on the table as Vane leans closer to my wet pussy.

My insides clench up at Bash’s promises and Vane’s warm breath on my wetness.

Neither of them have so much as touched my clit, but I feel like I could already come at the slightest caress. And I think they know that. I think they know that they can pull pleasure from me with nothing but filthy words and naughty promises.

Bash circles his flattened palm over the tight peak of my nipple and a moan claws out of my throat just as Vane slips two fingers into my pussy all the way up to his knuckles.

“Oh god,” I whisper to the ceiling.

I will never be able to go back to just one boy at one time. Why only do one when two can give you so much more attention?

Vane fucks me with his fingers and I squirm on the table when he flicks my clit with his thumb.

“Hold her down,” he orders Bash and it takes Bash just two seconds to have my wrists bound together at my chest with a length of his rope.

He lifts me up half way and leans me against him, one hand wrapped around my throat.

“Watch the Dark One devour you, Darling,” he says at my ear just as Vane sinks between my legs.

**

“Oh god.”

I can’t keep still even though Bash has me by the throat and Vane’s arms are hooked around my thighs.

Vane knows what he’s doing.

And to my utter delight, he seems to be enjoying it.

He licks up my wet slit, then lingers over my clit, sucking me into his mouth, teasing me with slow, languid swirls before flicking against me with his tongue.

I jolt on the table and Bash tightens his hold on me, forcing me to take it as the pleasure builds.

It’s an odd sensation, climbing the peak when I have no control over my own body.

I imagine it’s the same feeling you have when standing at the open cabin door of an airplane and someone shoves you over the edge into open air.

I don’t control this, but I might as well enjoy the ride down.

Vane groans on my clit as if I’m the best thing he’s ever tasted and a reedy little breath escapes me.

I want to be wanted by Vane.

I want to be a divine treat for him.

He brings his fingers back to my opening and sinks inside of me, then curls up against my inner ridge.

I jolt again and Bash rolls my nipple between two fingers, marrying the pleasure with the pain.

The pressure builds as Vane consumes me with his mouth.

And then he looks up at me between the V of my thighs and all I can see are two black eyes.

It is a look of a haunted man, a dangerous man, a man driven to sin with my taste on his lips.

He finger fucks me harder, his mouth relentless, not giving me a moment of respite.

“Oh fuck oh god.” I squirm against Bash, but he holds me tight.

“You’re not going anywhere, Darling,” he says behind me. “Might as well take it.”

The wave builds. Vane hits that sensitive spot deep inside me again and wrests the orgasm from me like a soldier winning a war.

White stars blink in my eyes.

I sink back against Bash, body relenting as the orgasm fills my hollows with honeyed warmth.

Vane doesn’t let up though.

His mouth stays on me, overwhelming my nerves with wave after wave of pleasure until my vision blurs with tears and I’m floating in bliss.

*

“Darling?” The backs of Bash’s knuckles are a gentle caress on my cheek. “You still with us?”

I think I’ve been reduced to nothing but nerves and flesh and blood.

“I’m not sure,” I answer.

Someone scoops me up. It isn’t until that crushed amber scent fills my nose that I know it’s Vane. He takes me to the couch, sits and nestles my head in his lap. Bash comes around and covers me with one of the soft linen blankets, then drapes my legs over his thighs.

“You outdid yourself, Dark One,” Bash says. “I wanted to use up that wet pussy but I think you broke her."

“You’ll just have to wait,” Vane says.

They're quiet for several minutes and I dip close to sleep.

"You stacked the deck, didn't you," Bash says, his voice low.

Vane says nothing and I swim back to consciousness while keeping my eyes closed waiting for his answer.

"Oh come on," Bash goads. "I know you. If you can't chase her, watching her squirm beneath your command is close enough."

Vane grumbles. "And you got to tie her up, just like you like. So we both got what we wanted, didn't we?"

"I fucking knew it." Bash laughs to himself. "Just admit it—you’re smitten with her."

"I don't do smitten."

"Says the Dark One as he's covered in her scent, as she sleeps in his lap."

"Do you know I could murder you right now without lifting a single finger? Keep talking, prince."

Bash laughs again and then curls his hand around my foot as if he needs the touch, needs the connection between us.

I think I could fall for these boys.

I think I am falling for these boys.

Vane rigged the game to lose and as Bash squeezes my foot in his grip, I'm almost positive he knows I'm awake.

Which means he coaxed that confession out of Vane as a present just for me.