Declan glared. He wanted to argue the charge but couldn’t, because he’d definitely been territorial at times, even if he couldn’t explain why Summer had made him feel that way. “You’re not walking away unhappy,” he pointed out.
Rick laughed lightly and shook his head. “No, not at all,” he agreed as he slipped into his dress shirt and started fastening the buttons. “But I knew from the moment you saw Summer down in the VIP lounge that you were very attracted to her, and I should have just let you have her all to yourself tonight. However, I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy myself immensely. She was very adventurous and eager to please, and my dick is quite satisfied.”
A scowl furrowed Declan’s brows. Rick was goading him, as he enjoyed doing, and his stepbrother was lucky Declan didn’t bust him in the chops. “I’m spending the next three weeks with her.” While his voice was low, his tone was abrupt and direct, clearly claiming Summer as his own.
Rick eyed him thoughtfully as he pulled on his socks and slipped into his shoes. “She’s all yours, but despite your take-charge attitude, spending the next three weeks with you is up to her.”
Declan thought about Rick knowing Summer previously, and a question occurred to him. “Do you have feelings for her?”
Rick shook his head, the light in his eyes genuinely honest. “I like Summer. I even care about her. She’s sweet and unassuming and gorgeous. But am I in love with her? No. Tonight was hot as fuck, but I’m not going to interfere between the two of you if that’s what you’re worried about. You deserve to enjoy yourself while you’re on leave, and if it’s with Summer, then I’ll gladly bow out.” He paused for a moment before adding more seriously, “Just be careful and don’t hurt her.”
“What makes you think I’m going to hurt her?” he asked, unable to keep the defensive note from his voice.
Rick exhaled a sigh and looked at Declan as if he was obtuse. “Summer doesn’t strike me as a fuck-buddy, good-time kind of girl, so make your intentions clear up-front so she doesn’t let her emotions get involved in this short-term affair, because you and I both know you aren’t going to make her any promises when you leave.”
It was a stark truth that Declan couldn’t deny and brought up memories he would have preferred remained in the past. The one woman he’d made a promise to when he’d joined the army had broken hers after less than a year of him being gone. His girlfriend’s betrayal had gutted him, making it clear that long-term relationships and overseas military life didn’t mix. At least not for him.
Staying single and unattached kept him, and everyone else, protected. Less involvement equaled less casualties, especially if something fatal should happen to him in the line of duty. His own father had been in the army, fighting in Desert Storm, and Declan had lived through the devastation and despair his dad’s death at the hands of a foreign enemy had caused his mother. Declan had been only five years old, but he clearly remembered as two formally dressed officers delivered the news of his father’s death. Watching his mother collapse in gut-wrenching grief and fall into a deep depression after the funeral service had left a lasting impression on him.
So, no, he didn’t do committed relationships, and Rick was right. He needed to make sure that Summer understood what he was proposing.
After imparting his brotherly advice, Rick picked up the last of his things. “Go take care of Summer,” he said, effectively ending the conversation as he headed for the door. “I’ll see you later.”
As soon as Rick let himself out, locking the door behind him, Summer spoke from her spot on the bed.
“Did Rick leave because of something I said or did?”
Hearing the worry in her voice, Declan turned to face her, shaking his head. “No. You were amazing,” he said, giving her a reassuring smile. “I asked him to go.”
She tucked the covers beneath her chin, her vivid blue eyes widening in surprise and confusion. “Why would you do that?”
“Because I want you all to myself,” he replied as he headed over to the cabinet against the wall where they’d selected their earlier items to play with and opened the far-right door to find what he needed.
“Oh.” Her voice was quiet, her tone unreadable.
Declan glanced over at her, his gut twisting at the thought that maybe she wanted Rick instead. “Are you okay with that? Me having you all to myself?”
A slow, sensual smile curved her lips as she nodded. “Yeah, I’m more than good with that.”
An insane amount of relief poured through him, and he returned his attention to the cabinet in front of him, looking over the various items lined up on the shelves.
Summer groaned softly from the bed. “No more toys tonight,” she pleaded playfully. “I think I’m done being poked, prodded, and having every part of me stuffed full. I’m too sensitive. Everywhere.”
He chuckled. “Ahh, but there are so many more things to try,” he teased.
“What are you going to do to me?” she asked, her expression skeptical.
“I’m going to make you feel good,” he promised as he selected a bottle of edible, lickable massage oil in peach flavor. “Without poking or prodding.”
Still naked from their earlier encounter, he approached the bed. “Covers off and lie down on your stomach.”
She complied, resting her cheek on the pillow and arms slightly above her head in a comfortable position. He opened the new bottle, and after drizzling a line of oil down both of her legs, he started massaging her calves, then all the way up to her thighs, doing his best to soothe her abused tendons and relax her body—and ignore the hardening of his dick all over again. He’d assured her no poking and prodding, and he wasn’t going to fuck her again tonight, no matter how much his unruly body demanded otherwise.
Summer exhaled a pleasurable, encouraging groan, and Declan kept moving upward, gently kneading the soft globes of her ass where he’d smacked her a few times with the crop. Warming more oil into his palms, he flattened his hands at the base of her spine and slid them up her back, using his thumbs to press firmly into tightly drawn muscles until he reached her shoulders. Brushing her hair aside, he kneaded the taut tendons at the base of her neck, earning him another blissful moan.
She gradually grew pliant beneath his ministrations. “My God, that feels and smells incredible,” she said as the fruity scent permeated the air, luscious and decadent. “Like peaches.”
He bent over her from behind and put his lips near her ear. “I bet you’re gonna taste just as good when I get around to licking you, because the massage oil is edible.”
She shivered at his seductive words, and he moved away, to the foot of the bed again. “Turn over, kitten,” he murmured huskily.
She rolled to her back, looking down at him with slumberous eyes as he began the process all over again, rubbing the soles of her feet before his slick hands traveled upward, until he reached the apex of her legs. Holding her gaze, he traced his thumbs along the outer flesh of her pussy, smearing the peach-flavored oil in intimate places for his tongue to find later. His touch was a deliberate teasing caress over her sensitive flesh that had her squirming and her arousal escalating. She tried to part her legs to give him access to deepen his strokes, but he denied her silent plea and moved up her body to straddle her thighs.