"Close your eyes."
You didn't need to see to know what Jai was doing - the front door lock clicked and slid open softly. His shoes tapped on the hardwood floor. You didn't need to see to follow him; you had probably spent more time in his flat than yours. His hand was warm, soft, and steady in yours. Same as always.
There was no light through your eyelids, so you knew it was dark or nearly so in the penthouse tonight. The faint smell of something incredible grew stronger as they walked - vanilla, musk, warmth. You hoped he hadn't left a candle burning the whole time.
The floor beneath your feet changed from wood to carpet. You smiled because you knew he had lead you straight to his bedroom. Same as always.
"Keep your eyes closed."
You knew the view from this room was spectacular - the lights of the low-slung city sprinkled with skyscrapers reflected in the river. It would be sparkling tonight in the late summer clarity.
Jai faced you and put his hands on your upper arms.
"Happy birthday," he said, face even closer to yours now. Voice quieter.
"Thank you," you said, just as quietly. You were smiling, but there was a growing apprehension constricting your chest. Jai hadn't told you to open your eyes yet. His grip on your arms was a little too firm for comfort.
Maybe it's a cat like he'd been threatening.
"You know that thing I wanted for my birthday?" His words brushed across the skin below your ear, followed by a gentle press of his full mouth.
"Yes." You knew exactly the thing he had been dreaming of. "But your birthday's a couple of months away."
"Remember I said I thought you might like it too?" he asked, lips still brushing over your neck and collarbone.
You sighed, a little more heavily than you meant to, "Jai, if you brought another girl home to be my birthday present -"
"No," he quickly corrected, breathing goosebumps against your neck. "Your birthday present is something you want."
The creak of floorboards came a moment too late to warn you; a second pair of hands were already sliding across the back of your thin dress and settling possessively on your hips. Jai held you securely in place by your arms as you gasped, startled.
"Shh," Jai whispered, moving a hand into your hair and pulling it forward, baring your right shoulder. A pair of soft lips you did not recognize as Jai's grazed the exposed skin.
Your eyes were wide open now. Jai stepped back and looked at you reassuringly. The other man was rubbing gentle circles on your hips, making the silky fabric of your dress rustle. The sound was comforting, but did nothing to calm your wildly beating heart or stop you from trembling. He opened his mouth and ran a firm, deep kiss up into the curve of your neck. Without a hint of aggression, both men were holding you very firmly between them.
Jai's eyes were uncharacteristically dark in the dim glow of the table lamp. There was a hint of hesitation in his gaze.
"I see the way you look at him," he told you softly.
Instantly, you knew whose lips were ghosting over the back of your neck, whose thick fingers were slowly working the hem of your dress up into fistfuls of silk. He was the same right size, the same right shape. But you couldn't allow yourself to believe it. You turned your head, the only part of your body still in your control, and it broke his lock on your skin. He lifted his rich, hazel eyes right to yours.
"Lukey," you breathed, like you needed to be introduced.
