Ryker's Guide (Mild)

Bonding Time

Meri awoke to find Daryl asleep underneath her, pinned against the couch by the press of her body still clad in only Car's dress shirt. Grinning, she reached up her left hand to absently pet his ears, eliciting soft purrs of happiness from the cowboy as she noticed Ryker sitting at their feet and Car relaxing adjacent to them on the smaller loveseat and with his feet propped up on the ottoman.

Neither man had bothered to get dressed after their shower, and they appeared to be watching some sort of documentary with relative disinterest, each holding a whiskey casually in their hands.

Upon noticing that she was awake, Car paused the documentary, and Meri grinned as she eased herself off her friend and down the length of the couch, trying to move in a way that wouldn't wake Daryl and somehow finding herself pulled to straddle Ryker's lap. The man then wrapped his free arm, the one not holding the outrageously expensive whiskey, around her waist and squeezed her against him.

Grinning wider, she whispered. "Car picked out the show, I take it?"

Ryke rolled his eyes, which sparkled with amusement. "You know it. Do you think I wanted to watch a documentary about New Kingdom Egyptian art? I had to pour a glass of whiskey to just get through the first twenty minutes."

"Speaking of which..." Mer added before grabbing his whiskey out of his hand and taking a sip.

Ryker frowned, but there was no real heat in that glare. "Not fair."

With a soft laugh, Meri returned the glass to him as she replied. "Consider it payback. Your cowboy stole my coffee earlier."

"I thought we were sharing everything now." He was still frowning.

"Exactly, which is why you were just a good boy and happily shared your whiskey with me. Cause we share now."

Meri reveled in Ryker's bemused smirk before she sighed contentedly as she let the heat from Ryke's body warm her, and it wasn't long until she felt Ryker's body responding to her presence. When she and Car had talked about this idea, she totally thought this thing would be weird. Really weird. That it would somehow change her friendship with Daryl or harm the way she felt about Ryke or make her jealous of the attention Car was getting from other people, but it all felt right for some reason. Not in a 'this was fated to happen' kind of a way. It was more of a 'hey, we're all friends and really good at fucking. Let's have sex!' kinda way, and Meri regretted nothing.

"We heard you two in the shower." She said softly, her lips stopping inches from the man's. "You guys were totally having all the fun."

Ryke gave her a lopsided grin as a dark, aroused look entered his eyes. "Yeah, and when we came in you two appeared to be having fun all on your own."

Meri shrugged against the man. "We couldn't let you outdo us."

Before Ryke could utter another word, she pressed herself into him and trapped his lips in a kiss that soon had him nipping at her bottom lip as she grew breathless. He groaned softly, obviously trying to keep his noises quiet for Daryl's sake.

Still holding the whiskey in one hand, he began trailing his free hand with maddeningly slowness over her body and down her stomach. Gasping for air, she broke the kiss. She wanted to keep going, really wanted to keep going, but even though she was reacting to Ryker's touch, her body was telling her that she was even more tired than she'd realized, despite her little nap. Something in her response must have told Ryker she wanted to rest, and he removed his hand and returned his arm to her waist as she shifted so that she could rest her head against his shoulder. Meri's gaze flickered to her mate who had been watching the whole interaction with a deep, heady look.

"Tired already, goddess?" Ryke asked teasingly in her ear

She huffed exasperatedly. "Don't call me that. Technically, my body is still human...kinda. So, I'm not that different from who I was. Plus, it totally annoys Tiamat that you keep calling us 'goddess' or 'Princess' or whatever. Be careful or you'll get angry goddess sex."

As she spoke, she held eye contact with Car who looked perfectly happy to recline and watch her and Ryker together. Making a soft noise of contentment, she pulled back and gave Ryke a peck on his cheek. "Alright. You take the cowboy. King Vampire looks lonely."

Ryke's gaze flicked to the sleeping form of his mate then back to Meri. "I can't take him. He's sleeping. It wouldn't be right."

The woman looked at him with a deadpan expression. "You know I didn't mean fuck him, Ryke. I meant you should cradle him lovingly as he sleeps or something."

"Oh," Ryker said theatrically as he released her, "Yeah. That I can do."

Wearing a joyous and probably stupid-seeming grin, Mer climbed off Ryker's lap and faced Carbry only to be rewarded by Ryker pinching her ass when she turned her back to him. Her head whipped around and she leveled a glare full of mock indignation as the other vampire gave her a shiteating grin.

His explanation was whispered. "Sorry, goddess. It was just in front of me as I set my whiskey on the table. What was I supposed to do? You should really wear pants if you don't want that to happen."

She snorted in amusement as she watched a still smiling Ryker while he lowered himself next to Daryl to take up the narrow space she had left just a few moments before. In response to the other man's presence, the cowboy exhaled contentedly in his sleep and turned to wrap his arms around his mate and bury his face in his neck.

Still smiling, Meri made her way over to her vampire, slipping into his lap and nestling close as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead tenderly as she heard thunder in the distance. Deliriously happy and temporarily satiated, she rested her head gently on his chest and closed her eyes, quietly listening to the approaching storm. Her mate began rubbing her back, slipping his hand under the shirt she wore so that his fingertips could make contact with her skin.

She could already feel herself starting to fall asleep as he spoke in a whisper. "Well, a chuisle mo chroí, how do you feel?"

"Exhausted." She replied.

He chuckled. "No, about this, I mean."

"Oh," she yawned, "Yeah. So, same time next week, everyone?"

Meri heard Ryker make a strangled noise of amusement from the couch, and Daryl sighed loudly in response to the sound.

Car also laughed as he grabbed a blanket and wrapped her in it. "I'd certainly be amenable to that."

If her eyes had been open, she would have rolled them at her mate's antiquated choice of words, but she smiled against him anyway. "I love you, Car, and thank you."

"I love you, too. And thanks for what?"

"I dunno. For being you. For being open and stuff."

Chuckling again, he kissed the top of her head as she felt herself slipping into unconsciousness. "I only want to make you happy, love. Besides, I have thoroughly enjoyed this experience."

Meriwa breathed in the scent of him as she replied. "Good. Cause, this should be, like, a regular thing now."

There was light-heartedness in his voice. "How about we talk it over after you and the cowboy's nap?"

"What if I don't want to just talk when I wake up?"

Ryker barked out another laugh from the couch, and Car snorted. "Sleep, Meri."

Sighing, she obliged, sinking deeper into the man she loved as the storm hit, the sounds of the wind driving the rain against the window in heavy sheets making her feel decidedly cozy wrapped under a blanket and cradled in his arms.