Chapter 60: Dragons

Joan and Seto woke before midnight. Joan stretched and wrapped herself in a blanket. She strolled to a window and looked out at the starry sky. Seto came up behind her and pulled the blanket down, exposing her breasts to the cold night air.

"Showing me off to your neighbors?" Joan asked.

Seto fondled her stiffening nipples. "Unlike your slum of an apartment, nobody around here lives close enough to see."

As Joan's eyes adjusted to the darkness outside, she noticed trees blocking every possible line of sight. Perhaps a front window would give nosey neighbors an eyeful, but Seto's room sat at the back of the mansion. An idea took shape in Joan's mind. "Have you ever fucked outside?"

"Like gutter rats?"

Joan turned to face him. "Like dragons."

Seto's iolite eyes widened and sizzled. He grabbed Joan's hand, and they ran naked through the hallway, down the stairs, and out the back door.

Meanwhile, the night security guard watched the security cameras. He panicked and woke Roland. Roland's wife heard the alarm in the night guard's voice and shot up as well. She followed Roland to the video-feed room that adjoined their bedroom and observed from the doorway.

Roland squinted at the active monitor until his vision cleared. He groaned. There, on the moonlit grass, Joan and Seto wrestled for dominance. "Leave them be."

"But sir, they look like they're going to kill each other."

"They're fine. There's not even any blood this time."

"Blood!?"

Roland sighed, not sure how to explain the void that Joan filled in Seto's life. "She didn't come all the way from California just to murder her employer. On top of that, they're engaged."

"They're getting married!?" the night guard asked. "What if she kills him after the wedding and takes all his money?"

Roland's wife crept closer and gasped when she saw what her husband was viewing. Roland turned away from the screen and put a reassuring hand on his wife's shoulder. "There won't be a legal marriage, just a wedding. She already has a husband in California. She's going to change her last name to Kaiba, and they'll keep paying her per session."

Roland's wife blinked. "They?"

"Seto and Mokuba."

"That whore!" Roland's wife continued watching the feed in horror.

"Yes," Roland agreed. "That's what Seto calls her. It's all over the news."

"You know I never watch the news. It's all lies and slander!"

"Not this time."

"This is disgraceful. We can't stand for this."

Roland shrugged. "It's not our house. It never was."

"Then we need new jobs," his wife huffed.

"We're two years away from retirement, and our departure wouldn't change anything between them. The Kaiba brothers are head-over-heels for her. She's made them happier than they've ever been."

"But she's married."

"She's not the first married whore Seto has fucked. Her husband knows. He's fine with it."

Roland's wife crossed her arms. "And how would you feel if I fucked Seto?"

Roland fought hard not to laugh. His wife was hardly Seto's type. Aside from her age, she was too proper and old-fashioned, not to mention superstitious. "My darling, if Seto Kaiba ever laid a finger on you, I would blast a hole through his skull."

"And you don't think her husband will do the same?"

Roland sighed. "There's a duel you need to see." He turned to the night guard. "You too. In fact the entire staff needs to see it. I'll put Tamara on the cameras for now. She was there and doesn't need a recap."

Roland went to wake the rest of the staff and summoned them to the basement for a conference while Joan and Seto continued their romp in the back yard. The lovers came back inside an hour later, hungry and in need of a shower.

Now that her excitement had died down, Joan noticed how eerily quiet the manor felt as they walked through the high-ceilinged rooms. "Do you think anyone saw that?"

"If nobody saw it, somebody's fired," Seto replied. He led Joan to the video-feed room and poked his head in the door. He saw Tamara sitting there. "Enjoy the show?"

"Your technique needs work," Tamara commented.

"Are you volunteering to show me how it's done?" Seto challenged.

"No."

"Your loss." Seto shut the door and headed back to the master bedroom with Joan.

"Are you angling for a threesome?" Joan asked.

"Whore, what did I say yesterday?"

"That you don't want to risk a retard baby."

"Exactly." Seto entered his bathroom and pressed a button on the wall. Immediately, both the shower and an enormous bathtub started running water. He pulled Joan into the shower. "And since your bodyguard can't even recognize greatness when he's standing right in front of her, she counts as a retard."

Joan rolled her eyes as she sudsed his body. "I didn't mean with her. She's obviously not interested. I mean generally speaking, do you want threesomes with other women?"

"Been there, done that. It got old fast. So generally speaking no, unless you want that."

"Just with men. Would you do a threesome with me and my husband, for me?" Joan's eyes glistened as she grinned at him.

Seto's eye twitched. "How about anyone but him? Will that ring protect you from unwanted sperm?"

"Presumably it should. It has only responded to sperm from the four of you anyway."

Seto's eyes narrowed. "Who else's sperm have you had?"

"My friend André's, just orally."

"You realize I got you pregnant orally, right?"

"Right, but Andre's name isn't on the ring. He has no power over it, and even if he did, I'm pretty sure my consent is required for the ring to work."

"Pretty sure?" Seto stepped out of the shower, and Joan followed. It automatically turned off. "I want you staying away from knuckleheads all the same."

Joan suppressed a laugh. "André's not a knucklehead."

Seto sank into the bath. "Prove it."

Joan joined Seto in the bath and settled into his lap. She collected her thoughts for a moment before releasing a stream of visions. She showed Seto how she first met André at a music party hosted by Dimitri, how André and Dimitri talked circles around her once-treasured religious beliefs, how sharp André looked on his way to give a physics lecture, and his clever song lyrics. Most of all, she shared how André comforted her immediately after a big breakup, how they talked for so many hours that Joan missed her train home and called Michael to let him know she'd be staying the night at Neverland. She wound up cuddling with André that night, talking until they drifted off to sleep from mental exhaustion.

"Fuck," Seto said as the vision faded. He took a few breaths to recover from the rush of information interspersed with sparks pounding his brain. As much as he hated to admit it, André had played a vital role in shaping Joan's personality. "Why didn't you mention that man earlier?"

"He's a friend with benefits, not anything more. He wants a monogamous relationship, and the sexual component of our friendship terminates the moment he gets a girlfriend."

"All right, you've convinced me. He's not a knucklehead; he's an outright idiot. Giving you up for someone else is unthinkable."

Joan shrugged. "I'm just not what he's looking for."

"Keep his sperm out of you then."

Joan smirked. "Convince me."

Seto dropped his head against the edge of the tub, his Adam's apple protruding. "There's no convincing you, whore."

"There is, but you'd better have a damn good argument."

Seto thought of what he'd seen in Joan's memories about how André had spent hours debating with her about religion. It wasn't the only factor in her decision to abandon church, but it played a significant role. In truth, Seto had no good arguments for why Joan should stop playing around with André other than the fact that André made him feel inadequate, which he wasn't about to admit. He'd simply have to work harder at keeping Joan satisfied, both physically and intellectually.