Rebecca sagged on her stool, feeling exhausted and winded. The Hunters all seemed to have that effect on her.
* * *
Manny hung his messenger bag on his closet door and glanced at his phone once more. He took it from the counter and read the last text message again.
Meet us at my place. Rebecca feels like sushi.
It buzzed in his hand.
Don’t worry. We’re ordering the California rolls for you, rookie.
Manny had to grin. Sushi was definitely out of his comfort zone, and Kyle knew it, but anything had to be better than spending another evening wondering what they were doing without him. Rebecca had been in Lake George or traveling back with Kyle for the last thirty-four hours, and, yes, he was counting. She was supposed to be coming back to his place, not Kyle’s. All weekend he’d struggled with the idea of her returning and worse with the possibility of her not returning.
Rebecca seemed to have moved into a corner of his heart when he wasn’t looking, and now Kyle was back in his life too, stoking his hunger for more of him. But Manny still felt empty inside. He cursed aloud, hating the confusion that swirled in his head. Manny was a Marine. Marines don’t waffle, don’t get strung out on their emotions.
He texted back.
I’ll be there in forty-five.
Kyle lived way the hell downtown in one of the posh new high-rises overlooking the harbor. Manny decided to leave Holly in her cozy little spot and take the subway. Parking downtown was impossible. It was already nine. Service on the subway would be nearly nonexistent by eleven, and the usual forty-five minute trip would resemble an eternity, but the idea of spending the night hadn’t crossed his mind—at least not for longer than it took to locate his metro card.
The Hunters purchased the apartment for Kyle when they were still in Afghanistan. Manny and Kyle had even talked about living there together when they returned stateside. But that was before they’d been threatened with court-martial, before Kyle swapped bunks with another Marine and started avoiding Manny at all costs. Missions had wound down as their tour came to an end. They barely saw each other that last month in the desert. It had suited Manny fine, since looking at Kyle and not being able to have him was a fresh new kind of living hell.
Not much had changed, really. With two weeks left on his official hiatus—temporary lapses notwithstanding—he still couldn’t have Kyle, because he also wanted Rebecca. There was something just dishonorable about wanting your cake and eating it too. Greedy and selfish—that’s how wanting them both felt.
He scrubbed his face and grabbed his keys, then headed to the elevator with the gravitational pull from Battery Park putting one leg in front of the other. Outside, he pounded the pavement with a quick and steady beat.
Greedy
…
selfish
…
greedy
…
selfish
. These words drummed in his head like a vicious spell.
* * *
The glass doors of Kyle’s shower fogged up quickly. Rebecca ran the water as hot as she could stand it and scrubbed her skin with the natural loofa Kyle had bought at the organic market along with special soap made with green tea extract. She watched the suds run between her breasts, fork at her navel, and find the smooth valleys at the juncture of her thighs. Her nipples tightened, despite the hot water.
Kyle knocked on the door. “He should be here in about fifteen.”
“Just rinsing off.”
And freaking out.
She turned off the water and placed the loofa on the marble bench seat along with the soap. The masculine, custom-appointed bathroom was bigger than her bedroom growing up, with its separate shower and soaking tub. The apartment might have been newly renovated, but old money dripped from its walls. She stepped onto the velour bath mat and let the water drip from her body as the air conditioning cooled her skin.
She followed his instructions, so no towel except for her hair. Rebecca hung her head upside-down and gathered her wet locks atop her crown, letting the natural ringlets tumble around her face. Minutes passed like days, but eventually she was dry.
When Kyle told her to search
nyotaimori
on the trip back to the city from Lake George, she had been almost speechless when the results showed images of women serving sushi in the nude—with their bodies as the platter. Taking a moment to stash her common sense at the bathroom door, Rebecca stood up straight and walked into Kyle’s dining room naked. He was busy pouring soy sauce into the small plastic saucers provided by the restaurant for takeout.
Maddeningly, Kyle seemed entertained by the way she rolled her arms inward to form a V-shaped screen over her tasty bits. He raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you having second thoughts?”
Rebecca wrung her hands. “No, but I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.” She nodded toward the wall. “If you’d be so kind…”
He chuckled, but turned for the moment it took to arrange herself on the glass table. “You know every bit of that adorable modesty is about to go right out of the window. I’ll be ogling you all evening.”
Rebecca had the distinct sense that ogling wouldn’t be the half of what was about to happen and her body tingled with every unspoken promise in his smug tone.
He turned around, the silly grin melting away from his face. “Wow. I’m almost sorry I ordered so much food. You’re way too beautiful to be covered in fish.”
If she blushed any more, Rebecca was sure she’d suffer an aneurism. He brushed his thumb against her cheek.
“Are you ready?”
She smiled up at him. “Go ahead. Maki me.”
He grinned, picked up the chopsticks, and got to work. Rebecca tried her best to keep still as he lifted each elaborately fashioned piece of edible art off the chilled plate and rested them in orderly formation onto her skin. He started with her right thigh on down to her ankle, then did the same for the other leg. The pieces were cold, but Rebecca’s nipples puckered with the anticipation of hungry mouths eating their fill.
Next, Kyle arranged pieces on her collar bone, down one arm and then the other. Four for her rib line, three for her belly. She concentrated on not moving. Kyle focused on each placement with a special kind of precision that turned his usually playful expression into something dangerously sexy. Mouth parted, eyes narrowed, he looked as though he would eat her alive.
“Five more pieces and you’re done.”
Rebecca chewed on her bottom lip. “I actually really like sushi.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re going to like it even more after tonight.”
“So, I’ll get to have some?”
“You’ll get your fill, don’t worry. But not until Manny gets here.”
“Normally the model is supposed to just be still. No eating, no talking.”
“What, are you an expert now?” He raised an eyebrow at her and placed a piece atop her left nipple.
She laughed nervously. “I’m a librarian. Tell me to look something up and I’ll be able to write a thesis on it in twenty minutes.”
He winked at her. “Remember what I said about the brainy ones.”
Rebecca’s blood rushed hot, nerves and all. “Am I really doing this?”
He nodded. “Because you’re dying to see the look on Manny’s face when he sees what’s for dinner.”
Rebecca couldn’t keep the wicked smile from her lips as she nodded in return. Kyle made her want to do wicked things, made her think that she could. “You are such a bad influence on me,” she said through her grin.
He trailed his finger down her sternum, putting enough pressure there to make her feel pinned. He leaned in just inches from her face, flicking his tongue against her lips. “The worst.”
Kyle pulled back, feeling about to burst through his zipper. Rebecca lay there on his glass dining table, looking suspended in the air and his for the taking. But she wasn’t. She was a present for Manny, practically wrapped up in a bow. It hadn’t been easy to get her to agree to this crazy plan during the ride back from his parents’ place. Even then, he’d known the stunt wasn’t just for Manny’s benefit. Rebecca wiggled her nose and tried to blow a wisp of hair that had tangled in her eyelash. He laughed at her cross-eyed attempt and swept it away from her forehead.
“So damn adorable,” he mumbled, finding himself drawn to her lips.
The buzz of his intercom interrupted him.
She gasped. “Oh my God, he’s here.”
Kyle felt a surge of excitement. “If this doesn’t work, then he really is the fucking tin man.”
“Pretty sure he has a heart.”
“And a nice fat cock.”
“I remember.”
He winked at her again. “I’ll bet you do.”
Kyle buzzed Manny up and when the doorbell sounded he opened the door to find his friend leaning against the frame with a bottle of Saki.
“Never arrive empty-handed.” He thrust it forward to Kyle.
“Better than
leaving
empty-handed,” Kyle said and clutched his wrist. “Hope you’re hungry.”
Manny smiled cautiously at him. “Where’s Rebecca?”
“Already in the dining room.”
“The dining room? Fancy,” Manny teased. Kyle had to stop himself from wrestling Manny to the floor and tearing his dark-wash Levis off his hips. He wanted to watch that smirk melt away into something resembling desperation.
“Come on. We waited for you.”
Manny flashed him another cautious look. “Yeah?”
Kyle felt the prick of his gaze, and he understood the subtext. “Yeah.”
“Nice place you got here Hunter,” Manny said, casually looking around as they passed through the living room. Kyle wasn’t fooled as he watched Manny slide his hands into his back pockets, something he did to try to look cool and collected. Just before the archway, Kyle hung back and let Manny enter the dining room first. Manny froze in his tracks, and Kyle took a mental snapshot of his face as he took in the sight of Rebecca arranged into an all-you-can-eat buffet.
She smiled nervously at him and wiggled her fingers in a tiny wave hello. “Hey, there.”
“What the…?” Manny turned to Kyle.
“I know. Sushi never looked so good.” Kyle felt downright devilish. “And I know how bad you are at using chopsticks, so tonight we eat without them.” He bent over and took a norimaki roll into his mouth, his lips sweeping over Rebecca’s ankle in the process. Chewing, he gestured for Manny to indulge.
“Go ahead, Manny,” Rebecca said with a quiet voice. “Have some.”
Manny seemed to measure her expression. Kyle watched his eyes narrow and noted the moment his brow pinched. “Did Kyle put you up to this?”
Rebecca anchored him with her own hard stare. “Kyle doesn’t write my rules.”
Manny shifted in place. Kyle couldn’t miss the bulge swelling in his best friend’s cargo shorts. Poor guy never had a chance.
Manny raked his hand over his brow, and then dragged it over his head, his lip quirking with an incredulous smirk. “You look amazing. Do you know that?”
“Bet I taste even better,” she taunted him, arching her back on the table and pushing her gorgeous breasts a little higher in the air. Sushi teetered, and Kyle watched the hunger for all things Rebecca manifest on Manny’s face.
Still he showed restraint. “Uh, need to wash my hands. Subway is like a cesspool.”
Kyle pointed down the hall. “First door.”
When he’d left, Rebecca groaned. “Oh, this is so stupid. He’s probably in there making a rope ladder out of your towels.”
“Did you see that look on his face?” Kyle picked up a piece of tuna roll and popped it into Rebecca’s mouth. “He’s going to crack. Manny is all ours tonight.”
She chewed and spoke after swallowing. “You sound so sure.”
“I know him better than he knows himself.”
Manny returned with a damp face, and Kyle knew he’d splashed some cool water over those pronounced cheekbones. He scratched his nose and slowly draped his gaze over Rebecca. A smile finally lifted the corners of his mouth, and he licked his lips. “OK, let’s eat.”
Manny bent over her, taking his time, surveying the many different concoctions. He selected a piece of salmon sashimi resting high on Rebecca’s thigh. He laid his tongue flat against her flesh as he swept the entire morsel into his mouth. She cooed, and he laved her skin again, making her squirm.
Kyle took his second bite, choosing a piece on her collarbone, while Manny went for a second serving at her hip. Their eyes met over the soft hills of Rebecca’s breasts.
“Saki?” Kyle reached for the bottle and poured a bit into Rebecca’s fluttering navel.
Manny slurped at it as he poured, trails of the cool liquid running into the creases between her thighs. Manny’s gaze followed the wine as it disappeared into her folds and then returned to Kyle.
Kyle held his gaze and swiped a piece from her nipple as Manny licked his lips.
Rebecca moaned and squirmed a little more. Manny made a sound close to a growl, and Kyle swallowed to take the whole of Rebecca’s nipple in his mouth. The growl rumbled louder, and Rebecca arched up toward him. Kyle tugged lightly on the pink pebble of flesh as his lips turned into a grin.
“Come on, Manny, you know you want some of this.”
Manny finally joined him, wrapping his mouth onto Rebecca’s breast like a man truly starved.
Kyle retreated, allowing Manny to lavish her breast alone. He sucked on it with brute intention, pulling her from the table. Sushi toppled. Kyle picked up one colorful piece and fed her open mouth.
“Mmm…” she moaned, with her mouth full.
Kyle bent over her and pulled his shirt over his head. Then he licked a trail from her jaw to behind her ear. She shivered, and he exchanged nibbles with kisses on her slender neck.
Manny tore her legs apart. More sushi tumbled. He yanked her body to the edge of the table, rocked her knees back to her shoulders, buried his face in her pussy and inhaled deep.
Kyle hovered over her from the other side of the table. “Your pussy looks so sweet,” he said. “Makes me want a taste.”
Manny paused. His lips parted as heavy breaths passed between them. His gaze locked onto Kyle, who stared right back at him, uncertainty in his eyes. In a way, Kyle’s words had been directed at them both, and Manny knew it.