The Strength of Three (14 page)

Claire wondered if it were possible for one’s heart to actually explode. The thing was beating so hard surely it was close.

“And what if I don’t want to do those things?” The act of defiance pretty much fell flat. She knew it based on their twin predatory grins.

“If you really didn’t want this, you’d go inside and slam the door in our faces. One thing we remember for certain about you is your stubbornness.” Hunter turned serious and touched her cheek. “If there’s anything we do that scares you or you don’t want, just tell us. We’ll back off.”

They would. She didn’t know how she knew it, but she did. They wouldn’t hurt her. Maybe leave her heart crushed in a million pieces when they left, but they wouldn’t physically hurt her. They weren’t that kind of men. Not ten years ago, and she could see they still weren’t.

What could she say to that? She nodded and stepped inside, letting them follow her in. Not want this? Pfft. The door sounded with what seemed like an ominous click and then Hunter spoke again.

“Take off the shirt, Claire. I can’t wait to see you.” Mason’s hands fisted and she wondered if he were trying not to pounce on her. His expression clearly showed he wanted to do just that.

She swallowed and reached for the hem of her shirt, revealing inch by inch of smooth, creamy skin in an almost provocative dance. Where her inner vixen suddenly came from she didn’t know and didn’t particularly care. When her bellybutton appeared, Mason dropped to his knees and placed a kiss on the indentation. The act startled her and Claire bumped back into the wall. Mason took advantage. He held her hips and kissed a circle around her navel, tickling her into a rush of giggles.

Beside her, Hunter groaned. Because he wanted to do the same thing? Damn, she wished she had a better handle on all things sex in real life, not just in the written word.

A moment later, Mason backed off, a silly grin on his face. “Sorry.”

She had a feeling he wasn’t. “Right.”

“Off.” The impatience she remembered Hunter having shone through in spectacular fashion.

“Geez. It’s not my fault I was interrupted.” Claire shimmied the shirt up, reaching her arms to the ceiling to remove it, but before she could take it completely off, Hunter grabbed her bound arms and kept them raised above her head. As a result, her face was covered by the material as well. “Hey.”

“Stay.” Hunter had been reduced to one-word grunts, which made a thrill go through her.

A mouth latched on to one of her silk-bra-covered nipples, puckering the bud tight before the cup was pulled below her breast. Fingers manipulated her other mound. Claire’s knees wobbled and someone pressed her into the wall.

Her nipple was sucked deep into a hot, wet mouth and then a tongue wrapped around it. Teeth bit gently and Claire cried out into the fabric of her shirt. She’d never experienced such a sensation, the sharpness of teeth followed by the soothing lap of a tongue. The clip between her breasts popped open with deft fingers and the cups fell to her sides, leaving her practically naked from the waist up except for the bunch of fabric around her face. She knew her nipples were standing out from her small breasts, and somewhere in the back of her mind she thought about being embarrassed but couldn’t summon the energy when what the two men were doing to her nipples felt so damn good.

“Sheeeesh.” Claire’s legs buckled on a particularly strong suck.

She squealed when Mason laughed and scooped her up in his arms. “Where’s the bedroom, baby?”

“Down the hall.” The shirt still shrouded her face but try as she might she couldn’t wiggle loose. She had a feeling Mason wanted it that way.

Light filtered through the hole at the top and she wondered what they thought of her scrawny apartment as they lit the rooms one by one. She knew what they’d find in her room. The walls were dark red—whore red she called it—the comforter plaid in a matching shade of red mixed with browns and navy. Not very girly, but then she wasn’t a very girly kind of girl. A touch of makeup on the dresser, a few simple dresses and a bit of jewelry were about as feminine as she got.

There was a shuffling sound and then the world spun as Mason turned and laid her on the bed. Her bare back on soft sheets told her the shuffling had been Hunter pulling off the comforter.

“Can I take this off now?” She squirmed in an attempt to extract herself. Who knew it’d be so hard to get your shirt off when you really wanted it off?

“I don’t know, Hunt, I kind of like her blindfolded.”

Claire stilled, her heart racing. Blindfolded? As in not being able to see? Anything?

She’d written the scenario lots of times. And the idea of doing it here and now made her clit throb in excitement. But still, if she didn’t at least pretend like the idea scared the shit out of her, what would they think of her? That she did this sort of thing all the time?

She fumbled out of the shirt. Her glasses came off with the material, and she eyed their blurry forms. “What do you mean?”

Hunter pulled a black, silky-looking scarf from his back pocket and showed it to her. “A little something to force you to feel, sweetheart.”

“Do you always carry little black scarves in your pocket, Hunter?”

“I like to be prepared.” His lips split into a sexy smile that made her belly flip-flop.

“Huh. I like prepared.” What the hell. It was the chance of a lifetime, right?

Newlywed Catalina Robinson thinks it’s not possible to be more satisfied…but then she learns what it’s like to love two men.

Honeymoon Castaways

© 2007 Dawn Halliday

Cat has just married Dave Robinson, the man of her dreams. Their Best Man, Andreas Bailey, is flying them to their honeymoon resort in Barbados. But over the middle of the ocean, something goes horribly wrong…

Cat, Dave and Andreas find themselves stranded on an uninhabited Caribbean island. Though she’s never thought of him as more than a friend, Cat finds herself connecting to Andreas in a way she never expected and is shocked and aroused to learn that her husband feels the same way. Together, the three of them discover a heat and passion uninhibited by the conventions of society. But will they ever be rescued? And what will happen to their unusual relationship once they return home?

Warning, this title contains the following: explicit sex, graphic language, ménage a trois, voyeurism and skinny dipping.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Honeymoon Castaways:

She added pressure to Andreas’s thigh. “This isn’t your fault, you know.”

He cocked his head at her. “It was my airplane, my radios, my ELT. At least I should have told you to make sure you’d have cell phone coverage, but I didn’t even do that, did I?”

She shrugged. “We wouldn’t have done anything to our cell phones. We weren’t planning to use them on the honeymoon. We wanted a complete escape.” She smiled slyly. “Looks like we got it.”

“Huh.” Andreas flung his stone past Cat. They all watched it skip three times before hitting a rock at the far end of the pool.

She turned back to him. “Stop being so angry with yourself. We don’t blame you for any of this.”

“You can say that now—it’s only been two days. How are you going to feel in a week when we’re hungry, sunburned and bored? If we’re not dead of some tropical infection, that is.”

“We’ll work through it together. And we’re not going to die of an infection—you’ve got antibiotics in your first-aid kit.”

Andreas snorted.

She squeezed his thigh. “We’re together,” she whispered meaningfully, knowing he felt like an outsider.

He wouldn’t anymore. Not if she could help it.

Taking a deep breath, she moved to stand directly in front of Andreas. Slowly, she reached up to stroke his cheek, gliding her fingers over his lips. He had such a gorgeous, wide mouth, such full lips, so soft. She kept her eyes solidly on his, but felt Dave watching her. Heat resonated from him, swirling between the three of them.

Andreas’s eyes narrowed. He flicked a glance at Dave. “What are you doing?”

Courage, Cat
. She swallowed the lump of anxiety in her throat. “Kiss me.”

“Hell, no!” Andreas jumped to his feet into the pool in front of her. Water splashed, wetting her shorts.

Andreas’s head swung from Dave to her, and back again. “What the fuck is this? Is this some kind of test?”

Cat took two shaky steps backward. “I’m sorry, I— No, it’s not a test.”

Andreas turned to leave, but Dave captured his forearm. “Stay. We have a proposition for you.”

Andreas stopped, breathing heavily, staring at Dave. The muscles in his torso were so tense, they rippled with every breath. “What?”

Dave’s Adam’s apple bobbed, the only hint that he was nervous. He didn’t beat around the bush. “I want you to sleep with Cat.”

Goose bumps rippled over Cat’s skin.

“What?”

Dave’s voice lowered. “Come on, man. It’s stupid for you to jack off in the corner while we’re having a good time.”

Cat didn’t think skin as dark as Andreas’s could flush, but he proved her wrong. His cheeks reddened. He pressed his lips together and didn’t speak.

Dave held out his hand. “Come here, Cat.”

Shakily, she took her husband’s hand and moved to stand between his legs. He turned her to face Andreas. “Look at her. She wants this.” Dave stroked her hair. “I want it. You want it. Why deny it?”

Cat’s nipples ached. She didn’t dare cast a glance at them, but feared they must be poking out like marbles against the shiny material of her bikini top. Resisting the urge to cover herself, she raised her gaze from the rippling water at Andreas’s shins, up his strong legs, his gray surf shorts, his rippled abs and muscular torso, his strong chin and nose, sculpted cheekbones. She stopped when she saw the fear shining in his eyes. He looked more fearful now than he had sounded in the moments before the crash. He shook his head minutely.

Dave flicked the clasps at her neck and behind her back. She stood very still as the bikini top slithered down her body and slid into the water. Still as a statue, Andreas watched her. She gazed into his eyes, saw his pupils dilate.

“Dave,” he groaned.

She was on display. Her husband was the one putting her on display, showing off her body like a trophy. His trophy.

God, it made her hot. Her pussy was on fire. She wanted Dave’s mouth on it. She wanted both their mouths on it.

Dave pulled her close into his body and licked up the curved side of her breast. “She tastes good, my friend.”

She stared at Andreas. He didn’t move.

Dave stroked down her shoulder blade, resting his palm on the small of her back.

A muscle in Andreas’s arm quivered.

Cat licked her lips.
Now or never.

She moved out of Dave’s embrace and took two long steps through the knee-deep water. She felt Dave’s presence just behind her as he jumped into the water and stepped forward with her.

“Please kiss me.” She pressed her breasts against Andreas’s chest, wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head down to hers.

He froze, but he didn’t jerk away. She’d never kissed such an unresponsive mouth. His lips felt like velvet against hers, so soft. She kissed the corners of his mouth, then a little higher at that place that dimpled when he smiled. She returned to his lips, brushing them over and over with hers. Dave held her from behind, running his hands up and down the sides of her waist.

Andreas’s cock pressed against her belly. Dave’s rubbed against her lower back.

Cat’s knees buckled. It didn’t matter. Dave held her up.

She nipped at Andreas’s lower lip. She could feel his tension, streams of electricity buzzing beneath his skin. She willed him to relax, to set himself free, to open to her. She traced his lips with her tongue, and then tried to nudge them apart. Suddenly, she was no longer in control.

Andreas was.

The Strength of Three

Annmarie McKenna

Never let it be said that ex-soldiers don’t know what to do with their hands…

When it comes to men, Christina isn’t just gun shy, she’s downright terrified. Her abusive drunk of a father, plus bad experiences in high school and college, have cemented her belief that all men are the same—ruthless and violent at the slightest provocation.

She tells herself she couldn’t care less about her lack of a love life. Yet lately she’s been having seriously erotic dreams about two of her bosses. And oddly, those dreams make her body tingle, not seize up in a panic attack.

TJ and Jon have shared women since their military days. Somehow it makes them feel whole. From the first glance, Christina has been the object of their desire, but getting close to the prickly female hasn’t been easy—not when she holds men off with a psychological pitchfork. They’ve waited a long time to ease their way into her life.

Time’s up.