Three to Tango (21 page)

Adoring the feel of his big, hot body, she dug both hands deep into his hair.

“Don’t,” she murmured when he tried to move.

“I’ll crush you.”

“Mmm. Don’t want to breathe anyway.”

He laughed almost silently.

Since he’d stayed where he was, she massaged his shoulders, reveling in how broad they were. He had so much power—and so much consideration in the way he controlled it. She found a knot on the left that begged for more pressure. To her surprise, as she worked to ease it, his hips shifted restlessly against her.

“You’re still a little hard,” she said in amazement.

“Been wanting you too long,” he mumbled. “We might have to do that again.”

“Noo,”
she teased in mock horror.

“Yes,” he retorted, and stuck his tongue in her ear.

She giggled, which made him tickle her, which had them rolling around like kids on his king-size bed. His half-hard cock slipped out of her too soon for her taste, though this did allow her to get her hands on more parts of him.

“God,” he sighed, finally settling with her sprawled breathlessly over him. “I am still completely in love with you.”

She pushed up on her forearms to look at him.

“You don’t have to say it back,” he said.

“I can say it.” His eyes had been worried, but her touch of defensiveness amused him.

“I can!” she repeated. “I’m still in love with you.”

He took her face in his hands, thumbs caressing her cheekbones, smile so tender and understanding she knew he’d heard the “but” she was trying to leave unsaid.

“Don’t make me explain everything,” she pleaded. “I want to enjoy tonight.”

“So do I,” he said, and pulled her up to kiss him.

After they made love again, she really had to shower. Liam followed her into the large tiled space. They probably would have gone another round among the two zillion jets if her stomach hadn’t resumed grumbling. Chelsea was embarrassed, but Liam simply laughed, bundling her in a too-big bathrobe and tugging her to his kitchen to eat lukewarm pasta and meat sauce.

Despite the temperature, Chelsea thought it might have been the best spaghetti she’d ever had.

When their plates sat empty on his island, they leaned back with matching sighs. Liam had pulled on some old gray sweatpants. He probably didn’t mind the way her eyes kept admiring his bare torso. People who worked out in gyms only hoped to end up like him.

“I am sated,” Chelsea announced, hands folded happily over her stomach.

Liam smiled at her, his expression warm enough to draw a hint of heat back into her sex. He made her heart beat faster even as a wonderful sense of security spread through her. He still wanted her. He still loved her. How in the world had she gotten so lucky?

“Time to spill,” he said, battered fingers turning his wineglass in a circle. “Tell me what you didn’t want to before.”

Chelsea gnawed on her lip. Liam covered her hand with his, reassuring her with his eyes. She couldn’t deny he deserved answers.

“Okay,” she said, fighting back a sigh. “I expect you realize I got my crush on you the day I moved in next door.”

One corner of his kissable mouth twitched. “You were a very romantic ten-year-old.”

“Well, I know my feelings were childish. What’s important is that they never went away. You really had the qualities I fell in love with. You were kind and funny and the best-looking older boy I had ever met. Basically, even at that age, I had excellent taste in men.”

“But?” he prompted when she paused to gather herself.

“But there was Shay.” She watched Liam as she told him, praying she could keep this from hurting him. “Loving Shay snuck up on me. One day, he looked at me and everything he felt about me was in his eyes.”

“And you felt it back.”

“I felt … I didn’t want him to be sad. I wanted him to be happy, and I wanted to be the one who made him that way. So I knew. I knew I cared as much for him as I did for you. Believe me, I didn’t want to admit it. You were everything I wanted. You had a right to someone who could give her whole heart to you. So I pretended I didn’t feel it. I tried to commit myself to only wanting you.”

“Until that day up in the garage.”

Chelsea turned her palm to his. “Until that day.”

He didn’t pull back, and he didn’t seem surprised, though his eyes were cautious. “Did you know he had feelings for me?”

“I had inklings. I’d have had to be stupid not to. We hung out a lot, and considering my crush on you, I certainly recognized the signs. I think—” She stopped and squeezed his hand a little tighter. “I think what bothered me was that him having a thing for both of us never bothered me. The fantasies I had once I figured it out … I had no idea the mere possibility would flip my switch so hard.” She shook her head ruefully. “I’m lucky you two didn’t make me flunk senior year.”

Liam didn’t respond to her attempt at humor. “And now?” he asked quietly.

That was the question, wasn’t it? The one she couldn’t weasel out of even in the privacy of her mind. “Now I still feel a lot of what I did then. I just can’t promise you every single piece of my heart.”

Liam’s hands pulled slowly back to the edge of the countertop. He gripped it so carefully he seemed worried he’d break the stone.

“Okay,” he said. “That’s honest.”

“Don’t say it’s honest,” Chelsea objected, part of her wanting to curse his decency. “You ought to be kicking me to the curb. You’re such a wonderful man. You shouldn’t have to deal with a woman who can’t give all of herself to you.”

“
I’m
wonderful.” Liam let out a shaky laugh. “Don’t you think I have flaws? I let you down. I let Shay down. If I’d found a way to get through to him, he wouldn’t have exiled himself. He’d be here, with his family, where he belongs.”

“You are what you are, Liam.”

“Maybe I’m not as sure of who that is as I used to be.”

Chelsea couldn’t read what was in his eyes. “What are you saying?”

He stood, turning her on the swiveling stool to face him. He ran his hands down the sleeves of her borrowed robe. “I’m saying don’t give up on this yet.”

“I wouldn’t give up. Not on you. Not unless you made me.”

It might have been her most shameful confession: that she was too selfish to walk away. He should have been angry, but: “I’ll never make you,” he swore.

Chelsea’s fingertips rested on his stomach to either side of the line of hair that dove down from his navel. His sweatpants hung low on his solid hip bones, their front rising alluringly. When Chelsea turned one hand to slide it inside the garment, Liam inhaled sharply.

“I want to fuck you again,” he rasped.

She didn’t mind how he put it. What she wanted wasn’t soft, either. She was glad he hadn’t dragged his underwear back on. He jerked when her hand found his hot thickness. She remained on the stool, knees spread to let him close. Exposed by the position, wet cream ran from her as she drew her hand luxuriantly up his cock. With someone else, she might have been self-conscious about her own reaction. With him, tonight, everything seemed all right. The shudder that shook his body was a true thrill.

“Chel,” he said, like she was making him impatient.

“I love touching you,” she murmured. “Let me tease you a little first.”

“Only if I can tease you.”

The gaping robe made her sex fair game. He tucked his hand underneath and around her pussy, one thumb easing inside her heat. Chelsea lost her breath at the slow rotation he made with it. He didn’t kiss her, but his cheek came down to rub against hers. Though he’d shaved in the shower, he still had some male roughness. She shivered as his thumb went around again.

He’d never lied about being good with his hands.

“You like having me inside you,” he said throatily. “As I recall, you like being rubbed outside, too.” His other hand pulled the robe’s tie free, taking her clitoris between his thumb and two fingers. Delicious feelings spread through her at the multiple pressures. “Babe, you have no idea how I love hearing your breath speed up.”

He was breathing pretty fast himself, especially when she remembered to stroke what her hand had wrapped. Their heads were close together, both angled downward to watch the other’s reactions. Liam’s cock had grown thick enough to prevent her fingertips from meeting.

“How long are we going to keep this up?” she asked breathlessly.

“Just until one of us cries uncle.” His eyes rose long enough to sparkle humorously at her. “Boy, oh, boy,” he laughed softly. “I hope I can keep you.”

He dropped the lightest of kisses onto her waiting mouth. The contact was too sweet for her present mood. Her tongue came out, then his, and then he was probing her hungrily.

“Well,” said the visitor whose entry they’d been too busy to register. “I guess my timing could be better.”

Liam

L
iam snatched his hand back from Chelsea’s pussy out of reflex. “Shay,” he said, his heart thumping even harder. “What the hell?”

Shay stood at the perimeter of the kitchen, the keys to Liam’s apartment flashing on the ring he was swinging from one finger. Liam had mailed those keys to him almost as soon as he’d bought this place, though Shay had never seen fit to use them. When he came to town for Christmas visits, he stayed in a hotel. The sardonic half smile that quirked Shay’s mouth told Liam he knew exactly what he’d walked in on. “You did say your door was always open to me.”

“It is.” Liam was aware that Chelsea had hopped to the floor and was hastily tying her terry robe. “It’s good to see you, man.”

Lean as a whip in his faded jeans and baby blue polo shirt, Shay rolled dark eyes. Liam could see why women went for his adopted brother, with his straight black hair and his jaw as sharp as a trowel. His hip-shot stance lent him the glamour of a world-weary movie star. Ignoring Shay’s disbelief at his welcome, or maybe because of it, Liam pulled him into a back-slapping hug. After a second, Shay returned it.

“Jesus,” Liam said, feeling his boniness. “Don’t you remember to eat up there in Boston?”

Shay pushed back with Liam’s hands still gripping his upper arms. Liam suspected the eyes that met his were purposely hard to read. “My cooking isn’t as good as Mom’s.”

“Well, have a burger now and then. You’re gonna blow away if you’re not careful.”

“Hey, Shay,” Chelsea greeted from behind Liam. She’d retreated to the six-burner stove, and her cheeks were probably pinker than she wanted them to be. When Shay shifted his gaze to her, his chest lurched briefly up and down.

“Hey, Chel,” he said in return.

It would have come off more casual if his voice hadn’t gone rough in the middle.

Chelsea dropped her eyes and turned redder.

“Let me get you a beer,” Liam said, taking pity on all of them.

He pulled a bottle from the fridge, cracked it and handed it to Shay. Shay thanked him, then took a long swallow.

“Not that I’m not happy to see you,” Liam said, “but what’s the occasion?”

Shay set the beer on the island, one thumbnail picking at the label. He shot a glance at Chelsea before he spoke. “I broke up with—well, I’m not sure I’d call her my girlfriend—let’s say, the woman I was dating. Some of the things she accused me of got me wondering what I’d been doing with my life lately.”

“If she left you, she was an idiot,” Chelsea said.

Shay rewarded her defense with an amused smile. “She might not have been the best match for me, but an idiot she was not. As you might remember, I like smart girls.”

“Maybe not as smart as you think.”

Her tartness startled him, which Liam enjoyed.

Clearly trying to regain his balance, Shay gestured with the beer toward her. “You look good, Chel. The hair is just like I remembered.”

“Shit,” Chelsea exclaimed, hands flying to the wild mass of curls. “I meant to put something on it after … my shower.”

That it had been Liam’s shower as well was obvious.

“So.” Shay took another pull on the beer, his self-deprecating humor now back in place. “You two, huh? That’s nice. Mom said you bought a house up in Brooklyn Heights. Made a point of telling me you’d be around. I guess she didn’t realize different developments were brewing.”

Chelsea’s eyes widened at his sarcasm. She hadn’t met this new, bitter Shay before. To her credit, it took her about two seconds to see through it.

“Shay,” she said, mildly scolding. “Put down that beer and say ‘hello’ like a real person.”

She ended up having to take it from him, but when she hugged him, he returned the embrace. His head came down next to hers, both their arms tightening.

“Chel,” he groaned, his face buried in her hair.

“I missed you,” she responded, no readier to let go than he was. “You’re such a bastard for not keeping in touch with me.”

Liam knew the moment holding her began to kick Shay’s gonads. His eyes closed and he inhaled, his cheek rubbing her curls like he was memorizing the feel of them. Chelsea’s hands slid up his arms and settled on his shoulders. Liam was pretty sure this was in preparation for putting space between them.

“I had a fling,” Liam said.

Both of them turned to him. Shay’s expression was definitely the more annoyed one.

“I’m not trying to ruin your moment. I had a fling. With a guy.”

Chelsea’s head jerked back in surprise.

“When was this?” Shay asked with both eyebrows raised.

Now that he’d said it, Liam’s hands were shaking. He clenched them beside his hips. “About a year back. I thought I should … try it out.”

“Because of me.” Shay had stepped away from Chelsea and had a grip on his beer again, though he wasn’t actually drinking it.

“I did it because of me. Because the idea was—had been—in my head for a while. I thought I might like it.”

“And did you?”

Chelsea was leaving this interrogation to her old buddy. When Liam glanced at her, she was smiling faintly at the mirror finish on the dark hardwood floor.

“It was fine,” Liam said. “At least the sex part. I wasn’t so comfortable with the guy. I don’t think I liked him enough.”

“You don’t think you liked him enough.” Shay was staring at Liam with his mouth open. Liam’s shoulders hitched in a shrug.

“It was awkward. I’m not good at casual hookups.”

Chelsea made a soft sound.

“Are you
laughing
at me?” Liam asked.

“Yes?” Her voice rose like there might be a doubt. Biting her smile, she closed the small distance between them to wrap him in a tight hug. Liam didn’t mind that, though he’d rather have understood why she was doing it.

“My God,” she murmured against his chest. “Sometimes you are too much for words.”

“Well, how could I know what I liked if I didn’t try?”

“You couldn’t.” Amused, Chelsea leaned back in the circle his arms had automatically cinched around her waist. “And of course you couldn’t do your test run with Shay, because what if it didn’t work?”

“Exactly,” he agreed. “That would have hurt his feelings.”

Behind her, by the island, Shay rubbed one thumb up the furrow between his brows. “Liam, that day over the garage—no offense, bro—but when I touched you, your dick went limp.”

“You freaked me. I hadn’t been thinking of you that way—at least, I don’t think I had. The thing is, what happened that day stuck in my mind all this time. Sometimes pictures of it flash back when I’m, you know, getting myself off.”

Liam felt stupid beyond belief spelling this out. When Shay looked at him, though, and Liam saw the signs of arousal darkening his face, the wave of heat that rolled through him was astounding. Chelsea must have felt it. She went very still in his arms. Liam wondered if she knew his cock was stirring.

“Do you ever—” Shay cleared his throat and continued. “Do you ever think about that day on purpose?”

“Sure,” Liam said, trying not to sound too uncomfortable. “I mean, it makes jacking off better. It gets me excited.”

“Which parts of it get you excited?”

Liam guessed Shay wanted to be certain Liam wasn’t mistaken. He forced himself to be honest. “You going down on Chel did it for me. Me holding her while you made her come. Sometimes I think about how you looked naked. How hard you were when you watched me and her.”

Liam couldn’t help how gravelly his voice had gotten. He was picturing all the good stuff right then. Shay fell silent to think about what he’d said.

Liam’s back was sweating when Chelsea rubbed her hands soothingly up it. “Are you saying you want us to try being together now?”

She was flushed, her blue eyes bright within their thick lashes.

“Yeah,” he said. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“This is a risk,” Shay warned. “We could make things worse than they are.”

Liam’s smile came without effort. “What have we got without it? What have the three of us got that’s so good we can’t afford to give this a shot?”

He was pleased that neither of them argued.

“All right,” Chelsea said. “I’m in.”

Shay let out a snicker.

“What?” she asked, twisting in Liam’s arms to face him.

“Of course you’re in,” Shay said. “Little Miss I-Love-Threesomes.”

He’d stepped close enough that Chel could swat him.

“Let me at her,” Shay said laughingly to Liam. He stopped laughing a second later, realizing what he’d said.
Let me at her. Let me finally have her.

Liam let go. Watching Shay tug Chelsea to him spurred a thick rush of excitement. Chelsea’s lips were parted, her eyes gone round. Liam could see she was aroused but unsure how to handle this. His skin buzzed from the flood of adrenaline, his cock shoving out the soft cotton of his sweatpants. The pair’s gazes locked with a heat Liam registered from a foot away. As Shay regarded Chelsea, his face broke into a smile that wasn’t the least bit bitter.

“You and me, babe,” he said softly, a promise meant just for her. “We’re going to do this before anything else goes down. No matter what happens later, you’re going to have me inside of you.”

Her eyes searched his and then she stretched up to kiss him. Coolness forgotten, Shay moaned like she’d gut-punched him. In half a second, they were plastered to each other, kissing like maniacs. Shay’s hands dove beneath her robe, then helped her wrench out of it.

Liam had an excellent view of Shay’s hands squeezing her taut buttocks.

The sudden choked sound Shay made was in response to the cupping, rubbing grip Chelsea had taken on his zipper. She might be the one who was naked, but she’d certainly gotten the upper hand. With no hesitation whatsoever, she massaged a course down his monster bulge, all the way from the metal button to deep between his legs on the seam.

“God.” Shay gasped, writhing under the hard and apparently skilled caress.
“Fuck.”

He grabbed the back of his collar to yank his shirt over his head, baring new territory for her hands to explore. Skinny or not, Shay’s torso was really cut. Chelsea’s fingertips turned his nipples to tight red points. “The couch,” he rasped, starting to shuffle back toward the living room.

“Yes,” she panted in agreement, leaving Liam to decide if he should follow.

It was Shay who caught his eyes and nodded. “We know you like this part,” he said.

He liked this part, and it was easier, and he couldn’t deny Shay and Chelsea deserved to enjoy themselves after all this time. His throat closed on his excitement as Chelsea gingerly opened Shay’s faded jeans. The downward rasp of the zipper sent an answering zing through him. Shay’s jeans fit loose, and she had no trouble dropping them down his legs. Nothing spoiled Liam’s view of those, or of the hard red jut of his erect penis. Shay’s pubic hair was inky against skin the sun hadn’t touched.

Chelsea seemed to admire the contrast. She trailed one finger down his torso’s midline, then curled it under his shaft.

“Commando,” she purred as she pulled the hook of her finger up his shuddering hard-on. “That is extremely bold.”

Smugness fought with shy pleasure in Shay’s expression. He handed her the wrapped condom he’d tucked in his wallet. “Why don’t you dress me?”

Chelsea opened the package and smoothed it over him, the motions of her fingers gentle and lingering. Liam guessed all men had their fixations, because Chelsea doing this seemed to be Shay’s. With a look like he’d gone to heaven, Shay’s hands came up to surround her breasts, his technique for teasing her nipples shaken by the drag of her thumb around his now latex-covered glans. His distraction didn’t keep him from looking down her body.

“Chel,” he gasped, “you’re even prettier than I remembered.”

Chelsea’s grin let Liam know she was about to be a smartass. “What about him?” she asked, jerking her head to the side. “Is Liam prettier, too?”

Shay slid a glance at Liam, then
down
Liam, his face too red to get any duskier. “He’s not prettier, he’s harder, but harder looks good on him.”

The pair laughed in harmony at the joke, which truly turned the crank on Liam’s arousal. Apparently, being admired by both of them was another turn-on for him. Shay made Chelsea gasp by boosting her up his body, her legs winding around his waist with a lovely tightening of muscles. Shay’s cock stood nearly straight between them, its swollen tip just resting on her belly. The hand that held her bottom copped a good feel of it.

“Need more time?” Shay asked huskily.

Chelsea shook her head, her soft pink lips rolled between her teeth.

“Good,” Shay said, “ ’cause I think I’m about to die if I don’t have you.”

He lowered them both to Liam’s white sectional, then maneuvered them sideways. Shay ended up kneeling on the leather with Chelsea, who knelt higher, straddling him. Shay’s hands massaged Chelsea’s hips, his thumbs reaching into her prettily trimmed thatch to tug the glistening edges of her folds apart. Her labia grew even wetter as he pulled them apart far enough to bare her swollen clitoris. Chelsea squirmed at the tease, her impatience obvious. Luckily, Liam’s body didn’t know how to be jealous. Everything inside him loved how eager she seemed for Shay to drive his hardness up into her. Seeing this, in person, was more potent than fantasies. A sound he couldn’t contain rumbled in his chest.

Shay hadn’t been looking at him, and he didn’t turn now. “Drop your pants, bro,” he said. “Chelsea will want to watch what this does to you.”

Liam dropped them with fumbling fingers, cool air hitting the blazing skin of his erection. He remembered how Chelsea had reached for Shay’s cock that night fourteen years ago. He didn’t see her glance over, but she must have.

“Just a kiss,” she pleaded with Shay softly.

Shay smiled and dropped one to the tip of her nose. “Come closer,” he said to Liam. “Chelsea wants to kiss you.”

They all knew Chelsea didn’t mean on the mouth.

She steadied Liam’s cock so gently she must have thought he would break. Her lips molded to his penis, and then the flat of her tongue swept wetly over the pulsing head. Liam’s cock twitched, miniature lightning bolts setting his nerves twanging. He sucked in his breath to warn her it was too much, but she backed off with a smile so knowing he nearly came from that.