Leif put his hand on Sam’s shoulder. “Do me a favor, Sam. Be my example. I have dreams of my own, and it would be nice if I could see someone like me who has walked the path.”
It took a while, but Sam finally nodded.
Chapter 13
These were the first flowers she’d received from Sam. Huge arrangements had been arriving at the bakery for the last week, but those had all been from Chance, even though each card on the extravagant arrangements had said from Chance and Sam. She’d known better. But when she’d walked up to her apartment tonight and found a bouquet of pink tulips with a sealed envelope with her name on it sitting outside the door, she’d instinctively known those flowers were from Sam.
She took the tulips inside and opened the card.
Beautiful,
The bakery is closed on Sunday. We’re taking you out to dinner tomorrow night. Wear flat shoes.
-Sam
Tomorrow was Sunday. The note was high-handed, and there was part of her that chafed at the tone.
“Cut the bullshit. Admit it, you love it!” She laughed out loud at her words. She did, she absolutely did love it.
Josie practically ran to her closet to decide what she would wear for her date. She intended to knock them dead. And wasn’t it a happy accident that she had made a couple of on-line purchases the last couple of days? Hmmmm, imagine that.
Chance couldn’t believe his palms were actually sweaty on the leather steering wheel of his SUV. He couldn’t remember the last time he was this nervous. Prom? Oh yeah, that’d be a no. He’d been dating Ellen for three months and had already had his way with her, so no nerves there. It had to have been when he’d gotten the news that Butch had been diagnosed with cancer.
“Man, you doing okay?” Sam asked from the passenger seat.
“Nope,” Chance answered succinctly.
Sam didn’t respond as they drove around the lake toward downtown Fate Harbor, which just made Chance more antsy.
“Why aren’t you nervous?” Chance asked.
“One of us has to have his shit together,” Sam said with a smile in his voice. “I’m enjoying the fact that it’s me for once.”
“Asshole,” Chance muttered.
“Anyway, I have this covered.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“At the restaurant tonight, there are going to be two other triad couples having dinner. We’re going to introduce Josie. She’s going to get a little Fate Harbor immersion therapy,” Sam smirked in the dashboard lights.
“That’s brilliant.”
“Yes, it is.”
It was good hearing his friend have such a high level of confidence. Chance grinned and felt himself calming down. This was going to work out just fine.
The view overlooking the harbor was gorgeous. Sam introduced Josie to a young mother named Kim and her two husbands seated at the table next to them. Lance and Fareed owned a small construction company in Fate Harbor and Sam had helped them out on a job once when they were short-handed.
“I used to work in an accounting firm in Seattle,” Kim explained. “Then Lance and Fareed convinced me that there were perks to living here in Fate Harbor. Now two husbands, three kids, and one dog later, I have to agree.”
Fareed leaned in for a kiss. “Don’t forget the new kitten,” he said.
“Oh yeah, we have a kitten now,” Kim laughed. “I think there might be a turtle if my youngest daughter has her way.”
Josie smiled. She liked them. It wasn’t just the fact that they were another ménage couple, but the fact that one of Kim’s husbands was Indian was also nice. It made her feel even more comfortable to see an interracial triad couple besides her and her men.
“Honey, what would you like to drink?” Chance asked.
Sam bent toward her and opened his mouth to ask what she was sure was going to be a stupid question.
“Sam Booth, I am more than capable of determining what I can and cannot drink. If you’re going to be an overbearing ass, you can go home.”
He leaned in closer and whispered. “I was going to ask you if you had ever thought about getting a turtle.”
He looked so hurt. She felt terrible. Her hand shot up and stroked his cheek. “I’m sorry, Honey, I didn’t mean to get defensive.”
He took her hand and kissed the tips of her fingers. “It’s okay, we’re still learning one another. That’s the whole point of dating.”
She relaxed. He was right. They ordered their food. It was the best meal of Josie’s life, and she knew it was the company. As they were leaving, they ran into another triad—Betty’s best friend Isla Johansen and her husbands. Josie had heard so much about her, she felt like she knew the woman.
“Josie, I’m so pleased to meet you,” Isla said as she got up. The two men at her table immediately stood up as well. “Let me introduce you to my husbands. This is Leif and this other handsome man is Conner.”
Josie thought her neck might literally break since she had to tilt her head up so high in order to look into their kind, smiling faces.
“You must come to our house one night for dinner. I’ll invite Butch and Betty as well as these two nice young men,” Isla laughed, since her husbands were in their late fifties.
“How are your children doing?” Chance asked.
“Weren’t you just out running with Leif Jr?” Conner asked Sam.
Sam nodded. “Yep, he seems to be doing well.”
“If you come over to dinner,” Isla said, “we’ll invite the whole crew, Dane, Eric, Leif, and Kara as well as Butch and Betty. Trust me, we have a big table.” Josie really liked the woman, and the idea of spending an evening with the interesting family sounded like fun.
“I would really like that,” Josie smiled.
Isla gave her an easy hug. She looked up and saw the four men in deep conversation. “What’s going on over there?” she asked Isla.
“My guess is that my husbands are warning your two young men to treat you well. We look out for our own here in Fate Harbor.”
Josie blushed. “But Sam and Chance mean well.”
“I’m sure they do,” the older woman said. “But having someone hammer home that you’re being watched out for, never hurts.”
I loved it here.
Chapter 14
As they walked out of the restaurant into the cold Pacific Northwest air, Josie shivered. Chance took off his jacket and put it over her light overcoat. He’d have to do something about getting her more appropriate clothes for this climate. She wasn’t living in Florida anymore.
“Chance, you need your coat,” she protested.
“No, he doesn’t,” Sam answered.
“You two have quite the tag team going on.”
Her words were met by dead silence, then Sam let out a chuckle.
“You have a way with words, Ms. Decker.”
She blushed when she realized the double meaning of her words.
“Zee, I love how you blush, I can see it even in the moonlight.”
Sam put his arm around her and cuddled her close as they walked towards the huge black SUV. “I don’t remember this in your garage,” Josie said.
Sam snorted. “That’s because it wasn’t there before. Chance just bought it. He thought this would be more comfortable for when the three of us went out together.”
Chance gave Sam a disgruntled look. Really? Did his friend really have to tell Josie that?
“Josie, would you be interested in coming to our house for a nightcap?” Chance asked.
“A nightcap, or something more?” she asked.
“Definitely not something more,” Sam answered. “We’re still in the dating phase.”
“What if I want something more?”
Chance almost stumbled. Every time he thought that Josie was shy and would need coaxing, she surprised the hell out of him.
He stopped them. Both men looked down at her and Chance asked. “Are you sure?”
“We’re not going to pre
ssure you one way or the other. We took to heart what you said last week. You need to be sure, Josie,” Sam said.
Josie’s eyes twinkled. “Why don’t we stop by my apartment and let me get the bag I put by my door, and then I’ll have what I need if I decide to stay the night.”
“I think that’s a fine idea,” Chance answered.
It had taken some doing, but after one mug of peppermint hot chocolate, Josie was lying back against Sam, and Chance had her pretty stocking-covered feet in his lap.
“So, how often have you two done this?” Josie asked.
Chance didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “Once. We worked as volunteer firefighters down in San Clemente before Sam joined the Marines. We thought we were pretty hot stuff.”
“Pun intended,” Sam chuckled.
“Anyway, there was a woman who came onto both of us one night after we had been drinking pretty heavily. She suggested a threesome. It really wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.”
Josie tried to straighten up, but he and Sam kept her where they wanted her. Finally, she relaxed back into their arms.
“If it wasn’t all that good, then why are you wanting to do it again?” she asked.
“This isn’t a threesome,” Sam whispered into her ear, just loud enough for Chance to hear him. “This is the start of a relationship between the three of us. That’s something else on an entirely different plane.”
Josie was silent, but Chance felt how tense she’d gotten. “Ask your question, Zee.”
“Didn’t you like the, uhm, sex part? And if you didn’t, what makes you think you will with me? I’m not good at sex.”
Her toes curled so tight Chance was afraid she might end up with a cramp.
“I don’t mean to sound trite, but Zee, this isn’t going to be sex, this really is going to be making love,” Chance said as his hand circled her delicate ankle. She shuddered, not at the caress, but at his words.
“I don’t want to disappoint you,” she whispered as she looked into his eyes.
“You won’t. You can’t. We’re not necessarily going to do anything tonight, except maybe…”
He watched as Sam continued to massage her shoulders.
“A kiss Zee? Would you let me kiss you?”
She opened her mouth, nothing but air came out. Then she nodded. Chance swung her feet off his knees and Sam moved her so that she was in Chance’s arms. She looked up at him with a dazed expression.
“Just a kiss, Zee.”
She wore her hair down in long waves, and Chance had been aching to touch it since he’d seen her tonight. Touch it, sink his fingers in it, glory in it. And now he could.
She looked up at him, her eyes dark with desire. She was with him.
“I’m going to want so much more than a kiss, Chance, but I’m nervous.”
He traced the backs of his knuckles against her high cheekbones. Chasing the heat as she flushed.
“We’re all a little nervous,” Sam chuckled as he lounged against the back of the couch, looking like a contented sultan. “But that just means we’re excited and we’ll try harder. It’s a good thing, trust me.”
She looked over her shoulder, then glanced back at Chance. She licked her plump lower lip. “Is he right?” she asked Chance.
“Let’s find out.” He was sick of talking.
He speared his fingers through the hair at the back of her neck and angled her head where he needed it, and she gasped at his handling.
Perfect.
He dipped in for the first kiss of his life that truly mattered.
Chance was lost. It wasn’t the chocolate and peppermint, it was the texture, taste and thrill of Josie, the woman. His Zee. Her lips slid against his, and he fell into a vortex of bliss. He held back, somehow, teasing her with his tongue, coaxing her mouth to open. When she did, he thrust inwards for the dark, carnal mating his body craved.
The moment she sucked his tongue deeper into the warm cavern of her mouth, he pulled her onto his lap, needing to tuck her in even closer. Someone moaned.
Her?
Him?
Did it matter?
She didn’t wiggle against him, she undulated, dancing against his cock through the layers of their clothes. He was going to die.
Only a kiss. I promised only a kiss. Be strong.
He slowed things down, moving his lips to her cheek, then upwards to her temple. He whispered, “Zee?”
“More, you promised me more.”
Sam chuckled, the bastard.
“How much more?” Chance asked. “Tell me exactly what you’re ready for?” He and Sam were definitely the more experienced partners in this, and it suddenly occurred to him she might not know much of what was coming next.
“Are you ready for both of us to make love to you?” Sam asked.
Trust Sam to ask the important questions.
Josie’s lips pursed. “Absolutely. I read,” she said primly.
Chance laughed.
She rounded on him. “What is so damned funny?”
“You realize that you just said in a schoolmarm voice that you understood about double penetration.”
She ducked her head in embarrassment.
“Quit teasing her,” Sam reproached him. “If she gets flustered, she won’t tell us about the books she’s been reading. I want to know all about these books. Would you be willing to read us an excerpt?” Sam wheedled as he twirled a lock of her hair.
“Better yet,” Chance said in a low voice. “Tell us about your fantasies.”
Josie was going to spontaneously combust. That’s it. Game over. There’d be nothing but a pile of ashes left on the couch where Josie Decker used to be. She looked from green eyes to blue eyes and back again.
Chance Reynolds with his dishwater-blond hair that glowed in the sunlight, and that smile. Then there was Sam, with his brooding good looks, soulful eyes, and broad shoulders. She’d always loved going to the all-you-can-eat buffet, but this buffet was ten times better. She didn’t know where to start.
“Josie? Did you hear a word I just said?” Sam asked.
Oh, God, he’s talking in that deep voice. The one that made her panties wet. Nothing ever made her panties wet.
“Josie!”
“Huh? No, I didn’t hear you. Was it good?”
Sam tugged at her hair but stayed silent.
“Oh, it was good. I just know it,” she sighed.
Chance chuckled. “What are you thinking? You have to tell us.”
“Do I have to? Is that in the rule book?”
“It is now,” Sam said darkly. “When you can’t pay attention, then it’s definitely important that you tell us what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours.”
“I was thinking about how much you turn me on.” She swiveled her head to look at Chance. “And you, too. Both of you.”
They both laughed this time.
Sam stood up, and before she knew what happened, she was up in his arms. “Yours?” he asked.
“Yes,” Chance answered. “I’ve got a plan, but for right now, mine.”
She really didn’t care what they were talking about. She loved being carried. It was one of her new favorite things. Even the seatbelt thing was nice now.
When she found herself in Chance’s bedroom again, all she could think was that this time she would actually get to see more than their chests.
“Chance, she’s blushing again.”
“Josie, time to fess up. What are you thinking?” Chance asked as Sam lowered her onto the bed. “I’m going to see more than just your naked chests tonight,” she sighed. “You two are my very own man buffet.”
Chapter 15
Sam gave Chance a hard look. If his friend started laughing again, he was going to kill him.
Man buffet?
Ah, what the fuck? As far as he was concerned, Josie was a goddamn banquet. But seriously, he needed to get her back to the here and now. He circled his arm around her head and placed a teasing kiss against
her lips. One. Then another. Again, and again, until she followed his lead. When she grabbed his head to force a deeper kiss, he smiled against her lush lips.
He let her lead, loving it when she parted his smile with her tongue, and he slid his against hers making her whimper. He toyed with her hair with one hand and moved his other to caress her breast through the pink satin top that had been driving him nuts all night.
Josie jerked. Sam lifted his head and saw that Chance was kneading the arches of her foot with one hand as his other was stroking upwards under the hem of her pencil skirt. Another item of clothing he thought would kill him.
“Can I?”
“What, Honey?” Sam asked. “Anything you want, it’s yours.”
“Can you take off your shirt? Both of you. I’ve fantasized about that. I want to see. I want to touch.”
Sam didn’t have to look at his friend to know he was grinning.
“Done,” Chance said. Yep, Chance was already bare-chested.
“Can you help me?” Sam asked.
My plan’s better, Sam thought, because Josie was slowly unbuttoning his dress shirt. With each button, she raked her fingers through his chest hair. She was midway through his buttons when she parted the shirt and placed an open-mouthed kiss on his chest.
Sam groaned. “Again.”
She undid two more buttons and wrapped her arms around his waist then suckled his nipple. Sam thought he might come in his slacks, he was so turned on.
“She’s wearing stockings and a garter belt,” Chance said with glee.
Oh yeah, he definitely had to stop her. He wasn’t going to last knowing what was underneath her clothes.
Chance pushed up her skirt even farther so he could unsnap her garter and start to unpeel her stockings. First one, then the other. Oh God, she had gorgeous legs, but it was her plump thighs that did it for him. She wasn’t ticklish, but she was sensitive when she was intimately touched.
Theirs To Treasure: Happily Ever After (Fate Harbor Book 1) Page 11