There was no question the men of The Iron Horse had what it took. All talented, gorgeous, and single, they would turn the culinary world on its ear. Housewives and college students alike would salivate over the threesome. She’d already put a bug in the ear of one of the Food Network execs. A little sprucing up and some creative advertising, and the chefs would be able to write their own ticket. And so would she.
She wasn’t going to let anything—not this brain-draining lust or Nate’s stubborn resistance to change—stop her.
Chapter Three
“No, Mom. I’m fine.” Truly held the phone between her ear and shoulder as she closed the door to her condo with a bump of her hip. “Well, Shelly doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” She paused to listen to her mother’s rapid, worried speech. “Tell Dad I don’t need any money. No…no…if you send me a check I’ll tear it up.”
Truly sighed. Ever since she’d moved to Denver from upstate New York over a decade ago, her parents had been sure she’d be calling home and asking for a return ticket any day. Not that they weren’t proud of everything she did, or thought that she would fail. Truly knew it was just the fact that no one in her family, including her talkative cousin, Shelly, had ever left the state. Hell, the neighborhood. Which was one of the reasons she’d gotten out as soon as she’d had the chance.
She set down her bag of groceries and looked at the clock on the stove. “Mom, I have to go. I’m shooting a promotional video tonight.” Truly opened and closed her mouth several times as her mother continued to fire questions at her. “I’m hanging up now. I love you. Give Dad a kiss for me.”
Her mother finally relented, saying goodbye and allowing Truly to hang up her cell phone. She sighed. She was going to have to call her cousin and remind her what the word secret actually meant.
She slid off her heels and thought about putting away her small bag of yogurt and frozen dinners before jumping in the shower. She wasn’t looking forward to tonight. To seeing Nate and Clay and Louis so soon.
Liar.
She looked down at her answering machine and saw the blinking light. Maybe it was one of her contacts. Or the foodie blogger she’d been trying to get in touch with. She pushed the button.
“TS, it’s Clive. Listen… I need you back. Laura has been a mess without you, our sponsors are threatening to pull their spots and your replacement doesn’t know her ass from a hole in the ground.”
Truly snorted. Of course she didn’t. Clive had no doubt hired a woman with the tiniest waist and shortest skirt he could find. She doubted he’d looked at the poor girl’s resume at all.
She listened as he continued. “It all just got blown out of proportion. I was joking. You know me. I mean.” He chuckled nervously. “That girl, well, she liked it rough. She was just too embarrassed to tell you after you’d caught us in the act, so to speak. And it wasn’t as if I actually came on to you, TS. And you never have to worry that I will, if that’s what you’re thinking. You’re talented as hell, but you aren’t really attract…that is, I would never jeopardize our business relationship.” He paused and took an audible breath before changing the subject. “Word on the street is you’ve found some new talent. I’d be happy to—”
She shut off the machine before he could finish, her whole body shaking. Not really attractive. That’s what he’d been about to say. His self-preservation switch had no doubt flipped on, though he’d already given her enough ammunition to take to a lawyer. Bastard. Maybe she should sue. She would if he tried to steal her clients away. They were hers. All three of them.
Not really attractive. The phrase continued to repeat like a mantra in her head as she shed her clothes and started the shower. She looked at herself in the mirror and made a face.
In candlelight with a miracle slip that hugged her in, she wouldn’t look too bad. In the harsh fluorescent bathroom light, she was a mess. The wind and hours with that ridiculous hard hat on had turned her curls into a ruby red rat’s nest, her makeup had long since worn off…and her body. Ugh. Apart from the fact that she was pale to the point of translucence, she’d obviously also gained a few pounds since she’d been fired.
It was Clay’s fault. He’d brought her a tiny confection every day since they’d started working together. He wanted her opinion, he said. Sweet for a sweet, he said. And Louis wasn’t any better. That man had a way with food. He seemed to keep a picnic basket in his car at all times, filled with tempting, savory treats.
They were an interesting pair. In the past few weeks Truly had seen all manner of stunning women, from decorators to strangers on the street, throw themselves at the two luscious morsels. Though Louis would lavish them with his special charm and make them blush and laugh, and Clay would be the gentleman any woman would be proud to take home to their mother, it was obvious neither man was interested. The only woman they’d shown any passion for was her.
The only woman. Not the only person. There was a difference.
Robert had bet her after that first meeting that Louis was bisexual. As someone with the same sexual preferences, he decided he was an authority. He hadn’t known about Clay.
But Truly did.
She’d seen them in a kiss and grab session in the back of the restaurant when they were supposed to be breaking down boxes. No one else had been on site, and Truly had been taking pictures of the building to give to the designer. Clay and Louis had thought they were alone. And though she was a little ashamed to admit it, she’d let them continue to believe it, hiding in the shadows, fascinated by their embrace. She had no problem with men enjoying each other’s bodies. In fact, the idea was more than intoxicating. What did confuse her was how attentive they were with her. All the signs of mutual attraction were there. The eye contact, the innuendo.
Except they fondled each other and fed her.
She stuck out her lower lip and sucked in her stomach. She really needed another Zumba class. Soon.
Her hand came up to touch the mark on her breast. The mark that hadn’t been there this morning. Nate. She remembered him biting at her nipple, sucking the pain away and driving her to distraction with his tongue. Her body heated at the memory, a pink flush appearing across her chest and stomach as she recalled his touch. It didn’t matter that he’d had an agenda. That he’d only been trying to scare her away. No man had ever made her feel like that. Had so easily taken away her control.
She slid back the shower curtain and stepped beneath the hot spray, her hand still caressing the love bite. Her other hand slid between her legs, and she closed her eyes. She was so sensitive. So wet. Her stomach was tight with need, her mind full of what ifs. What if he hadn’t stopped? What if he’d lifted her skirt and taken her, right there, in the cool walk-in? What if Clay or Louis had seen? Joined in?
She bit her lip in frustration. She’d never be able to go over there. To be alone with the three of them like this. How could she hold the camera when her hands were shaking with arousal?
She reached outside of the curtain to open the cabinet beneath the sink, grabbing the objects she only used in case of emergencies. Or desperation. One was seven inches of bright blue relief with a suction cup. The other was short and thick, but just as heavenly. The shower dildo and plug she’d gotten at one of her friends last sex toy parties.
At the time she’d just gotten it to be supportive. That’s what she told herself. But she knew it was more than that. She’d always fantasized about threesomes, ever since she’d read her first ménage, but knew she’d never have the nerve to experiment in real life. Or the opportunity, she smiled ruefully.
No wonder she had the hots for all three of her clients. Leave it to her to lust after the impossible. Maybe that was why she was still single—though it wasn’t the answer she could see giving to her mother when she asked during their weekly phone call. “Well, Mom. I don’t think one man could satisfy me. At least, not all the time.” That would go over so well.
She would just have to be satisfied with her toys.
&
nbsp; The moment she’d tried them, she’d fallen a little bit in love. Okay, a lot in love. She hated the handheld vibrators, especially when she had to do all the holding. It took the fantasy away. But these. She could almost imagine her dream men were behind her, loving how her hips pumped back against them, wanting her to come.
She positioned the smooth synthetic erection on the wall behind her, her heart racing, her body ready for release. She picked up the small bottle of lubricant she kept beside her hair conditioner and flipped open the cap, watching the honey-thick liquid coat the plug in her hand.
Truly often wondered at her odd desires. At how readily she’d taken to the strange device. How much she loved the feeling of fullness, the stretch of the plug in that tight, forbidden place. Did Clay and Louis do more than what she’d seen behind the restaurant? Did they feel as dangerous, as deliciously decadent as she did with her plug inside her?
She was so twisted.
The water pounded against her sensitive skin, her breasts as she bent over. She clutched the metal handhold and spread her legs, and her breath hissed out from her mouth as she spread her cheeks with her free hand and began to insert the plug. Gasping at the first probing glance of the cone shaped toy, she closed her eyes, expecting to see her imaginary lover.
No. The shadowed figure wasn’t there. He had transformed into Nate. Nate was behind her, directing her onto his erection. Sliding his thick arousal into her ass. She moaned at the thought, and aligned her drenched sex with the phallus standing at attention behind her.
Yes. Yes, this was what she needed. So full. So incredible. She saw Nate’s smile behind her closed eyelids. Saw him lick his lips as he stared down at her full curves. He wanted her. He wanted her to ride him, to fuck him. And not only him. He wanted her to take the others as well. Clay and Louis.
She pushed her hips back, filling herself, starting a rhythm that she knew would take her where she needed to go. Nate inside her. Nate loving her. His hard cock stretching her again and again.
Her free hand pinched and twisted the marked nipple once more, loving the sting. In her mind Nate was taking control, overwhelmed with desire. For her. And he wasn’t alone. Clay was there too. Oh God, yes. Shy Clay, not so shy now as he pumped inside her, his large muscles gleaming with droplets of water and sweat.
Then Louis took over, pushing Clay out of the way to get a turn. The lean blond man smiled his trademark, one-sided smile as he slid his long cock inside her.
All of them. Impossible, but oh-so-amazing. She wanted to beg, wanted to beg them to take her, all of them. Fill her mouth, slide between her breasts as well as her sex, her ass. Anything. Everything. She needed to come.
Her fantasy turned a new corner, and an image of Clay towering behind Louis had her shaking. He urged Louis forward, deeper inside Truly with the pressure of his hand at his back, bending him over her. She glanced over her shoulder and Clay looked into her eyes, his own no longer shy, almost challenging as he thrust inside his lover. Each powerful pump of his hips had Truly and Louis moaning. She couldn’t believe how sexy this was. How desperately she wanted it to be real. Including Nate, his large palm stroking his cock as he watched them. Watched her find her pleasure.
A hand left her breast and returned to her swollen clit. Whose hand she didn’t know, didn’t care, as long as it touched her, rubbed her…ahhh…just like that. She cried out as the hard, fast thrusts behind her threw her over the edge, her back arching at the power of her climax.
She slid to her knees in the shower, letting the water wash over her until her body stopped quivering. The cooling liquid brought her back to Earth quickly, and she let out a slightly hysterical chuckle.
That was one fantasy she’d never share with a therapist. Talk about greedy. Three men at once? In reality, she told herself, she would be happy with just one man. As long as he could make her feel like that.
“Keep dreaming, Truly,” her voice echoed off the shower tiles.
After tonight she’d let Robert set her up with one of his kinky friends. He was a part of the furry handcuff and riding crop set, after all. Not that she wanted to be spanked. She blushed as the glow of satisfaction was jolted by a fresh burst of arousal and chuckled to herself. She needed to get some of this built up lust out of her system before she lost it and attacked her poor clients.
No matter how much she’d enjoy it.
“Here’s the shirt she wants us to wear. She had your nephew design a logo. I had no idea that delinquent was so talented. It looks good.”
Nate glanced up from his seat on the front porch in time to see Louis slip the T-shirt over his head, covering his bare chest. He snorted and took a swig of his beer, his third in the last hour, as Louis tugged on the hem.
Louis’s brow furrowed. “I’m sure I told her my size. This shirt is a little…tight.”
Nate shook his head. “I’d bet the restaurant that isn’t a mistake. Sex sells, old buddy. Haven’t you heard?”
Louis tilted his head and smiled. “Yeah? Well, I can’t argue with that. But apparently you can. What’s your problem, Nate? You’ve been acting like a wounded bear for weeks now. And while we’re on the subject of pissy partners, what the hell did you do to tick Clay off?”
Nate sighed. Clay hadn’t spoken to him since TS had gone running out of the restaurant this morning. Who could blame him? Nate had been an utter jackass. He’d crossed a line and then, instead of fixing it, he’d made it worse.
She’d been wrong though. He hadn’t been trying to push her away. He’d been too busy holding himself back from ripping off her clothes and making her his then and there. And too mad at himself for losing control.
He’d walked out of the fridge to find Clay glaring at him in stony silence. And though he was currently in Nate’s kitchen organizing and prepping for TS’s arrival, he still hadn’t spoken a word.
“Well?” Louis was waiting for his answer.
“Damn it, Lou. Am I the only one who has a problem with this?”
“With what?”
Nate stood and started pacing. “All of it. Selling ourselves and compromising instead of letting our food stand on its own. Paying Bob and TS to change everything. To make us into something we aren’t.”
Louis raised an eyebrow. “Make us what? Successful? We certainly aren’t that. How about solvent? Or lets use another s word. Satisfied. We aren’t that either. Why are you so hung up on this?”
“He’s lying.”
Nate looked up too at those words to see Clay standing in the doorway, wiping his hands on a towel. “I’m what?”
Clay leaned against the doorframe, his body blocking out the light. “You’re lying. You’re not an idiot, Nate. I think it’s safe to say you’re more business savvy than Louis and I combined. This has nothing to do with changing the restaurant. It has to do with Truly.”
Nate did a double take. “With what?”
Clay sighed. “TS. That’s her name. Truly. Robert told Jane, and she told me. He also told her all about her jackass of an ex boss. Enough that I have the desire to meet him in a dark parking lot…soon.”
Louis smirked. “Truly? What does the S stand for? Scrum—” He caught Clay’s look, threw back his head and laughed out loud. “No way. No friggin’ way. Scrumptious, huh? Oh, that’s perfect. Even her name is tasty.”
Clay stepped forward protectively. “No teasing. I mean it.”
Louis held up his hands and winked at Clay playfully. “I can’t make any promises, sugar pants. Even if we weren’t chefs, even if she didn’t have an ass I just wanted to take a bite out of…with that name? Well, her parents obviously weren’t thinking ahead.”
Clay only glared and Nate sighed. Clay never glared. He was and had always been the gentlest giant Nate had ever known. They had to fix this. “Clay’s right. This is why I’ve been having a problem.”
The confusion cleared from Louis’s expression, and Clay took a step back. They understood. The three of them had been friends for a long time. They
’d learned early on that they shared similar desires. In hobbies, career goals…and women. They also had some unique sexual proclivities in common. Proclivities that Nate had been forced to put on the back burner when his sister and her kids needed a place to stay. He wasn’t ashamed of his desires, but it was hard enough to be a child of divorced parents without throwing a perverted uncle into the mix.
But that hadn’t been the only reason. Louis was. Louis and Clay had always enjoyed each other’s bodies, and Nate enjoyed watching, directing…and sometimes more. But both of them knew that, apart from their friendship, forever wasn’t in the cards. They liked women too much. The last time they’d shared a woman, however, Louis had fallen for her. Hard. Which wouldn’t have been a problem, if she hadn’t decided she wanted to be with Nate. And only him.
Nate hadn’t wanted her that way, hadn’t been in love with her, but it had almost destroyed the three men’s friendship. He didn’t want to go through that again. Especially since he found himself growing more attached to Truly by the day.
Louis shook his head. “I should have known. I mean, I knew Clay had a hardcore crush on her, he’s been randy as a stallion since she showed up.” He looked over at Clay and smiled. “Not that I’m complaining. God knows I’ve wanted her from the moment I saw her…” He looked up at Clay and Nate. “She’s not Amy, guys. I mean, I want her, yes. But Amy was…well—”
“A cast iron bitch?” Clay said it kindly, but Louis still flinched.
“Yeah. She was. But Truly is different. I can tell. Special.”
Nate took another sip of beer before blurting out, “I kissed her.”
Clay’s look was dubious. “You must have done it wrong, buddy. Otherwise she wouldn’t have run out of the restaurant fighting tears.”
Louis swore. “What did you do, Nate?”
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