Salsa Nights

by Salsa Nights (lit)

  “Sounds like you’ve been close a long time.”

  The sadness faded, and he chuckled. “Yeah. We always complemented each other. He was drawn to my mother because of his experiences that, well, he’ll fill you in. But my mom sort of adopted him. I instantly liked his cool control. Nothing ever bothered him, and while I was chasing girls, he just sat back and watched them crowd around him.” He laughed.

  “Since we’re on topic, how is it that you guys started sharing lovers?”

  Dale’s smile was gone, and his face turned seductive in the time it took her to blink. “Well, Brad and I met in high school. We had this ongoing battle of who was, you know.”

  “The ladies’ man,” Isabel finished.

  “Exactly. Our senior year we went to a Bears game, and then an after party that got a little wild. There was a very good-looking older woman who decided to seduce us both that night. She caught us arguing about who would be with her, and she took our hands and led us to one of the empty bedrooms. She showed us and, well, that was it.”

  Isabel swallowed, picturing young versions of these two studs learning the art of ménage a trois. “And you didn’t fight over women anymore.”

  He grinned. “No reason to. We would each have a girlfriend, and sometimes we’d share. Not often, but the times we did were more satisfying.”

  She didn’t know why, but the words were out before she could stop them. “Like with me?”

  Chapter Eleven

  Dale was fucked. He didn’t know how much longer he could go on without telling the woman before him that he was deeply in love with her.

  Her eyebrows scrunched slightly closer as if looking for an affirmation. She was so innocent she couldn’t see the truth right in front of her. He couldn’t mask his feelings, so apparent in the way he looked at her and touched her, yet she couldn’t, or wouldn’t open her eyes to it. How could she not know how he felt about her?

  He took in a pained breath, his heart beating for her. “No. With you, I’m alive. I don’t want anyone else.”

  A ghost of a smile touched her pouty lips, and her brows relaxed. His mom had always told him that when a woman’s happiness meant more to him than his own, then he was in love. At this moment, he wanted nothing more than to keep her smiling forever. Her eyes shifted down, and she squeezed her lips together.

  “Dale, I—”

  He kissed her, not wanting to hear any doubts, any fears. She whimpered and wrapped her arms around his neck as he pushed her back on the lounger, dropping his body on hers and tangling his fingers in her luxurious hair.

  His mouth told her the words he couldn’t yet tell her. All the love he felt guided him, slowly, gently, tenderly. She moaned, and he pressed closer, needing her to know how he felt about her.

  Her hands explored his back, and he groaned, her touch an arousing wave that crashed against his dick, tenting his jeans and pressing between her thighs.

  “Oh, Dale,” she moaned, arching under him.

  Softly, he pressed his lips to the delicate skin of her cheek and kissed a path to the sensitive groove of her neck. When she sucked in her breath, he grinded his rod against her slit and moved lower.

  Her nipples budded under the shirt and she pulled him closer. He lowered his mouth over one and drew it into his wet cave, sucking it and flicking it with his tongue.

  She was alive, her hands pulling his hair, squeezing his shoulders. He had to have her. He had to bury himself deep inside this woman he’d known would never be like any other.

  He moved his hand down to her panties and began pulling it down on one side.

  “No, Dale, wait.”

  Dale felt cold all over. Had he hurt her? He looked at Isabel, searching her face, but she was breathing as raggedly as he and stared at him as if fighting something, a force, an emotion.

  She scooted up and pushed her hair back.

  “What is it?” He sat back up.

  “I don’t know how this works. I feel like we’re betraying Brad.”

  She was looking down, tugging her shirt over her panties, and missed the look Dale gave Brad when his friend stepped quietly outside. Returning his slight nod, Dale cleared his throat. “We can make love without him. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”

  Her eyes shot up, and she shook her head. “No. I won’t do anything until I hear from him, and we all agree on this.”

  Dale cocked his head. “You’re loyal. Would you be this loyal to me?”

  Isabel nodded. “Of course. Do you doubt me?”

  He grinned. “No.”

  “Good. Don’t ever confuse me with one of your whores. I’ll wait in my room until Brad returns, then we can sit and figure out how this will all work.”

  She got up off the lounger, keeping her eye on Dale, and turned toward the house.

  She ran right into Brad and would have tumbled into the pool if he hadn’t reached out to grab her by her elbows.

  Isabel gasped audibly, and Dale grinned, coming to his feet.

  “Brad,” she choked out.

  Brad grazed a thumb across her cheek, and Dale could tell the dummy was head over heels and was too damn stubborn to admit it. “Hi, princess,” he murmured.

  “We were just…we were—”

  “She was giving me a good tongue lashing for suggesting we have sex without you,” Dale interrupted as he moved around to stand next to Brad.

  Brad inhaled deeply. “I heard,” he replied.

  Isabel narrowed her eyes at Dale, then turned back to Brad. “And you’re okay with it?”

  “Dale is the only other man allowed to touch you. Preferably in my presence. But if not, I don’t mind, as long as you don’t.” He ran his thumb across her bottom lip, an intimate touch Dale had never seen Brad do, but he remembered clearly where he’d seen it last.

  When Dale’s dad lay in the hospital dying, Dale and Brad had seen his dad do that same gesture to Dale’s mom, quietly telling her he loved her. Dale wondered if Brad was even aware of what it meant, or that he did it to Isabel. Something told him Brad knew full well what he did, what he was silently professing.

  “I feel exactly the same way,” replied Dale, finally.

  Isabel shook her head and glanced at both men. “Wait. You’re both saying that you’re okay with me having sex with each of you, without the other in the room. Is that right?”

  He and Brad nodded.

  “You belong to us, Isabel. We take you when we want you, alone or together,” Brad said firmly.

  Dale figured one of two things would happen now. Isabel would shriek about their show of dominance and possession of her or she’d like it.

  For his and Brad’s sake, Dale silently prayed for once Brad had said exactly what a woman needed to hear.

  * * * *

  Brad had come out in time to hear Dale and Isabel’s conversation after their passionate kiss, and he nearly shouted to the stars glittering above. She was loyal. She was the one. He felt more for the woman standing before him than he ever thought he’d feel for anyone.

  He could see her pondering what he’d told her. But the black-haired vixen had the uncanny ability to disguise her feelings, not letting everything reveal in her eyes. So when her luscious lips slowly curved, his chest burst. It wasn’t that she’d given them permission, because he hadn’t asked. It was that she wanted them as badly as they wanted her. Anytime. Anyplace.

  His relief was palpable and his joy effervescent. Was this love? This feeling that he could fly simply because Isabel wanted to belong to them? This fear he felt that if he didn’t touch her then he’d lose her forever?

  Brad wrapped her in his arms and kissed her until her mouth burned his with white-hot surrender. He swallowed her moans and pulled her closer, molding her supple body to his.

  When she flinched and pulled back, he saw his hand gripping her face and cursed himself and his damn hormones.

  “Oh, God, Isabel, I’m so sorry,” he whispered, hating that he’d caused her an ounce of pain.

&n
bsp; “I know. I’m fine now. It passed,” she reassured him and gave him a warm gaze.

  Dale stepped closer, studying her. “Isabel, do you need anything? What can we do?”

  She bit her lip, the cutest most innocent thing he’d seen, and grinned. “I’d like to sleep with you tonight. I need you both to hold me.”

  Brad released a deep breath he’d held since he hurt her. Hold her all night? Damn, he was sure sleep would be the last thing he’d let her do. But she’d told them the one thing she needed from them, and he couldn’t refuse her anything.

  “Come on. I feel like a pizza and a DVD in bed. Let’s go,” he told her, taking her by the hand while Dale moved ahead.

  An hour later Brad pushed aside the pizza box and tried focusing on the movie but he had a difficult time getting comfortable. Just the smell of her in this room was a powerful aphrodisiac, and his erection was painful by the time he decided flat on his back might be safe.

  Isabel decided to throw one arm across his chest while Dale spooned her from behind, her perfect tush contoured against Dale’s hips.

  Fuck, now her head snuggled closer to his arm, and if he moved his head just an inch, her hair would caress his cheek. Shit, he tried focusing on the movie but he had no idea what the hell was going on.

  When Isabel moaned and caressed his naked flesh near his pounding heart, he groaned.

  “Stop that, Isabel,” he growled.

  Her hand froze, and she looked up, sweetly confused. “What?”

  “Touching me like that. You’re hurt. And the things I want to do to you, princess, require you to be a hundred percent better. I need you to enjoy everything we do.”

  “Really? What sorts of things?” Isabel teased.

  Brad counted to five, then realized a swim in the melting ice caps wouldn’t cool his dick. Why would counting do anything? “Princess, you’ve yet to experience both Dale and I inside you at the same time. And I’m not talking about that delicious mouth of yours.”

  He heard her gasp and gave her a sound kiss.

  “Now stop teasing me before I lose control.”

  When Dale chuckled he threw him a poisonous glare, which only made his friend laugh harder, and he decided he was definitely getting very little sleep tonight.

  * * * *

  Isabel slowly awoke, feeling so warm and snuggled she moaned happily and smiled. Then she heard a soft snore somewhere nearby and became aware of the heavy weight on her.

  She peeled open one eye and focused on the large arm slung over her chest and the hand that covered one breast. When she lifted her head, she noticed Brad pressed up behind her with the hand on her chest and one leg wrapped over hers. Dale was on the other side and she had her arm across his waist.

  So this was what it was like to wake up with her lovers. Oh, very nice. But what the hell had gotten into her last night, asking to sleep with them? Now she’d never be able to fall asleep on her own when she moved back to her house.

  Suddenly glum, she decided to get out of bed and get back to her old routine. She needed to run, to dance, to get out of the house. She had never been one to watch TV since she spent the majority of her childhood in dance studios or traveling to the next competition. She couldn’t fathom another hour in front of the tube.

  Without Nik at the studio, she’d left one of her advanced dancers in charge. The phones were being answered, and her novice classes taught. But her advanced students had no one to instruct them and with just five weeks to go before the championship, she would not fail them.

  She slipped quietly out of bed, indulged in a steamy shower, and dressed quickly in a white tank top and yoga pants. She then headed to the kitchen, throwing one last glance at the sleeping duo who’d now turned their backs to each other.

  The automatic coffeemaker had just switched on so she decided to make some toast, wondering which of the two men would accompany her to the studio today.

  Last night, something had changed between them all. She’d sensed it on the patio when she became aware that Dale knew Brad was watching and tested her. Telling her that Brad wouldn’t mind if they had sex alone had been for Brad’s benefit to show him he could trust Isabel with her reply, and for that, Isabel was thankful to Dale. They both respected and loved each other, and she had begun to feel a need for a piece of that love.

  She spread pineapple preserves on her toast, shaking her head. It was too much to ask that they’d love her. It would have to be enough that they cared for her and were incredible lovers. She didn’t have a whole lot of experience, but she knew they took the time to make sure she reached multiple orgasms before allowing their own release.

  Last night she’d been tempted to climb on one of them and explore her sexuality, but she’d held back. Brad had seemed set on not touching her until she felt better, but it was her own fear that had stopped her. If she’d made love with them last night, she would have confused it for just that—making love—because she was beginning to feel things for them that went beyond lust. She may even confuse that with being in love. No, it was better to continue to see things as they did—sex and lust—and not be naïve about her circumstances in their house.

  The knocking on the door startled her. No one came by this house at six-thirty in the morning. She poked her head around the kitchen wall and saw the figure of a man waiting outside. He was dressed in a suit and seemed too calm to be a killer. Besides, would a murderer go to the home of two men to kill the girl inside?

  Isabel made up her mind, telling herself she couldn’t live in fear, and headed to the alarm panel by the front door. After punching in the code, she opened the door and quickly recognized the funny little man.

  His face was artificially tanned to near orange, his hair slicked back with half a gallon of gel, and his teeth white as milk. She also remembered what the man walking ahead of him had been telling him as they left Club Lava. She decided not to invite him in.

  “Can I help you?” she asked dryly.

  The man leered at her, looking as if he had just undressed her in his sick mind, and Isabel instantly hugged her arms.

  “Well, I don’t know, little one. Who are you?”

  Isabel lifted her chin a notch. “Who are you?”

  He raised his brows. “Mmm, spicy Latina. How did you get that bruise?”

  “Have a nice day,” she said through gritted teeth, stepping back to close the door.

  His smiled faded, and his eyes narrowed. “Wait, wait. I’m sorry. I’m a friend of Brad’s and Dale’s—Senator Mitchell. It’s just that, well, I shouldn’t say anything but, um, they have been known to get a little rough with past girlfriends. Sort of a sport, if you will. Are you sure you’re okay?”

  Isabel swallowed the bile that rose to her throat. “I’ll tell them you stopped by, senator,” she said frostily and shut the door in his face.

  Oh, the nerve of that slimy, pretentious creep

  She fixed her cup of coffee, ignoring the little doubt that the senator’s seed had sprouted.

  It couldn’t be true. They had done nothing to hurt her. Yes, they were stifling with their possessiveness and insufferable, but neither of them could possibly be a killer.

  She chuckled and shook her head. No way. Why go through the trouble of moving her in here, feigning concern, and caring for her when she was hurt? To sweep her into a much larger, sick plan they conjured in their twisted minds? Highly unlikely. And yet, they had been just a shout away each time the killer had been near.

  No, not possible, she wouldn’t believe it.

  “Good morning. You’re up early,” Brad murmured behind her, making her nearly spill her coffee.

  Before she could utter a reply, his arms circled her waist, and his lips pressed against her shoulder. The feel of his mouth on her sent a shock wave to her clit, and with a moan, she molded her backside to his bulging crotch.

  His hands cupped her breasts, and he massaged them while he pushed his hard-on against her ass. His tongue licked its way up the curve of
her neck, and every small hair on her body stood erect.

  Wanting to get an early start at her studio, she asked, “So you’re the one going with me to work today?”

  Brad stopped moving against her. “Work? You’re not going to work.”

  She must have heard him wrong. She turned, forcing him to step back, and looked up at his amused expression. “Excuse me?

  “You’re not going to work.”

  She hadn’t heard wrong. “You’re joking.”

  He crossed his arms and leaned against the island behind him. “That man who attacked you is still out there. He knows where you work.”

  Isabel huffed. “He’s always known where I work. And you’ll be there.”

  “Nothing will happen to you when I’m with you but he could be waiting for you anywhere and I feel that you’re safest right here,” he reasoned calmly.

  She, however, could only think about her students. “I cannot sit around this house all day with a very important competition in a few weeks. My students need me.” She raised her voice with the last statement.

  He shook his head. “Your students know their routines. They can practice without you.”

  Isabel raised her brows. “They can? Because last I checked, I’m their teacher, and they pay me to train them, to be there for them, to get them to a competition, and to help them win. I will not fail them.”

  “I will not let you get hurt.” he said a little louder.

  Her body trembled. “I can’t be cooped up in this house all day!” Isabel finally shouted.

  “We can do plenty to keep you occupied,” he said softly, looking at her from top to bottom.

  The suggestion of sex when she was, again, being told what to do, had her blood boiling. Her body tingled with adrenaline while her hands visibly shook. Oh, the man knew how to press her buttons. Yet, for a second, she actually visualized herself naked in bed all day with the two of them. Damn him.

  “I’m going to work,” she announced, snatching her keys and walking quickly toward the living room.