Impulsive

by Jeana E. Mann

  No one spoke, but they didn’t have to. Tasha’s throat tightened with anticipation. By the way Luke and Elijah moved together, each complementing the other’s actions, she was pretty sure they’d done this before, and she was fine with it. All the better for her. They left her standing alone in the middle of the bedroom while they stripped out of their board shorts.

  After a day in the sun, they were both bronzed. Their broad shoulders and narrow hips formed perfect triangles. Elijah was a little taller and more slender. Luke was more toned and wider through the chest. Both were captivating specimens. Her breasts heaved with each breath. Tremors of lust vibrated through her in anticipation of what these gorgeous guys were about to do to her.

  Luke moved first. He stalked toward her with predatory grace. His tongue swept over his lips like he was parched and she was the only drop of water available. When he stopped in front of her, she tilted her chin to look up at him. Those sexy lips curved in a smile just for her.

  “Are you ready for us, baby?” he asked, in a voice rough with desire.

  All the moisture had left her mouth. She could only nod in answer. He bent to kiss her, lips parting hers, tongue diving deep inside her. Elijah watched from the side. His erection hung straight and heavy between his legs. One of his hands stroked its length while Luke kissed her.

  When he pulled back from her, she moaned in protest. He left her open-mouthed and panting. A brush at her left hip then her right released the ties of her bikini bottom. It whispered down her legs and puddled around her bare feet.

  “Come with me,” Luke said, and pulled her to the leather armchair near the fireplace. He took a seat and pulled her onto his lap, her back against his chest, her legs hanging over the outside of his thighs. Elijah came with them and kneeled between her parted knees.

  They dissolved into a tangle of hands and fingers and open-mouthed kisses. A shift of Luke’s weight slipped him inside her, filling her from behind. He murmured in her ear, caressing her thighs, nipping her neck with this teeth and lips.

  Elijah leaned forward to kiss her, bringing the spice of his cologne along with him. His lips trailed down her throat, over her breasts and the soft skin of her belly to the apex of her thighs. When his tongue dipped to her clit and flicked her piercing, sensation overwhelmed her. Luke began to undulate beneath her, slowly at first, his words of encouragement burning in her ear. Elijah held her legs apart, teasing and taunting her with his mouth until she came apart with a cry.

  It was all too much. The feel of their rough, masculine hands on her tender flesh. Heated breath skimming her ear and thighs. Deep, throaty voices calling her name, telling her where to move and when to stop. She buried her fingers in Elijah’s silky hair. His blue eyes peered up at her, heavy-lidded, drunk with pleasure.

  In one fluid motion they transferred her to the bed. Elijah’s heat disappeared. She heard the rip of a condom packet and then he was back, pulling her into his chest, spooning around her. Luke moved over her and slid between her legs, shoving inside with a mighty thrust. Elijah’s cock nestled in the cleft of her bottom, hard and thick.

  They both began to thrust. She dissipated into a mass of sensations. The delicious slide and glide of their bodies aroused all her nerve endings. Heat and wetness surrounded her. Elijah’s mouth tasted of her. Their skin smelled of lake water and sunshine. The slap of their bodies, their harsh breathing, and her moans echoed through the room.

  Together, they brought her to release over and over again until she floated weightless on a sea of flesh. Their touches felt hot and exciting and deliciously wrong. She ground her bottom against Elijah, her hands clutching Luke’s buttocks. They came with a succession of jerks and groans, her name on their lips and her body between them.

  She awoke alone in bed among a brilliant stream of sunshine through the windows. After a slow stretch, a dozen beautiful aches and pains pulsed through her body. Luke and Elijah had taken her repeatedly throughout the night, insatiable in their need to please her, relentless in their lust. She’d never felt so desired or sated. A satisfied smile crept across her lips. She covered her face with a pillow and laughed, filled with a crazy sense of happiness.

  After a quick shower, she pulled a sundress over her bikini and padded downstairs. She followed the sound of masculine voices outside. Elijah floated in the center of the pool, legs dangling over the raft, while Luke reclined on a chaise. Their eyes hid behind their sunglasses, but their warm smiles greeted her.

  “Morning, sunshine,” Luke said.

  “Good morning,” she replied, and eased into a chair next to him.

  “Sleep well?” Elijah asked.

  A blush spread up her chest and heated her face. “Yes.”

  “Good,” he said. “’Cause you’re going to need it.”

  And so it went for the next three days. During the day, they boated and swam, drank too much, and played in the sun. Her mother left a few messages, but Tasha couldn’t call her back, unwilling to burst the bubble of happiness surrounding her. At night, the three of them frolicked in bed until they fell asleep in a tangled mass of naked limbs and twisted sheets. It was fun and exciting, and they all knew it couldn’t last.

  Chapter 34

  On Thursday, Tasha floated around the pool for most of the morning while the guys chipped golf balls into the lake. After lunch, she went upstairs for a nap. When she came back down hours later, everything had changed. Cars filled the driveway. Strangers milled about the house and yard. A white van delivered food and cases of liquor.

  Laughter and music floated from the back of the house, carried by a warm summer breeze. Following the sounds around the side of the house to the back, she found Elijah reclined on an outdoor sofa by the pool house, a naked girl draped across his lap. The open front of his rumpled shirt showed a sliver of washboard abs. Black aviator sunglasses shielded his eyes. When he spied Tasha, his face split into a huge smile.

  “Yeah! About time you woke up.” Elijah lifted an umbrella drink into the air. “Angel, get my friend a cocktail, would you?”

  Six girls lounged by the pool in bikinis too small to qualify for clothing. All of them were topless. Two of them were completely naked. Their heads snapped to attention at the sound of Elijah’s voice. One of the naked girls stood, presumably Angel, and made her way to the bar. Tasha wasn’t a prude by any means and had felt risqué wearing tiny cut-off denim shorts and a tummy-baring halter top. Compared to these girls, she was overdressed and overfed.

  “So what do you think?” Elijah asked. His eyes bored into hers. As he spoke, he stroked the golden thigh of the girl on his lap. Up and down. Up. Down.

  Tasha swallowed and looked away. Overt sexuality never embarrassed her, or at least it never had before. It was the way his touch slid over the bare skin of a beautiful woman, the same way he’d touched her the night before, that made her uneasy.

  “Who are these people?” Tasha shielded her eyes with a hand and turned in a circle to survey the manicured lawn, the boat dock, and the sun sparkling on the lake’s smooth surface. “Where’s Luke?”

  A dozen or so guys sat around the outdoor bar on barstools and lounge chairs. They wore flip-flops and bandanas, strumming guitars and singing about sex at a fast food joint.

  “Groupies, roadies.” Elijah gestured with his drink, sloshing liquid over the edge and onto the pool deck. He nodded to two men in conservative shorts and polo shirts. “My dealer Elton, my manager Gabe, and…” He narrowed his eyes at a pair of guys smoking weed by the pool slide. “I don’t know who the fuck those guys are.” A nonchalant shrug of his broad shoulders dismissed the subject. “Doesn’t really matter.”

  Angel returned with two tall frosty glasses filled to the rim with pink liquid and a garnish of fresh fruit. She handed one to Tasha and the other to Elijah, then settled on the arm of the sofa next to him. Tasha took a sip of the cocktail and tried to look anywhere but at the girl’s tanned, naked breasts, which were too high and too round to be anything but fake.
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br />   “Hey, there’s Luke.” Elijah rose from the sofa, dumping the girl on his lap to her feet. He raised his arms and shouted to the crowd. “Listen up, people. This is Luke. We’re here to celebrate his birthday and his new job.”

  “You got a new job?” Tasha asked. He’d told her about quitting but hadn’t mentioned anything more. They’d been too swept up in the boat and having fun to chat about anything serious.

  “Didn’t I tell you?” Luke avoided her gaze, his attention caught up on the melee around the pool.

  “Hell, yeah, he’s got a new job. He’s going to work for sweet Caroline,” Elijah said.

  “Your Caroline?” Tasha asked. The picture of his ex-girlfriend, her perfect clothes and hair, flashed through her memory. A spark of jealousy ignited. “When did you meet up with her?”

  “She’s not my Caroline,” Luke said, returning his gaze to hers. “We had lunch the other day. It’s a great job, better pay, benefits.”

  “Oh. You had lunch together and didn’t tell me?”

  “It was nothing. Just a thirty-minute interview.” Luke’s eyebrows drew together, searching her eyes.

  “Dude, you’ve got to come meet Gabe.” Elijah’s eyes met Tasha’s, and there was something missing from them. The absence left her empty. “You’ll be okay for a minute, right?”

  “Yeah, I’m good,” she said. She needed to contemplate the sudden shift in her world. A feeling of unease knotted her stomach. She blamed it on Luke’s lunch with Caroline but deep down, she knew there was more to it.

  Luke smiled and leaned down to brush her ear with his lips. “I’ll be back.” His fingertips skimmed the back of her thigh, just below the hem of her cutoffs. “Stay away from the Kool-Aid.”

  “I like your tats,” Angel said, forcing Tasha to look at her.

  “What?”

  Angel trailed a long red fingernail down Tasha’s arm, tracing the edge of the flower petals. “That’s some beautiful artwork.”

  “Oh. Thanks.” Gooseflesh rippled over her arm at the unfamiliar touch. “I designed them myself.”

  Angel’s gaze traveled over the length of Tasha’s body from head to toe and back again. She’d always been comfortable with her figure. She wasn’t too tall or too thin, but she wasn’t model gorgeous either. When Angel’s eyes met hers, they glowed with appreciation.

  “I’ve been thinking about getting my belly button pierced.” Angel studied the dangling silver-and-amethyst jewels hooked through Tasha’s navel. She caressed the bauble with her finger. The sensation tickled Tasha’s insides. “Could you do mine?”

  “I could.” Tasha shifted her weight back, enough to take her out of range of Angel’s wandering touch. She pulled a business card from the pocket of her shorts and handed it to Angel.

  The girl laughed and shook her head, spreading her hands wide to encompass her nude figure.

  “Right.” Tasha returned the card to her pocket. “Just give me a call at the studio. Elijah has my number. I’ll be happy to work you in.” Her attention drifted in the direction of the pool again. Elijah and Luke had disappeared.

  Angel hooked an arm through Tasha’s elbow. “Come on. I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

  Chapter 35

  In Luke and Elijah’s absence, Tasha managed to down more of the pink cocktails. She chatted with the other girls. They were nice enough and went out of their way to make her comfortable. One hour slid into the next. More people arrived until they spilled over the patio and into the yard. Rock music blared from invisible speakers. She did shots with the roadies and floated aimlessly in the pool.

  After a while, she tired of the mindless chatter and wandered to the lake for some space. There were so many people, strangers, jostling and cavorting, when all she wanted was to be alone. Waves lapped against the dock. Under a cloudless blue sky, she stretched out in a lounge chair by the boathouse.

  Unpleasant thoughts drifted through her mind. Pictures of Luke and Caroline together. Elijah’s hand stroking the naked girl. The crowd of strangers at the house. Luke’s disappearance with Elijah.

  Relaxed by the liquor and exhausted from too much sun, she drifted into a fitful sleep. When she awoke, streaks of pink and orange colored the horizon. The long nap alongside the water had left her sunburned and thirsty. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and ran a hand through her hair, blinking up at Luke’s face hovering over her. With a luxurious groan, she stretched and smiled up at him.

  “Where are your clothes?” he asked.

  “What?” She blinked at him, confused by his angry scowl.

  “You’re. Not. Wearing. Any. Clothes.” He enunciated each word with maddening slowness like she was some kind of fool.

  Feeling emboldened by the alcohol, she’d tossed her bikini top to the side and joined the rest of the topless girls beside the pool. Her breasts might be smaller, but they were high and perky and she owned them, nipple rings and all. One corner of her mouth quirked up in rebellious triumph. It served the bastard right for leaving her alone for hours.

  “What do you care?” She leaned back in the chair and stared at him, daring him to continue.

  He grabbed a towel from the neighboring chair and tossed it at her. “Where’s your top?”

  “You’re drunk.”

  “So are you,” he retorted.

  She threw the towel back at him and stood on shaky legs to look him in the eye. The amber of his eyes heated. She resisted the urge to cross her arms over her chest and lifted her chin higher instead.

  “I’m serious, Tasha.” When she didn’t move, he grabbed her elbow and dragged her toward the boathouse.

  “Let go of me.” By the time she managed to wriggle from his grasp, he’d already shut the boathouse door behind them.

  “What is your problem?” he asked. She leaned against the door. He pressed his hands flat on the door above her shoulders, trapping her, and glared.

  “I don’t have a problem. You left me alone all day—for hours—to entertain myself while you did whatever with Elijah. If you were so worried about what I was doing, you should’ve stuck around.”

  “I didn’t know you were going to parade around naked in front of everyone. I thought I could trust you not to…not to…” He stopped himself short and scrubbed trembling hands over his face.

  “Not to have a good time? Not to enjoy myself? Did you think I’d just sit in the corner and wait for you?” By this time, she was trembling too, with anger and frustration and hurt. “Well, you were wrong. Go back to your boyfriend, Luke. I’ll be just fine.”

  He reared back as if she’d slapped him. Maybe she’d gone too far, swept up in the impulse of hurt and anger. She refused to feel bad for telling him the truth.

  “You’re being a baby,” he said.

  She tried to push past him, but he caught one of her arms. The dangerous light in his eyes sent a thrill of conflicting emotions throughout her body. Tension stiffened his jaw. A scruff of bearded shadow stubbled his cheeks.

  “Where were you all day?” She yanked her arm free. Tears pricked the backs of her eyelids. “Why did you bring me here if all you wanted was to be with him?”

  “Don’t talk like that.” The angry fire in his eyes softened to a simmer. He caressed the side of her face with the back of his fingers. “We went for a drive around the lake. We started talking and lost track of time. I’ve been looking for you forever. There are so many people here.”

  Evening shadows bathed the inside of the boathouse. Through the gloom she could make out the silhouettes of a chaise lounge and loveseat, not much more. He took a step toward her. She didn’t back away.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about Caroline? Why does Elijah know and not me?”

  A beam of the setting sun shafted through the open window and caught in his black hair. He gripped her cheek in his hand, the pad of his thumb resting over the pulse point below her jaw. She met his stare with equal intensity.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hide anything from you.”
His eyes softened. “It’s no big thing. I won’t even be working with her. Everything between us ended years ago, Tash. She’s nothing to worry about.”

  “But what about Elijah? Is he something to worry about?”

  Luke drew in a deep breath to steady his thoughts. He’d had too many cocktails to count and was much drunker than he’d intended to get. Elijah had that effect on people. He had a way of persuading people to go against their better judgment, wearing down their common sense with his charm and persuasive wit.

  What should’ve been a relaxing break from work was turning into a nightmare. All he’d wanted was a few days away from home with his two best friends. Was it too much to ask?

  The sight of Tasha naked and stretched out on the chaise had sent him into a panic, and he’d cursed himself for leaving her alone. The idea of her nude body exposed to all those strangers made him sick to his stomach. Once, he’d enjoyed the rowdy crowd and all-night partying, but now all he could think about was the peace and quiet of home.

  A stray beam of sunlight slanted through the boathouse window. Tasha wrapped her arms around her bare torso and shivered. Luke stripped off his T-shirt and dropped it over her head. It hung to her knees, but he loved the way it looked on her. Even though she declined to be his girlfriend, it marked her as his.

  They lay together in the darkness. Fingers intertwined. Legs tangled. The slow rush and hiss of the water beneath the boathouse was broken only by the thumping of their hearts. Boneless and breathless, neither of them moved for a long time.

  Tasha turned on her side to look at him. He tightened his grip on her hand. Those large, luminous eyes tugged on his heart. He could look into them all night.

  “Don’t move,” he whispered. “I want to enjoy this for a little longer.”

  “I don’t ever want to move,” she replied.

  He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the palm before placing it flat on his belly. It felt good to lie here, removed from reality, in a rock star’s boathouse.