by Jenesi Ash
Did Jamie have to spell it out? “Aidan on one side of you, Caleb on the other. Both of them hot, sweaty, and ready for action,” she said, the image giving her a little shiver of excitement. “Think of it as a Mia sandwich.”
“Both guys?” Mia asked slowly. “At the same time?”
“It’s called a ménage à trois,” Jamie said, trying to sound knowledgeable. She was probably pronouncing it wrong, but Mia wouldn’t know that.
“I can’t do both guys at the same time,” Mia said in a scandalized whisper.
“Sure you can,” Jamie insisted. “Don’t you remember me telling you all about the time I did it on graduation night?”
“Yeah, but that’s you. I’m not sure if I can take two men at once.”
“It’s the best way to compare their techniques. You’ll notice the differences between the two right away.”
Mia continued to stare at her. Had she gone too far this time? Jamie couldn’t tell. Personally, she thought it was a fantastic idea and couldn’t wait to see Mia in a threesome.
“So what do you say?” Jamie prompted Mia. “Are you in?”
Mia’s mouth slowly curved into a wicked smile. “Totally.”
THIRTEEN
“Eat up!” Mia encouraged Aidan as she poured hot coffee in his mug. She then turned to serve Caleb. Aidan noticed the way she placed her hand on his shoulder as she leaned over him to fill his cup.
He liked seeing the intimate touch. Aidan felt the sexual awareness zinging between Mia and Caleb. The unspoken communication between them heightened his longing. He wanted to watch them again, and it was a struggle to remain patient.
Caleb grabbed his coffee cup and took a big sip. Aidan’s gaze narrowed on the man’s wrist. The reddened skin had been rubbed raw. Had Mia tied Aidan down to the bed?
Aidan gripped the handle of his coffee mug so hard that he was surprised it didn’t shatter in his hands. How had she teased him? Did she lick every part of Caleb’s body, or did she ride his cock like a demon? Damn, he would have loved to see Mia in action.
“Breakfast is really good,” Caleb said as he put the coffee mug down and tackled the mountain of food on his plate.
“Thank you!” Mia said with obvious delight as Jamie smiled at him from the stove.
The sit-down breakfast was a nice surprise, Aidan thought, but he wasn’t going to enjoy it with the same enthusiasm as Caleb. He sensed there was a price attached to this rare event.
When the scents of butter and cinnamon had permeated the air, Aidan was drawn to the kitchen. Once he had entered, he noticed that the table had been set with Mia’s best china and glassware. She had even used the tablecloth that she reserved for special occasions.
At first he thought the breakfast was a festive celebration for their wild weekend. But Mia and Jamie had gone overboard with the food. There were stacks of fluffy pancakes and a plate of crisp bacon. The toast with jam was a nice touch, but when Mia made sunny-side-up and scrambled eggs, Aidan knew there was more to this breakfast that met the eye.
“There’s enough here to feed an army,” Aidan said.
“You need your strength,” Mia said with a saucy wink. She walked away, her hips sashaying, as she returned the carafe to the coffee machine.
Aidan took a sip of the coffee, watching Mia over the rim of the mug. Mia was always bright and cheerful, but her mood was amped up today. Considering how he had just roughly claimed her in the bathroom, she should have been exhausted, begging for sleep instead of clean plates.
Mia and Jamie were up to something. He just knew it. Either they wanted something, or they were about to drop a bombshell on Caleb and him. Whatever it was, it had to be big. Nothing else would have prompted Jamie to put on an apron and make pancakes.
He glanced over at Jamie. Her feet were bare, and her long brown hair was now tamed back into a ponytail. Her tongue was tucked in the corner of her wide mouth as she concentrated on flipping a pancake.
Jamie’s camisole top and shorts were almost hidden underneath the pink apron she had on. When he had first stepped into the kitchen, he had done a double take because it looked like Jamie only wore the apron. The teasing sight had inspired one or two fantasies on the spot.
But then he realized that Jamie at the stove could only mean trouble. Cooking was something Mia enjoyed, but Jamie slaving over a hot stove? No way. And she definitely would not go to the trouble of catering to men unless she expected something great in return.
He watched Mia pour orange juice in a fancy pitcher. She placed it on the table and sat down to eat. Jamie turned off the stove and removed the attention-getting apron. As she carried over the last batch of pancakes, he noticed something obvious missing: the fact that Jamie didn’t make one comment about cooking while the men ate was very telling.
The easy conversation wafted over him as he watched Mia and Jamie. They were attentive, offering Aidan more food and drawing the usually silent Caleb to give his opinions about what they were discussing.
Something was seriously wrong.
What were they conspiring to do? He couldn’t figure it out. Or was he being paranoid? This could simply be a show of gratitude for agreeing to the swap.
He then caught a look Mia exchanged with Jamie. He didn’t know what it meant, but the Cheshire cat smile on Jamie’s mouth made his blood run cold. They were definitely up to something.
Aidan dropped his napkin on his plate and leaned back in his chair. He groaned and spanned over his stomach. This was really the life: great company, great food, and great sex. He wished every weekend was like this, minus the secret alliances and underhanded strategies.
“What do you girls have planned for today?” he asked as he languidly stretched.
“Planned?” Mia echoed. She gave a little shrug. “Nothing.”
Aidan looked at Caleb. The guy didn’t say anything but his eyebrow went up. Yeah, he wasn’t buying that either.
“We’re just going with the flow,” Jamie announced.
Aidan watched her pour the maple syrup on her pancakes. Either she really had a thing about syrup, or she was distracted about an upcoming plan. He was going to bet it was the latter.
He didn’t know why he felt dread snaking around his gut. Whatever Mia and Jamie had planned, he could control it. He always did.
Half the fun was when Jamie threw a wrench in the works. He didn’t think she actively sought trouble. Rather, it found her. Jamie’s tendency to come up with outrageous ideas didn’t help, but that was who she was. Nothing was going to change that, and he wasn’t going to try.
He’d rather spend his energy working around whatever havoc Jamie and Mia wreaked. If he couldn’t, he simply ignored what was going on. But this time it was different. He could sense it.
“Mia,” he asked softly, “what would you like to do?”
“Anything is fine with me.” Mia quickly picked up her frosty glass of orange juice and chugged it down.
“Anything?” Caleb asked.
An unholy gleam entered Caleb’s eyes. Aidan could only imagine what the man was thinking. He wished Mia had added a disclaimer to that statement. Things like “It has to be legal and cause no mental anguish or permanent scars” would have been a good place to start.
“Anything at all?” Jamie asked Mia. She placed her fork down and rested her elbows on the table. “What do you think of a ménage à trois?”
Ménage à trois? Aidan’s body clenched so hard he couldn’t move. His breath snagged in his throat as he imagined a threesome with Mia and Jamie. He would want Jamie lying on the floor. Mia would ride her friend’s mouth as he thrust inside Jamie’s wet pussy. He would get to watch the pleasure chasing through Mia’s face while he brought Jamie to a climax.
He slowly exhaled, but the tension lingered in his body. As much as he wanted a ménage à trois, he wasn’t going to give in to the longing. It would be a mistake.
He was beginning to think the swap had been his first mistake, and there was no going back. A
idan had wanted to give Mia anything she wanted, but her sensual awakening was blossoming out of control.
If he allowed her to participate in a threesome, what would she go for next? How long would it take before she didn’t need him anymore? But if he stood in the way of fulfilling her sexual fantasies, he ran the risk of losing her altogether.
He didn’t know what to do. He felt like he was facing a cross-road, and whatever he chose would determine the future of his relationship with Mia. He wished they hadn’t brought up the idea of a ménage à trois or a swap. He should have nipped it in the bud when he’d had the chance.
Aidan didn’t look at Jamie or Caleb. He kept his eyes on Mia, attuned to her every move. She scraped her fork around her plate, nervously playing with her food. He noticed she was carefully avoiding eye contact.
“Ménage à trois? I haven’t tried that before. What’s it like?” Mia asked so innocently Aidan was surprised she hadn’t punctuated her question with the bat of her eyelashes.
“Fabulous. How could it not be?” Jamie answered.
Aidan darted his gaze from Mia to Jamie. This conversation sounded rehearsed. Had they practiced it while making breakfast?
“I highly recommend it,” Jamie continued. “Everyone should do it at least once in their lives. Don’t you agree, Caleb?”
“It depends on who you’re with,” he replied without looking up from his plate. Caleb seemed more interested in food than in a threesome.
Jamie rolled her eyes. “With us, silly. We’re all friends and we trust each other.”
Aidan didn’t like the way Jamie talked about it as if it was already agreed upon. “But doesn’t trois mean three?” Aidan asked. “There are four of us.”
Jamie dismissed his point with the wave of her hand. “Okay, so one of us has to sit out. I think that should be you, Aidan.”
“What?” Mia’s fork clattered onto her plate. She sat up straight and risked a glance at him before she spoke to Jamie. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“He can watch,” Jamie said with a sly smile. “I’m sure he would enjoy that the most.”
“But that means you and me . . .” Mia’s voice trailed off as she blushed fiercely.
Jamie faced Aidan, propping her chin on her hand. “What do you think, Aidan?”
“No.” He didn’t raise his voice, but something in his tone alerted Caleb. The guy stopped eating and looked at him, waiting for the explosion to happen.
“Oh, you want in?” Jamie asked. “I don’t blame you. I guess we could draw straws and see who will be out.”
“You are not listening,” he told Jamie. “I’m saying there is going to be no ménage à trois.”
“Why not?” Jamie glared at him. Her sweet disposition had dissolved at the first sign of resistance. “What’s so different from what we’ve been doing?”
“Everything.” It was another step Mia was taking away from him. Had this been Jamie’s plan all along?
“How is it different from the time Mia held me down here”— she smacked the table so hard that the plates shook—“when you fucked me?”
He wasn’t going to split hairs to make his point. He didn’t need to explain himself. What he said went.
“I said no.” Aidan rose from the table and walked out of the kitchen.
He heard Jamie yell something after him, only to stop abruptly. Aidan had no doubt that Caleb had something to do with that. The guy might let Jamie run all over him, but Caleb had the sense to stop her when she was going to cause more damage than good.
As Aidan marched through the hallway toward the bedroom, he heard a chair dragging across the kitchen tile floor. He knew Mia was following him. She was either going to placate him or argue. He didn’t want to deal with her right now.
Aidan was tempted to get out of the house. Only two reasons stopped him. First, he wasn’t going to run away from the conflict. It would only drag out the argument. He needed Mia to understand that a threesome wasn’t going to happen for her.
Second, he didn’t want to hold this conversation out in the yard. There was no telling how many neighbors would be able to overhear them. He wasn’t ashamed of what they’d done so far this weekend, but he needed to protect Mia from those who did not share their views.
Mia caught up with him when he stepped into the bedroom. He immediately felt cornered, which was ridiculous. He was in control of this situation.
“Aidan”—she whispered fiercely as she closed the bedroom door behind her—“what’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” he said. He folded his arms across his chest and braced his feet. He knew his stance showed aggression and hoped Mia picked up on that. “You are not participating in a ménage à trois.”
“I don’t understand.” She closed the distance between them and placed her hands on his locked arms. “Why don’t you want me in a threesome? I thought you liked to watch.”
“So you’re going to fuck every person who comes your way and excuse it because I get to watch?” It was what Lacey had done when she had found out he liked being a voyeur.
This was why he kept his fantasies secret. Lacey had exploited his needs for her gain. Mia wasn’t anything like Lacey, but he found himself in a similar position as last time. He wasn’t going to risk making the same mistake.
Mia dropped her hands and stared at him, hurt shimmering in her eyes. “I’m not planning to sleep with everyone I meet,” she told him, her voice wobbly. “This is a special circumstance. I want to try something different—”
“Because you’re not sure if I’m enough,” he finished for her. He didn’t try to hide his bitterness.
Mia’s face paled, and she took a step back. “Who told you that?” she asked in a shocked whisper.
He saw no reason to hide the truth anymore. The swapping was over, and he was living on borrowed time with Mia. “I had overheard you when Jamie first mentioned swapping.”
“And you didn’t tell me?” She clapped her hands over her forehead. “Ai-yi-yi.”
“I wanted to see how you were going to trick me into this.” He shook his head and took a deep breath. “No, that’s not true. I wanted you to ask for a swap. That way I could watch you with Caleb, and you wouldn’t know that I enjoy being a voyeur.”
“You could have told me that without the swapping.”
“No, I couldn’t.” In his experience, women didn’t understand his need to watch them have sex. He didn’t fully understand it himself. It was better—easier—if the focus wasn’t on his voyeurism but on the woman having sex with another man.
“You could, but you didn’t trust me. You didn’t think I could handle something like that? No, that can’t be it,” she said as the anger flared in her eyes. “You thought I’d take advantage of it.”
“I trust you,” Aidan insisted. Mia was probably the only person he did trust these days. “Even though you’re the one who couldn’t tell me that I wasn’t enough.”
“I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to hurt you!” She dug her fingers in her hair and took a deep breath. “And I would have been fine if I knew you liked to watch,” she said in a calm voice. “I would have done everything in my power to make your fantasies come true.”
“Like the swapping?” Wouldn’t that have been convenient for her? “And now the ménage à trois?”
“Yes!”
“Do us both a favor and don’t say you’d do it for me. You want those things for yourself. The fact that I would benefit from it makes it easier for you to argue for it.”
“That’s not true.”
He felt like they were going round and round in circles. “I need to get out of here.” He moved toward the door.
“Are you sure that you want to?” she asked. “Do you trust me in this house alone with Jamie and Caleb?”
“Stop it. Of course, I do.” It didn’t enter his mind that she would do something behind his back.
“I can’t believe you’re doing this,” she said a
s she turned away from him. “Why are you stopping now? We have today and tomorrow left. Why couldn’t you have given me at least that?”
“It’s too much, too fast,” Aidan answered.
“And you feel the need to set boundaries because . . . ?”
“I’m trying to protect you,” he said, the frustration making his voice gruff. “To protect us.”
Mia jerked her head up. Had she heard the underlying fear in his voice? Did she finally recognize that as much as he wanted to give her everything, his first priority was to protect what they had?
“You know,” she said as she slowly turned to face him, “I like it when you tie me to the bed. I always think of you as my anchor. I know I’m safe no matter what’s going on.”
Aidan wasn’t sure where this was leading. Was she going to tell him that he went too far in his duties? That he was putting too many limits on her?
“I have no problem when you make the decisions when we’re in bed together,” Mia continued. “Sometimes it annoys me, but in the end, I’m grateful. It’s your way of protecting me.”
If she was trying to make him feel guilty, then she was doing a damn good job. Those decisions in bed were not based on the fear of losing Mia. They were made to create a glorious sensual awakening for her.
She stepped closer to him. “I know that you’re making this decision because you are placing the boundaries that I need. You want to make sure that I don’t have to deal with my greatest fear.”
“Going out of control,” he murmured. He had a feeling that Mia was scared of her wild responses, and that she didn’t know how to handle the intense passion.
She nodded and placed her hands on his chest. “So, if you don’t want me to take part in a ménage à trois, then I won’t.”
It wasn’t as easy as that. “You’re going to resent me. I know you will.”
“No, because you make me feel safe.” She raised her hands and linked them behind his neck. “You’ll know when I’m ready. There are a lot of things I wanted to do when we first met, but you made me wait. I want to try something different when you say I’m ready. Otherwise, I’m not going to do it.”