Thanksgiving for Three: An MFM Romance (Holiday Studs Book 2)

by Jewel Killian

  My undergrads and even my friends all thought of me as Jeannie the badass but that was only true to an extent. Yeah, I grade hard, I don’t take bullshit excuses and I push my students and friends toward their goals, but when it comes to myself, I’m kind of a big scaredy-cat.

  For instance, I could have afforded an apartment on my own in East Village—far closer to campus. But I was afraid the nightlife would keep me up weird hours so, instead of taking the risk and moving in with my best friend Cass, I stayed in my parents Upper East Side brownstone. They were never home anymore, preferring to split their time between their rental in Vermont and their second home in San Diego, so it wasn’t as if the choice had cramped my style. But staying home and in my comfort zone was a choice I’d made out of fear. In fact, even being at NYU was a result of being too scared to go to my first pick, Carnegie Mellon. I’d been accepted into their business program as an undergrad but I stayed in-state because I was a chicken shit.

  I didn’t know it at the time, of course. I told myself lots of “reasons” I wouldn’t like it there. Philly was gross, (it’s not, it’s lovely), the program was too lenient (it’s comparable to NYU’s), and the best (and by best I mean most ridiculous) reason I came up with was that it was too expensive and I should stay in-state and live at home. While that’s a valid reason for a lot of people, I’m very privileged that it is most definitely not the case with me. But at the time, I really thought it made sense for me to stay in New York because it was cheaper. That’s how deep I was in my own bullshit. It’s why I refuse to take bull from others—I’d had enough of my own.

  As time went on and I started to see all the ways I was keeping myself here, safe and sound in my twenty-two square mile island, and I made a choice not to do that anymore. I didn’t want to be the kind of person who made choices from fear. I didn’t want to make my world smaller. I wanted it as big as I could get it. So, no, I wouldn’t cancel on either Mercer brother. I’d be charming and funny and maybe, just maybe if I got really lucky, I could get them both in bed with me at the same time.

  I hoofed it from the subway station to my house, knowing at this time of day a cab might be warmer but walking was faster. As soon as I entered the brownstone, Lucifer ran himself in circles trying to greet me.

  “Hello, sweetie,” I said, scooping him up with one arm and dropping my bag in the foyer. “Did you have a good day?” He answered with a lick on my chin. “I’m glad to hear it. I had a pretty good day too.” We went to the kitchen for a treat, our weekday, home-from-class ritual.

  I put the black bichon-poodle mix on the kitchen stool and fished a treat from the jar. He really was a magnificently ugly dog. Most bichon-poos were adorable but this one got the bad end of the genetics stick. A protruding lower jaw and a wandering eye made him look more like a zombie and less like the designer toy dog he was supposed to be. That’s what my mother gets for taking me along with her to pick him out. At eleven I picked the dog I was afraid no one else would love and he instantly went from being my mother’s purse dog to being my lap dog. Lucifer was mine the minute I saw him.

  She balked at the name, of course. What self-respecting New York socialite would have a dog called Lucifer? That was when eleven-year-old me, a hardass-in-the-making informed her mother that Lucifer was the direct result of bad breeding and if we hadn’t taken him home he would have been euthanized and that I would call my dog anything I wanted.

  She resigned herself to the name and to her eternal credit, she did some research on the matter and now spearheads a campaign to stop unethical designer dog breeding. Good for you, mom.

  I gave my ugly but otherwise healthy dog a treat and he followed me upstairs, claws clicking on the hardwood floors. Once we were settled in my room, I dug my phone out of my pocket. I was about to call Cass, my best friend and fellow T.A. but as I glanced at the screen her smiling face flashed across it.

  “Cass! I was just about to call you!” I said, hunting in the closet for something to wear tonight.

  “Weird,” she said. “Did you get Webb’s papers graded?”

  “Ugh, almost. I’ve got about thirty or so left.”

  “Haha, I finished mine.”

  “Rub it in, why don’t you.” Cass and I both T.A. for Webb. She’s got the Tuesday/Thursday classes and I have the Monday/Wednesday/Friday ones. It would have been great if we’d ended up with the same schedule but Webb probably knew better than to put us on the same classes.

  She was the main reason I didn’t regret going to NYU. We met on our first day and we’ve been inseparable ever since.

  “I’m just kidding. Why don’t I take those last thirty off your hands?”

  “Really? Are you serious?”

  “Sure. You covered my classes during Halloween. I can grade a few extra papers for you. Did you leave them in the office?”

  “No, I took them home to work on them this weekend. Would you mind swinging by?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Cass, you’re a lifesaver. I’ve got two dates this weekend and zero time for papers. Thank you so much.”

  “You’re very welcome. Just make sure you tell me how your dates go, party girl.”

  “Oh, very funny.” Cass knew good and well I rarely went out, let alone twice in a weekend.

  “So, who are the lucky guys?”

  I didn’t want to say, for obvious reasons. “Um, I don’t want to jinx anything.”

  “Fine, at least tell me where you’re going.”

  “Well, tonight it’s Reservoir Bar and tomorrow it’s Josie’s.

  “Uh, they’re both kinda dive-y, aren’t they?”

  “That’s the point,” I said.

  Cass and I talked for a little while longer while I figured out what to wear. Then I let her go and got showered, re-made-up and blow dried in record time. I was out the door and on the subway with time to spare.

  The Reservoir was a fairly typical college bar. Lots of dark wood dotted with flat screens and the cheap beer and food and great staff made it a go-to for most budget-conscious college kids. It was why I was certain Nick hadn’t been here. Why go someplace cheap when you don’t have to? I suggested it to see how Nick acted around “regular” people, or if he really was a rich boy with no grasp on reality.

  I sidled up to the bar, ordered a drink and waited for my date. I wasn’t waiting long before the door opened and the whole bar, even the bartenders, cheered.

  “Hey! Nick, where ya been!”

  “Nick, long time no see! How’s it going?”

  “Nick!”

  I spun in my barstool to see Nick Mercer smiling and waving at people as he walked toward me.

  “Wow,” I said as he sat next to me.

  “What?” he asked with a sheepish smile.

  I shook my head. “Your regular place, I guess?”

  He nodded his head, put my drink on his tab and ordered a whiskey, burger and waffle fries. “Are you hungry?”

  “Yeah. Order me whatever is good,” I said, yielding to his knowledge of the menu.

  “Make that two,” he said, green eyes glinting in the dim light. Fuck he was gorgeous. I could stare at his face forever, the scruff on his jawline, the curve of his lips, the dark lashes and brows putting a perfect frame around his dark green eyes. I couldn’t wait to see how gorgeous the rest of him was. I pulled my lip between my teeth as I imagined him shirtless and the rippling, sculpted muscles he no doubt spent hours in the gym to achieve.

  “Jeannie?”

  “Yeah?” I said, snapping back to reality.

  He smiled, shaking his head at me. “You haven’t heard a word I said, have you?”

  Chapter Eight

  Nick

  Good god, she was beautiful. Even in a crowd of college girls, Jeannie stood out. The things I wanted to do to her flashed through my head as I approached—tangling my hands in her long, dark curls, pressing her against the pool table, taking her on it as I worshiped every square inch of her body. Jeannie was a spell I couldn�
�t break, hell, she was one I didn’t want to break. I was perfectly happy to be ensnared in her.

  At least for tonight. That’s all I could have. One night.

  I sat next to her as she shook her head at me. “Wow,” she said.

  “What?”

  “Your regular place, I guess?” she asked with a smile.

  I nodded as the bartender came over.

  “Hey Nick, what can I get ya?”

  “Well, first off, put the lady’s drink on my tab and I’ll have the burger, waffle fries and a whiskey. Are you hungry?” I asked Jeannie.

  “Yeah. Order me whatever is good.”

  “Make it two,” I said and scooted my barstool closer to her. “Sorry about all this,” I motioned to the bar and the lingering stares from people who wanted to say hi.

  Jeannie shrugged. “It’s not a big deal.”

  She smiled at me. Not with her mouth, her perfect pout remained neutral. Her eyes held the smile, a bright light different than anything I’d ever seen in her expression before. “So, tell me about yourself, Jeannie Kingston. What do you do when you’re not tearing my papers apart? Not that I blame you. I was handing in pretty mediocre work. But as I mentioned earlier, that won’t be the case anymore.”

  She looked at me, fiery gaze taking in my features but she didn’t respond.

  “Jeannie?”

  “Yeah? Sorry, I got distracted for a moment.”

  I smiled at her. “You haven’t heard a word I said, have you?”

  Jeannie looked at her lap. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was embarrassed. “I’m sorry,” she repeated. She looked me dead in the eyes, a smirk tugging at her lips and said, “I’m finding your face extremely distracting.”

  I swallowed hard as she sat there looking like she wanted to devour me. This woman was something else. So gorgeous. So forthright. So damn tempting she had me thinking about taking her right there in front of all those people. But as much as her eyes said “let’s fuck” and as much as I was down for it, feeling her skin against mine, tasting her lips and seeing her lying naked under me, as much as I wanted all those things, I wanted even more to know who she was. I didn’t just want to fuck her senseless until her legs shook and we were both exhausted, I wanted to find out what made her tick, what her dreams were, I wanted to know her.

  But I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t let Jeannie come between my brother and I. Especially not after everything we’d been through.

  Just one date. One night. And then it won’t go any further. I couldn’t allow it.

  I leaned into her, letting her scent wash over me. “That’s maybe the sexiest thing anyone has ever said to me,” I said.

  She leaned in further, putting her hand over mine. “Good. That’s what I was going for.”

  A rumble left my throat. “Do you want to get out of here?” The words were out before I realized I said them.

  Fire blazed in Jeannie’s amber-yellow eyes. It was all the answer I needed. I put a fifty on the bar, grabbed her wrist and led her out of the bar. She paused to put on her coat and I pressed her against the building. She whimpered beneath me, a small, sexy noise that had me harder than I’d ever been. I hovered over her, lips just a breath away. “You don’t know what you do to me, woman,” I said against her lips.

  And then she kissed me. Hard and hot, she arched her body into mine as her tongue darted in and out of my mouth. She kissed me as my hands slid down her perfect curves, pulling her closer.

  She kissed me. It was a mantra I’d repeat over and over that night. It was why I let things go as far as they did. Because she initiated... she kissed me.

  I pulled away and led her to the town car. We tumbled in and as soon as my ass was in the seat, Jeannie climbed into my lap, straddling my legs. “I was really, really wrong about you,” she said before kissing me again. She reached between us, grabbing hold of my rock hard cock. “Oooh, big one, aren’t ya?”

  I growled and grabbed her, pulling her face to mine and crashing into her lips. I wanted to rip off her clothes right there in the town car. I wanted to have her, rough and savage across the seats. To my surprise, I didn’t just think those words. I said them out loud.

  Jeannie snickered into my mouth as she rubbed herself against my cock. “Why don’t we wait until we’re inside, huh?”

  I nodded against her and took control of the kiss. Parting her lips with mine, I drank her in, breathing her breath, tasting her mouth, claiming her as mine.

  I knew the instant I touched her that once would never be enough. I tried to lie to myself, tried to convinced myself that I could handle “just one time and never again”. But deep down I knew. Jeannie was magic and I was bespelled. I wanted her every day and in every way. I wanted not just her body but her. All of her.

  I told myself just once. Even if I knew I could never make good on that promise.

  CHapter Nine

  Jeannie

  Holy fuck he’s taking control!

  There were few things I liked more than turning on a guy so much that he takes the lead. Sure, I’ll initiate, I fucking love that, but I know I’ve done my job right when he takes the reigns.

  Nick wasn’t what I thought. He wasn’t a sheltered rich kid with entitlement issues. He wasn’t lazy. I didn’t know why his work had been so dreadful up to now and at the moment, with his lips pressed to mine, I didn’t care one bit.

  He kissed me like he owned me, like he was marking his territory and I was happy to be claimed. The scruff on his jaw did incredible things to my neck as he worked his way up and down, finding each and every sensitive spot I had. Settling his hands on my hips, he pushed me down into his lap, grinding his hardness against my pussy. I gasped as he rubbed himself right against my clit, over and over again.

  I was so turned on that even through the layers of fabric between us, he could have made me come. “Mmmm, you’ve gotta stop,” I said thickly. He pulled away, a questioning look in his eyes. “You keep doing that and I’m gonna come.”

  A wicked look crossed his features and Nick Mercer did exactly what I warned him not to do. Grinding against me, kissing up and down my throat and neck, and his strong hands keeping me anchored to him, well, it was no wonder I came so quickly.

  I tried to be quiet. I really did. But there was no helping the moans that Nick coaxed from me. I rode him, getting off from friction alone and cried out as I fell over the edge.

  I sat on his lap recovering, panties soaked and gasping for air.

  “Good god you’re so beautiful when you come,” Nick said looking up at me.

  I shivered with an aftershock then went in for more kisses. I felt Nick smile against me. “Hang on, hold on,” his muffled words only fueled my desire to have him. He forcibly pulled me off, peering at me with bright, laughing eyes. “We’re here.”

  I hopped off his lap. “Well why didn’t you say so?” A playful poke in the ribs punctuated my sentiment as he helped me out of the car and led me into the lobby. “Hm,” I said, surveying the tasteful fall decor of the five star hotel. Nick didn’t go to the front desk. Instead, we headed directly to the elevator. “Do you live at the Four Seasons?” I asked as the doors closed.

  He looked down at me and for a moment I thought I saw a shadow of pain cross his features. “I do,” he said pulling me into him.

  “Does your brother live here too?”

  Nick stiffened at the question. “He doesn’t. But we can talk about that later.”

  I nodded and let myself get wrapped up in his arms.

  I half expected the doors to open to a penthouse suite with the entire floor to himself and a butler, the whole nine. I was pleasantly surprised when we exited to a normal hotel floor and entered a normal hotel suite. Well, normal for the Four Seasons. The living area and small kitchen were modern with leather furniture and wood accents that made the room seem masculine. But I wasn’t interested in the front rooms. I wanted to see the... “Oooooooh!” I squealed as Nick picked me up and slung me over h
is shoulder.

  “I’d offer you a tour but I’m pretty sure you’re only interested in this room.” Nick said playfully as he carried me off to the bedroom.

  “Oooooh!” I squealed again as he smacked my ass before plopping me into the center of his king size. I sank into the duvet a good three inches as Nick ripped off his shirt. “Jesus,” I said under my breath as his ripply chest and abs came into view. “I knew it,” I whispered.

  Nick smiled a brilliant, beaming, blinding smile that once I would have said was artificial now seemed happy and genuine to me. “You knew what?”

  “I knew you’d be just as gorgeous with your clothes off. Take off your pants,” I said.