by K. Bromberg
"I can imagine," I replied, glancing down at my menu.
"So even with breads and rolls," he continued, "I have to make sure that they're gluten-free, on account of my wheat allergies."
As dinner droned on, so did the conversation.
But at least Roger had interests in things like sports and music, though he said as a child his allergies to dust, ragweed, and certain types of grasses and trees had made it impossible for him to play outdoor sports.
Roger loved to travel, so he talked about some of the places he'd been. I was genuinely impressed when he told me that he had been to forty-eight of the fifty states.
"So, when are you going to close the loop and hit Alaska and Hawaii?" I asked, as I buttered my dinner roll.
"Not in this lifetime, I'm afraid. I have a fear of flying. So my count stops at forty-eight."
"I see," I nodded.
Roger went on to talk about his job with the bureau, which was actually kind of interesting. He worked for the BAU as a research technician, tracking trends and movements of serial killings.
"You might know my brother," I said. "He's with the BAU, Trace Matthews?"
"Taz?" (My brother's nickname) "Hell yeah, I know him. He's a righteous guy for sure."
Okkaaay.
I could've kissed the waiter as he rolled the dessert cart over to our table to see if we wanted to make a selection. There was a gorgeous crème brulee custard that looked big enough for us to share.
"Can you caramelize the topping?" I asked the waiter.
"I have my trusty kitchen torch right here," he replied with a grin.
"Want to share a crème brulee, Roger?" I asked, arching an eyebrow. I got nothing but a blank stare.
"It's caramel custard," I explained, nodding toward the dessert cart, where the waiter was now torching the top of the sugary topping to make it warm, gooey and crunchy at the same time.
"Oh heavens no," he replied, fanning his face. "You go ahead. I've got a horrible phobia about touching anything sticky," he explained. "I think it goes back to when I was five or six years old, and my twin brother stuck his half-melted caramel apple in my hair at the county fair. My mother damn near scrubbed the hair right off of my scalp."
Dear God. There's another one out there like him?
I turned my attention back to the waiter. "No dessert for us. Check please?"
I insisted on paying for my portion of the dinner bill. I didn't want to give Roger any reason to think that I owed him a good-night kiss, let alone another date—which, by the way, he suggested, and which I politely declined.
I was too embarrassed to return home as early as it was. I didn't want to have to explain to my guys why the hell I was home at nine-thirty from a date that had started at eight.
I stopped at a neighborhood pub that wasn't too far from home and ordered a gin and tonic. I nursed it slowly, killing time until I could head home, making it look as if my second random date hadn't been the complete disaster that it was.
At ten-forty, I paid my tab and headed for home. They had left the front porch light on for me, and I half-expected they'd still be up, even though it was a week night. Cain usually stayed up until midnight. Eli was more regimented in his schedule, being that he got up early for work.
When I came in from the garage, I heard the television going from the family room. I tried to be as quiet as possible, so I could sneak by them without the third degree. I thought I had accomplished just that until I heard Cain's soft voice from behind me.
"How'd it go tonight, Paige?" he asked.
I whirled around to see that it was just him. Eli must've gone to bed.
I walked into the family room, taking my coat off and tossing it over a chair.
"Fortunately, it was nothing memorable," I replied, plopping down next to him on the sofa. "Because, trust me, I'd just as soon gouge both of my eyes out than remember tonight's dating disaster."
"Oh come on," he said, "It couldn't have been as bad as the fiasco with Kenneth, right?"
I gave him an eye roll, and proceeded to fill him in on the fine points of my latest date, complete with the list of Roger's allergies and his phobia of 'sticky things.'
I'd never seen Cain so entertained and amused. Maybe I'd have to continue going on these dating disasters, if only to see his infectious smile and hear his beautiful laughter more often.
"Did Eli go to bed early, or did you just decide to stay up later to make sure I got home safely?" I asked, using my teasing tone with him.
"Yes and yes," he deadpanned. "Want to watch a late flick with me?"
God…yes…
"Hmm," I stalled, glancing up at the clock and seeing it was just a couple of minutes after eleven. "Let me change into my PJ's, and brush my teeth, then I'll hang out with you for a bit. No guarantees I'll stay awake much longer, though. Tomorrow is a work day for me, too."
I went to my room and changed into a pair of flannel pajamas, threw my robe on over them and brushed my teeth. When I returned, Cain had flipped the channel over to one of their subscribed stations, and some terror flick was on.
He had moved down to the end of the sofa.
"Come on," he said, patting the long stretch of sofa next to him. "Stretch out and put your feet in my lap. I'll give you one of my killer foot massages."
Hot damn.
I did as instructed, and within ten minutes, Cain could've asked anything of me and I would've complied.
My God!
This man had some magic fucking fingers that made me glad my feet were nowhere in the vicinity of my pussy, because if they had been, I'd have come about five times by now. He knew every single pressure point and made damn good use of them. I heard myself moan a couple of times, I won't lie; I couldn't help it.
My eyes were closed, but he knew I was still awake.
"So, you're a moaner, are you?"
I opened an eye to look at him.
God, he was so gorgeous when he was intense like that—which was nearly all the time. He hadn't even asked the question in jest. He was dead serious.
"Sometimes," I replied, "If the pleasure is just that good, I mean."
He pulled my feet up and off of his lap, setting them beside him as he moved towards me, his one knee dipped into the cushion on the sofa, his hands supporting his weight rested on either side of me. He hovered over me; his eyes were deadlocked on mine.
"Cain," I started, but never finished whatever it was I’d planned to say, which at the moment, eluded me, because his lips were now brushing against mine, his tongue ever-so-gently tracing my bottom one.
I closed my eyes and went with it, imagining how it would feel to be totally encased by this man. His lips and tongue teased mine almost playfully, but slowly and sensually, as if he were tasting me, centimeter by centimeter.
I raised my arms up and wrapped them around his neck, relishing in the warmth that I could feel with his closeness. Our kiss deepened, and I opened myself up to him, pulling his weight down upon me.
His lips moved slowly to my cheek, planting soft kisses there, his tongue gently lapped at my earlobe. He released a warm sigh against my ear that sent a shiver through me. His tongue traced the outside of my ear, and gently flicked at the edges, as his hands were now framing my rib cage, and moving towards my breasts.
He kneaded my breasts through the double layer of clothing, which still did nothing to repel the heat of his hands on me. His mouth moved to the very sensitive area of my neck, right below my ear, causing me to shiver yet again.
I could tell that he loved making me shiver, and he was an expert at finding other sensitive areas on my neck and throat, taking his time and making soft moans escape from my lips, as his lips and tongue found new ways of pleasuring my skin.
Something in me was responding to him in a way that I'd never done with any other man. For that moment, I didn't care about anything else but melting into him.
My legs struggled beneath him until he raised himself up a bit, so that I could f
ree them up in order to wrap them tightly around his hips.
I pressed myself into him, my legs as strong as a vise in pulling him into me.
I could feel his hardness against my groin as his lips now returned to my mouth, where he found new ways of positioning his lips and tongue, sucking gently on mine as a soft moan now escaped from him.
He thrust his hips gently against me, and mine instinctively rose up to do the same.
Shit…I haven't dry-fucked since eleventh grade.
Cain made no attempt to get underneath my clothing, which was good, because I actually think that no matter how good this felt, I would've stopped him from doing anything skin to skin below my neck.
We struck up a rhythm on the couch. I felt his hardness pressing and grinding against my clit, and that was quickly bringing me to a much-needed orgasm.
Our mouths were melded together, tongues swirling, breathing in one another's breaths. My skin felt flushed with the passionate heat that roiled between us like flames from a fire.
I couldn't stop now. I pressed myself up against him harder, as his hips swiveled against me; his hard cock beneath his jeans rubbed just the right spot, bringing my sweet orgasm to fruition.
I moaned against his lips as I came, trembling from the release that I hadn't had for such a long time, and loving the fact that it was Cain who had given it to me.
In that moment, I didn't feel as if it were wrong. I didn't stop to analyze it, or to even feel guilty about it, because it had nothing to do with anyone other than Cain and me.
Once my orgasm had subsided, I wasn't sure what to do.
I mean, it was kind of a conundrum. I'd gotten mine; he hadn't gotten his and to be honest, there wasn't anything further I was prepared to do to resolve that because of…Eli.
Finally, a bit of shame had sunk in. I moved out from underneath him, not really wanting to talk about it, or anything.
"I need to get to bed, Cain," I said, not really looking at him. I started to get up from the sofa, but he hauled me back down.
"You knew that this was bound to happen, didn't you?"
I was confused. I mean, I'd never planned on this happening, and since it had, I was now feeling like it was definitely kind of…wrong.
"I never meant for it to," I murmured like a repentant adolescent. "I don't want anything to come between you and Eli."
"It doesn't have to," he replied, taking a lock of my hair, and putting it behind my ear. "It can be about all of us."
"What?" I asked; the confusion very evident on my face.
"We have a unique situation," he commented, "But it's not insurmountable, babe. And it's not all that uncommon, given the right circumstances," he finished.
"Are you suggesting…uh," I stammered, looking for the right words.
"A threesome?" he offered.
I nodded my head.
"A threesome is an event," he replied. "I'm looking for much more than that, Paige."
"I can't think about any of this now, Cain. It doesn't…feel right to me."
"You go on to bed, and we'll talk about this another time, once you've had a chance to examine your feelings about me…and about Eli."
Eli? Eli couldn't possibly…
"Goodnight," I replied, not wanting to look back at him as I rose from the couch and hurried off to my room.
Much later, I was still lying awake in my room, thoughts and pieces of uncertainty and confusion taking up residence in my brain so that sleep wasn't an option.
From down the hall, I could hear the sounds from their room. I'd heard them before, but tonight it was much more pronounced as the headboard on their bed was rhythmically and loudly banging against the wall of their room.
I guess Cain was getting his after all.
chapter 13
It was Christmas Eve afternoon and I was trying to get presents wrapped before Cain and Eli arrived home.
They had gone over to Darcy and Easton's for lunch, and I had made an excuse because I knew Trace and Lindsey would be there, and I wasn't all that comfortable being around them. I occasionally ran into Trace in Quantico and it was still strained between us.
I didn't want to think about it. If my brother wanted to blow me off the way that he had, then it was on him, not me.
… And then there was my knitting.
I seriously had turned into some sort of a "knitting Rambo" over the past several weeks, and I really didn’t want to blame it on my sexual frustration, because personal denial had actually become one of my strong suits recently - or at least it had until the night after my last dating disaster. Ever since that incident on the couch with Cain, it was like sexual thoughts were coming out of the friggin’ woodwork!
I had done my best to avoid being alone with Cain, which wasn't easy because I could feel his brooding eyes on me from the other room.
It was this sexual vibe that had connected us ever since that night that didn't want to be denied. And it was starting to royally piss me off, because Eli had even commented that my knitting creations looked more and more like some sort of phallic symbols.
Pffft!!
They happened to be Christmas stockings for the three of us.
Phallic my ass!
Mine was white with a candy cane embroidered on it, Cain's was red with a gingerbread man on it, and Eli's was green with a snowman on it. I was damn proud of my workmanship. I think my roomies were a bit…puzzled by my newfound domesticity.
They teased me when I baked—six dozen Christmas cookies and a pan of fudge, packing the goodies up in decorative tins to give out to our mail carrier, newspaper delivery person, and our neighbors on either side of us.
Then, between the two of them, they had scarfed down the remaining two dozen cookies, along with the rest of the fudge in a day and a half. After that, Eli practically wouldn’t even let me have the T.V. remote because his pants fit tighter two days later.
I had to smile, because I couldn't remember feeling this content or secure, well…ever, I guess.
I no longer missed my random sexcapades, not that those had ever been that fulfilling to begin with. I had even stopped my search for an appropriate boyfriend. I mean who cares if I sat home alone on New Year's Eve? It was seriously over-rated anyway.
My parents had sent me a hefty check for Christmas that I had used to buy the rest of the Christmas presents for Cain and Eli. Because, quite frankly, I knew the two of them had gone hog wild buying for me.
Yes. I had snooped.
As much as I knew better than to go into their room and dig through their stuff, it had been just too freakin' tempting.
I had justified it by rationalizing that I wasn't going to be outdone in the gift department, despite my poverty-level income. So, yes, I had done what needed to be done in order to make sure that I wasn't totally humiliated on Christmas morning.
Sue me.
I had purchased a pair of black leather gloves for each of them; along with a new Armani tie for Eli and a rechargeable electric wine opener for Cain. I had bought each of them their favorite cologne scents, and with the finished scarves I had knitted, and ear muffs, their Christmas haul was now complete.
As I finished the wrapping, I discovered that I needed one more box for their ear muffs.
Well…shit.
I knew damn well that a box of any size or shape could be found in Eli's closet.
What the hell.
I closed my bedroom door and went into the living room to make sure that they hadn't pulled up yet. Checking up and down the street, twice, I saw it was all clear.
I scurried down the hall to the master suite, opening the door and heading over to Eli's walk-in closet. As I switched the light on, I gasped. There was a shit-load of more Christmas gifts that hadn't been put under the tree yet.
I examined the name-tags, finding four more gifts that had my name on them, which meant that they had done more shopping since my last sweep.
I couldn't resist.
I picked up the first on
e, shaking it to see if anything jingled. By the size and shape of the box, I was guessing it was some sort of jewelry, but damn - not a sound came from it.
I picked up another one that looked like a box that might have boots in it. I was secretly hoping those were the UGG's I wanted.
I mean, I sure as hell hadn't been crass enough to ask for them. But, I had left a catalog open on the coffee table in the family room, with the pair that I wanted circled in red for several weeks.
I smiled as I shook the box; pretty damn sure my boots were in there.
Hot damn!
I set the box down and put the smaller one on top, remembering why I had trespassed into forbidden territory to begin with. I searched the shelves over the clothes rack, finally seeing two shoeboxes that would be fine for the two pairs of earmuffs.
I stood on my tip-toes, and moved the bottom box, scooting it toward the edge of the shelf, and jumped back as it fell to the floor, spilling out a pair of Eli's shoes.
As I bent over to pick the shoes up and find a place for them, I heard Cain and Eli come in the front door, none too quietly.
Uh oh…
There was no time to make a quick, unseen exit as I heard their footsteps echoing on the hardwood floors of the hallway.
I quickly switched off the light in the closet, and pulled the louvered door closed; shrinking back into the corner and hoping like hell that Eli didn't need anything out of his closet anytime soon.
Why in the hell hadn't I just gone out when I had the chance? I could have explained the need for a box for a gift way better than if one of them found me hiding in the closet.
"She's probably taking a nap," I heard Eli say as they opened the door and came into their room. "She's been going at all this Christmas stuff with a vengeance," he chuckled. "Just toss those bags on the bed. I'll wrap them later."
"I hear that," Cain remarked. "She's really been on her game, too. She's a hell of a worker, keeps up her end of the bargain, and hell; she even makes this place more of a home for us. Kind of makes me fucking proud of her."