by Cari Quinn
Her throat bobbed with her rapid breaths. “I’m pretty sure even my knees are blushing right now.”
Aidan handed her the bottle of wine and winked. “Let’s see.”
“Stop it.” Laughing, she thumped Aidan in the stomach with the easy familiarity born from years together, then backed up toward a short hallway. “Let me just get these gorgeous flowers in water and check on dinner. Oh, and I need to change.”
“Why?” Sawyer couldn’t resist looking her up and down, even knowing her man was standing not five inches away. Right now, Aidan’s watchful stare acted as an aphrodisiac. Not that he needed much to incite his lust when it came to this particular redhead.
“I wanted to wear a dress. Jeans and a ratty old T-shirt don’t cut it.”
They did from where he was standing. Her jeans cupped her lean thighs and flared nicely over her hips, and her T-shirt clung to her pert breasts and tight nipples with a lover’s ardor. “But isn’t the whole point of this for us to just get you naked?”
Aidan chuckled and slapped Sawyer on the back before detouring into the sunken living room. “Guy’s got a point, sweetheart.”
With a noise that sounded suspiciously like pfft, Layla disappeared down the hall.
Sawyer barely had a chance to think how awkward this moment should be when Aidan motioned for him to join him in the other room. “Come on in and sit down.”
“Thanks.” Sawyer entered the spacious living area and chose a pale gray armchair across from the couch where Aidan sat. A huge fireplace done in sea-green marble caught his attention first, probably because of the array of photos of Aidan and Layla on the wall above. So many pictures. In each of them, they were smiling and hugging. The perfect kinky couple in love.
Sawyer cleared his throat. “You have a beautiful home.”
“Thank you. Layla and I appreciate you giving us a chance to discuss our proposition.” Aidan whisked invisible lint off his charcoal-gray pants. He matched the furniture, right down to the crisp white shirt that blended in with the snowy pillows that surrounded him. “I figured if you were considering an agency like Hot Shots, you were more likely to be open-minded.”
“Well, yeah. Though my mind’s opened a bit more since last night, I’ll tell you that.”
Aidan’s chuckle drifted like cherry smoke across the room. “She’s completely unaware of her power. Which, as you know, only grants her more.”
“Yeah.” Sawyer glanced down at his khakis and thin sweater. He should’ve known a doctor would be no slouch in the attire department, but he’d been focused on losing his clothes, not dressing for success. “I suppose you’re not surprised that I find her attractive, then.”
“I’d question your judgment if you didn’t.” Aidan stretched his arm along the back of the sofa. “I’d also brand you a liar, since I saw the way you went rigid at the sight of her.”
He wanted to argue, but it would’ve been pointless. He might as well be honest. Not that he knew any other way to be. “She looks so sweet. She could produce a basket of baked goods from behind her back, and I wouldn’t blink. I’m amazed she doesn’t smell like flour and talcum powder.”
Aidan laughed again. “Trust me, she does not. She uses a grapefruit shampoo and perfume. Makes her smell as if she’s freshly squeezed and dripping onto your plate.”
Sawyer shifted on his seat. There was no use in trying to hide his wood. Hell, that was probably a badge of honor in this kind of setup. “Looking forward to it.”
“So you’re in, then.”
“I didn’t say that. There are things we need to discuss first.”
Aidan nodded. “You’re understandably wary.”
“I prefer cautious.”
“Call it what you like. Ask away.”
“Okay. What number would be tattooed on my ass?” At Aidan’s blank look, Sawyer scrubbed a hand over his face. “How many other guys have you done this with?”
“She told you that you were the only one she wanted, didn’t she?”
“So you’re saying there hasn’t been anyone else?”
“No. You, Sawyer Blake, are our first.” Aidan arched a brow at Sawyer’s derisive snort. “Find that hard to believe, do you?”
“She was perfectly well-mannered at the office. Then I get this phone call, and though she was nervous, it was almost as if she knew what she was doing.” Sawyer narrowed his eyes at Aidan’s patient expression. The sphinx had nothing on this guy. “You coached her. This was your idea.”
“I planted the seed. She’ll handle the rest. She’s a very sexually expressive woman. You’ll reap the benefits.”
Another place where “thank you” didn’t quite seem like the appropriate response. “You’re exclusive. No cheating?” No diseases, he wanted to add, but figured that would be crass.
“If you’re asking if we’re clean, then yes. We’ve both been tested. But condoms are part of the deal. No unnecessary risks.”
“You really sound like a doctor.”
The corner of Aidan’s mouth lifted. “Occupational hazard, though now I teach at Stony Brook. What about you? You’re disease-free?”
“Yes. I get tested regularly. Plus I’m not quite acclimated to the speed of this city yet.”
“Meaning what?”
“I’ve been here five months, and the first offer I’ve seriously considered taking is a woman and her fiancé. Stuff like this doesn’t happen back home in Shanksville.”
Aidan laughed. “You’d be surprised. We’re from Lincoln, by the way. Four months in New York.”
“No way. Really? Lincoln’s three hours from Shanksville.” Sawyer propped his elbows on his knees and wondered if Layla would be returning anytime soon. “Were you as shell-shocked as I was when you got here?”
“We visited quite a few times, so it wasn’t a complete surprise. But yes, New York’s a long way from Nebraska.”
“I miss it.” His voice came out quieter than he’d intended, and he stared hard at the pretty spread of magazines on the coffee table to distract himself from the memories of home trying to barge their way into his skull. “I spent twenty-five years there. Never would’ve left either, if I could’ve made the same money working construction as I do modeling.”
“You’ll make a decent penny if you sign up with Hot Shots. Nude pays well, or so I’m told.”
“Yeah, so I’m practicing getting nude more often. All grist for the mill, ya know?” With a grin he didn’t entirely feel, Sawyer cracked his neck and slouched back into his chair. Aidan seemed cool, but he missed Layla’s comforting, happy energy.
Missed her deep, dark eyes that seemed to hold so much more than the smile that slipped so easily across her face.
Like a mask.
“So what’s off the table for you?” Aidan asked.
“Sexually?”
“Yes. Tell me your hard limits.”
“I’m interested in that too,” Layla said softly.
Bare toes tipped with candy pink gleamed as she crossed the room. Her short, midnight-blue dress had a long row of laces that went up her back, revealing teasing hints of pale skin in the gaps. The hem barely skimmed the tops of her creamy thighs. Hinting at what lay just beneath.
“Shit,” Sawyer muttered, belatedly rising after Aidan. Apparently, his manners went right out the window when confronted with a banging body and huge-ass brown eyes.
“Sit. We won’t worry about formalities tonight.” She perched on the arm of the sofa next to her fiancé, her pose revealing even more of her long legs. Another couple of inches and Sawyer would lurch right into heart-attack mode. “So, limits. We should get those out there before dinner’s ready.”
“That’s my Layla. Always practical.” Aidan cupped her leg, his fingers skirting very close to the upper slope of her thigh. Layla’s features tensed before he started to stroke her skin in light circles. She sighed, so quietly that Sawyer almost wondered if he’d imagined the sound.
“Are we really having fried chicken?”
Sawyer asked, trying for an easy tone despite his fixation on Aidan’s closeness to Layla’s pussy. And how fucking hard that made him.
Maybe he could handle this threesome thing easier than he’d thought.
“No. Steak and baked potatoes.” Her expression warmed. “I would’ve made salad too, but we’re out of croutons.”
He’d never shared an intimate look with a woman before when discussing croutons, but tonight would be a new experience all the way around. “Did you double up on lighter fluid too?”
“Skipped it.” She gifted him with one of those smiles he’d already caught himself anticipating. “We’re not much on outdoor barbecuing.”
“Late nights aren’t conducive to it,” Aidan put in, fingers still moving.
In a minute, he’d probably be fingering her. From the flush highlighting her cheeks, she didn’t mind. Neither did Sawyer.
He wet his lips. “So, ah, those limits you mentioned.”
“Yes.” They spoke simultaneously.
“I’m pretty open-minded. What I haven’t tried I’m willing to give a shot, assuming it’s all consensual. I know some women like pain and to be shoved around. Not my scene.”
“Not mine either,” Layla agreed. “Bondage is okay?”
Oh hell yeah, it was just fine. “Sure. Long as it’s not complicated. I don’t have patience for that shit when I want to fuck. Sorry,” he said, realizing he was still speaking to a lady. And one he barely knew at that.
“It’s okay.” She smiled, and something coiled tight in his stomach. And that something had Layla’s name all over it. “You’re sweet, Sawyer.”
“Not that sweet,” he muttered, his ears heating uncomfortably.
“Yes, you are. What else?”
He frowned. Was it wrong to say he didn’t have many limits? At least that he knew of?
“All positions are fine, and toys are okay. More than okay.” He looked back and forth between Layla and Aidan. “DP works for me too, but I’m not into guys. I mean, it’s fine if we’re both naked, obviously, but that’s all.” He cast an apologetic look at Layla. “Sorry if that’s a problem.”
Aidan shrugged. “This is about the two of you, not me. If I participate, it’ll only be peripherally.”
“Oh.” It was Sawyer’s turn to shrug. “Whatever turns you on.”
“What turns me on is for you to give my fiancée pleasure. No more, no less. If you don’t make her come a half-dozen times, I’ll consider this night a dismal failure.” Aidan rose and smiled at Layla first, then Sawyer. “Dinner must be ready by now. Let’s eat.”
Sawyer hung back until Aidan had left the room, then snagged Layla’s hand before she could follow him. “Hey. Wait.”
“Second thoughts already?”
“I can almost see your ass, so that’s a definite no.” She yanked on her dress, and he laughed. “I just want to make sure you’re really all right with this. He’s rather dominant, isn’t he?”
Watching her expression soften like melted butter did the oddest things to his already strained stomach muscles. If a woman had ever affected him so bafflingly before, he didn’t remember. “Yes, but he’s not overbearing in a way I don’t want. He knows me better than I know myself. And vice versa too, I hope.”
Hesitation lurked in her voice. Whether it was because of their upcoming peripheral-threesome or because she doubted that her husband-to-be viewed her the same way she viewed him, he didn’t know.
“So you’re fine with sleeping with me while he strokes one off a few feet away?”
She laughed girlishly, and the sound positively enchanted him. Now that he knew she was a Nebraska girl, he was halfway in love, and he hadn’t even seen her breasts yet.
Careful, Blake. You’re treading on treacherous ground.
“You’re the one who doesn’t want to see his cock,” she teased.
“Nah. I couldn’t care less about his junk. I’ll be looking only at you.” He tugged her closer and cradled her velvety cheek. “I want you to know I’m honored you chose me. And you can trust me, Layla, with everything. I’ll never tell a soul what happens within these four walls.”
“Sweet,” she murmured again after a moment, leaning up to kiss him gently. Though their lips barely brushed, the gesture rocked him right down to his toes. “I swear, I normally don’t use a casting couch to hire my talent. I’ve never done anything like this before. Ever.”
He cocked his head, grinning. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-seven. My birthday was last month. You?”
“Twenty-five. Just turned in June. So you have a casting couch and you’re an older woman.” He rubbed his fingers over her lips and imagined the taste he’d sampled earlier. He wanted more. Would have more before the night was through. “I think I’m developing a fondness for cougars.”
“Not so sweet.” But her eyes danced.
“Told you.” He tipped up her chin and fought the urge to pull her in for a hug. Something about her drew him in like a song in the night, one he could barely hear but somehow knew the words to. She looked a little lost, a lot sexy. The combination was exactly what he’d been searching for without realizing it.
And she was taken. On the verge of getting married. His luck.
“I forgot to ask your limits,” he said when his voice returned.
“Just be careful.”
“No rough stuff. Got it.”
“No. Rough’s fine.” She laced her fingers with his and brought them to her mouth, meeting his gaze over their knuckles. “Being careful isn’t the same as being gentle.” She eased back, smiled. “Come on, Sawyer Blake. It’s dinnertime.”
* * * *
Layla scraped her fork along the inside of her baked potato, her mind a million miles away. How strange to eat dinner so civilly in the dining room when they planned to end the evening naked.
Not that the guys appeared to have any difficulty with it. They’d chatted easily throughout the meal about a wide range of subjects. Sports earned the bulk of the conversational time. Sawyer preferred the Marlins because he’d attended college for two semesters in Florida. Aidan commented on his love of the Bears. She didn’t have a team because she didn’t care about sports and didn’t care if that meant she wasn’t an evolved female.
“What’s your family like?” she asked, reaching for more butter.
“Well, my older sister Patty’s an oncologist. She also participates in triathlons and—” Aidan stopped at Layla’s eye roll. “What?”
“Not you, smart-ass. Sawyer.”
“Sorry.” Aidan tried to hide his smile behind his napkin.
Sawyer reached for another roll. He’d gone through two of them so far. Where he put all those carbs, she had no clue. “Small family. My mom raised me, and my little sister, Colleen, on what she made as a secretary until her back gave out and she had to go on disability. I dropped out of college and started working construction not long after. Then Colleen got married and had a baby. Husband left, Colleen and Max moved in with Mom.”
“What about your dad? Any grandparents?”
“Dad’s remarried with a new family. Don’t talk to him or his side of the family. Mom’s parents died years ago.” He shrugged again and forked up green beans. For a big, hardy guy, he seemed to like his veggies well enough. “It’s always been my mom, my sister, and me. We’re pretty tight.”
Sounded like the antithesis of Aidan’s family, she mused, picking up her glass of water. They had the intact nuclear unit, but she’d always believed Aidan’s parents had married for appearances more than love. Aidan barely talked to his sister except at holidays.
Her family was different. Her brothers were her best friends. She adored her parents and loved that they still treated each other like high school crushes rather than as people who’d been married thirty-plus years. Being so far away from them was beyond difficult, and no amount of phone calls or e-mails alleviated the pain.
“You must miss them.” She rested her cheek on her fist.
Sawyer would understand how she felt, she just knew it. Not just empathize as Aidan did.
Sawyer looked up from buttering his roll. “Every hour.” His quick smile didn’t lighten the heaviness in his eyes. “But here, I can do some good for them. I can make some decent money and send it back home. And thanks to you, I might make a lot more.” He toasted her with his roll and bit in.
She caught Aidan’s glance across the table and sat back in her chair. All of a sudden, her dinner weighed like a boulder in her stomach, though she hadn’t eaten much.
“Now you’ve done it. You’ve made Layla feel even guiltier than she did before.”
“Why should you feel guilty?”
“Why?” She gaped at Sawyer. “You contacted me for work, and now you’re here eating our steak and beans so we can fuck you later.”
Aidan cocked a brow. “Careful with the we’s, darling.”
A smile crept around Sawyer’s mouth. “Bonus round, far as I’m concerned.”
“It won’t have anything to do with Hot Shots. You can still deal with any of the agents you’d like, and I’ll stay out of it.” She leaned forward until Sawyer met her gaze. “Everything can still proceed as planned, if you decide to sign with us. It’ll all stay way above board, I promise.”
“Layla, I love you, but Christ, you’re clueless when it comes to setting a mood.” With a sigh, Aidan rose and tossed his napkin on the table. “I’m going to take a shower. I trust when I return you’ll have settled this once and for all so we can proceed.”
Silence followed his exit.
Layla stared miserably at the hands she’d fisted in her lap. “This feels wrong. I don’t know what we’re doing.”
“What feels wrong? Having me here?”
The gentleness of Sawyer’s tone made her eyes smart. “No. That feels right.” Too right, from where she was sitting. They’d just met, for God’s sake, and she was engaged. But there was no denying the connection she’d found with Sawyer right away. First with his photographs, then with the man himself. “But I don’t want to take advantage of this situation. I’m just afraid of how all this will play out.”
“Do you want me, Layla?”