“Well, I had a little trouble with some of the Caldwells. Caden, Dylan, and Theresa were actually all happy to talk with me. Their parents were a bit defensive and suspicious, though. They’re very concerned about their reputations, as well as the reputation of Male Order. They seemed a little ameliorated when I emphasized that their identities would be concealed, but they were still much more reserved than the other families.”
“I’m not surprised. The Caldwells, especially the older ones, tend to look out for themselves.”
“Still, they weren’t quite as bad as yoI mean, not as bad as some people I’ve talked to.” She cringed, hoping Perry wouldn’t notice her mistake.
“It’s okay. I know my parents overreacted. Don’t worry about it. I don’t blame you.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I don’t hold it against you.”
Perry smiled and took her hand. “Thanks.”
With his hand in hers and electricity flying through her body, Carissa wanted to tell Perry what she was feeling. She didn’t have time to work up her courage, though, because all of a sudden, Del’s mouth was on hers, his tongue sliding between her teeth. For a moment, she thought of resisting, but then she gave into the scent of his cologne and the taste of his lips. Carissa allowed her tongue to mingle with his, then bit his lips as she pulled away.
At first, she was horrified with herself for kissing someone she didn’t even like. Yet she couldn’t resist—he had been too alluring, too delicious. Her second thought was of embarrassment. Perry was right beside her and had witnessed the whole thing. Then, she felt guilty and angry. She had been wanting to kiss Perry from the moment she met him. No matter how irresistible Del could be, she genuinely wanted Perry.
She turned to look at Perry, trying to calm the burning in her cheeks. He gave a slight grin. “That’s Del for you.” He started to lean in. “Now, how about another kiss?”
“Yes, please.”
Perry was gentler than Del. He didn’t grab at her lips with his, but pressed carefully, waiting until she yielded under his soft pressure. Carissa couldn’t help the trembling in her hands that started as she parted her lips and tasted him. When he pulled away, she could feel that her face was flushed, but now it was from arousal.
“Wow.” She wasn’t just surprised at how amazing both kisses were. She was shocked at herself. She’d come here to research, not to engage in the practices of the locals. She didn’t want to get involved, especially not after what happened with her ex, Mark. After their messy breakup, she’d vowed never to let academic work mingle with love again. Yet upon finding herself sandwiched between Del and Perry, she realized she couldn’t resist.
“Welcome to Male Order, baby,” Del said with a smirk.
Perry picked up the half-empty bottle and swirled the last of the scotch. “Do we want more? Or should we go somewhere a little more private?”
“I’m thinking privacy, at least if Carissa agrees.”
Carissa took a deep breath, prepared to refuse. She’d already crossed the line, and their kisses were so good she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to stop.
“Sure.”
Carissa immediately clamped her mouth shut, not believing what had just escaped her lips.
“Great. I’ll pay the tab.” Del stood up, flashing his credit card at the bar.
“You sure you’re okay with this?” Perry asked, taking her hand. “You look worried. We don’t have to go anywhere if you’re feeling uncomfortable.”
“Just nervous. My love life since starting grad school hasn’t exactly been busy. I’ve never kissed two guys in the same night before.”
“I have a feeling you’re going to enjoy it.”
“Somehow, I believe you.”
Del returned and held the door for both of them, cupping Carissa’s ass as she exited.
“Let’s go to my place,” Del said. He got out his phone and called for a cab.
Nobody spoke as they waited, but despite their silence, Perry and Del managed to communicate volumes about their desire. They spent the time discreetly running their fingers up and down her arms and stroking her back. Carissa struggled to control her breath as little sparks burst across her skin with each caress. Del was even bold enough to takes some swipes across her breasts. Carissa blushed and tried to be irritated, but it was difficult to care when the sensation of his touch drove her so wild.
Carissa’s attention was caught by the sudden slowing of a beat-up blue sedan. She recognized it as the car she thought had been trailing her on the way in to Male Order a few days before. Although she’d shaken off her nerves and put the incident out of her mind, she couldn’t deny that the car was nearing a halt as it passed. Carissa tried to peer in, but the car’s windows had been tinted, and she couldn’t make out a thing.
“What’s wrong?” Perry asked. “You’re so stiff all of a sudden.”
Carissa nodded to the car. As though it had been waiting for a signal, the vehicle suddenly accelerated away, tires squealing and leaving the smell of burnt rubber.
“That’s the same car we saw earlier.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, it got on my tail while I was still on the highway and only left about half a mile from your place. Plus, that car is too beat-up to belong to a resident here.”
“It’s not like your vehicle is all that extravagant,” Del said with a laugh. Carissa shot him a glare, and he began backpedaling. “What I mean is you’re not the only person in from out of town. It’s not ridiculous to imagine that some other family might have a relative visiting for the summer.”
“I suppose. But did you see the way the driver slowed down as he approached? That person recognizes me somehow. I think I’m being followed, but I can’t figure out why.”
“First of all,” Del said, placing a kiss on her neck, “I think anyone who doesn’t slow down to get a better look as they pass you on the street is crazy. You’re gorgeous.”
“Plus, we are making a bit of a scene,” Perry remarked. “It could just be a rubbernecking effect. Maybe we should cool it until we get to your place.”
“We’re not making that much of a scene,” Del said with an eye roll. “Hell, this is complete discretion for me.”
“Either way, there are reasons why someone might be staring at us.” Carissa could hear Perry trying to conceal the irritation in his voice.
“What about the fact that people here don’t want me writing about Male Order?”
“My parents are the only ones who have given you any resistance so far, and they’re not the type to hire a stalker to scare you off. Besides, you said you saw the car the day you drove in. They didn’t know about your project until after you’d arrived in town. So if they hired someone to come into town and freak you out, then they probably have ESP.”
Carissa sighed. “I guess I’m being a little paranoid.”
Just then, the cab pulled up. Carissa climbed in, and noticed that Perry and Del were shooting looks at each other, silently arguing about who would get to sit in the back with Carissa and who would get to ride up front.
“I’ll squish into the middle,” she called. “Hurry up and get in.”
Before she knew it, she was sandwiched between them. They were both so tall and broad-shouldered there was barely any room to move. That didn’t prevent them from showering Carissa with kisses along her neck and ears and tracing their fingers around her thighs. She did her best to suppress the tiny sighs that were building up inside of her
When they arrived at Del’s place, Carissa’s nerves suddenly returned. I can’t believe this is actually happening, she thought, and settled herself on the edge of the leather couch, sitting with a rigid spine.
“What’s wrong?” Del asked, sitting down and sliding an arm around her shoulder to cup her breast. Carissa caught her breath in her throat, wanting him to go further but afraid to let herself relax into his arms.
“I’ve never done anything like this before.” She let a small smile f
orm on her face.
“You sure you’re okay with this?” Perry asked, settling his hand on her knee.
The texture of his smooth palm on her bare skin sent all of her worries out the window. Nothing had ever felt so perfect, so right. Her smile brightened at his touch. As much as Del excited her, she found Perry both sexy and trustworthy, putting her at ease.
“Definitely.” She leaned forward and gave him another kiss. Del leaned forward and nipped her neck. Pulling away, she turned to kiss Del, and Perry cupped her breasts. As Del’s tongue explored the depths of her mouth, Perry slipped his hand down the front of her dress, reaching inside of her bra and pinching her nipples, twisting gently. The sensation was so intense that Carissa was forced to pull away and catch her breath.
“You like that?” Perry whispered into her ear, his breath sending chills down her spine.
“Yes,” she gasped.
“I bet she’ll like it if I do this,” Del said, giving Perry a wink.
While Perry nibbled on her ears and neck, Del slid his hand up Carissa’s skirt and into her panties, finding her throbbing clit within seconds. She moaned, letting heat wash all over her. She was already on the verge of orgasm. She was sure he could bring her to climax with just a few strokes of his strong finger.
“Maybe we should take this upstairs,” Del whispered, planting a nip on her neck. “The bed is much roomier.”
“Hey!” Carissa cried out as he pulled his hand away and stood up.
“Don’t worry. We’ll make sure to satisfy you once we’re upstairs.” He held out his hand to help her to her feet.
In the brief time that the spell was broken, Carissa came to her senses.
“No, I can’t. I can’t do this.” She pulled her hand away and shrugged off Perry’s finger that had been caressing her neck.
“What’s wrong?” Perry asked. “Are we going too fast?”
“No. It’s that we’re going at all.”
“What?”
“I can’t do this. I can’t get involved, not with you two, not with anyone. I need to leave. I’m sorry.” Carissa bolted for the door and let herself out before either Perry or Del had a chance to react.
Chapter 4
Carissa hoped that everyone would be asleep by the time she returned home. She didn’t want to have to face her aunt, uncles, or cousin and explain what had happened. As the taxi approached, her body flooded with relief at the windows, all dark except for her own. Careful not to make too much noise, she crept inside and hurried towards her room, looking forward to passing out and putting the crazy night behind her.
When she walked in, she found her cousin sitting on her bed, reading a magazine.
“Did you have a good night?” Iris asked with a grin.
“What are you still doing up? What are you doing in my room?”
“I wanted to make sure I got all the juicy details about your night right when you came home. I figured if I holed up in here, I wouldn’t have to worry about not hearing you when you crept in.”
“Lovely. Well, there’s nothing to tell.”
“You can’t sneak in so late at night and say that nothing happened.”
“I didn’t say that nothing happened. I said that there’s nothing to tell.”
“So it was bad?”
“So I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Come on, there’s nothing wrong with a little kiss and tell. Especially since everyone in that bar saw that you kissed one guy, and then the other.”
Carissa felt her face flush. “They all saw?”
“It was a public bar. Did you expect people not to look?”
“I figured they’d be all focused on their own evenings and not paying attention to mine.”
“Carissa, you’re an interloper. Even the people that like you are curious about you and your research and are going to have one eye on you at all times. So, yeah, they’re going to pay attention when you make out with two eligible bachelors at a bar.”
The burn moved up to Carissa’s ears. “Damn, I’m so stupid. What was I thinking?”
“You’re not stupid at all! You’re a very pretty girl who’s captured the attention of two very hot men. What else would you do?”
“I’m not just a pretty girl, Iris. I’m a researcher. I’m here to work on my thesis. I can’t just fool around with men I barely know, especially when they’re my research subjects. I need to be an impartial observer at all times.”
“You’ll never have any fun if that’s the way you insist on living your life.”
“Life isn’t always about having fun. It’s also about working and about making something of yourself. I’m not going to get very far if I let myself get distracted. I almost screwed up my career once. I’m not going to do it again.”
Iris placed a hand on her cousin’s shoulder. “What do you mean?”
“Look, I’m tired. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Tomorrow, then. We’ll have lunch and get this all straightened out.”
“There’s nothing to straighten out. I let things get a little too personal tonight, but I won’t let it happen again. From now on, I’m going to remain completely objective. Nothing is going to stand in the way of this project.”
“Fine, if that’s the way you want it. You’ll be missing out, though. Sleep well.”
“You, too.”
As exhausted as she felt, Carissa couldn’t make her mind settle down. Her body was still buzzing from their sexy kisses, from the memory of their hands all over her body. She wanted them, and to her surprise, she wanted both of them at once. Her desire was stronger than it had been for any man she had known in the past. It outweighed her passion for her thesis, for her desire to prove herself as a first-rate academic.
I’m never going to get any sleep if I don’t do something, she thought. She got up and reached into the suitcase where she’d packed her vibrator. Stripping off her clothes, she eased herself onto the cool silk sheets that covered every bed in the house. Turning the vibrator on low, she teased her inner thighs, imagining they were Perry’s fingers sneaking up her skirt. As she brought the vibrator to her labia, she turned it up slightly, and imagined that Perry’s hands were stroking her soft folds.
When she couldn’t take any more teasing, she turned the device all the way up to the highest setting and started circling it around her clit. She grabbed a nipple with her free hand, pinching and rolling the same way that Perry had done just a few hours before. The intensity of the vibrations combined with the amount of pent-up arousal that had been waiting in her body sent a rollicking orgasm all the way down her legs and up through her neck, and it was all Carissa could do to keep from shouting and waking her family.
* * * *
“You are such an idiot,” Perry snapped after waiting a few moments to be sure that Carissa really wasn’t coming back.
“Me? What the hell did I do?”
“Everything was going great until you suggested that we go upstairs.”
“She was totally into both of us and mere seconds away from having an orgasm. I fail to see what was so wrong about suggesting we go upstairs. Especially because that couch was really crowded. The bed is far more suited to three people.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter now, because you clearly scared her off. You went way too fast.”
“I did not go too fast.”
“Yes, you did. You always do! You’ve been pushing Carissa from the moment you laid eyes on her. You tried to kiss her during the interview. You know, when she was working. You came onto her while my parents were antagonizing her. Then you were all over her tonight at the bar.”
“Oh, like you never flirted with her while she was working.”
“Well, not as much as you did.”
“You were still flirting. Nor did I see you shrinking off into a corner when we were at the bar. You were just as active as I was in bringing her here. You have no right to criticize me.”
“I still took a more tactful app
roach than you did. You’re too aggressive.”
“I don’t think you have a right to criticize my relationship style. At least I can get dates every now and then. Carissa is the first woman who has shown any interest in you in how long?”
“Maybe I’m just picky. At least I haven’t hooked up with every woman in town. At least I don’t need to go elsewhere to find dates who I haven’t already gone home with and then regretted screwing.”
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to play the field.”
Perry snorted. “I can’t believe I ever wanted to share Carissa with you. You’re not serious enough. You don’t deserve her. You’d just treat her like one of your typical Saturday-night conquests.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Well, if you disapprove of my life so much, what are you still doing in it?”
“I don’t know, man. I don’t know.” Perry turned and stomped out. He was halfway down the driveway before he realized his car was still parked at the Boom Boom Room.
“Shit,” he muttered, and pulled out his cell phone, intent on calling a cab. Remembering that he only lived half a mile from Del’s condo, he decided to just walk and burn off the excess energy he’d acquired as a result of the kissing and the fighting.
After walking and sweating in the humid Texas night, Perry was still wired when he opened his door. He decided to take a cold shower to calm himself down. Even stepping into the full-blast chill, his cock was persistent, standing upright, demanding attention. Switching the water to a more comfortable temperature, Perry soaped himself up and traced his slick fingers up and down his shaft. As the tension built in his body, he wrapped his fingers around his dick, starting at the tip, and slowly inched his way down the base. He repeated the painfully slow strokes until his legs were trembling so hard that he didn’t know how much longer he’d be able to stand.
As Perry’s body twitched with arousal, he increased the intensity of his strokes until the pressure was overwhelming. As he reached climax, his cock shot cum to the other end of the shower wall. Perry’s knees gave out, and it was all he could do to catch himself on the edges of the tub as he fell. He lay there for a while, letting the water wash over him, until exhaustion proved to be too much, and he turned in for the night.
Jordan, Olivia - A Bride for Two Studs [Male Order, Texas] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 4