* * * * *
Dan tipped the bellman and wheeled the breakfast cart into the room. He’d ordered enough food for five and it was looking doubtful all of it would even fit on the table. But he knew if he was hungry, Ty was too. And it was a knee-jerk reaction to want to feed Valerie. Show her in the most basic of ways that they could take care of her needs.
They’d taken care of another basic need last night and this morning. Dan was still shaking his head at his part in it. He’d never done anything remotely like that before.
But seeing Valerie with Ty, he’d had a moment of “me, too.” He had a powerful need to be part of the bonding going on. So what had he done? Gone totally caveman, that’s all. He’d taken her smaller, finer-boned hand in his and wrapped it around his turgid cock and stroked. Together they had used her hand to stroke him until he’d come like a geyser, splashing his semen across the freckled skin of her breasts and belly.
Dan snorted at himself. No question -- he’d been out-of-control. Something had risen up in him, though, and he’d discovered a powerful, primitive need in himself to mark her. He’d come face to face with a side of himself he’d never seen before. Even now, Dan wasn’t sure just what to do about it. Deal, he guessed.
Sounds of the shower had stopped in the bathroom and Dan caught himself listening for clues as to what Valerie was doing in the bathroom while Ty slept and he took care of breakfast. His imagination had no trouble supplying him with an image of her, errant drops of water sliding down her neck and shoulders into the cleavage formed by a towel knotted at her breasts. He grinned to think of her performing the various feminine tasks women all seemed to know instinctively. A few soft thumps was all he had to go on, though, until the door opened and Val cautiously stuck her head out.
“I thought I heard the door.” Her eyes scanned the room, stopping and growing big when they spotted the food. Surveying the table before shifting her gaze to his face, a smile broke and it was like watching the sun come up. The twist in Dan’s gut could have been hunger. “Wow. That’s some spread you’ve got there.”
“That’s what all the girls say.” Ty’s voice, muffled by virtue of half his face being buried in a pillow, was the first indication his partner was awake.
“You are such guys.” Val laughed as she began lifting the lids off of various plates. The instant she spotted the bacon, Val brought a piece to her mouth, moaning at her first bite. “Oh, this is so good. Coffee and bacon -- nature’s perfect foods.”
Laughing at Val’s enthusiasm, Dan sat down at the table and pulled her down onto his lap. “You smell great. I thought I knew what I wanted for breakfast. I just changed my mind.” Her neck within easy reach, Dan began kissing his way from her shoulder up to her ear. When he reached her hair, he stuck his nose into the curls he found there, breathing deeply the scents of shampoo and clean, wet woman. “Was your hair always this curly? Why don’t I remember curls?”
Stopping in mid-chew when Dan began his assault on her neck, Valerie had tipped her head away to give him better access. The lean of her body had forced her deep into his embrace and she straightened now, pulling away from his arms.
“Yes, it’s always been that way. I hate them so I blow it straight most days. I couldn’t get the blow dryer here to work, though.”
Sauntering by on his way to the bathroom, a stark naked Ty stopped to drop a kiss on Val’s head as he checked out the food. Fingering an errant curl that increasingly resembled a corkscrew as it dried, Ty let the hair wrap around his finger. “Leave it. It’s nice. Sexy. Besides, curls are back in this year.”
“And you would know what’s in style for women’s hair, how?” She was talking to Ty’s back, though, because he’d continued on to the bathroom.
“Are you kidding? GQ calls him for style tips. Our man Tyler is seriously into fashion.”
“Hmm. Not sure I trust a man who’s better dressed than I am. Not to mention prettier.” The last she called at the closed door of the bathroom as Val climbed out of her seat on his lap and crossed the room.
“I heard that.” Ty’s voice drifted out from behind the door.
“What are you doing? You’re not getting dressed are you?” Of course she’s getting dressed, idiot. Hiding those gorgeous legs behind jeans and pulling colorful clingy T-shirts, one after another, over her head were some pretty good clues. Maybe he’d get that shot at detective, after all.
“Yeah. I’ve got to get going.” One sock in hand, Val fished the other out from under the bed and put them both on, followed by her shoes.
“Why?”
Two years of living life as someone else had taught Dan a thing or two about hiding his emotions. What the hell did she think she was doing? Fuck them both silly and then take off? This wasn’t how he’d pictured the morning going at all. They were supposed to have a leisurely breakfast to refuel, then spend the next few hours making slow, unhurried love. They were just getting started here.
“I know you’re here to see your family. I’ll get out of your hair and let you get on with your visit. But thanks for a great time.”
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” His calm was showing some serious fraying around the edges. Dan cast around for some composure and came up empty.
Valerie looked out the window, shading her eyes and squinting against the bright winter sunlight. “That looks like my cab. I’ve got to go.”
“What cab?” Man, but he was having a serious attack of stupid. He’d heard of mind-blowing sex -- maybe that was what had happened. Maybe last night had been so damn freaking amazing that he’d actually lost brainpower over it.
Holding up a cell phone half the size of her palm, Val shrugged. “The one I called from the bathroom. I’ll see you around. Say goodbye to Ty for me, would you?” Pulling open the door, she paused.
“Merry Christmas, Dan.”
And then she was gone.
* * * * *
“Gone? Gone where?”
Dan gave him the flat stare Ty had seen him use a lot while working the white supremacists sting. Ty knew it signaled the repression of serious emotion. “Home probably. She used her cell phone to call a cab.”
“Fuck.”
Ty had taken a quick shower, anticipating breakfast a lot and time with Valerie even more. He and Dan had been partners -- a team -- for a while now. Years. So it didn’t make sense that the room should seem so empty without Val’s presence. Or the day suddenly feel so flat.
“Crocker, we’re pathetic. We can’t even hang on to one woman? We’re only talking one medium-sized woman. We should be able to handle that.” Ty shook his head and began pulling on his clothes. There was no point in staying in the room with Val gone.
“I don’t know. Seemed like things were going okay. What’s your take?” Dan was dressed and sitting at the table, picking at a plate of pancakes and eggs.
“She was into it. Not a doubt in my mind. She was loving everything we did.” Not hearing the reply he expected, Ty looked up from tying his shoes. “What? You don’t think so?” It didn’t take any special cop skills to read the doubt on Dan’s face.
“I don’t know. Does a woman who’s had a great time take off like she owed us money? Call it vanity, but it seems like if she’d had such a fabulous time she’d want to stick around. It’s not like we rented the room by the hour.”
Joining Dan at the table, Ty lifted the lid on another plate and found the soggy remains of what appeared to be strawberry waffles. Since he did his best thinking with food in front of him, he pulled up a chair and dug in.
“Let’s look at the facts.” The strawberries weren’t fresh and the whipped cream had gone flat. Still, it was fuel. It even reminded him of Sunday brunches when his grandparents would take him and his brothers out to the pancake house. His mom always pushed them to eat healthy foods, so when his grandparents let them order for themselves Ty never passed up an opportunity to taste the forbidden. Good times. “Valerie has a secret dream of bondage and a threesome.
She didn’t specify two men, but she seemed okay with it. In fact, I’d say more than okay. Are you with me so far?”
“You know I love it when you go all Joe Friday on me. ‘Just the facts, ma’am.’”
The fork clattered against the cheap hotel china as Ty let it drop from his hand. “Are you going to help here? If I’m reading you wrong, now’s the time to say so. Is this girl special? Or not?” Then he shut up and waited.
Ty knew what he felt. And he’d thought he knew how to read Dan. Better to get things straight now.
“You know it was different.” Dan leaned back in his chair and gave Ty his best “Don’t fuck with me, punk -- you have no idea who you’re dealing with” stare. The one he used for Good Cop/Bad Cop. “I’ve never seen you that into a woman. Not ever. You tell me, Tyler. How special was she?”
Suddenly the swirled mess of sopping waffle was the most fascinating thing he’d ever seen. He poked at the gooey red and brown mess, stalling for time by dragging the fork back and forth, making hash lines
Ty looked at Dan, gauging the intensity he saw on his partner’s face. This was important and he didn’t want to screw it up.
“Do you think she’s the one?” A lot hinged on Dan’s answer. But Ty didn’t really need the words. In fact, he knew what Dan was going to say before his lips moved.
“We both know she is.”
Chapter Seven
She didn’t cry.
Valerie was proud of the fact that she had made it back to Suzi’s place with her composure outwardly intact. Thankfully the cab driver hadn’t felt chatty because she wasn’t sure she could have answered. Or maybe he had tried to make conversation and she been too preoccupied to notice. Val just stared out the window and watched the scenery go by. Nothing had sunk in. Once home she couldn’t have said what the route had been or what she’d seen if she’d been grilled at gunpoint.
Nothing her eyes had seen registered because her mind was focused relentlessly on reliving the previous twelve hours. Her body was deliciously tired from all it had experienced. Val figured she had probably had all of two or three hours sleep, max. She would give anything to be able to walk into the next room, crawl into a big bed and sleep sandwiched between Dan and Ty. Val’s lip began to quiver as she thought of all the things she would very probably never experience again.
Tule Corners had a small town mindset and morality about it, for all that it was only two hours away from Los Angeles. It was no mystery to Val why she rarely even bothered to date any more. People either accepted and internalized the values of the majority or they got the heck out of Dodge, moving south to Los Angeles, north to the coast or to the bay area. Just like Dan had.
No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than a picture of Dan chased it. Broad chest gleaming in the lamplight, a wide expanse of dusky skin stretching between shoulders that seemed impossibly wide, he looked down at her. She again lay on the bed of the Inn, body bound, breathing lightly as she awaited whatever came next. A lock of unruly hair flopped forward nearly covering one eye as Dan held his big cock in one hand. With the other he pushed the ropes running over her pussy aside and spread her slick lips. Val closed her eyes and she could almost feel the fat plum head of him spreading her wide, forcing his way inside, one tantalizing millimeter at a time.
It wasn’t fair -- not even one little bit.
Val had thought that just experiencing what Dan and Ty could offer her would be a good thing. That it would be enough. But she had been totally and completely one-hundred-percent wrong about that. All it had done was show her the shattering beauty of what could be. Only to snatch it brutally away moments later. Where would she ever again find one -- let alone two -- people who understood her needs so instinctively, the way Dan and Ty had? She could just imagine the reaction of one of her town’s native sons when she suggested that he tie her up.
Valerie ached to be in the hotel room again with Ty at her back, staring up into Dan’s liquid brown eyes as he fondled her breasts and tweaked her nipples before attaching the clamps. Raising her folded arms from their protective posture across her chest, Val rubbed them over her breasts. Her nipples tingled as she relived the moment when Dan had clamped them.
People either got it or they didn’t. What Tule Corners native could hope to understand what she needed? She even managed a chuckle at the thought of her imaginary lover’s response to her suggestion that he bring along a buddy.
The ache in her pussy increased to an insistent throb. Val moved one hand between her legs and pressed as she continued to caress her nipples. Anchoring her thumb above her mound, she rocked her fingers over the sensitive nub of her clit. Moisture began to seep through the seam of her jeans as she repeatedly pressed it against the increasingly aroused area.
A sharp prickle behind Val’s eyes alerted her. Fat tears began to roll slowly down her face as she angled her hips forward, trying to increase the pressure. Stubbornly refusing to give up, she rubbed harder and faster. But it was no good and her body knew it. She lurched the two steps it took her to reach the sofa -- her bed -- where she curled up into a tight ball and let the tears fall unchecked.
It wasn’t the same.
Not even close.
Val rocked herself and cried, seeing the days turning into months and years -- stretching into an infinite future. She was too different. Too odd. She might as well take her little nest egg and put it all down on one Pick Six in the lotto. She had a better chance of pulling that off successfully than she did of finding her happy-ever-after with two princes.
That thought triggered a gale of weeping that showed no signs of stopping until a thump on the head that felt like a sandbag with needles attached shocked Valerie from her fog of misery. She shoved Suzi’s cat Skittles off her head and pushed herself up on an elbow, as scattered thoughts of falling objects and earthquakes were erased by a sharp knock at the door.
The low timbre of male voices speaking softly floated through the door as Val made her way over. Wiping her damp eyes on one long sleeve and her dripping nose on the other, she tried to tamp down the joyous leap of her heart at the thought that it might be Dan and Ty. If her life was a movie made for the Oxygen network it would be them. Too bad her life tilted more toward something written by Tim Burton.
Another knock and then Dan’s voice. “Valerie!”
A smile broke over her face and she sprinted that last few feet to the door. Yanking it open, still not quite daring to hope, Valerie was rewarded with the sight of both Ty and Dan on her doorstep. Stunned speechless, she could only stand there clutching the doorknob, a goofy grin on her face.
“Val --” Dan began.
“May we come in?” Tyler finished.
Running her gaze over them, Val was struck anew how gorgeous they both were. Dan, so rugged and dark. Ty, all beautifully golden and handsome. Suddenly realizing they were looking at her expectantly, she backed up and held the door wide open. “Sure. What do you need, guys?”
Tyler followed Dan, closing the door behind him and following her into Suzi’s living room. Val saw a look pass between them and wondered what it meant. The communication between the two was so intuitive, a sharp stab of envy passed through her as she wondered if she would ever be in tune enough with them to understand it. Perhaps even be part of it.
Thinking that she might be picking up clues already, Val saw a nudge of Ty’s jaw in Dan’s direction that looked like “Go for it.” A little thrill rippled through her when Dan spoke, confirming her guess.
“We need you, Val. And we want to know if you need us.”
* * * * *
Val’s eyes were red and Dan had caught her trying to discreetly wipe them on the sleeve of her shirt. She hadn’t done anything with her hair since he’d last seen her at the hotel and it hung down past her shoulders in waves and spirals of brown shot with copper.
Dan hated tears. He had no idea what to do about them and the feelings of frustrated inadequacy made him crazy. But when he saw Val’s, instead of wa
nting to edge discreetly out the door, for the first time he wanted to move toward them. He wanted to hold her and stroke her wild hair and promise her anything.
And the really crazy part was that he would mean it.
He wanted to promise her the world. Figure out what her hopes and dreams were and find a way to give them to her. He and Ty. They’d do it together, all three of them. That is, if Valerie wanted it, too.
The smile on her face said yes, but Dan wanted the words. He wanted no misunderstandings. Everything right up front and out in the open. Val’s mouth opened, but no words came out. She brought a hand up to cover her mouth and he saw her swallow awkwardly. When she turned suddenly away as though she couldn’t look at them and speak the words, Dan’s gut churned.
Coughing briefly, Val gulped again, this time choking out a few broken syllables. “-- so hard. I’m sorry.”
Ty had been letting Dan take the lead in deference to the length of their friendship. Stepping forward, he took Val by the shoulders, ducking his head to try and meet her gaze. “It’s okay, baby. Just shake your head no, or nod for yes. Whatever you decide is okay.”
When she finally looked up, looking at him over Ty’s shoulder, Dan saw her eyes welling with more tears. Chin trembling, lips pressed closed, Val nodded, the motion causing the tears to spill over and run down her face. Reaching for him, Val slipped one arm around Dan while maintaining a hold on Ty, too. But instead of turning her face up for his kiss, she buried it in his shirt instead.
Dan’s gaze met Ty’s and they shrugged. Ty shook his head in the universal male incomprehension of the female.
“Stupid.” Val’s voice brought Dan’s head back down, breaking the communication with Ty. Val was wiping her eyes again, face no longer buried in his shirt. “I’m sorry, guys. This is so stupid, but I, I can’t help it. Are you sure?”
Dan didn’t even try to pretend he followed her train of thought. “Sure?”
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