Evie lifted her hips, wanting him, aching for him. Her muscles protested over the position, but regardless, she pushed her hips up, high on the feel of his hard heat between her thighs.
“You know we can’t do this, right?” he purred into her ear, provoking a desperate “huh”. “We wouldn’t want to go getting that intimate on a first date without some additional wrapping now, would we?”
God, how could he think so rationally?
Condoms! What she wouldn’t give for a pack of them to pop into existence and land at his fingertips.
“So this has just been one long tease,” she moaned.
Kit touched her clit again. “Come on, Evie. You know you don’t really want me to do this naked. Who knows where I’ve been.”
“I don’t.” What he said made absolute sense, but they were so—oo close.
“Don’t you carry one in your wallet?”
“It’s in the house.” A look of pure wickedness crept across his face. “Do you want me to run and get one?”
“Fuck, no.” Never mind Ross being due home; she wasn’t having him give the neighbours an eyeful.
“A good fuck is exactly what I’m offering.” The sound of a thrumming engine filtered in from outside. “Ah, I think that’s the decision made.”
Evie groaned as the headlights of Ross’s car briefly lit up the interior of the shed as he pulled onto the drive. “Get off me.” For a good forty seconds that seemed to stretch into eternity, Kit didn’t move. He stared down at her, while Evie struggled, convinced that Ross would throw open the door and find them strewn across the coal sacks as close to penetration as it was physically possible to get without actually doing the deed. “Please.” Finally, he uncurled his fingers from around her wrists.
Evie leapt up and warily righted her clothes. Coal dust streaked her trousers and coat, and black fingerprints dotted various bits of her skin. Not sure what else to do, she flung open the door and fled.
Ross called to her as she ran towards the back steps, but she didn’t turn or stop. She kept on running until she reached the bathroom. There, behind the frosted screen of glass bricks, she stripped off her clothes and stepped under the shower. Icy water pounded her skin like thousands of stinging needles. What had she just done? More importantly, what sort of message had she just given Ross? Guilt sat ill on Evie’s shoulders. I’ve got to tell him. That was assuming Kit didn’t simply out them both by strolling out of the coalhouse with his tackle hanging out.
Any minute…any minute, Ross would be hammering on the door, telling her it was over.
“You idiot,” she cursed herself, banging her head against the tiles. “You bloody fool.”
Slowly, sickeningly, the water temperature rose. The rivulets trickled down her face, mixing with the scalding tears. Be honest, she counselled herself as she sniffled into a flannel. Face Ross like an adult and tell him what you’ve done and how you feel. Find out if Kit’s being remotely honest, and if he’s not, tell him to take a hike and find somewhere else to stay.
Chapter Eight
Rather than chasing Evie, Ross hung back on the driveway, his arm looped over the top of the open driver’s side door. Sure enough the cause of her flight appeared, as anticipated, a moment later. “Do I want to know the reason she’s just run upstairs?” he asked Kit. There were several possibilities trundling around his brain already. In his experience women only ran for a handful of reasons a) they were masochistic Olympians, b) they were being chased and didn’t actually want to get caught, and c) they felt guilty and wanted to avoid blurting out whatever sin currently consumed them.
His friend gave him a troubled smile. Troubled, Ross noted, rather than guilty. Kit reserved his guilt for one topic in particular. Still, as Ross’s gaze wandered over Kit’s wiry form there were certain giveaway signs to what he’d intruded upon. Kit’s fingernails were full of coal dust. No surprise, since he’d just come out of the shed. Obviously, the fuel delivery had arrived. But not even Kit could get turned on by a few bags of coal. No, clearly the hard-on the size of the Eiffel Tower he was sporting came courtesy of Evie.
“Have you been warming that up for me, or getting frisky with my lady?” he asked.
Kit crossed his arms and slumped back against the wall. His gaze turned skyward, chin up in the air. The pose was pure feigned nonchalance. Ross got right up in his face and wrapped a hand around Kit’s balls. That got his attention.
“It’s bad enough when you fuck with me, Kit. Don’t start screwing with Evie’s head, or I’ll start screwing with you.”
“Promises, promises…” Kit mused.
This close, the scent of Kit’s skin hit Ross hard. “Jesus, you reek of her. Kit…?” He left the question at that. It wasn’t as if it needed any further qualification, they both knew what he was asking, and Kit didn’t try to conceal the truth. Maintaining eye contact with Ross, Kit held out two fingers of his right hand.
“That’s all, I swear. Maybe we should all be together the first time.”
Unlike the others, the nails of the fore and index fingers were clean. Ross sniffed at them and then sucked them into his mouth. The unmistakable taste of his girlfriend’s body flooded his taste buds. Part of him felt consumed with rage, the rest sank into the mire of…arousal. While he hadn’t actually invited Kit to make a move on Evie, he hadn’t specifically forbidden it either. He could rationalize it to himself as an unnecessary act. Normal people respected relationship boundaries. The thing was, his relationship with Kit had never been remotely normal. It had been voyeuristic and obsessive, painful, incredible, and in the final moments before he’d left for Japan, blissfully intense.
Ross tightened his grip on Kit’s balls, so that his thumb dug into the skin between them at their base, making Kit gasp and hop up onto his toes. Shit—if his squirming didn’t turn Ross on. Heat rushed to his groin, and he experienced a burning urge to thrust his hands inside his pants and squeeze his cock. He squeezed Kit’s instead, causing another gasp to escape his friend’s lips.
Ross stared at those sensual lips, and the five o’ clock shadow above, and craved the kiss he’d tried so hard to reject a week ago. He pressed himself up against Kit’s body and breathed in the stink of him. He’d been labouring, and there’d been their little phone tryst earlier coupled with whatever he’d been getting up to with Evie to make him sweat, so that his pheromones clung to him like aftershave. “In there, right now.” He let go of Kit long enough to open the coalhouse door and back him inside. He let the wind blow the door shut behind them. “I’ve had just as much as I can take from you. What is it you want, Kit?”
“You know what I want. I want you, and I want Evie.”
“You hardly know her.”
“I don’t need to know her. I know you. I can see she’s the right one.”
“You tried this before, remember?”
“That was different: different woman, different time, different expectations. Besides, I wasn’t the outsider that time.”
“And if I don’t want you involved?”
“Just say the word, Ross.” Kit reached out a hand towards him and briefly brushed Ross’s jaw line before clasping his shoulder. “You know I’ll back off.”
“Damn you!” Ross grabbed Kit’s collar and yanked his head forward. Such a fine, fine line was drawn between what he wanted to do next. His fingers curled tighter on the fabric, until his knuckles ached. Kit’s lips were enticingly parted. Ross fell to his knees.
The scent of Kit was even stronger now. Ross rubbed his face up against the V at the top of Kit’s thigh and licked at his clean-shaven balls. He wondered if he could persuade him to let the hair grow in again. He liked a bit of camouflage down there.
Kit laced his fingers through Ross’s hair. “Is this your decision, or just a torment, because I’d rather not stand here freezing my nuts off if…” His words faltered as Ross wrapped his palm around Kit’s cock and swirled his tongue around the head. “Fuck!” Kit closed his eyes and gritted his
teeth.
“Not today,” said Ross. He teased his tongue over the sensitive slitted-eye again.
“Oh, fuck,” swore Kit, pushing forward from the hips, his voice an agitated purr.
“Easy, tiger.”
Kit pulled his hair, trying to draw him closer, which made Ross laugh.
“I ought to get up and leave you like this.”
Kit’s eyes flickered open, beneath his long, dark eyelashes, his pupils widely dilated.
“But you know what? I can’t. I can’t do it, Kit. As much as I want to walk away, I want to taste you too much.” He caught a bead of precome on his tongue and rolled the taste around his mouth. “Beg me. I want to hear it.”
“Pissing hell!” Kit gulped. “I’ve waited six fucking years for this and you want me to prostrate myself?”
Ross ran his hands up and down the tightly clenched muscles of Kit’s thighs, unable to stop himself touching but holding out for a little politeness. When it didn’t immediately come, he forced himself to stop and breathe.
Kit’s teeth chattered.
“Okay. Please,” he hissed when he realized Ross was genuinely going to leave him hanging.
The taste of Kit soon covered Ross’s lips and tongue. He sucked, relishing the hint of aggression behind each thrust. This felt so right, he could hardly keep focused enough to keep his teeth out of the way. But while sucking was good, it wasn’t going to be enough long term. He wanted more intimacy than that.
His thoughts quickly turned to Kit’s earlier suggestion. They’d never actually ventured as far as penetration before. In truth, they’d barely ventured along the path of touching one another without a woman present to make it okay. This was pushing things in a very different direction—one he found scarily attractive. He might not have fucked a guy before, but he could imagine exactly how it would feel—hot and tight and thrillingly taboo.
The idea of having Evie with them, watching them together like that was like adding a sprinkle of rocket fuel to an already roaring blaze, and sent his libido sky high.
Ross let Kit’s cock slap against his cheek a few times, then he worked his hand inside his trousers and wrapped it around his own cock, which lay trapped inside his shorts, fit for bursting. He jerked himself to the same rhythm as he sucked Kit, so that everything worked together like a well-greased piston. The taste of salt grew heavy on his tongue, and Kit’s moans filled the air. Hell, if anyone happened to be walking past outside there’d be no mistaking what was going on. There’d been times in the past when the thought of being caught inflagrante would have left him mortified. Now, he didn’t care.
Kit began to claw at him, and Ross upped the motion of his wrist.
Okay, maybe he balked a little at the possibility of Evie finding them. He’d rather address the situation in a rather less direct manner.
Kit’s knees buckled as he came. He leaned heavily on Ross’s shoulders, squashing him against his swaying hips, so that Ross’s nose was glued to the base of Kit’s cock. Ross relaxed his throat and as best he could for the last few breathless moments, as Kit came. Prior to that moment Ross had been intending to spit. As it was, he swallowed and shot his own load over the floor.
Winded, Ross stayed on his knees until Kit offered him a hand up. They stood facing one another, not quite making eye contact, neither of them managing to speak. Shiftily, they cleaned up and buttoned up. Then Ross went outside and locked up the car. Finally, Kit spoke as they mounted the steps to the kitchen door. “Beer,” he croaked.
“There’s some draught Guinness in the fridge.”
“I’ll get them.”
Kit set about the task, while Ross went upstairs and changed out of his work clothes. He pulled on his oldest jumper and a pair of ill-fitting jeans that were ripped across both knees. They might have seen better days, but they made him feel comfortable inside his skin. He hadn’t meant everything that had happened today to occur, but well…events had rather overtaken him. He grimaced slightly, hearing the shower running next door, and his vexation at Kit over whatever he’d tried on with Evie reasserted itself. He hung outside the bathroom door a moment, wondering if he ought to knock and see if she was okay. Then again, perhaps it was better to let her emerge in her own time.
Back downstairs, Kit had lit the fire and turned on the Playstation. “Punch up, driving, or other.” Kit fanned three games out in front of Ross.
“Fighting,” said Ross. It’d be less bloody this way. Games to work out their frustrations with one another.
Kit cocked an eyebrow at him underneath his long fringe. He’d brushed his hair forward so that it masked the line of dried blood and glue upon his brow. “I don’t know,” he said, holding Ross’s gaze. “I think I’d rather you just split my lip, if that’s what’s in your thoughts.”
“That—” said Ross, “—is because you’re all about the physical. Which is cracked, by the way, considering what an expert at mental torture you are.” He slumped onto the sofa. “Sit your butt down and press some mechanical buttons instead of mine for a while.”
“Do you want to talk about Evie?”
Ross shrugged. “Let me work out how to approach her.”
“You’re ready to share?”
“I’m ready to goddamn kill you.” Ross began hammering the controller buttons, sending his onscreen sprite into a ninja waltz. “Fuck, Kit! This is mental.”
Kit smacked his thigh hard enough to make it sting. “It’ll be fucking hot. And she’s up for it, don’t doubt that. God, is she up for it.”
“Not now,” said Ross. “I’m not ready for this now.”
Chapter Nine
Evie strung out her shower for as long as possible, letting the water cascade over her shoulders and wash away all traces of Kit’s scent upon her skin. Then, huddled in a bath sheet and dressing gown, she spent another forty minutes filing and painting her toenails, and smothering every inch of her skin in coconut body butter. In the end, there was no trace of male pheromones anywhere upon her and precious little of her own scent. Instead, she wafted into the living room in a cloud of honey and vanilla, smelling rather like an exotic fruit.
Confessions were best made properly armed, and the sweet fragrance gave her confidence.
It still surprised her that Ross hadn’t been upstairs to seek her out. Expecting a confrontation, Evie ironed out the creases in her brow as best she could and tried to look repentant, not that either of the two men hunched upon the sofa noticed.
Having pulled the sofa away from its normal position below the window, they’d aligned it, bachelor style, right across the centre of the living room, facing the TV. A metal soundtrack blared from the surround sound speakers, while onscreen an extremely busty blonde was pounding it out with some sort of ninja wraith.
Ross turned from the screen and gave her a friendly grin. Evie inwardly winced at the warmth and love evident in his gaze.
“K.O.,” announced the onscreen commentator.
“Yes,” snarled Kit.
Ross swapped the Playstation controller to his off hand and extended his right towards her. “Coming to join us?”
Guilt further chewed at her insides as Evie perched beside him. Even as a child, deceit had never come easy to her. She still remembered with vivid horror the time, aged seven, when she’d taken the chocolate bar from her dad’s bait box without asking. “Can we talk?” she asked.
Ross squeezed her around the middle and rested his head in the crook of her shoulder. “In a bit.”
Maybe she ought to admit the infidelity now, while Kit was present and they could all say their bits, assuming it didn’t immediately devolve into a god awful row. Who knew if Kit’s version of reality bore any relation to the truth, or whether Ross would see it as an ultimate betrayal on the part of both of them. No, best she waited and lured him away from Kit first. Kit, who made her blood boil, sitting there without a care for the trouble he’d caused. Interestingly, the shadowy line of stubble that covered his jaw suited him. It made hi
m look less metrosexual and more testosterone-infused hunk, an image only exacerbated by his mussed up hair and activity-creased clothes. He had his legs folded up in front of him and the controller perched on top of his knees. His bare toes curled around the edge of the sofa cushion. Actually, both of them were barefoot, and sitting curiously close. Ross hadn’t had to shuffle up to make space for her.
Clearly, they were at peace, which begged the question of whether Ross had cottoned on to what had been going on in the coal shed.
“What’s the full on pamper in aid of?” Ross asked, pulling her thoughts back from the fit of speculation.
“Nothing.”
He took a good look at her face. “I might get jealous if you keep dressing up for him.” His gaze slid towards Kit then back to her and grinned.
“I’m not…I didn’t!”
“Sure about that?”
“Ross?” God, did he know? Had Kit said something? Was he genuinely okay with it? Did that mean the offer of a threesome was real too? The fact that he slipped his arm around her waist, and under her top, seemed to suggest it was.
Ever so slowly, Ross’s palm moved up her body, until his fingertips knotted under the wire of her bra, and lifted it away from her ribs. Evie hardly dared breathe. The possibility that this was some sort of test kept tumbling around her brain in an endless cycle. Fact was, Evie hated being overheard having sex, let alone being watched. She’d never been the sort to play embarrassing lip hockey, even in a room full of mates. He’d seen her freak the previous time he’d got frisky with her with Kit as an audience.
Unnerved, she bit her lip, while Ross, whose hand now cupped her whole right breast, captured the nipple between his index finger and thumb.
Having abandoned all pretence of playing the video game, Kit’s gaze lay fastened upon her, his coal-dark eyes merrily glinting. Desire churned in her stomach, and shot poisonous arrows down towards her cunt. Could she sit here and let Ross make love to her with Kit watching? What if he actually joined in and touched her? The mere thought of it sent another spear of arousal through her innards. Hell, what if Ross realized how much the notion turned her on and got jealous? What would happen to their relationship then? Were a few moments of fun worth the risk of making that discovery?
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