She hated surprises. “What?”
“Ah-ah-ah,” he said. “No fair. You’ll find out.”
“Sounds good to me,” Korbin said.
Before she realized it, Rhys had settled the matter.
Not quite sure how she got herself roped into putting them up for the night, she followed them home so they could pack and Rhys could pick up his car. As she stood in their living room and waited for them, she silently muttered to herself.
I’ve totally FUBARed this assignment from the first day. I should have used an alias. I’m getting too close and personal with these men.
She was liking them too much.
Way too much.
How much she liked them scared her a little. They were sweet guys. If it wasn’t an assignment, they were guys she wouldn’t mind becoming friends with. No, their interests didn’t exactly dovetail with hers, but nice went a long way to smoothing over differences like that. They were honest, what you see was what you got. Unapologetically geeky.
It was a refreshing change from some of the people she’d tried dating in the past, whose images were more important to them than their insides.
What does that say about me that I was attracted to those kinds of guys in the first place?
She didn’t want to think about it.
The men insisted on stopping by Publix on the way back to her apartment so they could get fixings to make her dinner. She stayed outside and waited by the cars, keeping an eye out in case anyone tried to tamper with them. She didn’t think they’d been followed. With the men in the lead, she’d kept a sharp eye on her rearview mirror.
After what felt like forever, the men emerged from the store and they were once again on their way to Manny’s apartment. When she pulled up in front of her unit, her internal warnings went off at the sight of a large box sitting in front of her door.
She wasn’t expecting anything.
Rhys was faster than her. Before she could stop him, he was out of his car and racing up the walk toward it.
She jumped out of her car, blood running cold, knowing she was too late and wouldn’t be able to stop him in time. “Rhys, no!”
He picked up the box and turned, a grin on his face. The Amazon logo stared back at her. “I was tracking it. I knew it’d be delivered today.”
She skidded to a stop. “What?”
“Well, unlock the door! I can’t wait to get this set up for you.”
She turned to look at Korbin, who was heading up the walk and laden down with plastic grocery bags. He shrugged. “You can’t stop him when he puts his mind to something. Get used to it.”
She was still trying to slow her pulse enough to not feel like her heart was about to explode. “You ordered this?”
“Of course. What, did you think someone had sent a bomb or some silly nonsense?”
The feeling inside her must have translated to her expression, because his face immediately fell. “Oh, Manny. I’m terribly sorry. You did think that, didn’t you?”
She stepped around him and finally fumbled the key into the lock. “It’s fine.” She pushed her way into the apartment.
“No, it’s not fine.” He set the box down on her sofa and followed her, cornering her by the kitchen counter. He grabbed her hands. “I’m truly sorry,” he softly said. “I didn’t even think about that.”
Even Korbin looked apologetic. He set the bags on the counter. “I guess it’s a good thing we got three bottles of wine, huh?”
She nodded. “Uncork one of those babies now. I need it.”
After getting her purse from her car and locking it, she went to go lock her gun up and change into a T-shirt. She’d leave her jeans on until later, when she’d put a pair of sleeping pants on.
No way in hell she’d walk around in shorts with them there. They already felt more than enough pity for her. She read it in their eyes.
She didn’t need to see it every time they saw her leg, too.
* * * *
As the evening continued, Manny felt the wine going to her head and realized she no longer cared. Korbin’s lopsided grin told her he was probably in the bag as well.
Remember, don’t let them go home while still sloshed. Then again, considering her condition, she wasn’t in much of a position to talk, much less judge.
When she remembered they were spending the night anyway, she had to stifle a giggle.
Holy crap, I’m drunker than I thought.
They had cooked her a delicious dinner and hooked up her new turntable and stereo system. After putting a record on, Korbin reached down and caught her hand, pulling her up off the couch and to her feet. “Dance with me,” he said.
She draped her arms over his shoulders and realized for the first time he was several inches taller than her. Comfortably so, that she had to look up to stare into his blue eyes.
Gorgeous blue eyes.
How had she missed that factoid before?
As the record played, the soft, warm hiss of the needle coasting over the grooved vinyl melded with the mellow jazz. She didn’t resist as he pulled her closer, the warmth from his body washing through her as they slowly danced.
Rhys set down his wine glass and joined them, his body pressing against her back. Now bookended by them, she also realized Rhys was taller than her and how comfortable his body felt against hers.
His breath, warm and sweet from the wine, brushed against the nape of her neck, sending a delicious shiver through her.
“Do you realize how beautiful you are?” he whispered, his lips nearly touching her ear.
Her eyes dropped closed. God, that is a damn sexy accent.
“Very beautiful,” Korbin agreed.
In the back of her mind, a whole bank of warning alarms went off, that she was about to do something reeeally fucking stupid, that it could jeopardize her assignment, her job, and worse, maybe even her heart.
Or her pride.
Korbin slid one hand outside her shirt and up her spine until his hand cupped the back of her head. Gently, he tightened his grip on her hair, firmly, seductively, and made her meet his gaze.
She knew what he was about to do and let it happen, tried to stifle her soft moan as he closed the short distance between them. Then his lips closed on hers and his hand in her hair tightened. The firmer his grip, the more like jelly her spine and will turned until she realized she was grinding her body against his.
And that bulge in his shorts wasn’t anything to sneeze at.
Neither was the one pressing against her ass through her jeans, courtesy of Rhys.
Korbin didn’t demand, he didn’t insist, waiting until her lips parted before tracing them with the tip of his tongue, so gently she thought the heat would scorch her.
Nerve endings came alive in parts of her body she’d thought had gone dead years ago. Her nipples, for one, where the friction of her shirt as she rubbed against him started them tingling in ways she hadn’t felt in too damn long.
And between her legs her clit throbbed, waves of need coursing through her pussy.
She felt the men’s confidence build the more she responded. Cycling through a whirlpool of sensations and emotions, she let go, softly moaning again when Rhys hooked an arm around her waist and together the three of them danced as one.
Lots of excuses rolled through her brain why this was a really, really bad idea.
Only one reason why it was a good idea—it would make her and them both feel better, at least for a little while.
She kicked the excuses to the curb and reveled in the feel of them pressed against her, solid, warm walls of flesh, real and there, something to keep her nightmares at bay for a few hours.
And still Korbin kissed her, stealing her breath along with her will to resist. As if he took strength and courage from her.
Rhys traced a sweetly steamy trail down the side of her neck, from behind her ear to where her shirt covered her shoulder. When he lightly nipped her on his way back up to her earlobe, she thought her knees woul
d unhinge. Was she really that sensitive back there?
Hell, it’d been so damn long since she’d been with someone she couldn’t remember.
Rhys’ grip around her waist grew more solid as he felt her respond, supporting her as the one explosive nibble turned into a series of them, up and down, back again. It felt like she couldn’t get a breath between what they were each doing to her and the unfamiliar and totally pleasant sensations flooding her.
Korbin reached up with his other hand and palmed her cheek. When he lifted his lips from hers, she forced her eyes open again to meet his sultry blue gaze. “Will you please let us show you what you do to us?” he whispered.
From behind her, Rhys paused his nibbling. “Please, love?”
She closed her eyes again and nodded, hoping if this was a dream that it didn’t end, and that if it was real that they got to the even better stuff before the wine wore off and they came to their senses.
Or she did.
Either way, if things ground to a halt before she got to have her first non-solo orgasm in years, she knew she’d burst into tears in front of them.
And that she definitely didn’t want to do.
It felt like someone else speaking through her body. “Okay,” she whispered, afraid maybe this was a bad prank, that any moment they’d step away, laughing, and tell her they were just kidding.
But they didn’t.
Rhys’ fingers closed around the hem of her T-shirt and lifted it, Korbin letting go of her only long enough to let her raise her arms as Rhys lifted the garment up and off her. He tossed it to the couch before his hands settled on her waist. Heat flowed through his hands into her flesh.
Korbin began kissing her again. Her nipples now rubbed directly against his shirt, sending more enthusiastic jolts of tingling desire straight to her clit.
The men turned her in their arms, and now it was Rhys who kissed her. With a will of their own, she found her hands buried in his shaggy mop of black hair. He kissed her differently, but just as eagerly and well once his initial reticence burned off and passion took over.
Korbin wrapped his arms around her again. When his palms settled over her breasts, cupping them, she let out another soft moan. He acted like he was exploring a great unknown, prepared to stop if she gave the word, tentative fear mixing with his own excitement and passion.
She knew she had no worries about them stopping if she said the word. Her biggest worry was them stopping before she was ready.
And what they might say about her scars, when they divested her of her jeans.
The record ended. There was a brief pause as another dropped into place and the arm settled in the outside groove. Thelonious Monk began playing over the speakers.
A horrible thought hit her. “I don’t think I have any condoms.”
The men froze. Rhys spoke first. “I think I still have two in my wallet.”
“You might want to check,” Korbin muttered. “Because I don’t think any of us is sober enough to drive to the store.”
Reluctantly, Rhys broke free of Manny with one last kiss. He reached for his wallet. She didn’t realize until after he held up not two, but a strip of three condoms, that she’d been holding her breath.
He smiled. “Glad she broke it off with me when she did.” He dropped his wallet onto the coffee table and pocketed the condoms. “Now, where were we, love?”
Korbin had found her right earlobe and was nibbling on it. “We were just about to take her to bed and show her a great night.”
“Right.” Rhys caught her hands in his and started backing toward the hallway, Korbin bringing up the rear and gently nudging her to follow him. “The night is young, and so are we.”
“Technically,” she said, “I’m older than you guys.” Shut up, you stupid bitch! What are you doing?
“Only by a couple of years,” Korbin said. “That doesn’t count.”
“It absolutely doesn’t count,” Rhys said.
They reached her bedroom. She glanced around Rhys when he fumbled for and found the light switch that turned on the two bedside lamps. Yep, bed made, bedroom tidy.
Whew.
Rhys sat on the edge of the bed, which put him at the perfect height for her to drape her arms over his shoulders while he pulled her close and kissed first one nipple, then the other.
Heavy with need, her eyelids slammed closed as she let out a soft moan. He enveloped her left nipple with his mouth, warm, sweet heat pulling at it, his tongue flicking over the taut peak and driving her ever closer to the edge of insanity.
Taking his cue from Rhys’ lead, Korbin joined his friend on the bed and began flicking his tongue over her right nipple. She rested her right hand on Korbin’s shoulder, still unable to believe she was experiencing this.
Beyond her wildest imagination, never in her hottest solo fantasy, had she ever dreamed something this good, this right.
Something this dirty and delicious all at the same time.
Together, the men worked on her jeans, finally getting them open and pushing them and her panties down her hips. She forced her eyes to stay closed, not wanting to see their expressions if they were shocked by her scars.
She kicked off her sneakers and sucked in a sharp breath as one of them slid his fingers between her legs. She risked cracking open an eyelid long enough to identify Korbin before closing it again and succumbing to the feeling of him gently stroking her clit.
Fumbling, she finished kicking off her jeans and panties. Korbin stood again and turned her, gently easing her down to the bed. His blue eyes looked dark, like sapphires, and focused completely on her.
* * * *
Korbin didn’t know or care what was going through Rhys’ mind at that point. All he knew was he would never get enough of her gorgeous body and wanted to kneel down and worship her, or die trying.
Gently pushing her thighs apart, he knelt on the floor and buried his face in her pussy. Bare, save for a neatly trimmed landing strip the same shade of her hair. She let out a soft moan as he flicked at her clit with his tongue. He wouldn’t claim he had a world of experience in this department, but the few partners he’d had never complained about his skills in this way, at least.
And based on the noises she made, he suspected she didn’t have any complaints, either.
His dick felt like it’d explode as it throbbed, straining against his jeans, hard enough to club an alligator with. He wanted it inside her.
But first, he wanted to make her come and hear her moan. If he was lucky, maybe she wouldn’t freak out when he confessed later that he was falling in love with her.
* * * *
Holy…crap!
If her eyes had been open, Manny knew they would have rolled back in her head. Every flick of Korbin’s tongue stroked nerve endings she couldn’t even remember having before. If she had any lingering doubts about his capabilities, they dispersed like dandelions in a hurricane.
He wasn’t just good, he was damn good.
She felt Rhys get up for a moment. After a rustle of clothes, the mattress dipped next to her again and Rhys engulfed her left nipple with his mouth and rolled her right one between his fingers, adding to the thermonuclear explosion threatening to rip her soul apart from the inside out.
Curling an arm around his head, she plunged her fingers into his mop of hair again, hoping neither man would stop what he was doing.
Somehow, she managed to lift her head and open her eyes long enough to connect with Korbin. The corners of his blue eyes crinkled in amusement even as he continued laving his tongue up and down her throbbing clit.
Inside her, something broke free. Her head dropped to the bed again as she felt her orgasm rip through her, stronger than any she could ever remember. She didn’t bother trying to stay quiet, because Rhys rose up and kissed her, muffling her cries.
If that was what Korbin could do to her without even taking his pants off, she could only imagine what the rest of the night held in store for her.
* * * *
Rhys caught Korbin’s gaze and nodded. When they were sure she’d finished coming, Rhys rose and took Korbin’s place between her legs. He eagerly picked up where his friend left off, and soon had her squirming again under his hands and mouth.
Korbin quickly stripped and stretched out next to her on the bed, kissing her, worshipping her body with his lips as she trembled between them.
Rhys wanted to make her cry out for him. He wanted to hear those sweet sounds from her lips over what he did to her with his.
He wanted to give her nothing but pleasure. They were far from knowing all her secrets, or finding out what made her tick, but he wanted to give her this, give her pleasure, give her every reason to want to keep them in her life.
He suspected she’d had damn little pleasure in her life the past several years, from the way she carried her sadness on her shoulders like a sack of potatoes.
Anything he could do to lift that burden from her soul, even if only for a little while, he’d gladly do it.
He just wanted to keep doing it for the rest of his life. The thought both thrilled and scared him at the same time, but now that it had taken hold in his system, he knew he couldn’t deny he was falling in love with her.
Chapter Twelve
Manny wasn’t sure which man had the better oral skills, but she was more than willing to call it a draw in her favor. Rhys soon had her coasting along the edge of another orgasm, every bit as powerful as the first. When she tipped over the edge, she had just enough time to think that it was the first time she’d ever had a multiple orgasm before it happened. His hot mouth relentlessly worked over her clit, and when she tried to wiggle free to escape him, he hooked his arms around her thighs and redoubled his efforts.
When she managed to pry open her eyes again, she found Korbin and that beautifully intense blue gaze of his staring back at her. Focused on her, as if she was the only thing that existed.
A playful smile curled his lips. “That’s it, baby. Let him make you come again.”