“I can, and you will,” she said sternly.
She didn’t care that both men were looking at her like she’d grown a mustache. Out of all the trees in the lot, this seven-foot evergreen was the one she’d set her sights on and she wasn’t going anywhere until that tree was strapped to the top of Aidan’s SUV.
Dylan let out an exaggerated sigh. “This is really the one you want? Really?”
“Yes.”
“But it’s all patchy—that entire branch over there has no needles!”
“Don’t care.”
“And it leans to the right. Who wants a Leaning-Tower-of-Pisa tree?”
“I do.” She crossed her arms. “Look, you know nobody else is going to buy this tree. Don’t you think it deserves a good home?”
“It deserves to be tossed in a wood chipper,” Dylan retorted.
“You deserve to be tossed in a wood chipper.”
He raised his eyebrows. “That’s your best comeback?”
“Children, please.” Aidan raised his hand to silence them, then glanced over at her again. “I’ll make you a deal. We’ll buy this tree, but only if Dylan and I get to bail on the Walmart portion of the day. I’ll give you my car keys and you can get the decorations and gift wrap by yourself.”
She beamed. “Deal.”
“I can’t believe you’re humoring her,” Dylan muttered. “Come on, man, this tree is going to look shitty in the condo.”
“You’re going to look shitty in the condo,” Claire said sweetly.
“Wow, another solid comeback, McKinley.”
“Thank you.” She caught the attention of the lone attendant in the lot and waved him over. “We’ll take this one,” she called.
Dylan grumbled the entire time it took to pay the attendant, haul the tree to the car and secure it on the roof.
Claire, on the other hand, felt triumphant and pretty damn happy. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had so much fun. These past couple of days with Dylan and Aidan had been a total blast—well, if you ignored the sexual tension that continued to hover over the three of them like a canopy.
But just like Aidan promised, neither man had tried to change her mind about the crazy threesome subject that had been broached.
Funny thing was, she was as disappointed as she was relieved. She knew they both still desired her; their hot gazes followed her all over the condo, and with Dylan doing classroom training at the base all week and coming home with Aidan at four o’clock every day, the three of them had been spending a lot of time together. Having dinner. Watching movies. Kicking ass in Call of Duty on the boys’ PS3.
All very harmless activities, and yet Claire was liable to self-combust any day now. Memories of her encounter with Dylan continued to haunt her, mingling with the memory of Aidan’s kiss. The carnal images even followed her into slumber—she’d had so many dream orgasms she’d lost count.
God, how was it possible to feel such overpowering desire for two men? Equal desire, to boot, because she wasn’t drawn to one man more than the other, and as troubling as it was, when the three of them were together, she felt like everything…made sense.
Which made no sense, damn it!
“Oh, so now you’re a Silent Susie after making us listen to you babble about that tree for the past forty-five minutes?”
Dylan’s sarcastic voice brought a much-needed interruption to her crazy thoughts. “Sorry, did you say something?”
“I asked if you were cool with Sal’s Diner for lunch. We’re in the mood for breakfast food.”
“I’m fine with that.”
“Good, let’s get this show on the road then.” He proceeded to prove that his gentlemanly nature didn’t extend to seating arrangements by shouting out, “Shotgun!”
Since he beat her to it, Claire grudgingly got into the backseat, while he turned to gloat at her from the passenger seat.
Aidan slid behind the wheel, started the car, and a moment later, the tree lot was nothing but a speck in the rearview mirror. When they came to a stop at a red light, Aidan glanced at the festively decorated storefronts in the plaza to their left, then mumbled something that sounded like “California Christmas”.
Claire was perplexed. “Did you just say ‘California Christmas’?”
Dylan twisted around to grin at her. “Don’t mind him. He’s got this idiotic idea that Christmas doesn’t count unless it’s celebrated in Antarctica.”
“Snow,” Aidan burst out. “It’s not Christmas without snow.”
She laughed. “Oh, you poor East-Coast baby.”
“Have either of you even experienced a snowy Christmas?” he challenged.
“No,” she admitted.
“I have.” Dylan sounded smug. “A couple of years ago the team went wheels-up two days before Christmas, got sent to frickin’ Russia, and I can’t emphasize how cold and unpleasant that experience was.”
“Well, no duh,” Aidan retorted. “You were carrying out an op—of course you didn’t get to appreciate the snow. You need to be in the holiday spirit in order to get the full effect.”
“Nah, I’d rather just celebrate in the sunshine, open some presents and then hit the beach.”
As Claire laughed, Aidan just mumbled a few unintelligible words and sped through the intersection.
Twenty minutes later, they were seated in a red vinyl booth at a family-style diner near the harbor, with Claire and Aidan on one side, Dylan on the other. After a perky blonde waitress took their orders, Claire glanced at Aidan.
“I keep forgetting to ask you, but why did you leave Chicago? Did you get stationed here?”
He shook his head. “No, my dad and I moved here when I was a teenager. He owns an architecture firm in Chicago, but he wanted to open a second branch on the West Coast. After high school, I joined the navy and made San Diego my home. Dad stuck around for five years or so to get the new office off the ground, then left it in the hands of his second-in-command and went back to Chicago.”
“So what is it you do on the base? What’s your rank?”
“Lieutenant junior grade.”
“And the job description part?” she pressed when he didn’t expand.
His dark eyes grew shuttered. “Naval intelligence.”
“Okay…which means…?”
On the other side of the booth, Dylan rolled his eyes. “Honey, he does a lot of super-secret intelligence stuff that he’s not allowed to talk about. I don’t even bother to ask anymore because I know I’ll just get the same vague non-answer.”
She laughed. “Fine, then I won’t ask, either. Hear that, Aidan? You can continue your super-secret life in peace.”
“Thanks, sweetheart,” he said dryly. “I appreciate that.”
As they waited for their food, the subject changed to the holidays again. Dylan’s expression turned glum. “I’ve decided not to talk to my mom about the money shit until after the New Year. The holidays are her favorite time of year. I don’t want to upset her.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” Claire said.
It still angered her that Chris and Shanna had withheld such important information from him. If she’d known Chris had been lying to her about Dylan having complete knowledge of the situation, she would have rectified that a long time ago. Dylan should have been told that his mother had been spiraling out of control, and now that she knew him better, she had no doubt he would’ve done everything in his power to help Shanna.
“So you’re going to spend Christmas with her then?” she asked.
“Actually, no.”
Both she and Aidan looked at him in surprise. “Since when?” Aidan demanded.
“Since she called me this morning and told me she got invited to spend the week in Palm Springs with one of the ladies from her gardening club.” Dylan shrugged. “I told her to go. With Chris out of town, it would be just the two of us, and I’d rather she have some fun with her friend, considering what a tough year she’s had.”
�
��Here you go, guys.” The waitress strolled up to their table juggling three plates in her hands.
She served Claire and Aidan without comment, but when she set Dylan’s plate in front of him, her entire demeanor changed. Suddenly she was toying with a strand of her hair and smiling prettily at him.
“Is there anything else I can get you?”
Claire’s body stiffened. The waitress might as well have added, “Like me, perhaps?” She was blatantly ogling Dylan like he was a yummy meal and she couldn’t wait to dig in.
Hands off, bee-otch.
The streak of possessiveness that shot through Claire’s body was unexpected, not to mention unwelcome, and she received a great amount of satisfaction when Dylan barely glanced at the blonde and said, “Nah, I’m good.”
Noticeably disappointed, the waitress flounced off.
The moment she was gone, Aidan cast Claire a sidelong look. “I felt that,” he murmured.
“Felt what?”
“Yeah, felt what?” Dylan chimed in.
A slow grin curved Aidan’s mouth. “Little Miss Claire got all tense when that chick was flirting with you.”
Dylan turned to her in extreme fascination. “Really?”
As usual, Claire felt her cheeks flame up. “I did not.”
“Yes, you did,” Aidan said cheerfully.
“Fine, maybe I did. But that’s because she was practically undressing him with her eyes,” she grumbled. “It was very rude.”
“Yeah, I’m sure your RoboCop shoulders were a direct result of the waitress’s bad manners.” Grinning, Aidan picked up his knife and fork and sliced off a piece of the vegetable omelet he’d ordered.
“Made you jealous, huh?” Equally amused, Dylan dug into his own meal—a greasy bacon, egg and sausage combo that would probably send him into cardiac arrest on the way home.
Claire gritted her teeth, grabbed the maple syrup container and dumped a generous amount of syrup on her stack of fluffy pancakes.
“That’s a lot of syrup,” Dylan remarked as he watched her pour.
Aidan nodded in agreement. “Careful, sweetheart, you don’t want your fingers to get all sticky.”
He said the word sticky in the most seductive tone, and a rush of heat traveled straight to her core.
Ignoring them both, she picked up her utensils and started eating.
“Aw, look at that blush, Aid. We’re making her mad.”
“Or turning her on,” Aidan countered.
Her thighs involuntarily squeezed together.
“Probably a little bit of both, I guess.”
“Nah, she’s not mad. That shade of red means annoyed.”
“True,” Dylan said. “And you’re right, the pink splotches on her neck are a definite sign she’s turned on.”
Claire’s fork clattered onto her plate. “She is sitting right here, assholes.”
“Is there something wrong with us analyzing your face’s various shades of red?” Dylan said silkily.
She turned to glare at Aidan in accusation. “You promised you wouldn’t seduce me.”
His laugh was downright mocking. “Trust me, this isn’t seduction.”
“No? So teasing me in public and getting me all hot is, what, normal lunch etiquette?”
“Yep,” they said in unison.
She grabbed her fork and speared a piece of her pancake. “I hate you both,” she informed them.
Dylan just grinned. “No, you don’t.”
“No, you don’t,” Aidan echoed.
For one exasperating moment, she looked from one man to the other, noting their smug expressions, feeling the waves of sensuality rolling off their big, hard bodies. As usual, her body reacted, breasts growing heavy, pussy tingling, heart squeezing with both heat and emotion.
She didn’t understand it. The all-consuming lust, the relentless need, the strange rush of tenderness. But damn it, they were right. She didn’t hate them at all.
What she hated was the way they made her feel.
* * *
When Natasha called later that evening, Claire practically dove off the leather couch to grab her cell phone from the coffee table. It was only ten o’clock, but she’d been looking for an excuse to disappear into her bedroom for hours now. She didn’t even care that Aidan was looking at her with that knowing expression. Maybe if he dialed down his potent sexuality, she wouldn’t have to seek any escape she could.
The remainder of her day with the guys had only grown more and more intolerable, what with their constant teasing and the way they’d “innocently” kept brushing up against her the entire time they’d put up and decorated the tree. As a result, she’d spent the whole evening so turned on she couldn’t walk without her core aching or take a breath without her breasts tingling.
Fortunately, Dylan left around eight o’clock to meet “the boys”, as he called them, which left only Aidan to contend with. He’d stayed behind to do some work in his office, then talked her into watching a movie with him under the romantic glow of the Christmas tree lights. Of course, he’d made sure to sit directly beside her when he had a whole other couch and two armchairs to choose from.
For some reason, the men had chosen today to break their no-seduction promise, and Claire got the feeling she was two heated looks and double entendres away from caving.
Unless Natasha could talk her out of it.
“Hi!” she said eagerly. “What’s up?”
Natasha’s laughter tickled her eardrum. “Wow, you sound ridiculously happy to hear from me. Miss me much?”
“Miss you tons,” she confessed.
“Right back atcha, hon. I have some time before I start my shift so I figured I’d call and see how you’re holding up.”
“What time is it there? Oh, and I’m fine.”
“It’s just past five in the morning, and you don’t sound fine at all. Your voice is doing that weird grumble it does when you’re annoyed. I guess you heard from Chris, huh?”
“Actually, I haven’t. Not even a text since he went to Aruba. I’m assuming he’s on his way to London now for the second leg of our honeymoon.”
“Bastard.”
“Yup.”
“Are you still in San Diego with Chris’s brother?”
“Yeah, but I don’t think I’ll be staying for much longer.” She hesitated, sighed, then decided not to beat around the bush. “I had sex with him.”
Nothing but silence echoed on the extension.
“Nat? You still there?”
“Still here. You’re joking, right?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“You…you really had sex with Chris’s brother?”
“I really had sex with Chris’s brother.”
“Wow. I have no idea what to say to that, except maybe…are you fucking nuts?”
“I’ve been asking myself that same question ever since it happened. And before you say anything else, you should probably know that it gets worse.”
“Is that even possible? Oh my God, hold on. I want to light a smoke so my brain can calmly absorb all of this.”
There was a rustling on the line, followed by the hiss of a lighter, and then Natasha’s intake of breath, a familiar sound that had Claire shaking her head in disapproval.
“You’re smoking again?” she accused her best friend. “You said you quit.”
“Can you lecture me about it another time? Right now I need you to tell me what the hell is going on over there.”
“Like I said, I slept with Dylan.”
“Mmm-hmmm, we’ve already got that part down. What else?”
“Well, he has a roommate…Aidan…And I—”
“You slept with his roommate too?” Natasha exclaimed.
“No, no, I didn’t. I mean, I kissed him, but—”
“You kissed him?”
“Argh, would you let me finish already? I really need your help here, Nat.”
“Sorry. Keep going.”
It took ten minutes for Claire to d
escribe—in great detail—the insane situation she’d found herself in, and when she finally wrapped up, Natasha sounded utterly stunned.
“Wow. So the two of them want to fuck you together?”
“Yup.”
“And you’re attracted to both of them?”
She sighed. “Yup.”
“What are they like?” her friend asked curiously.
Claire chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. “They’re both pretty wonderful. Dylan is the more easygoing of the two. We bicker a lot, but he’s so much fun to be around, and he’s sweet and sexy and…”
She drifted off, still pondering. “Aidan is more serious, but equally awesome. Something about his intensity makes me feel…protected. Except I feel that way with Dylan too. He’s so relaxed on the surface, but I know he could kill a man without batting an eye. They both can.” She moaned. “And that turns me on, by the way! Why does that turn me on?”
“Because military men are hot,” Natasha said frankly.
“Says the lesbian.”
“Hey, just because I’m into chicks doesn’t mean I can’t find men attractive.”
“Fair enough. Besides, you’re right. They are hot. They’re so fucking hot I’m going crazy. I need your advice. Tell me what you think about all this.”
“Okay, well, this is a no-brainer. You—”
“Have to say no,” she finished.
“—have to say yes.”
Claire’s jaw dropped. “Wait, what?”
“You have to say yes. Duh.”
“How is that duh? Are you seriously encouraging me to have a threesome with them?”
“Hells to the yeah! Claire, you have two sexy dudes wanting to make you come every which way, and not only that, but they’re into making each other come every which way—do you realize how hot that is?”
“I cannot believe you’re saying this. You were supposed to talk me out of doing something crazy.”
“Why is it crazy? People have threesomes all the time.”
“Would you and Gwen want a random woman joining you in the bedroom?” Claire challenged.
“Sure, depending on who she was and if Gwen and I were both attracted to her. But neither of these guys is random. You’ve been living with them for more than a week. I say go for it. You’re entitled to have a little fun.”
Out of Uniform Box Set: Books 4-6 plus 2 Bonus Novellas Page 42
