by Rhian Cahill
Sam rescued her. “Maybe an exact number isn’t necessary. The question is, are you interested in having sex with us? Together?”
Both men watched her closely. She tried not to squirm but found it hard with her body on fire with the wicked images that had sprung to mind. With the sensations of their earlier attention still fresh, Piper wanted to rip off her clothes and throw herself on the floor in front of them. But a good amount of fear thrummed through her alongside the arousal, and she didn’t think jumping into this with both feet would be the right thing for any of them. There were other factors. For a start, they’d just signed a contract that would keep them in contact for the next twelve months. If something went wrong…
Piper had a lot to lose if things got messy, and sex always complicated everything. Damn. She really wanted to take what they offered. If she lived to be a hundred, she’d never get another opportunity like this one. With the small taste of what they could make her feel still vibrating across her nerves, she struggled to remain sensible. It would be so easy to fall into them and to hell with the consequences, but Piper had never been one to leap into anything without weighing all the possibilities.
“Your body tells us you want to say yes, Piper, but I think your mind is doing its best to stop you.”
She looked at Sam. He was right, of course. Her body screamed to accept, and honesty forced her to admit her mind was half convinced as well, but there still remained that one thing…
“This has no bearing on our contract,” Nate said. “Regardless of whether you say yes, the agreement is still binding, and we won’t hold it against you if you decline to sleep with us.”
Jeez, could they read her mind?
“And that goes the other way too. No repercussions if you say yes, either,” Sam added.
“No strings at all,” Nate finished.
Piper chewed the inside of her cheek to stop the word yes from leaving her mouth. Could there be no strings? Could she go ahead and enjoy these two sexy men, her boys, without worry? They were older than her by at least five years and had an existing relationship—she’d also be the third wheel most of the time. If she looked at this as just sex, just the mutual giving and taking of pleasure and nothing more, then it would be unlikely she’d develop any real feelings toward them.
Piper had experienced sex four times in her life, with four different guys, none of whom she’d been in love with, and after the act, she certainly hadn’t felt any more tender feelings. She believed she could sleep with Sam and Nate without becoming emotionally involved. They’d said they would honor the contract, and Pip was one hundred percent sure they would. For some reason, she trusted them. Their home and business showed their dedication and reliability, and a gut-deep knowledge inside her agreed it would be fine to place herself in their capable hands.
Lord knew if it was her hormones talking or not, but Piper had always been a good judge of character. Her intuition had never steered her wrong before. Besides, if she agreed and went into this with her eyes wide open, then she’d see what was coming before it hit her, wouldn’t she? And if she saw the danger, she could remove herself from the situation and not get hurt. And if she said no, she’d miss out on experiencing what promised to be the greatest pleasure of her life.
“There’s no rush, Piper.” Sam stood up. “Why don’t we finish putting the new site in place and then the three of us can have dinner together. See where things go?”
“Good idea. We’ve got to head over to the Baker Street site to check on a few things this afternoon, so you’ll have the office all to yourself for a few hours.” Nate pushed out of his chair and came to stand in front of her. “No pressure, Piper, and we’ll respect whatever decision you make.”
Piper watched as he turned and walked away. Her eyes were drawn to his arse, the way his pants stretched taut across one of the best butts she’d had the pleasure of admiring. When Nate was out of sight, she dragged her attention back to Sam who still stood in front of her. The knowing smile on his face brought heat to her cheeks again, but she refused to hide it this time.
“He has one of the most gorgeous arses I’ve ever seen,” she said.
Sam laughed. “Can’t argue with you there, but you might want to take a peek in the mirror at your own behind. That’s some world class buttage right there.”
His words made her blush more and when she got to her feet her knees shook. “Well, guess I should get back to work.”
Gesturing with his arm, Sam said, “Lead the way.”
Heat crawled up her spine. She could feel Sam’s eyes on her, his gaze a hot heavy weight that sent sparks of arousal shooting into her core, pulling more moisture from deep inside. Piper’s feminine wiles had her putting a little extra swing in her step; behind her Sam stifled a groan.
They made their way down the spiral staircase, the open steps and wrought iron balustrade giving an airy feeling to the floors it served. From what Pip could see it went up one more level from the kitchen lounge area, and then down to the ground floor where the office she’d been working in was located. The stairs continued below street height to what she assumed was the basement. Sun streamed through the round holes the stairs made in each story, splashing out bright golden sunbeams to illuminate the house and stop it from being dark and dreary.
The office ran along both sides of the building and across the back with the foyer, front doors, and staircase taking up the rest of the space. Other than the conference room, the workspace was open and spacious with the back wall being all glass like the upstairs. The exception being these windows were covered with timber shutters angled to let in light but block enough so the glare wasn’t too bright to work. Piper returned to the desk she’d used earlier and pulled the chair out. She hadn’t forgotten Sam behind her, but she still jumped when he reached around her to grab the chair like they were about to sit down in a fancy restaurant.
“Thank you.” Piper slipped into the seat, careful not to brush up against him in any way. It didn’t matter that they’d shelved the sex for later. Her body still hummed with arousal and her mind kept rolling that mental film strip of images, each one more scandalous than the last. She licked her lips, her parched mouth and throat making it difficult to swallow.
“You’re welcome.” Sam removed his hand from the chair. His fingers brushed the top of her shoulder and trailed up to graze the delicate skin of her neck. A shiver racked her, each tiny vibration leaving goose bumps behind.
She closed her eyes, struggled to hold back the moan in her throat. He stepped away, the loss of heat against her back noticeable. Piper waited, for what she didn’t know, but the very room seemed to hold its breath as her body fought the onslaught of desire that saturated every nerve ending. Drowning in her own lust, she barely heard Sam speak. Barely saw the piece of paper he placed in front of her with both his and Nate’s phone numbers on it. When he finally left the room, all the air that had backed up in her lungs exploded in a gust of desperation.
With a groan, Pip wondered how she would make it through the afternoon without dying. She burned with an ache foreign to all she’d known, an ache that threatened to be her undoing. But with the ragged edge of desire came the slice of pleasure, and with every soothing breath she drew into her lungs, she knew she’d never be the same again, never know the sweet innocence in which she’d lived before now. The thumping beat of her heart became a timekeeper to the last seconds of an existence that would soon experience untold ecstasy. A sliver of fear stabbed her. Could she go through with it? She had to.
Because once her Bondi Beach Boys returned, there’d be no going back.
Chapter Five
Nate turned his wrist and glanced at his watch for the hundredth time since arriving at the job site.
“Stop it. Time isn’t going to go quicker just because you’re staring at it.” Sam growled in frustration.
Nate eyed his mate, and took in the taut muscles and frown lines in his forehead. “Like you’re not wishing the day was ove
r any less than I am.”
“Never said I wasn’t, but with you looking at that fucking watch every second, you’re driving both of us fucking insane.”
The tight line of muscles along Nate’s back loosened. Just by knowing he wasn’t alone in his torture brought relief. But it couldn’t reduce the fear. “What if she says no?”
Sam shrugged and gave him that know-it-all grin. “Not much we can do except pull out every dirty trick we know to convince her to say yes.”
“Seduce her?”
“Hell yeah! You tasted her. Can you honestly walk away without having more?”
Damn. Sam was right. That one little sample only whetted his appetite for more. “So what’s the plan?”
“Don’t bring it up.”
Nate cocked an eyebrow and looked at Sam dubiously.
“We go home, ask about the site upload, get her to demonstrate. By then dinner will arrive because we’ll order that before we get home. She’s less likely to say no to the meal if it’s there in front of her and smelling delicious.”
Nate nodded. So far Sam’s plan sounded good.
“I’ll open a bottle of wine to have with dinner. We’ll keep the conversation light and easy, keep the mood mellow. Three people enjoying a meal and each other’s company. Then one of us can suggest a movie. You’ll make popcorn, and we’ll drink more wine.”
“Damn you’re good.” Nate shook his head. “Sometimes the way your mind works scares me. I’m seduced just by listening.”
Sam’s smile spread. “Yeah, but you’re easy.”
Nate rolled his eyes. “Jeez, don’t go telling everyone.” He glanced around but no one else was in this bedroom of the two-story refurb they were currently doing. Good thing too because he couldn’t hide the boner currently tenting the front of his pants.
“Wanna shut the door and deal with that?”
He looked back at Sam who eyed his groin with interest. Nate thought about it, though it wasn’t a bad idea, breaking the hard ridge of need currently consuming him, but he doubted it would soothe him for long. Nothing short of having Piper under him, over him, around him, and trapped between him and Sam would bring relief now.
Nate palmed his cock. Squeezed the throbbing flesh confined under his zipper. “Now that the taste of Piper is coating my tongue, there’ll be no dealing with this unless she’s involved.”
Sam sighed. “I know. The only thing that has a hope in hell of appeasing me at the moment is holding her between us.”
Nate could picture it. Could imagine her soft arse snug against his hips, his chest pressed along her spine, and the feel of her skin as it molded to his. He could see Sam as he flattened his front to hers, her breasts crushed by the hard wall of his chest. She’d wither, rock her hips, and drive them all insane until they moaned and searched for bliss in each other.
“Fuck!” Sam gave him a shove. “Stop. Whatever the fuck you were thinking, stop!” He paced two steps away, spun and came back, got right into Nate’s face. “Jesus. I have no idea what just went through your head, but I can imagine well enough. If you want to push us both over the edge, keep going, but if you don’t rein it in you’re going to scare the shit out of Piper. You do that, and I’ll ground you into dust.”
Nate stared into Sam’s eyes, saw the raw hunger, the naked fear behind his words, and swallowed. Until this moment, he hadn’t really believed they were in the same place where Piper was concerned. He’d thought the insane emotions boiling inside him were his and his alone. Sure, he knew they both wanted her physically, that was a given, but after spending the morning and lunch with her…
“How can she mean so much? We don’t even really know her.”
Sam closed his eyes, dragged in a deep breath, and ran a hand over his face. “I don’t know man, but she is.” His friend’s shoulders sagged a little.
“We can’t fuck this up,” Nate said.
“No. We can’t.”
* * *
Sam pulled the pickup into the underground garage and shut off the engine. Neither of them got out. They sat there in the quiet, each caught in his own thoughts for several minutes. He blew out a breath and reached for the door handle.
“Let’s get started.”
“Right behind you.” Nate jumped out the other side and slammed the door. He walked around and met Sam at the door to the basement. “Do you think we ordered the right food? What if she doesn’t like Chinese?”
He wanted to laugh at Nate’s obsessing, but he couldn’t. It matched the streak of fear running down his spine that his best mate might be right. “Everyone loves Chinese,” he said with a hint of desperation lacing the words.
“Yeah, you’re right. It’ll be fine.”
The air around them seemed to vibrate with their anxiety. How one woman could reduce them both to scared little boys in less than a day Sam didn’t have a clue, but that’s exactly what Piper had done. They made their way up the stairs. He could hear Piper muttering in the office as they neared the door. Two feet inside the room they came to a complete standstill. There in front of them on her hands and knees was Piper. Her delectable arse wiggling as she backed out from under the desk. Sam sucked in a breath as every muscle in his body tensed.
Blood rushed past his ears as it left his brain for areas further south. His cock thickened, lengthened, filling the space behind his zipper and threatening to do some damage if he didn’t do some rearranging soon. Next to him, Nate groaned and the raw sound of need dragged across Sam’s skin like nails on a chalkboard, sent a fist sized knot into his gut, and dropped tingling weight into his balls. Sam made a strangled sound that brought Piper upright, but she hadn’t cleared the desk and the back of her head smacked against the timber edge.
Her cry of pain had them both charging across the room. On their knees beside her in less than a second, Nate pulled her into his arms and Sam rubbed the bump forming on her skull. Piper looked up at him and if he hadn’t been on his knees already the tears in her eyes would have taken him there.
“You need an ice pack. Some pain pills.” Sam started to stand but Piper placed her hand on his arm to stop.
“No. I’m okay.” She smiled but he wasn’t reassured. “It’s just a little bump, not much more than a sting.”
He wasn’t convinced but when she pulled from Nate’s embrace and stood up on steady legs, he decided a trip to the hospital wouldn’t be necessary. The thought brought him up short. Since when was he prone to panic? He worked in construction and restoration, and never in all the years of workplace accidents had he ever felt the bone-shaking terror he did now. And over a little bump on the head? Sam glanced at Nate and saw the same concern and fear in his eyes. The sight made him feel marginally better, but only because he wasn’t making a complete fool of himself on his own.
“Are you sure you don’t need an ice pack?” Nate asked as he got to his feet to stand beside Piper.
“No, the sting is almost gone now.” She ran her hand over the lump on the back of her head. “See? It’s not even tender to touch.”
Sam got up and stretched to his full height. He looked down at Piper and examined her eyes. They didn’t appear glassy any longer and the pupils seemed normal, but then he wasn’t a doctor, so what would he know. The doorbell sounded, interrupting his thoughts and his probing stare.
“That’ll be dinner.” He wrapped his fingers around her arm, cupped her elbow in his palm, and began to steer her toward the door.
“Dinner?”
“Yes. We ordered Chinese on the way home.”
“But—”
“Don’t argue. You’ve just had a bump on the head, and you need to rest.” Sam strode to the stairs while Nate went to collect their food and pay the delivery guy. “You can eat while you rest.”
“Sam, that’s not necessary. If you’ll just let me finish up work for the day, I’ll call a taxi and head home.”
“No.”
The one word, said with a hint of steel in his voice, stilled her protes
ts and allowed him to continue on up to the living room.
He nudged her onto the couch and said, “Don’t move. I’ll get some plates and forks.”
Drawers slammed and cupboard doors banged as he took his frustration out on the kitchen. Sam fought with the swirling emotions Piper provoked without much effort and wondered what the hell was happening to him. Nate walked in and dropped the bags on the granite counter. Quickly, they pulled out the plastic food containers and filled three plates. Sam placed the leftovers in the oven and picked up his plate and the utensils while Nate grabbed his and Piper’s dinner and headed for the lounge.
They were almost finished eating when Sam realized he’d forgotten to open the wine. There’d been no conversation over dinner, but the silence wasn’t uncomfortable in any way. In fact it had been rather pleasant, the three of them consuming their meals as the last of the summer light faded outside. As far as the seduction plan went, tonight had turned out to be a bust. He leaned forward, put his empty plate on the coffee table in front of them, and then relaxed back into his seat.
Piper’s scent combined with the smell of Chinese food made a strange erotic concoction that tantalized his senses. Sam watched as she picked up a king prawn and popped it into her mouth. The sauce coated her lips and glistened in the twilight, her jaw moved as she chewed the succulent morsel, and he wanted to nibble on her. His gaze remained glued to her when she swallowed, the smooth column of her throat flexing as the muscles worked, and he wondered if it would look the same if she were swallowing his cum.
The bump on her head didn’t hurt as much as the ache in her core. From the second Piper had sensed them behind her in the office, her body had twisted into a coil of need that made her blood heat and pump through her veins like lava. Her breathing came in choppy bursts, the effort to fill her lungs almost too difficult to manage. She felt hot and swollen all over and her clothes itched her skin like a thousand unseen prickles. How she’d made it through dinner without melting into the couch was anyone’s guess.
