Breathless [McKnight, Perth & Daire 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Beth D. Carter

  “Drowning could be smothering,” Jonas stated. “If held under the water.”

  “Petechial hemorrhage is usually an indication of a violent death,” she said with a shrug and then held up the color photo of Brandy’s dead body lying next to the pool. “But what I’m more interested in is this tiny scratch right here where the hairline meets her ear.”

  Alastair leaned over. “Where?”

  “Right there, where a pair of goggles would have rested.”

  “Oh. Why’s that significant?”

  “See how in this photo it’s red and inflamed, but in the autopsy photo it’s a bruise line?”

  Alastair frowned. “Yes.”

  “The mark was made a few minutes before she died but the bruising didn’t show up until postmortem.”

  Charlotte held up her hand. “Hold up. I may not know much about forensics but even I know that a dead body can’t bruise.”

  “You’re right,” Delia said with a nod. “But sometimes bruising doesn’t show up right away. I’d say someone ripped the goggles off her, causing the scrape and bruise, as she struggled not to drown, which the foam in the airway indicates is the cause of death. But I’m sure the M.E. caught this.”

  Alastair shared a quick look with Nash and suddenly Charlotte wondered if the medical examiner had caught that. Had the police been too caught up in dismissing this case as accidental? He began to put everything back into the folder.

  “Thanks, Delia,” he said. “I have enough now to go back to the LAPD. Oh, by the way, Charlotte, you need to formally hire me.”

  She blinked. “Why?”

  “I failed to acquire the proper procedure through the Hamlets, and since you’re next closest to the case, it has to be you.”

  “Fine. I hire you.”

  He smiled, grabbed the folder, and gave her a jaunty salute as he walked toward the front door. “I’ll send you my fee.”

  “Collect from Holly,” she called after him and slanted a questioning look at her oldest sister. “You’ll settle my account with him, won’t you?”

  Holly winked at her husband. The door closed with a sharp click behind him.

  “Well, that was exciting,” Delia exclaimed, rising to resume her work in the kitchen, only to look around confused. Holly had started to clean up and half the dishes were already in the dishwasher.

  “You say exciting, I say gross.” Charlotte turned to Nash and Jonas. “Since Jonas has never been to LA, why don’t we take him to Hollywood? That’s about as touristy as one can get.”

  “Then it sounds right up my alley,” Jonas remarked dryly, making clear to all he was being highly sarcastic.

  But Charlotte only grinned at him. And half an hour later they set out to go sightseeing. Nash drove and Charlotte reveled at the changes throughout the city, especially the Hollywood and Highland Center, which she’d only seen on the television. Nash found underground parking at the shopping complex.

  They explored the Walk of Fame, measured feet and handprints at TCL Chinese Theater, which had changed names several times through its famous history. Even as she laughed and had fun, Charlotte kept a watchful eye on Nash and Jonas. She wanted to make sure they were getting along, despite the irritated words they often exchanged with each other. When they weren’t butting heads, or trying to convince the other they were right, Charlotte saw that they acted like best friends. Teasing, joking, nudging each other as males tended to do. It was like watching a football game in which the winning team high-fived and slapped each other on the ass in true masculine form.

  It made her feel better, especially since she was planning the next phase of completing their threesome. Funny that she’d been so scared to contemplate a relationship out of the normal scope of perception, and now the thought was a warm idea that continued to grow. She still had some misgivings when it came to what others would think, but she figured that might be something she’d always have to endure.

  Toward the evening they drove back to Santa Monica and ended up at a Mexican restaurant. All through dinner the night they were in the bar flashed through her mind. She decided she wouldn’t mind having a repeat, except maybe with a bit more privacy.

  When the check finally came, it was an entertaining battle between the two men to see who would pay.

  “Why don’t you split the check in half?” Charlotte suggested.

  Nash and Jonas blinked down at her and then Jonas began to chuckle. He put his credit card in the server book on top of the bill, held his out for Nash, and then handed it to the waitress. A second later, she came back and each man added gratuity and signed his name.

  Jonas stood and stretched. “Thanks for the touristy day. I had fun.”

  “Where are you going?” she asked him.

  “My hotel.”

  “Oh. Well, why don’t I go with you?”

  “With me?”

  “With both of you.”

  “Us?” Nash inquired softly.

  “Yeah. Maybe we can get a drink.”

  “I’ll never be able to look at another bar and not think of hand-jobs,” Nash quipped.

  “In that case, let’s bring the alcohol to your room,” she said.

  He blinked. “Excuse me?”

  “You. Me. Him,” she said with a nod toward Jonas. “Alcohol and your room. I think that about sums it up.”

  He opened his mouth but nothing came out. He glanced at Jonas.

  “I love it when I can shut you both up,” Charlotte said. “Let’s go.”

  * * * *

  “Why are you going this way?” Nash asked. He sat in the passenger seat this time, allowing Jonas to drive since he’d had two beers.

  “What do you mean?” Jonas asked as he stopped at a stop sign. “I’m heading toward the hotel.”

  “The end of this street doesn’t have a light. Crossing over Wilshire is going to be bitch at this time,” Nash stated.

  “It’ll be fine,” Jonas said dismissively.

  “If you go up two streets there’s a light—”

  “You want me to go out of my way just to get to a light?”

  “It makes things easier.”

  Jonas gave him an incredulous look. “Are you always this much of a fucking—”

  “Guys!” Charlotte shouted. “Just make a right on Wilshire a left on Ocean and another left on Broadway. The hotel is right there and you won’t have to cross Wilshire.”

  They turned to look at her, but the car behind Jonas gave a honk so he resumed driving. When they reached Wilshire Boulevard, he flipped his blinker on to turn right.

  Such a simple solution, but with two hardheaded men fighting for dominance, Charlotte was afraid it would always be this way.

  Then again, with the two of them around life would never be dull. She still couldn’t envision how they were supposed to make it all work but did anyone really know how to incorporate each other into their lives? Nash had been right. Relationships were about learning each other, even five, ten, or twenty years down the road. People constantly changed, evolved, so perhaps having three individuals in the mix instead of two might be an ever revolving door of surprises.

  A short time later Jonas parked in the hotel’s underground parking lot and they rode the elevator up to the lobby. The hotel bar had a few people within the dark confines and Charlotte hazarded a quick glance at the two men. They stared at her with glittering eyes and she suddenly decided to forget all about alcohol. Her heart thundered as a rush of wetness coated the feminine area between her thighs. She pressed her knees together in an attempt to alleviate the grip of arousal, but it didn’t quite work, in fact, it only made the ache a little more insistent.

  Nash walked over to the concierge and murmured something to the man before he returned to them. “Let’s go upstairs,” he said. “I’m having champagne delivered to the room.”

  “Which room?” Jonas inquired, one eyebrow raised.

  “Yours, of course. I don’t want to pay for champagne.”

  Nash walk
ed toward the elevators, leaving Jonas to mutter something under his breath. Charlotte didn’t quite catch it but she was sure she heard something about Nash’s genitals and a skewer.

  They entered Jonas’s room and Charlotte’s blood pressure just about bubbled over. Her thundering heart almost drowned out all sound and she had to take several deep breaths. Was this actually going to happen? Were they about to indulge in some hot and heavy sex? Could she deal with it? Could Jonas? She shot a glance over at him. No, she wasn’t worried about him. He hadn’t asked what had happened on her date with Nash, but he was a smart man. He probably figured it out. And he hadn’t run. He could drive the Millennium Falcon through the Death Star while eating ice cream, he was that cool and collected.

  Then she caught Nash shooting a nervous glance toward Jonas and she wondered if maybe, for all his easy blustering, he didn’t feel a little nervous about taking their relationship to the next level. Well, this was it, things were either going to work tonight or it would become impossible to look each other in the eye. Was she willing to lose them? Charlotte took a hard look at what it would mean if she didn’t have Jonas in her life and the thought devastated her, but when she had an equal thought about Nash…her insides froze. That was when she realized that she truly, madly, deeply loved two men. Things might be said, things might be thought, but until that moment had hit her, Charlotte never realized the true depth of her feelings. Nash had the humor, the lightness while Jonas had understood the darkness that sometimes plagued her soul. They had shared something intimate, the death of his cousin, while she shared her first love with Nash. Each man owned a little piece of her soul and if tonight tore them apart, she didn’t know how she would pick up the pieces.

  They didn’t have time to stand around and try to avoid each other, because the champagne came quickly. Charlotte busied herself with opening it and pouring the bubbling liquid into the glasses. She handed a glass to each man before pouring one for herself. She turned toward them and held hers up.

  “To us,” she said simply.

  Nash and Jonas mimicked and they took a sip while she drained hers down.

  “Do you have a drinking problem we don’t know about?” Nash asked.

  Charlotte took a deep breath. “Liquid courage.”

  “Why do you need courage with us?” Jonas asked as he sat his still-full glass down by the television.

  She gave a pointed glance at the king-size bed. “That’s why.”

  He walked over to her and plucked her empty glass out of her hands, setting it on the foot cart. Then he grabbed her hips and brought her flush against his body. She felt him swelling beneath his slacks. Her breath hitched in her throat as he swooped down to kiss her. His demanding tongue swept into her mouth hard, leaving her breathless. She leaned into him more, her arms snaking around his neck.

  Jonas’s hand swept across her ass and under her shirt to trace the vertebrae of her spine with featherlike touches. He swept her shirt over her head, leaving her in a black lace bra, and resumed kissing her. She felt another presence behind her and then another set of hands began unfastening the hooks on her bra. She shivered with the knowledge that two men would possess her tonight.

  Once she stood naked from the waist up, Jonas broke the kiss and stepped back from her. Nash moved in close behind her, his hands coming to cup her from behind. She gasped and leaned her head back against his chest as he rolled her nipples between his fingers, sending a direct flare of desire radiating to her pussy. She undulated her hips, pushing them back into Nash. She felt his hot, pulsing cock settle against her ass and she moaned.

  “I want you to suck him,” Nash whispered in her ear. She opened her eyes and saw Jonas. “I want you to take him in your mouth and suck him dry while I fuck your hot cunt.”

  She watched as Jonas began to disrobe. Nash ran his hands down her torso, over her flat stomach to unbutton her pants. He pushed them down her hips, hooking her black panties and pulling them along as well. She saw Jonas’s eyes widen and his nostrils flared as he gazed up and down her body. He fisted his cock, pumping it up and down with slow, steady strokes.

  Nash picked her up and laid her on the bed before taking off his clothes. He loomed over her, running his fingertips over every inch of her body. He started with her neck and moved down, lightly feathering over her collarbone, down her chest, and over her breasts. He took his time with her nipples, teasing them with light strokes until they puckered and strained for more. Charlotte’s breathing turned shallow and an ache developed deep inside. She could feel herself growing slick in her rising desire.

  Charlotte moaned and titled her head back over the untamed passion Nash’s touch caused her. His fingers continued down, over her flat tummy, tracing the V-juncture to where her thighs touched. His fingers divided, the middle one moving forward into the thatch of black hair that hid her sex.

  He found the nub that thrummed with excitement and rubbed. Charlotte jumped then pushed her hips forward trying to get more caresses, which he obliged. He teased her, revving up her senses more and more, until she squirmed and begged for more. His other index finger slipped inside her, and the two fingers moved simultaneously in and out. Soon, Charlotte was too far gone to care about anything except what lay at the end of the taut string he balanced her on.

  And then Nash bent his head and took one nipple into her mouth, sucking on it deep, and it was too much for Charlotte. She screamed a little and broke apart in a hundred pieces, flying up into the sky before crashing back down. Panting, sweating, she opened passion-clouded eyes to see Nash’s satisfied gaze.

  He flicked a questioning look at Jonas.

  “You going to join us?” he asked.

  Jonas walked over to them. Charlotte tipped her head back to look at him.

  “I thought I’d be jealous,” he murmured, running a hand over her body, lingering on her nipples. “But you’re so fucking gorgeous. So sexy. I think it’s because I can see the love between you. Get on your knees, Charlotte.”

  Nash eased from between her legs far enough to allow her to obey. Charlotte pushed her passion-drenched body around and brought herself up until she rested on her hands and knees. Her mouth came level with Jonas’s hard cock. She looked up at him, waiting for his direction.

  “Suck him,” Nash ordered, pushing her head down.

  Charlotte reached up and took hold of Jonas’s dick, encircling it with her hands and rubbing it up and down. She eased the tip into her mouth, licking the juice leaking from it off, sucking as if trying to drain him dry. Jonas moaned and sunk his hands into her hair, holding her in place and guiding her when needed.

  Nash ran his hands over her back, down her ass, and between her legs, shifting her thighs more apart before pushing forward. She felt his large cock head pushing forward, his fingers guiding him into her.

  Ohhhh!

  The angle had him hitting a spot that made her shudder with pleasure over and over. Reality was fast losing consciousness. And then she convulsed, again, harder than before, and still, he pressed on, hitting that spot again and again. He wasn’t moving fast, or pushing too deep, but he maintained a steady rhythm that kept driving her over the edge of sanity.

  She pulled off Jonas’s cock to moan, “Oh, yes. Yes, yes, yes!”

  Jonas guided her head back to his cock and then they were working in tandem. She let Nash set the pace of how she took Jonas cock in her mouth. As he pushed forward, she swallowed more of the huge dick in her mouth, using the back muscles of her throat to squeeze him. She was rewarded each time with a deep groan of pleasure from Jonas.

  In and out they played the game, each person receiving as much as they gave. Even Nash altered the arch of his body as he half draped over her to latch onto one of her breasts with his hand. With the other hand he’d occasionally slap her rear, the sharp sting cascading into her and revving up her already stretched nerve endings.

  Gradually their movements started increasing, growing quicker as the fire flamed higher. Nash’s
thrusts became harder, shorter. Jonas moved against her face until she simply held still and he controlled his hips, moving in and out of her mouth. She was moaning around his large cock, completely lost to the need that clawed at her.

  Both of them slammed their cocks into her, fucking her mouth and fucking her pussy, the sound of their labored breathing and the slick sounds of their coupling overwhelmingly sexy. Nash’s fingers slid down now to her wet clit and she was lost, coming so hard that blackness teased the edges of her vision. Jonas followed her, climaxing hard into the back of her throat. She swallowed as much as could but some of it leaked out over the sides of her mouth.

  Nash pulled out of her and pulled her from Jonas, who collapsed on the bed, panting. He turned her around and lay on top of her, his hands cradling her face and she stared up at him with bleary eyes.

  “I love you, Charlotte,” he whispered.

  Then he captured her lips in a penetrating kiss just as he reclaimed her body. His hips surged into hers and his cock entered her again, surging deep inside her body. She arched into him, a guttural scream coming from deep in her throat. They surged as one, finally together. He pounded into her and she matched his rhythm, her passion flaring once more to life.

  “Yes, baby,” he ground out, pumping his hips. “Yes, come for me! Come for me, Charlotte!”

  “Uh!” she groaned just as the world tilted off its axis again and she splintered into a thousand pieces. Dimly she heard Nash’s own shout as he followed her, feeling his cock jerk deep inside as his hot essence filled her.

  He collapsed on top of her and though he was heavy she didn’t mind his weight on her. They lay there for a moment, both collecting their breath. When he slid off her to lie on her side, she felt the rush of liquid between her thighs.

  She turned her head to look at Jonas, who had propped his head on his hand as he stared at her. A tender smile graced his lips.

  “You probably won’t want to sleep with his particular duvet,” she murmured.

  “I don’t plan to sleep at all,” he replied, reaching for her.

  “Oh my,” she said just as his mouth closed over hers.