by Tara Rose
He started walking toward Luke’s Bar with no real plan. What a clusterfuck. What the hell was he going to do? If he barged into her apartment, Annalise would think he was an asshole. But how could he simply go out with her on Thursday as if nothing had happened?
He stood in front of the brownstone where Annalise lived, staring at the dark windows on the third floor, willing them to light up. He’d never even been in her apartment. How had this happened? Rage bubbled up inside him, chasing away the chill. He didn’t want to give her up. He’d just found her. It wasn’t fair.
Dustin climbed the front steps and hovered his gloved finger over the bell. His hands were trembling. He shoved them back into his pockets and sat on the stoop, hoping no one came out to ask what the hell he was doing. The building contained only six apartments, and he wasn’t sure who lived in the other ones, but he didn’t want anyone to see him out here.
He glanced down the street at the neon sign above Luke’s Bar. Had she been working tonight? Had Chad come in for a drink and flirted with her? Annalise didn’t seem like the kind of woman who’d hop into bed with a guy at the drop of a hat.
Dustin put his head in his hands. Hadn’t she done exactly that with him? No, she hadn’t. They’d been on a date. They’d shared dinner and pleasant, informative conversation. “Yeah,” he muttered. “And then you attacked her in your kitchen.”
So how had Chad ended up in her bed? Had they gone out on a date first? It was entirely possible that Chad didn’t know that she’d been with Dustin on Friday. Was Annalise just as confused right now? It was too much to hope for. He couldn’t be wrong about her. He just couldn’t be. And if he was, he’d rather know about it now than keep going out with her, and have sex with her again, only to be made a fool of in the long run.
Another horrible thought occurred to him. Would this totally fuck up his friendship with Chad? No. He couldn’t let that happen. He didn’t have many friends and neither did Chad. Whatever happened tonight, he’d deal with it. He had to. Even if he had to concede and let Chad date Annalise, he’d do it. It would depress the hell out of him, but he wasn’t about to get into a pissing contest and risk losing a friendship just to win it.
Dustin stood up and took a deep breath, and then he rang the bell.
Chapter Ten
Annalise reached for her alarm before she realized it wasn’t the alarm clock. It was the downstairs buzzer. Who was here? What time was it? She rolled over and her arm touched warm flesh. Chad was beside her in bed. Holy shit. She remembered them moving to her bedroom but she didn’t realize they’d fallen asleep.
“What is that horrible noise?” he asked, pulling her into his arms.
She squirmed out of his embrace. “The downstairs buzzer.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll be right back.” Where the fuck was her robe? She climbed out of bed and opened the bathroom door, then snatched her robe off the hook. After she shrugged it on, she tied the belt as she sprinted toward the living room. Whoever was at the front door was persistent—she’d give them that much. She pushed the button on the intercom. “Who is it?”
“Dustin. Can I come up?”
Oh my God… This couldn’t be happening. Annalise heard movement and turned around. Chad stood in the hallway wearing nothing but his boxers. The look on his face was a mixture of pain and terror. “What do I do?” she whispered.
He lifted his shoulder as if he’d been about to shrug then changed his mind. “Let him in. We may as well get this out in the open.”
Annalise wished at that moment all the silly doomsday prophesies of the past century would suddenly come true. If the Earth exploded right now, she’d be off the hook. She couldn’t do this. Annalise sighed and pushed the button to unlock the door. “Come on up, Dustin.”
She sprinted back toward the bedroom, intending to put on clothes, but Chad caught her arm. “Annalise, he already knows, or he wouldn’t be here, would he?”
As she stared at the resignation in his eyes, she realized he was right. “Oh, Chad. I never meant to hurt either of you.” Tears spilled over her lids, and she wiped at them hurriedly. Crying wouldn’t solve this.
He pulled her close. “I know that.” When Dustin knocked on the door, Chad released her. “It’ll be all right.”
“How?”
He didn’t answer her. He strolled toward her door and opened it. Annalise resisted the urge to hide behind him. She wanted to die. Why the hell had she let this happen? She’d never done anything like this in her life. How was she any better than Jim right now? It didn’t matter that she wasn’t married to either man or that she had no commitment with either one. She still felt as shitty at that moment as if she’d been caught cheating on both of them.
Dustin looked totally defeated, and Annalise couldn’t stop the tears that coursed down her cheeks. “Saw your truck on Riverfront. Your cell is off.”
Chad stepped back and let Dustin cross the threshold, and then he closed the door.
Dustin glanced from Chad to Annalise then back again. “Why didn’t you tell me? You could have told me.”
“I talked to you Saturday afternoon and you didn’t tell me you’d gone to dinner with her the night before.”
Dustin flicked his gaze to Annalise, narrowing his eyes slightly. “He doesn’t know we spent the night together?”
“I do now,” said Chad, quietly. “Annalise didn’t tell me whether you had, even when I asked her.”
Dustin seemed to notice for the first time that she was crying. His gaze softened considerably. “I shouldn’t have come over here, Annalise. I’m sorry.”
“No…no.” She wiped at her tears. “I’m not upset that you’re here.” She took a seat on the sofa before her knees buckled, and curled her legs underneath her body. “Please…both of you…I swear I’ve never done anything like this in my life. My ex-husband cheated on me. I wouldn’t want anyone to feel how I did when I found out. I’m very confused right now. I like you both so much and…and I just don’t know what to do. I’m on unfamiliar ground. And you’re best friends. Those are hard to come by, and I don’t want to be the cause of screwing that up for you.”
Dustin moved first to sit beside her. He reached for her, his movements tentative. When Chad walked toward the sofa Dustin gathered Annalise in his arms and held her close. Chad sat on the other side of her and placed a hand on her thigh.
“Annalise, I’m sorry,” said Dustin.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. Stop apologizing. I’m the one who should be apologizing. To both of you.”
“Why?” asked Chad. “For going out on a date with each of us? You didn’t do anything wrong either.”
She pulled out of Dustin’s embrace and looked into Chad’s face. Was he teasing her? He didn’t appear to be. He looked dead serious. “I had sex with both of you. In less than a week.”
“That’s still not wrong, Annalise. Neither of us had an understanding with you that we wouldn’t see other people.” He cut his gaze to Dustin for a second. “At least, I don’t think it was that way.”
“It wasn’t,” said Dustin, shaking his head.
“Then she didn’t do anything that requires an apology.”
“I agree, Chad. If anyone owes an apology here it’s me for not saying something to you. I don’t know why I didn’t, to be honest.”
“I don’t own you, Dustin. You don’t have to tell me everything that goes on in your life.”
Annalise glanced from one man to the other. She wasn’t sure what had just happened, but the realization they weren’t about to come to blows slowly dawned on her. They weren’t upset with each other, and they didn’t think of her as a slut right now.
How the hell could they be real? They should be shouting and calling each other names. They should be looking at her as if she’d just stuck a knife in each of their backs and laughed about doing so. Instead she suddenly felt like she was in a sitcom where everyone got along all the time, and any problems they had were fixed wit
hin half an hour.
“You’re not upset.” Those were the only words she could seem to get out.
Chad made a sound halfway between a laugh and a grunt. “Well, I wouldn’t quite go that far. I mean, I’m not pissed off or anything, but I wish I’d known you’d spent the night with Dustin.”
“Would you have fucked her tonight if you’d known?” Dustin’s voice was soft but held a nasty edge that snapped Annalise back to reality. So much for there being no animosity between them.
Chad glared at Dustin. “No. You shouldn’t even have to ask that. And it wasn’t just a fuck, by the way, so don’t say that again.”
The two men stared each other down while Annalise hugged her knees and glanced at both of them in turn. This was impossible to fix. How the hell was it ever going to be right? She’d been in Racy for three months and had somehow managed to come between two best friends in the same week. The fact that they were also the two most gorgeous and charming men in the entire town only made her feel worse. She might as well pack up and go back to Cincinnati. Maybe she could get her old job back? Working side-by-side with Jim and his girlfriends couldn’t be any worse than this.
“It wasn’t for me either,” said Dustin quietly.
“So what do we do?” asked Chad. “What the hell do we do now, Dustin? I don’t want to stop seeing her.”
“Neither do I.”
They both seemed to have forgotten she was there, sitting right between them. Should she say something? Their eyes were locked on each other. A muscle twitched in Chad’s jaw and Dustin’s hands curled into loose fists. The air in the room was charged, as though a nasty spring storm were brewing. She half expected to see lightning any second now. Surely there were thunderheads outside, building higher and higher with each passing minute.
“Guess we’ll have to let her choose,” said Chad.
“Fine by me.”
“Unless you’ve got some crazy notion that you want to share her. I know you’re into that sort of—”
“Shut the fuck up, Chad.” Dustin was on his feet so quickly that Annalise felt a cold rush of air as he jumped up.
Chad did the same, and she scrambled to her feet and stepped between them. “Stop this shit.” She placed a hand on each man’s chest. “Stop it right now. I will not have you two fighting like this. How long have you been friends? I’m betting it’s been since you were kids, right?”
Each man averted his gaze.
“That’s what I thought. This is not how best friends treat each other, dudes or not. I don’t have a best friend. I thought I did, but he cheated on me with two of our coworkers, and you’d better believe it hurt like hell to realize I’d not only lost my husband, but that friendship as well. You don’t just toss relationships like that aside and you sure as hell don’t do it for insignificant reasons.”
Ending her marriage had been less painful than the realization that the man she’d thought of as her best friend since high school had betrayed her and treated their commitment to each other as something disposable.
Dustin gave her a look of incredulity. “You are not an insignificant reason, Annalise.”
“Thank you, but I’m still not going to allow this to happen. We each had one date. You two barely know me.”
“It wasn’t just sex,” said Chad, gesturing toward her bedroom. “What happened in there wasn’t just sex. And I agree with Dustin on this one. You are not insignificant.”
“It wasn’t just sex for me either.” She glanced at Dustin. “Not with either of you. I don’t do that. I don’t hop into bed with just any guy. This…this isn’t business as usual for me. That’s not what I’m trying to say.”
“Then what are you trying to say?” asked Dustin. “That you want us to share you?”
“I don’t know. I only know I’d rather not see either of you again than have you come to blows over me.” She blinked back fresh tears as the memories and emotions bubbled up inside her.
She’d felt the same way about leaving Compass after her marriage ended. It had surprised her to finally realize that the loss of her job was just as painful as ending her marriage had been. But she’d been willing to give it up because it would have been detrimental for everyone in the department if she’d stayed. Everyone knew what had happened, and she couldn’t handle the snide remarks or the constant sympathy.
The others in the department had started to take sides, and Annalise knew if she stayed the department would end up in camps, us against them. She didn’t want to be responsible for that. It was for that very reason Annalise knew she couldn’t stand here and watch Chad and Dustin’s decades-long friendship end simply because both had asked her out and had sex with her. There had to be a way to make this right.
“You’re the one who’s into sharing a woman, Dustin,” said Chad.
“I said shut the fuck up.” Dustin’s hands curled into fists again. His dark eyes blazed with anger.
“Chad, that’s cruel. He was hurt badly by that. Don’t throw it in his face now. It’s not the same situation and it’s not fair to compare it to this.”
Chad glared at Annalise, and for a few seconds she became convinced she’d gone too far and had stuck her nose in where it didn’t belong. Then his gaze softened and guilt passed through his eyes. “You’re right.” He glanced at Dustin. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. It’s not the same situation at all. I have no claims on Annalise and neither do you.”
Dustin nodded. “Apology accepted, but that still doesn’t answer the question. What do we do now?”
He and Dustin still faced off, but at least now they no longer looked as though they were about to start swinging at each other. Annalise took her hands off their chests and stepped back to watch the emotions cross their faces. She’d move back to Aunt Jenny’s and find a job in Lafayette before she’d let these two ruin their friendship over her. It would kill her not to see them again, but it would hurt worse to watch them rip each other apart.
“I don’t know,” said Chad. He sighed heavily and sat down, resting his face in his hands.
Dustin ran his hands through his hair. “What do you want, Annalise?”
“Me? This isn’t about me. It’s about you two.”
“What? Of course it’s about you. It’s about all three of us. I can’t stop seeing you. I wouldn’t have come over tonight if that were possible.”
“I can’t either.” Chad glanced up at her with a look so full of intensity that Annalise took a step back. “I had more fun tonight than I’ve had in…I don’t honestly know when. I’m not giving you up.”
She glanced at each man in turn, trying to ignore the obvious conclusion her mind had already reached. No way. Dustin especially wouldn’t be able to handle it. He’d been there before and been burned. But then again, they’d both admitted that this wasn’t the same situation. But it could easily become that serious, and then what would happen?
“What are you thinking right now?” asked Dustin quietly.
“I’m not sure you want to know.”
He took a step toward her, and Annalise bit back a sigh as his scent wafted past her nose. She became acutely aware of the fact that Chad was clad only in boxers and she wore nothing but a short satin robe. Memories of her night with Dustin crowded in alongside the memories from earlier with Chad. What would it be like to fuck both of them at the same time? To say she wasn’t at least a little bit curious would be a huge lie.
“Try me,” said Dustin, his gaze roving over her from head to toe.
She had to sit down because her knees suddenly felt weak. Dustin sat on the other side of her, moving close enough that she could count his eyelashes. On her other side, Chad scooted closer as well. She was trapped. They were going to make her say it. “This is crazy,” she whispered.
“Why?” asked Chad.
“Because…because Dustin has been there before. It didn’t work out so well.”
“That was an entirely different situation,” said Dustin gently.
<
br /> “How is this different?”
He brushed a finger over her hair. “Because you aren’t Susan. You aren’t cruel or self-centered.”
“You were willing to walk away rather than let us fight over you,” said Chad. “You probably don’t realize right now how shocked we both are by that. Most women I know would have been thrilled shitless to have two guys fighting over her. They would have milked this for all it’s worth.”
“You two facing off made me very uncomfortable.”
“We know,” said Dustin. “That why it’s different. You’re different, Annalise. We both realize that.”
Chad took her hand and she was shocked to find his skin cold. “Annalise, I’ve never done anything like this in my life, but I’m willing to try it. Dustin is my best friend, and you are the sexiest, most exciting woman I’ve ever met.”
“I’m willing, too,” said Dustin. “What happened with Susan and Todd wasn’t the same thing. I wasn’t in that relationship willingly. This is completely different. I can’t give you up. I enjoy your company too much, and I also happen to think you’re downright beautiful.”
“Holy shit,” she whispered.
“Is that a ‘yes’ then?” asked Dustin.
“I sure hope so,” said Chad.
Chapter Eleven
Dozens of doubts flitted through her mind, but when Chad pulled her into his arms and tenderly kissed her cheek, Annalise forgot about them as desire swept through her. She snuggled against his muscled body and closed her eyes, trying to fight against the waves of uncertainty coursing through her. This could easily end in disaster, but it could also be the most erotic night of her entire life.
Intellectually, she understood what they were saying. It wasn’t the same situation as Dustin had been involved in. And if they all agreed to have a relationship as a threesome, it wouldn’t be cheating when she was with only one of them, would it? Should they clarify that first? The very last thing she wanted to do was lose trust in their eyes or bring up painful memories for Dustin.
