“Shush, baby. Don’t talk anymore. You’re still bleeding. Place your thumb and index finger on the lower half of your nose and squeeze. Keep your head back. It’ll stop the blood.” Nick’s rich, sexy baritone slid over her like a caress. Lilly’s heart did a somersault. It was a voice she remembered well. She did as he said, and after a few minutes, the blood stopped flowing. She wiped her eyes, which were wet again—from blood or tears, she wasn’t sure.
She looked up at the two of them, now that she could see more clearly. Nick held her bracelet. Without a word, he took her arm and gently placed it around her wrist, doing up the tricky hinge catch with ease. He touched her for only a second, but the heat of his hand shot up her arm and made her insides flip. In spite of the terrible pain from Sonya’s right hook, Nick’s proximity aroused her and sent her heart into frenzied palpitations.
A thrill of anticipation ran through her and settled between her legs.
Idiot. They’re a couple, remember? Your time with either of them is long over.
Nick’s hand lightly brushed the bridge of her nose. He murmured words she couldn’t make out and hummed a strange, almost familiar tune. Then he held his hand palm upward, and, for a moment, she thought she saw a tiny spark of pale blue light waft up from his hand. A cascade of sky-blue flower petals fell on the snow. She shook her head. The blow to her face had her imagining crazy things. For a moment, a wave of nausea swept through her, and then it was gone.
The pale blue light appeared again, stronger this time. It engulfed her until she closed her eyes against its brightness. She felt a slight sting, and then a blissful warmth began to creep across her skin. All the pain in her nose and face receded; the taste of blood faded. She touched her nose, cheeks, her eyes. The pain was gone. The sudden change in sensation made her dizzy, and she reached out and grabbed Nick’s arm to steady herself. A moment ago, she’d had trouble breathing through her nose. Now she took a deep breath of much-needed air and inhaled his rich, male, woodsy scent.
She hadn’t eaten in hours.
It must be lack of food making me imagine things. Either that or I’m going mad.
But it was difficult to think or even worry with Nick so close. He still held the same mysterious attraction he always had.
Kris’s blue eyes moved under his golden-brown lashes, and she thought of all those times in the long-ago past when looking into his eyes had made her feel safe and secure. Being around him had always felt like taking a deep, satisfying breath. Kris had been her best friend. After she’d broken up with Nick, they’d dated briefly, and she’d fallen hard for him. Although maybe she should have realized there was something a little surprising about his interest in her favorite reality TV shows and dramas, in fashion and shopping. She’d never even considered he was bi, though.
“How does your nose feel now? Any pain?” Kris’s voice interrupted her train of thought, startling her for a second. But it was as kind and soft a voice as she remembered—a match for Nick’s deep tones.
Lilly shook her head and touched her nose with her finger. “No. None at all.”
What the hell?
It really didn’t make sense for the pain to just disappear like that.
Kris leaned over and gently tucked stray hair behind her ear. “Well, I’ll tell you one thing. That thug who insulted you in the strip club is probably calling for a tow truck by now.” His breathtaking smile held just a hint of wickedness.
A grin spread across Nick’s face. “What did you do, Kris?” “I gave him a little reward for being so disgustingly rude.”
Lilly tensed at his words, unsure what to think. “Are we talking about the guy who called me a beached whale?”
Kris nodded. “He has four flat tires on that big ol’ Range Rover of his.” “He punctured his tires somehow?” she asked.
Kris shook his head, still grinning.
Lilly’s eyes widened. “You punctured his tires?” Kris held up his hands. “I plead the fifth.”
Her throat seized with emotion. She couldn’t imagine honest, straightforward Kris sneaking around, puncturing someone’s tires, even if it was the SUV of some bastard who’d completely humiliated her in front of a huge crowd of people.
But his actions touched her. It showed how different he was from her ex-boyfriend, Cody, who had been such a bastard he’d actually managed to dump her after she caught him cheating, before she had the chance to dump him! If she hadn’t had her best girlfriend, the talented cellist Alice Andrews, and her own adoptive mother to turn to during those times, she didn’t know how she would have gotten by. She was through with boyfriends.
But she had to admit, Kris had proven himself one hell of a good friend. She gave him the biggest smile she could muster. “I don’t know what to say. Thanks, Kris. Thanks for caring about what that guy said about me.”
“Hell, Lilly,” Nick said. “We both cared. I would have punched the bastard’s face in, if I’d gotten the chance. He was a dickwad, and you’re gorgeous.”
Kris laughed. “Nick didn’t even recognize you up there on the stage, you know.”
Nick crossed his arms over his chest. “I just never would have picked Lilly as the type of girl to get a nose job.”
That comment made her bristle. “I didn’t choose to get a nose job. This isn’t the first time my nose has been bashed in.”
The smile left Kris’s eyes. “Oh…right. We heard rumors you’d had an accident after graduation. We would have visited you in hospital, but…”
“It was no accident. Someone pushed me down the stairs in the dorm.”
Nick and Kris looked at each other. “Who pushed you, sweetie?” Kris asked.
Lilly shrugged. “Never found out.” She looked up at them again and gritted her teeth. Mortification made heat rush to her cheeks. “This is perfect, isn’t it, you two finding ‘Dumpster Girl’ in the trash?”
“Lilly, don’t. Don’t call yourself that,” Nick said. “We were never sure if those rumors were true. I always thought that girl in your dorm, Sonya Sanford, I think that was her name… I thought she made those rumors up.” He turned to Kris. “You know the girl who was in your History of Music class with you? Really tall? She seemed to have some grudge against Lilly for something. Insulted her a few times when I was around, and I told her what I thought of her.”
Kris looked at his feet.
Lilly made her voice as icy as the ground beneath her. “Didn’t you date Sonya Sanford at one time, Kris?”
He blushed. “Once. It was one date. I had no clue she was your…enemy…when she asked me out.”
He looked up again and into her eyes, and any feelings of resentment evaporated. A person could never stay angry with Kris. He had the kindest, sunniest personality of anyone she’d ever known. Not to mention a face like a fallen angel, a gorgeous golden tan, and pretty, fair hair. Lilly shook her head, wishing she wasn’t so damn attracted to both of them. It made her vulnerable and embarrassed.
Nick turned back to her, his hazel eyes full of sincerity. From a distance, his eyes had always looked dark brown to her, but up close, they had flecks of green and gold. “Kris wouldn’t have dated Sonya if he’d known she was spreading stupid gossip about you.”
Lilly folded her arms. “Yeah, well, the gossip was true. I was found in a Dumpster the day I was born. And Sonya works here at Venus Girls with me.
She’s the one who threw me in the trash just now.” A buzzing filled her throat as she spoke, and there was a kind of odd hum to her words followed by a tremendous crash. She started and turned to see all the trash cans had toppled over at once. At the same time, with an explosive bang and sudden darkness, the nearest streetlamp blew out. Randomly, a bunch of white petals fell from a tree nearby.
Flower petals falling from trees, in the dead of winter…again? Bizarre.
Lilly’s heart thundered against her ribs and she gripped Kris’s arm. “What the hell just happened?”
Nick and Kris look at each other again. These two men
could communicate with each other just with their eyes, no words needed. That was how it had always been. They shared the effortless communication of lovers and soul mates. Lilly remembered that Kris had once told her he even had a bit of a psychic connection with Nick. She felt a tug of longing and the ache of envy.
Suddenly, it was all too much. Tears formed in her eyes, and she brushed them away angrily.
Kris wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb. “Anyone who judges you based on something that happened when you were a newborn infant isn’t worth knowing, sweetie. You should know that. Hey! You must be freezing in that outfit, even with my coat. Here, let me heat you up a little.”
He gave her one of his boyish smiles that produced the sexy dimple she’d once adored.
When Kris hugged her, she had to stifle a gasp at the jolt of pleasure that speared through her. She knew he only tried to warm her up, but the safety of his heated embrace was blissful. Delicious sensations coursed through her, and a need and lust she’d always tried to deny rushed over her.
I shouldn’t be letting him hold me so close. It feels too good.
Kris was a golden sex god personified. She’d never forget how she first met him. The Long Island University Drama Club put on a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar. She was part of the orchestra, and Kris played Jesus himself. His magnificent voice and stunning golden-boy looks had entranced everyone. He was a really great singer as well.
Their hug started to affect him too. Despite the cold, an impressive bulge grew, pressing between his zipper and her thigh. She bit back a moan.
Kris cleared his throat. “We have to get you out of the wind. Your legs are turning blue.”
“Thanks, but I can get myself out of the cold.” She broke away from him, and the icy air hit her legs like a slap. She started walking toward the strip club, her head held high.
“No way in hell.” Nick’s voice was a dark command that sent shivers up her spine. He caught up with her, put his hand on her waist and spun her around. “I’m not letting you go back in there. To hell with those strippers and whoever runs that sleazy dive. You’re way too good for the place.”
Lilly glared at him. “You were just in a strip club, so how can you be judgmental about strippers? They…we offer a service. There are plenty of women who find it a viable career and are comfortable with what they do.”
“Plenty of women may be comfortable with it, sure. But you’re not one of them.”
She averted her gaze. Anger at the truth of his words made her blood boil. “It’s none of your business where I work or how I conduct my life. It was nice seeing you, but I’m going back inside.” She made another move toward the club.
But in one deft movement, Nick swept his hands under her knees, and she gave a shriek of outrage. Her handbag went flying, and Kris caught it. Nick hoisted her over his shoulder. He clamped his arm over her thighs, leaving her bottom sticking up in the air.
Upside down, all Lilly could see were the red Santa pants molded to Nick’s masculine butt. “Christ! Put me down!”
“Quiet.” Nick gave her ass a quick smack.
Blood filled Lilly’s cheeks. Her heart pounded with outrage and arousal. Just as it had when she was eighteen years old, Nick’s voice alone could make her panties wet. Ten years ago, his macho dominance had made her angry and made her pussy contract at the same time. Now it was happening again.
His hard-muscled body had her trapped her like a bird in a cage. She struggled against the iron bar of his arm across her thighs and pounded her fists on his back, but Nick just smacked her ass again and kept walking.
Realizing she was wasting her energy, she opted to appeal to his reason, if he had any. “For God’s sake, Nick, my car will be towed!”
“So, I’ll get you another one.”
“What?”
“I’ll make sure you get a new car.”
Dear God! He’s crazy as a loon. “What the fuck? You are not going to buy me a new car.”
“Look at it this way, Lilly.” Kris sounded amused. “At least you’re not ruining those fabulous shoes anymore, now that Nick’s got them out of the snow.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s not funny. But thanks for the compliment on my shoes. Now can you ask this Neanderthal where exactly he’s taking me?”
“I’m taking you to get warmed up.” Nick’s voice was rough, maybe because the insult she’d flung at him had hit home.
“Where?”
“In our sleigh.”
“You remember we told you about our sleigh,” Kris interjected. For a moment, Lilly was stunned into absolute silence.
I can’t believe this. These men aren’t college students anymore. Surely, they’re not going to start telling me those absurd stories again—the ones about how they’re sylphs and the adopted sons of Santa, and all that ridiculous crap about the North Pole. Heaven help me, I’m being kidnapped by two gorgeous mad men.
The possibilities of what could happen made her nipples pebble until they hurt.
Chapter Three
They must have passed two dozen businesses and high-rise buildings, but Nick still tromped doggedly through the snow with Lilly swung over his shoulder. Kris’s coat covered everything except her legs. Her open-toed platform heels kicked in the air. She was drunk with arousal, already wet and needy, and yet she wasn’t going to give up and be carried around like a sack of potatoes. She wasn’t going to degrade herself by letting him know the effect he had on her when all he was doing was manhandling her. She struggled some more in his arms. “Put me down. I told you, I don’t appreciate the caveman act!”
“Neither do I. You’re the one playing cave girl if your plan is to be a tough guy and go back in there. Those girls broke your nose, for Christ’s sake. I’ve got you outmuscled, so deal with it.”
“They can’t have broken my nose. It doesn’t even hurt now.” She glanced over at Kris. “Can you get your idiotic boyfriend to put me down?”
Kris just grinned at her and shook his head, obviously amused by the whole situation. “I might not agree with his methods, but I’m all for getting you out of the cold.”
Hell, maybe I should stop struggling; maybe he’ll put me in a nice warm car.
“I think it’s finally time you knew the truth about us.” Nick relaxed his grip on her. “If we’d been honest with you in the first place, maybe we wouldn’t have lost you. Maybe you wouldn’t have given up on us.”
Her heart rate kicked up a notch.
What does he mean? I already know the truth about them.
They hadn’t been honest with her at all; they’d both deceived her and she’d found out the truth in the most painful way possible.
Lilly managed to wriggle around enough so her head was no longer pressed against Nick’s back. Now she caught the odd glimpse of the jewel-bright Christmas decorations that adorned trees, shops and buildings as they passed. The low evergreens were frosted with white. Some of them sparkled with colored lights of red, green and gold. A few dancing flakes swirled in the dull glow of the street lamps.
But despite the beautiful winter sights, Lilly’s mind drifted back to the hot August day, ten years ago, when her view of life changed forever.
She’d skipped her History of Music lecture that afternoon and let herself into Kris’s dorm room. All she’d wanted was to surprise her best friend Kris on his birthday.
Hiding in his closet, she’d waited for him to come home, but when he’d returned, he’d been with Nick. Through the slats in the closet door, she’d watched the two of them undress.
Why were they undressing together in their dorm room? Were they going to take showers? But the shower room was communal and down the hall. Were they going to walk down the hallway in just their towels?
Her confusion faded to awe as soon as they took off their shirts. She’d seen both their gorgeous chests before, but their beauty never ceased to amaze her.
Her ex-boyfriend Nick’s sculpted chest and long
, muscular legs made him the epitome of a dream hunk. The day was humid, and a thin sheen of sweat coated his broad shoulders and washboard abs.
When he slipped his jeans down to reveal the firm, muscular cheeks of his ass, something pinged deep inside Lilly’s womb.
The sight of Kris in his naked glory was just as stunning. She’d never in her life seen beauty to match these two men. Muscle defined every lean inch of Kris’s golden body. His deep tan offset his fair hair, and his body was pure masculine perfection.
She was obviously not the only person in the room turned on by Kris. Nick’s eyes filled with dark lust. He seemed totally focused on the blond man. Her heart began to thud, the answering echo a dull beat between her legs. A part of her knew what was going to happen, and yet she couldn’t quite believe it.
She watched in shock and fascination as Nick pulled Kris close for a sensual kiss. Lilly could imagine the soft, masculine feel of those lips. She’d kissed them both at one time or another, but the sight of them kissing each other shot a jolt of arousal straight to her brain. Or was it her clit? She squeezed her thighs together, trying to quell the ache that dampened her sex.
Nick gently kissed and sucked at Kris’s neck. There was obvious tenderness there. Jealously made her chest tighten, even as she was moved by the closeness between the two men. Conflicting emotions washed over her.
They kissed again—a darker kiss. Nick, forceful and dominant, made Kris rock back and moan against him.
Lust and desire battled with anger and emotional pain inside her heart. She longed to be held and comforted by her dear friend Kris—only to realize the irony. Her closest friend stood in front of her, about to screw her ex-boyfriend.
The two men lowered themselves onto the bed. Nick’s muscular arms encircled Kris as he rolled on top of the younger man. Nick began rubbing himself along the blonde’s body, dry-humping him. Kris gave a submissive groan. Inside the closet, Lilly did too.
Captured by Fae_MMF Paranormal Romance Page 3
