by Alisha Rai
“Good girl. Come now.” He pressed down hard on her clitoris and Jace shoved as deep inside of her as he had ever been. The tension inside her exploded, the walls of her pussy clamping on Jace’s cock. He groaned long and low, his shoulders tensed, and she knew he was coming as well. The knowledge set off another climax, not as intense as the one before, but no less satisfying.
She slumped against Jace. He gently pulled his finger free of her ass, and she felt rather empty. What would it be like to have both of them inside of her at the same time?
She wasn’t quite as opposed to the idea anymore.
The rumble of Jace’s chest beneath her ear roused Devi into looking up. His face was filled with mirth. “What’s so funny?”
He smiled. “I was just thinking—this is probably the best mall trip Marcus has ever experienced.”
Chapter Eight
“There you are.”
Devi stiffened, and then made a conscious effort to relax her shoulders. Damn it, she’d hoped to have more time before she had to encounter Rana. She’d rushed straight from her bed to work, with a quick pit stop in the shower. She didn’t exactly look as unruffled and put together as she’d hoped.
Well, it couldn’t be helped now. Devi shut off the faucet of the utility sink and grabbed the towel. “Hey.”
Heels clicked on the tile. They stopped directly behind her. A pregnant pause filled the room as Devi concentrated on drying every ounce of moisture on her fingers.
Rana broke the silence. “Well? Is that all you can say to me? I’ve been dying to talk to you.”
“We talked last night.”
“Yeah, after I called you all day and threatened to come over. And you didn’t talk to me. A quick ‘hi’ and ‘see you tomorrow’ does not qualify as a talk.”
“I was just tired. I told you.”
A pause. “You are physically all right, right? They didn’t hurt you? Because so help me God…what did they do? I knew it. I knew you weren’t ready for this. I shouldn’t have done this. Leena is going to kill me. Are you bruised? Are the bruises under your clothes? Let me see them. We have to get you to the hospital. Oh no, your hair’s wet. You showered. You aren’t supposed to shower!”
Devi dropped the towel and spun around. “Holy crap, Rana. Get a hold of yourself. No one hurt me.”
Rana took a deep shuddering breath and pressed one manicured hand against her heaving chest. “Are you sure?”
“I think I’d know.”
“Are you experiencing some sort of weird victim’s guilt?”
Devi rolled her eyes. “No.”
“So, you’re okay?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You sounded stiff yesterday. Did everything go as planned?”
“Um, sure.”
Rana scrutinized her for what felt like an eternity. Devi fought not to flinch, blush or fall to the ground in a blubbering mess of rattled emotions. She must have done a good job of pretending nonchalance, because Rana’s worry melted into a sly knowledge. “So…” she purred, and cocked a hip. “Did baby sister enjoy her one night of sin?”
Oh no, she couldn’t do this. Couldn’t even begin to explain how they hadn’t been able to end it at one night. Rana would leap right back into overprotective mode. “I, ahh…”
“What was it like?”
“Well…”
“Was it amazing?”
Rana crowded closer. The sink bit into the small of Devi’s back. Talk about a rock and a hard place. “I’d really rather not…”
“How big…?”
“Rana!” Devi sidestepped and tried to put some distance between them. “If you don’t mind, I don’t want to discuss this.”
Rana pouted. “Come on, Devi. I’ve never spoken with a girl who I knew for a fact slept with those two. Throw me a bone here. Ha! Sorry, everything’s gonna sound like an innuendo. Bone.”
Devi tried to control the involuntary twitch in her eye. She’d rather not think of the parade of other women who might have come before her through the Callahan’s revolving doors.
Yet another reason to question her judgment in getting involved in this affair.
“Do they look the exact same naked?”
Devi huffed an irritated breath. Thank God they were the only ones in the room. Rana had no shame. She would have felt as justified grilling her in front of witnesses. “I need to start cooking. I do not want to discuss this with you. I will not discuss this with you. So you can ask questions ’til kingdom come, but I am not going to tell you a single detail about Saturday night.” Or Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon. Sunday evening. Oh, and the last time Jace had slipped his penis inside of her had been well after midnight. So add Monday morning to that list as well. No, she couldn’t tell Rana about any of those monumental experiences.
“Well, hell. Fine.”
“Good.” Devi pulled out a covered bowl from the fridge and set it on the counter. She opened an airtight container, scooped out a bit of flour and sprinkled it on the clean cutting board.
“Devi.”
She looked up.
“It was good, right?”
Had she not known her sister so well, she would have missed the shadows of guilt and pleading in her eyes. Affection and understanding coursed through her. When would Rana understand she didn’t need to make anything up to her, that she didn’t hold the past against her? “Yes,” she said gently. “It was exactly what I needed. Thank you so much.”
Rana let out a breath and the heretofore unnoticed tension in her body dissolved. “I did okay, then.”
“You did great. Now, a couple of people are already seated out there, so let’s get to work.”
Devi managed to keep the slight smile on her face until Rana left the room. She turned on the range and placed a cast-iron skillet on top of it. While it heated, she peeled the cover off the bowl in her arm to reveal the huge ball of dough Asha had set to soak last night. Flatbreads were a staple of every meal they served, and she loved Monday mornings, when their business was slow enough that she actually got a chance to enjoy the process of putting together each part of the meal. Today, especially, she relished the chance to pound out her misgivings.
She kneaded the ball to check its consistency before she twisted off a walnut-sized section and rolled it between her hands.
The unease churning through her could be laid to rest directly at the twins’ feet. She’d woken up alone this morning. Well, granted it had been late, almost ten, which gave her just a half an hour to get to work. She wasn’t an idiot—of course they’d had to get up early and go to work. They’d had to go home and get some clothes too.
So, intellectually, she had known she would wake up alone today. She’d needed the sleep, and it had been considerate of them to allow her that luxury. In their defense, Jace had left her a sweet note on her pillow. And another one on her bathroom counter. And a sticky taped to her cell phone to let her know he’d programmed both of their numbers into her phone.
Marcus hadn’t left her any messages.
Dough oozed between her clenched fingers, and she sighed at the waste of mangled yeast. Devi rolled it back into a neat ball and patted it down on the flour-strewn board. With her rolling pin and a few efficient strokes, she flattened it into a circle.
Well, of course Marcus hadn’t left her any messages. Had she really expected any differently? The man couldn’t even sleep with her. She’d woken in the middle of the night when he had slipped from their warm bed, presumably to go sleep on the couch again.
She’d never been a needy girlfriend. Or lover, that is. Tarek had once gone almost two weeks without contacting her, and they’d been actively dating at the time. This shouldn’t even faze her. Granted, that relationship had been riddled with problems, so it probably wasn’t the best comparison, but still.
She picked up the thin circular dough and placed it on the skillet. Small white bubbles immediately appeared on the surface of the chapatti. Ignoring the spatula, sh
e used her fingers to flip it over. In another minute, with a practiced move, she removed the pan and dropped the bread directly onto the gas burner. Within ten seconds, the chapatti puffed full of air, and Devi picked it up, again with the tips of her fingers, and dropped it into the warmer on the counter. Leena hated her method of making the popular flatbread, claimed it was dangerous, both to Devi’s fingers and as a fire hazard. But pan-frying alone couldn’t give the soft tortillas that flame-cooked taste. Besides, after years of making the side dish, the tips of Devi’s fingers were completely desensitized to the heat, and she was always careful. Her mind might wander, but she knew what she was about.
She pulled off another piece of dough. Devi had no right to demand Marcus sleep with her. Talk about selfish. Jace had slept with her, and for a short-term affair, that was already going above and beyond. Actually, if they hadn’t been so exhausted yesterday after their sexual excess, maybe they would both have just left.
Maybe tonight, after they were finished with each other, they would leave. Or she would leave, if they decided to go to their place. Maybe they wouldn’t even meet tonight. After all, Jace had written he would call her later. Devi stared at the chapatti puffing up on the open grill. Maybe he was going to call her to tell her the deal was off.
As if she had conjured him up, the cell phone in her apron pocket buzzed. With shameful haste, she grabbed for the phone, unmindful of the butter that smeared across the pink surface.
Jace.
Yup, there was his name, right across the display. Okay, good. Check off “not a liar” under his personal list of accomplishments. She took a deep breath and answered the call. “Hello?” To her everlasting gratefulness, she managed to keep her tone breezy and unconcerned.
“Hey, sweetheart.” The warm velvet honey of his tone sent all her little nerve endings into a happy dance. Just like that, all of her breezy unconcern went out the window, and she found it difficult to say anything.
“Devi?”
Her voice returned. “Um, yes, hello.”
“How are you doing?”
Devi wedged the phone at her shoulder and wiped her greasy hands on the apron, which she probably should have attended to first. “Fine. I’m just—oh my God!”
“What?”
Devi let the phone drop to the floor and flipped the charred chapatti off the burner. Something else she should have attended to first. She waved a towel at the small amount of smoke the potential fire hazard generated. Thank God she had noticed it or Leena would have more reason to bitch about her method of cooking.
Not to mention the tongue-lashing she would have gotten for talking on the phone while cooking. Normally she kept the phone in her purse in the office. Family businesses had rules too. She’d just been hoping Jace would call…
Aw, crap. She sighed just as the phone buzzed loudly against the tile. He must consider her a massive ditz.
She crouched to pick up the phone. “Hey.”
“Did something happen?”
“No. Of course not.” She gave another halfhearted swipe at the residual smoke. “You know, just hanging out in the kitchen. What’s up?”
She thought he might call her on her more-than-obvious bluff, but he let it go. His voice became more intimate. “Just wanted to make sure you were doing okay.”
“I said I was fine.”
“Physically, I mean.”
She puffed her cheeks up with air and tried not to let her face heat. “What is up with everyone asking that today?”
“Who else would ask you that?”
“Never mind. Yes, I’m fine.”
“No soreness?”
Hell yes, soreness. However, she’d participated heartily in creating that soreness, so she couldn’t exactly complain about it now. “Nope.”
“Well, great. I was just sitting here, thinking of how rough we were on you.” His tone deepened. “And then I got hard, remembering how you took it. How you loved it. How you arched your back, pushing your breasts up for my mouth.”
Devi opened her mouth, but no words came to mind.
“Remembering the feel of your tight little cunt around me, like a hot little mouth sucking on my dick.”
Holy moly, these men were potent. “Are we having phone sex?” she blurted out.
Jace chuckled. “Not yet. I was just thinking out loud. Why, do you want to?”
Did she? “Sure. Yes. I’ve never done that before.”
“Okay. So, what are you wearing?”
Devi looked down at her regular clothes. “I’m supposed to say something sexy, like nothing but an apron, right? But then you’d know I was lying. And it wouldn’t be very sexy.”
“Yeah, I would, and you’re right, with anyone else it wouldn’t turn me on. But hell, Devi, now you’ve got me thinking of you wearing nothing but an apron. How am I supposed to get through my day?”
She laughed and leaned her hip against the stove. His day? She wanted to forget work and curl up on a couch while they bantered back and forth like this. Which was odd for her. She’d never been much of a telephone chatterer, even in the early days of her past relationships.
“Listen, I’m sorry we had to leave early. Marcus and I had to go home and change before we hit work.”
Devi traced her fingertip along the counter. “Don’t worry about it. I figured as much.”
“I would have set your alarm, but I didn’t know what time you went to work.”
“Ten thirty. That’s when we start prepping for lunch. I mean, for future reference.”
“Okay. Good to know.”
God, how little they knew about each other.
“I would have loved to wake up with you.”
Tendrils of warmth crept around her. She snuck a guilty look around the empty room before she responded. “Me too.”
“In that case, I’ll wake you up tomorrow. I love morning sex.”
“We had morning sex. That last time—”
Jace snorted. “Only in the strictest definition. I want to wake you up with my head between your thighs tomorrow.”
“Sounds…promising.”
His voice dropped an octave. “Then when you’re nice and wet and panting, your tits jiggling, I’ll fold back your legs and slide my cock deep inside you. Touch all those nice spots inside that you just love for me to hit. Slow and easy.”
Whew. She didn’t know what to say about that. Except, okay. Slow and easy worked just as well as hard and fast. “Are you thinking out loud again?”
“Are you turned on?”
Her nipples were drawn up tight. She could see them through her bra and T-shirt. “Yes.”
“Then I think we’re starting some phone sex here.”
The door opening shot a jolt through her. She cleared her throat and turned her back as Asha pulled an apron off the hook. Instinctively, she crossed her arms over her all-too-obvious nipples. “Well, that’s interesting, but I’m a bit busy right now. We can discuss this later tonight.”
“What’s there to discuss? You don’t want me to work my dick inside that tight, wet—”
“That’s not the issue right now. I just don’t have time at the moment.”
“I’m sorry. You can give me a blowjob first, if you like. You love that, when I fuck your face, don’t you?”
Her face felt like it was on fire. “I’m sorry, I’m working.”
He laughed. “Fine. Later?”
Yes please. Phone sex was all well and good as long as there weren’t any witnesses. Well, except for Marcus and Jace. “Sure. Fine.”
“Great. Oh, you guys close between two and five right?”
“Well, yes.”
“Can you come out for a bit with us?”
Devi frowned. “Sure. Where?”
“Great. Marcus and I will pick you up at two.”
“Um, okay. But where are we going?”
“See you then, baby.”
The phone clicked on the other end and she folded it closed slowly. Why hadn’t he ans
wered her?
The clearing of a throat jerked her from her musings, and she turned to see Asha standing behind her. “There are a few orders already?” the woman asked in her softly accented voice.
“Yes. Yes, there are.” The customers would be pissed, too, if they didn’t get them soon. She turned back to the board, but the words swam in front of her like a mishmash of nouns. She grabbed two off the stack at random and handed them to Asha. “Here, you can get started on these.”
The other cook gave her an odd look but hurried to the far end of the kitchen to prepare. Devi tried to refocus back on the food, thankful the orders were easy and mindless.
Perhaps Jace just wanted to get together for an afternoon quickie. Could a two p.m. quickie qualify as a nooner? She’d always wanted to try a nooner. She’d have to ask the men when they picked. Her. Up.
Shit.
Devi sighed. They’d need to rearrange their plans. No way could she let Rana catch a glimpse of her calmly getting into a car with the two men. In fact, she’d need to talk to them about staying away from the restaurant in general for the next couple of weeks. She couldn’t just call and tell Jace that, though. Instinctually, she knew it would bother him. She’d have to tell them in person.
The orders came in steadily, and it was another hour before she could slip away to the restroom. She pulled out her phone and dialed Jace’s number, only to be greeted by his recorded voice. Dammit. “He must have his phone off,” she muttered. She checked, but he hadn’t thought to input his office number.
Devi hesitated and then thumbed through her contacts until she came to Marcus’s name. Both of his numbers had been programmed. She hated to call him at his office number. He could be busy. Then again, she hated to call his cell. He could be, well, busy.
Though she’d been just as physically intimate with him, she wasn’t an idiot. Clearly, Marcus didn’t want to be too involved.
She could text him. Devi perked up. Texts were suitably distant. She clicked on his name, and with the ease of a natural-born texter, tapped out a message. Jace said u would pick me up at 2. Meet u 2 at library down street instead. She hesitated and then continued, feeling bad for the subterfuge. Have to return some books. Can u get a hold of him?
