by Treva Harte
“Then why are you telling me this?” She had no idea, and she hated that he seemed to have outsmarted her in everything yet again.
“For Cole. I want you to come with us for Christmas.”
“Why?”
She reminded herself she couldn’t trust him. Especially not his smile, even when it looked real. After all, his genuine amusement was usually at her, or someone else’s, expense. But it was a nice smile. Back before all hell had broken loose, she’d thought he was handsome.
“Why?” Jeff asked. “Because you’re his Christmas present.”
Why had he bothered to tell her anything? Admittedly, it was rather funny to watch her almost strangle on what had to have been her next biting words. Instead of snarling, she gaped at him, finally silenced. That open mouth should have been unattractive, but he didn’t feel even faintly repulsed. Why did he want to reassure her?
“What do you mean, Jeff?”
He doubted she even knew she’d called him by his nickname. He knew she had no idea he liked the way she said it.
“Cole wants you. I want to make him happy. Will you go along?”
Cole. His boy. Their link. He thought of Cole’s face lighting up as he talked about Sarah. Jeff couldn’t remember the confident, protective Sarah Cole talked about—not from her gawky undergraduate days. But while they knew different Sarahs, this odd conversation was finally giving him glimpses of the one Cole knew.
“So you’re wrapping me up in a bow and putting me under his tree for Christmas? Even if I could ignore how weird that idea is, he’d just figure I’d accepted your invitation for a ski trip. No sane person would figure out what you intended. Unless you were kidding. I mean, why the hell would Cole want me for anything?”
She was right. He was insane. He should never have asked, and most especially, he shouldn’t be eager for her to say yes. Not now, when she looked so much like Veronica at her sweetest and most confused. That had always meant Veronica was planning something particularly sly. Of course, Sarah wasn’t Veronica. He knew that now he was calm. It had just taken a few years to get the right perspective after the divorce. A perspective that was getting screwed up again with Sarah’s reentrance into his life. He’d realized Cole might turn him down for a woman when he first agreed to invite Sarah with them for the holidays, but he’d played the odds. Jeff hadn’t realized Sarah was going to stir up feelings he’d thought he’d outgrown.
He needed to think, not feel. Perhaps he should believe Sarah was still as naive as she looked, but accepting someone at face value was stupid. Even more stupid than when he’d done that with Veronica. At least when he’d been accepting before, he’d never been burned by a woman he cared about. You should be able to learn from mistakes.
“It’s not quite that simple, my dear. I think it’s up to Cole to tell you why he wants you for a present before you dismiss the idea.”
He saw how much she forced herself not to ask more, and that remaining perverse amusement made him want to laugh.
“Fine. I’ll ask him. That doesn’t let you off the hook. What are you planning to tell Cole yourself? He’s going to want answers. You know, like why you gave me to him for Christmas? What do you say? That you bought me, but I can be returned if I’m not what he wanted?”
He touched the back of her hand, and she didn’t flinch.
“Do you want to hear what I’ll tell him?”
“Yes. Yes, I do.”
Sarah thought she was fierce. He didn’t have the heart to tell her she wasn’t. There was no more threat in her right now than a declawed kitten. Telling her so wouldn’t make her agree to his plan. Cole’s plan. Instead, he stopped touching her and settled back in his chair. “Be with us for Christmas and you can.”
Sarah looked at him and laughed. It sounded like a genuine laugh, one that made him want to laugh too. Apparently she and Cole both knew how to lighten his mood. Apparently she felt equally perverse amusement when he said something he shouldn’t. Who would have thought they could share a little twisted pleasure?
“And that will be my Christmas present from you?” Sarah asked.
“If that’s all you want.” He had the feeling he could make her want more too. Merry Christmas, Sarah.
Would she run? Discount what he’d just said?
She looked defiant. Ah, so she was neither running nor discounting. Interesting. More and more interesting as time went on. She said, “All right. I’ll come. I don’t think this is going to go the way you want it to.”
I think it will.
“We’re both honored to have you with us.” He smiled, hoping to relax and lull her. Because now he felt just a little predatory. Just edgy enough to feel some anticipatory greed. He might pounce if she wasn’t careful. Shit. Or if he wasn’t. This wasn’t the plan. “Do you want to see Cole now?”
“He’s here?”
“He’s resting. He’s probably still sore.”
He caught her sideways glance at him before she looked away. She was speculative, not frightened. That was good. Very good. This Christmas might be more interesting than he’d expected.
She said flatly, “I don’t trust you, Dr. Jeffries. You’re dangerous. I’ll come along because you are, and Cole isn’t. Someone needs to take care of him.”
Oh, better yet. Instead of creating the annoyance she intended, still more amusement flared up in him. She was going to keep an eye on him? Save Cole from himself? That should be quite a performance. It was almost as if she were giving him a Christmas present that could keep him anticipating fun for weeks.
Now he needed to add Cole to the mix. His amusement ebbed a little. He didn’t know how Cole would react.
It might be better not to keep wondering what Cole would do. Waiting wouldn’t change anything. Better to just shove them together and see. He wasn’t going to try to work this out. It was up to the two of them. Sarah and—
Cole.
He fought a sudden flare of jealousy.
Sarah was more than the ingenuous undergrad he remembered, but Cole was his. His boy. His to touch, to savor, to own.
But only as long as Cole was willing to be his boy. He wasn’t going to try to hang on to this relationship the way he’d tried with Veronica. He could trust someone or he couldn’t.
It was time to find out what he meant to Cole.
* * * *
Cole woke up, his ass and nipples stinging, just enough to make him realize his mind was fuzzy, and he was horny. Recovering from intense sex took him time. He wouldn’t mind a few more hours of cocooning under the covers, maybe with Jeff beside him, coaxing him into more. A little coffee, a little rev-up sex.
The dip in the mattress told him Jeff was there. Cole smiled, his eyes still closed. His wish was coming true. He turned his head slightly to let Jeff kiss him.
“Wake up, boy. Company.” Jeff’s lips brushed his mouth, which gave Cole just enough time to think about his man’s words before Cole burrowed back into sleep.
“Company?” Cole opened his eyes at the promise in Jeff’s voice. Here and now? Jeff wasn’t into threesomes that often. “Yeah?”
“Your playmate is here. Sarah.”
Playmate?
“Sarah.” He struggled up on an elbow while he tried to think. “Wait a minute.”
But Jeff had opened the bedroom door, and in the next second, he was out, and Sarah was in.
She had a dress on. Her pretty brown hair was braided into something severe. She looked dressed up and definitely not what he’d expected this morning.
“I… Hello.” That was stupid to say, but he was still dazed from the night before. The after-sex fuzz was already fading, though. He grew more awake by the second as he stared into her brown eyes.
Her face was a little pinched. “Are you all right?”
Didn’t he look all right?
“Of course.” Cole pushed his hair back and then sat up.
The blanket slipped down, and he saw her studying his chest. He wasn’t big on blushing
, but his face grew hot with embarrassment. There were hardly any marks on him, considering what had happened—Jeff knew what he was doing—but there were enough. If Sarah knew anything about BDSM, she’d be able to guess some of what they’d done last night. If she didn’t, she was probably imagining something pretty bad.
“Of course you’re all right.” Sarah sounded doubtful, but she sat on the edge of the bed. “I don’t get this.”
That makes two of us.
Why had Jeff left her here before Cole had a chance to explain things to Sarah? Why had he left her with him at all? Jeff knew what Cole wanted. Cole had been honest. Honesty was something Jeff demanded. Cole wanted Jeff, and he wanted to be his sub. But Sarah was… He wanted Sarah too, even though he didn’t think he could get her.
Jeff didn’t share. He’d made that clear from the start. Cole had respected that—even craved it. Cole was tired of chasing for attention, men, and sex. Jeff provided everything he wanted. Staying monogamous for Jeff made the hopeless quest for Sarah that much easier to put aside.
He’d wanted Christmas with his two best-loved friends and partners, but he hadn’t been entirely sure he could get them to agree, even though his persuading skills were finely honed. And he’d been damn sure he wouldn’t get the two of them on his terms.
But here Sarah was. In bed with him. Not as much in bed as Cole might like, but closer to what he might like than he’d ever been before. Thanks to Jeff.
Wasn’t that weird and a little unsettling.
“I’m glad to see you.” That was something Cole was sure of. That and he was still horny. But he didn’t think Sarah was ready to know more about that second part. “Kiss me good morning, Sarah.”
He’d never asked that before. They used to hug and kiss at first. They’d stopped. He knew why he’d stopped, but he wondered if she did. He’d been afraid to mess things up. He knew what to do with men, but Sarah—Sarah was different. He’d been both wanting and afraid to try before.
Now, still more asleep than awake, given some kind of half-assed permission from his master… He wasn’t going to think when he could feel. He wanted her pretty hands on him. Her mouth. Finally he wasn’t afraid. He just wanted.
Yeah. To start, he wanted that mouth. Then he would see if Sarah might want as many things from him as he had begun to want from her. He got closer, ready for that kiss.
“Cole!”
She sounded surprised but not angry. Maybe she would say yes next. Maybe. At least it wasn’t a no right away. He’d been terrified for weeks it would be a no.
“If I say please?” He smiled at her. “Please, Sarah?”
For the first time he reached for her. He promised her silently he’d be slow and gentle. He wasn’t about to scare her now. Cautiously he laid his hands over hers and trailed them up to her cheek.
Thank God she bent forward, like a princess in a fairy tale ready to kiss the prince. Her brown hair, already slipping from its braid, fell over his shoulders as she drew near. If he wanted, he could trace the veins in her skin. Her breath skimmed against his mouth.
God. So beautiful.
He closed his hand around her nape, holding her near him.
Cole was kissing her.
He kissed her gently, like a young boy with his first girlfriend, his hand resting lightly on the back of her head as if he was afraid to touch. Oh. Maybe he was afraid. And maybe she was his first. She was suddenly afraid. What if she didn’t live up to his expectations?
He opened his eyes after the kiss, and they were blue and heated. So very sweet. He leaned toward her this time, fumbling a little to get closer. Still innocent. Still sweet.
The sweet tempted her beyond the fear. She was the one who deepened the next kiss, who let a rough gasp escape instead of soft sighs. She pushed her hands into his hair and pulled him close, looking for—for something. She wanted him more eager and closer and just more. She could finally admit to herself, and to him, she wanted him. More than she’d ever wanted anything in her life.
Cole’s touch changed as his kiss deepened. His hands gripped her, matching her own hold on him. He pulled her down on top of him, his hard-on stiffening against her belly.
Careful. He just woke up. Men are like that when they wake up. It didn’t have to mean anything.
“Beautiful Sarah.” His voice was husky as he nuzzled his head between her breasts.
She wasn’t beautiful. She could be attractive when she worked at it—ordinary when she didn’t, which was most of the time. But God, she wished she were right now. Beautiful for him.
Beautiful enough to make him interested in her the way her hungry body reminded her she was in him. She’d tried to ignore it, but of course Cole was sexy. And she was interested. So interested. She had been forever.
“You’re the beautiful one.” She managed to make it sound like half a joke. He wasn’t serious. She couldn’t allow herself to think that.
“I’m not looking at me, Sarah. I’m looking at you. Nothing but you.” He kissed her, openmouthed now, greedy, breaking the kiss only to rake her lips and chin with his teeth. “God, I want you.”
The sheets had tumbled away, and he was naked beneath her. She was beyond thinking—not even the crazy, incoherent thoughts she’d had swirling in her head since she entered his bedroom.
“Here I am.” She sounded weak. Too weak to keep trying to make it a joke and walk away. She shifted even tighter against him, feeling the warmth and pulse of his cock through the silk of her panties.
He turned his head, letting her body trap him, and stretched to kiss the top of one breast. God. The fabric had twisted down off her shoulder. She tried to pull back; he licked her nipple.
Oh, hell. She unbuttoned her dress; the hem had pulled itself up over her knees as they’d struggled together. If he wanted to touch a woman’s body—her body—she wasn’t going to resist.
She slid her hands against his naked chest and kissed the base of his throat. Resist? She was going to surrender so fast he wouldn’t even know there had been any question of battle.
She kicked, squirming to get at her panties, and he helpfully pulled them down to her knees, leaving her legs trapped for a moment. She wanted to spread them open and straddle him, but the restraint felt good too. Cole was the one to finish removing them, his hands sweeping down her legs as he did, caressing her skin.
“Are you sure?” She rested her upper body weight on her elbows and looked down at him.
Those fiery blue eyes stared up at her, and he slid his cock up the V of her legs, almost but not quite opening her. “What do you think, sweetie? Of course I’m sure. Can’t you tell? I’ve been very curious for a long time.”
“About women?”
“About you.”
He pumped his cock, pressing up and down against her moist opening. She had never felt so wet in her life. Cole continued, “I’ve been dreaming about this. How it would be with you. All the different ways we could—”
He stopped talking when she slipped her hand between them to grip his cock. She slid her fist up, enjoying how soft and smooth his cock’s head was under her hand—and how hard his shaft was. It was all hers to play with for now. When his penis stiffened even more under her touch, she sucked in a breath, heat flashing through her. He did want her. Who would have thought?
He met her gaze and then pointed to the bedside table.
Condoms. Right there, waiting. All she had to do was reach out, take one, and break all the old rules between them.
She reached and slid the latex sheath over him. They both gasped as she finished.
She didn’t want to play by the rules anymore. She wanted him to fill her. It only took a second to make that happen. To have his cock stretching her open. Filling what had been empty and now was almost crammed to overflowing. She fought to relax against the pressure, while his hard length pushed in a little more without her help.
“Sarah. Saraaah.” He breathed it out in a long, sweet moan. “’S good.”
“Jesus!” Cole bucked underneath her. “Do that again.”
Oh, yes. Yesss. She leaned over and bit his nipple. He yelped and then went still.
Shit. She’d screwed things up. Wasn’t he supposed to like sex that way?
Before she could register it was happening, she was lying back down on the bed, and Cole was on top.
“My turn, Sarah. Sweetie.” His voice wasn’t quite as gentle as before.
He slid into her, as if they’d done this hundreds of times. She was so wet, and he felt so perfect.
“The first thing you want is missionary-style?” She tried to laugh. “I thought you’d be bored by that.”
“No.” He grunted the word.
Oh. Then again, missionary was probably new for him. And the way he focused on her as he did made it new for her.
“Oh God, Cole.” He gave one long, lingering stroke, as if checking to see where his cock felt best.
Everywhere. That was where it felt best. That was how he felt to her.
“Harder?”
“God, yes. Hard.” She tried to wiggle her hips up higher and could have cried when he laughed.
“All right, then. Tell me if you want me to stop.” He slammed into her, slammed the breath out of her. Slammed more need into her.
“Don’t stop. Don’t.” She clawed at his skin, desperate for more. Whining gulps of air forced out of her lungs when she remembered to breathe. Blood pounded in her ears, deafening her.
“Never been…sweet…”
Cole. Jesus.
“Fuck! Oh, fuck, Sarah!”
Sarah couldn’t speak. It was all she could do to keep up with the ever-faster rhythm he set. She tried to lock her ankles around his shoulders, and then the small of his back, but her feet slipped against the sweat trickling down Cole’s back. She arched up instead, wanting more. She couldn’t breathe! She couldn’t get air into her lungs. Everything inside her seemed frozen, desperate for release.
