by Tara Rose
“A scene…” He no longer looked uncomfortable, but neither did he look like he was on solid ground. Knox had been to Indulgence a few times but wasn’t in the lifestyle. Clearly, this was the first time Knox was hearing about Eve’s fantasy, but she didn’t know if Phil had told Knox any of the things they did during scenes.
“Well, to be fair, I did sort of wrangle the confession out of her.” Phil gave her another wink, and then Eve reached across the space between them and grabbed his left hand. She needed his touch right now. It wasn’t that she was afraid of the possibilities this conversation might bring, but the air felt so tenuous right now. As if one wrong nuance would throw her entire world off balance. She craved the warmth and security that Phil’s touch brought.
Knox turned his gaze on her and kept it there for the first time since Phil had made the comments about them both using the handcuffs on her. His eyes were still filled with lust, and that surprised her. Was it possible he’d been thinking about this, too? She wished she knew whether Phil had ever said anything to him, even in passing or as a joke. “Is this what you want, Eve?”
“I want what Phil wants.” It wasn’t untrue, but as soon as she uttered the words, she realized they made her sound as if she had no will of her own, and she didn’t want Knox left with that impression. “Yes. I do want this, Knox.” It was true. She’d known it was true the first time Phil had said he’d love to watch another man spank her and fuck her. The fact that he’d only ever mentioned his cousin as that other man was fine with Eve. She couldn’t imagine giving Phil this fantasy with anyone else.
“Is this your fantasy, or Phil’s?”
“It’s both,” said Phil. He held up his free hand. “Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not talking about sexual contact between you and me. I’m talking about wanting to watch another guy spank her and have sex with her. And Eve wants to know what it’s like to be in a scene that includes sex with two men. Of course, it can’t be just anyone. The only logical choice here is you, Knox.”
Phil leaned back in his chair as if he were ready to settle in and watch football for hours. “So? What do you think? Want to give it a try?”
Eve watched Knox swallow as his gaze flitted from his cousin to her, and back again. Clearly, he was interested, and she couldn’t help but be turned on by that realization. Knox was a gorgeous man. Shy and withdrawn, but very good looking. What was he like in bed? Was she about to find out? But what if he said no? How would she ever look him in the eyes again?
“You mean right now?”
Phil chuckled. “No, dude. Let’s finish our dinner. We can chill tonight. Eve and I both have to get up way too fucking early for work. I was thinking Friday, when none of us have to get up for work the next day.”
“Here? Or were you thinking at Indulgence?”
Phil shook his head. “Not in the club. Not yet. You’ve never played there, and playing in public isn’t the same as in private. Let’s start here. If we decide to do it again, we can talk about taking our play to Indulgence.”
This was really going to happen. And Phil had left no doubt he’d consider repeating it. Eve gave his hand a squeeze, and the quick look he gave her was filled with love, lust, and excitement. So many emotions bubbled up that she couldn’t process all of them at once.
Was this how Felicity felt, every single day? If she was this aroused when all they’d done was talk about it, what would happen when she was actually with both men at the same time? Eve wasn’t sure, but she knew one thing for certain. She couldn’t wait to find out.
Chapter Seven
Friday couldn’t come fast enough for Eve, but as she ran across the street to Wendy’s where she was meeting Felicity for lunch Tuesday afternoon, she was grateful for the extra days. There were certain situations a girl needed to talk over with her friends before diving headfirst into. They took their food outside to eat even though it was barely fifty degrees and a cold wind blew down from the mountains. This wasn’t a conversation they could have inside.
“How do you do it?” asked Eve.
“You mean literally?” Felicity laughed, and Eve couldn’t help but do the same. She’d always loved Felicity, although she was jealous of her flaming red hair.
“No, you goofball. I mean how do you deal with it? Don’t they get jealous of each other? What if one of them wants alone time with you? Do you talk about it? Do you schedule it? And how do you handle the emotions? When did you realize you had fallen for both of them?”
Felicity put down her chicken sandwich and stared at Eve. “Honey, slow down. From what you’ve told me, Phil said it was only one scene, right?”
“Well, at first, but then Knox asked about Indulgence and Phil said we’d do this at our house first, and then think about moving the play to Indulgence. That says to me that he plans to repeat it.”
“Sounds that way. Did you ask him?”
“I never had the chance to. Ken called last night as Knox was leaving and asked Phil to cover a night shift for someone who was ill. He’s doubling back this morning and won’t be home until about four.”
“Then talk to him. Just ask him.”
Eve waited until Felicity had taken a few more bites of her sandwich before she spoke again. “But how did you handle it? I need to know what it felt like. I mean emotionally. I need to know what I’m thinking and feeling is normal.”
“What are you thinking and feeling?”
Eve sighed out loud. “I don’t know. I’m excited, and scared, and unsure all at the same time.”
“I can understand the excited part. Phil and Knox are hot. But what are you afraid or unsure of? Phil brought this up first, right?”
Eve nodded. “Yes. Yes, he did.”
“And you were very excited about it the first time you mentioned it to me. You said it was hot, if I remember correctly. Have you changed your mind?”
“No, not at all. I’m still excited about it. But that was before dinner, and looking them both in the eyes as we talked about it. It was unsettling and exciting at the same time. I guess I didn’t expect that he’d really do it.”
“Phil or Knox?”
Eve laughed, but it was from nervousness. “Both.”
“Well, I don’t know Phil very well, but he doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who’d push for something he didn’t really want.”
“No, he’s not. He wants this. He’s been teasing me about it for months now.”
“Then what are you afraid of? That you’ll like it too much? That you’ll develop feelings for Knox? That he won’t have a good time? That Phil won’t? That you won’t?”
“All of the above?” Eve and Felicity stared at each other for a few seconds, and then both burst out laughing.
“Oh, Eve…just relax and have fun. Phil adores you and he’d never ask you to do anything that he thought would hurt you or upset you, right?”
She shook her head. “No. Never.”
“I’m not even sure I can give you any insight.” Felicity glanced around, but no one else was outside. “I didn’t have sex with both of them at the same time until after I’d had sex with each of them separately. And when I had sex with Kane, I knew he planned to leave town one day. He made that clear up front.”
“But he came back because of you.”
Felicity smiled. “Yes, but at the time I didn’t know whether he would. I spent every moment I could with both Maverick and Kane, and I still didn’t know if Kane would come back after he left to go home. Kane didn’t even know it.”
“That’s true,” said Eve. “Your situation was entirely different. “But Maverick understood? He was all right with it?” After Kane had helped the Passion Peak police and the FBI gather enough evidence on Trace Coleman to get him out of town for good, he’d gone back home to Connecticut to make sure his ill grandmother was taken care of before he returned to town. Now, he lived with Felicity and Maverick and was here to stay.
“Not at first. But Kane grew on him, too. When Kane left, we both m
issed him. At least Phil and Knox like each other and are close already. You don’t have that hurdle to jump first.”
“You make it sound like you expect this will turn into a permanent arrangement.”
“Well, what if it does?”
Eve shook her head. “I can’t even wrap my head around something like that right now.” Eve finished her food and thought about everything Felicity had said. It seemed like the best of all possible worlds. Why was she questioning it? What was niggling at her that she couldn’t identify?
Felicity’s dark eyes danced with amusement. “It’s really intense, you know. I mean the sex with two of them at once.”
“I can only imagine.”
“It’s exactly what you’re imagining and then some.”
Both girls giggled as Felicity launched into a detailed explanation of what it felt like to have one dick in your pussy and another in your mouth at the same time, or what it was like to be spanked and flogged with them taking turns. When Eve glanced down at her cell phone to make sure she wasn’t going over her break time for lunch, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye and glanced up to watch a silver Toyota cruise past them in the alley.
Hot fear raced through her. Darrin had driven one of those. But this one looked newer than his. And he hadn’t been seen in town for over two years. In fact, the last anyone had heard, he was in Mexico. But what if he’d returned? What if she was mistaken about the year of the car, and this was his? She couldn’t see the driver, other than he had dark hair. She was too far away.
“You okay?” Felicity glanced into the alley. “What is it?”
The car turned onto Shoshone Lane. She had to be mistaken. It had been a similar car, that’s all. “Nothing. I thought I saw someone I knew, but now I’m not sure.”
“It’s almost ski season. We’ll have lots of strangers in town soon.” Felicity went back to checking her text messages as a shiver ran down Eve’s spine. She’d only caught a glimpse of the driver, but he didn’t look like the usual tourists they had staying at the Belle Meade. The hotel was expensive, but not as expensive as the ones closer to the resort. They did such a great business all season because they offered services some of the other hotels didn’t, like a free shuttle to the slopes and a quiet, picturesque town as opposed to the noise and crowds near the resorts.
And most of the tourists who could afford to stay at the Belle Meade didn’t cruise down alleys in the middle of the day. They parked their Lexus or Infiniti at the hotel and either walked downtown or stayed at the resort all day. This man was either Darrin returned to town, or someone she’d never seen before.
* * * *
Knox was grateful that Tuesday was turning out to be a slow day because he hadn’t slept worth shit the night before. Almost as soon as they’d finished dinner, during which Knox hadn’t been able to stop glancing across the table at Eve, Phil had taken a phone call from Ken, the chief of police, and announced he had to go into work all night. Knox had taken that as his cue to leave because if he’d stayed, there’s no telling what would have happened. Both Phil and Eve had told him it was fine if he hung around for a while, but a man only had so much willpower.
By the time he’d arrived home, his damn dick had been so hard that he could barely walk straight. He’d jerked off while fantasizing about Eve and her dark eyes, that mess of dark, curly hair, and the off-center way the sides of her mouth curled up when something struck her as funny.
He’d always thought her a beautiful girl, but way, way out of his league. The idea that he might actually get to touch her and kiss her was enough to drive him insane with need. But the images of spanking her and fucking her that had danced through his head last night during the remainder of dinner had sent Knox over the edge.
After he’d arrived home and taken care of his immediate physical need, he’d sent Phil a text asking him if they could have lunch one day this week, before Friday. They had to talk about this. Eve had starred in his dreams all night, and each time he woke, his body had been bathed in sweat and his cock was saluting the ceiling. It was a wonder he could even work today.
Phil had finally texted back this morning, saying he’d be over after work today to have dinner with Knox. Apparently, Eve was going over to Rowena’s house after work, because the two were planning a baby shower for Angela. Knox had no idea it took so long to plan a baby shower, but he wasn’t about to argue with fate. He’d go out of his mind if he didn’t discuss this with Phil before Friday night.
Knox closed up the garage around four and walked across town to Cheyenne Boulevard. It took almost twenty minutes, but that was fine with him. Even the biting wind whistling down from the mountains didn’t bother him. His body had been on fire since last evening. It could be thirty below outside and he wouldn’t even feel it.
While he waited for the two large pizzas he ordered at Kasper’s—pepperoni and sausage for Phil and olives, hot peppers, and ham for him—he made small talk with Esta Alvarado. Knox loved Esta’s loud laugh because it reminded him of Eve’s, but that’s where the comparisons ended. Esta was one of Pedro’s daughters, and she no sooner had to work for a living than Nash did.
Pedro and his brother, Mateo, owned Mystic Ridge Enterprises. The sheep ranch had been in their family for one hundred years, give or take a decade, and to say the brothers were millionaires from the thriving business was an understatement. But Esta was the black sheep of that family, and the hilarity of the pun wasn’t lost on anyone in town.
She’d dropped out of high school at sixteen to run away to Texas with a twenty-three-year-old man from Rifle. When the private detectives that Pedro hired finally tracked her down, the man had already left her broke and alone at a Motel Six in a town no one had ever heard of. Two years later, the police in both states had still not found him, owing greatly to the fact that he’d given Esta a fake name and address.
After Pedro had brought his daughter back home and offered her any job on the ranch she wanted, she’d taken a job here at Kasper’s, steadfastly refusing to work for her father and uncle. She wasn’t an unpleasant person. She was simply stubborn and angry. Knox didn’t know the entire story, but there were rumors of her constantly being upstaged by Gabby, her younger sister who was a lacrosse star at the high school, and her brother Alberto who was only seventeen, but already planned on attending Harvard to earn an MBA. It was rumored that Pedro was grooming him to take over the entire operation one day, since Mateo had no children and Gabby wasn’t interested in running it.
But whatever the reason, Esta was so unlike the rest of the Alvarado family that she was a novelty in Passion Peak. However, Kasper Nikos liked her. She did a good job ringing up food and taking orders over the phone, and that was enough for him. Like his sister, Doli, Kasper didn’t care whose family someone was from, as long as they showed up for work and did what he paid them to do.
“Are you eating these all by yourself?” asked Esta, ringing up Knox’s pizzas.
“No. Phil is coming by for dinner. Throw in a six pack, okay?”
“Sure thing.” Esta took the beer out of the cooler behind her and typed in the computer. “How is your cousin these days?”
“He’s fine, Esta. He and Eve Rydell are engaged now. Did you know that?”
Esta frowned as she swiped Knox’s credit card through the slot in the computer. “No. I hadn’t heard.”
“Over a month ago.” It was well known around town that Esta had a thing for cops. She openly flirted with every one of them whenever they came in, or if she saw them in town.
She handed him the slip and a pen that she pulled from behind her ear. “When’s the wedding?”
“I don’t think they’ve set a date yet.”
She smiled. “Then I still have a chance.”
Knox couldn’t burst her bubble. There was no point in doing so. But he kept quiet, just the same. He handed Esta the signed receipt, took his copy and the pizzas, cradled the six-pack under one arm, and walked back home to wait for Ph
il. What would his cousin say when Knox told him that he’d dreamed about Eve all night, and wasn’t sure he could do this without wanting more than a one-time thing?
He felt like a giant shit even allowing the thought to take shape. Phil worshipped the ground Eve walked on. She was his life, and he was hers. Then why the hell did they want this? It wasn’t because they were shallow. But Knox wanted to understand it, just the same. He had to make sure Phil knew he didn’t think of Eve as just one more pretty girl. Above all, he had to know that his cousin understood that. Eve was special.
But Knox didn’t want to be simply a plaything for her or Phil. They both had to accept that, because his ego couldn’t handle being nothing more than a toy to them.
Chapter Eight
Phil was wrapping up his work, wondering how the hell he was going to stay awake during dinner, when Tommy walked into the squad room and motioned him into an empty interrogation room. “You look like shit. That gorgeous sub of yours keep you up late?”
Phil groaned inwardly. If only that was the reason. “I pulled a double. In fact, I was almost ready to leave, so make this fast, okay? I’m exhausted.”
“Okay, but what I have to tell you isn’t likely to make you sleepy.”
“Great.”
“Remember the stolen Grand Am?”
Phil nodded because he suddenly seemed to have lost his voice.
“They found it.”
Relief washed though him, but was cut short by the look on Tommy’s face. “Just tell me.”
“It was empty except for the body in the trunk.”
“Fucking A, Tommy. Just fucking tell me.”
Tommy held up his hands. “Okay, okay. Keep your fucking shirt on. They found it in a tiny town south of Durango by Lake Nighthorse. A couple of teens were in the woods, making out, and heard someone screaming. By the time they traced the source, all they saw was the car, parked at a rest stop off the road. But they were diligent enough to call the cops.”
