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Two Plus One

Page 5

by Brynn Paulin


  Out of her mind with sensation, the threads of arousal knotting in her womb overwhelmed her. Twisting, pulling, she drew tighter with each movement.

  Leo’s lips on her clit sent her hurtling into screaming oblivion. He slipped a new piece of ice inside her and the orgasm folded in upon itself, doubling in intensity and bowing her back from the table. Desperately, her hips ground against it.

  “Yes, baby, fuck it,” Leo encouraged her.

  “Want…you…” she managed. She needed to feel the men inside her, one then the other. She needed their heat. She needed their solid, velvety girths surging into her channel and filling her.

  Suddenly, all the ice was gone. Disoriented, she looked around as Leo shut the doors. Before she could ask what had happened, Nic had her in his arms. She’d never been carried so much in her life.

  He took her back into the bedroom, dragged on a condom, and fell on her with no preamble. He entered her in one thrust, pounding into her, claiming every bit of her pussy as his own—though she knew he’d always share with Leo. In this trinogomous setting, she understood neither had exclusive rights unless it came to outsiders. The glinting possessiveness in Nic’s eyes told her she was theirs and only theirs.

  The primitive, harsh mating quickly triggered her release. It burst through her body like lava. “Nic!” she screamed, clawing at his shoulders as her pussy clenched around him, milking his long cock. He didn’t stop his driving thrusts, his teeth gritted as he stared down at her through slitted, passion-glazed eyes.

  “You feel like heaven, Bree,” he groaned. “Oh, God, can’t…I’m…” He shoved forward one last time, shaking with his own explosive orgasm.

  Breathing harshly, he pulled free of her then fell to her side. As he kissed her damp skin, she spied Leo standing in the doorway. His arms crossed over his chest, he leaned against the frame and smiled.

  “My turn,” he said, stepping toward the bed.

  Oh yeah, this was gonna be an exhausting relationship. Grinning, she opened her arms.

  * * * *

  In a haze of cottony happiness, Briony walked across campus parking lot F to the building that housed the Mathematics department. For a Monday morning, it was a disgustingly good day. Great. Outstanding. Stupendous. To infinity repeating.

  Leo and Nic had stayed with her the entire weekend, loving her, getting to know her better. She grinned. They were spectacular at wearing her out. She was fairly sure euphoria beamed from her, as did neon lights stating she was one well-fucked woman. And she didn’t have a care.

  Both men had seen her off in the driveway this morning, and they’d almost ended up in the backseat of her car. What would the neighbors think?

  She didn’t care. There would be some who looked down on her for being in a ménage relationship, but she’d never been so happy.

  “Professor Swift, good morning.”

  She looked up to see the Mathematics’ Dean standing in the hallway near her office. “Dean Butler,” she said, nodding a greeting.

  Slightly over a foot taller than Briony and muscular, he made a habit of towering over her. Today was no different. She looked up at him as his censorious gaze pierced her from beneath his heavy brows. He was a good-looking man, but a bit of an ass. She didn’t let it bother her.

  “You look awfully…happy today,” he said.

  “It’s a good day,” she answered.

  “Is it?” he asked archly.

  Her happiness seeped away as quickly as if an iceberg had struck her titanic jubilation. “Why do you ask?”

  He negligently waved two slips of paper in front of her. She didn’t need a good look to know what they were. “I’d like to discuss these. Perhaps we should continue this in your office.”

  Woodenly, she nodded. Moving past him to her office door, she fumbled with her keys. Butler placed his hand in the middle of her back as he waited. Unlike the electricity that struck her at her lovers’ touches, a mire of shudders clogged her veins at the feel of his warm palm through her shirt. Bile rose in her throat. Jamming the proper key into the lock, she opened the door and shrunk away from him. Hastily, she rounded her desk and put the large piece of furniture between them. Her fingers clenched around the handle of her cane.

  The dean eyed her couch with a raised eyebrow. Pointedly returning his gaze to her, he shut the door.

  “I have to be to class shortly,” she told him. “I have a midterm to administer.”

  “Tell me about these,” he said, fluttering the two papers.

  “What are they?”

  “I’m sure you know. In the interest of saving time, I’ll remind you that these are the drop forms for Mr. Leonard Phelps and Mr. Nicholas Potter. Abnormally late drop forms.”

  “I assume they’ve discovered that they don’t need the class. It’s a freshman class and they’re seniors. They didn’t tell me why they were dropping, and it’s not my job to ferret out that information.”

  “Is it your job to fuck them?”

  Her stomach plummeted and her heart thundered in her ears as she stared at him. “Excuse me?”

  “Funny thing about affairs like these,” he murmured. He sank casually into one of her chairs and smoothed his perfectly creased pants. “There’s always something to trip you up. I was on my way over to discuss these over some Starbucks this morning—extra creamer just the way you like it—and what on earth did I encounter? You swallowing their tongues and anything else your mouth could reach.”

  Oh shit.

  A feral gleam filled his eyes. “So tell me again about these forms.”

  “Nothing happened before those forms were turned in.”

  “Prove it. What do I have? Your word? Theirs? Not very convincing.”

  She swallowed, a rock in her throat. “What now? Am I fired?”

  He smiled. With the gleam already in his eyes, he looked as terrifying as the Grinch on Christmas Eve. “That depends entirely on you, Briony. I want you to end it with those two. If I see you near them other than to say goodbye, you’re out of here.”

  “That’s it?”

  “No. I want in on what they find so enchanting.”

  She stared at him, unable to believe the way her world was falling apart. To keep her job she had to…sleep with the dean? Like hell! “That’s sexual harassment!”

  “The picture of the three of you on my phone says otherwise. Claim harassment and I claim student-teacher impropriety.” He tapped the phone clipped at his waist. “Who do you think they’ll believe?”

  He had a picture?

  Had she been crazy to think she could have Leo, Nic, and her job? Her job had been the only concrete thing in her life. It was her stability. If she chose Nic and Leo over it, and she was fired, she’d lose everything. Her house, her car—even her medical insurance would be impossible to keep. She wouldn’t even be able to rent someplace to store her things. And she was damned sure Butler wouldn’t give her a decent reference.

  He’d put her in a no-win situation. The job she’d had for eight years or the men she’d had for a few days. Her life or her love.

  No. Not love. Lust. Desire. The most viable connection she’d ever had with one man, let alone two. Happiness had been so close.

  She bit her lip to keep it from quivering. Pain shot up her arm from the death grip she still maintained on her cane.

  “I’m not sleeping with you,” she told him.

  He raised that imperious eyebrow again and stood. “You have a week to reconsider. I’ve signed these forms. If you don’t end your relationship with these two young men, I’ll see they’re reversed.”

  “Why?”

  “Collateral for your cooperation.”

  “I’m not changing my mind.”

  He headed for the door. “Neither am I.”

  Dropping her head to the desk as soon as the latch clicked shut behind him, she sobbed. Dashing her hands over her eyes, she struggled to get a hold of her emotions but they were beyond her reach. She sucked in a few breaths to cal

m herself—at least momentarily.

  She reached for her phone before she turned into a speechless, wallowing mass. Dialing her teacher’s assistant, she instructed the girl to administer the midterms today—something completely against school rules, but at the moment, Briony didn’t care. The tests were on her desk and the assistant could get them and return them afterward.

  Immediately after, she contacted the dean’s secretary and called off for the rest of the day, telling the woman she was sick. It would be true as soon as she let her feelings overtake her once more…

  * * * *

  After leaving Leo at the communications building, Nic headed to the math building to study in the lounge set up there in a junction of hallways. It was a nice place to study, and really, who was he kidding, he hoped to catch a glimpse of Briony as she went about her day. He’d fantasized about her that morning in the shower after he’d returned to the apartment he shared with Leo. Maybe someday soon all of them would share a place—they would if his dream materialized.

  Surprisingly, there had been nothing sexual about his thoughts that morning. He’d envisioned the three of them on the road together while he and Leo were on assignment. Exploring. Laughing. Loving. It had been an incredibly happy scene of domestic bliss that had surprised him. It wasn’t the kind of dream he was accustomed to having. He wouldn’t complain if it came true.

  He was a few feet from Briony’s office when she lurched out of it and rushed his direction. Laughing he caught her arms.

  “Hey, sweetheart, what’s the rush,” he murmured just for her ears. “Anxious for tonight? I am.”

  Her head snapped up, her eyes as hurt as if he’d struck her. “Nic,” she gasped. She looked around nervously, and he dropped his hands so that nothing was perceived out of the ordinary.

  “I…” She sniffled.

  “Are you getting a cold? I’ll take good care of you. Lots of chicken soup—”

  “I was going to call you,” she said on a rush of words. “I…” She looked around again and a strange panic kicked him in the chest.

  No.

  “I can’t see either of you anymore,” she told him confirming his fear.

  “Why?” he gasped in shock.

  She looked away. “I’ve come to my senses. I need you to tell Leo. Don’t pursue this. Please.”

  He stared at her aghast, feeling everything he’d hoped for over the last two years crumbling like an overused toy. Helpless to do anything about it in the crowd of students milling around them, he stared after her as she turned and disappeared into the throng, taking his dream with her.

  Snapping out his phone, he called Leo. Something was definitely wrong here.

  Chapter Four

  A fist beat against her door.

  “Briony!” Leo yelled.

  Her name sounded again as both he and Nic pounded, trying to get her attention. She closed her eyes and pressed her lips together. It was over. They had to accept that, but her sorrow amplified at the anguish in their voices. It wasn’t fair that she was forced to choose her job, her security, over the lovers who meant so much to her. Though it had been such a short time and the connection between them was new, she was certain that it could grow into something strong and permanent. Given the chance.

  As shadow crossed the frosted window and she saw one of the men press against it as if trying to see inside. It was impossible, but she sank against the wall anyway and went still. When he moved away, she headed toward her office, across from her bedroom. She couldn’t stand here while they called for her, and as cowardly as it was to avoid them, she couldn’t face them either. Not yet. Not when the break was so fresh.

  At the mouth of the hallway, a heavy thud froze her in place. Aghast, she turned and stared at the front door. Another thud rattled the wall and the picture beside the door crashed to the floor, the glass shattering on the marble tiles. Oh my God, they were gonna break down the door and her nosy neighbor Mr. Jenkins would call the police.

  “Stop!” she screamed, rushing toward the door as fast as her gimping gait would take her. She envisioned the dark wood doorframe splintering under the force of their attack. The slamming stopped. Several feet from the door, she stopped short. Splinters of glass were sprayed across the floor and she was in stocking-feet.

  “Briony! Let us in,” Leo yelled again as she considered crossing to the door anyway.

  “There’s glass all over the floor,” she called. “Go to the back door.”

  Without waiting, she detoured toward the kitchen and reached the French doors to her backyard as the men sprinted across the grass. She was in Leo’s arms before she’d finished opening one all the way. Lightning forked through her, pricking tears in her eyes.

  “You can’t do this,” he murmured against her hair, and she moaned.

  “Everything was fine when we left here this morning,” Nic said. “What happened?”

  He stood a few feet away, his hands shoved into his pockets as if holding himself back from a rejection that was sure to come. Guilt weighed heavily on her and she wanted to cry at the pain she’d caused him—both of them. She held out her arm to him, and he was beside her in an instant, his face pressed into her neck, his arms crushing her to him.

  As if sensing Nic’s need for comfort, Leo loosened his grip and slid around behind her. Of course he knew how Nic’s gregarious nature was a defense against the way he’d so often been thrust aside as a child. He’d confessed in the dark that his older brother and three younger sisters’ needs had always eclipsed his. His forward behavior only hid his fragile ego, an ego she’d damaged further by choosing her job over them.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, her heart breaking. How could she keep her job and not hurt them, not destroy the future she could so clearly see with both men? There was no way to have both job and love.

  Love?

  Oh, God. Love.

  The truth of the emotion slammed against her as hard as one of the trees that had broken her body on her doomed skiing trip. It stole her breath and she stumbled. She’d almost made the wrong decision. But…if she chose Nic and Leo over her job...

  What would she do? Would she be able to get another job? She didn’t doubt the Dean would give her a horrible reference when it came to finding employment in her field. The choice before her was untenable. She thought she’d made it, that she was firm in her decision, but in their arms, her resolve crumbled like dry sand.

  Turning her head, she kissed Nic’s shoulder then his neck. Gently, she pulled from his embrace and backed away. She beckoned the two men to sit at the table. Without waiting to see if they complied, she headed for the coffeemaker. Behind her, the muted sound of chairs scrapping across the carpet told her they were sitting. And waiting. She had explanations to make and they wouldn’t let her off without hearing them.

  She filled the coffeemaker’s tank with water then measured the grounds by rote.

  “Dean Butler knows about our relationship,” she told them as she pulled down coffee mugs. One slammed to the counter as her emotion overtook her. “He…he wanted in on the, um, action.”

  “What?” Leo growled. “That bastard.”

  A bitter bark of laughter escaped her. “Yeah. Ironically, he signed your drop forms as collateral for my compliance. It doesn’t make sense really. I mean, they’re turned in. That means he doesn’t really have a hold over me as far as that goes, but his ultimatum…” She sighed, shaking her head. She refused to look at the men behind her. The vibration of their outrage transmitted to her loud and clear. A thud that sounded suspiciously like a fist rattled the table.

  “What ultimatum?” Nic demanded.

  She turned to face them. She gripped the counter behind her for support. “End my relationship with you or lose my job. I’d already refused to sleep with him, but he’s hurting me where he can.”

  “Damn him!” Leo exploded.

  “So you chose your job,” Nic said hollowly. He got up and paced to the door as if needing to escape the
rejection. How many times had something else—someone else—been chosen over him? She’s managed to hurt him in the worst possible way.

  She stared at his rigid shoulders as he stared into the backyard. She sighed before carefully forming her next words. “What other choice do I have?”

  Nic glared at her over his shoulder before looking away again. When her gaze turned to Leo, she found equal pain and accusation. Their thought on her choice was evident. You should have chosen us, they seemed to say.

  “I need my job,” she said quietly.

  “A bunch of numbers aren’t going to keep you warm,” Nic grated almost too quietly for her to hear. He turned. “And what about next time? You toss us aside and what about then? The next guy…” His eyes closed for a moment, the distaste at what he said clear on his face. “Some other guy comes along, and what if the Dean finds reason to take umbrage at that, too?”

  The thought of another man turned her stomach. She swung around and fiddled with the coffee cups to hide her emotions. Being with them, even in this benign setting, reinforced her need to be with them, and her desire reject the ultimatum she’d been given. If she gave in to her carnal desires, she’d lose the one comfort and constant in her life. Her teaching. The numbers. She didn’t doubt the Dean’s determination to fire her if she didn’t comply with his demand.

  She reached for the coffeepot, but Leo forestalled her. “We don’t want coffee, baby.”

  “What do you want?” she asked, losing her patience though she wasn’t angry with them. Frustration pulled her nerves taut and she wanted to scream. “Do you think I want to end the best thing that’s ever happened in my life? I’m trying to be a grown up here. As much as I want to say ‘fuck it all’ and do what I really want to do, I have to think about the future and how I’m going to support myself. It would be nice not to care if I have a job or not, but that’s not the way things go in real life.”

  “I’ve had to fight for everything in my life,” Nic retorted. “Don’t tell me about real life. Until the book royalties started, I worked full time and went to school full time. Even though Leo is a trust-fund kid, we both worked our way around the country. Don’t even start in on us about bills and responsibilities.”

 
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