Double Dare: April Fools' For Love

by Jodi Redford

  A choked sound broke from Matt, hinting that he’d noticed Dani and he was now engaged in similar thoughts to Graham’s.

  Her motions endearingly timid, Dani smoothed a hand along her hip and shuffled toward them. “The fact I’m here doesn’t mean anything. This is not a date.”

  Graham loosened his tongue from the roof of his mouth. “Are you at least allowed to have a glass of wine on this non date?”

  She exhaled softly. “Yes. Of course.”

  Chuckling, Matt freed her of the bakery box in her right hand. “Glad to see you remembered dessert.”

  “You’re lucky.” Her lips twitched in a mischievous way that instantly stiffened Graham’s cock. “I was tempted to scarf them down on the walk over.”

  Matt arched a brow. “Guess we woulda needed to find another sticky sweet indulgence for your taste buds then, huh?”

  Judging from the beet red stain decorating her cheeks, she’d conjured some interesting possibilities following that suggestion. The knowledge did nothing to ease the snugness in Graham’s boxer briefs. Especially when he produced a tantalizing mental snapshot of her full, pouty lips wrapped around the head of his cock. The fantasy was so real, he could almost feel the warm, wet swirl of her tongue teasing his shaft and the soft vibration of her moan humming over his flesh.

  Jesus. Too many more thoughts like that, and he’d bust out of his jockeys. Clearing his throat gruffly, he abandoned the grill and strode to the umbrella-shaded table. He snatched the wine glass he’d fetched earlier from the kitchen cupboard and pulled the chilled bottle of sparkling rosé from its perch in the ice bucket. The soft scuff of her sandals on the brick patio announced Dani’s approach. He slid a glance her way and noticed the frown scrunching her forehead.

  She jerked her focus from the wine label and offered him a confused look. “That’s my favorite wine.”

  “I know.” He corked a laugh when she gave him the side eye. “I haven’t been digging through your garbage like a creepy stalker. Erin passed the info on to us. And to save you from jumping to any conclusions about the lobster, she provided that intel too.”

  The wariness dissolved from Dani’s face, replaced in a flash with fiery irritation. “I’m going to strangle that kid. What other pertinent stuff did she get around to disclosing about me? My questionable love of Ramen noodles, Tumblr porn, and cat memes?”

  Her cranky, outraged response triggered the laugh he’d successfully caged seconds ago. Porn? Damn, never woulda guessed on that one. “What’s Tumblr?”

  She turned several deeper shades of scarlet. “An internet distraction that gets me every damn time.”

  He topped off the wine glass and handed it to her. “Sounds like something I’ll have to check out.”

  Studiously flicking her gaze away from his, she took a dainty sip of her rosé. Sighing, she twirled the stem of the glass between her fingertips. “I really want to stay furious at Erin, but damn it, this tastes wonderful.”

  Matt joined them and passed an opened bottle of beer to Graham. “Does this mean we’re all in the clear now?”

  Dani twitched her nose. “Jury’s still out. I’m not sure how I feel about you trying to win me over with wine and lobster. Especially since this is clearly not a date.”

  Graham swigged a quick swallow of beer and eyed Dani over the lip of his upraised bottle. “You keep pointing that out.”

  “Yes. Because I don’t want to give the wrong impression.”

  He dropped his microbrew onto the table and studied her. “Why are you so dead set on pretending this attraction isn’t mutual?”

  She opened her mouth, and he held up his hand, stalling any pending denial she might have ready. “Yeah, the gentlemanly thing would be for me to not bring up the countless times I’ve busted you checking us out. Fortunately for everyone involved, I’m no gentleman.”

  Matt grunted. “Understatement of the century.”

  Dani choked on a cough. “I haven’t been checking you two out!”

  “Honey, that is a blatant lie, and you know it.” Graham returned her scowl with a smile. “It’s okay though, since we’ve been doing our fair share of checking you out too. And can I just say that you’ve killed at least half of my brain cells with how fucking amazing you look in that dress?”

  She gaped at him mutely. Chuckling, he leaned forward and gently nudged her chin upward with his knuckle, effectively snapping her mouth shut. “Best not to give the flies an open invitation.”

  Dani rolled her lips together before letting a sigh escape. “Thank you for the compliment. I’m not really used to getting male attention. Part of the hazard of rarely venturing outside my house.”

  “Well, Matt and I appreciate the times you do. Especially when you’re wearing a bikini.” He waggled his eyebrows, earning her sputtered laugh. Hell, he could easily get used to that sweet sound. “We’re particularly fond of the purple floral number.” Sweat prickled his brow. A woman with assets like Dani’s should come with a warning label attached—May cause spontaneous combustion in all red blooded males.

  “Should have brought it with you. We just cleaned the pool and hot tub.” Matt cocked his beer bottle toward the custom-built gunite pool behind them. “You coulda been the first to break them in.”

  He didn’t know whether to praise Matt for that suggestion, or thank his lucky stars when Dani shot it down with the excuse that the bikini in question currently occupied the bottom of her laundry basket. Trying to keep his few remaining brain cells from exploding with a dripping wet Dani in close proximity? Yeah, not fucking likely.

  He cleared his throat in an effort to banish the provocative picture from his mind. “How ‘bout you keep doofus here company while I get the lobsters on the grill?”

  Matt didn’t gripe about the nickname. Probably because he was too thrilled at scoring some one-on-one time with Dani. Fortunately Graham wasn’t the jealous type. And it was definitely a non-issue when it came to Matt. They’d even hooked up with the same woman a couple of times. So the fact that they both wanted Dani was certainly nothing unusual. Truth be told, he was hard as a damn bat at the notion of her squirming naked between them, coming her brains out while they fucked her senseless.

  Covertly adjusting his fly, he lifted the hood on the grill and situated the lobster tails on the rack. He whisked the herbed butter sauce with the basting brush and generously slathered the seafood before allowing his focus to drift in Dani’s direction again. The citronella candles scattered on the table cast her pretty features in an enchanting glow. Entranced by the sight, he didn’t immediately notice the sting in his right hand. When it morphed into an outright searing pain, he cursed and jerked his arm back.

  Dani and Matt slashed their gazes in his direction and he offered them a sheepish look. “Burnt myself.” On the bright side, at least he hadn’t screamed like a girl. No doubt that would have impressed her.

  She jumped from her seat and rushed toward him. Matt remained slouched in his chair. A week hardly passed where one of them didn’t suffer some injury on the job, so a minor singe wasn’t worth getting excited about. Graham was almost too embarrassed to let Dani fuss over him, but the instant she took his hand in hers he began to see the benefit in capitulating to her need to play nursemaid.

  Resisting the urge to bury his nose in her deliciously fragrant hair, he scooted closer. She blew a soft puff of air across the reddened burn mark, stirring the fine hairs on his forearm and parts south of his waistband. Clearly his body had no damn control around her.

  If she noticed the distinct bulge behind the zipper of his shorts she sure didn’t let on about it. “You should get antibiotic ointment on this.”

  “I’ll be okay.”

  She huffed out an exasperated breath that caused her breasts to swell and quiver against the plunging neckline of her dress. He damn near busted a nut. Lifting her gaze to his, she offered him a droll look. “You’re one of those guys who’d refuse to go to the ER even if you had a steel pipe protrudin
g from your stubborn noggin, aren’t you?”

  “Depends. Is it impairing my vision?”

  She rolled her eyes. “What am I going to do with you?”

  There was a loaded question.

  “Do you really want him to answer that?” Snorting, Matt propped his feet on the adjacent cushioned seat. “Because believe me, the kinky sonofabitch’s suggestions would be some doozies.”

  “Like yours wouldn’t be a million times worse,” Graham volleyed.

  Matt’s expression turned smug. “Damn straight.”

  Blushing, Dani dropped Graham’s hand. For that reason alone, he was damn tempted to kick his best friend’s ass six ways to Sunday for making her nervous with his trash talk. Instead he winged Matt a death glare over the top of Dani’s head. Punk had the audacity to only shrug in response.

  Tension settling over her, Dani chafed her arms. “I’m flattered by your attention. Really I am. But I think my coming here was a mistake.”

  Graham frowned. “Why? And don’t bring up the BS about this not being a date again.”

  Dani remained quiet while she bounced her gaze between him and Matt. Finally she sighed and leveled her full attention on Graham. “The fact it’s not the slightest bit out of the norm for you to refer to this—” She gestured between the three of them—“a date only validates how different our worlds are, and precisely how far out of my element I am here.”

  “Why do you assume this is something Matt and I routinely do?”

  Her expression flustered, she fidgeted with her earring. “I know this is going to sound like I’ve been spying on you—which I totally haven’t been doing—but...”

  His curiosity properly stirred by her skittishness and cryptic words, he brushed his fingers across her cheek, forcing her to meet his eyes. “But what?”

  She exhaled a heavy breath. “Damn it, blinds are there for a reason.”

  He preferred to blame his slow uptake on things that were completely out of his control—such as his distraction over the velvety softness of her skin. If that weren’t enough of a hazard to his few remaining functional brain cells, there was also the nearness of her temptingly kissable lips. “Err, what do blinds have to do with any of this?”

  She shifted her head, and he automatically followed her gaze to the sliding glass door directly across from them. They’d left the TV on in the living room, and the occasional flicker of lights from the mounted flat screen illuminated the space. Fully intending to ask what she was looking at, he suddenly noticed the darkened window across the street.

  “That’s my bedroom. I have some of the more interesting views in the house,” she supplied dryly.

  It took several beats for him to catch her meaning. Blinking, he swung his focus back to her. “It looks right into our living room.”

  “Yep.” Her pointed stare filled in the remaining blanks.

  Ah hell. He scrubbed his hand across his jaw, uncertain how to broach this. Might as well figure out precisely how much damage control he and Matt faced. “What exactly have you seen?”

  “Let’s just say Tumblr has nothing on you two.”

  Shit. He rubbed his brow, desperately scrambling for an answer that’d hopefully ease her reservations. No wonder she acted like a nervous mouse around them. She probably assumed they’d go sex freak on her and try something funny. The thought didn’t set well on him. The makings of an apology forming, he opened his mouth. Before he could push the words past his tongue, the hypocrisy of the situation clubbed him upside the head.

  Wait a sec, what did they have to be sorry for? He squinted at Dani. “Ya know, the blinds might have been open, but no one forced you to look.”

  Rather than respond, she gnawed her bottom lip and veered her scrutiny to the grill. “Shouldn’t you flip those lobster tails or something?”

  “No, they’re fine.” He continued eyeing her, the bright spots of pink riding her cheeks pinging his suspicions. “Maybe you didn’t look away because you liked watching us.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” The high-pitched octave of her voice and her refusal to meet his gaze spoke volumes.

  The sneaky little voyeur. Biting back a grin, Graham glanced in Matt’s direction. The smirk on his best friend’s mug confirmed that he didn’t buy her act one bit either.

  Matt dropped his feet to the ground and scraped his chair away from the table. His approach stealthy, he sauntered up behind Dani and trailed his fingertips along the slope of her bared shoulders. She jolted and whipped her gaze up to Matt. Ignoring her frazzled stare, Matt brushed lazy figure-eights across her skin. “I think we’ve got a Peeping Thomasina on our hands.”

  “I—what—no.” Dani spit the denial out fast enough, it was a miracle her tongue didn’t get whiplash.

  “Admit it, you enjoyed what you saw,” Matt prodded. “If you come clean, we might even reenact a scene or two with you.”

  A shaky breath slipped from Dani. “What makes you think I want that?”

  “Hm.” Matt ghosted his fingers down to the crook of her elbow. “Maybe it has something to do with how hard your nipples are right now.”

  She dropped her attention to the perky nubs poking against the clingy fabric of her dress, and mumbled a curse. If he wasn’t dealing with his own stiff situation at the moment, Graham would have chuckled. Instead, he clicked off the grill and transferred the lobsters to a plate.

  Dani’s perplexed scrutiny cruised from him to the tails and back again. “I don’t think those are done.”

  “They’re not.”

  “Then why—” She broke off with a hard swallow when he slid his fingers through her hair.

  Holding her wide-eyed stare, he lowered his head. “Because this requires my soul focus.” He closed the scant millimeter separating her lips from his, a hungry groan working its way through his chest at his first intoxicating taste of her. Cupping her nape, he re-angled his approach, coaxing her into the kiss with a teasing flicker of his tongue along the seam of her lips. She leaned into him, a wispy breath snaring in her throat.

  Instead of immediately giving into her sweet submission, he deliberately held back from deepening the kiss. She clutched the front of his tank top, her fingers bunching the material, pulling him closer. He wasn’t entirely certain she was aware of what she was doing, but either way the end result snapped the final thread to his self-imposed restraint.

  Nipping her bottom lip between his teeth with a growl, he wrapped his arms around her waist and hiked her tight to him. Her gasp all the invitation required, he delved his tongue past her lips. His senses reeled under her intoxicating spell. Groaning, he slipped a hand to the small of her back and followed the dip of her spine. The gorgeous ass that’d starred in countless of his wet dreams beckoned. Splaying his fingers, he filled his palm with the enticing softness of her right butt cheek and squeezed.

  She trembled and squirmed, providing him the perfect opportunity to slide his mouth to her jaw. He cruised lower, stopping to bite her chin gently before licking a slow path down her neck. Judging from the sexy noises she made, he’d discovered a particularly sensitive zone. Armed with that knowledge, he waged a steady assault with his lips, teeth, and tongue, feeding the building flame until she was a quivering wreck. Her response stoked the primal caveman in him. He wanted to devour her whole. Strip her naked. Bend her over one of those lawn chairs and worship every inch of her before sinking his cock deep inside her.

  Her effect on him was crazy. He never lost his cool with women. Never experienced these intense, consuming thoughts. He wanted to claim Dani in the most primitive sense of the word. Show her what it meant to be fucked by a man on fire for her.

  Matt’s nearby haggard breaths verified he was turned on and riding the ragged edge right alongside Graham. Coasting his mouth to Dani’s ear, he made room for Matt to work his own devastating skill on her. He shifted slightly, the desire burning hotter when he glimpsed the wet mating dance of their tongues. When it came to watching, she wasn’t the only one
who enjoyed a good show. And the one she and Matt provided stoked the raw, elemental lust overtaking Graham.

  Roving his hands to her breasts, he cupped their bountiful weight before lowering his head and sucking her nipple into his mouth, fabric and all. He bit lightly, relishing the broken moan that fell from her. That slight marking wasn’t enough. Nowhere near. He cruised his hand upward, not slowing until he encountered the dangled ends of her halter ties. Closing his fingers around one tie, he tugged.

  Dani snapped from her sensual trance. Her expression panicked, she pushed her hands against Graham’s chest and stumbled out of his and Matt’s embrace. “I—I can’t do this.”

  Graham reached for her. “Dani—”

  “I’m sorry. This was a mistake.” Without granting him or Matt a backward glance, she rushed for the gate.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Carefully tucking the finished watercolor in its cellophane overwrap, Dani replayed last night’s events for the thousandth time. What in the world possessed her to put herself square in the line of temptation? She’d known damn good and well that Graham and Matt would bring out the big guns in their war against her defenses.

  Recalling the rock-hard pressure of their erections nudging against her belly and hip, she snuffed a whimper. It was particularly a hellish struggle trying to banish the memory of those big guns. In all of her past covert peeping sessions the dismal lighting had left most of the physical details to her imagination. Vivid as hers could be at times—especially when it came to Matt and Graham—nothing had prepared her for the staggering impressiveness of their equipment. Or how easily they could dissolve her into a mindless puddle of goo. Now that she knew precisely how weak they made her...

  She’d have to avoid them the rest of her life. That’s all there was to it.