High Seduction

by Vivian Arend

  That made more sense than she’d expected, and Erin nodded. “I get that sensation in the middle of a rescue. When things are going well, or even when they go to hell. Being pushed to react instantly, to make the right decisions—ones that could make a difference in saving someone’s life . . .”

  She did know what he was referring to, only she’d associated that kind of pleasure with her work. With her lifestyle outside the job, things were different. Even her decision to go to The Wild and only hang out in the bar area with Phillip—exercising a level of control that meant she had a safe haven around her, but the edge still gave her a kick.

  Maybe not to the same degree as if she were being tied up and restrained, or being watched on the sly. The rush from that was a different kind of exhilarating.

  Gentle contact with the back of her hand pulled her from her ponderings. Tim stroked a second time lightly with his fingers. “You get this. It’s powerful to be in charge, isn’t it?”

  “High-test adrenaline shot straight-up into a vein.” Erin grinned. “Okay, I’m ready for the next challenge. One sunny day—what shall we do with it? And don’t suggest cliff jumping because you already did that at Matt’s.”

  “Spoilsport.” Tim filled his plate a second time, then started spouting off the wildest and most insane suggestions. Everything from spearfishing to building a massive labyrinth in the outdoor entertainment area and setting up a paintball fight.

  Erin bantered with him and enjoyed every minute, right up until reality kicked in again.

  This exercise was supposed to show her why she could trust Tim all the time, in all the places. And even though they were having fun, she still wasn’t sure where their worlds overlapped. How to take the trust she had for him into the real world and move it into this other place.

  What they had still seemed more suited to a fantasy realm out of normal time and space. Somewhere her sexual desires and urges toward submission didn’t seem so contradictory to everything she admired in the women she worked with. Everything she’d fought for over so many years in becoming a pilot. In dealing with the naysayers who didn’t like her sex. Who didn’t like her skin colour. Hell, who didn’t like the friends she kept.

  She liked who she was, and no matter how much fun it was, and how much she . . . cared for Tim, this couldn’t become a forever thing if she had to give up everything that made her tick. Hopefully this exercise would be the final proof that would let her move forward with confidence.

  Because her independence and strength were too important to be abandoned even for out-of-this-world sex. Even for a man with whom she was beginning to think she was falling in love.

  CHAPTER 26

  She was holding back. It was subtle, but it was there, and Tim fought to keep his damn mouth shut. If this exercise was going to work, she had to figure this out by herself.

  If it didn’t work? It was probably for the best. He wanted her, but he wanted her fully onboard, and if he couldn’t have that, he’d have to let her go.

  Like. Fucking. Hell.

  He chuckled at his own internal dialogue. He wasn’t going to give up, but it would be so much simpler if Erin got the message now than down the road, because he had no intention of going anywhere.

  She was stuck with him. Let that truth soak in.

  They’d spent the last hour tromping through the beautiful winter scenery, snowshoes strapped to their feet. They’d traveled a fair bit already and had reached the giddy-with-fresh-air stage of the afternoon.

  Matt laughed as he ducked to avoid the snowball Erin beaned at his head.

  Then they both turned their attention in his direction, and he swore, racing for the protection of the trees as Erin and Matt ganged up on him. A flurry of snowballs flew around him.

  “Cheaters,” he shouted over his shoulder.

  “All’s fair in love and war,” Matt retorted, a hard-packed snowball accompanying his words, smacking Tim in the back of the head.

  “Oh, nice one,” Erin said.

  Her encouragement turned to a scream, and Tim whirled to discover Matt had tripped her, following her to the ground and pinning her under him in the snow.

  They rolled a few times as Erin struggled to get away, laughing far too hard as their bulky snowshoes interfered with a normal romp. Matt paused, staring down at her, and for a moment Tim held his breath.

  The violent urge to knock off Matt’s head wasn’t there. It wasn’t that jealousy had no place in his life, but with both Erin and Matt, there were issues he’d already taken into account.

  Instead of the green-eyed monster sweeping in, the ideas buzzing through his brain were far different. He hoped she’d have seen what he’d seen. That she’d have the courage to take one more step . . .

  She reached up with gloved hands and caught Matt around the neck, pulling him down for a passionate kiss. Tim paced back, watching closely as flashes of tongue and clouds of heated breath fogged the air around them. Matt eased his elbows to the snow on either side of her head, stretched over her while their snowshoes tangled together awkwardly.

  They broke apart when Tim stopped beside them, Matt rolling off and grinning happily skyward. No guilt there, either—which was good. Tim offered his hands to them both, and had two hard clasps wrap around his wrists a second later.

  Oh shit, he hadn’t thought this situation through very well.

  An instant later he, too, was in the snow, Erin chuckling madly as she scrambled on top to pin him down in the field of icy white.

  Matt’s bold laughter echoed off the trees. “I can’t believe you fell for that,” he taunted.

  Erin tilted her head to the side, smiling contentedly. “I’m glad he did.”

  Then she leaned over and kissed him as well. Tim wrapped his arms around her and hung on tight, keeping her close and savouring her touch. She lifted off him, just a bare inch, and stared earnestly into his eyes. “Did I read your signals right? Was that okay?” she whispered.

  “Nothing wrong from where I stand. Lie. Whatever.”

  Erin kissed him again, her tongue sliding smoothly along his as they found a place between anticipation and acceptance. Not quite at the ravish each other point, but far beyond a casual kiss.

  Tim thrilled at her question, though. She’d been watching closely, had she? It was still a sexual kind of situation, but to take the chance to flirt and kiss with Matt right out in the open gave Tim hope she was getting the point.

  The whole way back as the three of them bantered and eyed one another, he wondered what else she’d be brave enough to arrange.

  Was it working? God, let her get this.

  They dumped their gear in the storage room, and Erin lifted her chin as she checked them over. “Either of you starving?”

  They shook their heads.

  A greedy grin blossomed that turned her expression into pure, molten gold with a dusting of lust. “Then it’s time for a lazy afternoon by the pool. Tim, could we convince your magical food delivery crew to drop off appetizers later, so we can just hang out and not go anywhere?”

  “Brilliant woman.” Tim pulled out his cell phone and passed it over. “Here, it should be one of the last numbers I dialed. Go ahead, and Matt and I will wait for you by the pool.”

  Erin accepted the phone, curling her fingers around it and squeezing tighter than necessary, the explanation for her tension clear only a second later. “No swimsuits, by the way,” she ordered.

  She was working with the power she’d been given, even though it made her uncomfortable. Tim wanted to give her a high five for pushing through.

  “Not a problem,” he confirmed, not bothering to hide his smirk as he realized something. “I look forward to seeing the caterer’s face when he delivers our appetizers.”

  Matt smacked him in the chest, and Tim groaned in mock pain. “You’re such an asshole at times,” Matt deadpanned.

  “You got a problem being naked in front of strangers? I don’t. Hell, call back the masseur—the man is welcome t
o torment my ass some more if he’d like.”

  “Freak. Get your ass out of here before I change my mind and make you my slaves for the afternoon.” When he and Matt both paused to exchange dirty grins, Erin rolled her eyes. “Double freaks. That was a threat, not a promise.”

  “Hard to tell,” Matt pointed out. “As if being your slave would be punishment.”

  Tim spotted the telltale signs of her excitement. He tapped Matt on the shoulder and motioned to the door. “We’ll work on our definitions later. Let’s go before she orders liver paté or some rotten vegetarian crap in retaliation.”

  His friend was quiet as they headed down the hall, Erin slowing behind them as she made contact with the caterers.

  Tim spoke softly so as to not interrupt her conversation. “You really do have an enviable lifestyle, Matt. I take it things are going well businesswise even now that you’ve stepped back from micromanaging the entire show?”

  “Business is fine. More than fine. Consider this your open-ended invitation to join me in Spain when you can this coming summer—I’m thinking about renting a villa for a month or two.”

  “You deserve it. I’m glad to know things are good for you.”

  Matt glanced over his shoulder. “You’ve got a pretty good lifestyle as well. Things get squared away okay with Erin?”

  “We’re working on it.” Tim held the pool door open for Matt to enter first. They’d lost Erin around one of the corners, and he took advantage of the moment. “Thanks for being willing to help. You’ve been more than giving—I can’t imagine throwing this much chaos at anyone else and having them still welcome us with open arms.”

  “We’re friends,” Matt insisted. “And like I said to you this morning, Erin’s an amazing woman. Anything I can do to help, I’m willing.”

  Tim patted him on the back. “You’ll probably get your chance. I have no idea what she’s got in mind, but let’s give her the reins.”

  “No problem, if it’s half as much fun as last night.”

  Tim eyed the indoor pool gracing the length of the lower walk-out portion of the house, a steaming hot tub visible on the deck outside the solid wall of floor-to-ceiling glass.

  Casual wealth would never cease to astound him.

  He reached over his head and grabbed his T-shirt at the back collar, pulling it forward and off, tossing it onto one of the deck chairs. He stripped off his pants and underwear all at one go. “I need a quick rinse before I hit the pool.”

  Matt paused in the middle of getting undressed to point along the sidewall. Tim ditched the rest of his clothes on the chair before striding across the deck and flipping on the water.

  “Do we have any plans for tomorrow?” Matt asked.

  “Not yet.” Tim stepped under the heated stream. “Maybe we should wait to see how tonight goes.”

  Matt nodded, standing to the side of the shower and waiting his turn. “No matter what, I’m there for you.”

  “I appreciate it, more than you know.” Tim stepped aside, dashing water from his fingers. “Any time you get the urge for some company, you’re welcome to visit me in Banff. I’ve always got room for you.”

  A few more nights, a few more days to get Erin to acknowledge that what she wanted was the same thing he wanted. He pulled himself back to alert as a fine spray bounced off Matt’s head, the other man sliding under the shower head and soaking himself down.

  Tim turned to the pool and took a running leap at the water, cutting through the surface in a mass of bubbles as the cool water wrapped around him.

  * * *

  Erin stood outside the massive room that housed the pool, gathering her nerve. She’d ordered food, ordered the guys to the pool, basically ordered them to strip . . .

  Now she watched.

  They moved around each other with an easy flow. Typical guys, no hangups, no lingering. Tim was naked before she could blink, and then she didn’t want to blink because the man was spectacular. He tilted his head back under the shower and rubbed his hair, and the muscles flexing in his upper body and shoulders made her mouth water.

  Then Matt was there as well, and she could only hope that by the time she was in her midforties she’d have the courage to strip down and wander the pool deck as easily.

  The two of them paused under the shower briefly before Tim took off, diving into the pool with a splash that sent water rippling over the gutters onto the deck.

  While Tim began an easy freestyle stroke down the length, Matt remained in the shower, turning slowly under the water, adjusting the taps. He stared at the pool and the rhythmic turnover as Tim raised his arms over the water’s surface again and again before flipping at the end of the length and making his way back.

  She was hiding in the hallway, and she knew it. When Matt glanced in her direction, there was no more time to delay. She stepped in to face them.

  Matt grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist before crossing the deck to meet her. “Everything good?”

  “All done.” She glanced at the pool. Waited.

  Matt cleared his throat. “If you don’t want me here, I can leave. Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

  Erin took a deep breath. “I think being uncomfortable is part of the point. If you’re willing to stay, please stay.” She met his serious gaze. “Thank you for this morning. Your words of wisdom about trusting. That’s what this is about right now—figuring out what trust means in different situations. If I can . . . just get past this mental block I have, I might understand.”

  “As long as you’re sure.” He tweaked her nose. “I’m not at all upset being involved as long as it’s what you want.”

  She leaned in and kissed his cheek, enjoying how easy it was to be around him. “You’re a very special guy, Matt. And I want you here.”

  The mental debate took all of three seconds, but she did think it through before grabbing his towel, fingers slipping under the edge and brushing his abdomen.

  He coughed lightly. “No swimsuits, right?”

  “Right. Only I understood the towel. It’s difficult to have a serious conversation while all your good bits are out there in the open air.”

  Matt chuckled. “Talented, beautiful, and wise.”

  “You want to get in the pool?” Erin motioned, not hiding her grin. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

  He covered her hands with his own, squeezing so she had to take hold of the fabric before he loosened one edge and stepped away. Bare-ass naked, butt flexing smoothly as he paced toward the pool and left her holding his towel.

  Oh boy.

  Tim pulled up to the end of the length about the same time Matt leapt in, the wave catching him and slapping him in the face. Tim gazed expectantly at Erin.

  She stepped over, enjoying the position of looming over him, even if the illusion of power was just that, an illusion. “You having fun?” she asked.

  “Terrible time until about two seconds ago. Now my heart’s arrived, and I can breathe again.”

  The resulting flutter in her belly shouldn’t have come so easily. He was nothing if not a charmer. “You’ve got the silver tongue of your Irish forebears, that’s for sure.”

  “It’s good for more than pretty compliments, if you need any ideas.” Tim winked as he leaned up on his elbows, Matt at his side.

  The game changed. She examined them carefully as she’d done outdoors, the way she would if this were a rescue situation and she were in charge.

  There were small clues when she really looked. Tim’s gaze remained on her face ninety percent of the time, but when it slipped away, it lingered on her breasts. Matt full-out stared when he forgot—

  What did they want? It was fairly easy to know right now, so what the hell. Erin wrapped her fingers around the bottom edge of her T-shirt and shimmied it up a couple inches.

  Tim leaned forward. Matt gave up pretending he was looking anywhere but at her chest.

  The naked gap shifted higher, fabric caressing her breasts. “How’s the water?�
�� she asked.

  “Getting hotter,” Tim quipped.

  She paused, changed her mind, and dropped her hands to her waistband.

  The sheer disappointment pouring off the guys grew tangible. “Don’t stop on my account,” Matt muttered.

  “This will work even better,” she promised. Erin slipped the fabric off her hips, going down to her panties as she stepped out of her pants and left them puddled on the deck.

  She definitely had their attention.

  The T-shirt hung to midthigh, covering her bra and panties. “Decision time,” she announced.

  Tim reluctantly dragged his gaze off her legs and back to her face. “Are you deciding which of us to fuck first? Because I don’t care, as long as fucking is involved.”

  “So impatient. I’m still dressed.” She moved to the very edge of the pool and stroked his forearm with a foot, delicately balanced on one leg. “I’m wearing three pieces of clothing. You get to choose one for me to take off, and Matt chooses one. Whatever you don’t pick, stays on.”

  “Choose well, my young apprentice,” Matt intoned, and the rising sexual tension broke into laughter.

  Tim raised a brow. “You’re creative, I’ll say that much.”

  “You’ll need to be creative as well, depending on what you decide to leave behind.”

  He watched her face, and there was a question in his eyes, but his amusement went far deeper than the frustration she’d seen this morning. He was both turned on and having fun, and she’d done that. She’d made the decision that brought them here.

  Tim held out his hand. “Panties. I can fuck you around them, but there’s too many things to do where they’ll get in the way.”

  Matt snorted. “I was going to say the same thing, but I have another idea.” He smiled up at her. “Bra. Let’s see you take it off without removing your shirt as well.”

  “Smart man,” Tim commented with approval.

  She was already moving, reaching under her shirt and undoing hooks. She slipped a hand into her sleeve and tugged one strap over her elbow, repeating the other side and pulling the bra off through the sleeve. It took less than ten seconds.