Gina looked at Todd. The love she felt for him was obvious on a flat television screen. She obviously didn"t care about doing things the traditional way. “Nature made women to be a bridge between two men. Whenever I have doubts, I just remember that, and I"m reminded of how much I love these two men and how much they love me. We belong together.”
The camera panned away, and Donna started in on her wrap-up. Anna flipped the television off and sank into a chair at the table.
Jen looked momentarily dazed. “Amazing.”
“I know, can you imagine?” Anna sighed. “Two mouths, two sets of hands, and two cocks.”
Jen made a face. “Put that way, it sounds like more work.”
“Not to me. Sounds like double the orgasms.” Anna headed toward the door.
“I"ve got five minutes before my next class. Sorry to barge in like that. I just wanted to catch the end of the show.”
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Leslie wrapped the rest of her uneaten muffin in a napkin and tossed it into the garbage. Her thoughts were spinning around and around inside her head. She had to get out of there before she had a meltdown.
Jen frowned. “Hey, where are you going? I thought we could review some music options for tomorrow night.”
“We"re going to use the same program we did at the last wedding. I liked the selections, and we can shuffle the playlist a bit to keep things fresh.” Was she babbling? It was either that or start screaming.
“All right, if you"re sure. Call if you need anything. Otherwise I"ll meet you here, and we can all share a cab.”
Call if she needed anything? How about a head check? Surely at some point Leslie would have to admit she"d gone completely crazy. Why else would her traitorous heart be considering something her brain knew was nothing more than a fairytale dream?
* * *
Seth looked up when Josh walked into the office. “So, how was the date with what"s-her-name?” Joshua grunted and flopped into his chair, obviously in a bad mood. “Oh, it was going great until she mentioned she"s the opposing council on Niles"s case.”
“Is that right?” Seth absently picked up a stress ball and rolled it from one hand to the other. “Did she give you any insight into their case strategy before the two of you realized the conflict of interest?”
Joshua looked uncharacteristically sheepish about the incident. “I have an idea she figured it to be an open-and-shut case. But I"d sort of tuned her out by that time, so she could"ve unloaded their whole strategy and I"d have missed it.”
Seth tried to hang on to his neutral expression, but a grin threatened to undermine his efforts. Obviously Joshua hadn"t been as into his date as he"d pretended to be. “So are you up for spending tonight with me and Leslie?”
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“About that.” His expression turned stony. “Could you fuck in your own bed? I didn"t much appreciate walking in on you two.”
“Now that"s a lie.”
Tension rippled over Joshua"s features, framing his mouth in thin, unforgiving lines and hardening the defensive hunch in his shoulders. “You keep pushing like this and you"re going to get your ass beat.”
So many years Seth had lived and loved with Joshua. He"d never seen his friend this torn up about a woman before. Women drifted in and out of their collective lives on a monthly and sometimes weekly basis. Never had he been this adamantly opposed to one. In fact they rarely shared a difference of opinion at all when it came to women. But Josh didn"t dislike Leslie. The arousal on his face when he"d wrapped his hand around his own cock was proof enough of that.
That left one other possibility. Why was he afraid to let Leslie into their lives?
Josh clenched his hands into tight fists as he strode toward the window. “Why are you so determined to keep her in our life?”
“I love her.” Seth rose from his chair. He had to tread carefully. So much rode on this conversation. “And I think you could too. We"ve talked about this happening.
We"ve waited for years for the right woman to come along.”
“It"s not her.”
“How could it be anyone else?” He was getting emotional, and his words came out harsher than he"d intended. “It"s possible to have a two-sided conversation about almost any topic, and she can hold her own. Leslie is damn smart, plus she"s fun, sassy, and sexy as hell. Has there ever been another woman that doesn"t subconsciously favor one of us? She"s passion incarnate, whether it"s me demanding kisses or you giving them.”
It might have been grudging, but that was agreement winding its way over Joshua"s stubborn features. Equal response was something they"d longed to find in a woman. Sharing aside, Seth and Joshua were vastly different in their bedroom Crescendo
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styles. Never had they found a woman who enjoyed them both the same. Either they preferred Seth"s forceful nature or Joshua"s gentle one. Until Leslie.
Seth took a hesitant step toward closing the distance between them.
“Understanding us comes naturally to her.”
Joshua"s face was drawn. “She might understand, but she"s already left once.
Don"t you get that? She"s already made the decision to walk away. Why would you believe things could be different now? Why even take a chance?”
And there it was, out in the open, like a snake about to strike. Ignoring Joshua"s prickly body language, Seth grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him close. They grappled, Joshua pulling away for the span of two breaths before giving in to the embrace.
There was nothing sexual between them. There never had been. Their relationship was a bond between two men who"d spent years in a hellish existence with only each other for support.
Joshua pressed his forehead against Seth"s and gripped his shoulder. “I"m not going to let her hurt you again.”
“You can"t spend the rest of your life protecting me, Joshua.”
“The hell I can"t.”
Seth thought back to the beginning, when a ten-year-old Joshua had transferred to Seth"s boarding school. The two boys had become friends during the winter quarter while dealing with a tenacious bully. Seth had never had a best friend before.
He chuckled at the memory. “Leslie isn"t a fourth-grade bully.”
“I never said she was.” Joshua pulled back and met his gaze. “And I don"t expect her to get drunk and beat you black-and-blue with a horsewhip either.”
Seth would never forget the look of terrified determination in Joshua"s blue eyes. Joshua had spent spring break at Seth"s father"s estate on Cape Cod that year.
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father during one of the old man"s angry, drunken bouts. He had. A school bully could never compare to Seth"s mean-natured father, but Joshua hadn"t backed down. Not then and never since. It was a decision that changed their lives forever.
It had only been two years since his father"s funeral. On some level, Seth had forgiven the dead man for his physical abuse. Josh still struggled with the idea of closure, and Seth suspected his friend would never let go of his protective habits.
“You were the only one who ever gave a shit about me, Seth. How could I not at least try to put a stop to that kind of treatment?”
Neglect had been Joshua"s parents" way of handling their offspring. Until the visit to the Cape with Seth, Joshua had spent every vacation and holiday break at school. His parents hadn"t even arranged for him to spend summers at home. Their idea of parenting was a nanny until he was old enough for boarding school and college after that.
Which brought them full circle and landed them in this predicament with Leslie.
“Do you trust me, Joshua?”
“Without question.”
Seth cupped Joshua"s jaw in his hands. “Then please trust me where Leslie is concerned.”
Joshua opened his mouth to argue, but Seth placed a thumb against his lips to prevent
any words from coming out.
“There"s more to this woman than you could possibly imagine. Please give us a chance.”
Seth saw the acceptance in Joshua"s blue eyes, felt it in his body when the fight drained from his muscles. Now he had to somehow uncover the third piece of the puzzle. His legacy was physical abuse, Joshua"s was neglect, and Leslie"s was still a mystery to be unraveled.
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Chapter Six
Rosin danced on an updraft, turning to fairy dust in the sunlight streaming from the front windows. Leslie drew the green-tinted cake down the bowstrings and took comfort in the familiar routine. When everything else in life was uncertain, this was what she craved. That one moment when bow met string and all else melted away until nothing but the notes remained.
The first strains of Vivaldi echoed around the penthouse, resonating across the wood floors and rising in her ears until it seemed her heart beat with the key signature. Her worries faded into the background. The silly Donna Show, Jen"s warnings, her own traitorous feelings, and even the fledgling emotions for Seth and Joshua that she didn"t dare examine.
Why couldn"t everything be as simple as the melody flitting over her strings, as her fingers sliding down the neck of her violin to coax the highest notes from the gleaming wood? As simple as the rhythmic wavering of her wrist to create the plaintive vibrato.
The answer, of course, was that life was never simple. Decisions were rarely one way or the other. Instead, they all existed within the grey mist of possibilities.
The bow went still and the violin silent.
Lowering the instrument, Leslie turned it upside down and tilted it until a shaft of sunlight caught the red grain of the wood. She brushed her fingertips over the smooth, maple surface. The violin was as familiar to her as the face she saw in the mirror each morning. The only unique thing about it was the unusually bright color.
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She closed her eyes and lifted it to her chin. The violin was the last reminder of a time when she still believed in silly things like loyalty and true love. Her grandfather had given it to her as a gift, but it had been stored in her father"s study with the rest of his most prized possessions. Breaking into the flimsy display case hadn"t been difficult. She"d been leaving home for good. She"d had no intention of leaving her grandfather"s gift behind.
Drawing her bow across the strings, she wondered if her father was still angry about that night. If he cared anymore, it was most likely the instrument he missed the most. The violin dated back to 1707. An Italian nobleman had commissioned Antonio Stradivari to make it for his favorite daughter. When she died of fever only a few months later, he"d called the violin “The Pretty Girl” in memory of her. It was one of only 650 original Stradivarius instruments still in circulation. Leslie"s father would never recoup the investment on his daughter. But he might feel entitled to compensation for the three and a half million her grandfather had spent on La Bella Ragazza.
Joshua didn"t like classical music. It wasn"t that he didn"t respect the discipline it took to master a hundred-year-old piece of music. He"d just never been moved by music he"d always considered prissy.
Until he"d heard Leslie.
Music filled the hallway between the elevator and their front door. Blood rushed through his veins, lifting the hair on the back of his neck. He fumbled for his keys with shaking fingers, finally managing to open the door. Half a dozen paces away, Leslie played in a patch of sunlight.
He groaned, but the guttural sound was lost in her melody. Arousal swept him like a storm. His cock pushed painfully against his slacks, hard as iron and longing to end his self-imposed denial. He wanted this woman with every fiber of his being.
She stood on the hardwood floor with her bare feet braced slightly apart, her back straight, and her head tilted against the instrument. Her hair trailed over her Crescendo
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shoulder in a silken curtain. Her breasts moved in concert with each stroke of the bow. He longed to take them each in his hands and taste their sweetness.
Her eyes were closed, her face utterly at peace. He was struck by the overwhelming urge to prolong that feeling for her, to protect her. Was this what Seth had sensed? Was this the reason he believed the three of them could somehow forge a relationship from the scattered pieces of their lives?
Arching her back, she played a long, vibrating note that jolted Joshua to the core of his very soul. She sustained the tone for a moment, finally bringing it to a close and lowering the instrument.
Seth shouldered his way through the door. “Don"t stop. I love that piece. It"s Vivaldi, right?”
Leslie spun around; a pretty blush colored her cheekbones. “I"m sorry, I didn"t hear the door. I guess I didn"t think you guys would be home this early.” She fiddled with her bow before setting both it and the violin aside.
Something snapped inside Joshua. It was the way Seth looked at her—as if his whole world was complete the moment she was in it. Joshua had no right to hinder whatever feelings his best friend had for this woman.
In fact, the two of them looked as if they were resisting the urge to attack each other. An unexpected jab of jealousy caught him by surprise. He"d never been jealous of Seth before. Never. Jealousy had no place in their lives. What was it about Leslie that shook his equilibrium?
Seth reached out and snagged her hand. Pulling her into his arms, he pressed a kiss to her temple. Joshua was intrigued by her bewildered expression. She was stiff at first, but it didn"t last. Moments later she melted into Seth and rested her cheek against his chest.
Joshua stood less than five feet away from their warm embrace, but it might as well have been fifty, considering his sense of acute disconnection.
She offered a tentative smile. “How was your day, Joshua?”
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It was a pointless, mundane question. So why did he feel as if the sun had just come out after a lifetime of gray skies? “It seems to be improving.”
The answer slipped out before he could think it through. If Seth"s expression was anything to go by, he hadn"t missed the possible implications behind Joshua"s words. No doubt the topic would come up later. Joshua let the moment pass. Now wasn"t the time to discuss his decision to let the Leslie relationship run its course.
After all, fighting chemistry was about as pointless as trying to turn back time.
“So, how about some sustenance?” He winked at Leslie. “We wouldn"t want anyone wasting away to nothing.”
Joshua"s mood swings were making Leslie dizzy. The day she"d moved in, he"d been a sexy devil one minute and hostile the next. Now he"d switched to good-natured teasing. She wasn"t sure she wanted to find out what was next on his list.
She only wished she could control the way she felt around him.
When she"d realized he was listening to her music, she"d felt more connected to him than she"d ever felt to another person in her life. Her nerves were still tingling with the desire to snuggle into his arms and feel his body heat soak into her skin.
She wished she could turn off her hormones. It was impossible to remain clear-headed when her pussy was calling the shots. She"d come multiple times yesterday: in Seth"s office, once by herself in Joshua"s rumpled bed, and more than once last night in Seth"s arms. Considering the dry spell she"d been having prior to this whole bizarre living arrangement, she should be drowning in satisfaction.
Seth brushed another kiss across her forehead, setting off a chain reaction that had her stomach doing backflips. “Anything out of the ordinary happen today?”
She thought about the Donna Show and the happy woman flanked by her two men. How did you even explain something like that? “It was just a day, I guess.”
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He stroked her spine, sending chills racing to her fingertips. “You know, we never even asked if we were screwing up any plans you already had. Do you have someplace else y
ou need to be?”
The question caught her off balance. “I"m playing a wedding tomorrow evening but no plans for tonight.”
He smiled, and her heart leaped at the genuine warmth in his face. “Perfect.
Joshua and I have a business meeting tomorrow evening that I"d intended to reschedule. If you already have plans, there"s no reason not to get it out of the way.”
Tears burned her eyes. Why did he have to be so considerate? Where was the domineering control-freak lawyer? But Seth had never been like that. Ever. That was why she"d broken off their relationship the first time, when she started crossing the line between casual and something else.
She pulled away, moving toward the windows and the barren patio area. A few deep breaths had her more or less back in control of her emotional baggage. “Don"t you guys ever use the space out there?”
Seth didn"t comment on her obvious change in topic. “We"ve talked about hiring a landscape architect to put in plants or something. But we lack time and creativity.”
The memory of a stone bench tucked between purple asters and spicy jasmine came immediately to Leslie"s mind. It had been her favorite place to steal away and read or practice her music before betrayal had sullied the serenity of her mother"s garden.
“Eventually this bone-chilling spring weather will roll around to summer. It would be nice to be outside.” Seth cast a glance over his shoulder to where Joshua was busy whipping up something in the kitchen. “Josh loves to grill.”
She couldn"t stop herself from conjuring images of the three of them sharing dinner in an outdoor kitchen before cuddling together before a crackling fire. Was she determined to torture herself repeatedly with scenes from a life she"d never have?
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