And he had. He’d taken a mental picture he’d never been able to erase. Now whenever he jacked off, it was Pam’s tits he pictured. Pam’s pretty face and full lips he imagined. In his fantasies, she gave him a come-hither look instead of the pissed-off one she usually wore around him. That expression, along with a lazy finger she’d circle around her nipple and the dirty words he imagined her whispering was usually enough to set him off.
He’d never even gotten as far as having fantasy Pam suck him off and he came every time. He had premature-ejaculation trouble in his fantasies. It was fucking humiliating.
“Good turnout,” Rob said, rousing Steve from his dark thoughts. “Still don’t think Griff is going to like it.”
“A surprise party for Griff? He’ll hate it,” Steve agreed. “But he’ll pretend to love it for them.”
Steve tilted his head in the direction of the kitchen, where Corey had now joined Erica and Pam. He said something to Pam that made her laugh, and the way she threw her head back and exposed the pale column of her throat made Steve’s gut draw tight and his loins ache. Then Corey leaned down and gave Erica a quick but passionate smooch, and the expression on Pam’s face as she watched them made something else hurt, something in the region of his chest.
Longing. The look in her eyes was pure, unadulterated longing, so raw and stark that Steve had to turn away lest the pain in his chest burn into a hollowness that made him long for things too, things he’d never wanted and didn’t want to want, ever. Like commitment. That wasn’t something Steve was after. A product of divorce and a subsequently fractured family, Steve wasn’t keen to repeat his parents’ mistakes.
He strode across the living room, making his way to the back deck and the tubs full of ice lined up against the wall of the house. He grabbed a lite beer, twisted the cap off and took a long swig. He’d downed a third of it before Rob joined him again.
“Do you think she meant it?”
Steve looked at him, decided to play dumb on the off chance the other man would take a hint and drop it. “Who meant what?”
“Pam,” Rob said, extracting a beer from the ice for himself. “Do you think she was serious about wanting, you know—” he lowered his voice, “—two guys. Us.”
Steve’s mind careened away from the possibilities. Whenever he’d pictured getting together with Pam, he hadn’t pictured sharing her. “She said she was kidding.”
“But was she though? I’m not so sure.”
Neither was Steve, but he wasn’t going to say so. “Why are you pursuing this, Curly? You into that sort of thing?”
“No. I mean, I don’t think so.” Rob made a face. “I wouldn’t know.”
Steve said “Ah,” and took another swallow of pale ale.
“What about you, have you ever…?”
“No,” Steve admitted with a smirk. “I can satisfy a woman on my own.”
“Yeah, well, so can I.”
“Don’t get snitty about it,” Steve drawled. “Just because I’ve never felt the need for a substitute during sex, doesn’t mean you should feel bad for not being able to go the distance.”
“Fuck off, Waller,” Rob said with a smile. The crew of firefighters at Ashton Heights station had a good rapport going—meaning they ragged on each other regularly, and it was all done with good humor. Steve talked as tough as any of the other guys, but the truth was he’d lay down his life for any of his fellow firies—Rob included.
“It was Pam who brought it up,” Rob reminded him. “She’s obviously into the idea.”
Yes, Pam had brought it up—the idea of a threesome. It was the first time she’d shown even the slightest interest in Steve sexually. It was definitely progress—in a different direction than Steve had hoped, but still progress.
Was this going to be his only chance with Pam?
He took another swig of beer, sending Rob a sideways glance. He had to think it would be awkward, sharing a woman with a bloke he worked with. But they shared a locker room at the fire station, he’d seen the guy with little more than a towel wrapped around his waist. How much worse could it be seeing him naked? He’d probably only look at Pam anyway.
At Pam, writhing in ecstasy as Rob kissed her naked body, as he played with her tits and fingered her pretty golden pussy. Would she extend her hand to Steve and ask him to join them? Or would Steve be the one kissing her, moving down her body, tasting her sweet juices while Rob stuck his cock in her mouth?
Jesus. His thoughts were making him hard. The idea of sharing Pam with Rob obviously appealed to at least one part of his anatomy.
“Well, if a three-way is off the table, I hope you don’t mind if I have a crack at her.”
Rob’s statement almost caused Steve to drop his beer. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Pam.” Rob frowned at Steve’s snappish reaction. “I want to ask her out.”
“You? You’re going to ask Pam out?”
Rob shrugged. “I like her.”
“A bit old for you, isn’t she?” Steve knew Pam was at least thirty, his own age, because they’d shared thirtieth birthday stories one night at the pub when she was a little tipsy and consequently less resistant to chatting with him. A woman in her thirties wouldn’t be into someone as young as Rob.
Would she?
“I don’t care that she’s twenty-eight.”
Twenty-eight? What the fuck? Steve hid his smile behind his beer bottle when realization hit. Pam had lied to Rob about her age. That was too funny.
As quickly as it had appeared, Steve’s smile slid away. It wasn’t so funny if she’d lied to Rob because she liked him. Did Pam want Rob that bad?
“She’s still older by five years. That kind of thing is important to some women.” At least Steve hoped so. Otherwise it meant he was competing for women with twenty-three-year-old puppies like Rob. He knew how far Rob could run on the treadmill, how much he could bench press. He also knew women went ga-ga over his soft brown eyes and curly golden locks.
He didn’t need that kind of competition.
If Steve wasn’t mistaken, he detected a blush on Rob’s cheeks when he confessed, “She thinks I’m twenty-five.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Steve muttered. Then he started laughing at the ridiculousness of it—Rob and Pam subtracting and adding birthdays to make themselves look better. He’d love to be around when they started talking number of sexual partners.
“Don’t tell her, please, Waller,” Rob beseeched. “She already thinks twenty-five is too young.”
Because she’s actually thirty plus, you numbskull. Steve could probably blow any chance Rob and Pam had of getting together by telling them each the truth, but something held him back from letting Rob know Pam was older than she’d said. He couldn’t bring himself to out her. Steve thought her little lie was silly—he, for one, found women his own age hotter than girls in their twenties—but it was her lie to confess to if she chose.
Steve let out a sigh. He couldn’t out Rob to Pam either. He didn’t play dirty. If he was going to win Pam, he was going to do it fair and square. “Fine, I won’t tell her,” he said. He held up a finger to silence Rob before the other man could thank him. “On one condition.”
“What condition?”
“We do this together.”
Rob’s eyes widened. “You mean…”
Steve smiled and lifted his nearly empty beer bottle to his lips. “I never said a three-way was off the table, did I?”
Actually, the more Steve thought about it, the more upside he saw to the idea. It would be wickedly sexy, if his body’s reaction was anything to go by. And it would ensure Pam didn’t read more into the situation than what was there. Steve was hot for her, had been for months, but he wasn’t ready to settle down. Pam was looking for true love. He only had to remember that expression of longing on her face when she’d watched Corey with Erica inside. She wanted adoration, commitment, the whole shebang.
There was nothing romantic about a threesome.
It was all sex—raw, base lust. There was no way Pam would get the wrong idea.
In any case, it seemed Rob was the one she wanted. Steve figured this might be his only opportunity to slake his desire for the woman who’d kept him hard more nights than he wanted to count.
“Are you serious?” Rob asked him.
“Deadly serious,” Steve replied. “And I think it’s time we started talking strategy.”
Chapter 2
“Okay, everyone, it’s time to hide.” Erica’s urgent announcement made each assembled party guest spring into action. Or should that be inaction, as the object was to stay as still and quiet as possible in the darkened living room while Griff came up the walk.
Corey turned off the lights, and Pam took a moment to let her eyes adjust to the newfound darkness. Then she found a spot at the back of the group, preferring to remain unobtrusive. She liked Griff and they got on well, but she was sure he’d rather see his closest friends from the fire service before he saw her. With that in mind, she figured Steve and Rob would head to the front of the pack, but to her surprise, barely a moment after she’d positioned herself, Steve’s familiar brash voice intoned in her ear. “You by yourself back here, Pammy?”
Pam bit back a groan of annoyance. Ever since the humiliating scene that had occurred as they’d arrived together, she’d been avoiding Steve and Rob. They hadn’t made it easy. They’d fetched her drinks and offered to help her with the job of laying food on the outside tables. When one or both of them wasn’t hovering around her, she had the oddest feeling that she was being watched. She’d turn and catch Steve’s eye and he’d wink. Or she’d find Rob smiling at her with his easy grin.
It was unsettling.
“I was trying to stay out of the way,” Pam answered Steve’s query, turning a little so her back was to him.
Right then, Rob approached her from the front. “You shouldn’t hide yourself, Pam. I like looking at you.”
Pam was struck speechless. She peered up at the shadow of Rob’s head that she could just make out in the dark. Although she couldn’t see his expression, she’d bet he was smiling that soft smile, the one that had made her think once or twice that he was sweet on her. But Rob—Golden-god Rob—sweet on her? It was a fantasy.
Yet the way he angled himself toward her, so his body heat set off tingles, was no fantasy. Rob was really standing that close, too close for comfort. Pam instinctively retreated a step, only to find herself pressed against a solid wall of muscle and sinew. Steve. Instead of taking a step back and allowing her some room, Steve stood his ground. He even settled a hand on her waist, as though to keep her in place.
Rob took another step forward until she was crowded by them both. Bracketed between two warm male bodies—nowhere to run or hide. Do you want to, Pam? Ever since she’d accidentally admitted her threesome-related musings earlier, she’d been having seriously debauched thoughts involving both Rob and Steve. She’d never had fantasies about Steve before, but she was making up for that tonight. She couldn’t stop noticing, with more than the empirical interest she’d had in the past, how aggravatingly sexy he could be when he was teasing her, how great his ass looked in his fitted jeans.
She had to face it—Steve turned her on as much as Rob.
Pam had wanted to talk to Erica about her confusing feelings, but her friend had been busy setting up for the party. Besides, even with Erica, who she knew wouldn’t judge given her own situation, Pam was embarrassed. In the end, she figured she wouldn’t have occasion to see Rob or Steve again until the next joint social event, so all she had to do was get through the night without further making a fool of herself and she could soon forget the whole awkward business.
A great plan, until the two objects of her wayward desires decided to press themselves against her, trapping her with their combined heat.
Pam wriggled a little, an indication that she’d like some space. But Steve merely tightened his grip on her waist. To add to her torment, he even pressed his lips to her ear, brushing a hot breath over it that made her shiver. “You feel okay there, Pammy?”
Her response came out as little more than a rasp. “I don’t understand.”
She feared that was a lie. She feared she did understand all too well what Steve and Rob had planned for her.
Confirming her suspicions, Steve whispered. “Then we’ll show you. Do it, Rob.”
In an instant, Rob’s large hand was bracketing her jaw. The next thing Pam knew, his lips were on hers.
Softness. So much softness. She should have expected it from Rob, the nice guy, but she hadn’t. She’d imagined him passionate and out of control. But this kiss…it was lovely. He brushed his lips against hers, requesting her compliance before working her mouth open. Too shocked by the turn of events, Pam didn’t resist as Rob slid his tongue into her mouth. Her heart pounded as he deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue over hers, stroking her waist…
No. That was Steve stroking her waist, Steve’s hand moving upward, and upward, until his fingers encountered the underside of her breast through the thin cardigan and silky camisole. Her nipple beaded, anticipating his touch. She wanted him to touch her there, to stroke her flesh to a hard point while Rob kissed her into a state of dreamy desire. She wanted it so badly, she arched her spine, writhing now not in protest, but in invitation.
“Surprise!”
The loud chorus that erupted from the assembled group startled Pam as surely as an electric shock. The lights came on and, blinking at the brightness, Pam saw the stark reality of their little tableau. Steve had her pulled close to him, so close she could feel the jut of his arousal against her ass, and his hand was closed around her breast, his thumb mere millimeters away from her nipple. Rob drew out of their kiss quickly, but with obvious reluctance. The full outline of his sensual lips and the acute longing in his deep-brown eyes made Pam’s heart thump hard against her chest—against Steve’s hand.
Dear God, they were in a crowded room. What on earth was she doing?
Pam pushed against Rob’s chest and twisted her body so sharply Steve was forced to release her. She darted a look around, but thankfully everyone at the party seemed much more interested in Griff’s reaction to his surprise than in her. No one had noticed her highly inappropriate clinch with two men.
Relieved about that at least, Pam let out a shaky breath. Pushing her hair back from her face, she at last mustered the courage to meet Rob’s eyes, then Steve’s. “I don’t know what that was, but it can’t happen again.”
“Why not?” The question came at her in stereo, uttered by both men. Rob was looking at her like a puppy that had been told he couldn’t have his favorite treat, and Steve had raised one eyebrow in an aggravating challenge. Frowning, Pam cast a look between them. “It just shouldn’t. It’s weird.”
Steve folded his arms across his chest and narrowed his eyes. “You think Erica’s relationship is weird?”
“That’s not what I meant.” At first she had thought that, or at least that a triad relationship like the one Erica had was unusual. That wasn’t a judgment, it was simply a fact.
But as the months had passed and Pam had had the opportunity to see her friend and her two lovers together, she’d come to see their union as the beautiful, uniquely special bond it was. It wasn’t dirty, it wasn’t weird, and it worked for them.
Yet Pam’s acceptance of her friend’s choice didn’t make it the right choice for her.
Your body seems to think it would be more than right, Pam.
Steve lifted a finger and traced a line along her jaw, causing tingles to radiate outward from that scant touch. “We’re not talking about moving in together. Only about having a little fun.”
Rob settled a hand on her lower back, close enough to her ass to make Pam’s pussy clench. “You admitted you’ve thought about it,” he whispered.
Why, oh why couldn’t she have kept her big mouth shut about that? She couldn’t deny what she’d said any more than she could deny she’d respond
ed to Rob’s kiss a few moments ago, or that she’d arched into Steve’s touch, hoping he’d stroke her breast. She couldn’t deny what she wanted, so her only option was escape. “I’m going to go wish Griff a happy birthday, something you two should be doing instead of harassing me.”
With that, Pam strode off, heading towards Griff, Erica and Corey with a fake smile glued to her face. “Griff, happy birthday.”
“Pam, good to see you.” He sent Erica and Corey a sideways glance. “Did everyone know about this except me?”
“Just about,” Corey said, and hooked his arm around Erica’s shoulders.
Griff turned back to Pam. “I told them no parties. But did they listen to me?”
“He’s getting too old for parties.” It was Steve’s voice coming from behind her left shoulder and it was followed by Rob’s over her right.
“All he wants is a comfy pair of slippers and a newspaper these days.”
Griff narrowed his eyes at both men. “Thirty-eight will come around for both of you one day.”
Not for ages in Rob’s case, Pam thought, feeling it sink in that not only had she been involved in a clinch in a crowded room with two men, but that one of them was practically a boy. Seven years her junior. Although all that hard muscle pressed against her and that smooth way he’d kissed had screamed all man.
Pam’s temperature started to rise again as Steve, Rob and Griff exchanged friendly insults. Griff used to be their team leader, but now that he’d transferred to another station it seemed they had a lot of mutual ribbing to catch up on. It was all very manly and testosterone-laden, especially when Corey joined in and they started trading stories about recent fires and road-side rescues.
Pretty soon a fire was going to start right here in the living room. Pam was going to spontaneously combust and all four of them would have to put her out.
“Pam, are you okay?”
Pam turned to find Erica watching her closely, her forehead crinkled in concern. “Me? I’m fine.”
Erica raised one dubious eyebrow. Pam could understand the other woman’s disbelief. Her voice had been so high, it had sounded like a Minnie Mouse impression. Erica glanced at the group of men and the mystification seeped out of her expression. She showed Pam a knowing smile. “I think you could use a drink.”
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