Jingle Ball: More the Merrier

by Quinn, Taryn

  “Maybe I’ll just name your penises instead. Secret names that I’ll only share with Van.” As soon as she mentioned her friend’s name, she frowned. “What are we going to tell her?”

  “The truth. We’re a couple and that won’t change anything at work.” His expression softened and her knees literally went weak. “No more hiding, baby.”

  She fought not to do a booty dance but it was pretty much a lost cause. She added in one of her improvised carols as she jumped from stair to stair.

  When he made a grab for her, she squealed and ran faster with him hot on her heels. They had a ton of celebrating left to do.

  This year, Christmas frigging rocked.

  Epilogue

  “You need to tell me what to do.”

  Wendy sighed and toyed with the strand of leaves strung up around the front of her desk. “How am I supposed to tell you what to do about your love life? You do whatever you want, we both know that.”

  “Yeah, but your freaking love life makes me sick.”

  Wendy grinned at Van. Hers was pretty awesome, she couldn’t deny that. “That’s not a very nice thing to say when you’re asking me for advice.”

  “It’s a total compliment, I swear.” Van eased a hip on the edge of Wendy’s desk and blinked entreatingly. “You’re basically a romance expert now. So I’m coming to you to beg for assistance.”

  “You’re not asking for romance assistance. You want me to tell you how to bag Cole. And I can’t.”

  “Why not?” Van pouted and twisted the chunky sapphire ring on her thumb. “You don’t want me to be happy?”

  “Of course I do. But you just got out of a relationship and he’s…well, he’s Cole. Impossible to pin down.”

  Vanessa leaned forward and gave her a bright smile. “Not if you help me. We can ambush him.”

  Wendy raised a brow and reclined in her chair. It was the Friday before Labor Day weekend, and she’d just finished decorating the office for fall. Little light-up acorns and pumpkins adorned the front windows and fake leaves hung from every surface.

  Good thing her boyfriend of almost nine months—nine months!—was so patient about her need to plaster everything with frou-frou plastic embellishments or else she’d likely be single and out of a job.

  “Define ambush.”

  “Well, see, here’s the thing. You and Des are so committed to each other that basically nothing can break you two up. And Cole’s up for anything and so am I. Put all those ingredients together and you have a recipe for—”

  “Wait a frigging second.” Wendy’s eyes went wide to match her surely gaping mouth. “You’re not suggesting we have a foursome, are you?”

  Who suggested that kind of thing? At work no less, in the middle of a Friday afternoon?

  This was what she got for working in an office with non-traditional, incredibly sexy bosses. Apparently, the rarefied air in the place had even infected Van.

  Van shrugged, her innocent act not fooling Wendy one bit. “C’mon, don’t act like such a prude. You told me what you did with the two of them. What’s adding one more person?”

  Wendy cast a quick glance left then right. “We did that before Des and I hooked up for good.” Why had she confessed that dirty secret anyway? Other than wanting to brag a little, because, seriously, Des and Cole were too hot to believe, especially as a duo. “We haven’t gone near Cole since before Christmas.”

  “But don’t you miss it?” Van waggled her perfectly groomed blond brows. “It’s hard to tuck the freaky back down once you’ve let it out. Trust me, sista, I know.”

  Wendy fanned her face and not because she was considering this absolutely insane idea. She wasn’t a freak. Hadn’t she made that bargain with herself to enjoy her few wild weeks with Cole and Des and then move on? That she’d ended up with Des permanently had just been gooey, delicious frosting on the cake.

  “Des wouldn’t be into that,” she said quickly, happy to use her boyfriend as an out.

  The man in question breezed down the hall, a stack of mail gripped in his broad hand. “Des wouldn’t be into what?” he asked, leaning down to kiss Wendy full on the mouth.

  Van groaned. “More PDAs? Jesus.”

  “With what you just suggested, you’re mad that he kissed me? Whoa, hello hypocrite,” Wendy muttered as Des shifted back and dumped the mail in her outbox tray. “I’ll drop that off on the way out tonight, honey,” she added to him.

  “PDAs and endearments.” Van shook her head, her eyes gleaming. “I may gag.”

  “Deal with it,” Des advised, sitting on the other corner of Wendy’s desk and breaking off one of her plastic leaves in the process. He picked it up off the floor with an apologetic wince. “Sorry.”

  “No problem.” Wendy tugged out her top drawer and nodded toward the contents with a grin. Another strand of leaves were coiled up inside. She was saving those for Des’s office. “I always have extra leaves to go around.”

  “What about penises?”

  When Des and Wendy turned equally shocked expressions toward Van, she merely shrugged. “Des, your girlfriend is turning into a prude. You may want to do something about that before the condition becomes irreversible.”

  Des grinned and reached out to stroke Wendy’s hair. She tried not to arch into the touch but it was damned hard. “I assure you that’s not true.”

  “Whatever.” Van shook her head and stood. “You guys have a nice weekend. I need to go bolster myself for another ladies’ night at the bar since my supposed friend isn’t willing to share the wealth.” With a flounce of her blond curls, Van sashayed over to her cubicle.

  Wendy’s shoulders sank with relief. Bullet dodged.

  Des rubbed the back of Wendy’s hand and caught her attention. “What is she talking about? Dare I even ask?”

  “No.” Wendy closed her eyes. “Really, it’s better if you don’t.”

  “It’s about Cole, isn’t it? Those two have been circling each other so long I’m surprised they haven’t done it in the bathroom yet.”

  “That may come.”

  “I sure hope not.” He tipped up her chin and she opened her eyes, smiling as he lowered his mouth to hers. “The bathroom holds fond memories for you and me.”

  They kissed for a couple minutes in that light, playful, non-sexual way that Wendy had discovered she absolutely adored. Some parts of being a couple were downright amazing.

  Others, such as complete honesty, sometimes sucked.

  “It does.” Sighing, she slid back and decided to just get it over with. “Van wants us to have a foursome to, I think, break the ice with her and Cole. Crazy, huh?”

  He gazed at her for so long that her previously steady heartbeat edged up into the cardiac zone. Then he rubbed the corner of her mouth with his thumb. “That depends on you.”

  “You’re not serious?”

  “Have you forgotten how we got together, baby?”

  “No. But that’s us. That’s not Van, Cole and us. Plus she’s…female.”

  His mouth quirked. “So if she was another he, you’d consider it?”

  Heat blasted up her neck and into her cheeks. “No,” she said primly. “I am in a committed relationship. Therefore, I have no need for threesomes, foursomes or moresomes. You are all I want.”

  “Glad to hear it and ditto.” He pushed back her hair and she smiled, rubbing her cheek over his palm. Thank God this conversation was over.

  “But, you know, that doesn’t mean we can’t ever experiment. Just as an one-off thing.” His nonchalant tone didn’t fool her for a minute.

  She looked up at him, unable to hide her shock. “You really want to do this? You want to see me and Cole…again? And you want to…with Van? Maybe even me and Van—” She couldn’t even speak around the embarrassment clenching her throat. As far as they’d come in the past year, she still had her shy moments. This qualified. “I’m not a lesbian.”

  “No one said you were,” he soothed. “You can do what you want, honey. I’m j
ust saying, if you wanted to try something new, I’m game.”

  “Of course you are,” she muttered. Damn, men were all the same. Complete horndogs.

  She, on the other hand, was not getting the least bit wet at the idea of getting to be with Cole again. With Des watching. Even with Van watching.

  Maybe she was a freak.

  “It wouldn’t change anything with us. One night, then it would be back to business as usual.” He tucked one of her curls behind her ear. “Maybe then Cole and Van would finally stop filling this place up with so much sexual tension. It’s really distracting.”

  “Only if you’re a pervert at heart. And y’all are, every one of you.”

  Des brushed a kiss over the top of her head. “You aren’t? What the hell are you doing with me?”

  She couldn’t help laughing. “I love you.” She swallowed and lowered her gaze to the small heart promise ring she wore on her left hand. They were engaged to be engaged, as he’d said. She looked at that ring so much it was a miracle the diamond hadn’t popped out yet from the force of her stare. “I want to make you happy.”

  “Hey, hey. Look at me.” He cupped her face in his palms, his sea-colored eyes steady on hers. “You do. Every day. Every minute. You’re more than enough for me. Forever.”

  Hearing that, believing it, made it so much easier to pursue the things she was curious about, even if she couldn’t quite admit them to him—or herself. “It’s the same for me.”

  “I know, baby. That’s why there isn’t anything we can’t try together. Nothing will harm what we have. It’s not possible.”

  Wendy lowered her lashes. “Maybe Cole won’t want to.”

  They both laughed at the ridiculousness of that statement. Yeah-freaking-right. Cole was up—literally—for everything.

  “Okay,” she whispered, meeting Des’s gaze. Every emotion she needed to see resided in those warm blue-green depths. Affection. Trust. Love. “Talk to Cole.”

  * * *

  Thanks for reading JINGLE BALL. Do you like super dirty Christmas threesome stories? One-click UNWRAPPED!

  One hot night. Three naughty best friends. What can possibly go wrong?

  When an upcoming birthday makes Caitlyn Sachs decide to seek a gift that doesn't come in a box—a no-strings hookup to finally lose her pesky virginity—there's just one problem.

  She doesn’t want only one guy. She wants two.

  The men she can't pick between just happen to be her best friends and business partners, Matthew Collins and Tristan Baldwin. And both men want each other too, much to her surprise.

  Then Matt offers a shocking suggestion.

  She should lose her virginity not once, but twice. To them.

  After being kidnapped and spirited away to a remote cabin in the mountains, Cait is ready to unwrap her Christmas present—her two sinful men—over and over again.

  First time, first threesome, first time she didn't want a night to ever end.

  When the morning comes, it's all supposed to be over. But sometimes holiday hotness can lead to forever...

  One-click UNWRAPPED now!

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  Now…turn the page for a special sneak peek of UNWRAPPED!

  Unwrapped

  When plotting to finally lose your virginity, it was important to keep your eye on the prize.

  In this case, the one between her legs.

  A relationship? Not necessary. But someone she trusted was a must.

  Caitlyn Sachs blew out a breath and gazed around the kitchen in her mom’s small place. Relationships were tricky business, as evidenced by her mother and her sisters’ issues with their significant others. It was hard to find a decent guy, one who wouldn’t feed you a line and then vanish when you turned your back. At least that was all she’d seen while growing up.

  At almost twenty-five, Cait’s record was virtually spotless. Sure, she’d gotten her heart dented a few times, but she’d managed to avoid the trainwreck relationships her friends and family had been sucked into.

  And that still-happened-to-be-a-virgin thing? Merely a technicality, because she’d certainly done her share of messing around. She’d done almost everything but the deed itself.

  Multiple times.

  But hell, she was tired of having the expectation of her first time looming ahead. She knew it would probably be shitty, so she needed to get on to having good sex. Finally. Her irrational fear of an unplanned pregnancy was getting old. She’d gone on birth control as soon as she’d made the decision to have sex, and she’d insist on condoms too.

  See, she was thinking practically.

  “Marnie, settle those kids down. I can’t think with all this racket,” Mrs. Sachs said, bracing the hand that held her spatula on her hip.

  “Jeez, Mama, what do you want me to do? Stuff something in their mouths?”

  “Maybe. If it’ll quiet this place down, then yes.”

  Cait braced her head on her hand and tried not to breathe in the scent of burnt onions and too much perfume.

  She could be out Christmas shopping instead of dealing with the insanity of home. Home meant her younger sisters and their babies and her frustrated mother.

  Cait understood frustration. Just not the same kind. Hers was all situationally based.

  She sighed. Eh, she didn’t feel like shopping right now. Too much on her mind. But she could be getting a manicure. Maybe even seeing a movie with one of her best friends, assuming she could drag Tristan away from his desk or Matthew away from the game on TV. But no, she’d come home to do her duty, though at the moment she would’ve preferred to be anywhere else.

  They were her guys. Her center in all ways. And maybe after this weekend, one of them would be that much more.

  Perhaps one of them would be her lover, at least temporarily.

  It wasn’t like she could choose between Matt and Tristan. She loved them both equally. Plus they were hot as hell. That the three of them lived together in the loft above Tristan Design, their graphic design business, only made it that much easier to coordinate. Slide in, slide out, cross the hall, and shut the door.

  This weekend, she’d make her proposal. Whether that proposal would be well received was anyone’s guess, but she suspected that was part of why she felt so antsy tonight.

  She needed to speak up before she chickened out.

  Another reason she’d chosen to sleep with Tristan or Matt. This would be on her terms. She could control the parameters, say when it began and when it ended. They’d never push her.

  In the meantime, she had to push herself and get home. She had a deflowering to arrange. Though in her case it wasn’t deflowering so much as a…deadheading. She grinned. Yeah, that worked. She’d be snapping off a worn-out worry she’d carried around way too long.

  She rose to her feet as her mother and her sister Marnie started arguing about how they’d fit a nursery into an already crowded three-bedroom apartment. Before she could leave, her baby sister, Valerie, rushed through the back door into the kitchen, her golden hair hidden by her hooded sweatshirt. Under her arm she carried the basketball that seemed to be her constant companion. Keeping her eyes straight ahead, she jogged through without stopping.

  “Val?” Cait hurried forward to grip her elbow. Out of all of them, Val was her favorite. At fourteen, Val was a straight-A student and already on the varsity basketball team. “Where’s the fire?”

  “Gotta study,” she said, not meeting Cait’s gaze.

  “Midterms week, huh? One reason Christmas sucks.” Smiling, Cait rubbed her shoulder. “Grades still good?” she asked, raising
her voice above her mother and Marnie’s argument. Thank God her other sister Ginny had finally herded Marnie’s two kids and her own two into the living room. “Should we expect another perfect report card?”

  Val yanked back her sweatshirt, revealing the sunny twin ponytails she usually hid under hoods and ball caps. “Grades are fine.”

  Cait frowned. Normally Val was a chatterbox, but tonight she seemed unwilling to say much at all. Strange. Maybe the family drama was getting to her. “You know, you could always come stay with me at the loft for a couple of days,” she said in an undertone. “You could get more studying done.”

  “No, thanks.” Val gave her big sister a weak smile. “I just lock myself in my room.”

  “But you share a room with Ginny. How can you get any privacy?”

  Val gave her an odd look. “Why would I need privacy? All I ever do is schoolwork and play basketball.”

  That was a good thing at least. Val was so smart and pretty and athletic. God, she didn’t have to settle. And she wouldn’t, if her older sister had anything to say about it.

  “Basketball going okay? I’ll be at the game on Sunday. Can’t wait to watch you guys destroy the Thundercats.” She grinned and waited for Val to grin back.

  She didn’t.

  “I’m not going to be playing Sunday,” she whispered.

  “What? Why?”

  “I got suspended from the team.”

  Cait sucked in a breath and tried not to panic. “How come? What happened?”

  “It’s no big deal. I’ll be able to play again after Christmas.”

  “No big deal?” Basketball was Val’s life. Or it had been. “Games like this are what get the scouts interested. Even this early in your high school career, you need to start thinking about scholarships. You’re one of the best guards in the state. Believe me, colleges are already watching your performances.”