Chapter 26
THERE WILL BE FOREPLAY
Dev
Why food?
Seriously, like why is food even necessary?
We’re heading to the upscale Italian restaurant by the sea, my stomach growling, but all I want is to make a meal of Aubrey.
It’s not the way she looks in that little skirt as she walks down the street that’s making me ravenous. Or those sheer black thigh-highs that make me just want to peek under that fucking skirt. Does she have on garters too? My dick is offering up hopes and prayers that she does.
But more than that, it’s how she is that’s been winding me up all afternoon. The way she lifted her chin in the woods and demanded kiss me lives rent-free in my head and will for days. Hell, for weeks. Maybe even years. Nothing twists me up faster than a woman who knows her mind.
Last night, I forced myself to stay in the fun zone so we wouldn’t push her. But now that she’s made the first move, hell if I can hold back.
Instead, I’m holding the door open for Aubrey, letting her lead the way into the restaurant. As much as I want to bring her to bed and spread her out on the covers, I fucking love the seduction. I love taking a woman out, seeing her enjoy a meal, flirting with her at the table.
Making her feel good in every way.
It’s like foreplay was made for me. Just like I’m certain I was meant to be a goalie, I’m certain, too, I was meant to work up a woman all night long. I’m not even sad there’s no hockey on this honeymoon since there will be this—the celebration of this woman.
Together, Ledger and I hold out the chair for her at the table. The twin gesture isn’t lost on her. She’s grinning but seems to be trying to rein it in at the same time. She sits. “Thank you. You two make quite a…team.”
There’s a wink and a nod in her tone that tells me she’s enjoying this shift too.
“Just glad you like the partnership,” Ledger says, but then the server appears and does a quick double take before he rearranges his features and asks for drinks.
We order wine and he leaves us with menus.
I file away that the server maybe recognized us but also said nothing about it.
Once we get through the business of ordering and trying the pinot noir he brings, Aubrey looks to Ledger, then me, then back.
That’s a little new. This shy side of her. She dips her face, and ah hell.
I only want her to feel good. I slide a hand under the tablecloth, touching her knee. The server can’t see that. But Aubrey sure must feel it since her breath catches. I roam my fingers along the silky, sheer fabric. “I like these,” I say.
“Yeah?” She sounds breathy.
I nod toward my friend across the table. Ledger’s dark gaze is fixed on her as well.
“He does too,” I say.
“Do you speak for him?” Aubrey counters.
“No. I just know they drive him wild,” I say with a knowing shrug.
She’s quiet for a beat, strands of auburn hair framing her face. “I noticed he did. In the parking lot the other day. Outside the convenience store.”
“When I was cutting your skirt,” Ledger confirms, not even bothering to hide it.
“You seemed a little distracted,” she says to him.
“I was way more than distracted,” he admits, rolling up the cuffs of his black button-down. She watches him reveal a little forearm. “Just like Dev at the high striker game.”
“I was very, very distracted,” I say, and I’m not telling her anything she doesn’t already know. But it’s a relief to finally give voice to these desires.
My longing for her, but the thrill, too, in sharing her. Not gonna lie—that fling with Zahra four years ago was the hottest, sexiest month of my life.
Before today with Aubrey.
I didn’t even get off, and it was hotter with her. I’m not sure why. Maybe her excitement. Her eagerness. Her wide eyes and bold mind.
I don’t want to take a chance with Aubrey’s heart, but I’d fucking love to show her how good we can make her feel together.
If she’s willing.
If she knows the score.
If she wants the same things we do—orgasms and an end.
She shifts her focus back to me. “You also know what Ledger likes in a woman. And Ledger knows what you’re into, Dev,” she says, clearly adding up the evidence from this afternoon, and perhaps from this whole trip.
No point keeping this a secret. Not after the hike. “We’ve shared before,” I say.
Her breath comes out in an excited rush. “I was hoping you had.”
Well, that’s a horse of a different color.
“That so?” Ledger jumps eagerly on that comment.
Aubrey nibbles on the corner of her lips. “I’ve been thinking about it for…the last few days.”
My neck burns. “You wanted us to share you?” My voice is rough with lust. It’s hot to hear her voice her desires. Even hotter to explore them with her.
Her smile is sensual, confessional. “Yes. I couldn’t stop thinking about the possibility,” she admits, then waves a hand in front of her face like she needs to cool off.
I don’t know that I’ll survive the heat either.
“Me neither,” I admit.
“Same fucking here,” Ledger says, then takes another drink of his red wine. Bet he needs to cool off too.
There’s another smile again from Aubrey—sexy, but wholly innocent at the same damn time. That’s her specialty, it seems. “I sensed it. But today confirmed it. The way you knew what to do in the woods. The position. The bench. Even just how you held me.” She shivers.
I strip away any flirting, any humor as I tell her about our experience. “One summer a few years back, we were both in Los Angeles. We met a woman at the gym. We were both into her. She was into both of us.”
Aubrey’s eyes widen with each sentence. “Did she tea—?”
Holy shit. She’s so fucking into this she can’t even finish.
“She taught us everything we know about sharing a woman,” Ledger supplies, answering the almost asked question.
Her cheeks flush. “I nominate her for teacher of the year.” Then her brow knits, and she gestures from Ledger to me and back. “Were you two ever together? With each other?”
There’s no concern. Only curiosity.
I shake my head. “We were only with Zahra. We both like women. It was a summer fling. We all knew the score. And when she returned to Beirut before the hockey season, she gave us each a Leatherman and a note—now you’ve got all the tools.”
Aubrey sighs happily. “I love Zahra.”
And I fucking love that there’s zero jealousy on Aubrey’s part. Not that there should be. But her girl support is yet another thing I like about her.
Too bad I don’t need more things to like about this beautiful woman.
Best to focus on sex. Only sex. “Good. We want to make it good for you. Great for you. You like what we did today on the hike?”
She’s a little breathless as she answers with, “I did. It was better than I imagined.” She turns her gaze to Ledger. “But did you?”
She sounds nervous, like she’s worried he didn’t have a good time.
“Honey, I fucking loved every single second of kissing you, touching you, and fucking you,” he says, meeting her gaze straight on. “Don’t doubt that one bit.”
Her shoulders relax. “I won’t.”
But her brow knits, her eyes going serious. “Does it bother you that this is all new to me?”
Smiling and shaking my head, I slide my hand up her thigh. I can feel Ledger doing the same to her other leg, roaming his palm along her skin. Heat races down my chest, heading straight to my balls. “Sweet thing, it fucking excites me,” I say.
“The things we can introduce you to,” Ledger says in a rasp, his eyes hooked on her.
Her skin flushes as she murmurs something like yes.
“The ways we can touch you,” I add. Her chest rises and falls, her breasts heaving beautifully as we seduce her together.
“The places we can take you in bed,” Ledger rumbles.
I tease my fingers along the silky fabric of her stocking. She lets her legs fall open, looking the slightest bit intoxicated. She feels warm. Her eyes are glossy.
This is my favorite thing. To make a woman feel like she’s the center of the world.
“I hope dinner goes by really fast,” she says.
I couldn’t agree more. “Me fucking too.”