Chapter Eight
Knox’s eyes popped wide. “What?”
“A threesome with us?” Jesse echoed, his mouth hanging open in shock.
“Okay, he didn’t tell you,” Chloe said, sagging with relief until she realized that she’d just told them. “Shit. Um. I have to go.”
She spun for the door and got about three steps before movement erupted behind her.
“Whoa, whoa.” Jesse rushed over, and though he didn’t grab her, didn’t even touch her, she stumbled to a halt. “Let’s all just take a minute, here.”
She squeezed her eyes shut so she wouldn’t have to look at him. “I’d rather pretend this never happened.”
“Sorry, sweetheart,” Jesse said, shock still vibrating in his voice. “I don’t think that’s an option.”
“Well, try,” she snapped, annoyed, and opened her eyes when he chuckled.
He was watching her with those warm brown eyes, humor and a lazy sort of heat swimming in them that did nothing to calm the nerves jittering in her belly.
“You’re cute when you’re embarrassed,” he teased gently.
“I’m not embarrassed,” she countered defensively and closed her eyes again. “I’m mortified. Gwen was right, I never should’ve come here.”
“No, she wasn’t,” Jesse countered. “If you hadn’t come here, I couldn’t do this.”
And then he was kissing her, and oh, my effing God.
It was like being devoured by some sex god, like Eros or Aphrodite or one of the other ones she was too buzzed to remember, someone who was put on this planet to seduce, to cajole, to drown her in her own lust. And she just didn’t care.
His lips rubbed against hers, soft and sensual, nudging them apart for the flick of his tongue.
He moaned softly at the contact, his chest vibrating with it.
His hands roamed her back, stroking, feeling, as though he couldn’t touch her enough while his tongue darted in to play with hers, a torrid little dance that brought her to her toes, whimpering, yearning for more.
“You’re so beautiful,” he breathed, nipping her bottom lip, licking her top one. Sinking deep before withdrawing again to nip and tease. “So sexy.”
She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. He was everywhere, it seemed, hands and lips and teeth and tongue, his chest pressed against her aching breasts, his thighs firm against her shaky ones.
Her knees had gone weak and she sagged in his arms, tearing her mouth away, but he followed, bending down to meet her lips again, delving, devouring until she thought he might swallow her whole.
Then he lifted his head. “Knox?”
“Here,” came his rumbling voice from behind her.
“Your turn,” Jesse said and turned her gently, holding her steady when she wobbled, and then she was staring at Knox, at the hazy smokey gray of his eyes and the silver silk of his hair and then he was kissing her, too.
His mouth was warm, firm, and so unexpectedly gentle she sighed into his touch. For a moment that’s all it was, the almost delicate press of his lips on hers, soft and sweet. Then he parted his lips, just a little, an unspoken request for more, and without hesitating she gave it to him.
It wasn’t the blast of heat gotten from Jesse, but a gradual build. His lips sought, and hers gave. He asked, and she answered. And when his tongue slipped past the barriers of lips and teeth to seek out deeper contact, she met it eagerly with her own.
And the world exploded.
His hands were still easy, still cradled her face with gentle care, but his mouth ravaged, plundered, possessed.
She could do nothing but hang on for the ride, her nails digging into his wrists as need built from simmer to inferno in the span of a heartbeat, leaving her dizzy and trembling for more.
When he lifted his head, she let out a slow, shaky breath. “Okay, so, maybe Gwen was wrong.”
Knox’s chuckle danced over her lips, and she opened her eyes. He was smiling, a soft curve of his lips.
“We should probably talk,” he said.
“Okay,” she said agreeably. His hands were so warm on her face, so gentle.
“Would you like to stay for dinner?” he asked. “We’re having spaghetti.”
“Um.” She licked her lips, tasting him. “I like spaghetti.”
His smile deepened. “Good.”
“But Gwen and Bailey are waiting for me. We’re supposed to get Chinese food.”
Knox’s smile dimmed a little. “We can do it another time,” he began.
“I just have to tell them I’m staying,” she said and tugged reluctantly away.
“I’ll tell them,” Jesse offered.
“Oh, no, I have to. They won’t take your word for it.”
Jesse’s eyebrows went up. “Ah…okay.”
“Nothing personal,” she assured him. “You’re just a man. I’ll be right back, okay?”
“We’ll be here,” Knox assured her.
“Okay.” Giddy, the nerves in her belly transformed into excitement, she turned and rushed out the door.
Jesse waited until the front door slammed shut, then turned to Knox. “Am I dreaming? I feel like I’m dreaming.”
Knox rubbed his hands over his face. “I feel like I’m on a roller coaster.”
Jesse rubbed sweaty hands on his thighs. “How are we going to handle this?”
Knox dropped his hands. “We’re going to give her what she wants.”
Jesse stared at his husband. “We’re going to what?”
“You have objections to a threesome?”
Just the thought made his dick hard. “You know I don’t, but…”
Jesse glanced at the front window. He could still see headlights through the leaded glass. “This is about more than sex. I thought we were on the same page, there.”
“We are,” Knox confirmed. “But I think we have to be careful. If we tell her we want a relationship, she’s going to wig. You saw how nervous she is.”
“So you want to pretend this is just about a bang?”
“No.” Jesse watched the emotions play out across Knox’s face—frustration, arousal, worry. “But we need to be careful. Take things slow.”
Jesse felt like he was on the roller coaster now—the big one at Cedar Point that always made him laugh and feel like he was going to puke at the same time. “A threesome is taking it slow?”
“That’s what she wants, so that’s where we start.” Knox glanced warily at the door. “And we hope for the rest.”
Jesse frowned. He didn’t like it, didn’t like it at all. His instincts were to jump in with both feet, to confess his feelings and let the chips fall where they may. But there was logic in the careful approach. “And if it turns out the bang is all she wants?”
Knox shrugged, his eyes going bleak. “I guess we’ll jump off that bridge when we get to it.”
Jesse studied him for a moment, considering. The headlights outside were moving, which meant Chloe would be coming back any second. “Okay,” he finally said. “I’ll follow your lead.”
Knox’s eyes shone with gratitude, and relief.
“But I can’t hide my feelings,” Jesse warned him quietly. “I can’t pretend she’s some random club pickup, or just a weekend good time.”
Knox nodded. “I know. I know that. Just…hold off on proposing, okay?”
Jesse allowed himself a small grin. It was comforting to be so well understood. “Polygamy is illegal in Ohio.”
“You know what I mean.”
He took it as a good sign that Knox was relaxed enough to roll his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I’m going to set the table.”
He turned for the kitchen, then looked back when Knox’s hand wrapped around the back of his neck. “What?” he said, then found himself being thoroughly, deliciously kissed.
When Knox lifted his head, Jesse licked his lips. “What was that for?”
“Because I love you,” Knox murmured and, with a last nip of Jesse’s bottom lip, stepped back just as the front door blew open. A second later, Chloe walked back in.
She glanced from one to the other, her cheeks red from the cold and a tentative smile on her face. “Um, can I do anything to help with dinner?”
“You can help Jesse set the table,” Knox said easily and moved to take the coat she peeled off. “He can never remember which side the forks go on.”
“I used to have that problem, too.” Chloe bent to tug off her boots, then padded across the room to take the plates Jesse had pulled from the cabinet. “Then my brother gave me an easy way to remember.”
“Yeah?” Hiding his erection behind the kitchen island, Jesse pulled out flatware and glasses. “How’s that?”
“He told me I was lucky,” she said, taking the plates, “because I’m left-handed, and that meant if I ever needed to stab someone at the dinner table, I wouldn’t have to reach across my plate to get to my fork.”
Jesse paused, silverware in one hand, water glasses in the other, to goggle at her. Behind him, Knox was choking on suppressed laughter. “People get stabbed a lot at the dinner table when you were a kid?”
“No, but Roman likes to be prepared.” She smiled. “Where am I taking these?”
“What? Oh. The console table against the wall, there.” Shaking himself, he walked around the counter. “It has leaves.”
“It’s pretty.” Chloe set the plates down on the narrow tabletop, then stood back when Jesse came around to pull it away from the wall and lift the leaves. “And functional. Did you make it?”
“Knox’s design, my build. What does your brother do?”
“Hmm?” She was examining the table, running her fingers over the satiny surface with obvious pleasure. “He’s a pediatric nurse. Why?”
“No reason,” Jesse said and went back to get the rest of the table ware.
Chloe was, to her considerable surprise, relaxed during dinner.
Somehow, getting the threesome out on the table had chased away most of her nerves, and what remained felt more like excitement than anxiety, so she was almost enjoying the bubble and fizz as they dug into spinach salad, garlic bread, and spaghetti.
And she was happy to have the wine when Knox finally point out the elephant in the room.
“So,” he said, twirling spaghetti around his fork. “A threesome.”
And just like that, the nerves were back. She took a fortifying gulp of wine, ignored the heat blooming in her face, and looked him in the eye with a bravado she was far from feeling. “Yeah.”
He returned the look calmly, a hint of humor in his smokey eyes. “Tell us about that.”