Beneath a Hot Tequila Sun (9 page)

“I know it sounds weird,” said Seth, “but for all we know, everyone’s doing it in private.”

Kayla doubted that, and her expression must have said so.

“Will you at least think about it?” he asked.

The fact two such hot men had wanted her once was flattering. That they wanted her again was incredible. But the suggestion that they wanted her in their lives and not just for sex was completely overwhelming. In the best way possible.

Yet actually saying yes to such an outrageous proposition was beyond her. She opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again—

A minibus careened into the car park, horn blaring.

“Kayla. Kayla!”

“Oh, lord,” said Kayla, recognizing the passengers.

“Yoo-hoo, Kayla!”

“You were about to say yes, weren’t you?” asked Jake urgently.

Kayla had no time to rationalize. No time for practicalities or common sense. Which meant her heart gave the answer her head couldn’t. “Yes,” she said, as the minibus skidded to a halt and six young women piled out, teetering toward her on heels not made for running, all floppy sun hats, huge sunglasses, and shoulders which were a patchwork of tan lines and fiery sunburn. “But please don’t say anything.”

The two men high-fived.

“Please,” Kayla begged.

“Relax,” said Seth. “I completely understand. You don’t want your friends to know you were seduced by that stupid hat.”

“Oh, thank goodness you’re okay.” Kayla’s friends reached her and engulfed her in perfumed hugs that made her wish she had had that shower.

“Was it horrible? Were there bats? Tell me there weren’t bats. I would have died, just died,” said her best friend, Lottie.

“I’m fine.” She laughed. Then, as though someone had flipped a switch, her friends grew silent, their mouths falling open, their eyes widening to almost cartoon-like proportions as they noticed Jake and Seth. Butterflies immediately took flight in Kayla’s tummy.

How on earth could she introduce the men without blushing to her very soul?

“Oh my.” Lottie elbowed her out of the way, stepping forward to get a better look. “I heard you weren’t alone, Kay, but I had no idea…”

Praying that the men wouldn’t land her in it, Kayla fixed a smile on her face. “Everyone, I’d like you to meet Jake and Seth. They…looked after me last night.”

Looked after her?
Yep. There was the blush. Luckily no one was looking at her.

“Ladies.” Charm personified, Jake rose to his feet and offered his hand. No one took it. Instead everyone shuffled closer, slack-jawed and practically drooling. Any second now, Kayla expected them to start stroking him and checking his teeth as if he were a horse they were thinking of buying. An emotion that could not be jealousy trickled through her blood.

Seth gave her a tiny wink, and she smiled at her overreaction. Unfortunately Lottie caught the exchange, and her eyebrows shot into the stratosphere.

A slow grin split her face. “Kaaayla?” she said, drawing the word out in a promise of teasing to come. “Anything you want to tell us?”

No, she did not. Kayla’s face flamed. “I…no…”

Jake came to Kayla’s rescue in a way she could not have foreseen. Never in a million years. He reached for Seth’s hand.

“Seth and I were just glad we were able to help,” he said easily. “And of course, Kayla’s virtue was perfectly safe with us. Isn’t that right, Seth?”

“Completely,” Seth agreed, though Kayla had to stifle a giggle at his pained expression.

“You’re gay?” Lottie deflated like a pricked balloon.

“As a picnic basket,” Jake said cheerfully, tucking Seth’s arm through his.

Kayla might still have faced more questions, but the bus driver called out and pointed to his watch.

Lottie grimaced. “Sorry, Kay, but we have to go. He has another job, and the landslide has already cost him a day. We had to bribe him to stop to pick you up and we promised we would be quick.”

Go now? Kayla looked in alarm at the men.

“Bye, guys. Thanks for looking out for her,” said Lottie, tugging on her arm.

“But—”

Jake stepped forward and kissed her cheek, surreptitiously tucking something into the pocket of her shorts.

“Come
on
, Kay,” insisted Lottie.

Seth hugged Kayla. “You should never wear a bra again,” he whispered in her ear. And then Lottie dragged her away.

* * * *

Kayla didn’t dare check her pocket under Lottie’s beady eye, so she had to wait to see what Jake had given her. Back at the hotel, her friends headed straight to the beach in an attempt to even out their tans before going home, but Kayla claimed a need for a shower and a desire to work on her sketches while the images were still fresh in her mind.

Fresh in her mind? Who was she kidding? The chances of her ever forgetting a single moment of her time at Ma’ K’âaba were nonexistent.

In her room, she dug into her pocket and found a business card for Professor Jacob Forrester. Looking at it, her feelings were mixed. On the one hand, she now had contact details. On the other, did Jake expect her to do the contacting?
Hi. You may not remember me, but my name is Kayla and you shagged me senseless on my Mexican holiday—

Stop it!
Jake and Seth had sounded sincere.
Did they sound sincere?
Yes. They could have simply said their good-byes at the pyramid. They didn’t need to ask to see her again. And Jake hadn’t needed to give her his card.
Maybe it’s a fake card?

If only Lottie and the others hadn’t arrived when they did!

She tucked the card into her bag, not sure what to do with it, but keeping it safe.

After her shower, she flipped open her sketch pad and picked up a pencil, working on her drawings, deepening the shading here, adjusting a curve there. Refusing to obsess about the men’s intentions, she thought instead about Jake’s theory that the women in the temple had been rejected by their husbands.

No wonder she felt such connection to the women. In five years of marriage, had Marc even once looked at her the way the men in her sketches looked at their women? The way Jake and Seth had looked at her last night? This morning, even?

Thinking of her ex, she automatically searched inside herself for the clawing sadness that usually accompanied any reminders of her marriage and had to dig really deep to find even a hint. Instead, the joy she had woken with this morning bubbled to the surface, and she grinned like an idiot.

She looked at the bag where she’d put Jake’s card, knowing that she
would
call him as soon as she got home.

Kayla worked on her sketches all afternoon, fantasizing about her debut as a professional artist, her fingers itching to begin working in clay. She had dinner with her friends but turned down an invitation to a tequila night, claiming exhaustion. In her room, she packed, then changed for bed. About to turn in for the night, she heard a soft tap at the door. Opening it, her jaw almost hit the floor when she saw Jake and Seth.

Jake cleared his throat. “It occurred to us that when you left Seth and I were still holding hands. We’re here to assure you that we’re not gay.”

Kayla’s heart soared at the sight of them—Jake, lean and fit in jeans and a casual shirt, his fedora pushed back at a rakish angle; Seth, more muscular but every bit as attractive in his black tee and khakis.

“Thank you for your concern,” she said. “But I sort of worked that out for myself.”

Jake’s face fell. “Are you sure? Because I personally thought we were very convincing.”

She stepped aside to let them into the room. “You were, but I’d probably be able to walk straight today if you were gay. How did you find me?”

“It’s my job to find people,” said Seth, crossing to the window and moving the slats of the blind a little so he could see out.

Kayla closed the door and stood with her back to it. “You had the army track me down?” she asked, shocked.

Jake opened the minibar, checked out the contents, then closed it again. “The hotel name was on the side of the minibus.” He straightened up. “I have to say, you’ve taken the wind out of our sails. We’ve been planning all sorts of ways to prove our rampant heterosexuality. What gave us away?”

“Your rampant heterosexuality.” For the fortnight Kayla had occupied this room, it had seemed spacious. With the two men now pacing like caged panthers, it suddenly felt very small indeed, and she kept her back against the door. “Now that we have cleared that up, are you planning on driving all the way back to Ma’ K’âaba tonight?”

“We could do that.” Jake reached for her hands and drew her into the center of the room. His smile was filled with dark devilry, and when he played his thumbs over her palms, Kayla felt her nipples tighten. Embarrassed, she didn’t dare look down. But Jake did. “Or we could stay awhile. We could even take you out to dinner.”

Briefly, Kayla wondered what her friends would say if she came downstairs with these two. “I’ve already eaten, thanks. But I wouldn’t say no to some company.”
Oh. My. God. Did I really say that?

Seth had picked her sketch pad off the bed and was leafing through it. “Are you sure you don’t have even some tiny doubts about us being gay?” he asked hopefully. “Because I, for one, am willing to do what it takes to set your mind at rest.”

Jake scowled at him. “We talked about this, remember? How we wanted Kayla to know this isn’t all about sex?”

She squeezed his hands. “Can it be a little bit about sex?” she asked, sneaking a glance at Seth. “Because I got really turned on today working on page seven.”

Seth immediately turned to that page and showed it to Jake. “Doggy style. An oldie but a goodie.” He tossed the sketch pad onto the bed and pulled his T-shirt over his head. “I get what you’re saying, Jake, I really do. I mean, I want to have the relationship discussion too. But I think it will go better if we are all naked. Everyone agree?”

Kayla giggled, but she was glad that Seth was a man of action. Too much talking and she would lose her nerve. Then they might never get around to doing what she really, really wanted to do.

Jake looked pained. “If we get naked we’re unlikely to have any kind of serious discussion.”

She freed her hands and put her arms around Jake’s neck. “There’s no need for further discussion. I definitely want to see you again. Both of you. And I really think we should seal the deal with sex.”

Jake sighed like a man much put-upon but drew her swiftly against him. “All right. But we will buy you dinner. One day.”

Seth came up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist, pressing his lips softly against the side of her neck. “Glad that’s sorted,” he murmured. “Now, can I persuade you to take my cock out?”

She shivered and rolled her neck to increase his access. “Do you know? I think I do want to do that.” Unlocking her arms from Jake’s neck, she turned, shifting into Seth’s embrace, and kissed him as she undid his trousers and slipped her hand inside. He wore no underwear and was already bone-hard.

Jake’s lips replaced Seth’s on her neck, and she shivered again. A touch on her breast would have been more immediate, but this subtle attention to an erogenous zone she hadn’t even known she had was definitely more seductive. Seth broke the kiss and dropped his forehead to hers. “Would you believe I’ve really missed you?” He glanced at his watch. “The last ten hours have been the slowest of my life.”

Remembering how she had tortured herself earlier over their intentions, she felt a wave of shame for doubting them. “Thank you for saying that,” she said. “And thank you both for tracking me down.”

She twisted her head to give Jake a quick, grateful kiss before sinking to her knees in front of Seth and tugging his trousers down just far enough to release his cock. Then she ran her fingernail up the thick vein on the underside before swirling her tongue around the blunt head.

“Oh yeah,” Seth moaned softly, his head dropping back. “That’s what I missed.”

She was so engrossed in what she was doing she was only half aware of Jake undressing. Next moment he stood side by side with Seth, his cock erect in his hand. “Do me too,” he begged.

Feeling like a porn star, she took a cock in each hand and began to stroke firmly up and down, dropping kisses on alternate erections.

“Have you ever seen anything so sweet?” asked Seth reverently.

“Not since last night,” Jake breathed. “Let’s move onto the bed, sweetheart. The tiles are too rough on your knees.”

Seth picked her up and carried her to the bed, where he sat her at the edge. The mattress dipped as Jake climbed on. Kneeling behind her, he had her lift her arms so he could pull her T-shirt over her head while Seth tugged off her panties. Now she and Jake were both naked, though Seth still had his trousers on, low on his hips with his cock jutting out proudly. Jake drew her against him, his chest hair rough against her back as he slipped his arms through hers to cup her breasts, sending shockwaves of pleasure all the way to her pussy. Kayla reached for him, twisting from the waist, arms raised so she could pull his mouth down to hers for a kiss.

Kneeling on the floor, Seth pushed her legs up and apart. Jake curled a hand under one of her knees while Seth held the other, spreading her wide open. She had never felt so exposed. Or so aroused.

Seth rocked back on his heels, grinning. “You are so perfect,” he told her, dipping his head to drop tiny kisses on her clit. Every nerve in her body lit up like a string of Christmas lights.

He swept his tongue boldly upward through her folds, and though his first touch had primed her, the intensity of her reaction took her by surprise. She writhed in pleasure, and Jake caught her chin, turning her mouth to him for another long, lingering kiss.

Jake’s lips were so soft and hot. Hungrily, she returned his kiss, her pleasure divided between both men. Her legs twitched as she tried to find purchase, but they each held one of her knees, leaving her utterly at their mercy.

“Relax,” Jake murmured against her mouth. “Let us give you this first orgasm so we know you’re ready for us.”

Jake released her jaw and teased her breast with his fingers, pulling almost roughly on her nipple while Seth licked expertly at her pussy—switching from slow, sensuous laps to light, teasing flicks to exploratory forays of his tongue inside. And all the while, Jake continued to kiss her with soul-searing skill.