Candy Apple (8 page)

If this was going to go forward—and God, could he even be
thinking that was a good idea?—he and Kiah were going to have to get along.

“What do you need?”

Tasha looked around the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator
and the cupboards. There wasn’t much.

“You guys really don’t eat at home, do you?”

“I eat out a lot,” Nathan said.

“I eat at the fire station most days,” Kiah replied.

Nathan tensed, waiting for the “ooh” and “aah” from Tasha
when she heard his cousin was a firefighter. Only she just pursed her lips and
stared at them.

“You’re a firefighter?”

Kiah nodded and grinned. He was used to women being
impressed.

“And you’re a businessman,” Tasha said to Nathan. “You two
could not have chosen more opposite professions.”

Nathan felt the muscles in his neck relax. Not that what
Kiah did wasn’t impressive—even Nathan admitted that it took a brave, or crazy,
soul to run into a burning building—but it was nice not to have to listen to
some woman wax rhapsodic about it.

Strangely, Kiah also seemed a bit relieved. He followed her
around. “Any luck?”

She smiled and met his stare, her eyes twinkling. Nathan
stood back and watched, analyzing the sensation. If somehow they decided to go
forward with this dual dating thing, he’d have to get used to seeing her with
Kiah. He thought about it. He didn’t necessarily feel left out, but he wanted
her eyes on him, wanted to see her smile at him that way.

“I can figure something out.” She turned and directed her
gaze to Nathan and he felt the full weight of her smile as she brought him into
the conversation. “You have eggs. Do you like omelets?”

“Yes,” Kiah answered.

“We have eggs? Fresh?” He looked at his cousin. “Did you buy
eggs?”

“No.” Kiah snapped his fingers. “My mom dropped by the other
day just as I was heading out. I think she had some bags with her.”

“She’s always hoping one of us will magically learn to
cook,” Nathan explained to Tasha.

“I can teach you,” she offered and almost laughed at the
appalled looks on both men’s faces. Her stomach rumbled. “Or not. Let me get to
work.”

She waved them away and concentrated on putting together a
dinner that would satisfy them all.

It wasn’t much but the challenge of cooking a decent meal
with minimal ingredients would keep her mind occupied.

She hadn’t been prepared for this. With Cait and Heather,
the two men seemed okay with sharing. Heather’s lovers took it a step further
and had sex with each other.

Nathan and Kiah didn’t seem to even like each other.

How was this going to work? Was it? Should she just leave?
She wasn’t really made for two men. She was definitely more of a picket fence,
house in the suburbs with two-point-four kids, or whatever the average was
these days, kind of woman.

Somehow she didn’t see either of these men falling into that
life.

Still, the dress had chosen them—both of them—maybe she
needed to expand her world a little and give this a chance.

She quickly put together an omelet and toast and they all
sat down.

Kiah fell on the food like a starving man. Nathan moved a
little slower but both expressed their appreciation. They’d gone through most
of the meal before anyone spoke.

Finally, Nathan placed his fork down and looked at Tasha.

“So how does this work?”

Kiah’s head came up and he turned his stare to her as well.

“You’re asking
me
?”

“It is your dress,” Kiah said.

“Well, yes, but I’ve never actually done this before.”
Whatever
this is
, she silently added.

“But your roommate has two boyfriends, right?”

Nathan looked at Kiah. “How do you know that?”

“They were at her house.” He tipped his head toward Tasha.

“Hmm.” Nathan’s lower lip bulged out just slightly as he
thought and Tasha had the insane urge to lean over and bite it but that was for
later. Maybe. “How does it work for them?” he asked. The analytical businessman
side of his personality was fully in control.

“Well, they spend a lot of time together—all three of
them—but then, Cain and Paxson are lovers.”

Kiah and Nathan each reared back in their chairs.

“No way.”

“Not happening.”

“Oh no.” Tasha shook her head. “I wasn’t even thinking that.
My friend Cait dates two men and they aren’t lovers and it’s perfectly fine.”

“You have
another
friend who does this?” Nathan’s
mouth hung open a little.

Kiah laughed. “Damn, baby. I thought my friends were a
little kinky because they are into the whole spanking scene—”

Her cheeks heated up as she remembered the light taps Kiah
had given her ass.

“But it’s nothing compared to this.”

“It’s the dress.” She slumped a little in her chair. “It
seems to inspire this kind of thing.” She thought about her mother and quickly
pushed the idea from her mind.

“Well, I’m not sure about the whole ‘three on a date’ thing,”
Nathan said. He reached out and covered Tasha’s hand with his own. “I’d like to
spend time with you, alone.”

The heat from his touch and the hunger that flared in his
eyes flowed into her core and she had to bite her lip to keep from whimpering.

“So would I,” Kiah added, his voice sharp and penetrating
the sensual haze that Nathan’s caress had created.

The corner of Nathan’s mouth kicked up as if he was pleased
to irritate his cousin. He slid his hand away and sat up taller in his chair.

“Then we will need a schedule after all. Times when we both
get to see her.” He looked at Tasha. “Based on your approval, of course.” He
didn’t really wait for a response. “A month out would be good.”

Kiah shook his head. “No, my schedule changes too much.
We’ll do weekly.”

“I can’t plan with a weekly schedule. I have events coming
up.”

“Oh don’t worry. I’ll keep Tasha company while you’re out at
boring business parties.”

Nathan’s eyes narrowed. “I’m hoping she’ll be my date.”

Butterflies erupted in her stomach. Nathan wanted her to be
his date. At work functions? Jason usually told her not to bother, it would be
too boring, uninteresting. Now she realized he’d been hiding her.

After one night, Nathan seemed willing to take her into
public. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that and—

Even as her mind raced, she realized Nathan and Kiah had
made a decision.

She blinked and looked at the two men. “I’m sorry, what?”

“We’ll block out a month in advance, but adjust on a weekly
basis to accommodate the firebug here.”

Instead of being offended by the nickname, Kiah grinned. He
looked at Tasha and winked.

“What can I say? I like things hot.”

She smiled but didn’t get a chance to respond.

“Speaking of that…what about sex?” Nathan asked.

Tasha jumped a little at the word.

“W-what about it?”

Arrogance flirted at the edge of Nathan’s gaze. “Are you
going to sleep with both of us? One of us?”

“Uhh—”

“Don’t put so much pressure on her.”

“I’m not.” Nathan met her stare. He was dead serious about
this. “I just think if we discuss things ahead of time, we’re less likely to
piss each other off later.”

“So, what do you expect?” Kiah peered at Nathan. “If I sleep
with her, the next date you get to? What if she doesn’t want to?”

Tasha felt like she was having an out-of-body experience.

“Maybe we just shouldn’t have sex,” she heard herself say,
then she clamped her lips together so nothing else stupid would escape.

Both men froze. They looked at each other then turned to
her. Confidence built as she stared at them.

“Well, we fell into bed together the first time pretty fast.
Maybe we should just take a step back on that part of our relationship for a
bit.”

She faced them down, waiting for some protest. The muscles
along Kiah’s jaw rippled as if he was clenching and unclenching his teeth.

Finally, Nathan nodded. “All right. I agree. No sex.”

“Fine,” Kiah said. At least she was pretty sure that’s what
he said since he didn’t open his teeth.

“Fine,” she agreed, her stomach dropping a bit.

“But what constitutes sex?” Kiah asked. He crossed his arms
over his chest. “I’m all right with taking it slow, but no way am I not going
to get some sort of access to the gorgeous body.”

Tasha blinked and her spine involuntarily straightened. Her
mind divided into two camps—one, that Kiah and Nathan assumed they were the
final decision on sex and two, Kiah thought she had a gorgeous body? That fact
diminished her irritation about the first issue.

“I agree on that,” Nathan said. “I’d say touching and
kissing allowed but nothing that specifically drives toward orgasm.”

Kiah shrugged. “I guess I can live with that. Tasha?”

“Huh? Oh—” Her mind was still pondering the idea that both
men seemed to like her body. She raced to catch up with the conversation.
Touching…kissing…orgasms. All of that sounded good to her. Both men stared
intently at her. “Sure. Okay. Let’s do that.”

Chapter Six

Dear Diary,

What was I thinking?

Tasha resisted the urge to slam the cast-iron skillet onto
the stove. Instead she took a deep breath, rolled her shoulders back and
carefully placed it on the burner, cranking up the heat below it.

Her hands curled into fists as the warmth radiated from the
range top.
Like I need more heat
, she thought. It had been a month.
Exactly. One month and she was about to go insane.

Not that a month was that long to go without sex. She’d gone
years before and survived quite nicely. But then she hadn’t been dating two men
who insisted on being sweet and sexy and touching her and kissing her, taking
her to the point of coming before pulling back.

If she hadn’t seen the frustration on both men’s faces she
would have thought it was all a joke. At first, they’d appeared confident, a
little arrogant—as if every smile told her she’d brought this on herself.

But Tasha had noticed a definite shift in the past week.
Tension hummed through every conversation, every dinner. Instead of long,
teasing make-out sessions like she’d grown used to, three nights ago, Kiah had
kissed her good night on the doorstep and walked away. The kiss had just about
melted her toenail polish off but still, it had just been one kiss.

The only thing that had kept her from whimpering was the
stiff way he’d walked to the car.

And Nathan, he’d done exactly as he’d said—taken Tasha to
several business dinners and a charity event. He’d been the perfect companion
and gentleman until he got her home, and then he’d lavished wicked attention on
her breasts to the point that just thinking his name made her nipples hard.

The pan started to smoke and Tasha realized she’d taken a
mental vacation. It happened a lot these days. Had to be the build-up of
arousal. Somehow the phrase “nothing that drives toward orgasm” came to mean
“no orgasms”.

The topic had come up when Kiah had suggested she masturbate
for him. He’d claimed that wouldn’t qualify as “sex”, but for reasons she
couldn’t imagine, he’d called Nathan to approve it. Nathan had shot down the
idea.

Somehow, and she still wasn’t sure how, that had translated
into
no
orgasms at all, even on her own.

Tasha hadn’t taken that lightly. She’d told Nathan and Kiah,
if she couldn’t, they couldn’t. She was pretty sure they’d been following
through with that, based on the surly attitudes that were more and more
familiar.

She placed the chicken breast in the pan. The sizzle
immediately crackled and she smiled. Cooking had become her distraction. Her
freezer had never been so full. She put the other two breasts into the pan
beside the first. It was more than she and Nathan would eat but she’d make up a
plate for Kiah and have Nathan take it to him. She knew Kiah ate well at the firehouse
but he seemed to enjoy her cooking.

Last night she and Kiah were supposed to have gone out but
he’d gotten called in. Tonight, she had Nathan.

With Heather in Vegas helping her men pack up and move,
Tasha had the house to herself and had decided to invite Nathan over. She’d
cooked for him a few times at his place but she liked her own kitchen. And
despite having “real food” in their house now, they didn’t have most of the
staples that she did.

“Hmm, that smells good,” Nathan commented from the table
where she had him tearing up lettuce for the salad, trying to slowly expand his
nonexistent cooking skills.

“I hope you like it. I kind of modified—” The doorbell rang,
interrupting her explanation. “I’ll go get that. Can you watch these?” She
handed him the tongs. “Turn them in about thirty seconds.”

Nathan looked at his watch and she knew he would time it
exactly. She kissed his cheek and wiped her hands on a towel as she left the
kitchen and headed into the living room.

Peering through the beveled glass at the side of the door,
she saw a man standing on the other side. Uh-oh. Nathan was not going to like
this.

She opened the door and smiled at Kiah. “Hi.”

“Hi.” He stepped forward, wrapping his arm around her waist
and pulling him against her as he leaned down and covered her lips in a hot,
deep kiss that made her head spin.

When he finally lifted his head, colors swirled inside her
brain. She blinked, hoping they would disappear. “What are you doing here?”

“I missed last night so I wanted to make it up to you.”

“Nathan’s here,” she pointed out.

“I know.” He gave her another quick kiss then stepped back
and closed the door. “I brought wine. Didn’t know if we were having chicken or
beef.” He held up a woven bag that looked weighted down with several bottles.

“What makes you think you’re going to stay or that I’m going
to feed you?” she asked though she knew she would. Kiah was difficult to stay
mad at.

“Because you wouldn’t leave a poor man starving. I know
you.”

He stalked across the living room and pushed open the
kitchen door just as Nathan called out.

“Babe, I flipped them but I’m not sure if—” He looked up and
saw Kiah. “Great.”

“What’s for dinner?”

“Nothing. It’s my night.”

“Not fair. I missed mine last night.”

“Too bad.”

Tasha moved past them and took the tongs out of Nathan’s
hand, turning down the heat and adding wine and garlic to the pan. Steam and
sizzle filled the air. Both men stopped and stared as if the sound captivated
them. She was pretty sure neither of them had been allowed in the kitchen when
they were younger.

She swirled the liquid around the pan and then slipped it
into the oven. Recognizing that the room was quiet behind her—and hoping it
wasn’t because they had their hands around each other’s throats—she slowly
turned around.

Both men stood, similar poses, arms folded across chests,
heads tilted to the side—Nathan to the right, Kiah left—staring at her.

She shook her head. “I am not making this decision.” She
wiped her hands on her apron, took it off and tossed it on the counter. “I’m going
upstairs to get out of my work clothes.” She’d been running late and hadn’t had
time to change before Nathan had shown up.

She stood on her tiptoes and was grateful that Nathan bent a
little to meet her. She placed a quick kiss on his lips. “Keep going on the
salad. Chop some carrots when you’re done with the lettuce.”

She took a step to the left, still up on her toes and kissed
Kiah. “If you’re staying, start peeling potatoes. They go in that pot of water.
I’ll be back down in a few minutes.”

With much more confidence than she felt, she nodded to both
men and left the kitchen. She was not going to be the mediator in their little
battle.

She only hoped that when she came downstairs, both men were
still standing.

Nathan glared at Kiah.

Kiah glared back then he finally sighed and looked away.
“Fine, I’ll go. I just got off shift and didn’t have anyone to hang with. No
worries. I’ll leave.”

The words came out casually but a faint tension vibrated
beneath his cousin’s voice. Nathan knew that tone. Something had happened on
the job. Kiah saw a lot of things at work that he didn’t talk about. And Nathan
had never been the best confidant. He tried but he’d never experienced what
Kiah had—had never watched a house burn down or not been able to save a child
from a burning hotel. That single event had just about killed Kiah.

And Nathan was pretty sure the memory haunted his cousin.

Tasha’s gentle heart and sweet disposition were probably
just what Kiah needed tonight. She could probably soothe his emotional wounds but
damn it, call it selfishness, but Nathan didn’t want to leave.

The kitchen door had already swung shut behind Kiah before
Nathan made a decision.

“Hez, wait.” Nathan followed his cousin into the living
room, dropping instinctively into the childhood nickname. “She made plenty and
I really hate peeling potatoes.”

Kiah’s eyes squinched down at the corners. “You’ve actually
peeled a potato?”

“Well, no. But I saw your mom do it once.” Nathan’s father
was more of a “microwave meal” kind of diner.

The edge of Kiah’s mouth tilted up into a smile and just
from that one look, Nathan could see how tired his cousin was.

“We should be able to figure it out though, huh?” Kiah asked
following Nathan back into the kitchen.

Tasha stood at the top of the stairs and couldn’t stop her
smile. It wasn’t a full-on peace treaty but they hadn’t started World War III
in her living room.

She slipped into her bedroom, quickly washed up then went to
her closet.

Part of her knew she should dress in her frumpiest outfit,
nothing that would inspire them to touch at all. The one thing none of them
needed was more temptation.

But the past few weeks had drawn out a side of herself she’d
never expected—her inner wild child, as Heather called it. For four weeks,
she’d been tempted and teased and practically seduced.

Now it was her turn.

The past month had also given her a new confidence in her
body. She’d come to love her curves. Nathan and Kiah certainly did.

She searched her closet and found a soft, flowy top that
dipped low in front. She’d bought it on a whim but had never found the courage
to wear it because whenever she looked down, all she saw was cleavage. It had
always seemed too daring for her.

Tonight, she had no worries. She took off her work bra and
grabbed one of the sexy pieces Heather had helped her buy.

The red-lace bra perfectly matched the candy-apple-red
panties she now wore on a regular basis. Just the thought of the color made her
think about Nathan and Kiah.

She slipped on a long skirt to match the blouse. To the
outside world, it probably didn’t look sexy, but the sensual flow of the
material felt wonderful against her skin.

She stopped in front of the mirror and tugged down her
blouse, making sure the deep cleavage was visible and a hint of red showed.

She smoothed her hands over her breasts and let the
delicious tingles shiver into her core. The delicate lace teased her nipples
with each breath and she knew by the time the evening was done, she’d be
begging Nathan or Kiah to suck on her nipples. With the steady attention to her
breasts, they’d become more sensitive.

Except they still had the no-sex ban.

She fluffed her fingers through her hair and decided tonight
was the night she ended up back in bed with one or both of them.

Kiah picked up the strange implement sitting beside the
small pile of potatoes. The shallow groove had slits in it. He ran his finger
across the metal edge.

“Ow!”

“What’d you do?” Nathan asked, his head down focused on
meticulously chopping carrots.

A thin streak of blood lined Kiah’s finger. If it had been
Tasha, he would have played up the injury but with Nathan—hell no.

“Nothing.” He stuck his hand under the water and rinsed off
the blood and the metal blade. Keeping his finger wide to the side, he picked
up the first potato. Knowing now that the curved blades were sharp, he ran the
edge across the potato skin. A thin strip of brown slipped off, leaving pale
flesh beneath. “Hey, look at that.”

“What?” Nathan asked.

Kiah knew his cousin’s curiosity wouldn’t let him stay away
for long. Moments later Nathan appeared over his shoulder, looking down.

Kiah repeated the peeling process, showing off for Nathan.
Nathan reached out, grabbed the hand holding the peeler-thingy and picked it
up.

“Hmm, interesting design.” He released Kiah’s hand. “Don’t
bleed on my food,” he ordered as he walked away.

Kiah smiled and went about peeling the potatoes. It took
enough concentration that he didn’t think about his day.

An even better distraction arrived in the form of
Tasha—wearing a flowery skirt that molded to her legs with every step and a
blouse that dipped low enough he could see her bra—candy-apple red.

He licked his lips and stared at the sweet valley between
her breasts. All the blood rushed to his cock, making him a little faint.

“How’s it going?” she asked cheerfully. She leaned down and
inspected Nathan’s salad. “Looks delicious.” The front of her dress draped
forward and Kiah knew Nathan could see all the way in, not just a hint of lace
but soft firm flesh.

Tasha smiled and straightened, wandering over to Kiah. “How
are you doing?”

“Uh—” He blinked. The blood pooling in his groin took away
every coherent thought. “Fuck, you look gorgeous,” he blurted out.

Her smile widened and she popped up on her toes and kissed
him. “Thanks. Now keep peeling. Those have to be cooking soon if we want to
eat.”

He nodded, his mind a little fuzzy. He stared down at the
potato and the peeler in his hand, trying to remember what he was doing. He
knew what he wanted to be doing—stripping off that fluffy shirt and licking his
woman from top to bottom. It took a few minutes but finally, his thoughts
cleared and he saw himself scraping the peeler across the potato skin. Somehow
he’d managed to work his way through four potatoes.

Not bad. Maybe he could do this cooking thing. He looked over
to show Tasha what he’d done but even as he opened his mouth, she bent over and
peered into the oven.

Heat washed over him, making his blood burn hotter.

Tasha poked something inside the oven then straightened.

“Almost ready—” She turned and saw him staring. A sexy smile
curved her lips. She flipped her head back and damn if it didn’t appear that
she tugged on her shirt, pulling the front down, flashing the smooth curves of
her breasts at him.

For a moment he froze, thinking about sliding his tongue—or
his cock—between those sweet mounds.

“All done?” she asked.