Inescapable (8 page)

“Yes,” Lily agreed, “I was thinking that, it’s like a retreat, beautiful countryside, too.” Seth nodded. “This is great pasta.”

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Had he changed the topic of conversation on purpose? It seemed so, because he changed it again.

“So, you two…you met online. In a chat room, yes?” He forked another mouthful of pasta into his mouth.

Adrian had a bad feeling. This felt like bloke-talk. How would Lily react?

She stared at Seth, her fork frozen in her hand. “You’re trying to embarrass me.”

“No, not at all.” Seth looked much more relaxed than Lily did. He pointed his fork at her, briefly. “You’ve got to lighten up, Miss Hotpants.”

“Bloody hell,” she muttered, her face colouring.

Tension arced through the atmosphere between them, Adrian couldn’t help noticing it.

He also noticed what Seth had called her. Hotpants. Did Seth fancy her? He’d be a fool not to, Adrian surmised, wryly. And now Lily was looking at the cop from under he lashes, her lower lip caught between her teeth in a really sexy way. Did she want Seth? He considered the question and quickly swallowed down his rising annoyance. He couldn’t blame her for gravitating towards the bloke who was taking care of them both. All he’d done was get her mixed up in his problems. If that meant she changed her mind about their set up, he’d have to take it as righteous payoff, like it or not.

Seth scooped more pasta to one side of the bowl before he continued speaking. “Like I said before, I’m just trying to make you relax. It’s really not a problem.”

“Not a problem?” Her eyes rounded. Adrian had stopped eating, observing the exchange with deepening curiosity and concern. She was focused on Seth; she definitely liked him, that electric heat she was giving off told him that—it wasn’t just annoyance.

Seth shook his head, real slow. “Lily, listen to me, please. The reason you two met is like an elephant in the room. We are all aware of the elephant, but no one wants to mention it.” He paused, his lips pressed together as if deep in thought, before he continued. “Trust me; we need to get the conversation over with.”

Did they? Adrian wasn’t so sure. Maybe Lily had changed her mind and this was forcing her to think about it again. Seth adopted a relaxed position, bowl in one hand. Did he learn how to deal with this kind of stuff for his job, Adrian wondered. Whether he did or not, it was a good approach, because although he was in charge and he was addressing a potentially uncomfortable subject with Lily, his body language was all about being chilled and non-confrontational.

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Even so, Lily looked agitated. Putting down her fork, she pushed back her hair then folded her arms across her chest, elbows on the table. “Whatever. I can’t eat now.” Adrian felt bad for her. He reached out one hand and touched her briefly on the arm.

She gave him a grateful smile.

“Seth, is this really necessary?” Adrian quizzed. “Lily and I are old online friends, that’s all that matters here.”

Seth nodded his way. “Lily has to understand that I’m forthright, but it’s meant in an entirely genuine way.” He shrugged. “I’m not the bad guy here, and she has to stop thinking that.”

Lily rested her elbows on the table, her forehead in her hands. “I know. You’re not.” She wriggled her shoulders as if she couldn’t let that one go, but Adrian felt the tension dissipate, marginally. Did she need someone to blame? If so, she should be blaming him, it was all his fault. Adrian sent Seth a pleading glance.

Seth nodded, connecting, before he commented any further. “The reason you two met doesn’t have to be a big deal, really. Did you know that a large percentage of happy long term couples meet online these days?”

Adrian was surprised. “Seriously?” He glanced at Lily. She was still tense, but she was listening. “It’s not that unusual?”

Seth replied. “No.”

“How do you know that?” Lily picked up her fork again as she directed the question at him, lightening up a bit, but still quite obviously mistrustful of Seth’s line of conversation.

Whatever the reason for her caution on the matter, Adrian liked the feeling it gave him—that she was protective of what they had. Did he still have a chance with her? What they already had was special, and it hung in the balance right now, in danger of not moving forward.

Seth smiled across the table at them both. “In a job like mine you sometimes have hours on end to read magazines.”

Adrian took his chance to agree. “You’re right. It isn’t a big deal.” Lily sat still for the longest moment, and then she took a deep breath and stood up.

“Maybe not, but I don’t want to talk about it right now.” She stared Seth’s way. “Because it’s, well…it’s complicated. You know why.”

This was still embarrassing her, Adrian realised. He didn’t want anything to make her feel uncomfortable. He reached out and brushed his fingers down her arm, eager to connect.

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“Okay,” Seth responded quickly. “It doesn’t have to be ‘complicated’. Neither of us wants you to feel that way.”

He looked at Adrian, and Adrian nodded. Lily’s gaze covered them both, watchful and intelligent.

“Let it go.” Seth stood up, picking his fork and bowl in one hand as he did so. “Let’s go watch a DVD.”

Lily stared at him.

“This is really good,” he added, gesturing with the bowl of pasta in his hand. “Much better than anything I could conjure up.” He spanked her on the arse with his free hand as he passed.

Her mouth fell open. Adrian couldn’t help chuckling.

When Lily looked at him, questioningly, he shrugged at her and then picked up his bowl in one hand and limped after Seth, leaning on his stick with his other hand. Seth was trying to diffuse the tension, and she was coming round. Adrian wasn’t going to argue with that. Hope could be a hellish burden sometimes, he reflected.
Follow us
, he silently pleaded, as he limped away from her, a hot tick in his chest willing her to be okay with this.

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Lily stood in the doorway of the residents’ lounge, hesitant. Adrian had settled into an armchair. Seth had put the music channel on and flicked through a stack of DVDs next to the player. Both of them were half-watching her, silently, expectantly. They wanted her to come in to the room, they wanted her to follow. Something was rising to the surface here—

something that felt dangerous and wild—but she couldn’t walk away.

Adrian’s expression told her he was thinking about what they’d shared, and her bottom still tingled from where Seth had spanked her. Her imagination was roaming from the memory of Seth’s blatant sexual response the evening before, to Adrian’s online sexual adventuring. All of it fired through her, hot and lusty, alive. Between her thighs, her pulse beat out a frenzied tattoo. All through the meal, the sexual tension between them had ratcheted up, making her keenly aware of both men. If she went in there with them, something would happen. But Seth had a point; she would feel better if it was out in the open. At the moment, it was making her feel awkward, and she could do without that on top of the weirdness of the situation.

Stepping into the room, she tried to act as nonchalantly as she could. She pulled a footstool in front of Adrian, encouraging him to put his leg up.

“You’re right,” she said casually, glancing at Seth.

Seth immediately stopped what he was doing to listen.

“It would be much easier if I got it out into the open.” He abandoned the DVDs and left the music channel playing on the TV instead. Moving to the sofa, he sat easily on one end, his attention apparently all hers.

Oh boy
. Taking a deep breath, she took the opposite end of the sofa to him, placing herself closer to Adrian in his armchair. Adrian looked as if he approved of what she had said, which gave her strength.

“I don’t want us to feel awkward anymore.” She directed her attention to Seth. “Adrian I have been chatting online for about three months. Things got pretty steamy.” That felt like the understatement of the century, but considering what had happened with Seth the night

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before, she was pretty sure she didn’t need to go into more detail. He could figure it out for himself.

He looked as if he was trying to remain serious and inscrutable, and yet there was a simmering sense of expectation about him and a dark twinkle in his eyes. Bastard. He thought it was funny.

She took a deep breath and continued. “Yesterday was supposed be our first meeting in person. Adrian was very kind and suggested that I go to his office so that I would feel safe, in a public place. So you see, this is all feels a bit awkward because Adrian and I know a lot about each other, but we don’t really
know
each other.” She paused. “The deal was that I could walk away, and so could he, if we didn’t feel comfortable during our date. Without even having had any time to get past that first meeting, we’re locked up together. With you.” It felt good to have said it out loud, for the first time.

“I can see why that would be difficult, of course,” Seth commented, in a very matter of fact way. “That’s it, out in the open, over with. It wasn’t so hard now, was it?” She dipped her head on one side as she looked at him, considering why he had said that. He gave her a brief smile and rested one elbow on the back of sofa. Maybe he didn’t want her to say anything else, or maybe he was suggesting she did? Whatever, she was on a roll and she wasn’t stopping now, because as far as she was concerned she’d only got halfway through the problem. “There’s something else that I want to get off my chest, as well.”

Thank God for the wine. It didn’t exactly make her throw caution to the wind, but it made this a hell of a lot easier to get this off her chest. Forcing herself to glance at both of them, she quickly took in their expressions. Adrian was curious, and Seth looked bemused.

His eyebrows had lifted imperceptibly, those sharp eyes totally focused on her. Oh yes, he knew what she was about to say, he’d guessed. Was there a touch of admiration there?

Maybe. Maybe this is what he’d been pushing for all along.

She turned to Adrian. “When I arrived at your office, I thought…well, I thought you would answer the door, and that you had in fact answered the door. So I…kissed you.” Now it was Adrian’s eyebrows that lifted. “I mean, I kissed him.” Nodding her head in Seth’s direction, she barely dared look at him.

Would Seth laugh at her? Would Adrian hate her? She hoped not.

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The sound of the music from the TV only seemed to emphasise the silence that hung in the atmosphere. Adrian stared at her for what seemed an age, and she had to fight the urge to squirm in her seat or flee from the room. Then he shook his head, a wry half-smile taking up residence on his face. “Well, that explains a lot.” She stared at him, unsure of how to respond.

He nodded at Seth. “The way you look at Lily. It was more than just casual interest, now I see why.”

Seth lifted his hands. “Sorry, buddy.”

Adrian kept staring from one to the other of them, his eyes flickering with curiosity. “Is she a good kisser?”

Lily’s skin raced hot and cold, her senses on high alert.

“Hellish hot,” Seth responded, watching her in a blatantly assessing way. She suddenly wished she hadn’t sat on the same sofa as him. His proximity made this even worse, and she had to force herself to breathe. He smiled a lopsided grin that made her think he was referring just as much to what happened between them last night, as in London.

Lily’s face burned, and that wasn’t all. Between her legs her pussy felt hot and heavy, the pulse at her core beating wildly, a frantic need for contact controlling it. “This is embarrassing,” she muttered to herself.

“Hey, don’t be embarrassed,
Laidbacklady
, no need. You’re a sexy woman.”

“It was a genuine mistake,” Seth commented.

Adrian shot him a glance. “I’m sure it was, and I don’t blame you for enjoying it.” His mouth tightened for a moment, thoughtful. “You did enjoy it, right?” Seth nodded.

“Of course you did. You’d be an idiot not to.” Adrian knocked back some more wine before he continued. “But if you’re going to snog my sex-chat buddy, the least you can do is let me watch.”

Did he really just say that
? Lily stared at him.
Had he had too much wine?

“You’d like that,” he added, “wouldn’t you, Lily?” He looked straight at her, his smile knowing and darkly suggestive.

She saw it in his eyes, the secret knowledge he had about her. She had confessed about wanting to be watched, and now he was calling her on it.
Really
calling her. Her mind raced.

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Was this actually happening to her? Did Adrian honestly want to watch her with another man?

One look at his suggestive smile left her in no doubt that he meant it, and the combination of shock and dynamite arousal she experienced made her feel dizzy on the subsequent rush. Disbelieving but wildly aroused, she shifted restlessly and ran her fingernails over her upper arms, needing the sting to make her breathe.

Seth’s soft laughter drew her attention back. The suggestive smile he wore made her shiver with arousal, her body moving rapidly towards total meltdown. “Lily would like that, huh?” Seth put his glass aside. “You two really are into the sex chat.” Before she had a chance to respond, he reached out across the length of the sofa, breaching the space between them, and put his hand on hers. Weaving their fingers together, he drew her towards him, forcing her to move in his direction. Lily’s heart hammered in her chest.

Seth paused, his face inches from hers. “You know the lady so well, Adrian, and knowledge is power.”

Adrian laughed softly. “It is indeed.”

Seth glanced sideways at Adrian again, eyes glittering. “Here’s the deal. I’ll let you watch, if you share what you know.”

Lily whimpered, his words shocking her, desire and tension making her feel strung out.

Every part of her was wired to their exchange in the most direct way, her nerve endings sparking.

With one hand, Seth stroked her hair back from her face, cupping her cheek. “Tell me everything she likes, I want to know it all.”

“Well now, Lily did seem to like it when I told her I’d stand between her legs and tell her to touch herself.”

Lily bit her lip, and squirmed in her seat. Hearing Adrian say it aloud, the thing that had turned her on so much—and that no man had ever done—was a whole other level of torment.

“I also told her that I would watch her while she did it, and that would really turn her on.”

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Adrian seemed determined to push this thing forward. Meanwhile Seth’s proximity only served to remind her how it had felt to be pressed against him, to feel that persuasive mouth on hers. At her centre, she ached for that—and more.

“Is that true?” Seth’s eyes were dark with arousal, hooded and intense. He stared at her lips as he spoke, and when she eventually nodded at him he lowered his head to hers.

Any resistance she might have felt faded when he pushed his fingers into her hair and eased her back against the cushions, his body covering hers. Possessively, he claimed her, his kiss long and hungry, his mouth moving on hers, opening her up. Latching her hands over his shoulders her body arched up to his. The physical contact was too good, and all the while the heat of Adrian’s eyes on them seemed to make everything that much more intense, adding a thousand more caresses to each of Seth’s.

“Oh yes,” Adrian said, his voice low and hoarse, ”you’re so beautiful. The way you’re moving makes me hard.” He sighed, and Seth’s hands moved over her, stroking her throat and her breasts before wrapping around her waist, claiming her. At the same time it was Adrian’s voice she heard, and it seemed to coil inside her and flare, making her open and melt, the physical need that gripped her multiplying.

Seth lifted his head, but his hands were still locked around her waist. He’d pinned her on the sofa by sitting against her hip and locking her in place, and now he was leaning over her and looking at her with those suggestive eyes, kissing her until she was desperate with need.

I want you
, she thought.
Heaven help me, I want you both.
She pressed back into the cushions, desire and self-awareness washing over her in equal measures.

Seth touched her mouth with one finger, outlining it. “I’m going to explore you some more now, and unless you say otherwise, Adrian is going to watch exactly what I’m doing.” Lily gripped Seth’s shoulders with her hands, unable to look away from him.

“Watching is the least you can offer, seeing as you’re stealing my date here.” Adrian laughed softly, a self-deprecating tone to his comment.

“Stealing? And there was me thinking we were sharing.” Seth smiled, a weighty message in his voice and his expression. “Your call, Lily,” he added, and his expression softened for a moment. He’d made his deal with Adrian, but he still wanted her okay on it.

Lily couldn’t respond. The idea of being watched while this moved forward made her crazy, and one glance assured her that both men wanted it. As if in query, Seth moved the

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back of his hand down the front of her skirt, making fleeting contact with the mound of her pussy through the fabric. It was tantalising and tempting and delicious.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Adrian move in his armchair. “Who knew this would be a chance for you to live out some of those things you confessed in the chat room?” Embarrassment quickly multiplied inside her, her own words coming back to haunt her—words that she had typed to him in their private chat room when she was high on the rush from anonymous confession and the heavy arousal that followed. “Adrian. You’ve had too much to drink,” she blurted.

“Loosed my tongue, hmm, that what you think? Hey, don’t fight it, gorgeous. Right now you look like every bloke’s wet dream come true, and I for one am loving the view.” She squirmed and rolled her head on the cushions, the back of her wrist against her forehead. Seth eased her skirt up around her hips and cupped the mound of her pussy through her knickers.

“You said you wanted this,” Adrian added, concern had edged into his tone.

“I did, but I didn’t mean like this,” she said, and the words came out in a sudden rush that betrayed her state of arousal.

“It’s making you hot though, this way? With the two of us here,” Seth asked.

“Of course it is,” she blurted, incredulous. She sighed ruefully. Her body was lost to the moment, her body on fire at Seth’s touches, her mind recalling all the things she had said to Adrian and his comments egging her on to display her sexuality.

Seth smiled and ran one hand over her breasts, making her moan. “We could stop this, but you seem to be enjoying it, and—like Adrian said—you’re every bloke’s wet dream right now, so neither of us is complaining.”

No, she didn’t want to stop, but the words wouldn’t form.

Her hips rocked up against his hand, and that was enough. He pulled down her knickers, drawing them the length of her thighs, and she lifted and shifted to aid him. When the barrier was gone, he bent to kiss her mouth again, and at the very same moment he moved his hand between her thighs and pushed one finger into her slit, brushing it over her swollen clit.