Test Shot (7 page)

It was selfish, undoubtedly. A plan doomed to fail. How long could he keep this charade going? But he still had faith that he could wait out the texts he wouldn’t acknowledge from a person who mattered too much. Then he and Layla could go on.

All he wanted was to go on.

He turned his face against her neck, still caressing her pussy. But the touches were for him now. He needed her soft warmth in his arms and the bite of her nails digging into his hand. That was reality. Anything else belonged in the past.

She had no idea how much he needed her to enjoy tonight. It had been so long since he’d made her happy. If he had to do it by proxy, by God he would.

“He’s going to be here soon,” Aidan murmured. “Let’s see what happens, okay, sweetheart?”

The only answer he received were her trembles as her body crested. A sharp moan spilled from her lips an instant before she twisted her head to crush her mouth onto his. Her arousal soaked his fingers while he moved them in and out, his tongue keeping time as it warred with hers.

His cock twitched, his balls filling almost from habit. This had been all he’d known for what felt like a lifetime, and the safety and security she brought him offered an allure nothing else could. But even before she’d come down from her orgasm, his erection had begun to deflate.

Of course.

Before she realized, he drew his hand free of her jeans and lifted his fingers to her plump lips. He painted them with her wetness, leaning in for a quick nibble that made them both moan. “When he gets here,” he murmured, “I want you to kiss him hello.”

There wasn’t time for her to argue. Footsteps sounded on the stoop right before the doorbell clanged.

Showtime.

“Go.” He brushed his damp finger along her throat and smiled at her shiver. She was still his. At least for now. “He’s waiting.”

She nodded and hurried into the foyer, her new preoccupation the hair she’d yet to pin up. He preferred her to leave it down, but for some reason she thought she looked better with it restrained. Just as she believed she needed to wear a slinky dress to turn on Sawyer.

Obviously, that was bullshit, judging from the slightly stricken expression the guy wore when she threw open the door.

“Hi. Come on in.” She cast Aidan a quick glance, then leaned up on tiptoe to brush her lips over Sawyer’s. His body jerked, but he definitely didn’t move away. And if Aidan wasn’t mistaken, he licked his lips afterward.

Aidan smiled. This would be an interesting evening indeed.

Sawyer stayed on the stoop even after Layla moved back. His lips were still humming from the featherlight pressure of her kiss. It wasn’t a sensation he wanted to end anytime soon. Fact was, he wanted to haul her closer and kiss her for real. Tip her head back, dive inside that silky mouth, and taste more than the creamy hint of spice she’d teased him with.

“Are you coming in?”

“Yes.” Feeling like a chump, he glanced down at the fistful of flowers he clutched against his hip. Who brought a woman flowers in a situation like this?

He glanced at his other hand. Probably the same guy who brought the other spoke of their threesome a bottle of wine.

She stepped forward and gasped. “You brought me wildflowers?”

“It was an impulse buy,” he said, a little helplessly, as she encircled his wrist and pulled him inside. “As was the wine.”

“They’re beautiful. Wine too? That’s so nice of you. Aidan, he brought us wine.”

“So I heard.” Her fiancé crossed the room to take the bottle from Sawyer. Their fingers brushed, and Sawyer sucked in a breath at the intensity of Aidan’s expression.

Damn, what kind of threesome was this? Did they think he was into guys too? If he signed on, he was interested in touching Layla—and only Layla.

“Nice vintage,” Aidan said, extending his other hand to Sawyer. “Aidan McMurray. Thanks for coming over.”

“Uh, no problem. I guess you know I’m Sawyer Blake.”

“I do. By the way, darling, your jeans are still undone.” While Layla blushed and yanked up her zipper, Aidan assessed Sawyer. “The hand you just shook was in my fiancée’s pussy not ten minutes ago. Just so you know.”

“Aidan!” Her shocked whisper made Sawyer laugh in spite of himself.

Maybe he hadn’t been wrong to peg her as an innocent. At least not entirely wrong.

“Thanks for the heads-up. So if I lick my fingers”—Sawyer lifted the hand he’d just had in Aidan’s to his mouth—“I’ll get a little myself.”

Aidan smirked. “Oh, you already did. Didn’t her lips taste good?”

This would definitely be a
holy shit
kind of night, Sawyer could already tell. Taking a deep breath, he hooked his fingers in Layla’s belt loops and tugged her closer. “I need a repeat to be sure.”

He cruised his tongue along her lower lip while she moaned softly at the back of her throat. He gave the same attention to the upper, briefly dipping between them to tap the tip of her tongue with his own. The move was playful, a promise of things to come. But passion blossomed in her eyes, as bright as the flowers he shoved into her hands when he stepped back.

“Mmm. Better than chocolate.”

Her throat bobbed with her rapid breaths. “I’m pretty sure even my knees are blushing right now.”

Aidan handed her the bottle of wine and winked. “Let’s see.”

“Stop it.” Laughing, she thumped Aidan in the stomach with the easy familiarity born from years together, then backed up toward a short hallway. “Let me just get these gorgeous flowers in water and check on dinner. Oh, and I need to change.”

“Why?” Sawyer couldn’t resist looking her up and down, even knowing her man was standing not five inches away. Right now, Aidan’s watchful stare acted as an aphrodisiac. Not that he needed much to incite his lust when it came to this particular redhead.

“I wanted to wear a dress. Jeans and a ratty old T-shirt don’t cut it.”

They did from where he was standing. Her jeans cupped her lean thighs and flared nicely over her hips, and her T-shirt clung to her pert breasts and tight nipples with a lover’s ardor. “But isn’t the whole point of this for us to just get you naked?”

Aidan chuckled and slapped Sawyer on the back before detouring into the sunken living room. “Guy’s got a point, sweetheart.”

With a noise that sounded suspiciously like
pfft
, Layla disappeared down the hall.

Sawyer barely had a chance to think how awkward this moment should be when Aidan motioned for him to join him in the other room. “Come on in and sit down.”

“Thanks.” Sawyer entered the spacious living area and chose a pale gray armchair across from the couch where Aidan sat. A huge fireplace done in sea-green marble caught his attention first, probably because of the array of photos of Aidan and Layla on the wall above. So many pictures. In each of them, they were smiling and hugging. The perfect kinky couple in love.

Sawyer cleared his throat. “You have a beautiful home.”

“Thank you. Layla and I appreciate you giving us a chance to discuss our proposition.” Aidan whisked invisible lint off his charcoal-gray pants. He matched the furniture, right down to the crisp white shirt that blended in with the snowy pillows that surrounded him. “I figured if you were considering an agency like Hot Shots, you were more likely to be open-minded.”

“Well, yeah. Though my mind’s opened a bit more since last night, I’ll tell you that.”

Aidan’s chuckle drifted like cherry smoke across the room. “She’s completely unaware of her power. Which, as you know, only grants her more.”

“Yeah.” Sawyer glanced down at his khakis and thin sweater. He should’ve known a doctor would be no slouch in the attire department, but he’d been focused on losing his clothes, not dressing for success. “I suppose you’re not surprised that I find her attractive, then.”

“I’d question your judgment if you didn’t.” Aidan stretched his arm along the back of the sofa. “I’d also brand you a liar, since I saw the way you went rigid at the sight of her.”

He wanted to argue, but it would’ve been pointless. He might as well be honest. Not that he knew any other way to be. “She looks so sweet. She could produce a basket of baked goods from behind her back, and I wouldn’t blink. I’m amazed she doesn’t smell like flour and talcum powder.”

Aidan laughed again. “Trust me, she does not. She uses a grapefruit shampoo and perfume. Makes her smell as if she’s freshly squeezed and dripping onto your plate.”

Sawyer shifted on his seat. There was no use in trying to hide his wood. Hell, that was probably a badge of honor in this kind of setup. “Looking forward to it.”

“So you’re in, then.”

“I didn’t say that. There are things we need to discuss first.”

Aidan nodded. “You’re understandably wary.”

“I prefer cautious.”

“Call it what you like. Ask away.”

“Okay. What number would be tattooed on my ass?” At Aidan’s blank look, Sawyer scrubbed a hand over his face. “How many other guys have you done this with?”

“She told you that you were the only one she wanted, didn’t she?”

“So you’re saying there hasn’t been anyone else?”

“No. You, Sawyer Blake, are our first.” Aidan arched a brow at Sawyer’s derisive snort. “Find that hard to believe, do you?”

“She was perfectly well-mannered at the office. Then I get this phone call, and though she was nervous, it was almost as if she knew what she was doing.” Sawyer narrowed his eyes at Aidan’s patient expression. The sphinx had nothing on this guy. “You coached her. This was your idea.”

“I planted the seed. She’ll handle the rest. She’s a very sexually expressive woman. You’ll reap the benefits.”

Another place where “thank you” didn’t quite seem like the appropriate response. “You’re exclusive. No cheating?”
No diseases
, he wanted to add, but figured that would be crass.

“If you’re asking if we’re clean, then yes. We’ve both been tested. But condoms are part of the deal. No unnecessary risks.”

“You really sound like a doctor.”

The corner of Aidan’s mouth lifted. “Occupational hazard, though now I teach at Stony Brook. What about you? You’re disease-free?”

“Yes. I get tested regularly. Plus I’m not quite acclimated to the speed of this city yet.”

“Meaning what?”

“I’ve been here five months, and the first offer I’ve seriously considered taking is a woman and her fiancé. Stuff like this doesn’t happen back home in Shanksville.”

Aidan laughed. “You’d be surprised. We’re from Lincoln, by the way. Four months in New York.”

“No way. Really? Lincoln’s three hours from Shanksville.” Sawyer propped his elbows on his knees and wondered if Layla would be returning anytime soon. “Were you as shell-shocked as I was when you got here?”

“We visited quite a few times, so it wasn’t a complete surprise. But yes, New York’s a long way from Nebraska.”

“I miss it.” His voice came out quieter than he’d intended, and he stared hard at the pretty spread of magazines on the coffee table to distract himself from the memories of home trying to barge their way into his skull. “I spent twenty-five years there. Never would’ve left either, if I could’ve made the same money working construction as I do modeling.”

“You’ll make a decent penny if you sign up with Hot Shots. Nude pays well, or so I’m told.”

“Yeah, so I’m practicing getting nude more often. All grist for the mill, ya know?” With a grin he didn’t entirely feel, Sawyer cracked his neck and slouched back into his chair. Aidan seemed cool, but he missed Layla’s comforting, happy energy.

Missed her deep, dark eyes that seemed to hold so much more than the smile that slipped so easily across her face.

Like a mask.

“So what’s off the table for you?” Aidan asked.

“Sexually?”

“Yes. Tell me your hard limits.”

“I’m interested in that too,” Layla said softly.

Bare toes tipped with candy pink gleamed as she crossed the room. Her short, midnight-blue dress had a long row of laces that went up her back, revealing teasing hints of pale skin in the gaps. The hem barely skimmed the tops of her creamy thighs. Hinting at what lay just beneath.

“Shit,” Sawyer muttered, belatedly rising after Aidan. Apparently, his manners went right out the window when confronted with a banging body and huge-ass brown eyes.

“Sit. We won’t worry about formalities tonight.” She perched on the arm of the sofa next to her fiancé, her pose revealing even more of her long legs. Another couple of inches and Sawyer would lurch right into heart-attack mode. “So, limits. We should get those out there before dinner’s ready.”

“That’s my Layla. Always practical.” Aidan cupped her leg, his fingers skirting very close to the upper slope of her thigh. Layla’s features tensed before he started to stroke her skin in light circles. She sighed, so quietly that Sawyer almost wondered if he’d imagined the sound.

“Are we really having fried chicken?” Sawyer asked, trying for an easy tone despite his fixation on Aidan’s closeness to Layla’s pussy. And how fucking hard that made him.

Maybe he could handle this threesome thing easier than he’d thought.

“No. Steak and baked potatoes.” Her expression warmed. “I would’ve made salad too, but we’re out of croutons.”

He’d never shared an intimate look with a woman before when discussing croutons, but tonight would be a new experience all the way around. “Did you double up on lighter fluid too?”

“Skipped it.” She gifted him with one of those smiles he’d already caught himself anticipating. “We’re not much on outdoor barbecuing.”

“Late nights aren’t conducive to it,” Aidan put in, fingers still moving.

In a minute, he’d probably be fingering her. From the flush highlighting her cheeks, she didn’t mind. Neither did Sawyer.

He wet his lips. “So, ah, those limits you mentioned.”

“Yes.” They spoke simultaneously.

“I’m pretty open-minded. What I haven’t tried I’m willing to give a shot, assuming it’s all consensual. I know some women like pain and to be shoved around. Not my scene.”

“Not mine either,” Layla agreed. “Bondage is okay?”

Oh hell yeah, it was just fine. “Sure. Long as it’s not complicated. I don’t have patience for that shit when I want to fuck. Sorry,” he said, realizing he was still speaking to a lady. And one he barely knew at that.