Up All Night (13 page)
Authors: Faye Avalon
She gave another laugh. “I can get
behind that.”
Running her fingers over his light
dusting of dark chest hair, Beth bit back the question she wanted to ask,
unsure if now was the right time or place. But somehow it was important for her
to know. She had to plan, had to research and learn new things. If she didn’t
know the sort of activities she was up against, she’d never have a chance of
keeping him satisfied long term. “Can I ask you something?”
His fingers toyed with her hair.
“Right now, you can ask me anything.”
She snuggled a bit more, placed the
palm of her hand against his chest and felt the reassuring beat of his heart.
“What exactly does a threesome involve?”
She felt the slight tension that
moved into his body. “Pretty much what a twosome involves.”
Ignoring his low tone, she raised
her chin to look up at him. “What I mean is, what are the mechanics?”
****
Marco swallowed hard. He should have
anticipated this. Beth wasn’t the sort to discover he’d indulged in a threesome
and not want chapter and verse. Damn. He should have prepared himself. But, in
his defence, her bawdy show had frozen his brain and sent all his reasoning
powers down to his cock.
“Two men, one woman.”
She hoisted herself up onto her
elbow and stared down at him, frustration ripe in her gaze. “And you—take
turns?”
“Shit, Beth.” Fucking hell, did he
have to spell it out? “Don’t tell me you’re that naïve?”
“Not naïve, but I want to get things
clear in my head. For instance, do you prefer group sex to one-on-one, and if
so, what happens in a threesome that turns you on so much.”
He narrowed his eyes. Was there
something beneath a simple curiosity? “I like sex, period. I don’t have
preferences. Right now, being with you is the only thing that turns me on.”
She smiled, but it seemed a little
wistful. “That’s a clever answer, but I think you need constant stimulus
between the sheets. How long before you maybe start wanting another threesome?”
She stayed his response by touching her finger to his lips. “What about one
with me?”
As her words filtered through his
brain, he raised his head from the pillow and looked at her. “What?”
“It makes sense.”
“Makes no fucking sense to me.”
Unable to lie still, he eased himself up to sitting. “Maybe it’s you who needs
the constant stimulus.”
“Marco…”
He swung his legs over the side of
the bed, shocked at the rush of anger squeezing his ribcage. “If you want to
experiment like that you go find some other guy.” Shit. The thought of any
other guy touching Beth made him insane. What the hell was she thinking?
“I don’t want anyone else.”
Her softly spoken words anchored him
to the bed. He wanted to tell her that he felt the same. That she was the only
woman he wanted. But he refused to give in to the impulse. It was just the
thought of sharing her that was making him feel all this possessive shit. He
didn’t know why he was getting so damn incensed.
She scrambled up behind him and
wrapped her arms around his waist. “Forget I said anything.”
He felt the press of her ample
breasts against his back, the brush of her knees cradling his hips. His breath
hitched, along with his cock.
She pushed her body harder against
him, but for some reason he couldn’t let go of his irritation. Did she want
another man touching her? Despite her assurance that she only wanted him, was
she looking to experiment?
Beth’s hands brushed over his
stomach. “Don’t be mad,” she said, letting her fingers drift to his hardened
cock. “It seems a shame to let all this go to waste.”
He shifted, turning so that she was
beneath him. He felt that possessive flare burn his chest again as he covered
her body with his. Damned if he was about to let her go before he’d had his
fill of her, before he’d taken from her everything she was able to give. In
return he’d let her take whatever she needed from him.
As he looked into her sultry blue
eyes, he decided that if she was looking for sexual excitement and adventure,
he would be the one to introduce her to it. He would direct it, control it. And
ensure that whatever she wanted, he would provide. Only him.
He had a few short weeks in which to
take her on a journey she would never forget.
Chapter Ten
“You’re kidding me.”
Marco glanced across the dining
table and noted both shock and humor in Ethan’s expression. “Not fucking
kidding. It’s what she wants.”
Amber topped off Marco’s coffee.
“She actually said that?”
Marco wasn’t sure why he’d revealed
the gist of Beth’s revelation to his two closest friends, but he needed to
offload. He hadn’t been able to shake the possibility that giving Beth the
sexual adventure she obviously craved would involve bringing another guy into
the mix at some stage.
He was feeling mellow after the meal
Amber had served up in what he now came to think of as Ethan and Amber’s home.
Soon after they’d hooked up, she had moved in to Ethan’s Regency townhouse in
one of
made it her own. It was warm, comfortable, and filled with the love the couple
shared.
He didn’t want to question why the
thought made him both happy and frustrated. It wasn’t as if he ever wanted that
type of life for himself.
“Marco?” Amber prompted. “Beth
actually said she wanted a threesome?”
“Sort of.”
“She used the words?”
“Amber.” Ethan stroked a hand along
his fiance’s arm. “What the hell does it matter what words she used?”
“It matters.” Amber rolled her eyes
and gave him a look that said
men
before turning back to Marco. “As does the context and her tone of voice. Which
were what?”
“Context?” Marco was starting to
wish he’d never opened his mouth. “We’d just had sex.”
“Hmm.” Amber narrowed her eyes as if
she were trying to work it all out in her head. “Knowing you, that means the
sex was good, so she definitely wasn’t unsatisfied or pissed at you. Was she
pissed at you?”
“No.” He thought back to their sort
of argument about Amber. “Well, before we had sex maybe, but we’d sorted that.
Everything was fine, then she throws this threesome thing at me.”
“Hmm,” Amber said again. “I don’t
know Beth that well, but I’d say she’s feeling insecure. Did she say anything
else?”
“Yeah.” Marco sipped his coffee. “She said
knowing about the threesome made her crazy.”
Amber’s smile was a little smug as
she sat back. “There you are then. That’s what this is all about. Now she knows
about the three of us, she feels out of it.”
“She’ll just have to get over it.”
Ethan’s frown reflected how Marco felt right then. “Unless you want to line up
some other guy to scratch her itch.”
“It’s not an itch,” Amber said softly.
“It’s simple insecurity. We all know each other, intimately, and she feels on
the periphery of that.”
“It’s not something I can do
anything about. Can’t change what happened.”
“Like I said.” Ethan ran his finger
around the handle of his coffee cup. “She’ll have to get over it.”
“There is a way to resolve this.”
Both men looked at Amber who sat with her elbow on the table, head propped on
her hand. “We could have a foursome.”
Abject silence echoed in the dining
room for all of ten seconds as both men stared at her. Then expletives
punctured the quiet.
“Shit.” Ethan gaped at his fiance.
“Fuck.” Marco looked at her as if
she’d lost her damn mind. “That’s not going to happen.”
“Too fucking right it’s not.”
Amber waved away Ethan’s objection
with a brisk hand. “It makes perfect sense.” She sat forward, ignoring her
fiancé’s glare. “Let me tell you how I see it. Our wedding is in two weeks,
right? Well, this could be a final fling for both of us before we tie the
knot.”
“Hell, Amber I—”
She cut Marco off with another wave
of her hand. “You care about Beth, right?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Which makes this all the more
perfect. Two birds, one stone if you like. Beth gets to feel like she’s part of
us and Ethan gets a chance to dip his wick one last time before the wedding.”
Ethan spluttered into the wine he’d
just grabbed. “Have you lost your fucking mind?”
“No. If we’re all together and agree
to this it’s not cheating or anything like that. It’s a decision perfectly
reasonable adults of sound mind make to resolve a problem.” She turned and
smiled sweetly at Ethan. “But if you ever decide to dip your wick into any
other woman’s candle after we sign on the dotted line, you will be forever out
of action in that regard. Get my drift?”
Ethan slugged down more wine as
Marco picked up his own glass. “This is crazy.” He couldn’t quite get his head
around sharing Beth with any man, let alone Ethan. And he could imagine how
Ethan felt about letting him anywhere near Amber again, and he couldn’t blame
his friend. Not for a millisecond.
“Let me get this straight.” Ethan’s
jaw could have cracked steel as he continued to glare at his fiancée. “You’re
giving me permission to fuck another woman while I watch another man fuck you?”
Amber smiled wickedly, obviously
enjoying the two men’s reaction. “Not exactly fuck, handsome. What I have in
mind is a whole lot of, shall we say, fumbling?”
“Not going to happen.” Again
silence, then Ethan frowned. “Define fumbling.”
Obviously warming to her suggestion,
Amber folded her arms on the table and leaned even further forward. “The way I
see it, we could all go away for the weekend. Then we have a nice meal, all get
tanked, and then get naked. It’ll be fun.”
“And if we’re not exactly fucking,”
Ethan said parodying Amber’s earlier statement through gritted teeth. “What the
hell else are we doing?”
“You’ve got hands and a mouth,
handsome, which you use to devastating effect if I might add. Not every sexual
encounter has to involve your amazingly spirited cock.”
Marco had the strange feeling that
he was on the periphery of some weird universe where he was merely a
disembodied entity watching a surreal play.
His mouth felt parchment dry and his
throat tight, but finally he found his voice. “You’ve created a monster,” he
advised Ethan, remembering how a few short months ago, Amber’s sexual
confidence had been at rock bottom. Which was the reason Ethan had turned to
Marco in the first place. “If this isn’t off the wall, I don’t know what the
hell is.”
“Yeah.” Ethan turned to Marco.
“Let’s not forget you had a hand in that creation.”
“It’s the most insane idea I’ve ever
heard,” Marco felt compelled to point out when Amber’s fervor didn’t seem in
the least dampened by their lack of enthusiasm. “If nothing else, Ethan won’t
let me get my hands on you again. And there’s no way in hell he’s getting his
hands on Beth.”
As their eyes met, Marco knew he was
right in speaking for his friend. Daggers shone from Ethan’s fiery gaze which
he knew was reflected back in his own.
“Oh for heaven’s sake. It’s a
perfectly good plan and you two are ruining it with your provincial attitudes.”
Still with her arms folded, Amber sat back. “It will work perfectly. We can all
get involved in the touchy, feely stuff, but when it comes to the main event we
pair off.”
“Like I said, a monster.”
Although he’d always considered
Ethan allowing him into his and Amber’s bed the mark of a desperate man, this
was the first time Marco had any real idea of how difficult it must have been
for his friend. It demonstrated how much Ethan loved Amber, enough to put her
needs first. Marco didn’t think he could do the same, and it wasn’t as if he
even loved Beth. He was fond of her, sure, but he wasn’t in love. This sick
feeling at the thought of another man anywhere near her was down to that
possessive streak she brought out in him. Nothing more.
“Look.” Exasperation was ripe in
Amber’s tone. “This is all about Beth feeling as if she’s part of our group,
right? Well, that’s not going to happen no matter how many dinner parties and
charity functions we attend. The only way it will work is if we do this.”
She turned to Ethan and reached for
his hand. “Marco did it for us,” she said softly. “This is our chance to return
the favour and to help him.”
Ethan squeezed his fingers tight
around Amber’s. The color had drained from his face and the anger had left his
eyes only to be replaced by something haunted and desolate. He turned to Marco.
“You’re really serious about this woman? You’re coming up close to the time you
usually move on, so if you plan on dumping her soon anyway, this whole
conversation is moot.”
What did he say when he didn’t know
the answer himself? Damn. He wasn’t used to having to deal with the conflicting
thoughts swirling around inside his head.