Jace blew out a long breath, realizing that trying to bullshit Andre was like trying to punk the CIA. “Look, I’ll be fine, all right. I just need to get back to what we do best. No more one-on-one.”
“That’s the smartest thing you’ve said since we got here. Now just don’t try to tackle me the first time I touch her. Because I am going to touch her, Jace. She may have developed some sense of loyalty to you, but you’re not the only one she’s attracted to.”
The smooth assurance in Andre’s voice had Jace’s jaw tightening again, but he gave him a quick nod. “I’m—”
“Please tell me that’s coffee I smell,” said a hoarse voice, halting further conversation.
Both of them turned to see Evan pad barefoot into the kitchen, looking rumpled and oh so tempting in Jace’s shirt.
Jace handed her a mug, determined to prove to Andre—and himself—that he could move past whatever had come over him and make this simply another fun, relaxing weekend with a hot woman. “Good morning, sunshine. Sounds like you swallowed a mouthful of gravel.”
She took the cup from him and pushed up on her tiptoes, surprising him with a soft kiss, then a saucy smile. “I swallowed something for sure.”
Andre chuckled. “Ten seconds.”
Both Jace and Evan turned toward him. She lifted a brow. “What’s that?”
“The amount of time you need to be in the room before all my blood rushes south.”
She laughed, an open and unashamed sound that did indeed make Jace’s cock begin to stiffen. Yesterday, Evan had been unsure, cautious, but now the vixen he’d gotten a glimpse of in his room last night was emerging. They were making her feel safe—free to be herself. The transformation gave Jace some weird twinge of pride.
She looked up at him, those blue eyes and her palm against his bare chest making him forget his train of thought. “I want to kiss Andre, too. You okay with that?”
Choking back the fuck no that first jumped to his lips was like swallowing broken glass, but he covered it with a casual shrug. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Some unreadable expression flickered over her features, but then she mirrored his shrug. “No reason. I guess I’m still figuring out the protocol of this whole thing.”
He smirked. “I appreciate your diligence, babe, but I already told you I don’t care what you do with Andre—kiss, fuck. Him. Me. Both of us at the same time. That’s the beauty of ménage. We’re all just here to have a good time.”Author: Roni Loren
The words weren’t charming, but he had to say something to put all this shit back into perspective. Remind everyone, including himself, why they were doing this.
Her lips pressed together, a little crease forming between her brows. “I’m just trying to wrap my head around the no-jealousy thing.”
“You’re not dating either of us. Can’t get jealous over someone who isn’t yours in the first place.” He nodded at Andre, though it took everything he had to do so. “Go ahead, I think he’s been patient enough.”
She turned her head to Andre, and he gave her a disarming smile. “I can be as patient as you need me to be, bella. I have no doubt you’ll be worth the wait.”
Jace grunted. Silver-tongued bastard. Jace was no slouch in the flirting department, but somehow Andre always knew the right thing to say to make girls go all gooey.
Evan handed Jace her coffee mug, effectively dismissing him, and crossed over to the island. He had the impulse to grab her arm, stop her, kiss her until she couldn’t remember her own name, much less Andre’s. But instead he kept his hands locked around her cup, gripping it until his knuckles turned white.
She leaned over the counter toward Andre, exposing her little black panties and luscious ass to Jace, probably purposely taunting him after his I-could-give-a-shit-if-you-kiss-him speech. Jace tried to look away, but couldn’t help himself from watching.
Andre’s gaze met his briefly, as if challenging Jace to stop him, but Jace wasn’t going to make any move to prevent it. This is what needed to happen. Andre gave a satisfied smile, then hooked a finger in Evan’s collar and captured her lips in a heated kiss.
Jace braced himself against the edge of the counter as the wave of possessiveness enveloped him. The deepest, most primal part of him wanted to lash out, to rip her away from Andre. But as Evan sank into the kiss and the raw need between the two of them became more and more apparent, Jace’s fiery anger turned into some other emotion—one it took him a second to identify.
Guilt? Where the hell had that come from? What did he have to feel guilty about?
Then it hit him.
Evan deserved to be happy.
He’d seen how sad she’d looked on that beach in South Padre, how lost she’d seemed. And God knows she’d had it rough as hell as a teenager. Now that same person was in front of him—lighthearted, turned on, enjoying her time with him—and though he hated to admit it, with Andre. She’d come here for a fantasy weekend, an escape from her normal life, not to be caught up in whatever mixed-up crap Jace was feeling toward her.
There. He’d admitted it. There were residual feelings from the past that seeing her again had stirred up. So what. Didn’t change a damn thing.
He needed to get it through his head that this weekend was about her. Not him. Not Andre. And certainly not about some pissing contest over which guy she wanted more. Especially when the guy she actually wanted was in some house in Dallas planning his upcoming TV show. Evan was only there for a few days, and Jace was wasting time acting like some insecure teenager. Stupid.