“I was always good at kicking.”
Twenty-Seven
KARISSA
Dinner was a high-end steakhouse in South Portsmouth. The guys ordered just about every appetizer in sight, and followed it up with medium-rare porterhouses as thick as my wrist.
“You guys can eat,” I’d laughed, cracking into a stone crab claw.
“Yeah well we don’t get out much,” said Camden. He sat on my right, looking incredibly hot in a jet-black button-down shirt that hugged his muscular torso in a perfect ‘V’. “So when we do get out…”
“We usually go nuts,” Bryce grinned, finishing his thought for him.
Some girls in such a situation would’ve held back a little, and ate like a lady. Not me. I dug in ravenously, enjoying a little bit of everything they put in front of us. The place was fancy and expensive, and decorated with intricate wood paneling that reminded me sharply of Southhold. The kind of place with a lounge you’d sip whiskey in afterward, or maybe cognac.
Instead we ate and then left, even skipping dessert. Before I knew it we were back in the car, and although we’d talked all throughout dinner the guys still hadn’t said a goddamn thing.
“I thought we were going to talk?” I ventured, as the car pulled away.
“We are,” said Bryce.
“Now?”
“Afterwards,” Roderick assured me from the front seat.
Camden rolled us smoothly through the city streets, making rights and lefts seemingly at random. I sat back into the leather seat and relaxed, enjoying the buzz that had come from three glasses of merlot. It occurred to me that we were going somewhere else, and that was fine by me. I was just happy to finally be away from the manor. Excited even to be dressed up for once, and out doing something other than squinting down at work orders or barking at subcontractors who’d missed deadlines.
Into a garage we went, and soon I was being helped from the car again by another strong, masculine hand. Our destination was a nightclub near the water. Three flights of stairs later we were in a beautiful glass enclosure, overlooking the lights of Newport Harbor. A DJ pumped music in from every direction. It was loud enough to be exhilarating, but not obnoxious to the point where you couldn’t hear yourself think.
“Come on,” said Bryce. “You’ll like this part.”
Smiling wickedly he led me out onto the dance floor, pulling me behind him while Camden clasped my other hand. I looked for Roderick but couldn’t find him anywhere, and then moments later I was swept up in the crowd. Spinning and whirling alongside my other two lovers, while they passed me back and forth between them again, only in a much different way.
“Ever been here?” Camden asked, his hot mouth tantalizingly close to my ear.
I shook my head. I didn’t know how to tell them I’d never been anywhere. This place, this city — even this state, it was all very new to me.
Hell, there were lots of things that were new to me these days.
The music changed. It slowed a bit, but with a different beat.
“My turn,” said Bryce.
They were words I’d heard from the two of them before, but again in a much different way. Bryce took my hand and pulled me against his body. His free hand slid past my waist and then deftly behind my body, to clasp me gently but firmly in the small of my back.
“I love this dress.”
He murmured the words into my ear, holding his cheek against mine. Our bodies were touching now, almost grinding. The music was pumping. I could feel his heat.
“It would look even better like this, though.”
One warm palm found the exposed skin of my leg, then slid its way slightly upward. It took the hem of my dress with it, inching it that much higher up on my thigh.
“Think so, huh?” I asked coyly.
“I know so.”
“Why? Because you like miniskirts?”