“You have any more trouble, just give me a call. Any time. For any reason,” Linc said.
When Gentry took the card from him, their fingertips brushed together, and she felt the same electric shock as when she had shaken Seth’s hand. Like something more powerful than any of them was in control. Like they were drawn together and vibrating with uncontrollable attraction. She stood there in shock for a moment as her two heroes disappeared through the side door.
The rest of the night was a blur. Gentry calmed down in her dressing room, then came back to the stage for an impressive ballad to finish out the evening. The crowd went wild, and several admirers came up to congratulate her. But Gentry’s mind was with someone else.
Well,twosomeones.
By the time she collapsed in bed that night in her one-bedroom apartment, all she could think about was Seth and Linc. Her face hit the pillow, she snuggled under the sheets with the moonlight pouring through the window, and she drifted off to sleep.
When she openedher eyes again, she was standing on a stage. Only this time, there was no one in the lounge. The tables were all empty, the lights dimmed down low. Gentry reached out for the mic stand, but suddenly, the whole world tilted and she was falling! But before she could clatter to the floor in a heap, she was caught in a pair of impossibly strong arms. She looked up into the familiar, handsome face of Lincoln. Those dark eyes bored into her own, like he was staring down the barrel of her soul. He reached down and caressed her cheek, and his fingertips on her skin felt like delicious fire. She leaned into his hand, turned her face, and kissed his open palm. The desire in his eyes only intensified as he slowly stroked her hair and set her down on her feet.
Except that her toes never touched the scuffed-up floor of the stage. She levitated in front of him a few inches off the ground. She began to float away higher and higher, but before she had a chance to panic, she felt another pair of hands grab her ankles and pull her back down to Earth. This time, it was Seth, the blond officer. He was smirking at her in a sexy, roguish way, like he knew exactly all the things she wanted to do to him. Like he could smell the desire rolling off of her body in heatwaves. She was almost overwhelmed as the two men towered over her, but when they reached out to touch her, she felt pure ecstasy. Their hands on her body were searing hot, but instead of burning her up, she just felt the flames within her heart licking higher and higher. She gave herself over to the sensations of their fingers exploring her body. Caressing her breasts, pinching and slapping her taut ass, smoothing down the slope of her waist and hips. They tugged at her hair, pushed a thumb between her lips, kissed her all over until she was utterly lost in a sea of pleasure.
They were all falling now, wrapped together in one writhing mass of touch and longing. Gentry lost track of whose lips she was kissing, whose hands parted her thighs, whose tongue probed within her slick folds, making her moan in satisfaction. They were showering her with uninterrupted, intense attention like she’d never experienced before. Every cell in her body was thrumming with pleasure, and she could hardly catch her breath between each wave of indescribable bliss.
All she could do was give in to the sensations and moan their names over and over again, her head tossing back and forth as her hot body twitched under the sheets.
“Lincoln… Seth… Linc… Seth,” she murmured, until finally their names sounded like nonsense, like gibberish on the lips of a wild woman. When she awoke, their names still hung on the tip of her tongue, and she wondered how the hell they could give her the best pleasure of her life without actually being there with her.
If it was this good in her head… how good could it be in her bed?
5
Seth
Beep-beep-beep.
A hand snaked out from underneath sleek gray sheets to tap the off button on top of the alarm clock on the nightstand. The beeping sound abruptly cut off, and only a soft yawn could be heard in the still silence. Seth dug himself out of his sheets, his head poking out onto a pillow with his blond hair rumpled. It was still dark in the bedroom, with only the faintest pale tones of early morning beginning to filter through the curtains. The bright green numbers on the digital alarm clock screen read 5:00. An ungodly hour for most people, but that was what Seth was counting on. The gym attached to his apartment building was more likely to be empty this time of morning, rather than an hour or so later, when the majority of the city woke up.
Seth stretched his arms, loosened up his shoulders, and launched himself out of bed. Still yawning, he brushed his teeth, pulled on his gym clothes, grabbed his duffel bag by the front door, and headed out into the hallway. He swung his keys around his finger and whistled low under his breath as he made his way to the elevator. He pressed the button for the gym level. It was quiet throughout the apartment building, and when he stepped out into the gym, he didn’t see another soul.
“Just how I like it,” he mumbled with a smile.
He strode across the gym to the treadmill for the first part of his workout. As he walked, every step brought him closer to fully awake. By the time he had finished his pre-workout stretches, he felt totally energized and ready to take on some hardcore cardio. He stepped onto the treadmill, selected one of the difficult settings, and jumped right into a ten-mile run.
From the first moment he felt the conveyor belt vibrate beneath his feet, Seth was filled with excitement. He loved the thrill of an intense workout. Every muscle and sinew in his perfectly maintained body moved like clockwork. He was a well-oiled machine with enough confidence and stamina to go for days, and he loved the way that felt. Especially when his job required a lot of physical prowess, it was gratifying to know he could handle anything the force threw at him. He was known around the police department for being quick on his feet, and he liked having that niche carved out for himself.
However, Seth was always pushing to be better not just at that, but at everything. He trained nearly every morning before work, usually by himself unless he was mentoring a rookie cop or helping out a friend. Apart from getting his adrenaline pumping, Seth loved having a good solid couple of hours to contemplate. He would go over case files in his mind, restructure his schedule, make plans for the day ahead. Even though his affable personality and jokester attitude sometimes led people to think he didn’t take things seriously, the truth was that Seth was a perfectionist. He held very high standards for himself, but he made his big moves in silence. He was confident, but he didn’t need to brag.
Although, with his chiseled body and clever mind, he had a lot to brag about.
As he broke into the fifth mile, he pulled his workout shirt up over his head and draped it over the arm of the machine. His bare, powerful chest gleamed in the fluorescent lights as little beads of sweat slowly trekked their way down along the ridges and curves of his musculature. His pecs and abdominal muscles were so well-defined, they looked as though they could have been drawn with a pencil. With every pump of his arms, his biceps flexed.
By now, a little over forty minutes had passed, and the other early bird gym-goers were starting to trickle in. Most of them were fellow tough guys, in their sweats, there to lift weights and get bulked up. But there were a couple young women, too. Presumably they had come down to the gym for their own workout, but their plans seemed to fly out the window when they set eyes on Seth from across the room. Seth could feel their lustful eyes on his glistening torso. The girls ogled him from a distance, whispering in each other’s ears.
This was why he liked to get there early-- it gave him a little more time to work out away from the watchful eyes of onlookers. Seth wasn’t self-conscious in the least; he knew he looked damn good. But it was still a little distracting, knowing he was being watched.
So he picked up the pace, challenging himself to finish the remaining five miles on the treadmill. He pushed to finish in record time, then hopped off the treadmill feeling invigorated. He wiped his face and moved on to weightlifting. After that, he finished out with some strategic stretching to cool down.
It was half past six when he slipped on his shirt again and headed out to the elevator. The two women who had been watching him like their favorite telenovela looked put out as Seth stepped into the elevator to leave. Right when the metal doors were closing, he gave them one big smile and a wink. He chuckled as the elevator began moving up the shaft. He loved to do that—flirt and disappear.
Actually, ‘flirt and disappear’ was a fairly accurate summary for his love life over the past few years. Seth liked to keep things surface-level. Low stakes. He had only been in love one time in his life, and when that story had ended sharply, his heart took a turn. Nowadays, he was known as a player. He knew how to hook and reel in a stunning catch, but he always sent them back into the sea. He stuck around just long enough to charm a woman nearly out of her pants, only to back off when things started to really heat up. Seth didn’twantto drive women crazy. He didn’t want to lead them on. In fact, he was usually pretty upfront about wanting something casual. He kept his heart guarded, at least until he could find a love compelling enough to let the walls down.
Still shining with sweat, he walked into his modern, minimalist apartment. He had rented it pre-furnished with high-quality appliances and decor, which was just what he needed. Seth didn’t spend a whole lot of time in his apartment, not if he could help it anyway. He was usually at work or the gym or the beach, anywhere but cooped up at home. And his home reflected that. Because even though it was well-appointed, it was sparse and a little sterile. There were so few personal effects, the place looked more like a showroom apartment than an actual living space. One had to look closely to find signs of life.
On the walls there were framed accolades Seth had received during his career. There were also ribbons from past marathons, a little bit of beach memorabilia, and one framed photograph sitting on a curio shelf in the rarely used dining room. The photo depicted Seth and Lincoln, looking slightly younger, with their arms around a woman in the center. Seth waved at the camera, his green eyes crinkled up and his dimples showing with a big grin. Lincoln was looking down at the woman between them, a soft look on his face. Each of them was holding a fishing rod, with a placid lake glittering in the sunshine behind them.
Apart from these few mementos, the apartment could have belonged to anyone.