Sometimes, like now, they don’t.
I sigh. This is going to go sideways before it goes to hell, but I can’t watch Kate suffer anymore.
After crossing the room, I hold out a hand to her. “Come here.”
Her startled gaze bounces up to me and clings. I see a thousand questions on her face, but she doesn’t ask a single one. The trust in her eyes is a lightning rod for my desire. I do my best to stifle it, but she can, no doubt, see my erection behind my shorts. Still, she slides her hand into mine and slowly stands.
I get sucked into her blue stare as I bend and lift her into my arms. Her flip-flops tumble to the carpet.
“Marcus…”
As protests go, hers is weak.
“Shh. You need comforting. I can help you.”
With that, I cuddle her closer. She stops hesitating and curls against me, settling her head onto my shoulder and quieting altogether. Josh is right behind me, pouring her a glass of wine and plucking up the little tube of lotion the hotel provided. As I sink onto the edge of the bed, bringing Kate onto my lap and wrapping my arms around her, I slide my palm over her hip. She sighs in contentment.
Immediately I realize that, not only is she not wearing a bra, she’s not wearing any fucking underwear. Right now, the only thing keeping me from her pussy are two thin layers of cotton. It’s all I can do not to slide my fingers under her hem and between her legs so she forgets everything but pleasure.
Josh presses the vino into her hands. “Drink, sweetheart.”
Wordlessly, she does, swallowing half the glass before settling the stem into my pal’s grip with shaking fingers. “Thank you.”
“Just relax. We’re going to make everything okay.” He sets the wine aside, then opens the tube of lotion and squeezes a dollop onto his palm. He cradles her foot and thumbs his way up her arches until she moans.
Josh and I are falling into familiar patterns. I’m a protector. He’s a caretaker. For us, Kate is dangerous.
When we had Taylor to focus our energies on, we were both content. Hell, I can’t remember a time I ever felt happier. The sex was off the chain. Josh and I were so in sync, and we were both sure Taylor would come on board, adding more than her body to the equation.
But she never did.
After she left, I swore I’d never allow my heart to be vulnerable again. But here I am, holding Kate too tight, my lips too close to her temple, while Josh drains her tension with a thorough foot massage…that’s beginning to trail up her calves.
I was fucking fooling myself that I could resist.
For long minutes, I stroke her hip, skate my palm down her thigh, and watch her blond lashes fan her bare cheeks. She looks younger without makeup—and infinitely more fragile. I hold her closer.
I glance up to find Josh staring at her, at the way I’m touching her, while he rubs at her polished pink toes. His eyes are fever bright. I know that expression. He’s not just aroused, but half obsessed. He’s burning for Kate. And I know me. If he crosses the line and woos her into bed—if she lets him between her legs—there’s no way I’ll have the strength to refuse. I might have had a completely separate sex life from Josh since the split with Taylor, but I’m like an addict. I love the high of sharing a woman, of hearing her cries echo off the walls while, together, we give her a pleasure so sharp and undeniable it’s like an out-of-body experience.
“Kate?” he whispers. “Better?”
Her lashes flutter up. “Yes. I feel safe again. I can’t thank you enough for your care and help. Both of you.”
She could hardly have chosen her words better if she wanted to throw gasoline on the fire sparking between us.
The softness of her skin under my hands inflames me. The scent of her vanilla-amber shower gel mixing with the arousal moistening her pussy jacks me up even higher. But combined with the soft trust she’s giving us? That completely undoes me.
Fuck it. I’ll probably regret this, and I’m likely going to hell, but I can’t fight the attraction anymore.
I tuck my finger under her chin. As her lashes flutter open, I lift her face to mine. “Baby girl?”
CHAPTER FOUR
Istare at her mouth. Kate knows what I’m asking her.
Her tongue slides across her lower lip nervously. Then she looks at Josh, who’s leaning in and settling her foot onto his leg, perilously close to the hard inches straining behind his zipper.
I hold my breath, waiting, half willing her to say no and quash what’s brewing between us. The other half of me is eager as fuck for her to say yes.