A Future for Three (3 page)

Tomorrow was Monday, and Casey would get up and go back to the bank. Emma had spent all weekend trying to think how she could stop the workaholic from working for a few days and then worrying that she could be overstepping her bounds as a friend.

She rubbed her eyes tiredly as the now familiar frustration inched through her.

Jason's behavior, though, had been even more bewildering. He'd been jumpier than a grasshopper and just as difficult to pin down. Every time she'd tried to find out what bothered him, besides the obvious worry about Casey, he'd found an excuse and left the room. She'd never felt so disconnected from her best friends in all her life.

Every fantasy she'd ever had revolved around these two people. Even as a teenager she'd dreamed of both Jason and Casey kissing her, touching her, learning her shape, and teaching her the secrets of her own body, and of her giving them pleasure in return.

She'd had boyfriends over the years, relationships that had been doomed to fail simply because she'd never met anyone who could compare to her best friends. She wasn't a naïve virgin, a few relationships had stumbled to that level, but even then she'd felt something missing, that life and sex held so much more than she understood.

But now? Her dreams were far more complicated than fabulous sex with two people she loved dearly. No. Now she also dreamed of children and happy futures and growing old together. She fantasized of all three of them living out their lives in each other’s arms. And the hopeless part, the scared little part in her heart, knew that even if Casey and Jason did see her love for them, they would be kind and generous and do anything to avoid hurting her, but could they ever truly love her?

Tears threatened as exhaustion and paranoia pulsed through her. She'd seen the obvious affection between Jason and Casey and had acknowledged years ago that they would make a great couple. Was she the reason they'd never hooked up? They were a matched pair, really. Both were perfect examples of the human form. Casey tall, slim, and a natural blonde, Jason well built and good-looking. Both of them glowed with golden smiles and radiated easy confidence. People gravitated toward them like flowers leaned to the sun.

Emma was none of those things. She was at least six inches shorter than Casey but weighed a whole lot more. Quiet and mousy, most people overlooked her presence even when she stood right in front of them. No, she didn't belong here. If she moved out, would Casey and Jason finally find a way to be together? The thought twisted her insides. She loved them both, wanted them both, but did she have the guts to step aside so that the people she loved could be happy?

Hell.

Lying in her bed, staring at the ceiling, she could no longer contain the misery that swallowed her whole. Tears began to flow unchecked down her face, and her chest hurt as she tried to quiet the sobs that broke loose.

But when Casey's piercing, terrified scream reached her ears, Emma catapulted off the bed and ran down the hall without a thought to her own safety or sanity. She nearly collided with Jason as he reached Casey's door at the same time. She glimpsed the terror in his eyes as he grabbed her roughly, protectively shoving her behind him as he entered the room.

Casey screamed again, louder this time, and Emma managed to peer around Jason as he headed toward the bed. Casey was still asleep, her arms pushing outward like she was trying to push someone or something away from her. Thankfully, she was alone. Uncertainty swamped Emma again. Should she even be here?

Jason glanced back at her as she hovered in the doorway, his face a mask of indecision, his eyes pleading for her help. She stepped toward the bed uncertain whether to wake Casey but unwilling to let her nightmare play out. The woman seemed absolutely terrified.

Emma tried to calm Casey by running a soothing hand through her hair and down her face. The pretty blonde whimpered in fear, but she turned her face toward Emma. For a moment, Casey's eyes popped open, and the absolute alarm that Emma read there made her do something she never thought she'd do. She slid onto the bed, wrapped herself around Casey's thrashing form, and held her tightly while making soothing reassuring noises.

Smoothing her hand over Casey's creased brow, she glanced up to see Jason standing on the other side of the bed, looking uncertain and uncomfortable. She was about to say something when Casey's panic suddenly increased and the bed became a flurry of arms and legs thrashing wildly. Emma strove to hang on, calling Casey's name over and over as her throat clogged with dread and her eyes filled with tears.

Strong arms wrapped around them both, and Jason pulled Casey and Emma toward him, cradling the two of them with his body. His deep voice rumbled beside Emma's ear.

"It's okay, babe. She's okay, babe."

It seemed to work for Casey as well as it worked for Emma. Casey stopped thrashing against the pillows, and her whimpers stopped. The urge to cry hit Emma again, this time in relief that Casey seemed to be calming down, not getting worse. The deep caring she could hear in Jason's voice pierced her heart as her love for both of these people threatened to overwhelm her. They deserved to be happy. They were the perfect couple.

Emma was the friend they didn't have the heart to shove aside. Why? Because that's the type of people they were—caring, considerate, unwilling to hurt another human being even to pursue their own happiness.

Emma closed her eyes and silently cursed her own weakness even as she relaxed into Jason's arms and held the woman she loved. Hell, she felt so selfish. She was the one getting in the way, she was the reason they weren't together as a couple, and she was the one who needed to leave.

She swallowed the sob that threatened to choke her, and then she held them both, silently promising them that she would find the strength to get out of the way.

Chapter Three

Jason's heart thumped painfully, the noise almost deafening to his own ears. Finally, he had both of the women in his life in his arms. Despite the circumstances, his body responded with embarrassing swiftness, and he thanked his luck that Emma lay on the other side and prayed for Casey to not wake up and notice the rather obvious erection pressed against her hip.

Hell. The woman had been having a nightmare just moments ago. He was trying to help, not jump her bones, but his body acted like a teenager with his first crush. He silently willed his libido to calm down at the same time that he stroked his hand over Emma's tear-streaked face.

"She'll be all right, babe. I promise you, I'll do everything I can to help her through it. Help both of you through it."

Emma gave him a soggy smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and then dropped her gaze as she exhaled deeply.

"Do you think this is from the holdup?"

"Hard to say. She hasn't exactly been big on the details. She didn't say anything about being attacked physically. When we came in, it looked like she was trying to push someone away."

Emma nodded, the tears still dripping down her face.

"She's supposed to go to work in a few hours."

"I know, babe, but trying to talk her out of going to work is like trying to pin the ocean to the sand. I can't remember the last time she took a day off, even for holidays."

"I don't suppose she'd be pleased if I tied her to the bed and refused to let her leave."

She said it with a goofy smile, but it quickly faded. Did she see his reaction? Had he failed to hide the heat that coursed through him at the erotic thought? Hell, he knew she'd been trying to lighten the mood, but his body liked other ideas, and he barely resisted the animalistic urge to rub his erection hard against Casey's hip. Fuck, he'd really found himself in a prickly situation.

Right now, he wanted to caress Casey's sleeping form and lean over to kiss Emma. Those soft lips, swollen slightly from crying, taunted him, and his imagination filled in the rest, his body unwilling to calm down in the middle of one of his most amazing fantasies.

Except this wasn't a fantasy. This was reality, and in this reality, Emma loved Casey, not him. He wriggled slightly, trying to move his groin away from Casey, trying to untangle his limbs so that he could leave the room and let Emma hold the woman she loved.

Casey whimpered as he tried to pull away and turned to nuzzle her face against his chest. Emma let her go, her arms falling away as the slim blonde snuggled deeper into Jason's embrace. His heart raced again at the same time that he ached for the heartbreak that flashed over Emma's features. She looked so tired and vulnerable. She started to sit up, but he knew he couldn't let her leave.

He grabbed her wrist as she tried to roll to the edge of the bed.

"She needs us both, babe." His voice stayed low and quiet, a desperation behind it that he hadn't really recognized until he'd heard it in his own ears. Emma shook her head, her eyes filling with tears that she somehow managed not to let spill.

"No, she needs you, and I've been in the way too long."

She twisted her wrist in his grip, trying to shake him off, but he knew with everything in him that letting her go right now was the last thing he could do. She made a whimpering sound as she struggled harder to get away from him.

"Babe, shhh, babe. Please stay. Please listen to me."

She shook her head, but she stopped struggling.

"Emma, honey, stay here. We'll both hold Casey until she wakes up, and then we'll talk to her about work and sort something out."

Emma closed her eyes and nodded slowly before turning on her side and facing him. She didn't cuddle up to Casey the way she'd been before, but he noticed that she toyed with strands of Casey's honey-gold hair, running her fingers through the tresses and smoothing out the knots.

He couldn't help himself. He reached out a hand and gently ran the back of his knuckles down her cheek. Her eyes were so sad that he wanted to gather her into his arms and never let go.

"It's gonna be okay, babe. We'll work it out together."
Like a family
. The thought flitted through his mind, surprising him a little at just how much he wanted it to be true. They'd been best friends for years. Surely they could figure out a way to be a family together.

His heart squeezed, and for once, his cock behaved. Family was about much more than sex, and even his libido understood. He hugged Casey closer and reached his other arm over to lay a possessive hand on Emma's hip. Hell, he couldn't lose them now. Suddenly it was more important than ever to try to convince them that they belonged together—all three of them.

* * * *

Casey was having such a lovely dream.

In her dream, she held Emma's soft curves spooned against her front while Jason's harder, leaner body pressed into her back. She sighed, her dream self wondering ruefully if she'd ever have the guts to do it for real.

Fifteen years of friendship had somehow morphed into so much more, and she'd wanted both of them for longer than she could remember. Every time she envisioned the future, she and Emma and Jason were a threesome, sharing the highs and lows of family life, buying a home together, having children. Every one of her fantasies revolved around loving and being loved by the two most important people in her life.

But she'd watched Jason watching Emma and Emma watching Jason, and she'd known she was the interloper, the one who should move away, but she'd been unable to give them up. It had been her idea that they move in together. She'd been incredibly selfish, in hindsight. She'd hoped that proximity would give her the miracle she'd hoped for, but instead she'd only managed to keep Jason and Emma away from the happiness that they should have found together, would've found, if it wasn't for her interference.

Damn, she was self-centered. She'd been so concerned with what she wanted, she'd denied the two people she loved the most from having the happiness they both deserved.

In her dream, she knew that it was almost time to get up, but she didn't want this dream to end. She pulled Emma closer and nuzzled her neck, placing a soft kiss on the sensitive spot just below her ear. Casey pressed back against the hard body behind her, wiggling her hips against the thickening bulge pressed against her lower back.

She sighed happily. This was the part where Jason would push her onto her back and kiss her with all the wild, pent-up passion he'd been holding back for years. Emma would wake slowly, with that sexy smile on her face, crawl over, and demand a kiss from both of them. It's the way her dream always went—Jason's kiss, Emma's kiss, and then Jason and Emma kissing each other, and then the real fun would begin. Always it was the same, and Casey's dream self held her breath waiting for the magic of her dream world to sweep her into ecstasy.

But, it never came.

Confused, Casey struggled toward wakefulness, annoyed but not surprised by the thumping headache. She'd slept badly since the holdup, and she'd spent a lot of the weekend analyzing her reaction to it. It felt slightly ridiculous that a holdup that she'd barely been aware of could affect her so significantly. She'd started to wonder just how self-centered she really was. First, the friends she couldn't let go, and now, the holdup where she needed to be center of attention but didn't really have a valid reason.

Shit.

She pulled the woman in her arms closer to her, nuzzling her neck like she'd done so many times before in her dreams, the sweet scent of vanilla reaching her senses.