Gemini (14 page)

“I’m fine,” she said, but she didn’t return his smile.

“If you’ve got a couple hours free,” he went on, as though she hadn’t given him a bit of stink eye, “I could use your help.”

“Yeah?” she asked. “What do you need?” She glanced up rather sourly as Quinn walked up beside her and set a draft down in front of Jace.

Jace nodded his thanks to Quinn, but it looked like a stall to Gemini. “I’m having a bathroom re-done at my house. I’d like a second opinion on paint colors.”

“And you think I’d be good at that because I have two X chromosomes?”

“I—uh.” Jace looked at Quinn and shrugged.

Quinn met her glare with little apparent concern. “You know we don’t want you alone. I can handle the bar fine without you, so I thought maybe Jace could, uh—”

A lot of sentences were ending like that. “Babysit me?”

Quinn’s features hardened. “Gem, you have to let us—”

“I don’t. I don’t
have
to do anything. I’m pretty much done letting men tell me what I have to do, Quinn.”

Taking a step back, Quinn lifted his hands. “Sorry, Gem. I get it. I just—”

Jace had emptied his beer, and he set the mug down on the bar with enough force to break up the conversation. “You came to us for help, Gemini. This is us giving it. We’re going to be on you until we’re sure you’re safe, because that’s who we are. So get over it.

“Now, are you going to come with me, or are you going to stay here and make Quinn feel bad some more?”

Gemini took a deep breath and sighed it out. “Sorry, Quinn,” she said. Then she looked at Jace. “I’m coming with you.”

Jace nodded, and she was aware that the two men exchanged glances as he waited for her to come around from behind the bar. “Later, man,” he said, before he took Gemini’s arm and walked her out.

Lame as the pretext was, Gemini felt her spirits lift when she stepped outside. It was a lovely, sunny day, and Jace didn’t take her to yet another Subaru, but to a convertible BMW. It seemed a perfect match for a summer Sunday afternoon.

He put one hand on the door handle and, with the other, took hers as though to help her in. But he left the door closed for a minute and looked at her instead. Then he lifted her hand to his mouth for a kiss. His lips lingered, warm and soft while his light blue eyes held hers. With a little shiver, Gemini was reminded that she’d never been alone with Jace.

That didn’t seem to be something he’d forgotten.

He smiled gently when he lifted his head and opened the door for her. He drove her up into the hills—just north of the Garden of the Gods, where the winding road climbed up a mountainside and pricey homes clung to the edges of vertical terrain. His was a modern structure of stone and glass and wood, with the grounds attractively and creatively xeriscaped.

Jace left the car in the drive and took her in through the front door. Inside, the space was all light and glass, with decks visible from more than one level. He walked her through the living room and outside, and she saw the mid-level deck curved around for views of both downtown and Pike’s Peak. A flight above, a narrower deck circled the upper story.

He had a hand on the small of her back as they stood at the deck rail. “I’d like to shower,” he said. “Can I get you something first?”

She smiled up at him. “No, I’m fine. It’s lovely here.”

“Yes, it is,” he said, though he was looking at her, not the gorgeous view around them. “I’ll be right back.”

Gemini wandered, noting that the lower level of deck had a party-sized hot tub and a fire pit. She stayed on the middle level, walking to the far end that hung out over space. A cluster of teak chaises—three of them, and she was pretty sure she knew who made use of them—faced the city view.

She found green-and-white striped cotton chair pads in a storage trunk and brought one out. There, in the warm sun and isolated quiet, she fell asleep.

* * * *

From his upper deck, Jace looked down at the sleeping beauty. He had another stern talk with his dick, which was pretty much the same conversation they’d had during his shower.

His dick knew what it wanted, what
he
wanted. He couldn’t deny it. The woman was bright and sweet and hot—basically the necessary trifecta, in his humble opinion, for female attractiveness. She had it all in spades.

But he knew for a fact that Clay had fucked her, and Quinn’s silence on the phone when Jace had queried him on the subject had pretty much confirmed the obvious. Plus, she was sacked out like she hadn’t gotten a lot of shut-eye overnight. Better things to do, no doubt, than sleep.

He hadn’t hesitated when Quinn had called and asked him to help out. It hadn’t bothered him at all to walk out on that tennis set. He was playing with Marla, an ADA he’d dated a few times. She was hot and bright, but was missing that final component of the trifecta, and it turned out that one counted for a lot. Whether it was lovemaking, nailing bad guys, or playing tennis, she had a kind of dour determination that made her not that much fun. Jace had been pretty clear their relationship had run its course, but she wanted to act like they could still be friends. This was the second time he’d agreed to meet her for tennis—and the last. Quinn’s call actually had been a blessed relief.

Besides which, he was all on board with keeping Gemini safe. She was Cap’s kid sister, and so the responsibility was theirs. He didn’t have any trouble with it and was more than willing to do his part. Since she was essentially living and working with Quinn, Jace was happy to step up when he could. As he ought to.

But he wasn’t going to fuck her. Well, he
would
fuck her. Hell, he was dying to. But he wasn’t going to fuck her when she was fucking one or both of his best friends. Just in case there was an afterlife where he’d have to look Cap in his otherworldly eye again, he couldn’t do it.

Anyway, he had a plan. A
hope
, at least. He figured Clay would fuck himself out on her and be done. And Quinn—well, he wasn’t so sure what would happen between Gem and Quinn. They looked pretty tight. Whatever it was, he was going to wait it out.

So he let his eyes feast and tried to suppress his dick. He waited a while to see if she’d turn a little further to her side—that slit at the back of her short denim skirt was near to giving him a view that beat both downtown and Pike’s Peak combined.

Wishing for it didn’t make it happen, though, so he headed to the kitchen. He woke her a bit later and they nibbled on the fruit and cheese plate he’d fixed and drank a nice Riesling. Then he took her to his bathroom—the one off his bedroom that pretty much opened to the sky. He’d gotten river stone worked into the shower and had updated the fixtures. And yeah, whether it was her two X’s or not, she made the perfect call with something called burnt ember gray and a pearly, off-white deal.

Sunlight in the bathroom lit her up like one of those heavenly glows in religious paintings. It heated up the room quite a bit, too, or something did. Gem leaned back out of the shower, where she’d been running her fingers over smooth stone, and caught him looking. She smiled, and he totally got where the heat was coming from.

“I’m not going to fuck you.”

Shit
. Had he said that out loud?

By the look on her face, the answer was yes.

“Sorry. I was talking to myself more than you.”

Her brows were still raised and she looked into his eyes like she was assessing for sanity. “Do you always talk to yourself—out loud?”

“Not often.” She no doubt thought he was a nut job, and all she had to do was lower her gaze about two feet to have evidence that not all of him was entirely on board with the no-fuck plan. He sighed, then took her hand and led her out to the upper deck. He had to put a little effort into walking upright.

They both put their hands on the rail and looked out at the view, maybe a safer strategy than having to face each other.

“I’m interested in you, Gemini. Very attracted to you. But—”

“You know I’ve been with Clay. And with Quinn.”

“Yeah.” He sighed again and turned toward her. “It just seems to me that you’re not the type of woman who’d be happy giving herself to three men. And for sure, Quinn and Clay and I are not the type of guys who’d want to share a woman. I mean, when one of us is seeing someone, she’s not seeing anyone else. That’s always been kind of a no-fly zone for us.”

“And yet, I’ve been with both Clay and Quinn.”

“I get it. That’s never happened before.”

“I’ve learned lately that the type of woman I am isn’t what I used to think it was.” She looked at him with soft brown eyes he could fall into. “Maybe you three aren’t entirely the type you think you are, either.”

“Are you saying you want to be with all of us? You can see that working?”

“I get that it sounds crazy,” she said. “But maybe that’s exactly the type we all are.”

“I don’t think that
is
a type.”

“Clay says I don’t have to decide it all now.” She smiled wryly. “He said he wasn’t proposing.”

“That’s your plan, then? Just go along and see how it works itself out?”

She looked back out over the city. “Yes. I think so.”

“So would it make no difference to you?” He spoke quietly and touched the small of her back again. “Whether I made love to you or not, it wouldn’t matter?”

Gemini looked up at him. “Oh, yes. It would matter.”

* * * *

Jace was quiet as he drove her back to the bar. Clearly, he didn’t understand what she was doing. Gemini didn’t blame him.

She didn’t understand, either.

All she could say was that she had determined to do the thing that felt right, after having spent so much time feeling wrong. It had felt right in Clay’s arms and in Quinn’s, too. If Jace had put his arms around her, if he’d kissed her and taken her to his bed, well, that probably would have felt right, as well.

If he’d taken the initiative, she’d have followed.

And, if she were being honest, it was true that she’d been a little disappointed when he’d led her back to his car.

He was different than the others but no less attractive. He was more—
formal
, perhaps, gentlemanly. He wasn’t the fierce warrior Clay was. He didn’t have Quinn’s sweet gentleness. But she felt safe with him, just a little bit coddled, and cared for. When he took a woman, she would be the center of his world, and he would be sure she knew it.

She hadn’t failed to notice the evidence that he wanted her, but he wasn’t going to make love to her. At least, not yet. And she certainly didn’t have it in her to take it to him. There was little doubt in her mind about what would have happened out on his deck if she’d brought her body close, put her arms around him and her lips on his. He was ready for her, blatantly hard. He’d have let it happen, just as she would have if he’d made the first move.

But her life was already complicated enough. She was still married, by law if not in spirit. And she’d made love to two men in the same day. Not just made love to them, but
loved
them. Taking the third of the friends into her body and heart seemed extremely right and extremely crazy, both.

The crazy part was what held her back.

It felt good, though, to walk into the bar with Jace’s hand gently at her back and be welcomed into the gazes of Clay and Quinn. Clay had turned at Quinn’s nod and watched her walk close. She greeted him with words and a touch of lips that he made more of—he held her to it, his hand cupping her head and his mouth closing over hers. Even in the midst of it, she was aware of Jace’s hand still at her back.

Then Quinn came, after finishing mixing the last cocktail for a table of young couples who still wore their hiking gear. He kept his eyes on her as he strode the length of the bar, then went up on the step stool to bring her mouth to his in another long, taking kiss.

She laughed and blushed at the same time, both wallowing in and a little embarrassed by this show of affection from two hot men.

“You feel better, babe?” Quinn asked, and had her laugh turning to chagrin.

“Yes. I’m sorry, Quinn. I was being a brat.”

“I just thought you were feeling a little bar-bound.”

“No,” she said. “I love your bar, and I’m grateful I can work here.” She looked around her, hot, gorgeous males in three directions. “I’m aware that you all are doing everything you can to keep me safe, and I should be appreciative, not snotty about it.”

“No worries, sweetheart,” he said, his green eyes soft and warm on her.

“Anyway, I can help now. It looks like business has picked up.”

There were a couple busy hours, with people in for dinner or just coming for after-dinner drinks. Gemini worked the bar and sometimes helped with the tables when the servers were busy with kitchen orders.

Jace stayed for just a cup of coffee, then kissed her good-bye and reminded her of their appointment the next afternoon. Clay nursed a pint of pale ale and spent some time on his phone. When the bar had quieted again, he set his empty down and shook his head to her offer of a refill. Those dark blue eyes held hers, assessing. After a long study, he turned his gaze to Quinn.

“You don’t need her down here, do you?”

Quinn met Clay’s eyes for a prolonged moment, and then he slowly shook his head.

Clay put his hand on her arm. “I’ll take her up, then. I’ll stay until you close.”

Quinn looked from him to Gemini and finally nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “That’d be good.”

Clay moved down the bar and waited for her at the hatch, not particularly patiently, if the hard glint in his eye meant anything. When she came through, he took her hand and led her to the stairs. Then they were in Quinn’s apartment, and he had his hands on Gemini’s hips, backing her toward her room.

Gemini put her hands on his arms, though true resistance was futile. “I thought you might be done with me.”

He kissed her briefly, strongly. “I can’t imagine what gave you that idea.”