Pleasure Bound (12 page)

Not that Zeke had known that. Damn, what an annoying situation. Marie was Zeke’s girl, but she should be Ty’s. But Ty couldn’t steal her away from Zeke because … that wouldn’t be right.

On the other hand, Zeke had offered to step aside. Could Ty really ask him to do that? Damn it, this was too important to let stupid male pride get in the way. If Zeke was willing to—

But then, Marie was a part of the equation. Ty wasn’t stupid enough to believe that he and Zeke could decide who Marie would want to be with. Only she could make that decision. All Ty could do was let her know how much he wanted her and see if he could get her over her fear of falling in love with him.

And hope she would choose him over Zeke.

To do that, he’d have to stay in the picture. Essentially, he’d have to be the third in their threesome.
Just like Ashley had asked Zeke to be with her and me.
The difference being that Zeke knew the possible outcome and was okay with it.

Damn, if this was going to work, he’d have to drop the animosity between him and Zeke. Ty had been angry for five years. Maybe it was time to let it go. He had to give Zeke credit for the fact he wanted to do the right thing by Ty and help him win Marie, especially since he clearly wanted her for himself.

If Zeke could take that step, then maybe Ty could have the woman he loved after all.

*   *   *

Marie stepped into the living room, her hair still slightly damp from her shower. The sun shone brightly in her large living room window and soft rock music played on the radio. At the delicious aroma of bacon, she headed straight to the kitchen.

Ty stood at the stove stirring half-cooked scrambled eggs with a wooden spoon.

“Smells great,” she said, admiring his tight butt, shown off to perfection in his snug jeans.

He turned around and pulled her into his arms. “You smell great, too.”

He kissed her, his lips lingering a moment longer than they would have for a friendly kiss, but she didn’t seem to notice.

“Well, good morning to you, too.”

He grinned. “It has been so far.”

“Want me to set the table?” she asked.

“Already done. I thought we’d eat in the dining room today.”

Ty grabbed a plate and spooned a helping of eggs onto it, set it aside, then poured the rest of the eggs onto a second plate. He opened the oven and pulled out the bacon on a warming tray, then placed several strips on each plate.

He carried them through the door into the dining room and they both sat down. He already had the cutlery laid out, along with a jug of orange juice, jam, honey, and a basket with two croissants and some toast. She plucked a piece of toast from the basket and buttered it, then spread it with jam.

“So, was yesterday’s fun and games a one-time event, or do you think I’ll be included in future adventures?”

“Oh, well … I don’t know.” She shifted in her chair. “I doubt Zeke will want to repeat the same thing, especially since he wasn’t … you know … involved.”

“So what about doing something where he is involved?”

“You mean … both of you?”

He nodded, gazing at her over his mug as he sipped.

“Since you and Zeke don’t seem to get along, I sort of figured that you wouldn’t want to,” she said.

“But if I was agreeable, and so was Zeke, would you want to?”

A shiver danced down her spine. Would she ever!

“Well … I … uh … would consider it.”

She put down her fork.

“If you don’t mind me asking … Zeke said you both went to the same high school. Were you friends?”

“Yeah. We were.”

“How did you meet?”

He sighed. “When I was in my early teens, my dad lost his job, so we moved to a low-income neighborhood in Jersey where my dad got a job in a factory. It was a tough neighborhood, people just scraping by. Zeke lived in the house next door and we became friends. He showed me the ropes, helped me avoid trouble.” Ty sipped his coffee. “That was when he lived with the Johnsons. They were good people, but they were just his foster parents.”

“Zeke’s an orphan?” she asked.

Ty shook his head. “His parents abandoned him when he was twelve. He lived on the streets for about three months before anyone realized he had no home.”

Her heart clenched at the thought of young Zeke, only twelve years old, wandering around without a home, without anyone to look out for him or take care of him.

“So these people he was living with when you moved there, they adopted him?” she asked.

“No, they were his foster parents. Then things changed and for some reason, they couldn’t keep taking care of him, so he moved in with another family. Things weren’t so great for him there. The old man beat him up a lot and every time he did, Zeke took off. He bounced from home to home for quite a while, with no consistency, no … love.”

Zeke’s story broke Marie’s heart.

“Finally,” Ty continued, “when Zeke was seventeen, childhood services put him in a group home. Zeke started hanging out with members of a local gang.” Ty stared into his coffee mug, swirling it around. “I could see he was heading for big trouble. We were still friends and I told him I wouldn’t have any part of a gang, but that we could be our own gang of two.”

“You basically made him choose between the gang and you?”

Ty shrugged. “It was the only way. What he really needed was a sense of belonging. A family, of sorts, that would look out for him. I convinced him we were tough enough to make it without them. That’s when we got the matching tattoos.” He smiled wistfully. “My parents nearly killed me over that.”

By the look of affection in his eyes, she knew he meant they’d shown typical parental concern. He set down his mug on the table.

“Did they try to stop you from being friends with Zeke?” she asked.

Ty shrugged. “They were worried, but they could tell Zeke was basically a good kid in a bad situation. They believed, like I did, that he just needed a little friendship and support.”

“And you gave him that.” Her heart swelled at Ty’s compassion and loyalty to his friend. “How long did you remain friends?”

“Until about five years ago.”

Her eyebrows arched upward. She knew Ty had gone to college and studied computer science—he now worked as a software architect at a major high-tech company—so she had assumed that their friendship had waned when Ty left for school. Of course, that didn’t explain the animosity Ty held for Zeke.

“So what happened?”

Ty’s jaw clenched and his eyes turned hard.

She rested her hand on his. “I’d really like to know.”

His lips compressed into a tight line, but he nodded.

“I was dating this girl a while back … her name was Ashley. Very sexy. Zeke found her attractive.” He took a sip of his coffee, then pushed his mug aside. “Ashley and I had been dating for a couple of months and … she was pretty adventurous. She knew Zeke and I were good friends, and … she told me she’d had this fantasy for a long time. To have a threesome with two men. She wondered if … Zeke might join us sometime and help fulfill that fantasy.”

Marie felt her cheeks flush a little. Zeke had returned the favor, having invited Ty to join them. She felt sure Zeke hadn’t intended this to be a reversal of that earlier incident, but she couldn’t help feeling a bit strange about the whole thing. Of course, in this case, Zeke had merely shared his girlfriend—her—with Ty, while not actually participating in the sharing. Was that his way of making sure it didn’t get weird?

“So the three of you … did it?” She sipped her coffee, trying to appear nonchalant.

“Yeah. And Ashley loved it. So much so, that a few days later I caught her draped all over Zeke, practically sucking his face off.”

“Are you saying Zeke stole your girlfriend?”

“He said he didn’t, but the evidence was right in front of me. Ashley broke up with me right after that.”

Marie decided not to ask if this Ashley woman had started dating Zeke afterward. Better not to fan the flames.

“You didn’t believe Zeke? Even though you were such good friends?”

His hands rolled into fists, his eyes flashing. “A woman can come between the best of friends.”

He tossed back the rest of his orange juice and thumped the glass on the table. He then picked up his fork.

They continued eating in silence, except for the music playing on the stereo.

What if she had met these two men when they’d still been buddies? Would she have been the woman to come between them? Because with the chemistry she shared with both men …

Damn, she would never want to be responsible for breaking up a close friendship. She drew in a deep breath and gazed at Ty as he finished his eggs. Would it be possible to use this situation to do the opposite? Could carrying on a relationship with both men … forcing them to be together … actually help patch things up between them? It would be a fine balance, but if they went into this with both men knowing firmly where they stood … that she was Zeke’s girlfriend, not Ty’s …

Ty finished eating and he set his plate aside and sipped his coffee.

“Marie, I’m sorry I snapped at you. And … I know you’re going out with Zeke. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“Not at all. I asked you.” She gazed at him. “Earlier you asked if … well, if I might consider being with … you know, both of you. If you and Zeke are at odds, why would you even consider it?”

His gaze locked with hers. “To be with you.”

Eleven

“Oh.” She would love to be with both men at the same time. It would be a fantasy come true. Especially with
these
two men.

But would she be sending the wrong message? Remembering the look in Ty’s eyes this morning, she worried that Ty might hope that their sexual relationship would turn into something more.

But he knew she was dating Zeke. And she’d made it abundantly clear to Ty that she did not want to pursue a romantic relationship with him.

So the fact that he had asked her about starting a threesome proved to her that he would be happy with a no-strings-attached sexual relationship.

Well, why not? Most guys would love it. She really needed to stop overthinking things. It’s not like she was torturing the guy. If anything, she was giving him a male fantasy come true.

“Um … well, if you’re okay with it, I think Zeke would go for it.”

His gaze locked with hers. “Did he say something?”

“Not as such, but that first night he was here … and you came to feed Jade in the morning … I told him my neighbor was here to feed the cat and he … sort of suggested inviting you to join us.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“He thought my neighbor was a woman, but when I told him you were a guy, he told me to close my eyes and he talked me through a fantasy with you joining us. He didn’t know it was you, of course.”

“What did he say?”

“He … uh, first he said to imagine that you were making love to me and he was watching from the chair. Then we … pretended that both of you were … well, you get the idea.”

“No, tell me.” He grinned. “What did you pretend?”

She smiled, her cheeks heating. “You’re bad.”

“At least tell me … was I front or back?”

She remembered the feel of Zeke’s finger slipping into her back opening as he filled her vagina with his cock, telling her he would slide into her ass while Ty fucked her.

“Uh … the first time you were in front.”

“The first time? Sounds like I’ve starred in a few of your fantasies.”

The hot look he sent her heated her insides.

She smiled. “The next time, he got one of my vibrators and used it to actually play out the scenario. You were the back that time.”

His eyebrow arched again. “How many vibrators do you have?”

Her cheeks grew hotter. “Just the right number,” she quipped.

“So I’ve been back and front.” His gaze intensified. “Are you as totally turned on as I am?”

Oh God, her insides were melting. “Oh yeah.”

She shoved back her chair and lurched to her feet. Ty met her, wrapping his arms around her and capturing her lips, his tongue gliding into her mouth. She opened, her tongue meeting his. Her nipples pressed hard against his solid chest as his hands stroked up and down her back, stoking the fire within her.

She dropped to her knees, then grabbed his zipper tag and pulled it down. She tugged down his jeans, and stroked over the bulge in his boxers.

“Sit,” she said.

He sat down and she reached inside and drew out his cock, already rock hard. She wrapped her fingers around the shaft—so thick she couldn’t close her fingers around it. She stroked. From bottom to top, then down again. She leaned forward and brushed her lips against the bulbous head.

She trembled at the feel of his hard flesh pressed to her mouth … at the power she felt as she licked the tip of his enormous erection and it twitched in her hold. She lightly brushed her teeth over the big straining head, then opened wide and drew it inside. It filled her mouth. She swirled her tongue over the tip, then spiraled downward until she caressed the underside of the corona.