Texas Tangle (17 page)

Instead of making her decision easier, she enjoyed both men’s company. The longer she delayed, the more she realized it would be impossible to choose one over the other.

A week into their agreement, Brett disappeared for a while as soon as Dillon’s truck pulled into the driveway. He returned home a couple hours later, a garment bag hooked over his shoulder.

“I want to take you out on a real date this evening, just you and I.” He looked at Dillon. “Do you have a problem with that?”

Dillon looked up from his sketchpad. “Nope, no problem. I gotta work up this proposal for the Snider place.”

The bag proved to contain one of the most beautiful black cocktail dresses she’d ever seen, a black silk thong and a pair of fuck-me stilettos that fit her like a dream. “It’s beautiful.”

He shrugged, but she could tell he was pleased. “If you don’t want to wear it, it’s okay. The clerk said I could take it back if it didn’t fit or you didn’t like it.”

“No, I love it.” She’d never have bought something like this for herself. That he went through the trouble of going to the mall—something she’d discovered both he and Dillon considered the equivalent of bamboo under the fingernails—told her how important the evening was to him.

Frowning at the mixture of excitement and trepidation warring within her, she took the bag and headed up to her bedroom. When she turned to close the door she found Dillon standing in the doorway. She tried to read the expression on his face, in his eyes, but he’d closed himself off.

Frightened that she may already have lost him, she wrapped her arms around his waist. “I don’t have to do this; I love you, Dillon. I won’t go out with Brett if you don’t want me to.”

“I love you too.” He cupped her face between his calloused palms. “But I told you before, I don’t want to be someone you settled for. So if you have to go out on a date to prove to yourself or anyone else that it’s me you want, I guess Brett’s the only guy I’d trust you with.”

She buried her face in his chest, taking a deep breath and holding it. Although he’d taken a shower when he’d come home from work, there was a spicy scent she couldn’t attribute to his usual brand of soap, a scent uniquely Dillon’s. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

He kissed the top of her head. “No regrets, Nik. About anything. Now you’d better get ready. Brett’s waiting.”

He lifted the bag she’d draped on the bed and handed it to her. He started to leave, but stopped in the doorway and spoke over his shoulder. “Nik? If you guys want to…you know, explore things between you? Don’t feel guilty about it, all right? I’ll understand.”

He was seriously giving her permission to sleep with someone else? A tiny crack appeared in her heart, threatening to widen with the tiniest movement. “How can you not be jealous?”

There was a long pause before he answered. “You need to find out if Brett can make you happier than I can…” His voice fractured, and he cleared this throat. “I love you both too much to get in your way. I don’t want you—either of you—putting aside your own happiness because you’re worried about me or how I’ll react. I’ve interfered once already. So you do what you have to do to be happy.”

“You make me happy, Dillon,” she whispered.

“I need you to do this for me, Nik. I need you to do this for Brett. Promise me you won’t back out. Promise me that you’ll give Brett the chance I took away from him back in high school.”

“I—”

“Promise me, Nik. Please.”

“I promise I’ll give Brett a chance.”

Dillon left her alone without looking back. She stared at the dress Brett had brought home for her. She should just hand it back to him, tell him she’d made up her mind. So why was she unzipping the bag? Maybe that alone told her she needed to find out for herself if she was ready to commit to Dillon. To anyone.

Almost an hour later, she came out of the bedroom to find Brett waiting outside, wearing a somber black suit and striped tie. He drove her to a Dallas restaurant, complete with waiters in tuxes. The menu the maitre d’ handed her didn’t have prices on it, but she suspected the bill could have paid the month’s mortgage.

“You keep staring at me.” She touched her hand to her hair. “Is there something wrong? Tell me I don’t have something stuck between my teeth.”

He shook his head. “I just can’t believe we’re here. Together.” He reached across the table and twined their fingers together. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to take you to dinner. Out on a date.”

His intensity flowed across the table, winding along her arm and around her body. How had she lived with him, sat across from him at breakfast and lunch each day for the past weeks and not noticed the raw sexuality surrounding him? How had she not noticed the tiny scar above his left eyebrow, or how his eyes with the darker blue ring around a sky blue center dominated his rugged features? Had he always looked at her with such longing? No, not longing, it was more than that. His look promised long nights of mind-numbing kisses followed by slow tender sessions where he explored every inch of her body.

The need for him had her drawing a shaky breath and pressing her thighs together in an effort to ease the growing ache.
Why didn’t it feel wrong to be attracted to two men at the same time?

“Nik? Are you all right?”

All she could do was nod her head.

On the drive back, silence hung between them like a dark curtain. Every now and then, Brett took his hand off the steering wheel to touch her knee or caress her hand. Before she knew it they were out of the city and heading down the interstate toward Dillon’s. “Thank you for not suggesting we stay at a hotel tonight.”

He glanced over at her. “I have to admit I seriously considered it. But I figured if I made reservations, you’d feel obligated to have sex with me. I don’t want you to feel obligated to me for anything, Nik. Especially not for sex.”

“I don’t feel obligated.” Horny as hell, yes. Needy, achy, those too. Obligated? Not a chance.

“I don’t want to pressure you, Nik. If we’re going to take things to the next level, I want it to happen in its own time and for the right reasons.”

“What if now’s the right time?” she whispered.

He brought her hand to his mouth. The gentle way he pressed his lips to her knuckles scorched her. “I’d love to, but I want you to be sure about this. About us. It could ruin all our friendships—you, me, Dillon. It could change things between us completely.”

“I know.” She rubbed her thumb over his. It would change things. But she’d promised Dillon to give Brett a chance. “Does it bother you that I’ve made love to Dillon?”

Another mile passed before he answered. “Does it bother you that I’ve made love to other women?”

“No. You weren’t going with me, so why would I hold your past against you? But you know what I mean. I don’t want to come between you two. Not again.”

“What happened in the past wasn’t your fault. What happened this time isn’t your fault either. Way back when this all started, you asked me if I was interested in you and I wasn’t honest with you. I’m the one at fault. Not you.” Even in the dim lighting of the dashboard, she could see his fingers tighten around the steering wheel. “I shouldn’t have even suggested this date. I should have just walked away.”

Yet he hadn’t.

“Maybe we need to look at tonight the same as ripping off a bandage.”

“What do you mean?” He glanced sideways at her.

“Maybe we should get the sex out of the way right at the start. Make sure we click together in bed. That we don’t bore each other or do something that turns each other off. Why waste time?”

Holy shit, was she really suggesting this? But at least they wouldn’t waste months dithering. That way if they didn’t click, she’d walk away without a second thought. Not that sex was the most important part in a relationship but for all she knew, Brett could turn out a dud in the sack. As shallow as it made her feel, she wasn’t prepared to put up with another long stretch of boredom in bed. And maybe, ten, twenty years down the road, she’d at least be able to say she hadn’t jumped into the bed of the first man who invited her. That she’d…well, shopped around didn’t exactly sit right with her, but it was the closest comparison she could come up with.

Brett must have felt the same way. “That makes it sound like you’re taking me out for a test drive.”

She forced a smile, although she knew it lacked conviction, and shook her head. “You know what I mean. I want to know how we are together in bed. Dillon won’t be home for a while yet so we won’t have to worry about him listening.”

“It didn’t bother you that I was in the next room listening to you and Dillon the past couple of weeks.” His tone was flat, a muscle in his jaw twitching betraying his struggle at control. He shook his head. “Sorry, that didn’t come out the way I wanted it to. It’s just…listening to Dillon, knowing…”

“Hey, I didn’t know how you felt,” she reminded him gently. “Neither did Dillon. We weren’t trying to show off or make you jealous or anything.”

“I know.” He pulled the car off on the side of the road. After he’d put it in park, he half turned in his seat. “I’m not saying you were trying to rub my face in anything. It just damned near killed me listening to what was going on.” He exhaled noisily. “Dillon’s so fuckin’ loud, it was hard to ignore.”

She couldn’t stop the giggle that bubbled up. “Yeah, he is.” Her smile faded as she imagined how she would have felt if she’d had to listen to Wade fucking one of his girlfriends while she was in the next room. God, that must have been hell for Brett to lie in the next room and have to listen to their lovemaking.

“Look, I know Dillon’s said it’s okay for me to date you, but I don’t want to get in his face about it. I feel like I’m poaching on his territory. And frankly, I’m still worried he’ll get pissed off, not only with me but with you too.”

“Dillon’s the one who suggested that we should go out on a date. He made me promise to give you a chance. I’m not one to break a promise, Brett. I like you. And we both know there’s something between us, some spark we need to work out before I can make a decision.” She lifted his hand to rub his knuckles over her cheeks. The heat in his eyes told her he wasn’t as unaffected as he tried to pretend. “Let’s just go home and see what happens from there. All right?”

Nodding, Brett eased the car back onto the road. Less than ten minutes later, he parked in front of Dillon’s house.

She held her breath when he leaned over and kissed her. Instead of a careful kiss on her cheek, he pressed his lips against hers. She stiffened for a second, then parted her lips slightly, accepting his advance.

He tasted of a lingering essence of the wine they’d shared earlier and a crisp, unique flavor that set her head spiraling into a vortex of need.

He buried his fingers in her hair, pulling her hard against him, taking control of the kiss, thrusting his tongue into her mouth. Warmth flooded her belly, and she moaned.

“God, how many times did I hear you do that through the bedroom wall and wish it was me?” he muttered around the kiss.

The ten years since they’d last kissed compressed as if it had been a day, then floated away. She forgot they were in the front seat of his car, forgot they were parked in front of Dillon’s house. Only the two of them existed in the world.

Outside a nighthawk screeched as it chased bugs flying around a lamp Dillon had installed by the barn. Inside, soft moans filled the car as they explored each other.

She curled her fingers through his hair, enjoying the way it rasped in the back. Where Dillon’s shoulders were wider from doing heavy work, Brett was more streamlined, but she had no doubt he was equally as strong. He was harder than he’d been back in high school, stronger. Yet she knew he’d never hurt her.

He skimmed his hand down her side to her hip, his fingers digging in for a moment as he shifted her angle. On the trip back to her shoulder, he brushed the sides of her breasts that grew heavier with each minute they kissed. “Do you know how many nights I lay awake back in high school, remembering how you tasted? How you felt in my arms? The feel of your lips against mine?”

“I wish I’d known.”
I wish it had been you kissing me. I wish it had been you who had been my first lover.

As if he could read her mind, he pressed one finger over her lips and shook his head. “Don’t. That’s history. We’re two different people now.”

He may have been different, but she still felt the awkward teenager she’d been the first night he’d kissed her. But she wasn’t that girl anymore. She didn’t want to be that girl ever again.

“Dillon’s truck isn’t here,” Nikki whispered.

“I noticed. But for the record, that’s not the reason I kissed you.” He stroked his thumb down her jaw, his eyes unreadable in the shadows. “I kissed you because I figured our date was over.”

“It doesn’t have to be.” She caught his hand and slipped it beneath the hem of her dress. “Touch me.”

Every part of him stilled while his eyes searched hers.

“Touch me,” she repeated.

Moving ever so slowly, his hand crept higher on her thigh, until he reached the silk of her thong. “Are you sure?”

She’d never been so sure of anything in her life. She shifted, giving him better access.

Brett’s fingers slipped past the silken barrier, parting her folds, slick with her arousal. She closed her eyes, concentrating on the sensations enveloping her. The warmth of his breath on her cheek, the rasp of his beard, the lingering scents of his aftershave. The strength of his shoulder cushioning her head.

She gave in to the pleasure he kindled as his fingers teased her clit. Sometimes hard, sometimes feather-light, each movement drove her higher and higher. He dipped his fingers into her core, touching a spot that had her tilting her hips until they barely rested on the seat. He fondled her, petting and stroking until she was trembling, unable to draw a breath. And still he drove her higher, capturing her gasps with another kiss.

His fingers touched places she hadn’t known existed until this past month. His thumb brushed over her clit at the same time his fingers plunged into her inner muscles, until she could no longer contain the heat blossoming inside her.