Unsurpassed (4 page)

With a promise to deliver Drew’s message, Ryan slipped the “do
not disturb” sign in place and locked the door. Max stood there, his shoulder leaning
against the doorway of the bedroom. Ryan nodded toward the bathroom, before
heading in its direction. Max tilted his chin showing he understood Ryan’s
signal before falling in step behind him.

The last wisps of steam from Aubree’s shower hung in the
air. She leaned close to the mirror swiping ChapStick over her lips. Her wet
hair fell in dripping waves down her back and the fluffy white towel wrapped
around her body was the only thing hiding its beauty from sight. Ryan’s dick
hardened painfully at the first glimpse of her. It was always the same when she
was around. The difference between this weekend, and every other day before it
was, he no longer needed to hide his reaction to her. She met his gaze in the
mirror and smiled.

“Did I hear someone at the door?”

Pushing her wet hair aside, he pressed his lips to the back
of her neck. He smiled in satisfaction as chill bumps immediately covered her
skin. “It was Drew. He plans to take you to lunch tomorrow at noon,” he
answered, seeing no reason to lie. Turning in his arms, she met his stare
questioningly.

“Am I going?”

With a tug at the towel, Ryan stripped it away from her
body. His mouth went dry at the vision of her delicious curves. “Yes,” he
answered absently. “You’re still allowed to have friends.” Smoothing his hands
up her sides, he encircled her waist, hauling her against him until he was sure
she could feel his erection between them. “As long as you remember who this
body belongs to now.”

Inside Aubree’s mind, she was screaming for more. Catching
sight of Max standing quietly in the open doorway, she met his hooded gaze over
Ryan’s shoulder. “Are you afraid?” Ryan asked against her ear.

“Of what?” Although Aubree felt sure she did know what Ryan
referred to, a naughty part of her wanted to hear him say the words. He didn’t
disappoint.

“We’ll both be inside you at the same time. If you don’t
think you can handle it, then I want you to tell me. We can take this slow.”
Lifting his hand, he absently stroked the skin at her collarbone as he
continued speaking. He watched the motion of his fingers as if enthralled.
“Neither of us want this to be painful for you, and I promise it won’t be.”

“Have you ever noticed this is your go-to move?”

Ryan’s heated gaze moved from where his fingertips brushed
along her collarbone to her eyes. His brow furrowed. Confusion was written in
the lines of his face. “What?”

Aubree pointed to where his palm rested near her shoulder.
“As long as I’ve known you, you’ve always touched me in the same spot, no
matter what we’re discussing.”

His face cleared and a small smile played upon his lips.
“You’re beautiful,” he said as if it explained everything. “I always want to
touch you, but right here.” He ran the tips of his fingers along the spot once
more. “This is where I’m always imagining my tongue to be.”

His reasoning shook something inside her, and Aubree
realized she couldn’t keep this up. She needed to know where this whole thing
was heading. “What are the two of you doing to me?”

“Claiming what’s ours.”

She loved that Ryan didn’t pretend to misunderstand her
question or hesitate when he answered, but still, she needed more. “And this
doesn’t bother you? You don’t feel jealous or expect I will eventually choose
one over the other?”

He tilted his head to once side, assessing her. “Can you
choose?”

“No.”

“Even after last night?”

“Especially after last night,” she answered honestly.

The tiny grin hovering on his lips grew into a luminous
smile. “Good. We don’t want you to. What’s it going to hurt to give us a shot?”

“Honestly? It will hurt a great deal if this ends with me
never able to see you again.”

“Let me rephrase my question. What do you have to lose?”

She knew what Ryan was trying to say, and she didn’t have
any intentions of walking away from whatever was happening, but she still spent
a second looking back and forth between the men. She wanted to scream her fear
of losing their friendship. In the end, Aubree held her silence. Max’s muscular
bare chest and Ryan’s soothing touch were stealing away her good sense.
Everything else was secondary to having them inside her. It wasn’t love. It was
a raging desire to experience the sensory overload only they could provide.

Instead of answering Ryan’s question, Aubree ran her
fingertips over his abs as she brushed past him. Holding her head high, she
headed for his bed. Halfway there, Max overcame her. Wrapping his arms around
her waist, he lifted her feet from the floor, rushing her along. Max pressed
his mouth to her ear. “I won’t hurt you.” As if accentuating his words, he
cupped her mound, and ground his palm against her clit.

With his one touch, she was already panting. With his
fingers moving over the spot where she wanted him the most, Aubree rode out the
sensation while enjoying the sight of Ryan stripping out of his clothes. With
protection in place, Ryan sat on the edge of the bed while reaching for her.
Max gripped her hips, guiding her toward him.

“Max needs to get ready, baby. We have to keep you safe. In
the meantime, I’ll keep you company.” The mischievous glint in his eyes had her
straddling his hips without a second thought. She was drawn to the playfulness
he always offered. His humor fell away on a moan as she sank down onto his cock.
Ryan buried his fist in her hair, forcing her mouth to his. Nipping at her
lips, he surged upward. The sweet spot at the apex of her thighs began
throbbing again with need.

Signaling his return to the action, Max flattened his palm
between Aubree’s shoulder blades, giving her a small push. At his cue, Ryan
fell onto his back taking her with him. The sensation of Max’s lips as they
connected with the small of her back caused her to cry out in need. He traced a
hot path up her spine until he reached her ear.

“You’ll have to help me out.” He ran his fingers over the
entrance of her ass leaving behind cool moisture, making Aubree realize he was
using some form of lubricant. The pressure of the head of his cock stretched
her wide. It stung, but wasn’t painful. “Rock back against me when you think
you can take more of me.” She did as Max instructed, conscious of how the pair
filled her completely. The sounds coming from Max’s throat drove her wild,
making her feel powerful while Ryan encouraged her to keep moving with his
hands. Tilting her chin back, she let her head rest against Max’s shoulder and
allowed the men to control their pace.

“If you could see the way you look right now,” Ryan said
sounding more turned on than any man should. “So fucking sexy.”

Max fingered her clit adding to the overabundance of
sensations racing through her and sending her over the edge. Her muscles locked
tight as someone gripped her almost painfully. She didn’t care. It merely
enhanced the awareness of her body. The echo of her name and the sweat slipping
between them were memories she gathered closer to her chest. She hoped by the
end of the weekend, she would have a thousand of those minute details to carry
home with her, because she knew this couldn’t last.

Aubree stared at the dessert menu wishing she had the nerve
to order something. There was no way in hell she was eating anything else in
front of someone as fit as Drew. She’d been surprised to realize Mandy’s usual
position at the hotel was as a waitress. Having the girl’s skinny model body
hovering over her as Aubree lusted over the cake didn’t help matters in any
way.

“The chocolate is delicious,” Mandy said as she filled
Aubree’s glass with water. “You should get a slice.”

Aubree forced her face to remain blank. If Mandy had ever
eaten anything sweet in her life then Aubree was the president. She set the
menu aside.

Drew’s smile made her wonder if he could read her mind.
“Anything catch your eye? I mean, besides me, of course.”

Before Aubree could answer, the glass of ice water Mandy
held between her fingers slipped an inch, hitting the edge of the table,
causing the clear liquid to sail out in an arc before splashing across Drew’s
shirt.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry, Mr. Alexander,” she cried as she flashed
a wide grin in Aubree’s direction with a wink. Aubree covered her mouth to hide
her horrified laughter as she realized Mandy’s move had been intentional. “Let
me get a towel. I can’t believe I did such a thing.” She bustled away and Drew
chuckled.

“Hmm, it seems we’ll have to go back to my room so I can
change. I might have to leave her a bigger tip for helping me get you alone.”
Not trusting her voice, Aubree tossed her napkin on the table and pushed her
chair back, prepared to stand. Drew reached out halting her progress. “There’s
no need to rush. I don’t mind spending a little time wet for you, if you’d like
to try the chocolate cake. Especially if it means you’d be willing to spend
time wet for me afterward.”

The laughter Aubree managed to hold at bay up to this point
burst from her lips without warning. “You’re so outrageous.”

Drew’s wicked smile showed not a hint of remorse. “I didn’t
hear a ‘no’ in your statement.”

Rolling her eyes, Aubree stood. “Come on. If you catch a
cold because of me, there’s no telling what you’ll expect in return.”

Aubree spent the elevator ride to Drew’s penthouse doing her
best not to stare at the way his wet, expensive button-down shirt clung to his
skin. It seemed a night of wild sex had caused her hormones to rage completely
out of control and now she was molesting every man with her eyes. Not every
man, she conceded, only sexy fighters with too many muscles and an
overabundance of charm. When the door slid open, Aubree all but leapt from the
small moving room. She couldn’t stand another moment trapped inside with Drew
oozing testosterone. As if he could read her mind and had decided to challenge
her self-control, Drew was out his shirt before she could blink or look away.
She blamed the lack of warning for her reaction when her mouth fell open at the
sight of him. His body went beyond all description. It should’ve been illegal.

“Damn you’re sexy when you blush.”

As the words fell from Drew’s lips, Aubree realized she was
up against a seduction expert who was totally out of her league. Somehow, he
managed to pitch his voice in such a way that she felt as if he’d growled
against her ear while he was fucking her. It was easily the most sexual
experience she’d ever had fully clothed, and she forcibly turned her face away
to keep from doing something she couldn’t take back.

“You don’t fight—” Aubree froze mid-sentence as she caught
sight of the man coming out of the bathroom. “Max?”

Max’s steps faltered and he shot a nervous glance around the
room as if searching for an escape. A second later, Ryan stepped from another
room appearing equally as trapped. “Ryan?” Aubree asked, feeling like an idiot,
but unable to stop. “What are the two of you doing here?”

“I’d like to hear the answer to that as well.”

Gone was the seductive tone. Aubree caught herself checking
to see if she was still with the same man. The change from playful to poised-to-strike
was extreme and Aubree was almost frightened of Drew for a moment, until his
hand came to rest on the small of her back.

The anger over seeing the two men rifling through his things
tested Drew’s control. His first reaction was to make them bleed. The panicked
look Aubree shot him brought him back in check. When he touched her back, her
entire body relaxed. He hoped it meant she understood his anger wasn’t directed
at her. He could tell by her reaction, she was every bit as surprised by the
men’s presence in his room as he was. Unfortunately, touching Aubree had the
opposite effect on Max.

“You didn’t waste any time jumping in bed with him. All it
took was a free lunch.”

Aubree drew back as if she’d been slapped as Max’s strike
hit its mark. Even Ryan flinched at the accusation. She didn’t attempt to
defend herself. The pain flashing across her eyes made Drew want to snap Max’s
neck, but since it had been Drew’s intention to use every trick in the book to
lure Aubree to his bed, and she was perfectly free to do as she chose, he
couldn’t understand Max’s venom. The only thing Drew could think of was that Max
was trying to turn Drew’s attention away from him.

Running a tired hand across his eyes, Drew sighed. “I’m
going to need a new shirt before I can deal with this shit.” As quickly as
possible, he dashed inside his room and slipped a cotton t-shirt over his head
before returning to the sitting room. In his absence, Ryan and Max had taken
over the chairs on one side of the coffee table while Aubree sat alone on the
couch opposite them. Filling the empty spot next to Aubree, Drew draped his arm
over the back of the settee. He intentionally kept his pose relaxed while also
making a physical connection with Aubree. He didn’t want either man to mistake
his aims toward her. If this was a case of Max attempting to play the jealous
lover, Drew was up for the challenge, and he always won.

Max’s eyes followed the line of Drew’s arm until they came
to rest on where his fingers brushed Aubree’s skin. Drew cleared his throat to
bring Max’s attention back to him. He raised his eyebrow in question. “I think
you need to explain what you’re doing here before I lose my patience.”

Dropping his gaze to his knees, Max brushed his hands over
his thighs as if nervously searching for the right words. “My dad has
dementia,” he said after a moment, and Drew slid down in his seat, propping his
boot on the table in front of him as he recognized this was going to be a
longer explanation than he first thought. “He took a turn for the worse about a
year ago,” Max continued. “And I couldn’t take care of him any longer so he
went to live in a nursing home. Anyhow, not long afterward, I went to visit him
and we watched one of your televised events. You won the match by submission
thirty-seven seconds in. It was impressive. Dad flew into this excited rant
over how proud he was to have you as a son.”

A terrible sense of foreboding overcame Drew. He ground his
back teeth together. Max kept up his story as if he hadn’t dropped any bombs on
Drew’s life. “At the time, I brushed it off as one of his not-so-good days, but
then he kept talking about it every time I came to see him even at the most
lucid of times. The more details he gave me, the more I began to wonder if he
was telling me the truth. I started looking into things and it turned out
everything he said added up. As much as I wanted to deny he’d cheated on my
mom, I couldn’t ignore what I’d learned.”

Unlocking his jaw before he cracked a tooth, Drew did his
best to sound reasonable. “None of which explains why you are here in my room.”

Max dipped his chin, acknowledging Drew’s impatience. “Six
months ago, three things happened simultaneously. It seemed almost
serendipitous. Dad asked why you never came to see him, Ryan met you while
trying to drum up membership for our self-defense courses, and Aubree signed up
for our kickboxing lessons.”

Drew felt Aubree’s muscles tense beneath his fingertips. He
had to force himself not to look over to gauge her reaction. “So,” Drew drawled,
unable to believe what he was hearing. “You broke into my room hoping to find
what exactly? DNA? A memento? And how exactly did you get in here?”

Max nodded. “Any of those things, and Ryan was able to slip
a key out of a maid’s cart early yesterday morning.”

Drew’s temper hitched up a notch. “Why the hell didn’t you
ask me directly? Seriously? It’s not as if I fathered your child or some shit
like that so why would I care?”

“Honestly? In your place, I would suspect anyone who claimed
ties to me,” Max admitted. “I would assume everyone hoped for some form of
financial support and I didn’t want that. I wanted to know the truth and as
crazy as it might seem to you, this was easier than asking you openly or
dragging anything out publicly. I can’t imagine you wanting your mother’s name
in the news and I sure as hell don’t want my family splashed all over every
gossip column.”

Drew spent a moment shaking his head as he attempted to come
to grips with the elaborateness of Max’s plan. Giving up, he said, “I’m not
opposed to a private DNA test if it will get you out of my room.”

While Drew and Max discussed plans for a DNA test, Ryan sat
quietly watching Aubree. He knew the exact moment in which all the pieces of
the puzzle fell into place inside her mind. She sat in frozen silence staring
sightlessly at the corner from the moment Max made his dumbass comment about
her sleeping with Drew. To the casual observer, she might’ve seemed fine. Ryan
knew Aubree almost as well as he knew himself. This was hurting her deeply.

Although her expression never changed, one moment her eyes
seemed almost unfocused and the next, the color left her face. She crossed her
arms over her stomach as if attempting to hold herself together. His chest
tightened. “No,” he said before he could stop himself. Everyone froze, turning
in his direction. He ignored them. Nothing mattered except for Aubree.
“Whatever it is you’re thinking, stop right there.”

Aubree looked at Ryan as if noticing he was there for the
first time. The pain in her eyes left him feeling as if he’d been punched in
the gut.

“Was this your plan all along?” she asked sounding broken.
“Did the two of you—” Her voice cracked before she could finish her question,
but Ryan knew what she meant.

“Aubree, we—”

“Just answer the question. Is this why the two of you
invited me here?”

With her holding his gaze, Ryan couldn’t lie to her. “In
part, but—”

“Oh my God,” she whispered, cutting him off. “Why would you
do such a thing? I thought—” She stopped again, shaking her head as if she
couldn’t go on.

“It’s not what you’re thinking,” Max jumped in. “Yes, I
hoped Drew might confide something in you he wouldn’t tell anyone else, and we
needed someone to keep him distracted, but you know we care about you.”

“No. I don’t. You could’ve come here alone this weekend. You
could’ve popped into this room while Drew was distracted by some other woman.
It wasn’t necessary for you to use me like this.”

Max was shaking his head before Aubree finished speaking.
Ryan was watching the whole thing unfold with a growing sense of dread.

“I needed to know, Aubree,” Max admitted quietly. “This is
important to me, and he’s had a thousand women,” he said with a wave in Drew’s
direction.

“A thousand is a bit much,” Drew said drily, but everyone
ignored him as Max continued pleading his case.

“Not just any woman would have held his attention for very
long. Not the way you would, and we needed to know the exact times this room
would be empty. We needed a woman we could control.”

Before Max could say anything more, Aubree shot to her feet.
“Control,” she repeated and Ryan groaned at the rage she managed to project in
a single word. “I see,” she mused aloud sounding entirely too calm. “I have a
connection to one of Drew’s old friends and his family, making me a bit more
interesting to him than other women. Of course since I’ve also been desperate
to have you both in my bed, then I was easy pickings.”

Drew’s eyebrows rose at Aubree’s statement. He stood
clearing his throat. “I’ve heard enough. Would you like a ride home?” he asked,
holding his hand out for Aubree.

With one last searching look at them both, Aubree switched
her attention to Drew. “All of my things are still back in my room.”

“Is there anything there you can’t live without for now?”

She shrugged. “I don’t believe so.”

“I’ll have someone deliver your stuff to you later,” he told
her gently before turning a hard gaze on them. “I’m going to assume you know
the way out, and I feel moved to warn you, your every move has been recorded
from the moment you stepped off the elevator. Did you really think I wouldn’t
have some form of security?” As if punctuating how much he didn’t care about
their answer, he turned away taking Aubree with him.

Ryan wanted to demand she stay and wanted to beat the hell
out of Drew for taking her away, but his guilt kept him glued to his seat. She
was wrong. It had gone badly, but they did care about her. The weekend hadn’t
only been about finding out the truth. They could’ve proceeded with their plans
for Drew without touching her. He couldn’t say any of those things to Aubree
because he’d felt the exact moment her trust in them died.

In a numb haze, Aubree held onto Drew’s hand wondering with
whom she was the angriest. When the doors closed on the elevator, Drew pulled a
phone from his pocket and even as his thumb moved over its face and he pressed
it to his ear, he absently stroked her hand.

“Hey, it’s Drew. I need my car.”

Aubree listened to the short conversation with half an ear,
and wasn’t surprised when, by the time they made it outside, a silver Aston
Martin Vanquish sat waiting for them at the curb. A smiling valet handed over
the keys. Drew held open the passenger side door for her while she slid inside
before circling around to the driver’s side. It was impossible to block out the
$300,000 luxury surrounding her as the door closed behind her. There were so
many dials and buttons on the console between them, she couldn’t even begin to
guess the purpose of each one. Giving up, Aubree chose to focus on the man
behind the wheel. He must think the worst of her.