Winning Her Racy Heart [Racy Nights 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (10 page)

“As if she’d notice.”

Kari laughed as Adison wiped beer off his chin. “Drooling already?”

“No. I missed my mouth with the bottle, if you must know.”

The woman in the movie now had two cocks in her mouth as well. “Looks like you’d have no trouble finding hers.”

Adison laughed along with Kari this time. “I don’t know. She hasn’t got much room left in there for anything else.”

“I don’t think her ass is filled yet. You think she’d like a beer bottle up there?”

“I don’t think she’d notice that any more than she’d notice her wrist breaking.”

They laughed together again, and Adison gave her a long, searching look. “So, you gonna tell me what brought you back home, Kari?”

“I can’t.”

His eyes clouded over. “Why not?”

“Adison, I’m not being deliberately coy. I really can’t tell you.”

“Does Noah know?”

She stared at him for a few moments, fighting to tamp down the sudden anger that bubbled up. The jealousy both men had already shown toward the other was assuming a lot. “He does not. Alexa knows, and my parents know. That’s it, and that’s the way I have to keep it for now. You’ll just have to trust me on this.”

“Okay. I’m sorry.”

Kari almost dropped her beer bottle. Two apologies from Adison in less than a week. “Tell me why you think I’d tell Noah but not you?”

He shrugged. “He’s been hanging around here a lot.”

“So have you. You’ve driven past the shop almost every day since I got back.” Adison’s eyes grew wide, and Kari swore a blush crept up his neck. “You didn’t think I knew, did you?”

He shook his head.

“Why did it take you so long to come in and say hello?”

“I didn’t know how you’d react to seeing me again. And Noah was here. You looked pretty chummy with him.”

“What? You mean the day he, Luke, and my dad hung the sign? That was the first day I’d seen him since moving back.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Well now you do. Adison, you and I have a history together. I don’t have that with Noah. He doesn’t know all my secrets, okay?”

“We have a bad history together.”

“It’s not all bad. And we still have one, nonetheless.”

“You have a history with Noah too. You lived next door to him.”

“And exchanged maybe ten words in eighteen years. He hated me.”

“He didn’t hate you. He just didn’t feel like he fit in with your crowd.”

“He didn’t fit in with anyone’s crowd. But Noah is not that person anymore.” Kari gazed into his dark eyes, wondering how she’d missed the depth in them before. “And neither are you, Adison. I can see that now, okay? You don’t have to be jealous of Noah.”

He swallowed visibly. “Is there something going on between you two?”

“Adison, that’s none of your business.” Kari wasn’t sure if there was something between her and Noah or not. They’d had a fantastic time in bed together. He’d been gentle when she needed him to be, and rough when she’d wanted him to. It had been perfect. But they’d left it at that, without any firm plans to get together again. He’d promised to call her from Chicago, and he had, but he’d been with others and their conversation had been short.

“You’re right. I’m sorry again.”

Kari flipped off the porn. It was too distracting, and it sent her mind to places she couldn’t let it go tonight, especially with Alexa gone. She twisted her body so that she faced Adison. “Please stop apologizing, okay? I want to get to know you again, but I can’t do that if you’re going to play the jealous boyfriend. We’re not kids anymore.” Kari hadn’t realized how much she wanted to get to know him again until the words slipped out of her mouth.

“I don’t want to compete with Noah.”

“I’m not asking you to.”

“Then will you go out with me this weekend?”

Kari smiled inwardly. Two gorgeous men vying for her attention. It wasn’t something she was used to, and she had no clue how to handle it. She let her gaze roam over Adison’s handsome face, wondering what that five-o’clock shadow would feel like against her bare skin. When she’d dated him, he’d barely had to shave yet. Was the rest of him now dusted with dark hair as well? Kari realized she wanted to find out, and she bit back the emotion…again.

Adison Kincaid was the last man she’d expected to have the hots for. But he had changed—there was no doubt about it. The Adison she’d known in high school would never have apologized for anything, and he’d never sit and talk to her like a rational human being.

This Adison was all grown up and knew how to behave. He knew how to gaze at her with those hooded eyes so that she couldn’t look away from them, and he knew exactly how to hold his full lips so that all she could think about was devouring them. “I’d love to go out with you this weekend, Adison. What do you want to do?”

The look he gave her was filled with so much raw lust that Kari’s breath caught in her throat. “I thought maybe you’d like to see Maddox’s house.”

Kari bit her lip.
Shit
. She should have been prepared for that possibility. The temptation to play with Adison was great. But then again, was she ready for this? Sure, he’d changed, but how did she know he’d changed in the way he worked through a scene? She and Adison would need to do a lot more talking than she and Noah had done before she was ready to trust him on that level.

Adison was watching her closely. “I’ve said the wrong thing.”

She shook her head. “No. You haven’t. I’d love to see his house.” She took a deep breath. “But let’s take it slow before we jump into play again, okay?”

He kept his face neutral, but there was the twitch in his jaw again. “Sure. Of course. You’re totally right. But you could come with me just to see it and meet the others.”

She smiled. “Adison, that’s a wonderful idea. I’d love to. Really.” It was true. Up until Saturday night, Kari hadn’t known such a subculture existed in Racy. It gave her hope not only for her shop, but for other possibilities.

A sudden thought occurred to her. What if Noah was there when she and Adison went? Should she mention to Noah that Adison had invited her? Kari wanted to howl in frustration. She’d been back three months. What cruel twist of fate had sent the two hottest guys in Racy to her shop on the exact same day?

Adison checked his watch.

“Do you have to leave?”

His face filled with hope. “No, but I wasn’t sure if you had more work to do downstairs or…”

His voice trailed off. She didn’t want him to leave. The realization surprised her. It was nice just to be in his company. “I’ll be back in a minute. Make yourself at home, Adison. I’d like it if you could stay for a while.” She practically jumped off the sofa and sprinted to her bathroom. Once inside, she stared at her reflection in the mirror and tried to get a grip on her emotions.

She couldn’t help feeling like she was playing with fire, but her curiosity about Adison was too much to resist. And it wasn’t as if she and Noah had talked about being exclusive, or even about repeating their time in bed. Kari had no experience with this. She had no frame of reference. What was the right thing to do?

Adison had taken her virginity, and he’d been the first boy she’d ever really dated. She’d gone straight from that to college, and then met The Sir. He’d never brought another person into their bedroom or into their play. For all her experience with BDSM, Kari had only had four sexual partners, and never two at the same time.

But she wanted this. She wanted to make love to Adison again, and she wanted to see Noah again. But how could she do that with the trial hanging over her head? Just thinking about it was enough to turn her stomach into a mass of churning, undigested pizza. What would happen if she became physically involved with both men and something happened to delay the trial, or worse, Donnie was found innocent?

She and the ADA had talked about that as a possibility. A remote possibility, but Kari had to be prepared for the fact she might have to go into hiding. How could she entertain even a purely physical relationship with Noah or Adison without telling them that?

But at least nothing was going to happen tonight. And when Alexa returned, they could talk about this. Alexa might come off as a dingbat blonde to most people, but she was a down-to-earth, levelheaded person. She’d know the right way to handle this.

When she returned to the living room, Adison was watching an old Bogart movie. “Finally found something.”

Kari sat beside him. “Which one is it?”

“
Key Largo
. I love this film.”

Kari chuckled. “Adison Kincaid, you just keep surprising me. I never pictured you as a Bogie fan.”

“Are you kidding? This film is great. Bogie, Edward G. Robinson, and Lauren Bacall at her finest, with John Huston directing. What’s not to love?”

“Well then, let’s watch it.” Kari shifted closer to him and was delighted when he put his arm around her shoulder. She snuggled close and inhaled his cologne, letting it fill her head. His body felt warm and muscular. As Frank McCloud and Johnny Rocco faced off onscreen, she let her imagination run wild about what Adison’s body now looked like.

“I love films set in the forties.”

She glanced at his handsome profile. “Really? What do you love about them?”

“Everything. The clothes, the hats, the cars—everything.”

“Do you see yourself as a gangster, Adison?”

He grinned. “I think I could wield a Tommy gun if I had to.”

Kari moved closer and placed one hand on his thigh. “I think you could. But the cars? I don’t know. They were big and clunky compared to that pretty Infiniti parked outside.”

“You like that? I’ve wanted one of those for a long time.”

“It’s impressive. How does it drive?”

“Like a dream. You want to go for a ride?”

“Not tonight, but you can drive me to Maddox’s house, okay?”

“It’s a deal. I’ll even let you drive if you want to.”

Kari laughed. It was an old joke between them, and she was surprised he’d remembered it. Adison had owned a stick shift in high school, and after several ill-fated attempts to teach Kari how to drive one, they’d both given up. “I’d be afraid to drive it, even if it is an automatic. It’s too pretty.”

He chuckled softly. “That’s like buying nice jewelry but being afraid to wear it.”

“You can’t hit a tree with jewelry.”

He gave her a droll look. “Sure you can, Kari. Just throw that necklace you’re wearing against a tree trunk and see what happens to it.”

She fingered the heart-shaped jade pendant of her favorite necklace. The Sir had given it to her on her twenty-fifth birthday, saying it went well with her eyes. Kari had kept it because she loved the color. “Okay. Point taken.”

“Did you buy that in New York?”

“It was a gift.”

“From who?”

“From someone who’s been out of my life for three years, Adison.”

“Ouch. Guess that means the subject is closed.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound so harsh. It’s just that I’d rather not talk about the past tonight.” She glanced at him. “I’d like us to get to know each other all over again, the way we are now, not the way we used to be.”

Adison’s smile lit up his entire face. “Thank you, Kari. That’s exactly what I want as well. It’s a deal. No more talking about the past tonight.”

Adison didn’t want to leave after the movie was over, but he had to get up early for work. And he had the weekend to look forward to. He could hold on to that for the rest of the week. Alexa returned just as he and Kari walked downstairs. She hummed under her breath and smiled as she floated past them up the stairs.

“Now I’m more than a little curious,” he said, as soon as she was out of earshot.

“Guess you’ll just have to start hanging out at Luke’s Bar to find out the truth, Adison.”

“Save me from that fate.”

“Why do you say that? It seems like a nice place.”

“When were you there?”

The smile faded from her face for a second, and Adison wished he’d kept his big mouth shut. Noah’s name hadn’t come up again since they’d started watching the movie, but he had a feeling it was about to.

“Saturday. Alexa and I went.”

She didn’t say anything else, and he didn’t ask. If he wanted to get to know Kari again he’d have to deal with Noah, because he would eat his steering wheel if something wasn’t going on between them already.

“Well then, I guess I’ll have to learn to love cheap beer and bad food.” He put his arms around her, hoping to distract her from whatever had happened Saturday night. “Thank you for this evening, Kari. I had a wonderful time. And thank you for the pizza and beer.”

She looked up into his face, and Adison’s heart skipped a beat. How he wished he hadn’t fucked things up so badly all those years ago. But now he had a chance to make them right, and he wasn’t going to screw it up again.

“I did, too, Adison. And you’re welcome for the pizza and beer.”

He bent his head and kissed her, sending fireworks zinging through his body. Her lips were as sweet and warm as he’d remembered them. Her tongue still knew exactly what to do inside his mouth to make his dick rock hard and his balls contract. Her body pressed against his felt warm and lush—exactly the way he’d remembered it. It took every ounce of willpower Adison had to stop kissing her. “Kari…I’d better leave now, while I still can.”

She stared into his eyes, and for a few seconds he was absolutely certain she was going to ask him to stay, but the sound of Alexa singing snapped them both back to reality. “I’m looking forward to going to Maddox’s house with you, Adison.”

“Me, too. Is Friday okay? I’ll pick you up about seven.”

“Okay. Good night.” She deactivated the alarm and unlocked the door.

He sprinted down the stairs and to his car because it was still raining, grateful to have a legitimate reason not to prolong his leaving. Her pull on him was too strong. As he started the engine and pulled out of the drive, he glanced in the rearview mirror. She stood on the front porch, her flowered skirt swaying softly in the breeze, arms crossed against the cold, and looking prettier than he’d ever remembered. It took more strength than he knew he had to wave and keep driving.