Bad in Bed (17 page)

“Oh, yeah?” Ethan couldn’t bring himself to
return her grin. He was too hard, too close to shooting into the damn condom if
she didn’t get her sweet ass in gear and take his cock all the way inside her.
He clamped his hands around her hips and drew her down hard on his length.

Amber gasped, losing her balance a little as
her hands landed on his chest. Seconds later, she’d regained her stability and
took back control. “I’ll make you pay for that.”

“Oh baby,” he ground out as she began to ride
him. “You have no idea.”

He came like a train, pumping out his seed into
the condom as he shouted his release into the ether.

Amber collapsed on his chest, her hair tickling
against the damp sheen of sweat covering his heated flesh.

He reached out and ran his fingers through the
silky strands as he closed his eyes and let his breathing slow and his heart
settle. He wanted to wrap her up against him, keep her close to his side, so
that when they were ready he would take her again. Only him.

He glanced at Marco, who rested back against
the chair, eyes closed, and suffered a flare of possessive and primitive angst
that no way on God’s earth was Marco coming anywhere near Amber again.

Damn and blast it all to hell and back. When
had he suddenly become anyone’s keeper? If Amber wanted this again, who was he
to deny her? And if Marco wanted Amber again…shit, he wasn’t going there.

He was only aware he’d tightened his grip on
Amber when she muttered a sleepy “ouch” and nuzzled her head against him.

“Sorry.” He loosened his hold a little and
tried not to glare at Marco as he rose from the chair.

“Who wants a drink?”

Amber sighed, her warm breath brushing across
his abdomen. “Mmm. Please.”

With a glance at Ethan, Marco leaned over and
kissed her puckered shoulder. “What would you like?” he asked softly. “Your
every wish is my command.”

She giggled. “Wine would be nice.”

“Coming up.”

He placed a light kiss on her ass, then looked
up at Ethan. “Whisky?”

“Double.” Ethan couldn’t disguise the growl,
but ignored Marco’s raised eyebrows as he left the bedroom.

Chapter Eleven

Since he’d been the one instrumental in
proposing this whole set up, Ethan knew he had to clear the air with Marco. It
wasn’t right coming down on the man when his friend was only carrying out
Ethan’s wishes.

Gently, he shifted from beneath Amber’s
comatose body. At her grumbled complaint he kissed the top of her head, then
swung his legs off the bed and stood. He took a moment to look down at her lush
body, taking in the outline of full breasts crushed against the mattress as she
slept on her side, the curve of her hip, the swell of her backside.

Unable to resist, he bent and pressed his lips
to the very spot Marco had kissed as a flare of possessive heat moved through
him. Maybe this had been a damn fool idea. Yet, as something squeezed around
his heart, Ethan knew it was the right one.

His fingers itched to smooth away a few wayward
strands of her blonde hair as they played across her forehead, to stroke his
fingers lightly over the scarred skin along her arm and shoulder. But he
resisted. Instead, he drew the duvet gently around her sleeping form and went
to find his friend.

Marco didn’t look up from pouring Amber’s wine
as Ethan entered the bar and reached for two whisky glasses.

He placed them on the counter and waited until
Marco put down the wine bottle. “She’s sleeping. Won’t want that until later.”

Marco nodded as he picked up the whisky
glasses. He glanced at Ethan and after a few moments perusal, raised his
eyebrows. “Second thoughts?”

“No.” Ethan turned away from the counter and
leaned back against it. “Didn’t feel this way after the last time.”

Marco pushed a whisky glass under the
dispenser. “Last time was different. You didn’t have feelings for her.”

While Ethan wanted to deny the truth of Marco’s
statement, the words stuck in his throat, in his heart.

“Does she know?” Marco filled the other glass.
“That you’re in love with her?”

Ethan shot him a fierce look. “I’ve known her
two damn minutes.”

“Bigger they come, harder they fall.” Unfazed,
Marco handed his friend a glass. “And faster.”

Ethan looked down into the glass as if he’d
find answers to the questions storming through him. “Fuck.” He swirled the
whisky, then raised the glass to his mouth and tipped back the welcome liquor.
“Damned if I know what’s going on. Need my idiot head examined.”

Picking up his own glass, Marco leaned back
against the bar next to Ethan, mirroring his friend’s stance. “What are you
planning to do about it?”

Ethan shrugged, then took another shot of his
drink. “Nothing. Not a bloody thing.”

“So you won’t mind if I join in again?”

With another shrug, Ethan ignored the blistering
heat igniting his chest. “Feel free. She seemed to enjoy it.”

“And you?”

Ethan’s reply was another shrug.

“You think it did the trick? The confidence
thing?”

“Seemed to help.” Ethan held out his empty
glass. “She gets more uninhibited each time we’re together, but this was
different. She was a fucking wildcat. Like something released inside her.”

“She’s beautiful. Sexy as hell.” Marco strolled
to the dispenser and filled their glasses again. “No man worth his salt would be
bothered by those scars, let alone be put off by them. That ex of hers needs
his brains tested. His balls, too.”

“Yeah.” Ethan took the whisky from Marco. “I
guess I’m feeling a bit overprotective of her. That’s what this is about. Don’t
like to see someone like her being pissed on by a moron.”

“Sounds like that could be it.”

Since each man was uncomfortable talking
emotions, they left it there. As they finished their whisky in silence, Ethan
mentally repeated his overprotective justification like a comforting mantra.
That’s what his feelings were; that’s
all
they were. Had to be. Despite what Marco had said, and Ethan wanted to believe
that his friend was simply winding him up again. How the hell could a man fall
in love in the space of a few days? Wasn’t possible. And in his case, wasn’t
desired.

From nowhere came the memory of his father
welcoming yet another woman into their single-bedroom flat in one of
Brighton
’s less desirable neighborhoods. His mother had
disappeared God knew where when Ethan was three, and his embittered father took
it out on pretty much every woman he met after that.

Ethan had lost count of how many times he’d
been kicked out of the bedroom he’d shared with his father to make way for that
night’s entertainment. He’d been banished to the battered sofa in the living
area where he’d learned to block out the sounds of casual sex and the arguments
that normally precipitated the woman being thrown out into the street the next
morning.

As he grew older, he started to pity those
women and learned to despise his often drunk father for his rough and brutal
treatment of them. As a teenager, he’d often confronted his father, and found
himself on the end of that brutality for his trouble.

Five years ago he’d stood at his old man’s
graveside and felt nothing. Only the sense of a wasted and lonely life.

More than once since, Ethan had wondered if he
was doomed to repeat his father’s lifestyle, but since he respected the women
he had sex with and it was always a mutually agreeable arrangement, he tried
not to dwell on the possibility.

Considering his respect for women, it was
little wonder he displayed this overprotective streak for Amber. He’d been
moved by her vulnerability; bullied by an ex who didn’t deserve a woman like
her. In response, his latent instincts had kicked in. That was all it was. Pure
and simple.

Feeling a little easier, Ethan turned to Marco.
“I should check on Amber. If she’s awake, she’ll be ready for that wine.”

Marco picked up the wine glass. “If she’s
awake, I’ll be ready for a whole lot more than wine.”

I’m just being
overprotective
.
Ethan had to mentally repeat the statement to himself as he fought the urge to
glare at Marco.
She’s vulnerable and I’m
simply looking out for her interests.
“She gets to call the shots.”

Marco raised his glass in salute. “Always.”

“If she’s had enough, we call it a night.”

“Agreed.”

Ethan gave a narrow eyed stare as he raised his
finger to Marco’s chest. “You don’t push her, Marco.”

“Seeing as I plan to keep my own teeth well
into my nineties, message understood.”

After a brief hesitation, Ethan turned and went
back upstairs.

He found Amber still asleep although she’d
rolled onto her back.

Her arms were splayed over her head, her plump
breasts peeking out over the duvet.

He went hard, his blood pumping through his
veins.

“Hell,” Marco said from behind him. “Hot
doesn’t cover it.”

Amber stretched, revealing more of her breasts
so that her hard, ripe nipples stood out for their delectation. One, or both of
them must have made a sound, because her eyelids fluttered open and she smiled
at them dreamily. “Did I fall asleep?”

“Looks like.” Ethan returned her smile as he
held out the wine glass. “Want this?”

She grabbed for the duvet, pulling it around
her breasts as she sat up. Blinking, she stared at the wine. “Sorry to be a
pain, but could I have a glass of water first?”

“I’ll get it,” Marco said and moved toward the
door. “Want anything else?”

Amber shook her head. “Just water.”

Ethan waited until Marco had left the room,
then sat on the bed. “How you feeling?”

Leaning back against the pillow, Amber
continued to blink the sleep from her eyes. “Good, thanks.”

Ethan nodded. “Not mad at me?”

She screwed up her forehead. “Why would I be
mad at you?”

“For this. Marco.” Breath backed up in his
lungs as she stared at him, a considering look in her eye.

“It was amazing. You both made me feel
amazing.”

Slowly, he gave another nod. “Marco wants to
continue the arrangement.”

Again, that look glittered through her eyes.
“What about you? I thought you said it was a one time only.”

Shit. How did he tell her he was happy to share
because he didn’t like the feelings that stormed through him when they were
alone together? That he had a hard time convincing himself that he was okay
seeing her in another man’s arms, watching Marco’s hands moving over her,
hearing her sounds of pleasure as another man took her. How did he say any of
that, when her eyes searched his with such intense focus he felt like he’d be
denying her the thing she wanted most right then.

What right had he to refuse her? If it made her
feel good, built her confidence, made her realize what an amazingly sexy woman
she was, who was he to pull on the brakes? “Works okay for me,” he said, hoping
his gruff tone didn’t upset her. “If we’re all happy with the arrangement, I
don’t see a problem.”

She hesitated, still looking at him with an
intensity that squeezed his heart, then she skimmed her fingers along his jaw.
“Touch me, Ethan.”

He stood, shucked off his trousers then came
down next to her. He threw off the duvet, leaving her gloriously naked.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling
him closer as she gave a languorous stretch and purred like a contented kitten.

“Starting without me?” Marco popped the glass
of water onto the bedside table, then unfastened his trousers. He walked around
the bed and came to lie on Amber’s opposite side. He glanced at Ethan, then
back to Amber. “Are you suitably rested,
bella
?”

Still with her arms around Ethan’s neck, Amber
smiled at Marco. “Enough for what you two have in mind.”

Marco toyed with one hard nipple. “You don’t
know what we have in mind.”

Since his hard-on throbbed like a bastard,
Ethan was able to push back the flare of primal fury that beat in his chest.
This damn threesome would be the death of him if he didn’t get things into
perspective. And fast.

He watched the slow slide of Marco’s thumb
across Amber’s nipple, then lowered his mouth to subject her other nipple to
his own administrations.

She moaned as he swirled his tongue around the
tight, hard bud, arched up into his hand as he slipped his fingers into her
pussy.

* * * *

As Marco slid his hand under her ass pushing
her up further into Ethan’s touch, Amber cried out. She hadn’t realized she
could feel so much, be so greedy and desperate beneath a man’s hands. And here
she was with two men, each as demanding, as virile, as drop dead sexy as the
other.