Beautiful Triad (3 page)

“I’m so in love with her…whoa, what the hell was that?”

The doors to the deck were open to the sound of the creaking insects and the gentle lap of the water on the shore. The faint sound came again, an eerie high pitched keen that seemed to echo in macabre desolation until it died away.

It sounded like a woman screaming.

Both of them stopped still, he in the act of walking back to the table and Drew in the midst of lifting his wine to his mouth. After a second, Rob said, “Could be a bird.”

“You think so?” Drew frowned, turning to stare at the open doors.

“I’ve heard screech owls before. I suppose that could be it. Maybe we should take a look outside. It’s hard to tell how close it was.”

“If we hear it again, maybe we can judge better.”

They waited, but from outside all that came was the constant sound of the cicadas in the trees and the chorus of what seemed like a million frogs.

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18

Kate Watterson

“I’m going with the owl theory.” Rob sat back down and reached for the almost empty bottle of merlot to pour the last into his glass.

“We going to get up early tomorrow and try for some largemouth bass? This lake is well-stocked.”

“What’s your idea of early?”

“Uhm…six maybe.” Fishing was a safe comfortable topic. Much better than discussing how deeply his best friend was in love with the woman Rob couldn’t seem to get off his mind.

How maybe they
both
were in love with her.

“Six?” Drew’s brows shot up. “Well, yeah, I suppose that’s fine since Lauren will probably sleep in anyway. I just don’t want her to feel like a fifth wheel since Karen bailed out.”

“I think I’m the fifth wheel.” Rob took a studious sip of the red wine and looked out over the moonlit lake.

What an understatement.

* * * *

She was restless, even though she was exhausted and the night had cooled off nicely, the breeze coming off the balcony brushing across her skin. Even the skimpy nightgown she’d put on seemed to cling to her body and she slid out of bed and slipped it off.

The look on Drew’s face as she went by him and rushed upstairs had obliterated any possibility of sleep. It wasn’t guilt precisely that kept her tossing and turning, it was just plain confusion. She was in love with Andrew Fletcher. It was unsettling, because she’d never felt that way about anyone, not with same intensity. The flash of his mesmerizing smile, the way he moved with such easy masculine grace, the reverent way he touched her…

The pleasure in his arms.

Before him, she’d thought sex overrated, a Hollywood commodity peddled like plastic surgery and breast implants. An illusion, when the Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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Beautiful Triad

19

reality was more about messy, less than satisfying intercourse with absolutely no rockets exploding in the heavens.

Drew had changed that the first time they’d slept together.

Maybe this current state of turmoil was all his fault, she mused in disgruntled discontent as she punched the pillow under head, kicked off the covers, and closed her eyes for the hundredth time. He’d made her aware of her body, of how a woman could respond to a man, and as a result, she was having some very disloyal and entirely erotic fantasies about Rob Hanson.

She
loved
Drew. Why was she so aware of Rob? The problem had been growing for the past few months and she had a feeling Drew might have started to notice. For that matter, Rob seemed just as uncomfortable around her as she was around him, and she had begun to have a conflicted reaction to the idea of double dates. A traitorous part of her wanted to see Rob. A more practical part of her brain told her it was better to just stay away.

She’d finally found a great guy who was everything any woman could want, they got along, laughed together, enjoyed a very healthy satisfying sex life, and there she was, having impure thoughts about his best friend.

You’re an idiot, Lauren
.

Maybe it was because the two men shared a lot of the same characteristics. They were both self-confident, intelligent, had a good sense of humor, but while Drew tended to be straightforward and dealt with life in a very direct way, Rob seemed more sensitive and actually a bit old-fashioned, if Karen’s complaints held any truth. She had never gotten him into bed, his girlfriend had confided with bitterness the last time the four of them had gone out together for dinner and she and Lauren had gone to the restroom at the same time.

A successful attorney, statuesque and blond, Karen seemed more than a little irritated with his reluctance over sex, so maybe the vacation cancellation wasn’t that much of a surprise after all.

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20

Kate Watterson

Rob’s girlfriend had speculated he might be interested in someone else.

Me
?

It wasn’t like he’d ever done or said anything that could even be remotely construed as flirtation. He wouldn’t do that to Drew. Lauren just got this feeling his unease around her might be a reflection of a similar problem to the one she had with him.

She rolled over and was suddenly aware the figure of a man lounged in the doorway, one broad shoulder against the frame. With the moonlight, it was easy enough to see Drew’s face in angles and planes, his gaze riveted on her exposed body.

“Hmm, nice view. Gorgeous naked woman in my bed, it doesn’t get better than that. Waiting for me? I’d kind of given up hope since you said you were so tired.”

“I guess not as tired as I thought. I can’t fall asleep.” Her voice sounded husky, even to her own ears, and her nipples tingled and stiffened. She watched him come into the room through heavy-lidded eyes.

“Can I help?” He moved toward the bed and jerked his shirt off over his head. His bare chest was ridged with muscle and his abdomen flat and taut.

“Maybe.” She needed him touching her, kissing her, inside her, anything to take her mind off of her chaotic emotions. “What do you have in mind?”

“How about a little mind-blowing sex?” He unfastened his shorts and pushed them down his lean hips. One of the things she’d learned about him as a lover was he could get an erection in an impressively short amount of time. Drew was well into the process of full sexual arousal, his cock high and stiff against his stomach.

“That sounds promising,” Lauren murmured as he climbed onto the huge bed and settled on top of her. His knees separated her legs, spreading them wide and she opened willingly, languid desire replacing her inner musings.

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Beautiful Triad

21

“Doesn’t it?” he asked in a husky voice, and for a moment their gazes locked before he slowly lowered his head and captured her mouth. They kissed with mutual open hunger, his tongue tangling with hers, the weight of his body pinning her to the bed. Lauren ran her hands down the muscled contours of his back, feeling the iron hard length of his stiff cock against her inner thigh.

Drew licked a trail along her jaw to the sensitive spot below her ear as he cupped a breast. “This is more how I envisioned our vacation, babe. Damn, you feel so good.”

So did he. Hot, male, and hard. Lauren tugged his mouth to hers for another long kiss and rubbed suggestively against his erection.

The slow circle of his thumb around her nipple made her shiver.

Releasing her, he kissed her throat and moved lower until he replaced his thumb with his mouth, sucking her nipple with gentle adhesion. The delicate play of his tongue across the crest made her gasp, the sensation so pleasurable she could feel the rush of moisture in her pussy as she arched in response. She sank her fingers into his hair, the soft strands warm and thick.

The moist heat of his mouth transferred to the other breast, teasing and suckling it to a tight point. A roaming hand caressed her hip and then slid between her legs. Long fingers parted her labia and found her clitoris, stimulating it with a gentle rotating motion than made her give an involuntary moan. Belatedly, she realized he hadn’t even closed the door.

“The door is open.” Her whisper sounded thick and off-key.

“So what?” Drew licked her collarbone and gave her a wicked grin as he applied just the right amount of pressure on her clit to make her eyes shut briefly at the streak of sensation between her legs.

“I don’t want anyone to hear us.” Lauren fought back another telling moan.

“The only other person here is Rob and I hate to break it to you, babe, he knows we sleep together.”

“Still, I…”

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22

Kate Watterson

“Relax. His bedroom is on a different level anyway, so feel free to make those sexy little sounds that turn me on so much. Damn you are really wet, Lauren.”

She probably was, for her whole body tingled. “I want you.”

“I’m damned glad of that because the feeling is entirely mutual.

I’ll be happy to demonstrate.” He shifted position and removed his hand, using it instead to guide himself into position. The tip of his cock teased her entrance and then pushed inside.

“Do you have any idea how you feel around me?” Drew asked the question as he watched her through half-closed eyes, an intense look on his face as he joined their bodies. “So hot and tight I could lose it right this second, but don’t worry, you’re going to come first, count on it.”

She did count on it, because he’d never left her less than deliciously satisfied, not even once. The way his cock stretched her vaginal walls as he pressed into her caused a tightening coil of excitement in the pit of her stomach and she spread her legs wider to accept him. “Drew.”

“Right with you, babe.” He bent to kiss her and then slid backwards to give a long, slow thrust back in.

Lauren quivered in response, the erect tips of her breasts brushing his hard chest. “Yes,” she whispered as he settled into an erotic rhythm of sex into sex, her hips naturally lifting into each surge, her hands at the small of his back. The slippery friction was tantalizing, inherently primal, and she embraced it.

He was an excellent teacher, for now she knew how to recognize and flow with the tension that rose, the rapturous, frantic need for release. Braced on one arm, he fingered her clit as he moved and the dual sensation of his thrusting cock and his skilled manipulation brought her to the edge quickly.

Some of it was probably due to the fantasy earlier that had her hot and bothered already, she thought as she realized her orgasm was imminent.

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Beautiful Triad

23

It exploded, the force of it tearing a low cry from her throat, all thoughts of the open door gone. Lauren shuddered as her inner muscles tightened in small spasms, the raw pleasure of her climax so intense she dug her nails into Drew’s biceps and held on for dear life.

“Jesus.” His voice was hoarse, almost unrecognizable, and he went still as he came, the pulse of his cock as he ejaculated making his tall body jerk.

Gradually, she became aware again of the pulse of the insects outside through the open windows, the soft feel of the huge bed, and the uneven breathing of the man sprawled on top of her, his weight supported just enough by his elbows.

“Hmm.” Lauren smiled and touched his face with a brush of her fingertips. “I somehow think I’ll be able to drift off now.” It was true, she felt sated and physically content.

“Call on me anytime,” he told her, gently withdrawing and rolling to his side. His arm came around her waist and pulled her close so they spooned together with her back to his front. His breath tickled her nape. He kissed her bare shoulder. “We okay?”

A flicker of warning shot through her. “After what just happened, you have to ask?”

“You’ve been a little tense lately.”

“I have?”

“I notice everything about you.” Drew stroked her arm with a light touch. “You can always talk to me, you know.”

Not about this. She tried to picture the conversation in which she mentioned her romantic fantasies involving his best friend. How on earth would he understand if she didn’t understand it herself?

Yeah, that would go over well.

“Nothing is wrong, Drew.” Her voice softened. “I love you.”

His arm tightened a fraction. “That works out, since I love you, babe.”

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24

Kate Watterson

Lauren gave a theatrical yawn. It was not the time to start thinking about her idiotic problem again. She was a grown woman, not an infatuated teenager and this would pass.

Or she certainly hoped it would.

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Beautiful Triad

25

At mid-morning, the brilliance of the sun reflected off the water in a dazzling sapphire blaze and he’d decided sunscreen might not be a bad idea. Drew reeled in his line and opened the cooler to retrieve a bottle of water. Rob was right, the lake was very quiet and they were the only boat in sight.

He took a drink and adjusted his sunglasses. “Who owns that place?”

Rob glanced in the direction of his pointing finger. A rooftop stuck up from the trees, the expansive length of the visible structure giving an idea of the size of the house below it. It had to be enormous.

“Uncle Henry said the place next door to his is owned by some professor who wrote a few books that made it big.”