Hotter Than Ever (Out of Uniform) (20 page)

“So what is it you do on the base? What’s your rank?”

“Lieutenant junior grade.”

“And the job description part?” she pressed when he didn’t expand.

His dark eyes grew shuttered. “Naval intelligence.”

“Okay…which means…?”

On the other side of the booth, Dylan rolled his eyes. “Honey, he does a lot of super-secret intelligence stuff that he’s not allowed to talk about. I don’t even bother to ask anymore because I know I’ll just get the same vague non-answer.”

She laughed. “Fine, then I won’t ask either. Hear that, Aidan? You can continue your super-secret life in peace.”

“Thanks, sweetheart,” he said dryly. “I appreciate that.”

As they waited for their food, the subject changed to the holidays again, and Dylan’s expression turned glum. “I’ve decided not to talk to my mom about the money shit until after the New Year. The holidays are her favorite time of year. I don’t want to upset her.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Claire said.

It still angered her that Chris and Shanna had withheld such important information from him. If she’d known Chris had been lying to her about Dylan having complete knowledge of the situation, she would have rectified that a long time ago. Dylan should have been told that his mother had been spiraling out of control, and now that she knew him better, she had no doubt he would’ve done everything in his power to help Shanna.

“So you’re going to spend Christmas with her then?” she asked.

“Actually, no.”

Both she and Aidan looked at him in surprise. “Since when?” Aidan demanded.

“Since she called me this morning and told me she got invited to spend the week in Palm Springs with one of the ladies from her gardening club.” Dylan shrugged. “I told her to go. With Chris out of town, it would be just the two of us, and I’d rather she have some fun with her friend, considering what a tough year she’s had.”

“Here you go, guys.” The waitress strolled up to their table juggling three plates in her hands.

She served Claire and Aidan without comment, but when she set Dylan’s plate in front of him, her entire demeanor changed. Suddenly she was toying with a strand of her hair and smiling prettily at him.

“Is there anything else I can get you?”

Claire’s body stiffened. The waitress might as well have added, “Like me, perhaps?” She was blatantly ogling Dylan like he was a yummy meal and she couldn’t wait to dig in.

Hands off, bee-otch
.

The streak of possessiveness that shot through Claire’s body was unexpected, not to mention unwelcome, and she received a great amount of satisfaction when Dylan barely glanced at the blonde and said, “Naah, I’m good.”

Noticeably disappointed, the waitress flounced off.

The moment she was gone, Aidan cast Claire a sidelong look. “I felt that,” he murmured.

“Felt what?”

“Yeah, felt what?” Dylan chimed in.

A slow grin curved Aidan’s mouth. “Little Miss Claire got all tense when that chick was flirting with you.”

Dylan turned to her in extreme fascination. “Is that so?”

As usual, Claire’s cheeks flamed up. “I did not.”

“Yes, you did,” Aidan said cheerfully.

“Fine, so maybe I did. But that’s because she was practically undressing him with her eyes,” she grumbled. “It was very rude.”

“Yeah, I’m sure your RoboCop shoulders were a direct result of the waitress’s bad manners.” Grinning, Aidan picked up his knife and fork and sliced off a piece of the vegetable omelet he’d ordered.

“Made you jealous, huh?” Equally amused, Dylan dug into his own meal—a greasy bacon, egg and sausage combo that would probably give him cardiac arrest on the way home.

Claire gritted her teeth, grabbed the maple syrup container and dumped a generous amount of syrup on her stack of fluffy pancakes.

“That’s a lot of syrup,” Dylan remarked as he watched her pour.

Aidan nodded in agreement. “Careful, sweetheart, you don’t want your fingers to get all sticky.”

He said the word
sticky
in the most seductive tone, and a rush of heat traveled straight to her core.

Ignoring them both, she picked up her utensils and started eating.

“Aw, look at that blush, Aid. We’re making her mad.”

“Or turning her on,” Aidan countered.

Her thighs involuntarily squeezed together.

“Hmmm. Probably a little bit of both, I guess.”

“Naah, she’s not mad. That shade of red means annoyed.”

“True,” Dylan said. “And you’re right, the pink splotches on her neck are a definite sign she’s turned on.”

Claire’s fork clattered onto her plate. “
She
is sitting right here, assholes.”

“Is there something wrong with us analyzing your face’s various shades of red?” Dylan said silkily.

She turned to glare at Aidan in accusation. “You promised you wouldn’t seduce me.”

His laugh was downright mocking. “Trust me, Claire, this isn’t seduction.”

“No? So teasing me in public and getting me all hot is, what, normal lunch etiquette?”

“Yep,” they said in unison.

She grabbed her fork and speared a piece of her pancake. “I hate you both,” she informed them.

Dylan just grinned. “No, you don’t.”

“No, you don’t,” Aidan echoed.

For one exasperating moment, she looked from one man to the other, noting their smug expressions, feeling the waves of sensuality rolling off their big, hard bodies. As usual, her body reacted, breasts growing heavy, pussy tingling, heart squeezing with both heat and emotion.

She didn’t understand it. The all-consuming lust, the relentless need, the strange rush of tenderness. But damn it, they were right. She didn’t hate them at all.

What she hated was the way they made her feel.

When Natasha called later that evening, Claire practically dove off the leather couch to grab her cell phone from the coffee table. It was only ten o’clock, but she’d been looking for an excuse to disappear into her bedroom for hours now. She didn’t even care that Aidan was looking at her with that knowing expression. Maybe if he dialed down his potent sexuality, she wouldn’t have to seek any escape she could.

The remainder of her day with the men had only grown more and more intolerable, what with their constant teasing and the way they’d “innocently” kept brushing up against her the entire time they’d put up and decorated the tree. As a result, she’d spent the whole evening so turned on she couldn’t walk without her pussy aching or take a breath without her breasts tingling.

Fortunately, Dylan had left around eight o’clock to meet “the boys”, as he called them, which left only Aidan to contend with. He’d stayed behind to do some work in his office, then talked her into watching a movie with him under the romantic glow of the Christmas tree lights. And of course, he’d made sure to sit directly beside her when he had a whole other couch and two armchairs to choose from.

For some reason, the men had chosen today to break their no-seduction promise, and Claire got the feeling she was two heated looks and double entendres away from caving.

Unless Natasha could talk her out of it, which she was banking on.

“Hi!” she said eagerly. “What’s up?”

Natasha’s laughter tickled her eardrum. “Wow, you sound ridiculously happy to hear from me. Miss me much?”

“Miss you tons,” she confessed.

“Right back atcha, hon. I have some time before I start my shift so I figured I’d call and see how you’re holding up.”

“What time is it there? Oh, and I’m fine.”

“It’s just past five in the morning, and you don’t sound fine at all. Your voice is doing that weird grumble it does when you’re annoyed. I guess you heard from Chris, huh?”

“Actually, I haven’t. Not even a text since he went to Aruba. I’m assuming he’s on his way to London now for the second leg of our honeymoon.”

“Bastard.”

“Yup.”

“Are you still in San Diego with Chris’s brother?”

“Yeah, but I don’t think I’ll be staying for much longer.” She hesitated, sighed, then decided not to beat around the bush. “I had sex with him.”

Nothing but silence echoed on the extension.

“Nat? You still there?”

“Still here. You’re joking, right?”

“I’m afraid not.”

“You…you really had sex with Chris’s brother?”

“I really had sex with Chris’s brother.”

“Wow. I have no idea what to say to that, except maybe…are you fucking
nuts
?”

“I’ve been asking myself that same question ever since it happened. And before you say anything else, you should probably know that it gets worse.”

“Is that even possible? Oh my God, hold on. I want to light up a smoke so my brain can calmly absorb all of this.”

There was a rustling on the line, followed by the hiss of a lighter, and then Natasha’s intake of breath, a familiar sound that had Claire shaking her head in disapproval.

“You’re smoking again?” she accused her best friend. “You said you quit.”

“Can you lecture me about it another time? Right now I need you to tell me what the hell is going on over there.”

“Like I said, I slept with Dylan.”

“Mmm-hmmm, we’ve already got that part down. What else?”

“Well, he has a roommate…Aidan…And I—”

“You slept with his roommate too?” Natasha exclaimed.

“No, no, I didn’t. I mean, I kissed him, but—”

“You
kissed
him?”

“Argh, would you let me finish already? Because I really need your help here, Nat.”

“Sorry. Keep going.”

It took ten minutes for Claire to describe—in great detail—the insane situation she’d found herself in, and when she finally wrapped up, Natasha sounded utterly stunned.

“Wow. So the two of them want to fuck you together?”

“Yup.”

“And you’re attracted to both of them?”

She sighed. “Yup.”

“What are they like?” her friend asked curiously.

Claire chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. “They’re both pretty wonderful. Dylan is the more easygoing of the two. We bicker a lot, but he’s so much fun to be around, and he’s sweet and sexy and…”

She drifted off, still pondering. “Aidan is more serious, but equally awesome. Something about his intensity makes me feel…protected. Except I feel that way with Dylan too. He’s so relaxed on the surface, but I know he could kill a man without batting an eye. They both can.” She moaned. “And that turns me on, by the way! Why does that turn me on?”

“Because military men are hot,” Natasha said frankly.

“Says the lesbian.”

“Hey, just because I’m into chicks doesn’t mean I can’t find men attractive.”

“Fair enough. Besides, you’re right. They
are
hot. They’re so fucking hot I’m going crazy. I need your advice. Tell me what you think about all this.”

“Okay, well, this is a no-brainer. You—”

“Have to say no,” she finished.

“—have to say yes.”

Claire’s jaw dropped. “Wait, what?”

“You have to say yes. Duh.”

“How is that
duh
? Are you seriously encouraging me to have a threesome with them?”

“Hells to the yeah! Claire, you have two sexy dudes wanting to make you come every which way, and not only that, but they’re into making
each other
come every which way—do you realize how hot that is?”

“I cannot believe you’re saying this. You were supposed to talk me out of doing something crazy.”

“Why is it crazy? People have threesomes all the time.”

“Would you and Gwen want a random woman joining you in the bedroom?” Claire challenged.

“Sure, depending on who she was and if Gwen and I were both attracted to her. But neither of these guys is random. You’ve been living with them for more than a week. I say go for it. You’re entitled to have a little fun.”

“You’re a traitor,” she mumbled.

“Nope, just a woman who doesn’t think sex needs to be complicated.”

The sound of footsteps captured Claire’s attention, and a moment later, she heard male voices wafting from the other side of the apartment.

“Great, Dylan’s home,” she said gloomily. “Now they’ll gang up on me again.”

Natasha let out a delighted laugh. “Let them.”

She heard more footsteps, closer this time, then a low male chuckle that had definitely come from Aidan. She tensed, expecting a knock, but the men walked right past her door. A few seconds later, there was a loud clatter followed by a thump, as if something had been knocked over in the other room.

She frowned. “Nat, I have to go. I just heard a noise and I want to make sure everything’s okay.”

“No prob. Make sure to text me after the threesome, ’kay?”