One Wicked Night (25 page)

“Mom.” His chest ached and emotions swirled inside him.

“I’m proud of you. And I love you. It hurt me to see you so angry at people who love you, just because you think you’re not worthy of their love.” She glanced at Kaelin, and then, surprisingly, at Nick. “But you are. And I think…I hope…maybe you’re figuring that out.”

Tyler didn’t know what to say.

“We’re trying to show him, Mrs. Wirth,” Kaelin said softly.

Mom turned to Kaelin and studied her face. “And you, dear…have
you
figured things out?”

“I think so.” She smiled.

Mom touched Kaelin’s cheek, her smile full of warm affection. “I’m so glad, dear. I always had this feeling that you weren’t entirely happy. I hated to think that you were going to end up feeling like…” She hesitated. “End up feeling unsatisfied.”

“You’re okay with…this?” Kaelin asked. “With us?”

“I am if you love him.”

Kaelin nodded. Christ. Tyler scowled. She’d told Nick she loved him, she’d told his mom she loved him, but she still hadn’t told
him
. But then, he hadn’t told her yet either. Suddenly Tyler felt a little less afraid of that and some of the tension eased out of him.

Mom looked at him, fiercely. “And you. Don’t hurt her. You may be too big for me to spank, but you’ll hear from me if you do that. Understand?”

“Yes, Mom.” Her protectiveness of Kaelin startled him, warmed him inside, but not as much as the way she stood up to him. Jesus. It really did make him feel—strangely—loved.

“I should go.” She set down her cup on the counter. She paused. “Do you think I could have a hug?”

Tyler’s feet felt frozen to the ground. His throat closed up and he tried to swallow. It was hard to get past all the old hurt in just a few minutes. No, it was impossible. But the look on his mom’s face, so vulnerable, so tender, wrenched at his heart, and he moved around the small counter and took her in his arms. She hugged him fiercely back.

“You will never know how much I regret the last ten years,” she said, her voice clogged with tears. “How I wish I’d been smarter or stronger…”

“It’s okay, Mom. I could have done things differently too.” His throat tightened and he closed his eyes and hugged her. “And maybe…” It killed him to say it, but… “Maybe what you did
was
for the best. For me.”

She drew back, eyes wet but a smile on her face. She nodded. “You were a child, Tyler. Don’t blame yourself for how you reacted. But now, it takes a man to say something like that. You’re a good man, Tyler.” She patted his cheek. “Okay. I have to get to the airport.”

“Are you driving? How did you get here?”

“I have my car. I’ve arranged long-term parking for it. I’ll be in touch. I’ll email you from Sabina.”

“Okay. Geez, Mom. Take care of yourself. Are you sure…” The idea of his mom flying half way around the world, to a strange country, all by herself, suddenly bothered him.

“I’m sure.” She turned to Kaelin and opened her arms for a hug, and Kaelin hugged her too. Then she turned to Nick and got another hug. Drawing back, she smiled up at him. “I’m not sure if I’m ready to know everything, but…I want you to be happy too, Nick.”

He nodded, his silvery gray eyes shining, a bemused smile on his mouth.

When she’d left, the three of them stood there looking at each other.

“Whoa,” Tyler said. He felt a little…drained. But exhilarated. Powerful. As if he could take on the world and win. He looked at Nick. “We’re not taking that Healthy Solutions account.”

Nick’s mouth dropped open. “What?”

Tyler headed down the hall. “I’m going back to bed.” He shot them both a grin over his shoulder.

Nick stomped down the hall after him. “Where the hell did that come from?” he yelled.

Tyler stripped off his jeans and jumped on the bed. “I was thinking about it yesterday.”

“You’re fucking nuts, man,” Nick said, but he smiled and unzipped his shorts. Kaelin walked in behind him, shaking her head.

“I thought you didn’t like lying around in bed all day,” she said.

“I’m not planning to just lie around. C’mere, sweet baby. Nick and I want to do all kinds of wicked things to you.”

She kept his shirt on and climbed up between them. “Oh yay. I like wicked things.”

His chest expanded and he glanced at Nick, who smiled too.

“You know there
is
something I want you to do,” Kaelin said, stretching out on the bed. “I want you to tie me up.”

Tyler’s dick leaped and he licked his lips. “Uh…sure, babe.”

“I mean, tie me up and do wicked things to me.” She held his gaze meaningfully.

He stared at her, heart thudding. “You mean…”

“Yes.”

“I can’t…”

“Tyler.” She reached for his hand and inserted her fingers between his, curling them together. “I trust you enough to let you tie me up. Do you trust me enough to do it?”

His heart swelled up so huge he thought it might explode out of his chest and he closed his eyes against the wave of emotion washing over him. Yeah, hell yeah, he trusted her. After what she’d done for him, he trusted her with his life, and he’d always trusted Nick.

“I love you, Kaelin,” he said hoarsely, giving in to his last fear. “Yes, I trust you. I trust you and love you. He looked at Nick. “Both of you.”

For a guy who’d never thought he was worth being loved by anybody, now he had two people who loved him. Maybe he’d actually start believing he deserved it, wasn’t sure why he was so lucky, but he was so damn grateful, and he planned to spend the rest of his life showing them that. Starting right now, giving Kaelin what she wanted.

He could do that. He could tie her up. He was into that, had always liked the control, the power. He knew the trust required for her to let herself be bound. It took even more trust for her to admit and ask for what she really wanted, putting her at her most vulnerable. He recognized the power he had over her because of that. But he also recognized the deep responsibility it gave him.

He looked at Nick, at the love and trust in his eyes, and recognized the same truth. A sense of strength and a deep desire to live up to that responsibility filled him, like water in a well, seeping into every crevice of his being.

Loving and trusting someone had always seemed to him to be the ultimate vulnerability. But now he could see that loving and trusting someone wasn’t just the ultimate vulnerability—it was the ultimate strength.
That in finally letting himself love and be loved, he was freeing himself from the worst kind of bondage. That the exchange between the three of them made them all vulnerable–but made them all stronger.

About the Author

Kelly Jamieson lives in Winnipeg, Canada and is the author of over twenty romance novels and novellas. Her writing has been described as “emotionally complex”, “sweet and satisfying” and “blisteringly sexy”. If she can stop herself from reading or writing, she loves to cook. She has shelves of cookbooks that she reads at length. She also enjoys gardening in the summer, and in the winter she likes to read gardening magazines and seed catalogues (there might be a theme here…). She also loves shopping, especially for clothes and shoes. She loves hearing from readers, so please visit her website at
www.kellyjamieson.com
or contact her at
[email protected]
.

Look for these titles by Kelly Jamieson

Now Available:

Love Me

Friends With Benefits

Love Me More

2 Hot 2 Handle

Lost and Found

Love 2 Love U

Coming Soon:

Rule of Three

To find happiness, first you have to find yourself.

Lost and Found

© 2010 Kelly Jamieson

Krissa has always been the responsible one. Driven to fulfill her mother’s abandoned dreams, to make her husband Derek happy. She’s brought that single-minded determination to the one dream she has for herself—a child. Except she and Derek can’t conceive, and Derek refuses to consider using a stranger’s sperm. The result? Guilt that her desperation is causing their marital rift.

The last thing they need is a long-term houseguest, but Derek’s best friend Nate, a nomadic photographer recovering from a career-threatening eye disorder, has nowhere else to go.

Nate thought his friends’ home would be a temporary haven from the grief that has dogged his heels since his wife died. Instead he’s in the middle of a marriage in meltdown. Soon their friendship develops an underlying hum of forbidden sexual tension. When Krissa proposes a wild idea—that Nate be their sperm donor—Derek has an even wilder proposal: bypass the fertility clinic and accept Nate’s donation straight from the source.

At first, Krissa believes she’s on the fast track to having her dream. But it quickly becomes clear that when the heart gets involved—and secrets are revealed—the simplest of arrangements can become entangled beyond belief. Or repair…

Warning: This title contains a man who’s lost, the woman he finds, sizzling ménage sex, tender romantic sex, love lost and love found.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Lost and Found:

“Fuck.” They both fell silent, thinking. Nate stared up at the ceiling. What the hell had just happened? Was she having second thoughts about doing this? She’d seemed pretty confident earlier. In fact, she’d seemed…eager. Hot…for him.

Nate gazed at the flickering candles. So sexy and romantic. And Jesus…so the opposite of what he’d just done. He closed his eyes against the assault of guilt, of remorse.

Yeah, sex had been mechanical for him for the last two years. And this was basically a business transaction. But Krissa…dressed in that pretty silk thing, her hair brushed, candles burning…that hadn’t been business for her.

Shit. Even as Nate cursed his stupidity, his gut cramped at the thought of actually making love to Krissa—with real emotion. That was what scared him—even more than sex with his best friend’s wife. He shut that train of thought down, did not want to go there, hadn’t gone there for years.

He covered his face with his hand. “I think…” He stopped, cleared his throat. “I think we may need to try a different approach.”

“Yeah.”

Nate sat up, pulled his knees up. He was naked in bed with his best buddy. Life was so fucking weird. “I’m gonna have to…take it slower. Maybe it would help if…if you got involved, too. Between us, we should be able to make her feel more…” Words escaped him.

He looked sideways at Derek, trying to gauge his response. Derek nodded. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

The bathroom door opened, spilling light into the room which Krissa quickly extinguished with a flick of her fingers. Candlelight shimmered on the satiny gown and her glossy hair.

Nate threw back the covers and stood. He was naked, but who cared. He walked to Krissa and without saying a word, took her in his arms.

“I’m sorry, bunny,” he murmured against her hair. He held her slender body against him, tried to show her with the hug that he cared. He couldn’t say the words but he could show her. His erection surged again, against the thin silk over her warm body. She had to feel it.

He stroked her silky hair, and held her, her arms folded between them. He rocked her gently, soothingly. “I’m sorry,” he said again. “Come on. Come back to bed.”

He released her and took her hand, led her back to the bed, her barefoot steps hesitant. He climbed onto the bed first, sat with his back against the pillows and headboard and covered his lower half with the duvet. He held out a hand to her. She extended her arm and put her small hand in his. They looked at each other. Their eyes met, and heat wrapped around him, seeped into him, warmed him. Her liquid green eyes shone in the candlelight. He dropped his gaze to her shoulders, the smooth curve of them, the jut of her collarbones, the ribs faintly visible beneath satiny skin, the shadowy hollow between her breasts revealed by the V of the gown. Gently, he pulled her toward him. She ended up in his lap, and he tipped her chin up with his knuckles.

“You’re beautiful, Krissa,” he murmured.

“Thank you.”

They sat there, silence filling the room, flickering candlelight casting a golden glow over them. Nate stared down into Krissa’s eyes, trying to assure her that it was okay. He stroked a last tear from under her eye with his thumb. He looked at her mouth, vulnerable and soft. Bent his head lower, his mouth nearing hers. She held his gaze, and her pretty lips parted. He was so close he could feel her warm breath sighing in and out. His eyelids felt heavy and he let them droop closed as he closed the distance and touched his mouth to hers.

It was the softest, gentlest kiss, a brush of his mouth on hers, then again. Then he deepened the pressure, opened his mouth against hers and he tilted his head for a better angle. Their tongues touched, tentative, questioning, warm and wet, and they kissed again, and again, long, delicious kisses, lush licks, clinging lips. Small whimpers came from Krissa’s throat.

“Oh, Krissa.” Nate lifted his mouth from hers to mutter her name, slid his hands into her hair and held her head. “Kiss me, Krissa.”

And she did. Over and over, shifting closer. Her hands slid up his chest and held onto his shoulders; her fingertips stroked his neck. His hands explored her body, over the silk, caressed her waist and hips and thighs.

Oh fuck. Fuck me.
Nate was lost. Her mouth destroyed him, soft and warm and eager, kissing him back like she was starving for him. Her desire for him ignited something inside him, a spark turning into a blazing fire, heating him from the inside out, making him gasp.

“Beautiful, Krissa,” he murmured against the sensitive skin of her throat. He covered the pulse fluttering in her throat in an open-mouthed kiss, absorbing the beat of her heart. “Isn’t she, Derek?”

“Yeah.” Derek’s voice was low and rough. “Beautiful.”

“I’m sorry about earlier,” Nate said, his throat aching. “I didn’t understand…Now, we’re both going to make love to you.” Nate stroked her bare thigh. “We’re going to make it good for you. Right, Derek?”