Rule of Three (19 page)

He grabbed another beer. “I’ll send her in.”

“Dag. Wait.”

He turned and looked over his shoulder.

“I was wrong about you. When we first met.”

He smiled crookedly at her. “Yeah. You were.”

They exchanged a long, weighty look and then he turned and went back outside.

Chris watched Hailey disappear through the sliding doors into the kitchen where Kassidy was. He looked at Dag, who met his gaze and lifted a brow. Dag’s mouth was firm and straight, and Chris’s gut clenched. He went to stand, and Dag gave a brief shake of his head. Chris subsided back into the cushioned wicker chair and lifted his beer to his mouth.

Damn. He didn’t know what Kassidy was going to say, but he really wanted to be in there. And he could tell, so did Dag. Dag didn’t sit back down in his chair but perched on the deck railing beside Chris, listening to Hope and Dave talk. Then he felt Dag’s hand on his shoulder, a brief squeeze. He didn’t look at Dag, wanted to reach up and cover Dag’s hand with his own, but the touch was fleeting. He nodded, smiled at Kassidy’s parents, not even hearing what they were saying. Only good thing about this whole mess was that the three of them shared it, which was weird but somehow comforting. Together he and Kassidy were a couple and he’d always felt they made a good team
–her,
soft and sweet and sensitive, him, tough, aggressive, maybe a little stubborn. Okay, a lot stubborn. But having Dag with them, on their side, just made him feel even stronger.

How did life get so fucking complicated?

“Dag said you wanted to talk to me.”

“Yes.” Kassidy set her trembling hands on the counter and faced her sister.

Hailey met her gaze with raised eyebrows.

“Hailey. We saw you…in a movie the other night.”

Hailey blinked.

“A porn movie.”

Several beats of silence passed. “You were watching porn?” Hailey gave a tight laugh. “This gets better and better. Little angel Kassidy is turning into such a naughty girl!”

Kassidy wasn’t going to get caught up in that. She recognized exactly what Hailey was doing. “Never mind me,” she said firmly. “I’m worried about you, Hailey. Why are you doing that?”

“Why do you think?” Hailey reached for a pretzel in a bowl on the counter and popped it into her mouth.

“Well, I’m guessing it’s for the money, but god! Hailey, how can you demean yourself like that? You’re so smart and you have so much going for you! If you need more money, go back to college, finish your degree, get a better job than bartending!”

“Why do you think it’s demeaning?” Hailey asked coolly.

“Hailey! The things you do…with men you don’t even know…how can you do that?”

“You’re not exactly in a position to be judging me, big sister.” Hailey crossed her arms and leaned against the counter. “With what I saw the other day…”

“This isn’t about me!” Kassidy’s fingers tightened on the cool granite counter. She took a breath. “And you’re right. I’m not judging you. I’m just…worried about you. Truly.”

“Well, don’t. I’m fine. I enjoy what I do. I’m having fun. I’m professional, respected, well paid…it’s not big deal. And I don’t see what’s so different about it than what you’re doing.”

“There’s a huge difference. What I’m doing….isn’t…” She stopped, at a loss to try to explain the difference. She could feel it inside her, the powerful difference, but putting it into words was hard. “What I’m doing is about love,” she finally said.

Hailey gave a shout of laughter. “You’re telling me you’re in love with two men?”

Kassidy bit her lower lip. Her stomach churned and she pressed a hand there. She’d been trying to avoid thinking about that, but when Hailey said the words, she knew it was true. She’d come to care for Dag. A lot. She wasn’t sure if she’d say she was in love with
him–
but she definitely cared for him. “We’re not hurting anyone,” she choked out. “We’re all mature, consenting adults.”

“Well, I’m not hurting anyone either,” Hailey said, straightening. She smiled. “And we’re all mature consenting adults making adult movies. And I don’t feel demeaned by it. So what’s the problem?”

“Mom and Dad would die if they knew.”

Hailey’s eyes narrowed and her gaze zoomed in on Kassidy. But she gave a negligent shrug. “You won’t tell them.”

Kassidy stared back at her and lifted her chin. “What makes you think that?”

Hailey laughed. “I don’t actually give a shit if they find out. But I know you won’t tell them because you’re such a soft-hearted little angel. You wouldn’t want to hurt them.”

Kassidy gritted her teeth. “Fine. I won’t tell them about you if you won’t tell them about me.”

Hailey rolled her eyes. “God, are we five years old again?” And she turned and walked out of the kitchen, back onto the deck.

She couldn’t go back out there. Her whole body was shaking, her stomach hurting, her chest squeezing. She closed her eyes and set her elbows on the counter, rested her head in her hands.

Maybe she was making too big a deal of this. It just seemed so…awful, what Hailey was doing. Whereas she…what she was doing was…not. It wasn’t.

Who was she to judge her? She couldn’t judge anyone for choices they made. Much as she tried to defend what she and Chris and Dag were doing, most people would think it was wrong. Sinful. Depraved.

But she didn’t care and she supposed she could understand that Hailey felt the same way.

“Hey.” She felt a gentle hand on her back. Dag’s voice stroked over her. “You okay?”

“Yes.” She straightened, pushed her hair back and smiled at him, although her lips felt tight. “I’m fine.”

“Hailey’s gone. She decided she couldn’t stay for dinner after all.”

“Shit.” Hailey’d finally shown up at a family event and Kassidy had ruined it. Tears stung her eyes and she blinked rapidly. “That probably hurt Mom and Dad’s feelings.”

“Yeah, a little, I think.”

He studied her, and the concern she saw there told her one important thing—Dag cared for her too.

Chapter Sixteen

“You can’t use that objectivist crap to justify porn.”

They walked into the condo, continuing the heated discussion that had started on the way home in the car.

Dag laughed. “What? You can’t see that porn is a form of art?”

“Art! Well, okay, some of it might be. But really, it has to have some kind of artistic value.”

“The debate of art versus porn wages on,” Chris said, dropping car keys to the small console table inside the door. “We could argue this for hours. I have a better idea.”

Dag looked at Chris and caught the evil glint in his eye just as Kassidy did too and she burst out laughing. “We’re not making our own porn movie.”

He caught her around the waist and nuzzled her neck. “Aw, why not?”

“I know you’re worried about your sister, Kassidy, but she’s a big girl,” Dag said.

“I know.” Kassidy sighed. “I just wish… Oh never mind.”

“What, sweetheart?” Chris followed her into the living room.

“Yeah, what?” Dag reached out and ran a hand down her hair. He’d longed to touch her all evening, wanting to make her feel better about what had happened, but his role in that family setting was extremely ambiguous.

“I just wish I had a different relationship with my sister. I’ve always wished Hailey and I could be friends.”

“You aren’t necessarily friends with someone just because you’re related,” Dag murmured.

She turned her eyes up to him. “Is that part of the objectivist philosophy too?”

“Yeah. Sort of. We develop relationships with people we share values with—common interests in things like sports, art, music, philosophical outlooks, political beliefs. That includes our families.”

“I always believed you may not like your family, but you have to love them. Because they’re family.”

“Do you feel guilty because you don’t love Hailey?”

A long heavy silence filled the room, and Dag saw that Chris was listening intently too, waiting. “I do love her,” she said finally. “She’s my sister. But I do feel guilty for not liking her.” She put a hand to her mouth. “I do.”

“Don’t.” Dag slid his arms around her and pulled her against him in a warm hug that felt so damn good. “Don’t feel guilty. Think about it rationally. Just because you’re related to her doesn’t mean you have anything in common besides the fact that you’re sisters.”

“That’s kind of sad, though,” she said, peering up at him. “Is that how you feel about your family?”

“That’s how I had to feel about my family,” he said grimly, his mouth tightening. “For me to survive, I had to believe that. Because I hate my family.”

“Oh Dag. That can’t be true.”

“It’s true.” He glanced at Chris. He’d talked to Chris about his family, only once, years ago, when they were getting to know each other, and Chris had known that topic was off limits ever since. But Kassidy didn’t know. “My dad disappeared when I was a baby. My mom was an alcoholic who cared more about getting her next drink and getting another man than she did about me.”

Her eyes filled with pain and sorrow. He closed his own against the sight. He hated pity. “Don’t feel sorry for me,” he said, voice gritty. He opened his eyes and smiled down at her. “I’m fine. I made it. I’m only telling you this so you’ll understand and not feel guilty about your feelings for Hailey. If you’re going to love someone, it’s gonna be the people you choose to be family. Like…like…Chris.” His voice faltered on the last words, and tension in the room thickened as all three became painfully aware once again of the unique nature of their relationship. That it was her and Chris who had the relationship, not him. “You choose your partner, your spouse. That’s who you love,” he finished, still smiling, his chest still aching.

“I understand that.” She laid a hand on his cheek and smiled at him. Her bottom lip trembled and she looked as if she wanted to say something but hesitated. “Dag…” He didn’t want to go where her mind might be heading, so he bent and gave her lips a quick kiss.

A kiss that quickly turned heated. Chris joined them, close up against Kassidy’s backside, pulling her hair aside and laying his mouth on the bare skin of her shoulder, moving the tiny strap aside and kissing her there.

“Even though I don’t understand this,” Kassidy whispered. “Even though I suspect it’s very, very wrong…can I tell you guys how lucky I feel to have both of you in my life?”

Dag’s gut clenched. Amazing
–
that was exactly how he felt about Chris and Kassidy, the feelings that had swamped him earlier at her parents’ home.

“It’s not wrong,” he replied, sliding his mouth over her soft cheek. “Sex promotes happiness. That’s our goal
–
to be happy, right?”

Kassidy gave a delicate little snort even as her head fell back to allow both men access to her throat and shoulders. “More objectivism?”

He smiled against her jaw. “Yeah. Sex isn’t just physical pleasure. It’s a celebration of existence.”
And an expression of love
, but he stopped himself from saying those words aloud. “Celebrating life is essential to happiness. So, it’s moral to make choices that allow that celebration and immoral to deny it. We’re celebrating life.”

“I think you can use philosophy to justify anything,” Chris muttered from behind Kassidy, and Dag laughed.

“I probably could,” he agreed. “But are either of you arguing with me right now?”

“No,” Chris said.

“No,” Kassidy said on a sigh. “No.”

They moved to the bedroom in what was becoming a familiar rhythm of three.

“Wanna make you feel good, baby doll,” Dag murmured against the thin skin of her neck. “So good.”

“Yes,” she whispered, eyes closed, head to one side. “Make me feel good.”

“You’re so sweet,” Chris said, pushing the bodice of her dress down. As Dag had suspected all day, she wore no bra beneath and her perfect round breasts gleamed in the lamplight.

“Oh yeah.”

While Chris helped her out of the dress, Dag bent to take her nipple in his mouth, a delicious hard little nub and she moaned when he sucked on it. Soon she stood naked between them.

“I hate it when you feel bad, sweetheart,” Chris added, nuzzling her hair.

“You guys…” Her voice choked up.

“C’mere.” Chris took her hand and led her to the bed. “Lie down.” He reached behind his neck and pulled the goofy pink polo shirt off over his head, muscles rippling in the dim light.

Dag followed his lead, unbuttoning his shirt and shrugging out of it, his eyes moving between Kassidy’s soft femininity and Chris’s male strength. When he and Chris were both naked, Chris turned his head and met his gaze, his eyes gleaming. “Let’s make her feel good.”

“Yeah.”

As usual, Chris was the one who chose the position
–
this time he lay on the bed and moved Kassidy into reverse cowgirl. Nice. She faced Dag, her eyes dark and heavy-lidded, her mouth pouty. Dag filled his hands with her breasts as he moved over Chris’s legs, his cock jutting in front of him. Christ, he was hard enough to hit a baseball with it. Kassidy’s stiff little nipples poked his palms.

Then Chris tugged her down, so she lay on top of him, exposing her pussy to Dag.

“Lick her,” Chris instructed Dag in a hoarse voice. “Get her good and ready and then I’ll fuck her ass and you can fuck her pussy.”

Dag smiled. Sounded like a plan. He leaned over Kassidy, supporting his weight on his arms and kissed her, long and lush, as Chris’s hands slid over her breasts and belly stretched out above him. When Dag lifted away, Chris used one hand to grip her jaw and turn her face to him so he could kiss her too. Fuck, that was hot. Dag’s cock surged and he stroked himself, moving back down between both their legs.

Oh yeah, hell yeah, she was so wet and pretty. He inhaled the delicate warm scent of her he’d gotten to know so well, closed his eyes as a wave of emotion rolled over him. When he opened his eyes, the image of Chris’s big masculine hands on her small body, holding her in position, nearly undid him. Christ.

He kissed her inner thighs, so soft, quivering, gave a tiny nip at the tendon there, bringing a gasp from Kassidy. He smiled against her flesh, licked his way up the crease between thigh and pussy, kissing and sucking gently. He loved doing this. He could do it forever. The taste of her melting on his tongue, the hot feel of her against his lips
–
loved it. Fucking loved it. And Chris’s cock was right there too, thick and shiny, roped with prominent veins, his balls tight and high beneath.