Sunset Tryst (15 page)

“Yeah.” Among other things. “You guys sure you don’t want
to—”

“No.” Her flat expression never wavered.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “But you didn’t even hear my
suggestion.”

“Doesn’t matter what it is. I’ve had enough excitement to
last me for, God, years. Besides, you both owe me and I’m collecting on that
debt by insisting we do absolutely nothing. I’m perfectly happy to sit here and
just relax. Matter of fact, I wouldn’t miss out on this quiet time with the two
of you. Not for anything.”

Because my week with you is going to be over all too
soon.

She didn’t have to come out and actually say the words for
Evan to know that was what she was thinking. He could hear the reminder in
everything she said to him. He could tell in the selfless way she took care of
him, in the way he’d catch her staring at him with such anguish in her eyes.

And yeah, she’d caught him staring at her a few times too.

He’d considered more than once over the course of the last
two days chucking it all and following them back to Chicago. Giving life with
them a go. He wanted to.
Fuck
, how he wanted to. But then he’d get an
email from his brother about a new connection he’d made or the head of an
architectural firm he’d met, and he knew the wheels of this start-up were way
too far in motion for him to have a change of heart and back out now. There was
so much more at stake here than his own happiness and as much as he hated doing
it, he had to take that into consideration first.

“Maybe we could just take a drive.
Some
thing.”
Any
thing
to keep his mind from sliding down that depressing path.

Riley tossed her magazine on the table too. “You know what I
want to do?” When he lifted his eyebrow at her, she lifted hers right back at
him. “I want to talk.”

Hold on, what? Talking was
all
they’d done for the
last two days. It wasn’t as if they could do too much of anything else.

“About the attack.”

Ah. Well. That was different, wasn’t it?

“We’ve avoided the topic since it happened,” she said.

Garrett set his newspaper and the pen down on the table too.
“It was an accident, Rie. Why dwell on it?”

“I know it was an accident. And I’m
not
dwelling on
it.” Her dark-chocolate stare bore into Evan so deeply, he could feel her fire
and determination clear down to his bones. “But you went in after Garrett.
There was no hesitation on your part. Not even a second thought of what might
happen to you.”

“I had to,” was all he could say.

“Because?”

“He could’ve died. I did what I had to—”

She shook her head. “There’s more to it than that,” she
said. “
You
could’ve died
too
. But that didn’t stop you from
jumping over the side of that boat.”

Evan sighed again, but this time it wasn’t out of
frustration. He knew what she was getting at, and he couldn’t deny that what
she was thinking was the spot-on truth.

“You did it for me. For Garrett. You jumped in the water
with a
shark
for God’s sake, and you did it for us.”

Yes, he had. And he’d do it again in a heartbeat. But the
fact that he’d risked his life to save theirs didn’t stop those frantically
turning wheels that were getting ready to hurl him back home to Texas. It
didn’t change a damn thing.

He still had to leave.

The deepening blues of the daylight sky were melding into
bright pinks and oranges as evening crept up on them. He stared off toward the
disappearing sun, staying silent on the outside but bellowing at the top of his
lungs on the inside.

God, how he wanted to stay with them.

“You know,” she started, quieter now. “I made a pact with
myself when you were in the ER.”

He snapped his gaze toward hers.

“It was silly, I suppose. At the time, I’d honestly meant
it. But now?”

He lowered his voice to a hush too. “What was the pact?”

“That if you’d be okay, if you lived, I’d give you what you
want. I’d let you go.”

His heart sank to his toes, because, holy fuck, her letting
him go truly was the last thing he wanted. He couldn’t say it out loud though.
He couldn’t get her hopes up that maybe he’d stick around, only to blatantly
hurt her when he failed to follow through. He had to hide the turmoil eating up
his insides because releasing his edginess wouldn’t do any of them a damn bit
of good anyway. The truth would only hurt her, and Garrett, and there was no
way he’d add to the pain he’d already put them through.

“But I lied, Evan. I’m not going to be able to let you go.”

Ah
hell
.

He looked at Garrett imploringly, but the other man simply
held up his hands in surrender. “Hey, I’m with her. We all fit together, Evan.
You feel it. I know you do.”

Of course he did. Nothing in his life had ever felt so
right. “I’m sorry,” he managed. It was a lame thing to say, but he meant it.
No, he wasn’t sorry for flirting with her those first nights in the hotel. Nor
was he sorry for taking them up on their offer to meet in their room the last
night they were there. And he sure as hell wasn’t sorry he’d decided to stay
here at the beach house with them.

But right here, right now, he was sorry for this.

“I know you are,” she said. “I am too. If this was a
different time, or another place…”

But it wasn’t. And nothing on Earth could change that.

“Thank you, though. Really. For saving Garrett. For not
hesitating. For being so strong and getting yourself out of the water too. I
came so close…” When her voice cracked, he had to swallow a lump of his own in
his throat. “I came so close to losing both of you. It means everything to me
that I didn’t. I’m so grateful that you’re both okay.”

She got up and moved over to him then, sliding onto his lap
and kissing him oh-so-gently on the lips. “Just know that you’re in my heart.
Even though I have no choice but to let you go, you’ll still always be with
me.”

Sweet Jesus. He couldn’t say anything to that. He couldn’t
attempt even a single word, because if he did, he’d absolutely lose it. So
instead, he cupped her cheek and kissed her back. Hers in return wasn’t a
savage
I want to fuck you
kiss, it was a sincere and tender
I’m
falling in love with you
kiss.

Hell, falling? Who was he kidding? At that moment, he knew
she was
in
love with him too. Head over fricking heels. A gaping maw
grew in the middle of his chest,
threatening to engulf his heart in one monumental gulp. But he drew strength
from somewhere inside him—from
her
—and shoved the aching void aside to
focus solely on her. Come hell or high water, he was going to remember this
kiss. He was going to ingrain every detail of it into his brain so he could
resurrect the memory on those long, lonely Texas nights that were out there
waiting for him. He was determined to remember the sinful way she tasted. The
sexy scent of her perfume. The ease with which she melted against him and the
way he never wanted any of it to end.

At that thought, she pulled away, and he nearly cried. The
smile she gave him fell sweetly from her lips, but he could tell she had to
force it. She was his brave girl to the end and damn if that wasn’t another
reason—among the many—for him to love the hell out of her.

“I’m planning a special dinner for us tonight,” she
whispered against his lips. “And then maybe we can all snuggle up in bed and
watch a movie?”

Something as mundane as dinner in and a TV movie never
sounded so amazing. At that moment, all the restlessness of the last few days
miraculously dissipated from his body. Instead, he concentrated on the
snuggling part she’d mentioned. He loved holding her in his arms and loved even
more keeping her warm and secure between him and Garrett. Nothing else mattered
except soaking in every bit of this—of her—that he could, right up to the
moment when he’d have to say his goodbyes. “I can’t think of anything that
sounds better.”

“Good. No more talk of taking drives, or anything else,
then. We have two days left together and I don’t want to waste either of them.”

He flashed her a smile, but it was halfhearted at best.
“You’ve got a deal. Promise.”

She scooted off his lap after another quick kiss and
disappeared inside the house. Music spilled through the open deck door and a
moment later pots and pans clanged from the kitchen. As he listened to the
chaos she was creating, he stared off into the Gulf waters, trying like hell to
not let his mind wander too far off.

“This is killing you, isn’t it?” Garrett’s tone was deep yet
quiet. “Damn, I think I got it wrong from the very beginning.”

Evan didn’t have a clue what Garrett meant by that. “What
did you get wrong?”

Garrett flopped against the back of the deck chair and ran a
hand across his three-day-old beard stubble. “I had a feeling I was going to
have to pick up the pieces of her broken heart when this week came to an end,
but what I didn’t expect was having yours shatter right along with it. You
don’t have to do this, man. You know that, right?”

Out of every emotion that had been ricocheting through his
insides from the moment he first laid eyes on Riley—the pleasure, the desire,
and lately the sadness—anger had never come into play, not until now. Not until
Garrett said that.

“That’s where you’re wrong. I
do
have to do this. I
don’t have a goddamn choice.”

“Yes you do. But fuck, just look at you. You’re terrified.
She’s not Shannon, you know. And I’m not Brad.”

“Go to hell.”

Garrett clenched his jaw and eyed Evan sideways. “I’m right
and that pisses you off more than anything else. You want this so badly—you
want her and me and everything that goes along with us—but you’re afraid of
getting burned again. Of taking that first deep step into some scary-assed
territory. Jump, you asshole. She’s worth it. You
know
she’s so worth
it.”

“Don’t you think I see that? See her? And you? But I made a
fucking commitment to my brother. To my
family
. We’ve both put
everything we have into this endeavor. My parents did too. They invested their
retirement
,
Garrett. After a lifetime of never being happy with anything I did, my dad
actually stood up and took a chance on me. He’s invested years and years worth
of his and my mom’s financial security into our business. Into their
sons’
business. So you see, it’s not just about me and what I might or might not be
too scared to do or not do. I can’t just up and walk away from everything
that’s already in the works because I met the two of you. I can’t walk away from
any of this,
ever
.”

Garrett eased off some, looking honestly disconcerted. “I
didn’t know any of that. I’m… Shit. I’m sorry.”

Evan peered over his shoulder to make sure Riley couldn’t
hear them. “If circumstances were different, I’d be jumping in headfirst and
dragging both of you along with me. But I can’t. And yeah, knowing what I’m
missing out on with you two is ripping me apart. Shannon and Brad hurt me, but
they sure as shit didn’t kill me. I know exactly what I’m losing here, and my
former lovers are
not
the reason I’m turning away from it.”

Garrett came around the table between them then and sat on
the edge of Evan’s chaise lounge. When he hooked his hand behind Evan’s neck
and rubbed gently, Evan immersed himself in the other man’s strong and warm
touch.

“We don’t have to say goodbye completely, though,” Garrett
said. “There’ll be vacations. And we can spend holidays together. Or visit for
long weekends. Or all of the above.”

Yeah, that was easy for him to say, wasn’t it? He was the
lucky bastard who got to see Riley every day, he was the one who stretched out
beside her every night. He could kiss her and touch her whenever he wanted. He
could make love to her over and over and not miss out on a single moment with
her.

But based on the situation, short visits here and there were
as good as it was going to get for Evan. Which completely sucked—and had him
fighting back another useless lump growing in his throat. “I guess we’ll have
to get by with that, then.”

“I’m sorry, man. I really am. None of us were expecting
this. I wasn’t. I know Rie wasn’t.”

Evan slid his hand over Garrett’s thigh and squeezed. “No, I
know. I wasn’t either.”

They held each other’s stare for a moment longer, then
Garrett drew him in closer. He rested his forehead against Evan’s and sighed,
long and weary. The tender kiss he placed on Evan’s lips a second later shocked
him. That wasn’t something Brad had ever done—and whoa, wasn’t that just
another reminder of everything he was going to miss out on.

His heart thumped wildly, even as it splintered into a
million more pieces.

“We’ll figure it out.” Garrett’s quiet words against his
lips were resolute, poignant and so achingly sad.

Evan nodded slightly. “Yeah. Okay.”

“I promise, Evan. I promise you we will.”

Despite his heart ripping in two, Evan had never tasted
anything as mouthwatering as the vegetable lasagna Riley cooked for dinner. The
spinach salad and cheesy garlic bread were the perfect accompaniments and her
choice of wine couldn’t have been any better, either. They laughed while they
ate, which did his heart and mind so much good.

Even though he’d lain off the pain pills, the long,
exhausting day quickly snuck up on him. He’d dozed off during the movie after
dinner, but who could blame him? The three of them were snuggled up in the
center of that king-sized bed, arms and legs—all except his right foot, of
course—entwined, holding onto each other for dear life.

He glanced up in time to see credits rolling on the screen.
When he yawned, Riley peeked over her shoulder at him. “You’re awake?”

“Hmm. Yeah.”

She slipped him a heavenly smile. “You missed half the
movie.”

“Huh. Sorry. Was it good?”

She shrugged and bumped his chin with her shoulder. “It was
okay. I think I’m done for the day too, though.” She rolled over between them,
kissing first Garrett’s cheek, then his own. “I’m just going to take a quick
bath. Save my spot.”

Evan flopped onto his back and stretched long and hard as
she scooted off the end of the bed. With one click of the remote, Garrett turned
the TV off, sufficiently dousing the room in darkness. The heavy curtains
across the windows had been drawn, so the only light shone in through the
window separating the bathroom from the bedroom. Because the switch to turn the
pane opaque hadn’t been flipped, the glass was crystal clear, which gave them
the perfect view of Riley getting ready for her bath.

She cranked the faucets on and as the steamy water poured
from that cool-ass spigot in the ceiling to splash into the oversized tub, she
stripped out of her tank top and shorts. Christ, he hardened in an instant. The
nap he’d taken during the movie proved to be the perfect pick-me-up, and he
couldn’t think of a better way to burn up his newfound energy than by making
love with the two of them.

Memories. He needed to make as many memories as possible.

Garrett shifted to lie on his side and propped himself up on
his elbow. “God, she’s amazing.”

Evan ignored the ice pick sliding into his heart at the
statement. “You won’t find me arguing.”

He wouldn’t find Evan uttering a single word, not as she
stepped under the streaming water. His voice froze somewhere in his throat as
she wet her hair, as the water flowed over her shoulders to stream down her
breasts. Riley sat on the edge of the tub then—shit, she had to know they were
watching her—and reached for the bottle of shampoo. She arched her back as she
lathered her hair and Evan swore he heard Garrett growl.

Chunks of suds slid down her slickened body and she used
them instead of the body wash sitting right next to the shampoo. She swirled
the lather everywhere—over her breasts, her tummy, between her legs—and she did
it again and again until Evan thought he might swallow his own tongue.

When she lowered her lashes and snuck a sultry smile through
the window, Evan’s entire body lit up like a three-story-high bonfire. The
twinges in his foot inexplicably vanished. He couldn’t feel a damn thing,
nothing other than his pulse hammering through his system, pile-driving
straight for his cock.

“She is so bad.” Garrett kept his voice at a murmur.

“But so, so good,” Evan countered.

“Hell, yeah.”

She stood directly under the spigot again, this time rinsing
the shampoo just as seductively as she’d applied it—which only served to drive
him even more crazy. His hands itched as she turned the water off and reached
for the towel next to the tub. Damn, he wanted to be the one to dry her, to run
that towel over every silky inch of her body, only because he could follow the
path he created on her skin with his lips and tongue.

But instead he was forced to watch her do it herself. And
holy hell, she was taking her sweet time. Not a single millimeter of her body
went untouched. Finally she ran the towel through her hair one last time,
dropped it on the floor, killed the light in the bathroom and slipped quietly
into the bedroom.

She crawled back in between them on the bed slowly,
seductively, before lying on her side and tucking her rear up against the bulge
in Garrett’s basketball shorts. Evan rolled over to face her, to touch her, to
take her lips in a hot kiss. And whoa, the ferocity with which she kissed him
back had him edging that fine line between endurance and impatience. He wanted
to draw this out, to make his time with her and Garrett last forever, but at
the same time he wanted her so desperately, he wasn’t sure he’d make it through
the next ten minutes.

Her skin was warm and still a little damp and she felt so
amazingly good in his arms. He skimmed his hand up her side as Garrett drew her
tighter against him. When she shivered at his light touch, Evan wanted to
fucking groan. Her responsiveness blew him away. He knew he’d never get enough
of that, not enough to last him the lifetime he needed.

As he cupped her breast and ran his thumb across her nipple,
she broke from his kiss. Her moan was sweet, throaty and utterly devastating.

But before he could lose himself in that train of thought
and ruin this, she pushed on his shoulders until she had him on his back. She
slipped out of Garrett’s arms and straddled him, and this time he didn’t hold
back. His groan matched hers in throatiness as she ground herself against him.
The thin fabric of his own basketball shorts didn’t do a damn thing to mute the
heat coming off her. He felt every burn, every scorch of her body against his.

His hands developed a mind of their own as Garrett came to
his knees beside her. He held her face in his palms and kissed her, rougher
yes, but no less deeply than Evan had. Seeing the two of them above him, locked
together like that, sent Evan’s mind careening down a brutally heartbreaking
path. He caressed her over and over, just watching them, mesmerized almost. He
smoothed his fingertips over her thighs, her tummy, her breasts and those
gorgeous beaded nipples. The hand that wasn’t latched around Garrett’s neck as
she kissed him found Evan’s, and she held on, pressing his palm against her
breast and rolling her hips over him.

They were so remarkable together, her and Garrett. And to
think they included him in that, that they
wanted
him with them. The idea
that they might actually love him too had his heart cramping as his cock
thickened even more.

Garrett’s chest tightened and his biceps flexed as he nearly
devoured Riley. In an almost frenetic rush, Evan’s brain completely blanked. He
was moving purely on instinct now, sliding the hand not busy on Riley’s breast
across her stomach until he found Garrett. So different from Riley’s warm and
lush skin, the hard ripples of Garrett’s abs drew him in. He touched him. He
stroked him. Heaven above, he wanted to taste him.

Evan sat up, replacing the palm covering Riley’s breast with
his mouth. He sucked and nipped on the tight bud as he slipped his arm around
Garrett’s waist. Pulling him in closer, he grazed his lips across Riley’s body,
over to her other breast, and then further on to Garrett’s tight stomach.

When the skin and muscles he found there fluttered, Garrett
growled and palmed the back of Evan’s head, holding his nape as he continued
his assault on Riley’s lips. Despite Garrett’s grip on Evan, he didn’t stay in
one place. He couldn’t. He trailed his lips lower, past Garrett’s inny
bellybutton, yanking on the waistband of his shorts at the same time.

Christ, he was hard. Amazingly so. Hard and thick and on
fucking fire. The taut tip of his cock burned Evan’s lips as he drew him in, as
he delved deeper. On a moan, Garrett broke from Riley’s lips and pinned Evan
with a stare so searing, it cut straight through the darkness engulfing the
room. He gripped the back of Evan’s neck tighter, leading him so achingly slowly.
So methodically. It was all so goddamn crazy. And so unexpected.

And it felt so fucking right.

“Yes. Oh God, yes.” Riley whispered her approval as she
snuggled into Evan’s neck, just as he’d done when she’d been the one going down
on Garrett. She found that perfect spot along his neck, the one at the dip just
below his jawline, and drove him utterly insane with her lips and tongue.

Still, as incredible as her mouth on him felt, it wasn’t
nearly enough. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get enough. Not of moments like this
one. Not of these two. Not ever.

He gripped her too, holding them both securely within his
trembling arms. She circled her hips over him again, adding her hands into the
mix this time as well. She trailed her fingers down his chest, skimming lower
over his stomach until she reached the waistband of his own shorts.

“Lie back,” she blew into his ear. “Let me get these off
you.”

Garrett’s halted, uneven breaths made his chest heave as he
eased away and slipped from Evan’s mouth. But he didn’t just kneel there and
wait for Riley to finish with the de-pantsing. No, instead he all but lunged
for Evan. He swept over him until they came chest-to-sculpted-chest and
face-to-beautiful-face. His lips were hot and wet, sucking and licking and biting
on Evan’s with so much skill and passion it made Evan’s balls draw up tight.

Holy hell, could the man kiss.

Sliding his fingers into Garrett’s dark and wavy hair, Evan
pinned him against his own lips while Riley wriggled his shorts down his legs
and carefully pulled them past his feet. And then she was there too, sliding
over him, covering his body with her own as she tangled her lips and tongue and
wandering hands in with theirs.

Whoa. Seriously.

At that moment, all he could think about was connecting with
the two of them on a completely different level. All he could concentrate on
was becoming something more than three flushed and primed bodies. The raw
emotion spurring him on was more than a simple need or a flippant want or even
a crazed desire. It was more primal than all that. More intrinsic. This wasn’t
just about the sex. This wasn’t just about having a killer orgasm.

It was absolutely about loving these two the only way he
knew how.

As he stretched to reach for the nightstand, Riley and
Garrett had to have been reading his mind. There were no words spoken between
the three of them; there didn’t need to be. They were all on the same
wavelength, circling the same drain of desperation, feeling every
tick-tick-tick of their time together slip away.

Riley straddled his hips once again as Garrett took the
condom and the small tube of lubrication Evan handed him, all while he glided
behind her. They both covered themselves in the span of a couple frenzied
heartbeats, and then she was back to kissing him—no, check that—she was back to
decimating him.

And then, ah God, she lifted her hips ever so slightly. But
it was enough. Damn, it was
just
enough. In one frantic plunge, she slid
back on him and took his cock inside her to the hilt.

He choked back a breath. He squeezed his eyes shut. He
moaned loudly, because he couldn’t find it in himself to do anything more
coherent than that. She felt so good. So torturously good. He blindly found her
hips and dug in, clutching them as he opened his eyes and searched behind her.
Garrett was there, looking tortured himself as he squirted a generous amount of
lube onto his fingertips.

Riley reared back on a strangled cry as Garrett tossed away
the tube and found her with his fingers, as he applied the lube and readied
her. Her eyes drifted shut and sweet mercy, Evan knew why. He could feel
Garrett too. He could feel him inside her, pressing deeper, stretching her
wider.

But that erotic feeling paled in comparison to the delicious
fullness, to the crazy tightness waiting for him when Garrett began to work his
cock inside Riley’s ass. He guided her until he had her pinned against Evan’s
chest, moving his hips slowly, gently, but with so much determination it made
all three of them groan. Riley drew her lips inward on breathy, muffled cries
and she stilled, which had Evan fighting like hell to do the same.

But he couldn’t. He tried, really he did, to let Garrett
catch up. To let him ease that beautiful cock all the way inside her as
tenderly as he could. But the muted slide of Garrett’s dick against his own
while they were both inside this gorgeous woman was simply too much for him to
take.

He rolled his pelvis under her, not a lot, and not smoothly
either. He jerked, little by little. In, then out, and only an inch or so at a
time. And then, yes, damn it,
yes
, Garrett was in her fully. Their gazes
clashed from over her shoulder and Garrett nodded, once.

The message he was sending was clear.

Up to that point, Riley’s pussy had fit Evan like a
too-tight glove, which was mind-numbing in and of itself. But now, with both
him and Garrett inside her? Holy-fricking-hell. The luscious agony was
perfect—and annihilating. He’d never felt more connected, not to anyone. Not
like this.

She turned her face into his neck, her breaths caressing his
skin like the hot licks of an angry flame. Evan let go of her hip to palm the
back of her head—but he didn’t grasp her to keep her still or to lead her in
any way. He held her there so he could anchor himself, so he could cover her
mouth with his and slide his tongue against hers as he pumped his cock in and
out of her over and over and over again.

He and Garrett developed a syncopated rhythm, one that left
Riley breathless and had Evan fighting the urge to come. But not yet. Please.
Not yet. Shit, it was too soon. Way, way too soon.

Ah man, he needed a diversion.
Some
thing. But then
Garrett swooped in from over her shoulder and added his lethal lips into the
fray and Evan knew it was too late.