Candy Apple, page 7
“I might have been fibbing just a little on that.”
A weight settled on Tasha’s chest. For years she’d believed that the dress could help her find—or at least confirm—her true love.
“It doesn’t help you find your true love?”
“Oh no, it does that.” Her mother reached out and squeezed Tasha’s hand. “It’s just sometimes your true love isn’t confined to only one man.”
Tasha blinked and stared at her mother, trying to make sure she’d heard her correctly. Did that mean her mother had two—? Who—?
“Bad Boy Joe?”
He was her stepfather’s best friend and went everywhere with her mother and Nick.
“Wait—” Heather jumped in. “Are you saying you and Uncle Nick and Joe are a threesome?”
For a moment, Tasha thought her mother would deny it, but then she seemed to find her strength. She pushed her shoulders back and pinched her lips together.
“Yes.”
“Oh my goodness, that’s how he knew what the beach looked like during your honeymoon.”
Tasha pulled out of her mother’s grip. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“At first you were too young and strange blended families were less common than they are today. Then, after you left for college and moved out, I couldn’t ever find the right time.”
“Yeah, I can imagine that would be a hard conversation to have,” Heather said.
Tasha shuddered, hoping the violent little tremors would erase her mind like an Etch-A-Sketch. She did not want to think about her mother and Nick and Joe.
“So I’m destined to have two men?”
Katherine shrugged. “I don’t know about destiny but the dress led me to Nick and Joe and I’ve been thankful every day since.”
She walked over to Tasha and gave her a quick hug. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to keep anything from you. I just didn’t know how to tell you.”
Tasha nodded, the shock making her a bit numb.
She stood there, watching as her mother walked to the front door. The door closed behind her and Tasha still hadn’t moved.
“Wow. Aunt K is so cool.”
Tasha spun around and glared at Heather. “That’s my mother. Who is sleeping with two men!”
Heather shrugged. “So are you.”
“That’s different. Mine was an accident.”
“Hmm…” Heather tapped her index finger on the side of her head. “You have perfect vision at ten inches, right?”
“Yes.”
“Anything beyond that gets blurry?”
“Yes,” Tasha said again.
“Are you telling me that not once during the time you were upstairs you opened your eyes?”
“Well—”
“Tell me you don’t fuck with your eyes closed.” Heather sounded so disappointed.
“No. That wasn’t the problem.”
“What was the problem? He was right there.”
“Well…” Tasha sighed. Heather wasn’t going to give up until she got an answer. “We were never really face-to-face for that long.”
“I don’t understand.” Heather shook her head.
“He was behind me most of the time.”
Heather’s smile grew wide. “Oooh I see. You’ve definitely got the wild child in you. It just took Bachelor Number Two to bring her out.”
She hooked her arm through Tasha’s elbow and dragged her into the kitchen. She guided Tasha into a chair and poured a cup of coffee, setting it on the table.
“So we don’t know anything about Number Two except he’s gorgeous. And you said he’s practically a twin to this Nathan guy?”
“Yes. It’s probably his cousin. Nathan said his cousin lived with him.” She had vague memories of him mentioning that, though her mind was a bit blurry from the multiple orgasms. Honestly, she hadn’t been paying that much attention to what Nathan had said at that point…just the fact that his lips looked so sexy as he spoke.
Of course, his lips were even sexier a few minutes later when he’d gone down on her in the kitchen, her leg draped over his shoulder as he licked and—
“So what does Nathan do?”
Heather’s question jolted her out of her thoughts.
“What? Oh, um, he works in Jason’s office. He’s a fund manager.”
“Oh.”
The bland tone of Heather’s voice caught Tasha’s attention.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
Tasha leaned in and stared at her niece.
Finally, Heather sighed. “It’s just that no one I’ve ever met who worked with numbers for a living was ever exciting, and they usually suck in bed.”
Tasha couldn’t stop her lips from spreading out into a wide grin.
“That’s because you’ve never met Nathan.”
Chapter Five
Dear Diary,
First Cait. Then Heather. And now my mother? It’s just too much to think about. I’m going to find some chocolate.
Tasha rang the doorbell and waited.
She’d waited, been patient, been polite for three days. Then she turned stalker. At first, she’d called a couple of times, innocently, expecting a call back. He’d sounded sincere when he’d crawled out of bed that morning—whispering that he had to go into the office for a few hours, but he’d be back. He hadn’t specifically said he thought there was something more between them than one night of sex, but he also hadn’t taped cab fare to her forehead with a note saying “have a great life”.
Heather had been supportive but kept telling Tasha she was lucky. Heather had had “issues” with her clothes after she’d met her men, but hadn’t officially started dating them. Somehow Tasha didn’t have the problem. Heather’s theory was that the dress’s curse didn’t extend to Tasha’s wardrobe because she’d actually slept with both men.
But Tasha wanted more than just a night—and a morning—of great sex so whether the dress was prodding her on or not, she was going after her man, or men, as it were.
Since Nathan hadn’t contacted her, she could only assume he knew about…Fred? She’d been trying out names for the past three days to see which ones fit the dark-headed sex god. She would have called him “Thor” but he didn’t have the long blond tresses to carry it off.
Sighing, she pressed the doorbell again and heard the chime ring through the house.
Long, painfully long, moments later, she heard footsteps thumping down the stairs and voices. Loud, harsh voices.
“Well, I’m not going to leave her standing on the front porch.”
“What the hell do you care?”
“What the hell business is it of yours?”
The male voices sounded a lot alike.
“Because I had her first.”
“Had her first? Oh you can use that at Thanksgiving when the whole family goes around the table. ‘What are you thankful for? I had her first!’”
“Bite me. You know what I mean.”
“Right. Every woman likes to be had.”
“Get the hell away—”
The door popped open and both her lovers filled the empty space. Nathan glowering, Mystery Man looking smug. Neither seemed inclined to speak.
“Uh, hi.”
“Hello,” Nathan greeted with no warmth.
“Hey there, lovely.” The other man reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her inside. “Come in.”
“I wanted to return the jacket,” she said. She offered him the jacket, her fingers caressing the leather as it was taken away.
“Well, thanks. We would have missed it.”
“That’s my jacket,” Nathan snapped.
“I couldn’t give her a ride home without some kind of protection.” He took her hand.
“Thanks, uh—” She left it open ended because she really needed to know the man’s name.
“Oh right. I’m Kiah, we never actually introduced ourselves.”
“Tasha.”
“You didn’t even know her name?” Nathan asked, his tone a mixture of appalled and condescending. Even though it wasn’t directed at her, she felt the backlash.
She drew herself up to her full height, which still brought her nowhere near either man. She was willing to accept some of the blame for this—okay, all of the blame—but she wasn’t going to let him be a snot before she’d had a chance to explain.
“I can explain.”
Kiah smacked the back of his hand against Nathan’s arm. “And don’t be such a sanctimonious putz. We should hear the lovely woman’s explanation.”
Tasha didn’t know if Kiah actually wanted to hear her explanation, or if he just liked pissing off his cousin. She had a feeling the latter had a lot to do with it.
“You don’t get to hear this explanation.” Nathan hitched his thumb over his shoulder. “Get out.”
“Where am I supposed to go?” Kiah demanded.
“I don’t care. Leave, go to your room, just get the hell away from me.”
Kiah looked at Tasha and rolled his eyes to the top of his head.
But he still headed toward the door behind the stairs.
Once Kiah had disappeared, Tasha faced Nathan, her heart practically exploding in her chest.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, knowing there was nothing else she could say.
Nathan shook his head and wandered toward the side table that acted as a bar. He looked cool and sophisticated as he poured himself a drink from the crystal bottle.
Except she could see the tiniest of tremors.
“Please let me explain.”
“What’s to explain?” He looked so casual, so calm, as he turned to her and raised the heavy amber-filled glass to his lips. “You fucked me and the next morning, you mounted my cousin.”
She forced her lungs to inhale and slowly release.
“It was an accident,” she explained in a calm voice.
“An accident.” Nathan folded his arms across his chest and stared at her. “What? You tripped down the stairs and just happened to fall onto his naked penis?”
“What? No. Not that kind of accident.” She gulped. “More a case of mistaken identity.”
He squished his eyes together and shook his head before looking back at her. “What?” The glint of hope in his gaze inspired a similar response in her.
“I thought he was you.”
“Right.” The hope died. He placed his glass on the polished table and started to walk away.
“No, really.” She jumped in front of him. “Remember how I said it wasn’t a big deal when you stepped on my glasses—that I only needed them to read?”
Nathan nodded.
“I was lying. I’m blind as a bat.” She ripped off her glasses and stepped close, peering in until he came into sharp focus. “Here. This is when I can see you.” Their toes were touching. “I came downstairs and thought he was you.”
Some of Nathan’s anger seemed to fade at her words.
“I thought some of the things he said were a little strange but I assumed it was because you just hadn’t been listening the night before. And then when the dress fell off—”
“Oh right. The magic dress.”
“Mock if you want, but it’s true.”
“I thought it was only supposed to fall off for your Prince Charming.”
“Right, because ‘charming’ is definitely the word to describe you,” Kiah drawled from the doorway under the stairs.
“I thought I told you to get out,” Nathan growled.
“Yes, and I’ve never listened to anything you’ve told me before. Why did you assume I would now?” He walked back into the room, stopping beside his cousin. “So what’s this about a magic dress?”
“It’s not magic. It’s cursed,” she said, silencing Nathan with a glare. Taking a breath, she gave Kiah a quick rundown on the wedding dress.
“So, that’s why you were naked by the garage.”
“You were naked? Outside?” Nathan’s eyes got wide.
“Naw, she wasn’t really naked.” Kiah smiled and the light in his blue stare twinkled with the memory. “She was wearing your leather jacket and a pair of red panties.”
Nathan blinked and she saw his throat convulse. His eyes dipped down and he stared at her chest for a moment as if picturing what she looked like.
“It was only because the dress fell off,” she explained
“So the dress thinks I’m your true love?” Kiah didn’t sound like he believed it.
“Funny, because the dress also seemed to believe I was her true love,” Nathan added.
Tasha sighed. She couldn’t really blame him for being a bit snide.
“Well, since that day I’ve learned a bit more about the dress—and way more about my mother’s love life than I ever wanted to know. My mother was the original owner and I always thought the dress had led her to my stepfather, Nick.” She gulped, still dealing with the thought of her mother in a three-way relationship. “But it seems the dress attracts, works, whatever you want to call it, on two men, so she ended up with Nick and his friend Joe.”
“So your mother sleeps with two guys?” Kiah asked, interest humming through his words. “Damn, that’s wild.”
“It’s creepy, and I refuse to think about it so we’re not going to discuss it.” She waved her hands, trying to wash away the images that kept sneaking into the corners of her brain. “The point is—” She looked at Nathan. “That’s how I ended up in bed with Kiah after I’d spent the night with you.”
Nathan nodded but couldn’t find the right words. He was methodical in everything he did. Everything—except bringing Tasha home the other night.
He’d had one-night stands before—hell, he was a guy—but he’d always planned them. He’d gone out to a bar looking to get laid. Most times it worked, sometimes he came home alone.
But Tasha had been a total surprise.
Even more surprising had been the stab of pain he’d felt when he’d found out she’d fucked Kiah just hours after she’d climbed out of his bed.
He glanced at his cousin. He could see how Tasha could make the mistake—if she was really as blind as she said. They did look alike. But beyond that, they were nothing alike.
Could Tasha really want them both? His stomach burned. Hell, every woman Nathan had ever dated had shown at least a passing interest in Kiah. Why not? Buff fireman with a propensity to live on the edge.
Nathan was a bit more rigid, staid, as one woman called him. It made him good at his job but not a lot of fun, particularly when compared to Kiah.
“So we should probably set up a schedule,” Kiah announced.
“What? What kind of schedule?”
“Of when we get to see her.”
Nathan shook his head and stared at Kiah. “You can’t be serious.”
“Serious about what?” Tasha added.
Both men ignored her. “Well, if we don’t set up a schedule, I’ll never get to see her. I work weird hours.”
“You want to share her? You don’t even know her.”
“The dress picked both of us, and while I don’t have the in-depth relationship that you two have—”
Nathan glared.
“We can catch up pretty fast considering you guys had, what? Two conversations before you went to bed?”
Nathan turned and faced his cousin. “Which is more than you had, asshole.”
“Ooh, resorting to name calling? And everyone says you’re the mature cousin. I’m going to tell your dad about this. So how about this? I get her on the days I have off. You can have her when I’m working.”
“So we just fit around your schedule? I don’t think so. You get most weekends off. I’m not giving up my weekends just because you’ve got seniority with the firehouse.”
“But when I’m working, I’m stuck at the station and can’t see her. Even on days you’re working, you can meet up with her.”
“I—”
“Hey!”
Tasha’s voice—normally so soft and soothing—rang through the open air of the loft like a shotgun blast.
“I’m not a puppy you’re dividing up in a divorce.” She huffed out a breath.
“I’m sorry,” Nathan said. “You’re right.”
“Sorry,” Kiah muttered.
“We just get caught up in our history sometimes,” Nathan added.
Tasha nodded. “Okay. Now, the dress matched us up and I have a lot of faith in the powers of this dress to choose a man, or men. I’ve seen it work three times now. But—” She paused. “Right now, I’m starving and I can’t make a decision on an empty stomach.”
“You want to go out?”
“Or we could order something in,” Kiah offered.
“Or I could cook,” Tasha said.
“Cook?”
“Like, as in, real food?”
Nathan looked at Kiah. “Do we have any real food?”
“We have eggs, maybe some bread.”
Tasha laughed. The sweet sound dissipated the tension in the room. “You guys don’t cook? Either of you?”
Nathan shook his head and saw Kiah do the same thing.
“Hmm, well, let me go see what you have.” She started off to the kitchen and Kiah, who never had a thought in his head beyond the immediate, followed right behind her.
“So you really didn’t know who I was.”
“No.”
“You thought I was Nathan?”
“Well, imagine you’re looking at someone through dirty beveled glass. That’s kind of what you looked like.”
Kiah smiled and looked back over his shoulder as Nathan followed behind them.
“But now that you’ve got your glasses, you can see I’m much more handsome.”
She laughed. Nathan glared at his cousin.
“Yeah.” This time Tasha looked back, her cheeks a delicate pink. She smiled at Nathan. “No way I’m going to admit to that. You are both gorgeous.”
Nathan’s cock twitched and for a moment he forgot that Kiah was standing there. He stepped close, sliding his arm around her waist.
“No fair,” Kiah protested.
“No fair? What are you? A third grader?” Nathan snapped but he dropped his hand.
“I’m just saying you don’t get to sway her opinion with sex.”
“That wasn’t sex. I just touched her.”
“Then I get to touch her.”
