Candy Apple, page 8
“Uh, guys—”
Nathan heard the start of her protest but he was too focused on his cousin. They’d been competitive all their lives. But Nathan had never been willing to compete for a woman. If someone he was dating suddenly took an interest in Kiah, Nathan backed off. He didn’t want a woman who didn’t want him.
Tasha was different. And she did seem to want him—not just his daring, dashing fireman cousin. But how they were going to make this work without killing each other, he didn’t know.
He stopped and stared at the woman in question. She blinked and looked back at him, her eyes wide and a little innocent. She wasn’t doing this to have two men fight over her, that was sure.
“Let’s go see what we have food-wise, huh?” he suggested, guiding her into the kitchen.
Tension immediately drained from her body and Nathan couldn’t ignore the spike of guilt that landed in his chest.
If this was going to go forward—and God, could he even be thinking that was a good idea?—he and Kiah were going to have to get along.
“What do you need?”
Tasha looked around the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and the cupboards. There wasn’t much.
“You guys really don’t eat at home, do you?”
“I eat out a lot,” Nathan said.
“I eat at the fire station most days,” Kiah replied.
Nathan tensed, waiting for the “ooh” and “aah” from Tasha when she heard his cousin was a firefighter. Only she just pursed her lips and stared at them.
“You’re a firefighter?”
Kiah nodded and grinned. He was used to women being impressed.
“And you’re a businessman,” Tasha said to Nathan. “You two could not have chosen more opposite professions.”
Nathan felt the muscles in his neck relax. Not that what Kiah did wasn’t impressive—even Nathan admitted that it took a brave, or crazy, soul to run into a burning building—but it was nice not to have to listen to some woman wax rhapsodic about it.
Strangely, Kiah also seemed a bit relieved. He followed her around. “Any luck?”
She smiled and met his stare, her eyes twinkling. Nathan stood back and watched, analyzing the sensation. If somehow they decided to go forward with this dual dating thing, he’d have to get used to seeing her with Kiah. He thought about it. He didn’t necessarily feel left out, but he wanted her eyes on him, wanted to see her smile at him that way.
“I can figure something out.” She turned and directed her gaze to Nathan and he felt the full weight of her smile as she brought him into the conversation. “You have eggs. Do you like omelets?”
“Yes,” Kiah answered.
“We have eggs? Fresh?” He looked at his cousin. “Did you buy eggs?”
“No.” Kiah snapped his fingers. “My mom dropped by the other day just as I was heading out. I think she had some bags with her.”
“She’s always hoping one of us will magically learn to cook,” Nathan explained to Tasha.
“I can teach you,” she offered and almost laughed at the appalled looks on both men’s faces. Her stomach rumbled. “Or not. Let me get to work.”
She waved them away and concentrated on putting together a dinner that would satisfy them all.
It wasn’t much but the challenge of cooking a decent meal with minimal ingredients would keep her mind occupied.
She hadn’t been prepared for this. With Cait and Heather, the two men seemed okay with sharing. Heather’s lovers took it a step further and had sex with each other.
Nathan and Kiah didn’t seem to even like each other.
How was this going to work? Was it? Should she just leave? She wasn’t really made for two men. She was definitely more of a picket fence, house in the suburbs with two-point-four kids, or whatever the average was these days, kind of woman.
Somehow she didn’t see either of these men falling into that life.
Still, the dress had chosen them—both of them—maybe she needed to expand her world a little and give this a chance.
She quickly put together an omelet and toast and they all sat down.
Kiah fell on the food like a starving man. Nathan moved a little slower but both expressed their appreciation. They’d gone through most of the meal before anyone spoke.
Finally, Nathan placed his fork down and looked at Tasha.
“So how does this work?”
Kiah’s head came up and he turned his stare to her as well.
“You’re asking me?”
“It is your dress,” Kiah said.
“Well, yes, but I’ve never actually done this before.” Whatever this is, she silently added.
“But your roommate has two boyfriends, right?”
Nathan looked at Kiah. “How do you know that?”
“They were at her house.” He tipped his head toward Tasha.
“Hmm.” Nathan’s lower lip bulged out just slightly as he thought and Tasha had the insane urge to lean over and bite it but that was for later. Maybe. “How does it work for them?” he asked. The analytical businessman side of his personality was fully in control.
“Well, they spend a lot of time together—all three of them—but then, Cain and Paxson are lovers.”
Kiah and Nathan each reared back in their chairs.
“No way.”
“Not happening.”
“Oh no.” Tasha shook her head. “I wasn’t even thinking that. My friend Cait dates two men and they aren’t lovers and it’s perfectly fine.”
“You have another friend who does this?” Nathan’s mouth hung open a little.
Kiah laughed. “Damn, baby. I thought my friends were a little kinky because they are into the whole spanking scene—”
Her cheeks heated up as she remembered the light taps Kiah had given her ass.
“But it’s nothing compared to this.”
“It’s the dress.” She slumped a little in her chair. “It seems to inspire this kind of thing.” She thought about her mother and quickly pushed the idea from her mind.
“Well, I’m not sure about the whole ‘three on a date’ thing,” Nathan said. He reached out and covered Tasha’s hand with his own. “I’d like to spend time with you, alone.”
The heat from his touch and the hunger that flared in his eyes flowed into her core and she had to bite her lip to keep from whimpering.
“So would I,” Kiah added, his voice sharp and penetrating the sensual haze that Nathan’s caress had created.
The corner of Nathan’s mouth kicked up as if he was pleased to irritate his cousin. He slid his hand away and sat up taller in his chair.
“Then we will need a schedule after all. Times when we both get to see her.” He looked at Tasha. “Based on your approval, of course.” He didn’t really wait for a response. “A month out would be good.”
Kiah shook his head. “No, my schedule changes too much. We’ll do weekly.”
“I can’t plan with a weekly schedule. I have events coming up.”
“Oh don’t worry. I’ll keep Tasha company while you’re out at boring business parties.”
Nathan’s eyes narrowed. “I’m hoping she’ll be my date.”
Butterflies erupted in her stomach. Nathan wanted her to be his date. At work functions? Jason usually told her not to bother, it would be too boring, uninteresting. Now she realized he’d been hiding her.
After one night, Nathan seemed willing to take her into public. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that and—
Even as her mind raced, she realized Nathan and Kiah had made a decision.
She blinked and looked at the two men. “I’m sorry, what?”
“We’ll block out a month in advance, but adjust on a weekly basis to accommodate the firebug here.”
Instead of being offended by the nickname, Kiah grinned. He looked at Tasha and winked.
“What can I say? I like things hot.”
She smiled but didn’t get a chance to respond.
“Speaking of that…what about sex?” Nathan asked.
Tasha jumped a little at the word.
“W-what about it?”
Arrogance flirted at the edge of Nathan’s gaze. “Are you going to sleep with both of us? One of us?”
“Uhh—”
“Don’t put so much pressure on her.”
“I’m not.” Nathan met her stare. He was dead serious about this. “I just think if we discuss things ahead of time, we’re less likely to piss each other off later.”
“So, what do you expect?” Kiah peered at Nathan. “If I sleep with her, the next date you get to? What if she doesn’t want to?”
Tasha felt like she was having an out-of-body experience.
“Maybe we just shouldn’t have sex,” she heard herself say, then she clamped her lips together so nothing else stupid would escape.
Both men froze. They looked at each other then turned to her. Confidence built as she stared at them.
“Well, we fell into bed together the first time pretty fast. Maybe we should just take a step back on that part of our relationship for a bit.”
She faced them down, waiting for some protest. The muscles along Kiah’s jaw rippled as if he was clenching and unclenching his teeth.
Finally, Nathan nodded. “All right. I agree. No sex.”
“Fine,” Kiah said. At least she was pretty sure that’s what he said since he didn’t open his teeth.
“Fine,” she agreed, her stomach dropping a bit.
“But what constitutes sex?” Kiah asked. He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m all right with taking it slow, but no way am I not going to get some sort of access to the gorgeous body.”
Tasha blinked and her spine involuntarily straightened. Her mind divided into two camps—one, that Kiah and Nathan assumed they were the final decision on sex and two, Kiah thought she had a gorgeous body? That fact diminished her irritation about the first issue.
“I agree on that,” Nathan said. “I’d say touching and kissing allowed but nothing that specifically drives toward orgasm.”
Kiah shrugged. “I guess I can live with that. Tasha?”
“Huh? Oh—” Her mind was still pondering the idea that both men seemed to like her body. She raced to catch up with the conversation. Touching…kissing…orgasms. All of that sounded good to her. Both men stared intently at her. “Sure. Okay. Let’s do that.”
Chapter Six
Dear Diary,
What was I thinking?
Tasha resisted the urge to slam the cast-iron skillet onto the stove. Instead she took a deep breath, rolled her shoulders back and carefully placed it on the burner, cranking up the heat below it.
Her hands curled into fists as the warmth radiated from the range top. Like I need more heat, she thought. It had been a month. Exactly. One month and she was about to go insane.
Not that a month was that long to go without sex. She’d gone years before and survived quite nicely. But then she hadn’t been dating two men who insisted on being sweet and sexy and touching her and kissing her, taking her to the point of coming before pulling back.
If she hadn’t seen the frustration on both men’s faces she would have thought it was all a joke. At first, they’d appeared confident, a little arrogant—as if every smile told her she’d brought this on herself.
But Tasha had noticed a definite shift in the past week. Tension hummed through every conversation, every dinner. Instead of long, teasing make-out sessions like she’d grown used to, three nights ago, Kiah had kissed her good night on the doorstep and walked away. The kiss had just about melted her toenail polish off but still, it had just been one kiss.
The only thing that had kept her from whimpering was the stiff way he’d walked to the car.
And Nathan, he’d done exactly as he’d said—taken Tasha to several business dinners and a charity event. He’d been the perfect companion and gentleman until he got her home, and then he’d lavished wicked attention on her breasts to the point that just thinking his name made her nipples hard.
The pan started to smoke and Tasha realized she’d taken a mental vacation. It happened a lot these days. Had to be the build-up of arousal. Somehow the phrase “nothing that drives toward orgasm” came to mean “no orgasms”.
The topic had come up when Kiah had suggested she masturbate for him. He’d claimed that wouldn’t qualify as “sex”, but for reasons she couldn’t imagine, he’d called Nathan to approve it. Nathan had shot down the idea.
Somehow, and she still wasn’t sure how, that had translated into no orgasms at all, even on her own.
Tasha hadn’t taken that lightly. She’d told Nathan and Kiah, if she couldn’t, they couldn’t. She was pretty sure they’d been following through with that, based on the surly attitudes that were more and more familiar.
She placed the chicken breast in the pan. The sizzle immediately crackled and she smiled. Cooking had become her distraction. Her freezer had never been so full. She put the other two breasts into the pan beside the first. It was more than she and Nathan would eat but she’d make up a plate for Kiah and have Nathan take it to him. She knew Kiah ate well at the firehouse but he seemed to enjoy her cooking.
Last night she and Kiah were supposed to have gone out but he’d gotten called in. Tonight, she had Nathan.
With Heather in Vegas helping her men pack up and move, Tasha had the house to herself and had decided to invite Nathan over. She’d cooked for him a few times at his place but she liked her own kitchen. And despite having “real food” in their house now, they didn’t have most of the staples that she did.
“Hmm, that smells good,” Nathan commented from the table where she had him tearing up lettuce for the salad, trying to slowly expand his nonexistent cooking skills.
“I hope you like it. I kind of modified—” The doorbell rang, interrupting her explanation. “I’ll go get that. Can you watch these?” She handed him the tongs. “Turn them in about thirty seconds.”
Nathan looked at his watch and she knew he would time it exactly. She kissed his cheek and wiped her hands on a towel as she left the kitchen and headed into the living room.
Peering through the beveled glass at the side of the door, she saw a man standing on the other side. Uh-oh. Nathan was not going to like this.
She opened the door and smiled at Kiah. “Hi.”
“Hi.” He stepped forward, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling him against her as he leaned down and covered her lips in a hot, deep kiss that made her head spin.
When he finally lifted his head, colors swirled inside her brain. She blinked, hoping they would disappear. “What are you doing here?”
“I missed last night so I wanted to make it up to you.”
“Nathan’s here,” she pointed out.
“I know.” He gave her another quick kiss then stepped back and closed the door. “I brought wine. Didn’t know if we were having chicken or beef.” He held up a woven bag that looked weighted down with several bottles.
“What makes you think you’re going to stay or that I’m going to feed you?” she asked though she knew she would. Kiah was difficult to stay mad at.
“Because you wouldn’t leave a poor man starving. I know you.”
He stalked across the living room and pushed open the kitchen door just as Nathan called out.
“Babe, I flipped them but I’m not sure if—” He looked up and saw Kiah. “Great.”
“What’s for dinner?”
“Nothing. It’s my night.”
“Not fair. I missed mine last night.”
“Too bad.”
Tasha moved past them and took the tongs out of Nathan’s hand, turning down the heat and adding wine and garlic to the pan. Steam and sizzle filled the air. Both men stopped and stared as if the sound captivated them. She was pretty sure neither of them had been allowed in the kitchen when they were younger.
She swirled the liquid around the pan and then slipped it into the oven. Recognizing that the room was quiet behind her—and hoping it wasn’t because they had their hands around each other’s throats—she slowly turned around.
Both men stood, similar poses, arms folded across chests, heads tilted to the side—Nathan to the right, Kiah left—staring at her.
She shook her head. “I am not making this decision.” She wiped her hands on her apron, took it off and tossed it on the counter. “I’m going upstairs to get out of my work clothes.” She’d been running late and hadn’t had time to change before Nathan had shown up.
She stood on her tiptoes and was grateful that Nathan bent a little to meet her. She placed a quick kiss on his lips. “Keep going on the salad. Chop some carrots when you’re done with the lettuce.”
She took a step to the left, still up on her toes and kissed Kiah. “If you’re staying, start peeling potatoes. They go in that pot of water. I’ll be back down in a few minutes.”
With much more confidence than she felt, she nodded to both men and left the kitchen. She was not going to be the mediator in their little battle.
She only hoped that when she came downstairs, both men were still standing.
Nathan glared at Kiah.
Kiah glared back then he finally sighed and looked away. “Fine, I’ll go. I just got off shift and didn’t have anyone to hang with. No worries. I’ll leave.”
The words came out casually but a faint tension vibrated beneath his cousin’s voice. Nathan knew that tone. Something had happened on the job. Kiah saw a lot of things at work that he didn’t talk about. And Nathan had never been the best confidant. He tried but he’d never experienced what Kiah had—had never watched a house burn down or not been able to save a child from a burning hotel. That single event had just about killed Kiah.
And Nathan was pretty sure the memory haunted his cousin.
Tasha’s gentle heart and sweet disposition were probably just what Kiah needed tonight. She could probably soothe his emotional wounds but damn it, call it selfishness, but Nathan didn’t want to leave.
The kitchen door had already swung shut behind Kiah before Nathan made a decision.
“Hez, wait.” Nathan followed his cousin into the living room, dropping instinctively into the childhood nickname. “She made plenty and I really hate peeling potatoes.”
