By the Book Page 7

  So we didn’t look each other in the eyes, but a few times I watched what his hands did to see the results. Maybe he did the same as I slipped a hand past the waistband of her underwear. I pulled her head back to expose her collarbone. Before he dipped his head to taste it, was it her eyes he studied—or the fingers tangled in her hair?

  It’s time, the disembodied voice that somehow wasn’t me, inside my head, said. Daniel barely touched Georgia’s breasts, fingertips threatening to lift a slightly-displaced cup away from her skin. More practiced, I unsnapped the clasp behind her, and the instant the fabric went slack, he found an already stiff nipple against his hand and a helpless moan at the back of her throat.

  I tugged the bra free and dropped it behind me over the edge of the bed, and the shift in my weight drew her attention.

  “Reece?” The first clear, enunciated word she’d spoken in a lifetime and it was my name. She twisted a hand behind her back, laid it on my thigh. “You should get these off.”

  For a reason I couldn’t fathom, Daniel was the one I looked at. When our eyes met, his brows lifted and the corner of his mouth twitched in the threat of a smirk. Very well. You get to fuck her first. And whatever else he saw in me required his full attention for a few heart-stopping seconds, chilling my blood despite most of it being diverted somewhere a bit farther south.

  He blinked, lowered his mouth to Georgia’s again, mercifully occupying himself with something other than me.

  He’d been waiting to see if I would undress. And of course I would. I had to. Georgia and I had fucked with most of our clothes still on, on many an occasion, but here? Now? It wouldn’t be much of a threesome if anything remained against skin but someone else’s body.

  And Daniel had paused to see if I’d be able to undress not only with him in the room, but with him watching.

  Though my head spun, my heart thumped, and my hands trembled, there was one part of me that made nakedness, a condom, and getting inside Georgia a priority. Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, went round and round my head, but not enough to give me performance anxiety. If anything, the dizziness, the increased heart rate, the tremors were all a result of anticipation, not fear.

  I hauled my jeans and shorts off as quickly as I could, not giving myself time to think about anything I shouldn’t think about, and turned away to open the bedside table drawer.

  Just get the damned thing on, Hutton. You can do this. You can do this.

  Talking myself through it worked. As long as I didn’t think about undressing with Daniel there. Getting a condom on with him less than a foot away. Fucking my girlfriend with his hands on her.

  “Reece…” She moaned another’s name into Daniel’s kiss, and I ached for her even more, wondering if I appeared schoolboy amateurish in my attempt to get her finally, completely naked.

  Georgia’s body was there for us to play with, and yet she played us both, hooking one ankle back over my leg, curving an arm round Daniel’s neck and pulling him closer.

  At least he wasn’t looking at me while I pushed into Georgia, teasing her soaking wet pussy with only the first couple of inches. I wanted to ask if it was me or Daniel or both of us who had that effect on her, but it took all my concentration to hold her hip in place as she tried to rock back against me.

  Usually in this position she reached back for my thigh, a hand, anything to get some kind of control over how fast I moved, how deep the angle. But as soon as her arm twitched, as soon as her hand lifted off Daniel, he wrapped a hand round her wrist and fought to bring it back to him.

  The tension from wrist to shoulder told me she resisted, but against Daniel there was no point. No chance.

  He broke their kiss, and I stopped, waiting to see what he’d say or do.

  But nothing. Nothing except a quick glance at me and all my nervousness wasn’t there anymore and I didn’t know why. I parted my lips as I pushed into Georgia another inch, and even when she moaned, he didn’t look at her. He watched me. Not the hand on Georgia’s hip to hold her steady. Not the knee nudging her leg up to allow me more control. My eyes.

  And the moment died, as did Georgia’s pretense of not wanting Daniel’s hand on her. She gave and fell against him, a hand in his hair pulling him closer.

  He muttered something, a muffled few words against her face, and she nodded. She pushed back against me, or at least her hips tried to; her muscles tensed, but I held her still.

  “Do you?” he murmured. Again she nodded, and he laughed. A quiet huff of laughter against her face, and his hand came to rest on her waist, the backs of his fingers grazing my abs when I pushed all the way into Georgia.

  I gasped and let the three of us believe it was a reaction to being inside her. It had happened many times before, but no one who saw her naked would ever treat the hundredth time as any less electrifying than the first.

  Not every time had Daniel as a witness.

  Being inside her with one hand on her hip, his hand close enough to make contact if I moved a certain way, threw my concentration. The only thing I could do was try to move him away without touching him, to lie down behind Georgia, slip my arm under hers, fingertips nestling against the ridge of her collarbone. And pull her toward me that way. Using her as a barrier.

  The presence on the other side of that barrier didn’t stop the inevitable. Couldn’t stop Georgia rolling her hips just the way I liked at exactly the right speed to push me toward orgasm.

  That presence didn’t distract me enough to stop me getting closer every time Georgia pushed back against me, tightening her pussy, and God, I can never work out how you do that—

  No matter what he did—cupped her breast with one hand, his touch skirting mine, cradled her head, kissed her, bringing himself inches away from me again—he couldn’t distract her body from its natural rhythm. Its responses to me.

  I was here first, Daniel, something in the back of my mind said. I know how to make her come.

  But it would have been stupid, pointless, nonsensical for him not to kiss her the way he did. Deep, slow kisses that hollowed his cheeks, made her strain up for more. More of whatever he was doing with his tongue, and—

  “Fuck.” I saw them stiffen at my word and hissed in a desperate breath, hoped they’d take it as random loss of control rather than anything serious. A result of what I felt, not what I saw.

  Close your eyes, Reece.

  Nuzzling the back of her neck, I breathed her in—lemon-scented shampoo, grapefruit body lotion, and the specter of someone else, the echo of his kisses still lingering in the scent of his cologne, the redness his stubble left on her skin.

  “Oh God.” It was a breath meant only for her, but he probably heard it too. The way her pussy tightened around my cock was all mine though. And he wouldn’t get to feel it.

  Yet.

  When he did, she’d still be shuddering from the aftershocks of the spine-bending orgasm I’d send tearing through her body.

  She was close. I felt it. I knew. Which meant I’d be close behind, but before Georgia let go, before she shattered, Daniel had to be ready to take over.

  Summoning reserves of self-control I didn’t know I had, I pulled her with me, and the sudden pressure shocked Georgia into following when I leaned back.

  Daniel broke off the kiss, lifted his head, and questioned me with a glance, but I turned away.

  “Reece?” Georgia’s voice, more confident, assertive, unafraid of demanding I explain.

  One hand trapped under her, I had to unwrap the other arm from around her front and use that to reach back, fiddle with the bedside cabinet drawer.

  “Oh God.” I followed the mutter with a curse under my breath, glaring at the ceiling and gritting my teeth as I struggled. Soon rewarded, I grasped the foil packet when my fingers made contact, not wanting to let go of it or the woman I was still inside.

  Or my orgasm, only a few strokes away now if only I could hold on, hold on, hold on.

  Righting myself—or at least returning us both to our forme
r position—I looked at Daniel, relieved his eyes weren’t fixed on me this time, but the foil square I held out to him. “Well?”

  His gaze lifted then, and his lips parted as if to say something. Silence, though. Nothing. Nothing but the tip of his tongue moistening that bottom lip a millisecond before he took the condom, his eyebrows quirking in…God, I didn’t know. It could have been amusement or something else entirely. Either way, obedience was there. A quick, silent nod and he rolled onto his back, condom packet held between his lips as he lifted his hips to haul off his jeans and shorts.

  “Reece?” Georgia’s voice a tentative whisper now, and I silenced her with a kiss on the side of her neck.

  A kiss and a question. “You want him?” I knew she did. The shudder that ran through her told me everything. The epicenter was the spot at the nape of her neck, between her shoulder blades. Not her pussy, even though she tightened around every stroke. Even though she gasped every time I moved inside her.

  Clothing on Daniel took a jingle, an unzipping, a shuffle to fall away, but I didn’t look, giving Georgia all my conscious attention. I couldn’t remember touching her below the waist before now, and as soon as my fingertips brushed her clit, she jerked back.

  “Tell me.”

  She made a throaty noise I supposed was affirmative. But it wasn’t enough. I wanted to hear it.

  “You want him?”

  Daniel’s weight shifted. He growled something from the back of his throat. Foil ripped, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold off much longer.

  “Yes.”

  “You have to come for me first, Georgia.”

  Daniel moved closer. Put a hand to her face. Watched what I was doing to her. I wished I could have seen her face and I could have pulled her round, twisted her round to kiss me, but whatever expression was on her face right then held him enraptured. Fingertips tangled in her hair, he stared at her as I fucked her, trying not to look at him, utterly naked, his cock so damn hard and ready to fuck her as soon as I—

  “Georgia, I’m gonna—”

  “I’m—”

  I knew. And Daniel knew as well. Somehow. The desperation in her voice must have told him. It wasn’t unique to translation by the man who knew her best. He knew she was an instant away from coming, and silenced her gasp with a kiss, pulling her to him as her pussy tightened around me, each ripple more forceful than the last until it got to be too much and Daniel or no, she felt too damned good not to let myself go.

  “Oh God, oh God, Georgia, I—” Spine arching, I threw my head back and came, ears ringing with a growl almost like a roar, which I didn’t realize was mine until I fell, helpless, onto my back, still inside her.

  “Oh God. That was…” Breathlessness cut her off.

  And Daniel took over. A quiet laugh. He nodded as I looked at him, my eyes heavy-lidded with exhaustion. “Yeah. Well whatever it was, we’re not finished yet. Not by a long shot.” His gaze flicked from her to me. “My turn, I believe?”

  Past embarrassment—or made temporarily so by satiation—I let my lips curve into a lazy smile. “Be my guest.” Holding on to Georgia’s hip, I pulled away gently, listening for the gentle catch of breath she always gave. Satisfied we may have been, but she never liked me pulling out so soon after she came.

  Never mind; you have someone right here to take my place, I nearly said out loud.

  But didn’t.

  I dropped a kiss on her shoulder, ran a hand down her thigh. Pulled it up by the knee and lifted my glance to Daniel. Bold now, I hooked Georgia’s leg around his waist, and he smirked.

  “Georgia?” Tracing the lines of her again, from thigh, past the dip of her waist, back up to the curve of her breast, I whispered in her ear, “Georgia? I’ll be right back.”

  “I’ll be all right,” she whispered, her voice thick with lust, the orgasm I’d brought her to receding to make room for the next. “Daniel’s gonna take care of me. Aren’t you?” She wrapped her arms around his waist, and he laughed quietly. Looked at me.

  “Damn right I will.”

  And I wasn’t sure if that was for my benefit or hers, but it made me shiver.

  Though it was his gaze that held me, I still caught a glimpse of the way his hips moved, the way his hand gripped her waist. I knew what he was doing, and her breathy sigh confirmed it. Not a moan or anything as throaty as that. A sigh in response to him sliding into her easily. Made ready by me, or just that damned turned on, ready she was.

  “I won’t be long.” Turning to move off the bed, I had my back to Daniel when he spoke again, but I still heard.

  “Neither will I if she keeps moving like that.”

  And she laughed at this conversation about her, conducted around her. She laughed, and her laughter followed me out of the room, down the hall.

  In the bathroom, I got rid of the condom, rubbed my eyes with both hands, ruffled my hair, stared at my reflection. Flushed, perspiring, a bit like any other time I’d, well, fucked Georgia. There was no other word for it. Threesomes weren’t about making love. They were about using each other to get off. Bringing in a third for variety. The novelty of it.

  And by the sounds of things, they’re enjoying each other pretty well.

  I splashed my face with cold water, dried off, laughed at my instinct to finger comb my hair back into place again. Who the hell was I trying to impress? The pair of them had already seen me naked, horny, covered in sweat, at and past the point of orgasm. As vulnerable as it was for any man to get in front of anyone else.

  Whatever he did to her worked, given the volume of her moans now. Desperate, throaty cries for Jesus and God and all the profanities they’d frown upon.

  And though it was my home, my girlfriend, a feeling of guilt washed over me as if I listened to something I shouldn’t have been witness to. As if the only right thing to do was turn around, occupy myself with a shower or something until they were done.

  But I had no idea how long Daniel could go on. And it sounded like, no matter how close Georgia was again so soon, he had no intention of stopping when she came.

  Oh so this is a competition, is it, Cross?

  Wondering why I felt guilty, I crept—and wondered why I crept—to the bedroom doorway. This was my house, my bedroom, my bed, my Georgia.

  The floorboards creaked when I stepped into the room, but I didn’t expect either of them to notice, being so wrapped up in each other. Georgia, ankles locked together behind Daniel’s back, his perspiring shoulders—fucking hell, those shoulders—rippling with exertion. And the great tragedy of fucking someone like Daniel Cross was that magnificent tattoo wouldn’t be visible.

  But it was to me. Oh yes. It definitely was to me.

  Whether his exertion was needed to fuck her that hard or to hold back from giving it to her any harder, I didn’t know, but it was enough to make her cry out and lose her voice midscream.

  When she came, he still didn’t stop. I hovered in the doorway, one hand on the door handle, the other on the wall, needing something against which to brace myself. Something to keep me upright. I could have joined them on the bed and been totally welcome. I could have kissed Georgia, let my tongue taste the dying moans of this orgasm, let my hands whisper promises of the next, but this was somehow Daniel and Georgia, no Reece. Just those two.

  Daniel didn’t stop. He whispered something in her ear, likely a request for reassurance that she was fine, but he kept moving inside her. Back. And slamming in again, hard enough to deepen his own breathing.

  As I watched, Georgia’s hands claw at his ink-covered back, the nails digging in where a tattooist’s needle had gone before. I wasn’t sure which demanded more of my attention: her painted nails or his painted skin.

  Tension rippled up his biceps when he propped himself up on his forearms, seconds away from orgasm, tendons in his neck cording and jaw tightening as if in pain.

  “Oh God, you…” He growled something, not at Georgia. Not even at me. Just something he had to say at the instant he c
ame.

  Panting, face flushed and glistening with perspiration, he dipped his head to kiss the top of Georgia’s. A pause and he lifted his head again. He shifted his weight and looked directly at me with more focus in his gaze than I’d have expected from a man who’d just had an orgasm, one which likely still rippled down his spine.

  The deep, shuddering breath told me he was more concerned about coming down than bothered about my presence.

  The way his eyebrows lifted told me he’d known I’d return and stop, wait in the doorway as if I encroached on his territory. Not aloof. Not even territorial. Closer to Ah, there you are. I’ve been expecting you.

  But there was so much more unsaid in the way he maintained eye contact even as he ran his fingers through Georgia’s hair.

  And that smirk, the way the corners of his mouth merely threatened to curve told me my presence didn’t unsettle him. It wasn’t unwelcome. It was expected. And it was exactly what he wanted.

  Chapter Six

  A few days later, through a combination of texts exchanged while we were both at our respective workplaces, Georgia and I arranged to meet up and eat out that evening. Our schedules had clashed somewhat after the latest threesome, leaving little opportunity for an autopsy, and we’d barely had any time together.

  Neither of us could be bothered cooking, and I got the feeling from the tone of Georgia’s messages that she wanted this to be one of our “look what we’ve done; aren’t we daring” evenings out to mark another step taken along the path of depravity.

  It didn’t take us long to choose a Chinese restaurant in the city center; we’d been there before, knew the staff by name, enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. None of that was important though. What mattered was the near certainty we’d snag a secluded booth at the back of the room, claim it for our own, and use the resultant privacy to discuss what we hadn’t articulated in any of our texts.

  “How was work?” I asked, slipping an arm round her waist, giving it a squeeze. She’d got there before me but not gone in; the two of us liked to make an entrance. And it was polite to wait for the other to arrive.