Текст книги "One Wicked Night"

Автор книги: Kelly Jamieson

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Текущая страница: 12 (всего у книги 14 страниц)

Chapter Fifteen

Friday night Tyler walked into the apartment. He’d done the happy hour networking thing after work for a couple of hours while Nick—the numbers guy, not the people guy like Tyler was—went to the gym to work out. Nick still wasn’t home, the apartment was empty. Tyler yanked at the tie around his neck, but stopped at the fridge for another beer before changing.

What a fucking brutal week. He and Nick were still at odds over the Healthy Solutions contract and they had to make a decision by Monday one way or the other. They’d dicked around long enough. Other problems had come up and Tyler knew he wasn’t able to deal with them with his usual quick decisiveness. He was distracted and restless and grouchy. His neck and shoulders were killing him. He was going to have to make an appointment to see his massage therapist. Nick hadn’t been offering to do the massage he often did. And that was another thing that was fucking with Tyler’s head. He hated that things between him and Nick were strained.

He guzzled down some of the beer, flipped through the mail. Bills. Crap. He tossed them onto the desk. He rubbed the back of his neck. He’d thought once he’d had it out with his parents things were supposed to be better. Ha.

A knock at the door startled him. What…? Did Nick forget his keys or something?

He strode to the door and flung it open.

Kaelin stood there.

He stared at her. She gazed back at him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Nice greeting.” She stood there in a pretty pink flowered sundress and flip-flops, her purse slung over her shoulder. “I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by.”

He regarded her dumbly. “You were?”

She bit her lip, starting to look a little uncertain. Then he noticed that her fingers on the strap of her purse were shaking. Just a little. “No,” she whispered.

“Come in.” He stood aside to let her into the apartment.

She walked in and looked around. “Nice place,” she said, standing in the middle of the living room. The older building had been recently renovated, the oak hardwood floors refinished, the original creamy brick walls cleaned and new windows installed in the arched frames looking out onto the tree-lined street.

“Thanks. It’s a lot better than the dump we lived in during college. How’d you know where we live?”

“Avery gave me your address.”

“Ah.”

She turned to face him, looking so pretty and fragile, her slender calves bare beneath the hem of the dress, curvy arms revealed by the narrow straps. Her breasts rose and fell as she breathed in shallow breaths. Her eyes flickered. Again, they both just stared at each other in thick, sticky silence.

“Uh, want a beer?”

“Sure.”

Her answer surprised him. She didn’t seem like a beer-drinking kind of girl. When he said so, walking to the small galley kitchen, she replied, “Beer reminds me of that summer we were hanging out.”

Hanging out. Yeah. They’d been hanging out. Having fun. Falling in love.

Christ. He closed his eyes, one hand on the handle of the fridge door, then yanked it open and pulled out another beer.

“Nick’s not home?” she asked.

He found a glass and handed her the beer and the glass. “No. He’s at the gym.”

“Oh. Yeah, I could tell he’s been working out a lot.”

“He should be home soon. Ah, have a seat.” He gestured to the big leather sectional.

She perched on the edge of the couch, her purse on the floor, her beer clasped in both hands. Awareness sparked between them. He wanted to grab her and pull her onto his lap and kiss the breath out of her.

“So. You gonna tell me why you’re really here?”

“Okay. I just wanted you to know that…” Her voice went low and throaty. “I just wanted you to know that you didn’t have to be mad at me for telling your parents the truth. Even if you were just mad because…” She stopped and swallowed. “Because you were worried about me, you don’t have to be. Because I’m fine. And I wanted you to know that. To know that I’d already been thinking about leaving Mapleglen, and if I do, someday, it won’t be because of that. It’ll be because I want to.”

He watched her, listened to her, his gut tight, her bravery and courage making his heart turn over in his chest and ache. Christ, she was special.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, Kaelin.”

She regarded him warily. “Sorry for what?”

He sighed, bent his head, the words stuck in his throat. “I’m sorry for what I did. I’m sorry for what I said. I’m sorry I keep acting like an asshole, especially to you.”

Waves of silence had him lifting his head to peer at her. Her face shone with trails of silvery tears, her bottom lip full and quivery.

“Fuck!” He slammed his beer onto the coffee table and shifted across the couch toward her. “Don’t cry! Jesus, I did it again!” She came into his arms willingly, her body slender and trembling against his. He pressed her wet face to his shoulder. “I’m sorry, sweet baby, I’m so sorry.”

“Why did you do it?” she asked, her voice muffled in his dress shirt. “Why did you want to hurt me that way? That night…”

“You mean with Tracy?”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t want to hurt you. I just wanted you to know the truth about me.”

“What truth? That you like to tie girls up?”

“Yeah. That. But mostly just that I was no good for you.”

“Oh, Tyler.” She sighed. “If you weren’t interested, you should have just told me that.”

He snorted. “No shit. Would’ve saved myself and Nick a whole helluva lot of grief if we hadn’t done that, that night. How was I supposed to know Tracy was going to freak out like that? Telling you would have been the smart thing to do, but I never claimed to be that smart. And besides, I was interested in you.”

She lifted her head and gazed at him with big, wet, questioning eyes. He eased a strand of hair off her face. “But I was still no good for you,” he said. “I was in trouble more often than not. I did like to tie up girls. I did like to screw around with Nick. I was so messed up.”

She closed her eyes and looked as if someone was breaking her fingers. “You’re such an idiot, Tyler.”

“I know. I fucked up a lot of things. Believe me, I know.”

He brushed a kiss over her mouth, that soft, sweet mouth. Her lips parted. Their eyes met. Their breath mingled. His eyes closed as he moved in for another kiss, long, slow and warm. One hand slid over her hip, rested on her waist, the other smoothed over her jaw, rubbing away the tears. A wave of such intense pleasure and heat washed over him, he groaned into her mouth.

He deepened the kiss, slid his hand into her silky hair and cupped the back of her head, his tongue sliding inside her mouth in slow strokes, tasting her. She tasted sweet, so sweet, the sweetest girl he’d ever known, but he also knew she was more than just sweet, she was as dark and deep as he was. It was the difference between vanilla soft-serve and the extra dark Scharffen Berger chocolate he loved.

She kissed him back, her mouth opening to him, her tongue rubbing on his, making small moaning noises in her throat, trembling in his arms. She pressed her whole body into him, especially soft breasts against his chest. She wrapped her arms around his head and held on, and they kissed, endless, long, drugging tongue kisses.

“Kaelin,” he whispered, his cheek pressed to hers. “Christ, Kaelin. You scare the crap out of me.”

He felt her smile and she rubbed her face against his beard stubble. “The big bad boy is scared,” she murmured, fingers drifting across his shoulders, into his hair, sending pleasure cascading down his body.

“Oh hell yeah. I’ve never…I don’t know what this is,” he said. “Seriously, Kaelin.” He rested his forehead against hers, eyes closed. “I can’t stop thinking about you. I can’t stop aching for you. I don’t know what to do about it.”

“I don’t know either,” she whispered. “But I know I feel the same. That’s why I’m here.”

He groaned again and slipped a hand beneath her legs, then stood with her in his arms. Her fingers dug into his shoulders and he strode from the living room into the short hall and into his bedroom. The blinds were still down, shutting out the evening sun, the room cool and dim. He let her feet slide to the floor, stood her in front of him and, watching her face, slowly drew the straps of her dress down her arms then pushed the bodice down to her waist. She stood before him, letting him study her, with his eyes, with his hands. He slid his hands across her shoulders, brushed over her collarbones, traced his fingertips over the curve of flesh above the edge of her hot pink lace bra.

“Very nice,” he murmured, lowering his gaze to her smooth stomach. His hands slid down her sides, the inward curve of her waist, the swell of her hips, pushing the dress as he went until it slid past her hips and fell to the floor.

She tugged on his loosened tie. “This is very sexy,” she murmured. “Very businesslike.”

She unbuttoned his shirt and parted it to kiss his throat, her lips soft and warm. Her mouth moved lower as she unfastened each button, one by one, kiss by kiss. He started to go down, or maybe up, up in flames, especially when she reached his quivering abs and began tugging the shirt from his pants. And licked. Jesus. Christ. She licked his stomach, his bellybutton, while she opened his pants and reached inside.

He was hard, throbbing hard, and her hand closing over him sent heat racing through his veins in scorching pulses. The stroke of her hand on him had a harsh tremor shaking his body and then she went lower still, to her knees in front of him, tugging his pants down, her hands caressing his thighs. More heat rushed through his body and his brain cells started sizzling and popping. He was pretty sure that’s what that noise was.

“Kaelin,” he croaked, his fingers in her hair, sifting through the silky strands. And then her mouth closed over the head of his cock and he made some kind of unintelligible, embarrassing noise that almost sounded like a sob.

Scorching wet heat surrounded him, her little tongue rubbing and teasing, her mouth sucking and sliding on him. More noises escaped him, his fingers tightened in her hair. Electric thrills raced from his balls up his spine and he clenched his teeth to try to stop the whimpers in his throat. He looked down at her, her slender nose nearly pressing into his hair there, her eyes closed, her mouth stretched over his girth. Christ she could take him deep. Not all the way, because he was big and she was small, but damn, he was in her throat and she was sucking hungrily on him and making little pleasure noises.

“Damn, that’s good.” He managed to articulate three words. Tried for more. “So good, sweet baby. So, so good. Suck me. Oh yeah.”

She opened her eyes and looked up at him, their gazes snagging and holding, her big brown eyes surrounded by long eyelashes, her cheeks pink. He caressed her cheek with his fingertips, then widened his stance and rolled his pelvis forward in a gentle thrusting motion into her mouth. Her eyes went dark and she let him fuck her mouth. Emotion punched him in the gut, took his breath away, pleasure consumed him, love and lust twisted up inside him. And then she let him slide out of her mouth and with her hand she held his cock up and dipped her head to lick his balls.

He groaned. He was dying and she was taking him down with every flick of her tongue and murmur of appreciation. Heat stabbed at him, his seed boiled in his balls and flames licked over his entire body, centered right there at her little tongue on his testicles. Holy, holy hell.

He grabbed at her hair, tried to pull her head away. “No,” he groaned, though it took everything he had to try to make her stop, so close, so close. Fuck. “Not like this, Kaelin, I want…”

She pulled back and smiled up at him, the sexiest, most seductive smile he’d ever seen. “What? You only have it in you to do this once tonight?”

Damn her.

“Yes,” he growled, and hauled her to her feet. Her lips were shiny and swollen and his body pulsed with urgent need. He kicked his pants and underwear aside, shucked his socks and then stripped her out of her bra and matching panties, sweet Jesus, a tiny hot pink lace triangle held together with a couple of satin ribbons. “Love your underwear, babe,” he muttered, tossing them aside. Her low laugh tugged at his heart.

He fell with her onto his unmade bed, the black sheets and black and gray duvet still tangled from his restless sleep the night before, and tucked her under him, hands fisted in her long hair, holding her head while he kissed her, over and over, pressed her into the mattress, rolling his hips against hers, his cock hard and thick between them. If he didn’t get inside her soon, he was going to regret not staying in her mouth, because he was starting to think if she laid a finger on him he was going to come all over her. He wanted to be inside her, and then regret crashed over him as he realized he needed a condom. He could have cried, and actually stopped kissing her to rest his forehead on hers and gasp for air, fighting for a last vestige of control.

“What?”

“Condom.”

“Oh.” She sounded like she might cry too.

“Got one. S’okay, baby. Just need…a…sec…” When he thought he’d gotten the throbbing, so close to the surface, so dangerously close, reduced just a bit, he rolled off her and off the bed. Top drawer, he scrabbled in there among a lot of accumulated junk, found them and ripped one open on his way back to the bed. She watched him with glowing eyes and parted lips, watched him sheathe his aching cock with trembling fingers.

Then he fell back onto her, covered her body with his and kissed her face, everywhere, her mouth, her cheek, her eyebrow, her temple. He inhaled the scent of her, that honeysuckle and apple scent he’d never forget after just one weekend, wanted to inhale all of her, to take her inside him and just hold her there forever.

“Kaelin. Kaelin. I need you.”

“I know. I need you too.” Her hands wandered up and down his back, pulling him close as they kissed again, as he sucked on her tongue, nipped at her lips. Heat and pressure built inside him.

He went to his knees, spread wide, found her soft center, so wet and hot, and pushed inside her in a dizzying surge. He held her waist, his hands big on her small body, as he rocked into her deeper, deeper, pleasure rolling over him in hot waves. He looked down at her lying there, so much more beautiful than she’d been at nineteen, that summer, a woman now who’d had time to learn what she wanted from life, or maybe she was just now figuring it out, and he wanted to give it to her, all of it, everything. He’d never felt like this before.

He moved over her, still rolling his hips against her in a slow surge-and-drag rhythm, took his weight on his elbows and slid his hands into her hair, pressing his face to hers, whispering her name. She held on to his shoulders and lifted into him, meeting each stroke, her soft whimpers in his ear. It was intoxicating, crazy and sexy and burning hot, as he moved in her, giving it all to her, everything he had. For the first time in his life, he wanted to say the words, wanted to tell her how he felt, but it was too soon, and he was still too afraid, still so afraid that if he said it he wouldn’t hear it in return.

But he could show her his feelings, he could tell her how good it was, how sweet she was, he could make her feel so good, and he rose back to his knees and found her clit with his thumb as tingles and pressure built inside him higher and hotter. She gasped his name, and he loved the sound of it, loved how she responded to him, loved the look on her face, dazed and shattered as she came, rippling around his cock, setting off his orgasm too, his shuddering, gasping, mind-melting orgasm. He fell over her again, buried his face in her hair, breathed her in with hard gasps, pulsed inside her in aching bursts of pleasure.

After a long time, a long languorous spell of twined limbs, open-mouthed kisses, slow caresses, they lay side by side, heads on pillows, looking at each other.

“Tell me,” she whispered, touching his mouth with her fingertips.

“I was afraid,” he said, clasping her hand and holding it, kissing her fingers. “All my life. I told you what it was like. I know I didn’t do myself any favors. I know I didn’t make it easy. But I was afraid that even if I did, even if I tried to tell them the truth, it still wouldn’t be good enough. Nobody would care.”

“Tyler.” Her soft brown eyes filled with warmth and what looked like…love. He swallowed.

“You were too good for me,” he continued. “Too nice. I was a jerk. And I kept proving it over and over again.”

“You knew how I was feeling about you.”

“I suspected. But I knew it could never happen. For so many reasons. I’m sorry, Kaelin. You have no idea how sorry I am.”

She nodded.

“When you told my parents that you’d been there that night and stood up for me and Nick…” He closed his eyes, pressed her fingers to his mouth. “I damn near had a heart attack. I was so mad at you for doing that. And then you told them about spending the night with us. Kaelin, you didn’t have to do that. Especially for me.”

“Yes. I did.”

“I was angry,” he said quietly. “I didn’t react very well. I just didn’t think you should have sacrificed yourself for a jerk like me.”

“Tyler, please. I don’t want to hear you say that one more time. You’re not a jerk. You’re not.”

“If you keep telling me enough, I might start believing it.” He smiled at her and got a smile in return. She brushed her fingers through his hair.

“Okay. I will keep telling you. But I’m also going to tell you when you are acting like a jerk.”

“Oh man.” And there it was. All his life he’d acted like a jerk to push people away and she and Nick were the only people in the world who wouldn’t let him get away with that. Somehow she’d gotten inside him, where he never let anyone get. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him. She snuggled into him so warmly, so perfectly, and once more they just lay like that, wrapped in comfort and bliss.

The sound of the apartment door opening and closing caught his ear. Quiet footsteps approached down the hall. Nick. The bedroom door was open and Tyler dragged open heavy eyelids and smoothed his palm over Kaelin’s butt.

Nick paused at the open door to glance in, and stopped. His eyes widened at seeing Kaelin in bed with him. He stared. Tyler started to smile, but something in Nick’s expression had his gut tightening. The moment stretched out, Nick’s eyebrows drawing down, his mouth thinning. “Sorry,” he said quietly. He reached for the door and closed it with a soft snick, leaving Tyler and Kaelin alone.

She stirred against him half asleep and made a noise.

Tyler closed his eyes, the pain he’d seen in Nick’s face like a knife twisting in his back.

Chapter Sixteen

Kaelin barely heard the door close but she felt Tyler go rigid against her. She opened sleepy eyes to look at him. “What’s wrong?”

“Shit.”

She shoved her hair out of her face to lift up and look at him. “Tyler? What?”

“Nick’s home.”

“Oh.” A feeling of pleasure filled her. She’d missed Nick that week too, had longed to see him, to talk to him more. She tried to sit up. “Where’d he go?”

“I don’t know.”

She frowned at him. “Is everything okay?”

“I don’t know.”

He was closing off again, not meeting her eyes, not saying much. “Tyler. Talk to me. What is going on?”

“I think Nick might’ve been…surprised to see you here.”

“Well, yeah.”

“He didn’t look happy about it.”

“Oh.” A pang of disappointment stirred in her. She wasn’t sure how to take that, what to say. She just looked at Tyler with her questions in her eyes.

“He saw us together. He knows…he’s always known how I feel about you.”

“Oh.” Ooooh. Things started coming together in her head. Nick telling her that he loved Tyler. This time the word came out on a sigh. “Oh.” She met Tyler’s eyes. “He loves you.”

Tyler turned away from her, eyes closed again. “Fuck.”

“Tyler.” She grabbed his jaw, turned his head back. “Talk to me.”

“I don’t know what’s going on in his head,” he growled.

“Maybe we should ask him.”

“You’re really gonna be a pain in my ass, aren’t you?” But the wry smile and the warmth in his eyes when he said it reassured her that he wasn’t really angry.

She smiled. “Yeah.”

“Maybe I need to figure out what’s going on in my head, first,” he muttered.

She blew out a soft breath. “And maybe I do too.”

He looked into her eyes. “Kaelin?”

She shrugged. She was bugging him to talk about his feelings, to talk to her and to Nick, to find out what Nick was thinking, but she was just as confused. She’d come to Chicago to see both of them. The whole drive there, she’d been thinking about Tyler, yeah, but about Nick too. She’d gotten past the shame of it, the shame of wanting two men, last weekend when she’d slept with both of them at the same time, she supposed. But now, uncertainty filled her. Nick had told her he wanted her too, even though he’d also told her he loved Tyler. For some reason, coming there to see them, while scary, had seemed like the right thing to do, but now she wondered if she’d only created an even more snarled up tangle of weirdness.

“Nick and I have always…had this thing, you know,” Tyler said.

“Yes.” She nodded, remembering their conversation last weekend in their hotel room.

“I always thought Nick felt different for me than I did for him.”

“He loves you,” she whispered.

He closed his eyes and nodded, his mouth tight.

“But you don’t love him?”

His lips tightened and he looked at her with anguished eyes. A frown tugged at her eyebrows. Her stomach tensed.

“He’s my friend,” Tyler continued, his voice a low rasp. “But more than a friend.”

“Yes.” She knew that. She studied his face, could see he was trying to figure it out even as he tried to explain it to her.

“But I always figured one day maybe I’d meet someone…a woman, you know. Get married, have kids. That’s how I see my life.”

She swallowed through a tight, dry throat and nodded.

“I don’t think Nick sees his life like that,” he said, the words sounding dragged out of him. “And now, when I’m kind of feeling like maybe I have met that woman…”

Her heart stuttered in her chest then raced crazily as he held her gaze.

“I have this crazy sick feeling in my gut. Because…dammit…” He closed his eyes again, his mouth a hard line in his face. “I care about him. He’s stuck with me through everything. He doesn’t take any shit from me. And he loves me anyway. And I don’t want to lose him.” His eyes opened, and she saw the realization there. “Fuck. I do love him.”

She nodded, her mind spinning, her heart thudding painfully.

“That’s not something every woman would get,” Tyler continued, reaching out to touch her cheek. “It’s not something every woman would put up with. Or could handle.”

What was he saying? Was he asking her to handle it? Was he saying he wanted them both in his life?

She took a breath. “There’s something you should know.”

He lifted his eyebrows.

“Ever since you and Nick left Mapleglen, he and I have sort of kept in touch.”

His eyebrows pulled down. “What do you mean ‘sort of kept in touch’?”

She bit her lip briefly. “We’ve emailed back and forth a few times. Not a lot. Just keeping in touch.”

His frown deepened. “Why?”

She stroked a finger over one thick, gold eyebrow, then stroked her fingers through his silky hair. “Because he’s a friend. I…I’ve always liked Nick.” Her stomach tightened and she swallowed. “I came here to see you, but I came to see him too. After that night, I’m having just as hard a time as you figuring this all out. I care about Nick too.”

He stared at her. Then he said, “Why didn’t Nick tell me that?”

“That we’d kept in touch? Because I asked him not to.”

Tyler sat there for a moment then said, “I should be pissed at him for that. But damn. He’s a good guy.”

“Yes. He is.” She held his gaze. “I know he…he said he wanted me. That night. And I know he loves you. But I guess I don’t really know how he feels about me. This. Us.” She waved a hand. “It’s kind of crazy.”

His eyelids drooped, his lips pursed. “Yeah,” he said heavily. “It is. I know.”

“D’you think Nick would go for it?”

His eyes flew open again. He stared at her searchingly. “Are you willing to go for it?”

She smiled and nodded.

“Then I guess we’d better ask him.” He smiled as he repeated her words. “Just so you know, we haven’t been getting along that great this week. He’s pissed at me, and I can only think that it’s because of how I treated you.”

She nodded, her breath coming in choppy bursts, her heart pattering.

Tyler threw back the covers and swung his long legs off the bed. He reached for a pair of jeans hanging over a chair and stepped into them. She sat on the side of the bed, watching him. Despite her confusion and anxiety, it was impossible not be affected by the sight of his beautiful body, his thighs strong as he stood on one leg, then the other, his soft penis still impressive and beautiful in its thick nest of dark gold curls, his long muscles rippling under golden skin as he zipped up, the jeans riding low on his lean hips.

He held out a hand to her and she rose, looked around for something to put on. She grabbed the gray dress shirt she’d peeled Tyler out of earlier and pushed her arms into it. On her, it was voluminous and she fastened only a couple of buttons with shaky fingers, rolled up the sleeves then took Tyler’s hand. She followed him out of the bedroom. He turned left in the hall and took a few long steps to the door just down the hall—Nick’s bedroom?

He knocked on the closed door but didn’t wait to be invited to enter, just opened the door and walked in, pulling Kaelin along behind him. Her tummy felt quivery, her lungs tight.

“Hey,” Tyler said. Nick leaned against the wall, standing in front of the window, his room overlooking the street out front. His head snapped around as they walked in. He straightened.

“What’s up?” he asked, shoving his hands in his jeans pockets. “Hey, Kaelin.” He smiled at her and she gave him a shaky smile back. He lifted one eyebrow. “Didn’t know you were coming.”

“Neither did I,” she confessed, and his smile went crooked.

“You okay?”

“Mmmm. Maybe.”

He lowered his chin, cast a glance at Tyler.

“We need to talk, buddy,” Tyler said. “This isn’t going to be easy.”

Nick held up a hand. “Hey. No worries. I could see you two worked things out, I guess. I’m glad.” He nodded.

“Yeah.” Tyler pulled Kaelin further into the room, tucked her into his arms in front of him. “I’m not sure if we’ve worked things out. Not everything. We talked. I apologized.”

Nick nodded slowly. “Good.”

“The thing is…” Tyler’s voice cracked. He lifted a hand to rub his face and Kaelin peeked over her shoulder at him. Her heart full and aching for both of them, she only wanted to make things right for them. Tension thickened around them, and Nick’s throat worked as he swallowed.

“I said, no worries.” Nick gave them a thin smile. “You don’t need to explain it to me, man.” His expression gentled. “I’ve always known how you felt about Kaelin. I’ve always known how she felt about you. If anything good came out of that screwed-up family wedding, it’s you two being together. I’m happy for you.”

Tyler gave a short laugh. “Yeah, you are so right about that.” He paused. “But…”

Nick turned away then, and moved to the old oak dresser in the corner. “So,” he said, his back toward them. “What’s gonna happen? Kaelin, you moving to Chicago?”

“We haven’t thought that far ahead.” With another glance at Tyler over her shoulder, she released herself from his arms and moved toward Nick. She touched his back. He didn’t turn, just bent his head. “Nick.” She rubbed up and down. “Oh, Nick.”

“Don’t fucking feel sorry for me,” he said in a low, tight voice, head still down. “I’m fine.”

“I know. I don’t feel sorry for you.” She spoke in a low voice too. “Nick. I know you love him. I think I-I love him too.” Her nerves stretched like rubber bands, she willed her shaky voice to be steady. “But I also care about you.”

He nodded stiffly. “Kaelin. You know I care about you too.”

Tyler moved up to them then, to stand behind Nick. He slid his arms around Nick and rested his head against Nick’s. Nick went very still, his fingers gripping the edge of the dresser, still looking down at it.

“What you said that day,” Tyler said. “When we were in Mapleglen and you said it was insulting to you that I thought Kaelin was too good for me, but you weren’t…I’ve been thinking about that.” Tyler paused. “You probably are too good for me. And I want you to know how much that means to me that you care about me. Nick. I’ve never told you this.” His voice came out thick. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“What are you saying?” Nick asked after a long moment of dense silence.

“He’s saying, we don’t want to lose you,” Kaelin said. She rested her hand on his taut forearm. “I’m confused, too, Nick. This is the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me. I want two men. Me. The good girl. I don’t know what happened to me last weekend, but for some reason this just all feels like this is the way it should be. The three of us. “

Nick groaned and still didn’t move. Tyler’s hand rubbed over his chest. “Jesus,” Nick said. He turned his head and met Kaelin’s eyes. “Are you sure, Kaelin? A lot of people would think that’s really fucked up.”

“I know.” She smiled and held his gaze. “I’m sure. You know I’ve always cared about you. You were always a friend to me. Last weekend…well, it was more than just friends. Right?” She bit her lip as she awaited his answer.

“You know it was, honey.” He released his grip on the dresser and found her hand with his. His big warm fingers closed around hers. “You know it was.”

He turned in Tyler’s arms to face his friend. “Tyler. Buddy. What the fuck?”

Tyler gave a choked laugh. “Yeah. What the fuck is right. I don’t know, man. You think I can explain any of this? All I know is what I want. I want you. And I want Kaelin. And I think…” He paused, glanced at Kaelin, wrapped one arm around her shoulders, the other around Nick’s, pulled their three heads close together. “I think we are so fucking lucky to have found her, probably the only woman in the world who’d get this.”