“True,” Dylan said. “And you’re right, the pink splotches on her neck are a definite sign she’s turned on.”
Claire’s fork clattered onto her plate. “She is sitting right here, ass**les.”
“Is there something wrong with us analyzing your face’s various shades of red?” Dylan said silkily.
She turned to glare at Aidan in accusation. “You promised you wouldn’t seduce me.”
His laugh was downright mocking. “Trust me, Claire, this isn’t seduction.”
“No? So teasing me in public and getting me all hot is, what, normal lunch etiquette?”
“Yep,” they said in unison.
She grabbed her fork and speared a piece of her pancake. “I hate you both,” she informed them.
Dylan just grinned. “No, you don’t.”
“No, you don’t,” Aidan echoed.
For one exasperating moment, she looked from one man to the other, noting their smug expressions, feeling the waves of sensuality rolling off their big, hard bodies. As usual, her body reacted, br**sts growing heavy, pu**y tingling, heart squeezing with both heat and emotion.
She didn’t understand it. The all-consuming lust, the relentless need, the strange rush of tenderness. But damn it, they were right. She didn’t hate them at all.
What she hated was the way they made her feel.
When Natasha called later that evening, Claire practically dove off the leather couch to grab her cell phone from the coffee table. It was only ten o’clock, but she’d been looking for an excuse to disappear into her bedroom for hours now. She didn’t even care that Aidan was looking at her with that knowing expression. Maybe if he dialed down his potent sexuality, she wouldn’t have to seek any escape she could.
The remainder of her day with the men had only grown more and more intolerable, what with their constant teasing and the way they’d “innocently” kept brushing up against her the entire time they’d put up and decorated the tree. As a result, she’d spent the whole evening so turned on she couldn’t walk without her pu**y aching or take a breath without her br**sts tingling.
Fortunately, Dylan had left around eight o’clock to meet “the boys”, as he called them, which left only Aidan to contend with. He’d stayed behind to do some work in his office, then talked her into watching a movie with him under the romantic glow of the Christmas tree lights. And of course, he’d made sure to sit directly beside her when he had a whole other couch and two armchairs to choose from.
For some reason, the men had chosen today to break their no-seduction promise, and Claire got the feeling she was two heated looks and double entendres away from caving.
Unless Natasha could talk her out of it, which she was banking on.
“Hi!” she said eagerly. “What’s up?”
Natasha’s laughter tickled her eardrum. “Wow, you sound ridiculously happy to hear from me. Miss me much?”
“Miss you tons,” she confessed.
“Right back atcha, hon. I have some time before I start my shift so I figured I’d call and see how you’re holding up.”
“What time is it there? Oh, and I’m fine.”
“It’s just past five in the morning, and you don’t sound fine at all. Your voice is doing that weird grumble it does when you’re annoyed. I guess you heard from Chris, huh?”
“Actually, I haven’t. Not even a text since he went to Aruba. I’m assuming he’s on his way to London now for the second leg of our honeymoon.”
“Bastard.”
“Yup.”
“Are you still in San Diego with Chris’s brother?”
“Yeah, but I don’t think I’ll be staying for much longer.” She hesitated, sighed, then decided not to beat around the bush. “I had sex with him.”
Nothing but silence echoed on the extension.
“Nat? You still there?”
“Still here. You’re joking, right?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“You…you really had sex with Chris’s brother?”
“I really had sex with Chris’s brother.”
“Wow. I have no idea what to say to that, except maybe…are you f**king nuts?”
“I’ve been asking myself that same question ever since it happened. And before you say anything else, you should probably know that it gets worse.”
“Is that even possible? Oh my God, hold on. I want to light up a smoke so my brain can calmly absorb all of this.”
There was a rustling on the line, followed by the hiss of a lighter, and then Natasha’s intake of breath, a familiar sound that had Claire shaking her head in disapproval.
“You’re smoking again?” she accused her best friend. “You said you quit.”
“Can you lecture me about it another time? Right now I need you to tell me what the hell is going on over there.”
“Like I said, I slept with Dylan.”
“Mmm-hmmm, we’ve already got that part down. What else?”
“Well, he has a roommate…Aidan…And I—”
“You slept with his roommate too?” Natasha exclaimed.
“No, no, I didn’t. I mean, I kissed him, but—”
“You kissed him?”
“Argh, would you let me finish already? Because I really need your help here, Nat.”
“Sorry. Keep going.”