Coming Clean (6 page)

“Lucky woman,” Cade laughed against Grant’s skin.

“Yeah, no shit. I guess it makes up for her being a Midol-aholic five days a month.”

“Yet another reason men are superior to women.”

Grant threw back his head and laughed. “No wonder you’re divorced. Vivi’d kick my ass if I said something like that.”

The humor felt as good as the teasing touches along his nuts. All the nervous tension was gone from Grant’s frame. He wasn’t thinking about doing, he was acting naturally, without self-consciousness or fear. Barriers had fallen away and they were touching, caressing and kissing without urgency. The kissing was new to them, heady and intoxicating, but nature could not be denied.

Grant’s cock was hotter than the water and as hard as the tile. The pulse of a vein throbbed against Cade’s grip. Grant’s heavy balls seemed almost delicate next to the firm shaft. Cade rolled them, enjoying the play of hard and soft, rigid and pliable. Lust sank sharp teeth into him, and he abandoned all thought of waiting for permission. He was no Dom but he was far from submissive. He went after what he hungered for, pushing Grant’s shoulders back against the wall.

One long, scorching, mind-numbing kiss tangled their tongues. Grant cupped his jaw but Cade stepped away. He reveled in the freedom to touch and explore and allowed his fingers to glide over Grant’s wet skin without pause. Flat dark nipples puckered beneath his touch, and he circled each one, watching them tighten and bud. Beneath the light sprinkling of ebony hair directly above his heart,
Vivian
was tattooed in dark red. Cade knew about the tat, had gone with Grant to get it, but he’d never touched it. He found the flow of each character fascinating and traced each one, first with a finger and then a tongue. Grant shivered through each letter.

Cade followed one water droplet with his fingertip, tracing the jagged trek down Grant’s side, along his hip to his thigh. In slow, deliberate moves, he mimicked the route with his mouth. Grant’s chest heaved as he realized where Cade was headed.

“Oh God.”

“Is that a no?” Kneeling, Cade looked up and nearly fell to his ass in amazement. He’d never seen longing written so clearly on anyone’s face. Grant’s eyes were huge and dark, and burned with an internal fire. Spots of color darkened his cheeks. His mouth hung open, his gasping breaths loud even over the torrential showerheads. He reached out with a trembling hand, stroking Cade’s wet hair with a new lover’s caress.

“I’m not saying no. I’m saying…just nervous.”

“You’ve had blowjobs before, Grant. This is no different.”

“Yeah, it is. I’ve nev—”

“I know you’ve never been with a man.”

“No,” Grant barked. “I’ve never been with
you
.” He looked up at the darkened skylight and sighed. “I’m so turned on right now. I’m afraid I’ll pop like a sixteen-year-old, too fast to really enjoy it.”

The force of Cade’s smile ached on his cheeks. He laid his brow along Grant’s hipbone and struggled to slow his racing heart. “You’re not sixteen, I know what I’m doing and trust me, I’ll make damn sure you enjoy it.”

Cade pulled every trick and bit of skill from his past. He started gently, teasing, licking and kissing along the tops of Grant’s thighs, letting his breath blow over the taut skin. He licked Grant’s balls until they grew tight, closer to his body. When Grant’s fingers fisted in his wet hair, then and only then did he close his lips over the wide head. A harsh hiss tore through the shower then softened to a low moan. His pulse rate skyrocketed at the silky skin and solid shaft in his mouth. Cade swirled his tongue around the crown, dipping into the tiny slit, tasting the salty pre-come that never ceased.

Grant was not a small man. His cock jutted thick and proud from a thin patch of dark hair. Strong veins lined the surface, and Cade savored the beat on his tongue. He wanted to show off, he could admit it. Years ago, Grant had confided that Vivi tried but she couldn’t swallow all of him. No one ever had. Cade was going to if it killed him. He wanted Grant to look back on this night as something unique and exceptional. He wanted to be special in a way Vivi never would. Selfish as it was, he accepted that flaw.

He took a deep breath then relaxed every muscle in his throat, stretching his mouth as wide as he could and letting the rigid cock slide deep. Grant whispered his name in an awed breath. Power rushed over Cade. The full control he had at this minute was as dizzying in its effect as any liquor. Drunk on dominance, when he’d taken all he could, he pushed forward, fighting his gag reflex.

“Holy fuck!” Grant bucked once, his fingers gripping Cade’s hair so hard it brought tears to his eyes.

He’d done it, and his accomplishment filled him with primal gloating. He forced his retreat to a slow glide. His achievement was gigantic but he knew he couldn’t do that too much and still talk later, so he settled into a steady rhythm of suck and stroke. The deep reverberating moans echoing over the rushing water fueled his hunger.

Most of the soap had rinsed away but a small stream of frothy bubbles clung to the hair on Grant’s calf. Cade scooped the slick trail with his fingers then reached between Grant’s thighs, behind his balls. He stroked the hot, damp perineum, inching higher with each touch. He expected Grant to freeze when he touched his asshole but he didn’t. Encouraged, he caressed the tight opening. Grant widened his stance.

Smiling around the cock in his mouth, Cade nearly chuckled. Grant was more open-minded than he expected, and he counted that as a blessing. He pressed the tip of one finger steadily forward into tight heat. Grant’s stomach trembled but he didn’t tense or shy away. Cade made it to the second knuckle before Grant jerked.

“Cade.” Cade froze at the shaky whisper. Regret edged his mind until Grant panted, “Don’t stop. I’m going to come.”

Cade didn’t stop, he doubled his intention, sucking with a specific goal. Grant stiffened and thrust. His orgasm enthralled Cade from every twitching muscle to the pulse on his lips. It was a thing of beauty and of triumph. The hoarse cry he’d heard drifting in the open cabin window now carried his name. The tender impact hit his soul the same instant thick, warm liquid hit his tongue. He greedily sucked in both.

Grant sagged against the wall, his legs quaking. Cade wiped a fast hand across his mouth and stood. He expected Grant to be sated, heavy-eyed and drained. But those coffee eyes blazed with a smoldering ember. He didn’t pull away from Cade’s kiss or clamp his lips shut. Instead, he opened his mouth and groaned. Capturing Grant’s thick wrists before they touched him, Cade stopped him reciprocating in any way with a slow headshake.

The move slashed a furrow in Grant’s forehead. “Why not? If I didn’t want to, I wouldn’t.” He tugged free of the light hold and determination etched along his jaw. “Maybe I won’t be any good at it, but let me try.”

Just the fact that Grant wanted it jabbed into Cade’s heart. A fierce wave of yearning churned with a softness he hadn’t expected, and he nearly gave in to his body’s demand for release. Only the flash of gold from Grant’s wedding band kept him strong. He stroked Grant’s wet face, wonder making his touch light and reverent.

“It’s not that I don’t want it. I do. God, I want to feel your mouth on me so bad. My nuts are aching to shoot. But I like the burn of wanting, knowing it’s going to happen, drawing it out. Viv’ll be back soon and we can play together.”

Confusion and indecision deepened the groove between Grant’s eyebrows. “Was this just a way to get to Vivi through me?”

They were friends long before they were lovers, and Cade reacted in a best-friend manner. He slammed Grant’s back against the wall. “No, you asshole. Even if you take her out of the picture, tonight has been…For fuck’s sake, Grant, you said it yourself. It’s time we owned up. Well, I’m owning this. I want more than quick suck or fuck with you but you’re married. I’m a plaything for you two. So let me have a few hours knowing you want me like I’ve wanted you for years.”

Vivi sat in the car staring at the backyard. The torches were out, the record player gone and grill covered. Yet she could still hear the strains of the tango pulsing in her mind, feel Cade’s body tight against hers, the incredible heat of his mouth hovering over hers.

She ran a shaking hand down her face. Grant had watched them, his eyes never dropping from their dance. At first, she’d been wrapped up in the moves, the intricacy of the steps, the flush of remembered rhythms and beats. Then she’d seen Grant. Every line in his body had been a classic portrait in relaxation but she knew him too well. She could read the intensity of his stare, the lust wafting from him. He was getting turned on watching her and Cade and, God help her, she’d used it. She’d upped the level of intimacy just to see her husband’s reaction. Blood stirred by music and fed by Cade’s touch had gathered power from Grant’s voyeurism.

Then it hit her. Grant wasn’t watching
her
, he was watching
Cade
.

She’d known for years that Cade was bisexual. Grant wasn’t but he had something, some indescribable attraction to Cade, that defied definition—or maybe it was plain old love. The few times she and Grant had watched porn together, he had responded to the buxom women, not the well-hung men. No, men didn’t turn him on.

Cade
turned him on.

It didn’t diminish Grant’s masculinity in her eyes. If anything, it deepened her respect and admiration for him. He was still virile and strong, hard-cut and foul-mouthed at times. Every drop of his blood screamed
man
. But it also yearned for something she could never give him.

Light from the garage bounced off her engagement ring, and she was thrust backward in time, to a memory she’d all but forgotten. The first year she and Grant dated, the three of them had been inseparable, going everywhere, doing everything as one, but there was no way she was going to a baseball game in July. Her redhead’s pale skin got pink at the mere thought of high summer sun. She gladly wished the men well and planned a girly spa day for herself.

She got a blistering case of food poisoning instead.

Praying for death and hugging a trashcan, she was shocked when Grant showed up with ginger ale and crackers.

“You’re supposed to be at the game.”

Grant wiped her forehead with a cool washcloth and shook his head. “Screw the game, you need me here.”

“But what about Cade?”

A soft smile curved his mouth. “Babe, he’s a big boy. He’ll be fine on his own. Someone has to take care of you.”

“Go to the ballgame, Grant.” A wave of nausea hit her and she groaned.

His warm hands massaged her shoulders, pushing her back onto the bed. “Sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

He was. His low voice, soft as a jazz lullaby, pulled her from her weakened slumber. She cracked her eyes and found him whispering into the phone.

“She’s sleeping. If I could get some more fluids in her, I’d feel better…Don’t know, I just hate seeing her hurt. Damn, Cade, this being-in-love shit makes you crazy. I want to track down that fucking hot dog vendor and beat his ass for doing this to her…I know, I got it bad…feels pretty good though.”

Despite her rolling stomach, a smile had warmed her. Grant had been so excited over the third baseline tickets but he’d dropped everything and come running to her. He’d ditched the game and his best friend for her and never once complained. That was how things had always been. Cade was a major part of Grant’s life, a virtually inseparable part, but so was she. They all had a role and hers was just as important as Cade’s.

They had always been a threesome, just without the sex.

Music, and life in general, seemed based on a concept of three, not two. The number of performers in a trio. There were three notes in a triad, the most important and basic form of any music chord. The tritone was the only interval that, when inverted, remained unaffected functionally and harmonically. The clearest musical chime came from the simplest but strongest form—and the only perfect geometric figure—the triangle.

Cade, Grant and Vivian were a triangle. Three sides of equal strength, joined together.

That thought soothed her nerves and calmed her jitters. She climbed from the car and started across the lawn, shaking her head and snorting at her own silly misgivings. Nothing ever had or ever would come between Grant and her. Their marriage was based on more than gold bands and shared property. It stood on a solid foundation of love.

The roar of a recorded crowd greeted her when she walked in the back door. She saw the bourbon bottle on the counter and groaned. Grant was going to be a bear to wake at four-thirty if he had more than a couple shots. She dropped her keys on the marble island, shrugged her purse onto a chair and wandered into the den.

The guys were engrossed in some game she couldn’t identify and didn’t try. Both had damp hair and were in clean jersey shorts and T-shirts, clearly ready for bed. Obviously there was no planned encounter tonight. Maybe at the lake, away from home base.

Her skin itched with dried soap from the laundry trip. She pulled her ponytail holder out and rubbed her head while sitting on the arm of the couch. Grant had one foot propped on the coffee table. The edge of a bandage caught her eye.

“What’d you do to your foot?”

Grant never took his eyes off the screen. “Stepped on a screw. It’s nothing, barely hurts now.”

“Did you wash it out?”

“Yeah.” He glanced at Cade quickly. “I even put that antibiotic goop on it. Speaking of, I put the first aid kit in the suitcase.”

“Good. I left the linens in the car. We’ll just transfer them in the morning. Did you get the washing machine fixed?”

Grant tore his eyes from the action and sent her a grimace. “Nope, it’s a goner. We’ll have to look at a new one when we get back.”

Vivi shrugged. She knew it was coming. The machine had been a second-hand purchase before they got married, when money was tighter and they were still blending
his
and
hers
to make
ours
. She’d deal with a new machine later, after vacation.

“Cade, I poured your milk out. It would’ve spoiled before we got back and, honestly, you need more food in your house than cereal and leftover Chinese.”

“Want to go shopping for me?” He sent her a fast grin. “Of course, then you’d have to come cook for me, too. Not a bad deal, actually, since you do laundry as well. If you tell me you know how to use a vacuum, I’m kidnapping you and making you my slave.”

“The term is
wife.
” She laughed. “And I already have that title.”

“Damn, missed out again.”

She ruffled his damp hair and stood. She hugged Grant’s neck from behind. “I’m going to go clean up then go to bed. You going to be long?”

“Nah, it’s bottom of the eighth. I’ll be there in a bit.”

“Okay.” She aimed a pointed look at Cade. “You get some sleep, too. If I have to play alarm clock in the morning, I’m doing it with ice water.”

“Yes, dear.” Cade smiled.

A frustrated sigh blew out when she entered the bathroom. Grant had left a mess again. Two sopping towels were piled on the floor and dozens of large, wet, male footprints pooled on the tile. Would it kill him to use the bath mat that hung over the towel rod? She made quick work of cleaning up the floor, hung the towels to dry and tossed her clothes in the laundry hamper.

She loved the shower but not as much as the garden tub in the corner. The cabin only had a single shower stall so she was going to milk this bath until she wrinkled. Turning the faucets to high, she tossed in a handful of mandarin-scented bath salts. She scoured whiskers and shaving cream from the sink basin then scrubbed her face with a gritty exfoliant. Plucking a few stray hairs from her brows, she checked for crow’s feet. So far, so good. She brushed her teeth and wiped down the sink again.

Her breasts swayed as she moved, the mirror reflecting her nude body in a harsh light. Sticking her tongue out at the image, she lit a few candles and flipped the overhead light off, leaving the side sconces for illumination. Perfect relaxation mood. A hiss escaped as she slid deep into the silky hot water.

Powerful jets churned the water to a rolling cauldron and she stewed, letting every tension-tight knot dissolve from the liquid massage. Although she’d been off from her music teaching job today, she’d worked like a demon getting everything ready for the trip. Shopping, packing, organizing, all those little things men just assumed fell into place without effort. A self-satisfied smile tilted her mouth.

She loved it.

Taking care of Grant, and by default Cade, filled her with more happiness than a diamond ring. They were her men, her guys, and she loved spoiling them in secret little ways. Serving Grant’s favorite brand of bacon at breakfast, finding the specialty blend of coffee Cade loved, even making sure they had that nasty-smelling fishing bait they preferred, all those things she did because she loved them. Maybe they never noticed, maybe they did; it was enough that she knew.

Through her musings, she washed her hair, shaved her legs and let her worries slip away. When the time was right, Grant would approach the idea, and then the triangle would be complete. She drained and rinsed the tub, wrapped herself in a fluffy bathsheet and plugged in her hair dryer. Over the whining drone, she heard the bedroom door open and saw the lamp flick on. The game must have ended.

She smoothed thick, creamy mandarin body lotion into her skin then flipped off the bathroom light. Grant had shed his T-shirt and pulled the comforter down. He was randomly tossing decorative pillows into the corner. He hated those things and did the same thing every night. He turned and crooked his finger at her with a naughty smile.

Sliding her arms around his neck, she nuzzled his jaw. “Cade go to bed?”

“He’s ready to,” Grant purred, kissing her brow. His rough hands rasped on the towel covering her ass.

“Did you turn on the automatic timers for when we’re gone? And the motion lights?”

“Mmm,” he murmured against her skin. “Everything is turned on.”

“Did you lock the front door?”

“Yes, dear.” Cade’s voice whispered along her nape the same instant a second set of hands cupped her breasts from behind. She gasped, shock stiffening her spine.

“Shhh,” Grant soothed. “Isn’t this what you wanted?”

“Yes.” Her voice was too breathy, too soft, but his smile told her he’d heard. “I just thought…A little warning would’ve been nice.”

“Hey Viv,” Cade teased, kissing her shoulder. “Fair warning. We’re both going to make love to you.”

They had to feel her heart pounding. Sandwiched between both hard, hot bodies, her bones melted and she sagged. They held her up. The smooth skin of Cade’s bare chest glided against her back in a warm ribbon. Grant’s chest hair tickled the upper curves of her breasts. Growing erections pressed into her belly and her ass. Grant kissed her mouth, his tongue licking at her lips in light strokes. Cade kissed her shoulder, his thumbs circling her hardening nipples. A shudder gripped her spine, and a hot wave of moisture coated her pussy lips.

“Now’s the time to say stop, babe.” She couldn’t speak but shook her head. Grant wanted more. “Words, Vivi. Give us the words so there’s no confusion.”

“Don’t stop.”

Familiar yet skewed sensations rushed her. She was used to feeling Grant’s touch, his kiss, but coupled with Cade’s, her perception blurred. Who was touching where? Did it matter?

She pulled one trembling arm from Grant’s neck and slid her fingers into Cade’s soft hair. His lips traced the outside of her ear. “Just enjoy, Viv. Let us please you.”

Grant’s hands skimmed from her ass, up her sides to untuck the towel around her breasts. He looked deep into her eyes, checking for permission. She smiled and he let the towel fall to the floor.

No fantasy could have prepared her for four large male hands touching her bare skin. Her eyes closed in abandonment. Lips and fingers danced over her, and she didn’t know or care who did what. The world outside slipped away until nothing existed except the sensual circle in her bedroom, a circle with three intertwined rings.

Firm hands cradled her cheeks and she opened her eyes to stare deep into Grant’s.
I love you
. His lips moved but no sound came. Her mouth repeated the vow. He took her hand and stepped closer to the bed, leading her. Cade took her other, urging her forward. She eagerly climbed to the king-sized mattress and reclined on the pillows. Two sets of eyes shone with fiery lust, and she greedily let her gaze slide over each man.

Dark and light, they were polar opposites. Two perfectly toned bodies on far ends of the masculine beauty spectrum. Grant, tall, dark and chiseled from the stubbornest rock around, had swarthy skin that screamed his Italian heritage. Beside him, Cade seemed golden, a fallen angel with an erotic glow. He moved first but Grant followed, both tucking fingers in their waistbands and stripping their shorts down their legs.

Vivi inhaled a noisy breath. All that hard flesh was for her, and her body clenched in need. Her fingers strayed almost unconsciously to her wet pussy, stroking her aching clit. Like a magnet, both their gazes fell to her hand. The mattress dipped as they knelt at the edge, each reaching for her in a flawlessly choreographed move. Their natural accord played perfectly in life and carried to the bedroom.

Cade touched her left thigh, Grant her right, and together they spread her knees. Hands belonging to two different men skimmed down her legs to delve into the heated apex. A quiver erupted as the first new male hands in over a decade parted her folds. Cade pulled away, leaving Grant to stroke her pussy. He moved up her body and grazed her nose with his.

“You okay with this, sweetheart?”

She’d kissed Cade hundreds of times, light pecks or brushes, always in friendship. She knew the casual taste of his lips. She wondered about the intimate taste of his mouth. Curiosity and excitement flooded her. Drawing one finger along his smooth chin, she whispered yes and moved forward.

He met her kiss halfway. His lips were soft, his tongue softer as it dipped to stroke hers. The subtle flavor of Cade’s kiss was minty toothpaste mixed with an undercurrent of bourbon and some mystery spice. She became enchanted with it and craved more. Sliding her arms around his shoulder, she feasted on the newness, the familiar-suddenly-made-erotic contact. Heat ignited the zest.