Complete Harmony (11 page)

“No pun intended.”

“No pun…? Oh. Ha.”

“It’s not like the city is swimming with women in my spot.”

“
I
f the dating service takes off, though, it will be…”

“I can’t turn Good Things Come in Threes into my own personal pity party.”

Josie
seemed to
mull that over as she fixed her coffee and took a sip. The light was fading outside and Laura wasn’t hungry. Too much coffee earlier in the day made these extra cups just fuel a jitteriness she didn’t welcome. She needed to get home soon and beat rush hour. Plus, who knew what life was like at home? Hopefully, Mike was satisfied with the extra attention she’d bestowed on him earlier, but that just meant Dylan would want more.

And then Jillian would need a nursing fest.

So many people. So many demands. So little time for Laura to just sit and think and breathe and figure out who Laura was.
How did she ever hold down a full-time job before, and date guys, and have a life?
 

Oh. That’s right.

She didn’t. Have a life, that is. Or date many guys…

“What about Darla?” Josie whispered, making a skeptical face, as if weighing the quality of her own words and finding them wanting.

“Darla?
Darla
Darla?”

“You know another Darla currently in a threesome relationship like yours?”

That made Laura nearly spit out her mouthful of coffee. “Like mine? You can’t compare some kids barely out of college who met on the side of the road with me and Dylan and Mike.”

“Yes, I can. I was there, Laura. You typed some words on the
i
nternet and rubbed a genie’s lamp. Poof! Insta-b
i
llionaires fawning all over you.”

“It didn’t exactly go like that.”

“Yes, it did. It went exactly like that. So don’t judge Darla’s own threesome weirdness. You have more in common than you might imagine.” Laura realized Josie was defending Darla, as if Laura had said something condescending. Had she? If so, she didn’t mean it. It
wa
s just that comparing her relationship, where the three were committed and raising a child together, seemed so…wrong.

“I have nothing against Darla!”
L
aura protested, raising her palms. “Don’t bite my head off. The comparison caught me by surprise.”

“
You two really should talk,” Josie said. “Alone. Of all the people in the world right now who could empathize and help you, I think Darla’s pretty much it.”
 

“Really?”

Josie nodded. “And I’ll bet she could use someone to bounce ideas off, too.”

“
I just…we’re in such different places.” Laura nearly gagged on her next words. “Darla, Trevor, and Joe are more like I imagine Jill, Mike, and Dylan were. You know. Early twenties, figuring it all out one day at a time. I met Mike and Dylan a decade later, after they’d figured out all the basic rules
and…” What would life be like if the three of them had met ten years ago? What if she’d been their third instead of Jill? Would it have been difficult to be with them as they figured out their relationship with each other, and then their joint connection to a woman? Jill did her a favor, in some ways.
 

For the first time in her relationship with the guys, Laura felt a sense of kinship—and not competition—with the late Jill. She’d paved the way for the most important experience of Laura’s life. To be fair,
Laura’s
daughter was named after Mike and Dylan’s dead partner, so it
wa
s not as if Laura didn’t honor her. And yet she never felt a closeness to her memory.

All those questions about sexuality that
L
aura faced were just
L
aura’s issues. The actual threesome relationship was completely different from Laura’s own individual sexuality, just as Mike and Dylan were s
ep
arate individuals with their own internal definitions of how to function in society and within the private sphere of home (and bed).

Big and small compromises and joys came out every day in their life together. How new, how different it must be for Darla, Trevor, and Joe.

Thank you, Jill
, she thought as Josie stared at her.

“
You are a million miles away,” Josie declared, shoving her plate away and taking a long sip of her coffee.
 

“Thinking about Jill.” Laura took a long drink of her coffee. Tepid now. She pushed it back, looking over the dirty dishes. Her appetite stayed away.

Josie’s face softened. “She pulling up yet? Started driving? Producing grandchildren? They grow up so fast, so treasure every moment!”

Laura laughed. “Not Jillian. Jill. Mike and Dylan’s old…” Old what? Lover? Girlfriend? Not wife. A woman couldn’t marry two men. Whatever label Jill had was the same one Laura had.

Which was…nothing. No word could contain the expansive sense of what she was to them. “Girlfriend” and “
b
aby
m
ama” were the closest, and they made her want to throw up.

“
Jill’s closer to Darla in some ways,” Josie said, nodding slowly. “You’re right.” The comment caught Laura completely by surprise. It was as if Josie had read her mind.
 

“And they’re making it all up as they go along,” Laura pointed out. “So it’s not like me and Dylan and Mike.”

“I don’t think you have much choice, Laura.”

“Huh?”

“If you want to talk to someone about the specifics of life with two men, Darla is it.” Josie pulled out her phone and started tapping, while Madge zipped by and slid the check case onto the booth table like she was an Olympic curler. It landed smack between the two of them, curving around the coffee pot.

“And the U.S.A wins the gold!” Josie muttered without looking up.

Laura paid as usual (because, seriously, why not?)
, and she got up to check her buzzing phone.
 

J
osie had texted,
Call Darla
, and her number.

“I know Darla’s number,” Laura muttered.

“
T
hen call her! Invite her to lunch here. Do the whole girl-chat thing where you talk about how to handle two hoses and one fire hydrant.”

“Josie!”

Her friend waved her hands dismissively. “Or whatever you talk about.” She paused and frowned. “Do the guys cross swords? I know they’re not gay, but doesn’t that sometimes—”

“JOSIE!”

“
Just call her.” A quick hug from her friend did not melt her one bit, her body rigid with overwhelm. “Dial the number now. I want to watch you.”
 

“Voyeur.”

A strange look passed over Josie’s features. Laura couldn’t name it.

“Call!”

Against her better judgment, and yet needing to do something, Laura dialed the number slowly, then hesitated before pressing “Send.”

This would be awkward at best.

A disaster at worst.

“Hello?” said Darla.

Laura opened her mouth to begin.

* * *

Continued in
Complete Bliss
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COULD SHE REALLY FIND THE RIGHT GUY ON THE INTERNET?

“Hot, luscious piece of ass who can suck a golf ball through forty feet of garden hose seeks rippling-ab’d firefighter who has a tongue that thrums like a hummingbird and enjoys painting my toenails and eating Ben & Jerry’s out of the carton while watching Mad Men.”

Laura Michaels stared at the online dating site’s registration screen and frowned. That’s what she really wanted to write. Here was the truth:

“Needy, insecure, overweight twenty-six year old Business Analyst with three cats, a corporate job with pension and no debt seeks Mr. Impossible for way more than friendship and lots of ice cream. I’m desperate for some physical affection and oral sex with a guy who doesn’t view it as some sort of favor he’s granting me, and then expects to be praised like he cleaned my toilet. One night stands are better than nothing as long as you brush your teeth. So call me, maybe!”

So when hot firefighter Dylan Stanwyck responds and asks her out, it’s just too good to be true. When she searches him online and learns he offers himself up for date nights in bachelor charity auctions, she wonders if she’s on the right planet.

Because what could a guy like that see in a fat girl like her?

OR WOULD HE NOT BE WHO HE SEEMED?

Trawling through the online dating profiles isn’t Dylan’s idea of fun, but it’s been more than eighteen months since their lover, Jill, died, and Dylan and his unconventional partner, ski instructor Mike Pine, need to find a new love. While their threesome situation is more complicated than a contract from
Fifty
Shades of Grey
, at least one aspect is simple: Laura Michaels, the cute, soft blond from the online dating site, seems like a good fit for at least a first date. Soft curves, gorgeous hair, eyes that light him up from the computer alone, and a profile that makes her seem smart and interesting—he has no problems asking her out.

The problem is letting her in.

Dylan and his not-quite partner have more secrets than their unconventional romantic relationships, and this latest snafu is a mixed blessing, for both became billionaires overnight after the third in their threesome, Jill, died. With her estate finally settled and Dylan and Mike the recipient of an annual income that gives them enough to buy entire towns in the Midwest, the two were left reeling. Months after the lawyer explained their new-found fortune, Dylan still works his regular shifts at the station while Mike remains on the slopes as a ski instructor, but with a caveat; now he owns the entire resort.

But if they tell Laura everything, they risk losing a chance at a new bond.

Two problems may have one lush, ample solution as Laura meets her first billionaire on her date with Dylan, but with a stunning twist at the end...

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Her First Billionaire
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Suggested Reading Order

Her First Billionaire—FREE

Her Second Billionaire

Her Two Billionaires

Her Two Billionaires and a Baby

Her Billionaires: Boxed Set

It’s Complicated

Random Acts of Crazy

Random Acts of Trust

Random Acts of Fantasy

“
Share Me” in Spring Fling: A New Adult Anthology
 

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Suspiciously Obedient

Deliciously Obedient (the trilogy is done!)

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New York Times
and
USA Today
Bestselling Author Julia Kent turned to writing contemporary romance after deciding that life is too short not to have fun. She writes romantic comedy with an edge, and new adult books that push contemporary boundaries. From billionaires to BBWs to rock stars, Julia finds a sensual, goofy joy in every book she writes, but unlike Trevor from
Random Acts of Crazy
, she has never kissed a chicken.

She loves to hear from her readers by email at [email protected], on Twitter @jkentauthor, and on Facebook at
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kentauthor
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blog at http://jkentauthor.blogspot.com