Second Chance Summer: Menage Romance Novel (Midnight Cove Menage Book 1) (21 page)

“Why?” She glanced down at her black dress and shook her head. “I’m boring.”

“No. You’re beautiful and sexy and you baked one damn good cake.”

Holly sucked in a breath and clamped her lips together.
He did not just call me sexy.
“The chocolate’s going to your brain.”

“Other parts, too.”

She snapped her head up and Trent grinned.
Oh my God. Is he hitting on me? He can’t be.

Trent slid closer until she could see the flecks of gold in his brown eyes and the scar on the side of his temple from all those years ago. She reached up and traced the jagged white line with her finger.

“Do you remember that day? We were jumping the tide pools after school.”

“You fell.”

She smiled. “You caught me.”

He reached out and grabbed her wrist and her heart skipped a beat. He turned the soft flesh of her inner arm toward him and kissed her skin. She wondered if he could feel the rapid beat of her heart.

As he lifted his head, the door burst open.

“There you are! Trent, quit hogging that gorgeous woman all to yourself.” Ian strode up in gray wool slacks and a white button-down. His hair was pulled back low and tight and he looked every bit the businessman. The shipping mogul.

Holly tried to smile. “I thought you said it was a small party.”

“It is. I only invited half the neighborhood. Come on, I want to show you off.” He looped his arm through hers and before she could say a thing, Holly was leaving the kitchen and Trent and their almost…kiss.

She turned back as the door swung open in time to see Trent turn away with a frown.

“
J
ust one foot
in front of the other. There you go.” Ian held the tipsy woman by the waist, escorting her to the open front door and waiting cab.

“But it’s sooooo early, Ian.” She sagged against him and Ian shook his head.

“It’s time to go Chelsea. Time to go.” He angled them both out the front door and toppled her into the backseat.
Finally
. He turned back to the house as taillights glowed down the drive.

Ian shut the door behind him and leaned on the burled wood. “Remind me why I throw these again?”

He could hear the tension in Trent’s voice. “Because you’re an attention whore.”

“Right.” Ian pushed himself off the door and ran his hand over his hair to smooth it back. “Did Holly leave?”

Trent faltered. “She should have. We can’t be partying like this, Ian. We need to be working.”

“I thought that’s what you were doing? Checking on everyone here and investigating potential threats.”

Trent huffed. “It’s not as easy as it sounds.”

“And why is that?”

Trent’s lips thinned into a line.

“You mean because Holly’s here.”

“Partially.”

Ian didn’t know what to think. He’d never fought with Trent over a woman. It used to be the age difference—with five years on Trent, the situation never came up when they were younger. But now? Would Holly really come between them?

He ran his tongue over his lower lip and stared at his friend. They’d drifted apart when Ian went to college. Trent had gone military and turned into the good guy. Ian had moved into restaurants and bars. Then shipping. It was only when a competitor recommended Trent’s services that they’d reconnected.

In the years since? Sure, they’d gone out together. Hit the clubs. Bars. They’d never argued. Not once. Ian tucked a lock of hair behind his ear. “How interested are you?’

Trent shrugged, but the tension in his shoulders didn’t ease. “It doesn’t matter. It’s bad timing.”

Ian snorted. “That’s crap and you know it. No one can work twenty-four seven.”

“Isn’t that what you’re paying me for?”

“No. I’m paying you to catch the bastards. Doesn’t mean we can’t engage in…other pursuits.”

The muscles in Trent’s jaw flexed. “What are you saying?”

Ian didn’t know. Not entirely. “Let’s see where it goes. That’s all.”

“I’m not getting into some competition with you, Ian.”

“I never said anything about a competition.”

“So what? You mean leave it up to Holly to choose?”

Visions of Blake and Devin and their fiancée flashed in Ian’s mind and he grinned. “Not everything has to be about winning.” Trent frowned as Ian stepped closer. “Sometimes it’s a tie.”

Holly fidgeted with the hem of her dress. She never expected to run into Ian or Trent coming back to Midnight Cove. Feeling a spark of attraction to anyone? Let alone two? Ridiculous. Things like that didn’t happen to her.

As she skimmed her toes across the inky surface of the pool, the water rippled.

Ian Knowles. She knew he had more money than she could fathom. A huge house. Tons of friends. But she’d forgotten how his eyes lit up when he smiled. How the warmth of his skin seeped straight to her core. How desperate she’d been all those years ago for him to kiss her. Just once.

Even then he’d been out of her league. It used to be age. Six years was an eternity for a teenager. Now it was…different.

She was an adult. Independent and on her own. He wasn’t the older boy next door with moppy hair and an infectious grin. He was all man and irresistible. Long hair dripping wet as he sprang out of the pool. Abs flexing as water ran down in rivulets. Holly swallowed.

Then there was Trent. From the short hair, to the eyes that saw right past her bullshit, to the way he held back and acted the gentleman even when she covered him in frosting. He’d changed so much, but still managed to stop her heart.
Damn
.

Holly shook her head.
I need to get it together.
She flicked her toes in the water and glanced out at the darkness. The sound of the waves crashing on shore melded with her own splashing and the edge of the pool disappeared into the horizon of ocean water.

Midnight Cove was full of magic. It captured people and held them in it’s gorgeous grip. It’d snared Hillary. Would it snare her too? Did she want it to?

Her mind filled with visions of Trent driving off, revving his motorcycle and never looking back. Ian leaving for college with a trunk full of clothes and her teenage crush running behind.

She should be back at the hotel, staying far away from Ian, Trent, and all the temptation the coast and the waves and the heat of two men dredged up from the depths. No way could she get involved with a billionaire or his bodyguard. It’d only end in embarrassment. Regret.

The light from the house wavered and footsteps sounded behind her.
Too late
. Trent crouched next to her and his jeans stretched taut against his thighs. Holly focused on the water.

“I figured you’d have gone to bed by now.”

“I should have.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“I wanted to thank Ian for inviting me.”

“Is that all?”

Holly glanced up in time to catch his gaze rake over her body. She bit her lip and the truth slipped out unbidden. “No.”

Trent shifted and found her eyes in the dim light.
Damn
. With the shadows, the plane of his jaw and the slope of his nose turned him into something…feral. Hungry. A predator. His tongue darted out and licked a slash across his lower lip and Holly’s mouth fell open.

She’d been turned on before, who hadn’t? But never had she been so affected. So…off-balance. He could have pinned her to the stone right there and she’d have let him. She prided herself on being strong. Independent. But one look at Trent and she wanted to surrender. What the hell was wrong with her?

As she opened her mouth to take it all back, a whoop sounded behind them. A streaking blur of naked skin rushed past, flew into the air, and before Holly could get out of the way, water exploded. The wave hit her with a wallop and she shrieked as Ian popped up in the middle of the pool.

Trent cursed beside her and wiped a hand down his dripping face. “What the hell, Ian?”

Ian bobbed up and down in the pool. “Come on in! The water’s perfect.”

Trent frowned. “It’s late.”

“Not that late.” Ian turned to Holly. “Don’t be a downer, Holly. Come swimming.”

Holly wiped off her cheek and shook her head. “I don’t have a suit.”

She could see his grin despite the dark. “Neither do I.”

Oh my God
. “You want me to go skinny dipping? With you?”

“Why not?”

She glanced up at Trent. He wasn’t amused. But would he…come too? It was childish and silly, but in that moment she wanted to forget all about being an adult. She wanted to go back into the past when she’d crushed on both of them and pretend.
What if?

But something had to happen first. She motioned at the outdoor lights. “Not with all these lights on. No way.”

“Then we’ll turn them off. Trent, would you?”

Holly tugged at the wet hem of her dress and glanced up at Trent. “Are you coming?”

“If you are.”

She turned back to Ian. This was complete insanity. It was like she’d woken up in Midnight Cove and forgotten who she was and why she’d left. Holly bit her lip. Maybe she could have amnesia for a bit longer.

Pulling her toes out of the water, she nodded. “I’m coming.”

“Then so am I.” Trent turned and strode toward the house as Holly stood up.

“Turn around until I’m in the water.”

“Of course.” Ian swam over to the edge of the pool and turned toward the ocean.

Holly waited as the landscaping lights turned off a section at a time. At last, the whole backyard was dark except for the light filtering through the house windows and the occasional flicker of the lighthouse down the coast. They’d never see her. Not that well, anyway.

Trent’s voice sounded out of the darkness and she jumped. He was inches away and she’d never known. “Don’t get cold feet now, Holly.” His voice dropped low and she shivered. “I want you in that pool. Naked.”

She turned toward his voice, but she couldn’t see anyone. Was he waiting for her? Watching? A moment later and she had her answer. Water splashed as Trent jumped into the pool.

My turn.
Holly unzipped her dress in jerky haste, fumbled with her bra, and slipped her panties off before she could rethink anything. A quick hustle up to the pool’s edge and she slipped into the warm, dark water.

Time rushed by. At first, they’d just talked. Three bodies floating in the darkness. Sharing memories of the past and what had happened in their lives since they drifted apart. How they’d changed. Grown up.

Holly couldn’t believe how Trent had joined the military. He’d been the first to break the rules. The first to cut class and smoke a joint. But he’d turned into a man. One with a jagged, gravelly voice she could listen to all night.

Ian wowed her with stories of his first bar. The restaurant. How he’d taken over Montgomery Inn and had run it with Mandy’s new husband. They’d even catered her wedding. It was incredible. They were incredible.

The warm water washed over her shoulders again and again and Holly forgot they were naked. Then Ian came up with an idea.
Marco Polo.
She hadn’t played since she was a kid. And never with two men who could pin her against the stone edge and steal her breath. All sans clothes.

“Marco!” Ian’s voice rang out and Holly slipped farther down the pool’s edge toward the ocean.

“Polo.” Trent’s voice came clear and steady a few feet away.

She swallowed. “Polo.” Her voice sounded foreign. Quiet and meek and so unlike her. She eased through the water.

Holly felt his hand before he spoke. His fingers slid around her wrist and his breath hit hot and wet on her cheek. “Marco.” The word oozed from his lips. Full of promise and warning. Ian Knowles could still make her weak in the knees.

She tried to steady her voice, but it warbled. “Does this mean it’s my turn?”

“No.” His other arm wrapped around her middle and before she could cry out in protest, Ian pulled her to him. Her breasts, buoyant in the dark water, smashed against his chest. Tight muscles rubbed against her sensitive skin. Her nipples tightened and he pulled her closer.

“Then what does it mean?” Holly might as well have run a marathon. She was breathless.

“It means I win a kiss.”

Between the light from the house and the stars, his face came into focus. Flared nostrils. Wide eyes. Smirk.

She raised her chin. “And then what?”

“Then it’s Trent’s turn.”

Oh my God
. “I don’t—”

Before she could finish, Ian swooped in. His lips crashed into hers and his tongue darted inside her open mouth.
Damn
.

That kiss. Gone was the teenage girl who wanted a guy to lead. She wasn’t a shrinking violet, but there he was pinning her down and stealing her oxygen. She fought against him, thrashing in the water as his arms tightened around her. Her nipples rubbed against his chest and he groaned into her mouth. He lashed his tongue across her lips. Forced her to yield. To give herself up.

She moaned and he pulled away. “Ian—”
Wait!
Holly reached out, but only found water. He’d left her.

“Marco.” Trent’s voice echoed over the water and Holly’s eyes went wide.

Oh my God. Ian was serious.
The sting of his kiss still echoed across her lips as she swam back to the edge of the pool. She reached for the stone edge and let the word slip into the dark. “Polo.”

“Marco.” Trent’s hands found the ledge before Holly’s. One on either side, his thick, sturdy arms caged her in. She spun around in the water. “We shouldn’t…I can’t…”

“Shh. Don’t talk. Just kiss me.” Trent leaned in, eyes open and full in the dark. His lips grazed hers. Gentle. Slow.

Oh, hell
. His body slid close. Thighs against thighs. Chest against chest. She closed her eyes and his tongue darted out. Taking. His cock, thick and erect, pressed against her belly and she moaned.

Trent stole the sound with his tongue, lapping up her body’s consent as he flicked his tongue against hers. Where Ian was fast and shocking, Trent was slow and sultry. Deliberate. Beyond sexy. They both were.

It was all too much and not enough. Visions of the three of them tangled up all night flashed through her mind. Heat and lust and sin. Everything she wasn’t. Everything she’d never had.

Trent pulled away and she gasped. “I can’t do this.”

“That’s not what your body says.”

Holly squinted into the dark. Trent’s brown eyes swam in his face like two endless whirlpools and she could see herself falling. Drowning.

She licked her lips. “My body’s not in charge.”

“Maybe it should be.”

The water rippled around her and Trent disappeared.
I can’t do this. I shouldn’t be doing this.
She turned and hauled herself out of the water. All she could think about was getting out of there and giving her brain a chance to catch up to her racing heart. Who kisses two men like that? Why would they want her to?

She ran across the patio to her pile of discarded clothes. Let them see her naked ass. She had to get out of there.

“Leaving so soon?”

She snatched everything up off the stone and clutched the pile to her chest. “I have to work early in the morning.”

Ian rested his forearms on the edge of the pool a foot away. The light from the living room cast shadows across his face as he raised an eyebrow. “You sure that’s why you’re leaving?”

“No. I’m not sure of anything at the moment. I’ll see you later.”

“You can count on it.”

Holly hustled away from him and down the path to the guest house. She knew she was being childish by running out on the guy who’d given her a great place to live just because things got weird.

But she wasn’t a teenager anymore and playing naked pool games didn’t get her anything except an unsatisfied throb deep inside.