Stranded (5 page)

The first bottle was gone in what seemed like
moments and Holden brought out another, this one a 2004 Australian
red that she enjoyed as much as the Spanish wine.

When she was finished with her third glass of
wine, she turned her gaze on Holden. “I need to visit the
bathroom.”

He nodded toward the hallway. “Second door on
the right.”

“Thank you.” Her feet brushed Holden’s thigh
as she uncurled her legs, and she felt tingles running up and down
her calves to her thighs.

She looked at him and saw the smoke in his
eyes that gave her a thrill, more intense than ever before. She
turned her gaze away and met Dawson’s. His eyes were filled with a
primal sensuality that caused her to swallow.

This was so not fair.

She avoided looking at either man and
concentrated on getting to her feet. The moment she raised herself
up from the couch, she swayed and realized just how tipsy she was.
She breathed deeply and started for the hallway.

“I think Erika has a great idea.” Dawson
spoke from behind her. “I need to use the john, too.”

She looked over her shoulder at him. “The
john? Really?”

Dawson grinned and walked at her side down
the hallway. When they reached the bathroom, he gestured for her to
go in. “After you.”

When she’d closed the door behind her, she
closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She slowly let it out. This
was crazy. The more she talked with the men, the more she wanted
them. She opened her eyes and found herself staring into the
mirror. She took in her loose hair that looked a little messy and
her flushed cheeks. The T-shirt swallowed her. Maybe she did look
cute.

She raised her eyes to the ceiling and shook
her head, then wished she hadn’t, thanks to the slight dizzy
feeling she got from the motion.

It took her only a few moments to finish up
in the bathroom. After she washed and dried her hands, she opened
the door. Immediately she felt flustered when she saw Dawson
waiting with a look in his eyes that nearly took her breath
away.

He had his shoulder hitched against the wall,
his arms crossing his powerful chest. “Too much wine?”

Words escaped her. She nodded instead. He
unfolded his arms and took a step toward her. She couldn’t move
even though she knew she should be getting out of there just as
fast as she could.

He was inches from her as he raised his hand
and slid it into her hair, gently brushing his palm over her cheek.
She found herself mesmerized by his eyes and the warmth of his hand
against her face. Her lips parted as she struggled to find words to
tell him something, but her mind was a complete blank.

She knew she had just given him an invitation
to kiss her, even though that wasn’t what she’d intended. Or was
it?

He slipped his fingers deeper into her hair
and cupped the back of her head. He settled one hand on her hip and
drew her toward him.

***

Erika gave a soft gasp as Dawson’s mouth met
hers. He moved his mouth slowly over hers, his stubble scraping the
soft skin about her mouth. His kiss was gentle and searching, so
different than what she would have expected from him.

Her head spun from the wine, from the kiss,
from her wild attraction to this man. She breathed in his scent of
leather and pine and it filled her, drew her into him.

With a shuddering sigh she slid her palms up
his biceps as she returned his kiss. She clenched the rock hard
muscle as if it might keep her from sliding into a molten puddle at
his feet.

He slid his tongue into her mouth, searching,
tasting. He brought her closer to him and she melted against him,
her body seeming to meld with his. His cock was hard, insistent,
and she ached between her thighs, wanting him, needing him.

Just when she thought the kiss would never
end, that they would stay there together forever, he parted his
mouth from hers.

He looked at her and smiled. “Now that was a
kiss,” he murmured as he stroked hair from her face.

She swallowed and managed to get out, “Not a
good idea.”

A smile tipped the corner of his mouth. “Oh,
I think it’s a very good idea.”

Somehow she found her strength and pushed
herself back a couple of steps. He let his hands slide away from
her.

“I’d better get back to—to—” For the life of
her she couldn’t remember what.

He grinned. “The wine?”

She ran her tongue along her lower lip,
tasting him. “Yes.” She dodged around him and strode back down the
hallway toward the living room. Before she left the hallway, she
wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, hoping like hell that
her mouth didn’t look red from Dawson’s stubble and her lips
swollen from his kiss. And she hoped her desire for him wasn’t
clear in her eyes.

When she’d gathered her wits and composure
the best she could, she walked into the living room. She was
grateful to see that Holden wasn’t in the living room or kitchen.
Maybe he’d gone into the master bedroom, wherever that was, to use
his own bathroom.

She curled up on the couch again, this time
clutching her glass because her hands were shaking from her
encounter with Dawson.

A few moments later, Holden returned and sat
beside her again. He picked up the bottle and gestured to the empty
glass she was holding. “More wine? There’s at least a glass
left.”

She felt silly for gripping an empty wine
stem like a protective shield. She loosened her grasp on it and
smiled. “I think I’ve had more than enough.”

He corked the bottle and grabbed the empty
Spanish wine bottle as he stood. “You and me both.”

Dawson strode in from the hallway, a sexy
smile on his lips. Erika’s body warmed as she remembered the kiss,
reliving it in her thoughts. It was clear by the look in his eyes
that he was, too.

“Erika and I have had enough wine.” Holden
was holding the two bottles. “Would you like to finish what’s
left?” He raised the Australian wine bottle to Dawson.

Dawson held out his glass. “Fill ’er up.”

Needing to put some distance between herself
and Dawson, Erika got up from her seat. “I’ll carry the
glasses.”

Holden nodded toward the TV. “Do you want to
see if you can catch the weather report?”

Dawson grabbed the remote off the end table
near the chair he was now sitting in. “Will do.” He reclined in the
seat with his wine glass and the remote, and in moments the TV was
on and he was flipping through channels.

Feeling some relief to be out of the same
space as Dawson, Erika walked to the kitchen with Holden, where he
set the wine bottles on the counter. The relief was short-lived,
though, because the moment she handed the wine glasses to him,
their fingers touched and her hormones went wild again.

The intensity of his stare sent heat flushing
through her. She wasn’t a lip biter, but she had the urge to bite
her lip just for the pain to get herself refocused on staying away
from the Kennedy cousins.

She picked up the empty wine bottles.
“Where’s your recycle?”

He set the glasses on the countertop. “In the
mudroom.”

She grasped the wine bottles as he walked
with her to the back of the kitchen and into the large mudroom with
a door that joined it to the garage. The area had a washer and
dryer, a big sink, cabinets, and a small shower. They’d walked
through this room when they’d come in from the garage after leaving
the restaurant.

When they were inside the mudroom, he took
the bottles from her and set them in a large recycling
container.

Before she had time to process everything,
Holden pushed her up against the wall, completely catching her off
guard.

He gave her no time to think. He brought his
mouth down hard on hers, taking, controlling. She let out a moan
that surprised her and he took thorough advantage of it. He buried
his hands in her hair, pulling her to him, clearly dominating her
as he kissed her.

And to her complete shock, she loved it. She
loved the way he mastered her, devoured her. She could picture
herself letting him do anything he wanted to with her.
Anything.

He pressed himself firmly against her and for
the second time that night, a man’s hard cock was against her
belly—and it was not the same man.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and held
on as she kissed him back, tasting him and breathing him in like
she’d done with Dawson.

But this kiss was oh-so-different. Holden’s
was harder, far more intense. His stubble was lighter but still
scraped her skin that was still sensitive from kissing Dawson.

Even though the kisses were different, they
were both just as amazing, but turning her on in ways she’d never
been turned on before.

A part of her wondered what the hell she was
doing. She was kissing Holden when she’d just kissed Dawson. Was
she out of her freaking mind?

Then the other part of her said, “Screw it,”
and she lost herself in the kiss, her mind flying as she held on to
him for everything she had. She wrapped her arms even tighter
around his neck.

It must have been from being kissed so
thoroughly by two men in one night, plus all the wine that made her
so loose and wild.

Five minutes had to have passed before Holden
raised his head and stared into her eyes. His look was dark and
intense, his breathing deep as he drew it in and blew it out. “We’d
better get back.”

Trying to catch her breath, she nodded. He
smoothed her hair as she did. No doubt he messed it up when he had
clenched his fists in it. She straightened but couldn’t take her
eyes off his, almost like she was waiting for him to lead her or
tell her what to do.

She wanted to say, “This can’t happen again,”
but like with Dawson, she couldn’t get words out that she needed
to.

He brushed his lips over hers again before
gesturing for her to leave the laundry room ahead of him. When she
walked into the kitchen, Dawson was there, his hip up against a
counter. He watched her and then Holden as they walked out of the
laundry room.

She knew she must have gone six shades of
red. She
never
blushed and she rarely got embarrassed, much
less showed it, but this time she knew what had just happened had
to be written all over her face.

“Just caught the weather report.” Dawson
acted as if he didn’t suspect anything had happened between her and
Holden, but she was certain he did suspect something. She could see
it in his eyes. “The storm is creating a lot of havoc and doesn’t
seem to be letting up. Expecting close to twenty inches overnight
based on temps and bands of precipitation.”

Her eyes widened. “Nearly twenty inches?”

Dawson shrugged. “It’ll be a pain digging out
the sidewalk and the driveway in the morning, but we’ll be
fine.”

Erika looked from Dawson to Holden. Both men
were watching her like they wanted to have her for the dessert
they’d all missed earlier.

She found herself backing up to the kitchen
entrance. She couldn’t get out of there fast enough. If she didn’t,
she might just find herself in a hot male sandwich—that was if the
men even shared. Hell, what was she thinking?

“I’d better get to bed.” She clenched her
hands into fists at her sides. “Too much wine and it’s been a long
day.”

“Clean linens are on the bed.” Holden nodded
in the direction of the hallway. “The cabinet in the bathroom has
fresh towels and washcloths, along with most toiletries. I’ll get
you a new toothbrush.”

“Thank you.” She backed all the way out of
the kitchen. “Can you set it in the bathroom for me?”

Holden’s gaze held a twinge of amusement. She
glanced at Dawson and his did too. For a moment she wondered if
they had planned all of this—both kisses.

She didn’t know them well, but well enough
that she wouldn’t put it past them. At least she didn’t think
so.

“Thank you.” She looked from one to the other
again as she added, “Goodnight.”

And then she fled for the safety of the
guestroom.

***

Dawson watched Erika as she walked away. A
retreat.

He shook his head. She was so damned cute in
Holden’s T-shirt. She looked younger and softer with her hair
down.

The moment he heard the guest bedroom close
he turned to Holden and grinned. “I was first. Pay up.”

Holden shook his head as he leaned his hip up
against the kitchen counter and folded his arms across his chest.
“The bet was to see who could get a kiss out of her, not who was
first. So we’re at a dead tie.”

“You’ve got me there.” Dawson gave a slow
nod. “Damn, she’s sweet as candy.”

“So what are we going to do about this?”
Holden looked serious. “We both want her. It’s clear she’s
conflicted and wants both of us.”

“Remember Misty Jackson in eleventh grade?”
Dawson braced his palms on the kitchen island. “Her house, her
parents gone on a business trip?”

“The girl who wanted us both at the same
time?” Holden shook his head. “That was different.”

“Is it?” Dawson thought about it for a
moment. “We both kissed her. We both got pretty far with her. Might
even have gone all the way if her parents hadn’t come home
unexpectedly.”

“Damn near broke my leg climbing out of her
window when I fell the last ten feet.” Holden gave a wry smile.
“But we were seventeen and Misty was eighteen. We are considerably
older now and Erika’s probably in her mid-thirties. We’re not a
bunch of horny kids.”

“No, we’re a bunch of horny adults.” Dawson
pushed away from the island. “We’re also consenting adults, so if
Erika would take us both on, I’d be more than happy to oblige.”

Holden frowned. “Erika doesn’t strike me as a
woman who fucks around.”

A streak of frustration shot through Dawson.
“That’s not what I’m proposing.”