Tempting Meredith (17 page)

He hesitated, but she was determined.

She leaned over and took his warm hands in her migraine-frigid fingers. “I’m not taking no for an answer.” She hopped off the desk and tugged. “Come on.”

He sighed but got to his feet. “I don’t remember you being this bossy in college.”

Her smile slipped before she could stop it, but she forced it back in place. “A lot of things have changed since then.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

She released one hand and led him into the living room with the other. Both men faced each other, shuffling their feet self-consciously. Drastic measures were called for.

“Hug it out,” she said.

“Say again,” Charlie said at the same time Blaine said, “Do what?”

“Prove to me that y’all are still friends. Hug it out.”

“Can’t we just shake hands?” Blaine asked.

“No. I want a full-on body hug.”

Charlie took a stutter-step toward Blaine. His arms hung by his side, but his palms were open, facing Blaine. If he’d just lift his arms, they’d almost be there. It was difficult not to laugh at the consternation on both their faces.

Blaine scooted forward an inch or two like he was sneaking up on a rattler. Then nothing. They seemed suspended, each waiting for the other to make the next move. Good grief, this could take all day.

She grasped their shoulders and shoved them toward each other. “Hug,” she said sternly.

They toppled forward. Shoulders and chests bumped. They stiffly patted each other then stepped back to reveal sheepish grins.

“Good enough?” Charlie asked.

She chuckled. It was very good. Neither man seemed resentful, which gave her some hope that their friendship would survive. “Yeah, that’ll do...for now.”

Chapter Fifteen

Charlie was restless. Meredith’s migraine was gone the next morning, which was good, but the weather kept them inside. The wind had picked up while they’d watched a sci-fi flick on the tube. Distant thunder and faint flashes of lightning signaled the coming rain, which was also good. They needed the rain. But he’d spent two days inside and had a bad case of cabin fever. Not good. When Meredith suggested they visit the game room, he figured it was an excellent day to get his 8-ball ass kicked by a girl. Yesterday, she’d handed him and Blaine their Cutthroat balls on a silver platter. Any hope that her migraine would make her easier to beat had been quashed during the first game. If anything, it made her sharper, more focused. It had been worth it. Despite that uncomfortable hug she’d forced on him and Blaine, or maybe because of it, things seemed almost normal again.

Charlie was lining up a shot when Blaine strode by the door, probably on his way to the office. They hadn’t seen him since breakfast. Charlie called out to him, “Cutthroat?”

Blaine backed up and stood in the doorway. “Thanks, but I’ve got some campaign stuff I need to catch up on.”

“Is it something we can help you with?” Meredith asked. “Stuffing envelopes, listening to that speech you’re working on?”

Charlie watched Blaine watching Meredith. More specifically, her legs. She had on a short skirt in a bright red and orange print that swirled a couple of inches below the curve of her ass. Meredith had great legs, taut and smooth. And when she leaned over the pool table to take a shot, Charlie was torn between her legs and the tops of her full breasts, which threatened to spill out of that tight skimpy red T-shirt she was wearing. Either way, red was his new favorite color.

“Uh, no. Thanks for the offer.” But Blaine couldn’t take his eyes off Meredith.

Not that Charlie could blame him. “Come on. One game.” He suddenly wanted to watch the two of them together. Charlie’s curiosity was natural. Blaine had fucked Charlie’s girlfriend before Charlie had. Of course, he was curious.

“One game,” Meredith echoed. “Pretty please?”

She had Blaine at pretty please. Hell, who was Charlie kidding? She’d had Blaine the moment he’d entered the room. Charlie could see the longing. It occurred to him that he should be jealous, but try as he might, he couldn’t work up an ounce of the green-eyed monster. In fact, Charlie wanted to play. Not pool, but more of what they’d done at the lake and in the kitchen. His dick lengthened and fattened up. He wanted to bend Meredith over the pool table and fuck her while Blaine watched. Unfortunately, he couldn’t. It wasn’t fair to Blaine. The guy had it bad for Meredith. Charlie had seen it yesterday, the way Blaine’s gaze had followed her everywhere like a dog waiting for a table scrap or a scratch behind the ears.

He supposed it was a testament to the strength of their friendship that they weren’t snapping at each other like dogs. Even thinking of Blaine and Meredith together all those years ago was more of a turn-on than anything. Because he’d thought about it plenty since Meredith had revealed their big secret. He’d imagined Meredith and Blaine and Dylan together. Both men inside her. Their hands on her breasts, her ass. Their lips worshipping every inch of her skin. But when he peered closely at Dylan, he saw himself. And he and Blaine weren’t just stroking Meredith. They were stroking each other. Touching each other in places where straight men didn’t dare venture, not even in their fantasies. But when Charlie had jacked off in the shower this morning, it had been Blaine’s hand wrapped around his cock, not Meredith’s.

It had him thinking that his restlessness wasn’t entirely due to cabin fever. How fucked up was that?

Blaine rolled his shoulders. “Okay. Sure. One game.”

Since Blaine had been the first one out during their last game yesterday, he broke and managed to sink one of Charlie’s balls.

“We’ll never beat her if we take each other out,” Charlie said, afraid that if they didn’t give her a good game today, she’d lose interest.

Blaine rested his cue stick on the floor. “You want to gang up on her?”

Images of Meredith between them, all three of them naked, made Charlie’s mouth as dry as cotton in a dust storm. “It’s our only chance.”

“Seems kinda mean.”

“Do it,” Meredith said, her eyes bright and her body shimmering with excitement. “It would definitely make the play more challenging.”

Yep, did he know his girl or what?

“That is so fucking embarrassing,” Blaine said.

“Why? Because I’m a girl?”

“Because you’re half my size.” Meredith puffed up, but Blaine wasn’t done. “Because you’re wearing four-inch heels.”

“Maybe that’s my secret,” she teased, her humor quickly restored.

“The heels?” Blaine asked but didn’t wait for an answer. “If I thought that was true, I’d make you take ’em off to handicap you.”

Charlie snorted. “Might help our concentration.”

“That’s for damned sure,” Blaine said. “But it doesn’t explain yesterday when she was sliding around here in those red-and-white striped socks.”

“I didn’t realize you two were so interested in my footwear. I guess I can understand Charlie.” She snorted. “He’s a foot reader, but what’s your excuse, Blaine?”

“I’m half gay,” he said.

She burst out laughing. “Going with the cliché?”

“Only when it works.” He leaned over the pool table to line up his next shot.

They stopped their bantering so he could concentrate, but he straightened without taking the shot. He cocked his head and stared at Meredith a moment. “You’re Gidget.”

Meredith’s skin flushed as red as her shirt.

Oh
,
shit
. “No, she’s not,” Charlie said hastily.

“When you asked what Gidget meant, you weren’t talking about Meredith?”

“Yes. No.” He groaned. “I wasn’t calling her Gidget. I was just asking what it meant.”

“I guess that makes sense. You wouldn’t be calling her something you weren’t familiar with.” But his expression was bewildered.

“Can I tell him?” Charlie asked Meredith.

“You didn’t call me Gidget?”

“Hell, I’d never even heard the word until I saw that list.”

The admission went a long way toward restoring her color to its original creamy white. “Okay.”

“Before our first date, Doc sent me a list of endearments that were off limits.”

“That’s an odd beginning to a courtship.”

“Has anything about our relationship struck you as anything other than odd?”

Blaine didn’t answer right away. “No, I guess not.” He leaned over the table again, lined up his shot and sank one of Meredith’s balls. When he straightened he asked, “Was there a test?”

“You mean on the list?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah, did she give you a test at the beginning of the date? Pass, the date continues. Fail, it’s over before it begins.”

“Something like that,” Charlie said.

Blaine sank another of Meredith’s balls before missing a shot and turning the table over to Charlie. Meredith stood close behind him with Blaine farther back. Charlie studied the table. He was gonna have to pocket Blaine’s seven before he could work on Meredith. He leaned over to line up the shot but jumped when her fingers alighted on the base of his spine. He shot a warning glance over his shoulder, but her attention was on the table, not him. He tried to concentrate on the shot but it was difficult as her touch drifted down the crevice to his balls, where she traced lazy circles. He couldn’t even call foul since they were double-teaming her. Despite the fact that she could beat them blindfolded and with one hand tied behind her back, he felt like a bully for suggesting that they work together to take her out.

Great.
Images of a naked, blindfolded and bound Meredith replaced the colored balls on the table. The things he could do to her. He’d bet his life savings she’d love it. He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, trying to focus on the shot, trying to remember why they shouldn’t be playing with Blaine. Impossible. So with Meredith’s hand distracting him, he took the shot and missed. No surprise. When he straightened, Blaine’s mouth was gaping and his gaze was glued to the spot where Charlie’s ass had been.

Charlie’s rock-hard cock jerked against the loose cargo shorts at the thought of Blaine’s eyes on his dick.

“You’re up, Doc,” Charlie said, his voice hoarse and gruff.

Blaine startled and jerked his guilty gaze to Charlie’s. They stared at each other, and Charlie saw something he’d only suspected before. It couldn’t have been clearer if the man had stood on the pool table and shouted it.

Meredith wasn’t the only one Blaine wanted.

* * *

As soon as the game was over, Blaine racked his stick. “Good game. I’m gonna work through dinner tonight. I’ll see y’all tomorrow.” He left the room before Meredith could respond.

“Well, that was abrupt,” she said.

Charlie grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the game room, across the living room, through the hall to his bedroom. He didn’t shut the door so much as slam it. He released her hand and began pacing. Finally he stopped and shoved his hands through his hair.

“We can’t do that anymore.”

She sat on the bed’s rumpled covers. “Why? Blaine likes it. I like it. You like it.”

“It’s not fair to Blaine. He’s still hooked on you.”

One of her cami’s thin straps slid off her shoulder. She let it stay there. The migraine had left her oversexed, and she was disappointed her efforts during the game hadn’t resulted in more play. “That didn’t stop you before.”

“I didn’t realize it before.”

“Hmm, those foot-reading skills getting foggy?” she asked, trying to lighten the mood.

He pressed his lips into a tight line.

She hooked a finger in the waistband of his khaki shorts and accidently brushed the satiny, taut head of his cock. Already hard. Was that for her or Blaine? Or both of them? “I’m not the only one he’s into.”

Charlie’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. His gaze was frantic, tortured. Because he’d only just realized it, or because
she’d
figured it out?

“Would it be fair if we asked him to join us?” she asked. “Not as a voyeur but a participant.”

His eyes widened.

Meredith unbuttoned his shorts then slid the zipper down. Her suggestion hadn’t diminished his enthusiasm. He liked the idea, even if he couldn’t admit it. She pressed her palm against the feverish skin, once again grateful that the man shunned underwear. “Don’t tell me you haven’t considered it. After everything we’ve done and everything you know about our...history?”

He lifted one hand and touched her. Not the rough touch she expected from a man so desperately ready to fuck. But a caress that barely grazed her cheek. She turned her lips into his palm and kissed him then snuggled her cheek against his hand.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he whispered.

She squeezed his cock. “But you wish you did.”

“If it went wrong, it would ruin our friendship. And I could lose you.”

“So you
have
considered it?”

His lips moved, but she couldn’t hear him. His nod gave her her answer.

“It might make your friendship stronger, something more.” Like her brother and his boyfriend. Blaine and Charlie just needed a nudge, a gentle prod, someone to bring them together.

He didn’t speak.

“So what turns you on more? The thought of watching me with Blaine?” His cock twitched. She smiled suggestively. “Or the thought of Blaine touching you like this, his big hand wrapped around you? Have you noticed how sexy his hands are?”

Charlie’s girth swelled, further tightening her grip. She wasn’t unaffected. The mental image of their hands on each other had her pussy achy and full and wet.

Using his cock for leverage, she maneuvered him until he was backed against the bed. She kissed the smooth mushroom head. As she pressed more kisses along his length, she slid her fingers around his hip and over his ass then followed the crease down to his anus. She ringed it, tapped against the tight aperture, aware of how sensitive those nerves were. “Have you thought of him here? Have you imagined his cock bumping against you, begging to enter? Would you let him fuck you?”

His eyes glazed over, and he wasn’t focused on her but on some spot behind her.

She allowed a small smile, knowing he wouldn’t see it. “Or maybe you want his mouth on you like this.” She engulfed him, swallowing him without further preamble, and tasted the salty evidence of the admission he couldn’t make, the words he couldn’t say.

He threaded his fingers through her hair and pulled. She sucked harder, resisting. For a moment they played tug of war with his cock, each vying for control. In the end, she was the one to relent, releasing him with a satisfying pop.

He urged her to stand. He shoved her shirt over her shoulders and down her arms until it bunched at her waist. He filled his hands with her breasts and thumbed her nipples. Tentacles of pleasure snaked from her breasts to her cunt, but she didn’t need this. She needed his cock inside her to relieve the growing, sinfully agonizing pressure. She lifted one foot and hooked the toe of her shoe on the edge of the box spring. But even standing on four-inch heels, she wasn’t tall enough. She shoved his shoulders with the intent of sending him sprawling on the bed so she could crawl on top of him, but he resisted. His hands slid over her ribs and the wad of fabric encircling her waist and then rested on the zipper at the back of her skirt.

She held her breath, waiting, but his hands continued over her bottom. He lifted her skirt and curled his fingers in the top of her panties. The contrast of his calluses against her smooth skin was arousing, and she savored the decadence as she would a rich pastry. He lowered his head and took one nipple between his teeth. Gently he tugged, and her head spun as her senses overloaded. She couldn’t hear, couldn’t see, couldn’t think. Could only feel and want, desperately want. Sight, sound, sensation—it was all white noise, static.

He flipped her around and bent her over the bed. She grasped the covers, desperate for something to ground her. He nestled his cock in the cleft of her ass, and she wondered what had happened to her panties. Didn’t matter. They were gone. His body covered hers, his fingers found her clit, and his scent, fresh and earthy, surrounded her. She ground her swollen folds against him in a silent plea for him to fill her. Then his body, his heat disappeared, and a scintillating coolness teased her cheeks. His thumb pressed against her anus, not seeking entry but tantalizing with the possibility.