Three to Tango (6 page)

“Christ, you’re going to kill me,” he rasped out, licking along the underside of her left breast and kissing across to the right one.

“Only because you’re afraid to give in and fuck her like you want to,” Luca whispered like the naughty angel on his shoulder. “Does she look hesitant to you?”

They both turned their attention back to Ava where she lay, spread out like the most delicious dessert tray he’d ever seen. Just waiting to be eaten. Her nipples stood dark and hard. She’d replaced the rings with bars similar to the one he wore in his piercing. Her pussy gripped his cock in slick heat, her hips rocking to meet each one of his thrusts.

Quickly, before he could think about it anymore, he pulled out, rolled her over and found her again within moments, pushing inside.

“Luca, get on the other side of the table and hold her hands.”

He did, body language mimicking hers as Luca leaned forward, taking the hands she’d stretched out above her head.

Angelo bent to speak in her ear. “I’m going to fuck the hell out of you, Ava. And then I’m going to fuck you some more. If I go too far, tell me to stop and I will.”

She whimpered, not in pain or fear, but with a need that matched his own. So he filled it. Speeding his thrusts and adjusting the force.

“I’m watching my cock come out of your cunt all shiny with your juices, pretty bird. All red and hard.”

Luca held her hands, locked gazes with her and smiled. So fucking beautiful he didn’t have words.

“You’re next, Luca. Don’t forget I aim to have you bent over this pool table, too.”

Her eyes closed a moment before her gaze returned to Luca. His heart sped at Angelo’s words and her reaction to them.

Angelo’s features were a hard mask of aggressive sexuality. His teeth bared, hair free, sliding over his shoulders and arms, tickling Ava’s skin when he’d lean close to whisper something filthy or to lick or bite her back.

Sweet, fiery Ava was not. No, she was the picture of a sexually submissive woman, her body open to Angelo, her eyes glossy. Somehow it was that juxtaposition of her normal in-charge, bossy self with this … vision of raw sex, of letting Angelo lead and of her clearly loving it that got to Luca so much.

Angelo let it all go, Luca saw it come over him, saw him give in to just exactly what he wanted to do to her. He walked his fingers up her back, dragging his nails down to her ass. She arched her back with a gasped cry, pulling Luca as she wormed to get closer to Angelo.

Luca watched, nearly dream-like, as Angelo ran his fingers through her hair. Gently. The look on his face reverent. And then his lids dropped a bit as he tightened his fingers, pulling her back as he leaned his upper body against her, pinning her to the table as he continued to fuck her.

He yanked, turning her to receive his kiss and the sweetly punishing nips of her bottom lip. She whimpered and then groaned, breathing her entreaties into Angelo’s mouth.

Luca froze there, struck utterly senseless at the sight before him. Carnal and beautiful, hard edged and yet loving. This was stripped down, wide open. This was making love every bit as much as sweet and gentle was. Angelo gave her everything, and she took it, offering herself to him in return.

He saw the exact moment when Angelo fell in love with Ava, written all over his face as he realized it and then the shake of his head as he shoved it aside.

Ava gave up trying to stay afloat in the maelstrom of Angelo’s sexuality. Stopped fighting it and let him take her where she needed to go. He growled, low in his throat, so feral and masculine it stole her breath.

Each time he nipped at her flesh, each time he circled her clit with his fingertip as he fucked into her cunt so hard her nipples abraded the felt on the table. Each time he whispered that he loved the curve of her ass, or her shoulder, she surrendered a little more to him, lost herself in his touch, the edge of pleasure/pain blurred just so very right it was narcotic.

He manipulated every part of her as he built her orgasm. He played her body, drawing out her pleasure with exquisite skill so she walked a knife’s edge.

Luca’s hands held hers still, and when Angelo broke from a kiss, he angled her head back to lick his way up her neck. When she focused, it was on Luca’s face. Beautiful Luca who gazed at her as if she were everything. And she felt it to her toes, loving the way he made her feel just by looking at her.

She should not be there. Should not have come back. Should have left her past in her past and kept on with her life on the West Coast. But she
was
there, she was utterly unable to deny that these men were inextricably part of her, and she had lost her will to keep them out, lost her will to keep lying to herself that this was just some fun fling she could use to keep her mind off her mother.

It was more and they all knew it.

And with that thought, Angelo pushed her over, increasing his touch against her clit as he fucked into her with ferocious, short digs and then one as deep as he could go, coming with a snarled curse, his mouth against her skin.

Angelo rumbled a very satisfied groan, kissing her shoulder before pulling out gently. Luca made his way over, petting over her as he helped her stand. He ground his cock into her belly as he bent to kiss her.

She melted into his arms as Angelo came back to them, pressing himself to her backside. Luca feasted on her lips, leaving her lightheaded as he broke the kiss.

She pressed her fingers there, to hold that feeling against her skin.

“Do you know how it feels to be looked at the way you do me sometimes, Ava?” Luca asked. “I look back and I see so many things in your eyes. It’s flattering and humbling and so sexy.”

She swallowed, hard, totally beyond words. She tipped her chin in silent thanks.

Angelo kissed down her spine. “Ava, I want you on that pool table. I want to look at you when I’m fucking Luca.” He picked her up, placing her carefully on the table, and she moved quickly, not wanting to miss a thing.

Her gaze had gone to Luca as he’d moved into Angelo’s arms. Their kisses were so different from how they kissed her. Now there was scant evidence of the gentleness and the finesse. This was Angelo about to do to Luca what he’d done to her, owning them, marking them as his in some indefinable and yet totally undeniable way.

Before too long, that familiar throb had begun. Angelo’s hands were all over Luca, caressing, kneading, his nails scoring over Luca’s nipples and down his belly. The rope of his braid slid forward.

“I need the lube, pretty bird.”

She rolled to grab it along with a condom and hand them back. Luca’s gaze locked on Ava’s as Angelo reached around and began to jerk his cock. The other hand worked the condom on and prepped Luca. Moments later Luca’s gaze blurred as he nearly shouted, “Oh God, right there.”

“Shhh.” Angelo brushed a kiss against Luca’s shoulder. “Relax. We haven’t done this in a long time. Let’s take it slow.”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, yes.” Luca arched back onto Angelo’s fingers.

God, her face was on fire from blushing, but she could not turn away from them. Testosterone rolled off them in waves, dizzying her, setting her skin on fire, her nipples hardened nearly to the point of pain. Each time she shifted, her labia slid against her clit, sending ripples of pleasure out from her core.

“Make yourself come, Ava. I can see how much you want to,” Luca gasped and Angelo growled his agreement.

She drew it out as Angelo moved over Luca. As Luca submitted to him. Luca’s skin gleamed with sweat, his eyes halfway closed, one hand was wrapped around his cock, his fingers tangled with Angelo’s.

Angelo fierce and badass as he took what he wanted. As he loved Luca as surely as he had her only minutes before.

“Give it to me, Luca.” Angelo’s voice was nearly a snarl.

“Make me,” Luca gasped back.

Her finger rested above her clit as she watched, not wanting to go over just yet.

“Fine by me, blondie.”

Luca’s laughter choked into a curse as he threw his head back and groaned his climax.

Angelo’s head fell back, his hair nearly touching the floor, his fingers dug into Luca’s hips and he came.

“Shower. Snack and nap. In that order,” Angelo said, kissing Luca soundly.

Luca held a hand to her as he straightened. “Come on, baby.”

“I really need a shower, cause, boy oh boy, do I feel dirty after watching that.”

Five

T
he hum of the moderately well attended memorial service covered Angelo when he leaned in to speak to Luca. “I’m glad there’s a group of folks here.” Angelo and Luca watched her as she spoke with Polly Chase and the various and assorted Chase daughters-in-law across the room. He’d worried that few would take a few minutes to remember a woman most folks avoided. Worried that it would hurt Ava and he’d see shadows in her pretty blue eyes again.

“Between your mom, Mrs. Chase and Ramona, Ava just might realize being The Rand Girl isn’t always a bad thing.”

She was beautiful in a navy blue dress with a little white sweater over it. Solemn and serious, but also soft and sweet. Her hair was back, exposing her throat, but not the back where he’d given her a love bite just hours before.

He couldn’t explain why he liked it, why it sent satisfaction roaring through him to see her naked with the marks he’d made on her skin. The caveman part of his brain approved mightily.

He forgot himself in her skin. Something he found at turns invigorating and scarier than all hell.

Luca took care of her in his way. Made sure she ate a little. Her color had brightened as the memorial went on. Angelo hoped it was because she realized she had a place in town. Even if she’d written Petal off, Petal still had a place for her.

Her smile, when she dealt with the people who came by, was shy and sweet. Tentative at times. His heart had ached for her in those flashes of the old Ava. And yet her back remained straight and she didn’t look at the ground.

At the end, when it was just his parents left, Luca gave Angelo a look and they both moved to collect her.

“Dinner tonight before you go to Atlanta and breakfast on Saturday then?” Maryellen said to Ava before glancing back to her son. “Don’t forget fireworks on Saturday for the Bicentennial Day picnic. Ava was just telling me you were going to stay with Angelo in Atlanta until Sunday.”

“But hello, fireworks and a barbecue with your dad’s baked beans. I’m defenseless against that.” Ava’s smile was genuine and Angelo responded in kind. “We can come back Saturday morning just as easily.”

“Good. Yes, I think that’s a good idea. Rest up and get rid of those dark circles.” Maryellen brushed a thumb against Ava’s cheek.

“We’ll feed her well, I promise, Mrs. Proffit.” Angelo kissed Maryellen’s cheek and she hugged him. She’d long since stopped trying to get him to call her anything else. It was his way of showing his love and respect for a woman who was very much like his own mother.

“We know you three have plans, but we like to spend time with Ava, too.” Maryellen squeezed Ava’s hands.

A man Angelo and Ava recognized came into the room. Ava excused herself and Angelo moved to follow, but she held her hand out to stay them. “I’ll be right back.”

“Who is that?” Luca watched the interchange at Angelo’s side.

Angelo never took his gaze from her as he answered, “He owns most of the houses on Riverbend. He’s likely here asking for money for Marlene.”

“Here at a funeral? Why are we not punching this piece of shit?” Luca fisted his hands just thinking about it.

“If we get involved when she told us to back off, we’re weakening her in front of him. Look at her face, Luca.”

“What? She’s upset.”

“Is she? Look at her, really look at her.”

Luca focused and saw that instead of pain or anger, her face was utterly impassive.

“She’s not giving him anything. Let her do this on her own.”

“She doesn’t have to though, Angelo. She’s not some helpless girl. She’s”—he glanced at his mother, who hiked her brows—“she’s ours, that’s what she is. She’s our family and we’re hers.”

But she turned around as the man left, no upset on her face, so he let it slide. “I believe your mother has invited us to their house for dinner. She promised me smothered pork chops, and you know my general adoration and love of the smothered-type foods.”

He put an arm around her waist and she put her head on his shoulder. His mother’s eagle eye missed nothing, and Luca knew she’d be on him about this when they were alone.

As he helped her into the car, he smelled her skin and roses. Without meaning to, he bent to brush his lips across hers.

“Thank you,” she murmured, kissing him again before settling back into her seat.

He paused as his heart pounded so loud he was sure everyone could hear it.
Oh hell
, he wanted her to stay. Or agree to spend part of her year there, or something. Anything to keep her in his life.

Six

S
he was supposed to go home that evening. Go back to Los Angeles and to her life. She tried not to disturb either man as she crept from bed, but Angelo’s arm banded her belly and pulled her back to his body.

Her eyes closed, she drew a deep breath as he entered her. His heart beat steadily against her back as he took his time, one hand at her hip and another entwined with hers, their fingers clasped above her head.

It was as if he simply could not get enough sex with her and Luca. His appetite was stunning and marvelously inventive. Never with anyone else had she been so satisfied. Never had she been so well matched, and well, at times it felt as if they adored her. It was a heady thing, filled with possibility.

It scared her to death.

On her other side, Luca woke, sliding toward them, his mouth at her shoulder and up her neck. And then sandwiched between them as they kissed.

“What does it feel like with him inside you?” Luca asked.

“I can feel his heart beating inside my pussy,” she gasped.

He closed his eyes a moment. “Yes, it feels like that to be inside you, too.”

“Turn over, Luca. Back up to Ava, yes, like that.”

“Pretty bird, help me here,” Angelo rumbled as her fingers tangled with his again, this time around Luca’s cock. The scent of cinnamon drifted from the lube Luca had poured on his cock.

Angelo worked them both with effortless precision. His rhythm was relentless, but there was absolutely no doubt in her mind that he was totally in control. It was dizzying how much it worked for him. The other day on his pool table something had changed and deepened between them, not just as Ava and Angelo, but as their group, as Ava, Angelo and Luca.

She didn’t want to let this go, and yet she was terrified to ask if they wanted her to stay. Terrified this meant way more to her than to them.

Luca moved his hips, nearing climax she knew. He moved with powerful grace, and she leaned forward to lick and kiss across his shoulder, loving his taste. “You’re close, Luca. Mmm, your cock gets so hard right before. I swear I can feel your energy building. When you’re in me, I can feel this.” She squeezed him, and Angelo’s cock jerked inside her in response.

Luca’s muscles began a fine tremble, and he muttered a curse.

“Just having you right here makes me ache.” At this whispered confession, both men groaned.

A stuttered movement and Luca came then, even as Angelo’s cock hit deep once, twice and three more times before he dug his slick fingers into the flesh at her hip and came.

And she was lost again as two mouths were on her, everywhere, until there were two tongues on her pussy, Angelo’s hands holding her wide as he ate her.

Luca kissed up her belly, back to her nipples. It went on as she rode the waves of pleasure until finally Angelo took pity and let her come.

The three of them lay there, muscles jumping, sweat cooling, entwined in some way with legs and arms. Angelo absently pet her hip as Luca rested his head on her shoulder. She didn’t want to get used to this calm, to this sort of connection, because she sure as hell didn’t have it back in LA.

“I’m going to need to start going to Pilates again.” Ava rolled from bed. “You two underline the need for me to be flexible.”

Angelo laughed. “You’re very bendy. I like that in a woman.”

“I’m showering. You two need to decide what to do about breakfast,” she called out as she headed into Luca’s master bath.

“We just going to let her go back to Los Angeles today?” Luca shoved his hair back from his face. Her scent was on his skin, where he wanted it. Where it may not be for very long if she got on that plane and went back to her life.

“If that’s what she wants, I guess.”

Luca, pissed off, sprung from bed and began to pace. The scent of cinnamon hung in the air, his cock still tingled from it. “You guess? So this is what to you?”

“What is it to you?” Angelo countered, sitting and looking so delicious Luca had to turn his back.

“Apparently more than it is to you.”

“Really?” That slow drawl was back, and Luca took a chance and looked over his shoulder. “You’ll have to excuse me when I call bullshit on that. I’m the one who decides who and what means something to me. I’ve done nothing to make you feel as if I don’t care. Doesn’t mean I plan on throwing a fucking tantrum over it.”

They locked gazes, and to Luca’s dismay and yet delight, his cock began to revive. “Tantrum?”

Angelo’s grin told Luca he’d meant to needle.

“You’re a cock.”

Angelo barked a laugh. “Yeah? Good thing you like cock then, huh?”

Before he could lob back a crack about how
he
wasn’t the one embarrassed to admit that fact, Ava’s voice rang out.

“What on earth are you two fighting about?” she called out from the other side of the door.

“The usual, pretty bird.” Angelo got out of bed. “We’ll talk about this later,” he said to Luca before tapping on the bathroom door. “You done with the shower?”

She came out looking freshly scrubbed, her skin dewy with lotion. Luca’s heart stuttered for a moment, as it always had when he caught sight of her face.

Angelo paused, caught by her as well. Luca wanted to shout,
see!
at him, but Angelo’s hands were already on her, her eyes already losing focus. “Shall we get some breakfast at The Honey Bear?” he asked, pausing the rain of kisses he’d been laying across her shoulder as he held her hair in his grip.

“Mmmm, yes, that’s very—
ouch!
” She lazily swatted at him, laughing as she did it.

“You taste so good, I had to take a little bite.”

Luca laughed then, taking in all the love bites Angelo had given her on her torso, easily hidden with clothes, but a reminder of who gave them to her. Luca wanted this, damn it. He wanted her laugh in his hallways, wanted her scent on his sheets, wanted Angelo’s voice in his ear as his hands were all over him.

“Breakfast at The Honey Bear is a very good idea.” She paused and Luca saw the lines of strain around her eyes. He moved to her, not knowing what was wrong, but wanting very much to fix it.

“What is it, baby?” Luca asked, kissing the side of her mouth, loving the way she relaxed into him for a moment.

“I need to go to her house,” she said in a flat voice, the Ava he’d first met. The warmth and languid relaxation he’d been feeling dropped away when he realized she was speaking about her mother.

“You sure you need to?”

“I doubt there’s anything to salvage, even if I wanted some piece of her. But the landlord came to the memorial service on Wednesday. He told me he was going to send in cleaners tomorrow so if I wanted in there, today would be the last day.” He’d also told her her mother had owed two months’ rent. She’d pay that when she went to the house.

“Want some company?” Luca on one side, Angelo on the other, she was surrounded by a wall of delicious man-flesh and yet, the subject matter had sucked all the joy from that. Luca cupped her cheek. “It won’t be easy.”

Did she want company? Yes, probably. But she didn’t want him to see the place her mother had lived. It had been a dump when Ava lived here, and she couldn’t imagine how it was now.

“I’m sure you have work to do. I’ve kept you away from your jobs for a week now.”

Luca’s gaze narrowed as he looked her over closely. “I’m the boss. I took the week off. I’ve been checking in. Anyway, Sundays are dead.”

“It’s okay. I need to do this alone.”

“Haven’t you figured out yet that you don’t? You don’t need to do anything alone. I’m here for you, Ava. Angelo is here for you. Why do you push us away?”

She turned to look out the windows, turning her back on them both, wishing she wasn’t so very naked just then.

“I’m not pushing anyone anywhere.” She turned around to prove that and realized she was a total liar.

“Great. We’ll have breakfast and then we can all go to your mom’s house to help you go through things.” Luca leaned back against the highboy dresser, totally naked and apparently totally at ease with that. Not that she was complaining or anything. He was gorgeous.

“How about we all have breakfast and then you two can go about your business while I deal with Marlene’s house? That makes more sense. I’m not cleaning it out or anything. I don’t give a rat’s ass about whether she’ll get the deposit back.” That and she vowed a long time ago she was done cleaning up after her mother’s mess.

Tossing his hands up in the air, clearly pissed off, Luca huffed and stormed from the room. She sighed. Most likely it was for the best. If she left while he was mad, the break would be easier. Right?

Angelo pushed from where he’d been leaning against the doorjamb. “I’m not that easy to push around, so let’s just cut the crap, shall we? What’s going on with you?”

“I just … I need to do it alone. I’m not trying to hurt anyone, but this is mine. It’s not something I want to share. I just want it to be over.”

He nodded, getting it.

“I get that. But you also need to get that we’re not going to judge you by whatever it is she’s got going on in that house. You’re not her.”

“I do. And I don’t want to deal with anyone else’s feelings but mine.” He began to argue and she put her finger over his lips. “No. Really. I appreciate that you’d both want to support me and help. Your not being there will help.”

“You know, Ava, you might try remembering that sometimes things are bigger than how you feel about them.” He said nothing more as he moved around her and into the bathroom, leaving her naked in more than one way.

Maryellen Proffit knew what it was to grow up down here in these rattrap houses. She pulled her car around the corner to Riverbend Avenue. Her grandparents had lived here. Just three blocks from the house Marlene and Rick Rand once lived in.

Luca had brought her in that morning for breakfast, looking sullen and pouty. Angelo couldn’t take his eyes from Ava and Ava, well, at least she had more color than she had at the memorial service. Clearly there had been a disagreement of some kind, and Maryellen aimed to get to the bottom of it before that girl left town again.

After cornering Luca when he’d come back to grab some coffee, Maryellen had managed to get him to tell her what was wrong. Her boy, her sweet, pretty son had absolutely no idea why Ava wouldn’t let him see what that house must look like.

“This isn’t about you, Luca,” she’d told him. “She’s embarrassed most likely.”

“Why? Why would she think I cared about what her mother did or didn’t do? What kind of man does she think I am that I can’t take some dirty dishes in the sink?”

“Awful soon for that, isn’t it?” Jasper asked as he flipped pancakes.

Maryellen had wisely hidden her smile. “Jasper Proffit, you told me you loved me two days after you took me on our first date.”

Luca’s eyes widened. “Love? Well, I don’t … of course I care about her. It’s no secret we dated before she left Petal. She and Angelo are my closest friends, even if I don’t talk to her very often. And it’s a lot more than two days after a first date anyway. I’ve known her since she was sixteen years old.”

“Let her grieve in her own way.” Jasper kept flipping pancakes. “Be there to pick up the pieces when she falls apart.”

When Luca had gone back to the table, Ava had watched him approach with eyes only for him. Maryellen thought of the way the girl had looked at her son, with love and concern, and that’s what had made her get into the car and head over there after giving Ava some alone time to tackle the demons waiting for her in that house.

The girl had become a daughter to her and if anyone needed some mothering, it was Ava Rand.

The shiny rental car looked wildly out of place parked at the curb. She pulled in behind it and grabbed her things before purposely striding toward the front door.

Ava wore her headphones and tried to ignore the heat and the smell. She’d tied a bandana over her hair, a wise choice considering the amount of dust in the house.

It hadn’t changed much since she’d lived there. The same garage-sale couch with the pullout bed sat in the living room in front of a now busted television. An ancient VCR the size of a condo sat on the table next to it.

No pictures on the walls. The bedroom her parents had shared was uninhabitable. Truly she had no idea how her mother managed to get in there to the bed, much less the will to step over all the dirty plates, piles of clothes and boxes of crap.

What of this had formed her? Had twisted up inside her, coiled like a snake. She shook it off. She had made better for herself, damn it.

The place had branded her insides. Nothing good was there for her. Not now and sure as heck not then. The broken swing set her father had put up for her back when she was six still stood, rusting in the tiny space of patchy grass behind the house. She looked out the dingy window and remembered, even though she didn’t want to.

“Luca told me you were coming over here today.”

Startled, Ava pulled the headphones off and spun to face Maryellen Proffit.

“I sure do know you didn’t want anyone to see this.” She waved a hand at the place. “But I’m not anyone else, Ava Rose Rand.”