Three to Tango (6 page)

She gave him a big smile. “Cosmo?”

The weariness of his day melted away at the sight of Melody, and just like

that, Alec was wide-awake. She was so vital and alive. And that dress… Why wasn"t

he supposed to fall in love with her again? Oh yeah, they were friends and

roommates. Something about complications. But from where he stood right now, it

didn"t seem complicated at all. It was very simple. He wanted Mel. Badly.

“Thanks.”

Her fingers brushed his as he accepted the drink, and a bolt of heat shot from

her touch to his groin.

He took a long sip from the icy glass without even glancing at it. The tangy

blend of citrus and vodka tasted almost as delicious as she looked.

“What"s the occasion?” he asked, motioning with his glass and raking her

frame with his gaze.

“Mel says we have to be grown-ups tonight,” Jace said as he breezed into the

kitchen.

Holy shit.

Jace looked sexy as hell—like he"d just stepped out of a
GQ
cover shoot—

wearing a no-doubt expensive and perfectly tailored gray suit. The crisp chrome

lines complemented his eyes, turning them to intense cobalt.

As Alec stood in awe of all the beauty around him, images from his shower

daydream the week before came flooding back. His cock ached as he imagined

flipping Mel"s short dress up just a few inches and burying himself deep in her

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Chloe Cole & L. C. Chase

pussy with one long stroke. A flash, and then Mel was behind him, plastered

against his back, watching over his shoulder as Jace knelt before him, sucking him

off.

Alec took a long pull of his drink to wet his parched throat. Then cleared his

throat and tried to behave like everything was normal. “Wow, you guys look

awesome. And you"re putting me to shame. I"ve been knee-deep in potting soil and

fertilizer all day. I look like a peasant among royalty. I probably smell like one too.”

He shoved his half-empty drink at Jace. “Take this. I gotta shower. Be right back.”

Then he hotfooted it to the bathroom, trying to conceal the growing tent in his

shorts.

Alec completed his shower in record time but took an extra minute to shave

and slap on some cologne. Hell, he wasn"t going to play the role of the ugly friend.

He didn"t own a suit, though, so he made do, pulling on a pair of tan chinos and a

white dress shirt he left untucked. He didn"t bother with socks or shoes.

Heading to the door to rejoin his roommates, he paused when Jace and Melody

burst into peals of laughter. He loved listening to them laugh like that. They were

so uninhibited with each other. Straining against his bedroom door to hear more, he

was rewarded with another round of giggles.

“Well, as hot as we both look tonight, he"d have to be dead not to notice. I"m

predicting a very interesting night for one of us,” Jace said. “Preferably me.”

Wait, what?

“Think again, twinkle toes. I was hoping I wasn"t being too obvious with the

dress, you know.”

“Oh, you mean the dress that has „horny and single, please take me" written all

over it? No, I think it"s
very
subtle, honey.”

“Silly boy, if it said that, you"d be wearing one too.”

Again, they broke into laughter.

Three to Tango

35

Alec tried to quiet his suddenly erratic breathing so he didn"t miss anything. A

few murmured words were spoken that he didn"t catch, then Mel"s voice. “But

seriously, desperate times call for desperate measures, and subtle isn"t cutting it.

We have to get serious, and may the best roommate win.”

“What can I say? When you"re right, you"re right. So we turn the heat up a bit.

No hard feelings no matter who he chooses, though. Pinky swear?”

Alec froze. Okay, so maybe he hadn"t been imagining all their recent flirting.

His gut churned a bit as he tried to take it all in.

They obviously had a bet going, and he was the prize. Hurt warred with

excitement. Although the three of them were really close, he always felt like he was

just
on the outskirts of their twosome. And here he was again, not quite the third

musketeer. He hated that they had secrets they didn"t share with him.

On the other hand, they both wanted him. Wasn"t that some fucking stellar

news? If he put aside his initial hurt, he had to admit that he still wanted them too.

Not the type to look a gift horse in the mouth, Alec came to a decision quickly.

His roommates had no idea just how hot things were about to get.

Melody"s eyes were glued to the bottle, her heart pounding as it spun round

and round.

It was kind of surreal how they"d gotten there. After a delicious dinner of

perfectly seasoned shrimp and crisp Mandarin salad—
touché, Jace
—they had

moved into the living room with their second round of cosmos for board-game time.

While she and Jace had pored over the options in the closet, Alec had dropped an

absolute bomb on them.

“
How about truth or dare
?”

Jace"s expression had been priceless, and she could only imagine what hers

had looked like. They"d both been too stunned to answer, and the silence was

deafening. Could a better opportunity have fallen into their laps?

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Chloe Cole & L. C. Chase

“
What’s the matter? You guys chicken
?”

Jace had followed Alec"s lead and continued with the lighthearted banter.

“
Chicken? Oh no, he didn’t just call us out like that, Hellz
.”

“
You know, I was the truth-or-dare queen back in the day
,” she"d said, preening.

“
Funny. Me too
,” Jace had deadpanned.

Alec had shot them a feral smile, a mischievous glint lighting his eyes. “
Well,

then, I guess it’s on
.”

They"d quickly negotiated the rules, opting to incorporate another childhood

favorite into the mix. The person whose turn it was to ask the question or come up

with a dare had to spin a bottle. Whoever it landed on was “it.” If it landed on the

spinner, the person to his or her right would be the recipient of the question or dare.

In the interest of women"s lib, ladies first went out the window, and they had done

rock-paper-scissors to determine the order. Alec was the first to spin.

As the wine bottle rotated on the coffee table, Melody tried to appear

nonchalant, but her gaze was glued to the whirling decider of fate. The silence was

almost absolute. It was as if all the air had been sucked out of the room in

anticipation. And she realized she wasn"t the only one holding her breath. Alec and

Jace sat deathly still, lips pursed. Only their eyes gave away that they were alive.

The bottle slowed to a snail"s pace. Finally, it stopped.

Jace.

“Truth or dare?” Alec asked, a challenging light in his eyes.

“Dare.”

Alec seemed to wrestle with himself, his jaw tightening. Again, the air grew

thick as they waited. The music that had seemed so quiet before now overpowered

the room.

I gave you all the love I got

I gave you more than I could give

Gave you love

Three to Tango

37

Sade"s smoky voice told a sultry tale of longing, and suddenly it felt

unbearably intimate, almost uncomfortable. Melody had to resist the urge to turn it

off. She looked up and found Jace staring at her, a bemused expression on his face.

It was gone a moment later when Alec finally spoke.

“All right, Jace. Kiss Mel.”

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Chloe Cole & L. C. Chase

Chapter Six

The room grew oppressively quiet as Sade paused between songs.

What the fuck had made him say that? He"d meant to ease into it, be cool.

They were obviously both into him, but a threesome wasn"t on their radar. Alec

wondered if they even recognized that they were attracted to each other. He"d let his

own personal fantasy and curiosity get the better of him, and he may have just

blown the whole thing. He wanted to bite his tongue off for suggesting it. Just as he

opened his mouth to take it back, Jace spoke.

“Well, whatcha got for me, Hellz?” He wiggled his eyebrows and gave her a

leering grin.

She pressed her hand to her forehead as if in a swoon and put on her best

Southern belle accent. “Dear Lawd, if this is a dream, don"t wake me.”

Dropping her hands to the floor, she crawled over to Jace on all fours, her lips

puckered comically.

Jace leaned forward and kissed her, a light brush of lips, then pulled away.

“No way. Not gonna cut it,” Alec said with a snort, trying to disguise the

tightness in his throat. “That"s how you kiss your aunt. I want to see some tongue.

What kind of sham are we running here? Queens of truth or dare, my ass.”

“Ew, you kiss your aunt on the mouth? You might want to call somebody about

that, honey,” Jace joked. “And anyway, it was the first dare. You have to leave

something to work up to. You don"t have the crème brûlée before the salad, do you?”

“I don"t have the crème brûlée at all. Wait, what"s crème brûlée?”

Three to Tango

39

Melody forced out a stiff laugh at the boys" banter, but in reality her brain had

short-circuited. Jace"s lips had been so warm, so soft against her own. She resisted

the urge to press her fingers to her mouth.

“Fine, whatever. If that"s how you want to play it,” Alec said, shaking his head

in mock disapproval.

Jace"s gaze cut to hers, and his eyes narrowed with determination, zeroing in

on her lips. Melody wondered if he could hear her heart pounding, because she

couldn"t hear anything else.

He bent low, his warm breath fanning her mouth. “Okay?” he asked, his voice

almost a whisper.

Unable to speak, she nodded, mesmerized by his darkening blue eyes.

Jace ran just the tip of his tongue over the bow of her top lip and then traveled

to the bottom. Her mouth parted, and he accepted the invitation, entering with a

slow, sensual slide. His lips were firm, his tongue magic as he made love to her

mouth. An ache swelled low between her hips, and her nipples pebbled. The focus

and passion so evident in his dance translated beautifully to kissing, and he led her

masterfully, mercilessly.

Melody trembled with the effort of holding still when every instinct urged her

to grab his head and latch on to him, to fall on the floor and pull him over her so he

could use that magic tongue on the rest of her body.

Of all the times she had dreamed about it over the years, she had never

imagined kissing Jace would be this incredible. Once she"d come to terms with the

fact that he would never feel
that
way about her, she had convinced herself they

wouldn"t have any chemistry.

She so was wrong. This was like taking a breath of air after being underwater

too long. Exhilarating, heady,
necessary.

She let out an involuntary whimper, breaking the delicate spell.

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Chloe Cole & L. C. Chase

Jace pulled away and gave his head a shake. He tried to quiet his harsh

breathing, but it was no use. As he came back to earth, he realized he wasn"t the

only one breathing hard.

Alec sat on the edge of the couch, leaning toward them, nostrils flaring, chest

heaving. Mel sat back on her heels, darkened eyes wide in astonishment as the

pulse in her throat leaped.

With a start, Alec sat back, shifting in his seat. He began to clap slowly, then

with more exuberance as he let out a wolf whistle. “Damn, you two really can"t turn

down a challenge, can you? Well done.”

Alec"s praise washed over Jace like fine wine, and he smiled.

Mel grinned too, still looking a bit dazed.

Good.

Jesus, where the hell had that come from? Why would the fact that he"d

affected her make him so happy? And why had he enjoyed their kiss so much? This

was about Alec, not him and Mel. He had never looked at Mel sexually before this

silly bet of theirs. But he had a zipper full of stiff cock for the second time with only

Mel to blame that told a different story.

“Who needs a refill?” Alec asked as he stood.

“Me.”

“Me too,” Jace added, standing as well. “Be right back.”

Jace made his way to the bathroom to splash cold get-with-the-program water

on his face, while Alec picked up the glasses and went into the kitchen.

“Need help?” Melody asked as she pushed herself up from the floor and

followed Alec into the kitchen. She couldn"t just sit there on the living room floor

alone. That would give her way too much time to think about what just happened

between her and Jace. She"d been down that road many times, and no matter how

hot that kiss was, she knew her feelings for Jace would never be returned.