Time to Pretend (34 page)

Sometimes Zach had nightmares, and Alaina would climb into his bed and sooth him until he fell back asleep. Often, she fell asleep in there, too.

Anytime she apologized for the inconvenience or the complications Zach’s presence caused, she earned a nasty look in response.

They had promptly taken her aside and assured her they loved Zach, too. A daily pattern had emerged where the three of them made sure Zach felt loved and accepted by them instead of abandoned by his natural parents.

This acceptance made it difficult for Alaina to push Daniel to admit his feelings for Evan. Ever since the morning Evan admitted his bisexuality to Alaina, the topic had been dormant. She liked this domestic bliss, and she didn’t want to do anything that would force Danny to leave. As much as she wanted their air cleared, she knew
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pushing Danny right now wasn’t the right course of action. He needed time, and she would give it to him.

Sometimes, though, she could tell Evan had been pushing. Small looks of irritation or obstinacy would cause a mulish set to Daniel’s jaw and a tension in his body. He sometimes took it out on the equipment in his gym, and he sometimes spent more time cleaning the house. Alaina didn’t ask, but she was pretty sure a fight between them had caused Daniel to spend three days cleaning and organizing all the crap in her basement.

“I want to be a Ninja.”

Zach’s answer jerked Alaina from her thoughts. “Did you want to wear your karate costume?”

Daniel snorted and shared an eye-roll with Zach. The two of them had taken to watching Bruce Lee movies together. Daniel had an entire DVD collection featuring his idol. Zach hadn’t yet adopted Bruce Lee as his idol, but he was close.

Evan enlightened her. “Ninjas wear black, not white.”

“We should all dress up as Ninjas,” Zach said. His eyes widened with excitement and he hopped up on one foot. “We’ll be The Three Ninjas!”

“Four,” Daniel said. “Lainie can be a ninja, too.” Zach snorted in an imitation of Daniel. “Yeah, right. Alaina doesn’t dress up for Halloween. She’s too old.”

“Finish your eggs.” She snapped off a crisp piece from her bacon and popped it into her mouth, hoping the conversation ended there.

“We’ll all go together to get costumes.” Zach, her co-conspirator, got the message. Two weeks ago, he had surprised her by bringing home a birthday gift he had made for her in school. After she raved over the beaded bracelet, she had made him promise to keep quiet about it. As far as she was concerned, she was going to be thirty-six for the next ten or twenty years. Only then would she consider thirty-seven.

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Funny how she hadn’t been self-conscious about her age until she fell for two men in their mid-twenties. She knew they didn’t care about the disparity, and she wished it didn’t bother her. Sometimes it didn’t, and sometimes it did. As time passed, she knew it would cease to matter. She just wasn’t there yet.

Zach shoved a forkful of eggs into his mouth.

Unfortunately, Daniel didn’t let her change the subject. He knew age discussions bothered her, but he didn’t pussy-foot around the topic. It seemed his reluctance to face his sexuality was the only denial he would countenance. “Thirty-six isn’t old. It’s experienced.

Now, thirty-seven is a completely different story. She’ll lose her looks, and we’ll have to get her a walker and some adult diapers.” She knew he was kidding, and the statement struck a nerve.

Fuzzball curled around her leg, rubbing the top of his head against her nylons. Evan had brought the animal over several weeks ago. She’d never had a pet before, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it yet, but it was better than Evan having to return to his house so much to feed and care for it.

Leaning down, she scratched its head twice and stopped. The cat let out a loud meow in protest.

Zach seemed to take exception to Daniel’s pronouncement on her behalf. He pounded his fist onto the table. “Alaina does not need a walker or diapers. She doesn’t even look older than she did when she was thirty-six. I think she’s still pretty.” As Zach’s slip-up sank in, both Evan and Daniel nailed her with hard looks.

The color drained from Zach’s face as he realized what he said.

He turned to face her, regret written all over his features. She brushed his hair out of his eyes and tried for her warmest smile. “Thanks for calling me pretty.”

“Lainie.”

“Zach, go brush your teeth and make sure your folder is in your backpack. Put on your tennis shoes. You have PE today.”
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Relief flooded color back into his face, and he ran off. If Alaina could have run with him, she would have been right on his tail. Left alone with Evan and Daniel, she avoided direct eye contact.

She stood and began clearing the dishes from the table. Evan caught her wrist, halting her actions. “Little lady, did you have a birthday you neglected to mention?”

“I don’t have birthdays anymore. They stopped at thirty.” She tried to wrest her hand from his grip, but he didn’t release her.

“Birthdays don’t stop, and not telling us deprives us of an opportunity to do something nice for you.” She looked up, finally meeting his pale blue gaze. “You do nice things for me every day.”

Daniel didn’t have as much patience as Evan. He threw his fork on his empty plate and leaned back in his chair. That stubborn look in his eye didn’t detract one bit from his sexiness. “Exactly when is your birthday, Lainie?”

“October first.” She knew when she was beat.

A long string of curses fell from Daniel’s lips.

Alaina’s jaw dropped open at his vehemence. “Mouth, Daniel.

You can’t talk like that when Zach is here to hear it.”

“Your birthday was two weeks ago, Lainie. You didn’t say a word.” His eyes narrowed. “Nobody did. It’s not right.”

“Zach made me a card and a bracelet.” That probably wasn’t the right thing to say. She could tell he wasn’t pleased she had kept her birthday from him, but she really didn’t want him to know about it.

Maybe she was a little self-conscious about the age difference, and maybe she was a little vain. If she dug deep, she might admit to a little passive-aggressiveness, but she wasn’t planning to dig deep today.

Daniel shot to his feet. Angry color stained his neck and face.

Evan moved to stand between them, but he didn’t release her wrist.

Usually, he watched from the sidelines when they argued. Though the bulk of their disagreements were meaningless, she and Daniel still
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engaged in frequent verbal sparring matches. They both enjoyed the banter.

He often tried to engage Evan, but it didn’t work. Evan definitely filled the role of peacemaker. Somebody had to. Alaina liked that she could let go and argue with Daniel and that he wouldn’t hold it against her later. She stepped out from behind Evan.

“Damn it, Lainie, you don’t get to make those kinds of decisions.

You can’t keep secrets like this from us.” She ripped her hand away from Evan and rounded the table.

Poking a finger into Daniel’s chest, she met his chagrin head-on.

“Everybody has something they keep to themselves. I don’t make you tell me all of your secrets, so don’t expect me to tell you every little detail, either. If I want to be thirty-six for another year, you don’t have a say in it.”

Daniel wisely didn’t reply. Other than revealing his secrets to her, nothing he said could change her mind about this. He sank back down in his chair and stared at his empty plate.

She whirled on Evan, but he held his hands up to stop anything she might have said. “I’m okay with thirty-six. You can stay that age for as long as you want.”

Alaina turned her attack on the dirty dishes. She had a few hours before she had to be at work. After the Wednesday sessions at Daniel’s studio stopped, she hadn’t adjusted her schedule to fill Thursday mornings with work. Sometimes she went into work early, and sometimes she stayed home and spent time with Evan and Daniel.

“For the record, I’m August eighth.” Evan brought the rest of the plates over to the sink. The corners of his mouth lifted in a cheeky smile. “And Danny’s June twentieth. We both like to celebrate with family and friends. Maybe a little bit of birthday sex.” If they had asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she would have asked to watch them make out. She dropped a plate into a slot in the dishwasher and looked up at Evan. “We had sex on my birthday.”

“Sex on your birthday is not the same as birthday sex.”
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Before she could ask about the difference, Zach entered the room.

“I’m ready for school.”

A quick glance showed he had donned his jacket without being asked. His backpack hung from one shoulder. He came close so she could kiss his cheek. “Have a great day, Zach. Learn a lot. I’ll pick you up at four.”

Daniel approached behind Zach, who moved out of the way.

“Lainie, don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad.” Well, she was a little mad, but not about her birthday. She wiped her hands on a dish towel and pulled his face to hers for a hungry kiss guaranteed to keep her in his thoughts all day.

“Have a great day at work, Daniel. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Seeing as she kicked them out of the house on Thursdays so she could spend the evening alone with Zach, Daniel didn’t have any recourse. Technically, they weren’t living together. However, both Evan and Daniel slept over six nights a week.

If they were honest with her about their love, she would have let them move in formally.

The back door opened and closed. Daniel’s truck roared to life, and Evan helped her finish cleaning the breakfast mess.

Afterward, he threw her dish towel on the counter and perused her with his discerning gaze. “Do you want to talk?” Did she want to talk? Hell, yes, but she didn’t want to be the one talking. She wanted to be the one listening as they poured their souls out to her. She wanted to know they loved her enough to share absolutely everything. Until that happened, she couldn’t move away from thinking of their relationship as finite.

“No,” she said at long last. “I want you to show me what birthday sex is. Maybe you’ll convince me to start celebrating again.” Relief flickered across his face for a brief second before his eyes darkened with desire. He pulled her close and brushed his lips against hers. “We’re going to need to dig out your toy chest.”
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Ever since Daniel and Evan had come clean about both wanting to be with her, Alaina’s toys had been sorely neglected. With two horny, virile men in her bed, she hadn’t even thought to break them out.

She pushed away from him, breaking his embrace and diving for her purse. “Let me text my assistant. I think I feel a cold coming on.” Evan grabbed her around the waist and tossed her over his shoulder. She barely had time to finish the text before he snatched the phone away and tossed it in the nightstand drawer. Her toys used to reside there, but now it was full of condoms, lube, and tissue.

He threw her down on the bed. “Undress, little lady. I want you as naked as the day you were born. Where are your toys?”

“Shoebox in the closet. It’s the one marked ‘girl stuff’. That’s Danny’s label, not mine.” Alaina peeled off her nylons and tossed them to the floor. She attacked the buttons on her blouse next.

Evan chuckled. “One day, we’ll have to introduce him to your girl stuff.” Though the closet was jammed full of clothes and things belonging to all three of them, he found the box without too much of a problem. “I’m going to need to remodel this so there’s enough closet space for three. How about a walk-in just for you?” She’d fantasized about having one of those. “I think I just came.” Her skirt, bra, and panties joined the heap.

Evan threw the box on the bed. “Show me. Lie back and spread your legs.”

If she hadn’t already been wet with anticipation, the gleam in his eyes would have done it for her. She loved when he looked at her as if he wanted to eat her up. Frequently, he did eat her up. She did as he asked, situating her pussy so that it faced him where he stood next to the bed.

His eyes roamed her body, lingering on her face, breasts, and pussy the longest. “Beautiful. Lift your knees so I can see that sweet little ass of yours.”

Evan had proven time and again just how much he loved every part of her body. Something seemed a little different today, but after
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her argument with Daniel, she didn’t want to spend time analyzing it.

She lifted her knees and opened wider so he could see both holes.

“Are you deciding which one you want?” He knelt on the bed, bending to hover over her body. The soft fabric of his shirt brushed against her nipples, teasing a gasp from her throat. Just above her breasts, Evan painted light kisses with his lips and breath, declaring his love with each tiny stroke.

She gripped his head, wanting to thread her fingers through his hair, but he’d cut it too short. Those boyish bangs that had fallen into his eyes when she met him were gone.

At last, he made it to her lips, peppering those with small kisses, too. “Both. That’s what the toys are for.” Her favorite position had come to be the one where she rode one of her lovers while the other filled her ass. Nothing beat dual stimulation. Alaina was convinced she had a second G-spot in her rectum. Being fucked that way never failed to send her flying.

Though she knew Evan had sex with Daniel every Thursday, she knew he must miss the feeling of having something penetrate his ass the rest of the week. If he loved it half as much as she did, then he was definitely sacrificing for Daniel.

Clamping her knees together on his hips, she held him still while she pushed his face away from hers. “Evan, will you let me do something to you?”

He pushed a strand of her hair away from her neck. “You get anything you want on your birthday. Ask, and I’ll make all of your sexual wishes come true.”