Melt Into You (14 page)

FOURTEEN

Jace stomped out of the bedroom, squinting through the
bright morning light filling the living room. He’d woken up cold, alone, and pissed. Pissed that Evan wasn’t in bed next to him and really pissed that he cared.

He should’ve never given in to his need to claim her last night. She’d responded so well under his hand, thrived beneath the dominance like a daisy in sunshine. The rush he’d gotten from her reactions had left him reeling. So much so that he’d gone and dropped his guard without realizing it. He had joked around with her like he used to, had even wanted her to share his bed overnight, which was something he never did with anyone. He’d let himself
feel
something for her, goddammit.

Which is exactly why last night could never happen again. Even if the mere thought of having Evan all to himself for another round had his dick stiffening in his pajama pants. The only way he was touching her again was if Andre was there, too. End of story.

He glanced around the living room, his gaze landing on the couch, a pillow and blanket spread out on it.
Oh, hell no
. If Evan had slept on that hard sofa instead of waking him and admitting she wasn’t cool with sharing a bed, he was going to spank her ass. He’d told her he would take care of her this weekend. Why wouldn’t she let him?

But if she had slept out here, where the hell was she? He looked around the room again and noticed an abandoned glass of water on the dining room table.

Ah, fuck
.

The answer hit him like a knee to the groin. He knew exactly where she was.

And he should be damn happy about it, but instead he had to breathe through a wave of anger he had no right to have. He’d set this up. Talked to Andre himself last night. Rolled out the goddamned red carpet. This is what needed to happen, right?

Unable to stop himself from confirming his suspicions, he crossed to the other side of the cabin until he was standing in front of Andre’s door. He probably should knock.

No, screw that. He needed to see the unedited version and get it through his thick skull that he had no claim to Evan. And she owed him no loyalty either. Gritting his teeth, he turned the knob and pushed open the door.

What lay inside wasn’t unexpected, but twisted him up just the same. The comforter was in a tangle, exposing Andre and Evan, both half-dressed and sound asleep. Evan’s shirt had ridden up, and Andre had a hand splayed possessively over her bare belly.

He blew out a breath.

So they’d fucked. Without him.

And then Evan had chosen to curl up with Andre for the night—a stranger to her—instead of with him. Well that was just fucking fine. Perfect.

Andre was the one who was better at the romantic, cuddling shit with women anyway. Shouldn’t Jace just leave him to it? Mr. Suave had probably murmured sweet words to Evan after they’d had sex. Told her how beautiful she was, how happy he was to be next to her. Kissed away her fear of the dark.

Bitterness burned at the back of Jace’s throat.

Whatever.

He resisted the inclination to slam the door and clicked it shut instead. So, problem solved. Let the two of them screw until the sun went down if they wanted. Because each time Jace knew Evan was with someone else, it would help him put another stone back into the foundation she’d rocked by stepping back into his life. Would remind him of what this was. And what it most definitely was not.

He made his way back to the kitchen and put on the coffee, planning to drink a cup on the back deck so he wouldn’t have to hear it if Evan and Andre did decide to have a little pre-breakfast action.

But before the coffee finished percolating, Andre shuffled into the kitchen, sniffing the air. “
Mmm
, coffee. Thanks, bro. I’ll take one sugar. And how ’bout some pancakes, too? I like mine in Mickey Mouse shapes.”

Jace shot him a deadly glare and shoved past him to grab mugs from the cabinet.

Andre smirked as he leaned against the counter. “What crawled up your ass?”

Jace grunted and turned his back to him to pour himself a cup, trying to get a hold on the jealousy, the anger, the frustration that he was feeling either of those things in the first place. “I’m fine. Just need some caffeine.”

“You and me both.” Andre pushed up from the counter as soon as Jace moved away from the coffeepot so he could get his own fix. “I barely slept last night.”

Jace’s teeth clenched, but he forced himself to look unaffected. None of this was Andre’s fault. The guy had only done what the two of them always did—shared a woman without concerns about jealousy. Jace kept his tone relaxed. “Yeah, well, tough to sleep when you’re too busy screwing.”

Andre turned around and sipped his coffee. “No kidding, she’s got some stamina, that one. Man, so fucking hot. The way she—”

Red clouded Jace’s vision as fuming heat flooded his system. He slammed his cup down on the counter. “I don’t need a goddamned play-by-play, asshole.”

Andre smirked. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

The smug tone made Jace’s fists curl. He’d never punched a friend, but there was a first time for everything.

Andre nodded in his direction. “You can stop plotting my murder. I’m just proving a point.”

Jace barely heard him over the angry buzzing in his brain. “What the hell are you talking about?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t do anything with Evan—well, besides kissing her. She was reluctant to go further without talking to you first, and I wasn’t going to go down that road if she didn’t feel ready.”

“Oh.”

Oh
. Jace’s chest shouldn’t have puffed up, shouldn’t have filled with a rush of relief and . . . satisfaction. He couldn’t stop the idiotic smile that crept to his lips, so he tried to cover it by picking up his mug again and taking a swig of scalding coffee.

“Un-fucking-believable,” Andre said, shaking his head. “Don’t do this, man. Not with her.”

Jace opened his mouth to ask him what that was supposed to mean, but Andre raised a hand to halt him.

“Look, I’m not blind, okay? You’re broadcasting ‘mine’ vibes with a damn bullhorn. This girl means something to you. I get it. And it’s good to see you still have that in you. But this is not the girl to do that with. No matter what happens this weekend, you need to remember she’s not yours, mine, or ours.”

Jace made a dismissive snort, even though Andre’s words dug right beneath his skin. “I’m well aware of who she belongs to.”

“Uh-huh.” Andre gave him a narrow look and then walked around the island to slide onto a barstool on the other side. “That’s why you’re all of a sudden looking at me like I’m the enemy?”

Jace blew out a long breath, realizing that trying to bullshit Andre was like trying to punk the CIA. “Look, I’ll be fine, all right. I just need to get back to what we do best. No more one-on-one.”

“That’s the smartest thing you’ve said since we got here. Now just don’t try to tackle me the first time I touch her. Because I
am
going to touch her, Jace. She may have developed some sense of loyalty to you, but you’re not the only one she’s attracted to.”

The smooth assurance in Andre’s voice had Jace’s jaw tightening again, but he gave him a quick nod. “I’m—”

“Please tell me that’s coffee I smell,” said a hoarse voice, halting further conversation.

Both of them turned to see Evan pad barefoot into the kitchen, looking rumpled and oh so tempting in Jace’s shirt.

Jace handed her a mug, determined to prove to Andre—and himself—that he could move past whatever had come over him and make this simply another fun, relaxing weekend with a hot woman. “Good morning, sunshine. Sounds like you swallowed a mouthful of gravel.”

She took the cup from him and pushed up on her tiptoes, surprising him with a soft kiss, then a saucy smile. “I swallowed something for sure.”

Andre chuckled. “Ten seconds.”

Both Jace and Evan turned toward him. She lifted a brow. “What’s that?”

“The amount of time you need to be in the room before all my blood rushes south.”

She laughed, an open and unashamed sound that did indeed make Jace’s cock begin to stiffen. Yesterday, Evan had been unsure, cautious, but now the vixen he’d gotten a glimpse of in his room last night was emerging. They were making her feel safe—free to be herself. The transformation gave Jace some weird twinge of pride.

She looked up at him, those blue eyes and her palm against his bare chest making him forget his train of thought. “I want to kiss Andre, too. You okay with that?”

Choking back the
fuck no
that first jumped to his lips was like swallowing broken glass, but he covered it with a casual shrug. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Some unreadable expression flickered over her features, but then she mirrored his shrug. “No reason. I guess I’m still figuring out the protocol of this whole thing.”

He smirked. “I appreciate your diligence, babe, but I already told you I don’t care what you do with Andre—kiss, fuck. Him. Me. Both of us at the same time. That’s the beauty of ménage. We’re all just here to have a good time.”

The words weren’t charming, but he had to say something to put all this shit back into perspective. Remind everyone, including himself, why they were doing this.

Her lips pressed together, a little crease forming between her brows. “I’m just trying to wrap my head around the no-jealousy thing.”

“You’re not dating either of us. Can’t get jealous over someone who isn’t yours in the first place.” He nodded at Andre, though it took everything he had to do so. “Go ahead, I think he’s been patient enough.”

She turned her head to Andre, and he gave her a disarming smile. “I can be as patient as you need me to be,
bella
. I have no doubt you’ll be worth the wait.”

Jace grunted.
Silver-tongued bastard
. Jace was no slouch in the flirting department, but somehow Andre always knew the right thing to say to make girls go all gooey.

Evan handed Jace her coffee mug, effectively dismissing him, and crossed over to the island. He had the impulse to grab her arm, stop her, kiss her until she couldn’t remember her own name, much less Andre’s. But instead he kept his hands locked around her cup, gripping it until his knuckles turned white.

She leaned over the counter toward Andre, exposing her little black panties and luscious ass to Jace, probably purposely taunting him after his I-could-give-a-shit-if-you-kiss-him speech. Jace tried to look away, but couldn’t help himself from watching.

Andre’s gaze met his briefly, as if challenging Jace to stop him, but Jace wasn’t going to make any move to prevent it. This is what needed to happen. Andre gave a satisfied smile, then hooked a finger in Evan’s collar and captured her lips in a heated kiss.

Jace braced himself against the edge of the counter as the wave of possessiveness enveloped him. The deepest, most primal part of him wanted to lash out, to rip her away from Andre. But as Evan sank into the kiss and the raw need between the two of them became more and more apparent, Jace’s fiery anger turned into some other emotion—one it took him a second to identify.

Guilt?
Where the hell had that come from? What did he have to feel guilty about?

Then it hit him.

Evan deserved to be happy
.

He’d seen how sad she’d looked on that beach in South Padre, how lost she’d seemed. And God knows she’d had it rough as hell as a teenager. Now that same person was in front of him—lighthearted, turned on, enjoying her time with him—and though he hated to admit it, with Andre. She’d come here for a fantasy weekend, an escape from her normal life, not to be caught up in whatever mixed-up crap Jace was feeling toward her.

There. He’d admitted it. There were residual feelings from the past that seeing her again had stirred up. So what. Didn’t change a damn thing.

He needed to get it through his head that this weekend was about her. Not him. Not Andre. And certainly not about some pissing contest over which guy she wanted more. Especially when the guy she actually wanted was in some house in Dallas planning his upcoming TV show. Evan was only there for a few days, and Jace was wasting time acting like some insecure teenager.
Stupid
.

No more. She came to them with a purpose, and he was going to make damn sure she accomplished her goal. Whatever fantasy she had tucked away in that pretty head of hers, he wanted to give to her. If sharing her with Andre was one of them, then so be it. Jace could tamp down the useless jealousy and lock it away. Hell, he’d locked away worse.

And God knows he enjoyed seeing her come apart with pleasure—what did it matter if there was an extra set of hands bringing her there?

In fact, he knew how much more sexually intense things could get with someone as responsive as Evan if Andre were added to the mix. It’s why Jace preferred ménage in the first place. Some levels could only be reached with a third person involved. And man, if that’s where Evan sought to go, he wanted to be the one to take her there. Wanted to watch her give herself over completely to sensation, to submission.

Visions of Evan in the throes of passion assailed him—both he and Andre pushing her further and further, her blue eyes going hazy with bliss, her lips parted in a silent plea . . .