Between Friends (Friends with Benefits) (10 page)

I cried out as Evan gradually increased the pace of his thrusts. Suddenly, he flipped me over so I was on top of him, impaling my ass on his cock as he continued to move. He grabbed my legs and spread them open.

Justin leaned down and ate my pussy while Evan continued to fuck me in the ass. “Oh my God,” I cried. My breathing was choppy and I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. “Holy shit,” I said, panting. Evan’s hands drifted up to fondle my breasts. My nipples were painfully hard, my pussy absolutely dripping at that point.

Justin leaned over me. “You ready for DP, baby?” he asked with a smirk and a naughty glint in his eyes.

“God, yes,” I cried. “Fuck me! Fuck me now!” My assertiveness must have turned Evan on because he quickened the pace of his thrusts even more. “Ooh,” I moaned as I dug my fingernails into his thighs, “yes, baby, don’t stop.” I was becoming a pro at this dirty-girl thing in record time.

Justin rubbed the head of his cock against my pussy, up and down until I almost passed out from want of relief. “Justin, damn it,” I said through clenched teeth.

He winked. “Sorry.”

I reached down and rubbed my pussy as Evan’s dick continued to ram my ass. Justin moved my hand to my clit.

“I need room to work here.” Justin finally put me out of my misery by kneeling over me and easing his cock inside me. He started to move, his shaft filling my wet center as surely as Evan’s filled my tight asshole.

Sweet, holy shit fuck, why the hell had I never done this before? It was literally bringing tears to my eyes. DP was a beautiful, beautiful thing.

I closed my eyes and let myself feel. Their moans, grunts, and intermingled nasty talk were the icing on a super-yummy sex cake.

“Shit,” Evan said harshly, “I don’t know how much longer I can last.” He squeezed my nipples. “I’m about to come, baby.” He moaned. “Mm, yeah, keep moving that sweet ass up and down on my dick.” He sucked in a breath. “Just like that. Fuck.”

Though I kept one hand braced on Evan’s thigh, I reached the other up to grab Justin’s hair as he started to fuck me harder and harder. We stared into one another’s eyes.

“Fuck me, yes, yes,” I cried.

“Shit, baby, your pussy’s so good.” He moaned.

“Yeah?” I gasped as he hit a really good spot.

“Yes, yes,” he repeated as he rammed into me. “Oh, fuck,” he cried, “I’m about to come!”

My head fell back and I closed my eyes. “Come for me.” I rubbed Evan’s thigh. “Come for me,” I said again.

Evan came just a second before I did; he squeezed my breasts as he yelled and bucked his hips against my ass.

I cried out as I tensed and wrapped my legs tightly around Justin’s waist. This was definitely a scream to wake the neighbors. “Oh my God, oh my God,” I repeated again and again, panting. I felt like I was about to fly apart into a million pieces. An orgasm from
one
of these men sent me over the edge. Being brought to climax by both of them at once was more than I could bear.

Justin yelled as his hips bucked against my inner thighs, his body jerking next to mine.

When he collapsed on me, deliciously sweaty and out of breath, pushing my body into Evan’s equally deliciously sweaty, out-of-breath body, I knew for a fact that I would likely never feel anything remotely as perfect ever again. A tear did come to my eye then and it made its way down my cheek. I told myself it was just because I’d never had such an intense orgasm.

But really? It was because I realized that I now wanted what I could never, ever have: Justin and Evan both in my life, in a noncasual, real, meaningful way.

So much for my sexual revolution.

“What’s the problem?” Nina asked, eyes wide. “You got it in every hole by two hot guys!”

I paced my living room as she and Doodle sat there looking at me like I was insane. Maybe I was. I was feeling slightly unhinged. “Don’t you see? I’m falling for them both! Even falling for one of them would have been bad enough, but both?” I cried.

Nina frowned. “Huh? How the hell can you be falling in love with two guys?”

“I don’t know, but I am. It’s like,” I struggled to explain it when I couldn’t even understand it myself, “I can’t see being with one and being completely happy unless I have the other one there, too. I won’t feel… complete or something unless I have them both.”

Nina raised an eyebrow. “You certainly had them both a few nights ago. And at the same time, too.” She clapped. “Kudos.”

“Nina, this isn’t funny. What am I supposed to do?”

She shrugged. “Pick one.”

I looked at her like she was crazy. “Oh, gee, why didn’t I think of that?” I asked sarcastically. “I can’t pick one; I want them both!”

“Calm down, sheesh.” Nina reached for the remote.

“Don’t you dare turn on one of those foreign soap operas right now when I’m falling apart!”

Her hand froze and she pulled it back. “It was gonna be
Sábado Gigante
, actually, but whatever.”

I sat down next to her, dejected. I let my head fall back on the couch as I closed my eyes.

“Stace,” she said, “is it really that impossible to just choose a guy and go for it?”

“Yes.” I opened my eyes and turned to look at her. “If I were with Justin, I’d always miss Evan and think about him. If I were with Evan, I’d always miss and think about Justin.”

Nina considered it. “Well, have you thought about keeping this, uh, thing going with both of them? Why choose if you don’t have to?”

I sighed. “I
do
have to.” I ran my fingers roughly through my hair. “For all my sexual adventurousness of the past few months, I’m still an old-fashioned girl. I want to get married; I want to have kids. A ménage à trois doesn’t exactly go along with that particular white picket-fence scenario.” I thought about what it would be like to give up on the dream I’d had since I was a little girl: A family of my own.

A part of me would always be miserable if I did that. But would it be worth the sacrifice in order to have both Justin and Evan in my life? I pushed the thought away. “Even if I wanted to give up my hopes and dreams in order to be with them both, there’s no way they’d go for it.”

“Girl, they’ve both agreed to share you so far.”

“Yeah, for sex. What does that really mean, at the end of the day? They took turns getting off on me and me, them.” I shook my head. “An actual relationship is way different; there are feelings involved, and that automatically makes things complicated.” I scoffed as I thought about the two friends attempting to share more than just my body. An attempt to share my heart would
not
go well. They could manage to give each other shit over anything, no matter how trivial. Getting them to agree to both get serious with me was not in the cards.

“Don’t worry,” I said, “regardless, I don’t plan on making any decisions on impulse.”

Nina gave me a hard look. “Oh, Stace,” she said, taking a deep breath, “why don’t I believe you?”

*      *      *

I made my way to Cassie’s office and almost collided with her receptionist, Lola, as I turned the corner. We exchanged apologies. “I’m here to see Cassie.”

Lola nodded. “She’s in with Julia and Brad. I can buzz her and let her know you’re out here.”

I smiled. “That would be great, thanks.”

Lola returned to her seat behind the desk and picked up the phone. She pressed a button. “Stacy Washington here to see you, Ms. Jones.” She paused. “Will do.” She hung up and gave me a smile. “You can go right in.”

“Thanks,” I said before walking over and knocking on the door to Cassie’s office. “Come in,” she called. She gave me a big smile when I walked in. “Have a seat.”

Brad got up and offered me his chair. He then pulled one away from the wall and slid it up next to me and Julia.

“Thanks,” I said to him before sitting.

Cassie wasted no time getting straight to the point. “George and I had a long conversation about you this morning.”

Gulp. Cassie may have been the creative director, but George was the senior account manager. In other words, he was my boss. I frowned as I tried to remember if I’d done something that could have pissed George off lately. Hmm… I’d left the cursing out of Stein to Julia, so that couldn’t be it.

I cleared my throat and tried to sound somewhat normal as I squeaked out, “About me?”

Cassie nodded. “George is really proud of you, and I have to say, so am I.”

My heart dropped back into a slightly more normal range now that I knew I wasn’t about to be canned.

“Your handling of Gilbert Stein showed that you have what it takes to really go far with clients. You’ll have no trouble building an impressive list.”

Julia smiled and nodded. “He’s a total ass, but you didn’t lose your cool, not once.”

Cassie looked at her. “If only we
all
could say that.”

Julia rolled her eyes. “Did I or did I not get the man to admit what each of us knew all along: That the original ad was pure brilliance?” Cassie didn’t reply, so Julia leaned forward to look at Brad, who, as usual, grunted in response.

I smiled. “You did.”

“Thank you,” Julia cried. “Finally, someone with the balls to say it. No wonder you’re going places, kid.”

I smiled slipped just a bit. “Where am I going exactly?”

“That’s up to you,” Cassie said. “Either you’re going back to your office on the seventh floor or”—she paused for emphasis—“you’re going to London for the next few months.”

I widened my eyes. “London?”

“There are some international clients who are interested in what we offer here at Innovative Images. Of course, if they choose to do business with us, they’ll need someone to oversee their account…”

My hand flew to my chest. “Me?”

“Turns out Mr. Stein has some very powerful friends here and abroad, and let’s just say you were highly recommended to Valiance Corp.”

My mouth dropped open and I forgot to breathe. Valiance Corp was a huge corporation that specialized in mergers and acquisitions. I’d actually heard talk of them opening a base right here in Oklahoma City. I couldn’t believe Mr. Stein recommended me to such high rollers; I couldn’t believe he’d recommended me at all. I took back all the mean things I’d said about him. Well, most of them. Stein still struck me as being one fry short of a Happy Meal, but that was something to ponder on another day.

“So,” Cassie asked, “what’s it going to be?”

I took a deep breath. This may be what I needed after all in order to truly move on from the craziness my life had become in the last few months. I needed time and distance away from this place… and the people in it. “I’d love to.”

It would still hurt to leave Evan and Justin behind, but maybe now it would hurt slightly less since I’d have the wonderful distraction of Europe to help me along.

I smiled to myself.

I doubt it, but I’ll see.

*      *      *

Later that night, the phone rang. God, trying to avoid Evan and Justin was wearing on me. I couldn’t deny that I missed them both like crazy. I snatched up the receiver rather than screening, as had become my habit lately.

“Hello?” Damn it. The hope was evident in my voice. I was feeling particularly weak tonight, what with being on the verge of such a major life change as moving to Europe. Could Evan and Justin change my mind and make me stay? Did I want them to?

“Stacy… Hi.”

I stared straight ahead as my breath caught in my throat. My ex-boyfriend.

“You were obviously expecting someone else?”

“No, no, it’s fine.” It wasn’t so much that I was expecting someone else—or two someones—as much as I’d been dreading… and hoping at the same time. However, Nathan was the last person I thought I’d hear from.

“Good. I’ll make this quick.”

Doodle began to bark as if he could sense Nathan on the other end of the line. He’d never cared for Nathan. What could I say? Doodle was a much better judge of character than I’d ever been, that was for sure. “Doodle, quiet.” The dog finally grew silent. “What’s going on?” I had to admit, this impromptu call had piqued my curiosity.

“Sorry to drop a call on you like this. It was a last-minute thing. I kept talking myself out it, thinking you’d either ignore the call or, even worse, answer and then blow me off.” He paused a few beats. “Not that I wouldn’t deserve either of those things.”

Damn right he would. But because I was a new me and totally unaffected by hearing his voice—which came as a surprise even to me—I simply said, “What’s up?” The old me would have practically swooned over having this man back in my life in any capacity. Tall, broad-shouldered, with dark skin and classically handsome features, Nathan had always been just my type. Not so much anymore. I basked in that realization as I waited for his answer. It was liberating to know that, no matter what he said, I would be just fine.

I heard him take a deep breath. “I miss you. Look, I know I was an asshole, but I only pushed you away because I was getting… a little scared.”

I frowned. “Scared?”

“We’d talked about moving in together; the next logical step would have been marriage. I knew you wanted that, but I wasn’t sure I was ready. These past few months have been hell, though. I was so certain I wanted my freedom, I needed it. But now… I just want you.”

I was loath to admit it, but his words got to me on some level. It was nice to have an apology; it was nice to know he’d realized his mistake. It just seemed too little, too late. I’d always fantasized about taking great pleasure in rejecting him once he came crawling back, but I took no pleasure in the act now that it was upon me.

“Nathan…”

“Everything we talked about, Stacy, we could have. The house, the kids, the rest of our lives spent together.”

My eyes slid closed as my heart clenched. That
was
what I wanted. I didn’t want to have flings forever. And if I were being totally honest with myself, what I was doing now was crazy. I was playing Russian roulette with my heart. Really, what did I expect to happen with Justin and Evan? How far would our arrangement take us? A few more months maybe, if that?

Still, I forced myself to say, “It’s too late, Nathan. I’m sorry.”