He jogged down to the sand and then strolled along the beach, looking for his favorite rock to sit on, glad he’d worn jeans because of the chill in the air. The fog created a weird feeling, a feeling of being alone even though someone could be standing twenty feet away.
He sat down, drew his knees up and encircled them with his arms. The fog dampened sounds, the ocean only a hushed cadence. He couldn’t see the homes behind him, couldn’t see the ocean in front of him.
He was alone.
And hadn’t that pretty much been his goal for the last two years? Not to need anyone, not to get involved, because that just got messy and the feelings that simmered down deep inside him had to be kept there.
But today they were stirred up, roiling, threatening to boil over. Last night had pulled some sort of plug within him that he’d carefully kept closed up, releasing things he didn’t want loose.
His gut churned almost to the point of nausea. Looking down, he saw a seashell in the sand. He reached for it, brushed the sand off it. He held it in his hand and stared at it. It was perfect—peachy pink, still whole, the two halves joined in the middle. Empty. Lifeless.
Chapter Twenty
Krissa wished she didn’t have a client meeting that day, but she had to drive to Ventura to meet with Phoenix Insurance at eleven. She prepared her materials, slid the file into her brief case, checked to make sure her cell phone was charged.
Then she sat at her desk, staring blindly at the computer monitor.
How could she have done that?
She’d made love to two men. Slept with them.
And she didn’t even feel ashamed. Or slutty. Her body ached with remembered pleasure. Once they’d gotten past the initial awkwardness Nate had been…amazing. How he’d gone from cold and distant, to warm and tender. How he’d made sure she’d had her pleasure first, even though that didn’t really matter. And then he’d made her come again. Three times in one night. That had never happened for her before.
She bit her lip. The passionate emotions she and Nate had evoked in each other last night made her suddenly painfully aware of how much that had been lacking between her and Derek for quite some time.
Her tummy clenched.
She didn’t want to think disloyal thoughts about her husband. It wasn’t his fault that sex had become so forced, so predictable, so—perfunctory. Following her reproductive cycle had resulted in that. It couldn’t really be helped. This was an unfortunate side effect of that.
Someday, things would be easy again with Derek. Once they accomplished this goal. Everything would be fine. In the meantime, she had two men to sleep with. It was win-win-win. Derek had been turned on by watching her and Nate, and she’d been turned on by…Nate. Well, even the blowjob she’d given Derek last night had been more enjoyable. More unexpected—less about procreation and more about pleasure. Pleasing him. And the fact that Nate had watched had only added to the excitement. She got warm and damp just thinking about it.
She glanced at her watch. She needed to leave. She hadn’t heard Nate return yet. He’d been out on the beach for a long time.
Why on earth was she worried about him? He was a grown man who’d traveled the world. He’d be fine.
She grabbed her car keys and let herself out the front door to go to her meeting.
Nate slept with them again that night. His lovemaking started with some perfunctory kissing and caressing and Krissa’s stomach tightened. What was going on with him? It felt so…detached. Then she grabbed hold of his face and held it while she kissed him, long, deep, open-mouthed, until he gasped and trembled and rolled her to her back. His touch became fevered and urgent, his kisses hot and consuming.
She made him stay again after, loving the warmth of both male bodies next to her. She slept between them, not allowing herself to think about the unconventional arrangement. The next night, when she asked Nate to make love to her again, to make sure they took full advantage of her fertile time, she didn’t have to ask him to stay—he just did.
The night after that, everything changed.
They could no longer claim their sex was about making a baby. Now it was pure, sexual enjoyment.
They didn’t even make it to the bedroom.
After dinner, sexual restlessness buzzed in the air, even while they did dishes, cleaned up in the kitchen. Krissa’s eyes shot sparks of heat every time she glanced Nate’s way, making his dick jump and his balls tighten. When Derek trailed a hand down her back and over her ass, she cast a sexy smile at him and Nate’s body had hardened even more.
When she brushed by him to get one last dish off the table, she’d paused and let her hand slide from his chest, down over his abdomen and brush over the bulge behind the fly of his jeans. His sharply indrawn breath made her smile.
“How about a dip in the hot tub?” Derek proposed. Krissa sent a heated glance at Nate, and he nodded.
Out on the deck, in the rich light of the setting sun, both men turned to Krissa. “Let us help you,” Derek said, and started on the buttons of her sleeveless cotton blouse while Nate stood behind her and reached around to undo the button and zip of her shorts. He slid them down over her hips and they dropped to the deck around her feet. He admired the sweet curve of her ass, covered only by three strings and tiny bow of her pink thong underwear.
“You have the prettiest underwear, Krissa,” Nate said.
Her thank you came out as a croak.
He took his time, sliding his palms down the side of a rounded hip, over her smooth thighs. He crouched, balanced on the balls of his feet as he gently lifted one small foot, then the other, to remove the panties. His hands wandered back up, over her ass, and he caressed her there while her blouse came off, then her pink lace bra.
His jeans were too tight, and every nerve ending jumped with tension and desire. Krissa’s soft sighs of pleasure as two men touched her drifted in the evening air. Nate pressed his mouth to one lush curve in a hot, open-mouthed kiss, then, unable to resist, he gently bit her. She gasped.
He kissed the spot, knowing it hadn’t really hurt her, although his mouth smiled against her firm flesh. His hands held her hips as he feathered kisses over her ass, then one long, lingering kiss in the small of her back where she was warm and womanly fragrant.
He stood up, felt her wobble as both he and Derek stepped away and he reached out a hand to steady her. She turned her head and smiled up at him, eyes unfocused and hazy. “Thank you.”
He smiled back down at her, put a hand on her face and cupped her jaw, while Derek divested himself of shorts and T-shirt. Then Derek helped Krissa step into the tub while Nate stripped his own clothes off.
Articles of clothing littered the deck, none of the three interested in picking up or being tidy. Nate stepped over the side of the spa and into the swirling heated water. A fine mist hovered above the bubbling surface and he sank down through it, letting the warmth surround his rigid body.
Krissa made little moaning sounds of pleasure, eyes closed, head leaned back. She shimmied her shoulders in the water. Desire knifed through Nate, straight to his heart.
Despite having spent the last three nights in Krissa and Derek’s bed, he was uncertain about what would happen tonight. The sexual tension humming in the air could not be ignored, and he knew Derek and Krissa felt it too. Would Derek share his wife again—when there was no need to?
Because Nate had a strange feeling that, having tasted Krissa’s sweetness, he couldn’t do without.
Her eyes opened and met his across the tub. She stretched out her legs and he felt her feet touch his, sliding over them in the warm water. She watched him as their toes played, as she stroked one foot up his calf, sending wicked spears of sensation up his legs right to his throbbing cock and balls.