“I’m in room 405,” he told Scott. “Call if you need anything.”
“Sure, man, thanks. Sorry about tonight.”
“Don’t apologize to me. Save that for Avery tomorrow.” He was going to need to suck up big time. Hoo boy.
They left Scott in his room, and Nick and Tyler rode down the elevator with Kaelin and strolled across the empty lobby with her. Tyler stopped in front of one of the couches arranged around the fireplace, still burning with a warm glow, and pulled Kaelin down to sit beside him.
Nick paused, looked at him, then sat down too, on the other side of her.
Tyler blew out a long breath. “Wow. That turned out to be a crazy night.” He leaned back into the couch.
“No kidding,” Kaelin said. “I can’t believe that happened.”
“Thank you again, Kaelin.” Tyler took her hand.
After a short pause, she said, “It wasn’t your fault, was it?”
“I am fully willing to take the blame if it will save Scott’s ass,” Tyler said carefully. He shot her a wary glance. She smiled. Such a sweet smile, the curve of her mouth so appealing.
“Trouble just seems to follow you around.”
Nick laughed and she turned to look at him. Tyler watched them, the wordless connection between them, watched as Nick took her other hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
Something shifted inside Tyler. It wasn’t jealousy. He liked it that they liked each other. He always had. In some ways, Nick and Kaelin were so much alike—steady, dependable. So unlike him. Probably Cop Boy was like that too—he was an officer of the law. He had to be serious and responsible too. Irritation rubbed inside Tyler.
Okay, that was jealousy.
Thinking about Kaelin with that guy bugged the hell out of him.
“How’s your eye, bud?” Nick asked him.
He focused his attention back on Kaelin and Nick, now both looking at him.
“I’m okay.”
“What happened?” Kaelin waited for his response, eyes clear, not judgmental or critical.
He rolled his eyes. “I tried to stop Scott from getting in the fire truck. He got a little carried away and accidentally knocked his elbow into my eye.”
Kaelin licked her lips, her little tongue dragging over the bottom lip in a gesture so sexy Tyler’s body heated.
“Oh, Tyler. Were you really trying to stop him?”
One corner of his mouth kicked up. “Yeah. I really was.”
“He really was,” Nick added.
She slowly shook her head from side to side.
Thick heat built around them, and his heart started thudding in his chest. He felt like his lungs were burning when he dragged air into them and there was no way he could resist touching her, her silky hair, the soft skin of her cheek and jaw, his thumb trailing over her velvety bottom lip.
Their eyes met and held in a stretched-out connection.
She didn’t move away from his touch, although she was sitting with both her hands captured by his and Nick’s, sandwiched between them, but she wasn’t trying to get away, and he let his hand drift to her shoulder.
“You’re so sweet, Kaelin,” he said hoarsely. “You put the whole wedding together for Avery. You bailed out Scott. Even my mom loves you.”
A tiny huff of laughter escaped her at that.
Tyler looked at Nick, who also gazed at Kaelin’s face with a look of admiration and yes, hunger.
Nick wanted her too.
As if sensing Tyler’s gaze on him, Nick looked away from Kaelin, and his and Tyler’s gazes locked. Unspoken questions passed between them.
Tyler closed his eyes. It was futile to even let ideas like that tease the edges of his mind. Kaelin was a good girl, the best kind of good girl, sweet and innocent and no doubt as vanilla as soft-serve ice cream. He’d had to take drastic measures the last time he’d started having outrageous, inappropriate thoughts like that about her, and this could be no different.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered, big brown eyes focused on him when he opened his.
His mouth twisted. “Nothing.” He lifted the hand he still held and kissed her fingers. Her pupils went wide, eyes dark as she watched him. Hell. “You’re just so nice, Kaelin. Such a good girl.”
She went very still, sitting there on the couch between him and Nick.
“Really,” he continued. “Brent seemed like a nice guy too. You’d make a good couple.”
“Oh for Chrissakes!” The words exploded out of her mouth and she yanked her hands out of their grip. “I’m not that nice!”
And she grabbed Tyler’s head, yanked him toward her and kissed him hard.
Too stunned to even kiss her back, his head reeled as she shoved him away, but that was nothing compared to the bolt of lightning that struck him when she turned to Nick, grabbed him and kissed him too.
Chapter Six
Kaelin dragged air into her lungs, her heart racing, her skin hot. Pressure inside her made her feel as if she was going to explode, burst right out of her skin. She was so goddamn sick of hearing what a good girl she was.
“I’m not that good,” she said, panting as she looked from Nick to Tyler. Their faces wore identical expressions of shocked arousal. She knew they were attracted to her. Of course, she knew! She’d known from the moment she walked into the Wirth home yesterday and their eyes had met. She’d known ten years ago.
Ten years ago she’d had fantasies about Nick and Tyler that she’d admitted to no one, barely even to herself. After that day she’d seen them naked together with another girl, those fantasies had taken on a new life, become even wilder. Where before she’d had dreams of being with them one at a time, after that she had shocking, wicked dreams of being with them both. At the same time. Fantasies she’d never in a million years act on, because…dear lord, they were bad, so bad, and she was a good girl.
She was sick of being a good girl. Sick of being the dutiful daughter who looked after her poor brain-injured dad, who gave up her dreams to come home and care for him when her mom died, who volunteered to work at charity events, who organized a wedding for her best friend, who did everything for everyone else and never for herself.
She wanted so much to be bad, just once, just one incredible wild time, to see what it felt like, to know if that’s what was missing from her life.
And what could be badder than a threesome with two sexy guys?
“Kaelin,” Tyler’s voice rasped. “What the hell.”
She slid her arm around his neck and pulled him to her again, kissed him again, and this time he kissed her back, his mouth so hot and delicious, opening wide on hers, his tongue sliding in, stroking over hers. She moaned, let her fingers slide into his hair, holding the back of his skull, so big and solid. Tyler’s body radiated heat and a fine trembling and she longed to climb onto him and press up against him, her breasts aching, her pussy throbbing.
Nick’s body on the other side of her was even bigger and just as hot, burning against her hip and she dragged her mouth away from Tyler’s and turned back to him. She met his eyes, his silvery-gray eyes usually cool and calm, now blazing with heat. It was different with him, she couldn’t say exactly comfortable, because she still felt that ache, that flutter low down inside, but it wasn’t as intense and scary as with Tyler.
And when she leaned toward him, he lifted a hand and cupped her cheek, his mouth on hers not as demanding, gentler and slower, his lips not as full. She moaned softly, heard Tyler’s sharply drawn breath, felt his excitement as much as she felt Nick’s.
“Fuck,” Tyler whispered beside her. “Kaelin, what the fuck are you doing?”