Power rushed through her like an electrical surge and she pulled away from Nick and smiled.
“I want to be bad,” she said.
“What are you saying?” Desperation edged Tyler’s voice. His eyes looked searchingly into hers. “Christ, Kaelin, I thought you were the sober one.”
“I am sober.”
“You can’t do this, sweetheart.” He closed his eyes and looked as if someone had kneed him the nuts.
“Why not?” Her insides tightened. He wasn’t going to turn her down, was he? She was going way out on a limb here, she knew it, risking a lot, something she never, ever did, and if they rejected her, she wasn’t sure she’d survive the humiliation. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Fuck,” he groaned again and looked at Nick pleadingly.
“Kaelin,” Nick began, but she cut him off before he could be all rational and sane and talk her out of it.
“You’ve done it before,” she said challengingly. She looked back and forth between them as if daring them to deny it. And how could they? They all knew what had happened that night and what she’d seen.
“Oh Jesus.” Tyler looked as if he was in even more pain.
“Well, you have, haven’t you? You can’t deny it. I saw you. And that’s not the only time you’ve ever done that.” She paused. “Is it?”
Nick and Tyler looked at each other again.
“That’s not the point, honey,” Nick said, his voice gentle. He stroked her shoulder. “This is about you.”
“Yes! Exactly!” She sat up straighter. “This is about me! And I want this.”
“Both of us,” Tyler spoke.
“Yes.” She again looked back and forth between them, uncertainty starting to get the better of her, rising up inside her, overpowering this uncharacteristic recklessness. She fought it down, swallowed hard. “Yes.”
Tyler glanced around the empty lobby. “This probably isn’t the place for this conversation.”
Were they going to send her home? She gazed anxiously at them, arousal and excitement tangling with fear and caution.
Again Tyler and Nick shared a glance and she saw understanding pass between them.
“We’ll go up to our room,” Nick said, standing. He held out a hand and pulled her up, and Tyler rose too.
“You’re sharing a room?” she asked, walking across the carpeted lobby between them.
“Yeah.”
Okay. Whatever. She was pretty sure Avery had told her they shared an apartment in Chicago. They rode in silence up the elevator again, this time electricity sizzling in the air instead of alcohol fumes. Tyler pulled his wallet out and fished out the keycard, opened the door and let Kaelin precede him into the room.
They’d left a lamp on, a floor lamp by the desk. The rooms in the Red Maple Inn were nice, the nicest hotel in Mapleglen, but nothing special, so she didn’t pay much attention to the room or the décor, just clasped her shaking hands together and turned to face the two men.
She must have gone insane. How else could she explain this? She couldn’t blame intoxication—she’d only had a couple of glasses of wine at dinner, hours ago. Perhaps a mini stroke? Something that had damaged her frontal lobe or whatever, the part of her brain that knew right from wrong, good from bad, the part that controlled inhibition, like what had happened with her dad.
They stood there looking at her as if she were a bomb about to explode, sending each other sideways glances. They wanted it too, they had to, or they would have hustled her out the front door of the hotel. But they were being…gentlemen.
A smile tugged her lips. Never in a million years would she have thought to use that word to describe Tyler. Badass, troublemaker, devil—never a gentleman.
And yet, it didn’t seem inappropriate. He’d pushed her buttons, teased her and tormented her, but he’d never done anything to her that would make her truly fear him. The fear she felt was of her own reactions to him, the way he made her feel—inadequate, unsophisticated…aroused.
“What’s so funny?” Tyler demanded hoarsely.
“You are.”
He lifted one eyebrow, clearly unused to being the object of amusement.
“I thought you were such a bad boy,” she continued, moving toward them where they stood side by side. “What are you afraid of?”
He shook his head, a reluctant smile tipping up the corners of his mouth. His beautiful, sexy mouth. She wanted to lick his mouth. “That won’t work, sweetheart.”
Her own smile deepened. “I’m not trying to manipulate you.”
“Yes, you are. I’m just not sure why. Or where this is coming from. Or what happened to the real Kaelin Daume.”
She gave a soft laugh and came to a stop just in front of them. She laid a hand on Tyler’s chest and one on Nick’s. Nick covered her hand with his, Tyler reached out and rested a hand on her hip.
“I want one night of bad,” she said. “Is that so hard to understand?” She looked from Nick to Tyler. “You guys are leaving on Sunday. I have to stay here in Mapleglen for the rest of my life. Nothing like this will ever happen to me again.”
She saw the surrender in Tyler’s eyes, followed immediately by a flare of heat.
“Are you sure, Kaelin?” Nick asked quietly.
She held his gaze and nodded.
“Because we’re both too horny to say no to you,” Nick continued wryly, moving around behind her. “But you can stop this any time.” She held his gaze, turning to look over her shoulder as he moved. He set his hands on her waist and bent to rub his face on her hair. “Any time. Just say no. Right, Tyler?”
“Right.” The word sounded strangled.
“I trust you both,” she said. “There’s no one else I’d do this with.”
Tyler snorted and moved closer, pressing his hips against her. Pressing his erection against her. “You got that right,” he said enigmatically. What did that mean? But her thought got lost as he bent his head to kiss her again, heat washing through her like a molten river, and her head went empty as she turned herself over to sensation.
Nick pressed against her back, against her ass, hands on her hips, pulling her back against him, his mouth seeking and finding the side of her neck. His lips and his breath sent shivers cascading over her skin. Nerves had her shaking inside, excitement swelled up huge and potent. And Tyler kissed her mouth.
She’d grabbed him and kissed him earlier but she’d been so incensed and frustrated, she hadn’t had time to really enjoy it. The second kiss had been better. But this one…this time she lost herself in it, her hands on Tyler’s shoulders, all big bones and muscles, his tongue sliding into her mouth again and again in an erotic rhythm that had her blood pounding through her veins. His thumb on her chin pressed her mouth open wider for him, and she moaned as she opened to him, tasted him.
Crazy, crazy, crazy. The word ran through her mind until it didn’t mean anything anymore. Heat flashed over her, her pussy ached with a sharp, hard need, her breasts swelled and Tyler pressed closer, giving them that pressure they needed. Pressed between two big, hard male bodies, her knees went soft and she started to slide down. They both held her up, Tyler’s mouth leaving hers.
“I got her,” Nick murmured, and bent to slide an arm beneath her knees, scooping her into his arms. She grabbed his shoulder, stared up at him, her pulse beating so hard that was all she could hear, her body burning up with fever.
“I can’t fucking believe this,” Tyler muttered, striding to the bed and yanking back the covers.
A bed. Was she really going to do this? It was so wanton and wicked and outrageous. More of that old caution and uncertainty slammed into her and the fingers digging into Nick’s shoulder trembled. She bit her lip, looking up at him through her eyelashes. When he laid her on the bed, she immediately sat up.