Daye, Rainey - An Unconventional Love (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (26 page)

Jess grinned back as he headed for the bathroom while stripping off his clothes and asking, “Where are my swim trunks?”

* * * *

Maggie moaned as she felt a hand trailing up the inside of her thighs followed by another hand lightly brushing against her breasts. Sighing, she allowed her legs to fall open as she arched her chest. She liked this dream!

She felt a tongue dip into her cleavage at the same time she felt a mouth kissing the same path along her thighs as the hand that had stroked her there.

“You know,” a masculine voice drawled huskily. “While I love tan lines on a woman, in this case I think I would much prefer to watch you sunbathe nude.”

Maggie opened her eyes behind her sunglasses and was startled to see Alex’s face peering up at her as he continued to nuzzle her cleavage. Startled, her flight instinct took over, and she tried to pull away only to feel a pair of hands squeeze her thighs in an implacable grip.

“Where are you going, sweetheart?” Jess spoke, looking at her in confusion from where he was clasping her thighs.

“You, you startled me. That’s all,” Maggie stammered as she pulled the ear buds out of her ears. “I was sleeping.”

“Ah,” Alex breathed as he reached out and gently cupped her breast. “With those dark shades on, we didn’t realize you were asleep. Do you want us to let you go back to sleep?”

“Uh” was Maggie’s intelligent response.

“Though, if you are going to go back to sleep, I think we should smear some more lotion on you so you don’t burn,” Jess said.

“Uh,” Maggie began again. “What time is it? When did you get home?”

“It’s a little after 3:00 p.m. We just got in a short while ago,” Alex informed her.

“It’s still your date time, so I should be getting back inside,” Maggie offered

“We called on our way home to let you know it wouldn’t be necessary,” Jess told her helpfully as he continued to lightly stroke her thigh. “Our date ended as soon as Alex parked the car.”

“Uh, guys,” Maggie began again.

“You’re not ready. We understand,” Alex said.

“We just love touching and stroking you so much,” Jess explained. “We can’t help ourselves.”

“Uh, that’s all right, really,” Maggie hesitantly assured him, her body tightly wired even though their mutual sexual regard made her a bit nervous at this moment.

They both slowly withdrew their touch and then lay down on chaise lounges on either side of her. She glanced from one to the other and couldn’t help but notice that both men were aroused. “Really,” she said as she started to rise. “I don’t mean to interfere with your date.”

“Please don’t leave,” Alex said softly as he turned his head to gaze at her, causing her to hesitate before she slowly sank back down on her chaise. “Thank you.”

“So,” Maggie said, clearing her throat. “What did you two do today?”

The men proceeded to tell her about their activities, and Maggie slowly relaxed as normalcy returned. She removed her iPod and placed it on the small metal-and-glass table next to her chaise where her iced tea sat so that she could give them her full attention.

“We were talking earlier, and we both decided that we owed you an apology for our behavior yesterday,” Jess finally said after the silence between them had stretched out.

“Apologize?” Maggie stammered.

“We both overdid our first dates with you. Alex had already worn you out yesterday, and then I kept you out so late that you fell asleep on me twice.”

She looked at Alex worriedly to see if he had broken their don’t-kiss-and-tell rule and was rewarded by a smile and a very slight head shake from him. Turning to Jess she said, “I fell asleep on you twice?”

“Yeah, once while we were stargazing, and that’s when I decided we should call it a night, and then in the car on the ride home. I had to carry you upstairs and tuck you into bed,” he said.

“Oh, Jess, I’m sorry I fell asleep on you.”

“Don’t be. We just overdid it after the show, that’s all.” He gifted her with a genuine smile.

“So, neither of you are having second thoughts about our dating arrangement?” Maggie wanted to know.

Both men suddenly stiffened, looking wary and concerned. Jess immediately moved off his chaise and sat on the end of hers while Alex sat up and swung his legs to the side so he could sit up facing her.

“Are you?” Alex asked.

“Well,” Maggie began hesitantly, unsure how to voice her concerns to them.

“Shit!” Jess cursed. “What did we do wrong? Tell us so we can fix it. Give us a second chance.”

“Neither of you did anything wrong,” Maggie hastened to reassure them. “It’s just that I realized when I woke up that everything had now changed. Instead of just talking about it and throwing around ideas, we had actually taken action yesterday, and we’re now actively dating each other.”

“And the reality didn’t live up to the fantasy?” Jess wanted to know, a crestfallen expression on his face.

“Oh, no. That’s not it at all. I had a lot of fun at the stable and at the dinner theater yesterday. The dates were fantastic.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Jess asked, sounding confused.

“Well, there were some serious moments on both our dates that got me to thinking that the dynamic between us was changing. And I couldn’t help wondering if we are ready for these changes.”

“What type of changes are you talking about?” Alex asked carefully.

“Well,” Maggie said slowly. “It was all nice and romantic having make-out sessions with both of you on the couch this past week. And I enjoyed the way you would each kiss me good-bye in front of each other in the morning and greet me with a kiss when we got home. But in a way, that was nice and innocent. High school stuff. First crush stuff with the heavy petting and necking. Or Beaver Cleaver with the kiss in the morning and the evening. Pretty tame. But now that we’re going to be going out on real dates, well…”

“It won’t stay soft and romantic like an adolescent’s dreams,” Alex said thoughtfully. “It will eventually become hard-core reality.”

“Exactly,” she said, nodding her head vigorously in agreement. “And when things get serious, well, eventually there are going to be fights and disagreements,”

“Like the fight we had in the car yesterday,” Alex said thoughtfully.

“What fight?” Jess asked curiously as Maggie was nodding her head at Alex.

“What?” Alex said, jerking his head toward Jess. “Oh, it was just a matter of us getting our wires crossed, and we resolved it almost as soon as it started.”

“Oh.”

“But my point is, as in any serious relationship, there are bound to be disagreements and times that we are so mad that we just want to spit and even refuse to talk to the other person for days,” Maggie said. “So how will that affect the other one who isn’t involved in the fight? What do you do when you and Alex fight? Do you go sleep on the couch or one of the other bedrooms? Will you be coming into my room to sleep instead? And if I’m there to provide a distraction to your fight, then how will you ever resolve it?”

“Those are some good points, Maggie, and I’m sure you mean that the reverse corollary is true, and there are times when we’ll be angry with you and vice versa. But I really think that since we made an intelligent decision to embark on this relationship together, then we can be levelheaded enough to work out any differences that may arise,” Alex stated.

“Alex, we need to take a good, hard look at ourselves. You and Jess have proven that you have what it takes to keep a relationship between yourselves thriving. I don’t want to be the one who ruins it for you, for whatever reason. You both told me you wanted to embark upon a serious relationship with me as your girlfriend, but every time I turn around, you are both pawing at me. And before you refute what I’m saying, may I point out that you did just that the moment you came out here on the pool deck. So how do we know that it’s not just lust that we’re feeling for each other?”

“Do you like us, Mags?” Alex wanted to know. “Were we your friends before we decided to date?”

“Well, yeah, but I was secretly lusting after both of you the entire time!”

“Exactly. While you were lusting after us, we were both lusting after you. Yet we managed to control our hormones and become friends after all, with no uncomfortable sexual tension, innuendoes, or undertones. So why do you think that would change just because we are loosening the reins on said hormones?”

Maggie paused as she thought about that.

“Every relationship grows and evolves,” Jess added quietly. “There are times when the relationship consists of unbridled passion and times when it is simple companionship and comfort that is craved. But as long as those elements are there, along with friendship and mutual respect, then it
can
endure. We’re simply in the grip of the lust phase with you right now, but I assure you the other aspects are still there.”

“Damn, and I thought I was the one who took psych classes for fun. How did you get so smart?” she asked with a teasing smile.

“By observing a very loving relationship between my parents, who shared their secret to lasting happiness with me when I came of age. They told me to go ahead and sow my wild oats but to keep an eye out for the one who makes me both laugh and cry, who makes me so frustrated I want to pull my hair out while counting the minutes until we are together again. Who is both my friend and my lover. The one whose face is the last one I want to see before I shut my eyes at night and whose face I want to see upon awakening in the morning.”

“You’re talking about Alex, aren’t you?” she said with a smile, truly touched at the depth of their feelings for each other.

“Yes, I am. But then your face began to creep into those thoughts. I saw both of you side by side in my mind’s eye and I realized that I need both of you if I’m ever to be truly complete,” he said sincerely as he reached out and took both their hands in his.

Maggie felt tears slide down her cheeks as Alex leaned over and kissed Jess very softly. “I love you, Jess,” he breathed as he cupped his face in his hand.

“I love you, too,” Jess breathed back. And then he turned to Maggie. “And I love you, too, Maggie. And I’m not talking friendship love here. I’ve fallen in love with you, and that’s why I’ve been an ass and have scared you. I’m still in the first stage of love with you, where it’s all about physical proximity and constant touching, mixed with desire. It’ll pass and grow even deeper, I promise you. It took Alex and me about a year before we could stop pawing at each other long enough to actually be in each other’s presence without it always turning sexual. So if you can bear with us, I promise our libidos will eventually come back under our control when we are with you.”

Maggie couldn’t breathe. “You
love
me?” she whispered, awestruck.

“We’ve both fallen in love with you, Maggie,” Alex replied. “It’s probably why we can’t control ourselves around you. We’ve both been celibate in regards to other women ever since you came here, and now that you’ve indicated your interest in us, well, our cocks are doing a happy dance whenever we’re around you, and it takes us a while to wrest them back under control.”

Maggie burst out laughing at his description of their libidos. “That sounds like something Jess would say,” she said.

“He did say it. When I told him how sexually frustrated I was several months ago in regards to you, he told me that if I remained patient, my cock would eventually be doing a happy dance.”

Maggie laughed again. Clutching her sides, she eyed both their groins and saw their cocks jerk in response to her gaze upon them. “I’m sorry. I’m just trying to visualize exactly what such a happy dance would look like,” Maggie gasped out between her laughter.