Elemental Pleasure (11 page)

She felt comfortable, happy. These men were at ease with each other, the competitive streak that had led them to treat her so rudely apparently gone. It was hard to believe that only two days ago their interactions had pushed her into fleeing, but tonight there was no tension, only good company, stimulating conversation…and the electric thrill of sexual attraction.

Carly sat in the middle, and when Preston claimed the c
orner, she lay back against him
as if she’d done it a million ti
mes before, as if he really was
her lover or boyfriend.

After two days of turmoil and panic over leaving Preston and Lance, and what would happen if she asked the Grand Master for new partners, it felt as if a cable had snapped. The tension in her neck was gone, her shoulders suddenly loose, and the tightness in her chest had abated, allowing her to breathe again.

She still wasn’t sure this would work, wasn’t sure she could really trust them to care for her, but if this wonderful evening had happened the first night in Boston, she suspected she never would have left. Lance and Preston were delightful
company, each charming in his
own way. Though they were very different, Carly imagined that in the real world she would have accepted an invitation for a date from either of them.

Lance, a tea towel tucked in the waistband of his jeans, brought over a beautiful meringue pie.

“My god,” Carly breathed. “That’s beautiful.”

“I would do soufflé, but Preston doesn’t have a pan.”

“I don’t cook.” Preston raised his glass and winked. “
But
I can pick nice wine.”

Lance snorted. “I can
tell you don’t cook. Who doesn’t own a garlic press or a cheese grater?”

“Lance, no offense,” Carly said as she sat forward, accepting a slice of the pie, “but
I would never have guessed
you were a gourmet at heart.”

“Recipes are math.”

“I suppose they are.” Carly took a bite and the sweet, light meringue melted on her tongue
. “No, this is more than math. T
his is a gift.”

Preston took his first bite. “I have to agree.”

Lance smiled, then took a seat on the other side of Ca
rly, plate in hand. Leaning
against Preston once more, she threw one leg over Lance’s knees. He slid his fingers under the cuff of her jeans, kneading her calf with strong fingers. I
t felt good. It felt…right
that they were both able to touch her. They enjoyed dessert in companionable silence before Preston put down his plate. The click of china against wood was loud in the suddenly quiet room.

“Is everyone ready to talk?” Preston asked.

“Yes,” Carly said, setting her plate down. By tacit agreement, they’d avoided discussing their relationship over dinner. Instead they’d talked about their work, their families, places they’d traveled—anything but the dilemma facing them.

Carly rose, steppin
g over Preston’s legs, and took
a seat in a chair on the other side of the coffee table. She wanted to be able to see them…and it was probably safer to be out of touching distance. The wine wasn’t simply relaxing her, it was loosening her grip on her libido as well. One night with Preston and Lance—despite her fear of losing control—left her desperate for another touch. Hopefully the physical distance would allow her to rein in those desires before tonight dissolved into a repeat of their first night together.

“So…
what do we do?” she asked.

Carly and Lance
both looked to Preston.

“How we do this is entirely up to us. I don’t want to dictate
things
just because I have some exper
ience with threesomes.”

“I’d rather start out with a model we know works,” Lance said. “We can recalculate in the future.”

“Leaving aside the sex,” Carly waved her hand in the air, “the logistics of this are pretty complicated. How and where would we live? What would we tell people? How do we live in a committed
ménage
while maintaining the secrecy of the Trinity Masters?”

Pr
eston looked between them. “L
et’s take it one step at a time. Carly and I both live in the Bay Area, and Lance, you’re on the east coast, right?”

“Yes.”

“Can you move?” Carly asked. “I’m sorry, but I can’t. My whole company is here.”

Lance shook his head. “Not right now. I need the processing power at DARPA for my current project. Maybe in the future I’d be able to work remotely.”

“Then for now Carly and I will liv
e together here in the Bay Area
and Lance
,
you’ll m
ake regular visits. J
ust to be fair, we’ll come to stay with you sometimes
too
.”

“Is that really fair? I mean if you and I are living together
,
doesn’t that exclude Lance?” Carly’s question didn’t fit her thoughts, but she tried to remain poised. Lance and Preston had gone to a lot of trouble for her tonight. She didn’t wan
t to ruin it with her fears and
anxieties. The gaming troubleshooter in her leapt to the forefront, taking over. She could deal with problems such as logistics. It was the emotions that were kicking her in the ass. Carly took a deep breath and shut that part down.

“Lance will only be excluded if we let that happen, and we won’t.” Presto
n’s voice was calm
. He genuinely believed they could make this work. For some reason
,
that thought began to burrow its way inside her. Foolish as it seemed, Preston’s belief in their success was giving her hope as well.

“Are you okay with this?” She tried to imagine the shoe on the other foot. What if t
he Grand Master had paired her
with Lance and another woman? Would she be okay if they lived together while she lived somewhere else?

Lance nodded. “It’s logical, given where we are in our lives. Obviously the Grand Master doesn’t take geography into account when forming his little triads.”

Carly fell silent for a moment, but his response left her uneasy. She recalled the power struggle between Lance and Preston at the hotel in Boston. They’d acted like dogs fighting over a bone. His sudden capitulation didn’t ring true. “That doesn’t exactly answer the question.”

Lance shrugged. “I’m fine with it.”

Carly shook her head. How could he be?

“So we’re moving in together?” s
he asked Preston, the words coming slowly. She’d begun this conversation in a hypothetical sense. Now…it was starting to feel too real.

“Yes.” Preston’s answer was short, simple, concise. And laced with that damned self-assurance.

Lance wasn’t helping either. He was so different tonight from the man she’d met in Boston. Suddenly, he seemed to be all-in. What had changed? “Why don’t we buy a place? So
mething that’s new to all of us
with enough space for three.”

Preston sat back. “That could work. I’d need to sell this condo.”

“Wait
. I need a minute.” Carly stared across the room. No one had ever called her stupid, but she would s
wear her brain was trying to process
all these changes and possibilities at the same rate and capacity as the Nexus Six servers. “You have to understand…I thought we were over. I was ready to go to the Grand Master.”

“Carly.” Preston sat forward,
his
dark gaze focused on her. “The Grand Master doesn’t make reassignments.”

“So it’s you or I risk losing everything by disobeying the Trinity Masters?”

There was a moment of silence
in which Lance’s easy expression turned angry
,
and Preston looked away, trying—and failing—to hide how much her words
hurt him. That was the last thing she wanted.

“You know, we’re not that bad.” Lance’s words were a low grumble.

Preston’s lips twitched. “I must agree. I think we’re a rather good catch.”

Carly considered banging her head on the table. She was a grade-one bitch for
making these two gorgeous men—who’d
gone t
o a lot of trouble for her—feel
bad.

“I’m
very sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.” She looked between them, making sure she had their attention for her next words. “You ar
e both amazing—smart, fun, nice
and gorgeous. The problem is that together you’re too much.”

“We
worked that out.” Lance said
firmly, then
he
looked to Preston, who also nodded.

It seemed
the boys were on board and playing together nicely. The only one holding out was her.

Carly took a
deep
breath,
then
released it
. It was time to commit to her partners, her husbands, her trinity.

“I just rent, so I’d be able to buy pretty easily.” There was a flutter of panic in her belly
as she spoke
, but it felt good.

They grinned at her.

“You rent? You own a company.” Preston’s brow furrowed.

“Exactly. Most of my capital is tied up there. I have some paychecks I wrote myself, but
I
didn’t cash them. If I do, I’ll have plenty for a down payment.”

“If we can get the right kind of space
,
I might
be able to move sooner rather than later,” Lance added.

“Good,
” Preston said. “I’ll call my realtor.”

Buying a home and deciding who would live where was the simplest problem to solve. Carly needed some harder questions answered. “What do we tell people? About us?”

Lance snorted. “It’s none of their business.”

“That sounds great, but it’s not realistic. Right now Nexus Six is still a private company. When it goes public, my personal life will be examined. Extensively.”

“And we don’t want anyone to guess what’s really going on,” Preston said. “If they did, it might risk the Trinity Masters.”

There was a beat of silence before Lance said, “You two should be the couple.”

So much for Lance being all-in. Suddenly Carly began to understand. He would play the part. But only so far. “Lance…no.” Carly’s heart clenched, though she wasn’t sure why. Preston was charming and poised, while Lance was rougher,
untamed, as if he wasn’t
fully civilized. It made her want to
shelter
him, which was ridiculous, since the big man clearly didn’t need protection.

“I’m serious. When I was in the service
,
I attended too many friends’ funerals. I watched the
widows grieve, the kids cry,
and I promised myself I would never do that to anyone, that I would never make someone cry for me.”

Preston
and Carly exchanged a look. Oh g
od. He’d missed the point entirely. If they went through with this, there was no way she would be able to hold on to her heart.
Much as it pained her to admit
, both men had begun staking tiny claims on it their first night together. Now…Lance had just stolen another piece.

Carly got to her feet. She put her hand on Lance’s shoulder and knelt next to him. “Lance, we’re supposed to be equal in all of this. It shouldn’t be…I d
on’t want it to be Preston and me
, with you here only sometimes.”

Lance cupped her chin. “What I’m trying to say is, even if I hadn’t known that someday the Grand Master would call me, I never imagined myself having a wife and kids. Everyone in my life knows that. No one will think it’s odd that I don’t marry.”

“To outsiders we’ll say that you and I are research partners. That
’s
plausible enough to work,” Preston said.

Tears filled Carly’s eyes. Building a family based on credible lies felt like a shitty way to start a lifetime together. That thought caused more tears to flow.

Oh my God. I’m going to do this. I’m going to stay with these men.

Lance released her. “Why are you crying?”

“I don’t know.” There were too many reasons and she wasn’t sure she could p
ut most of them into words. I
nstead, she latched on
to
the most obvious one. “I guess it makes me sad thinking of you always on the outside.”

“He won’t be
.” Preston reached over, rested
his hand on Lance’s shoulder.

Lance’s brow was knit and his next words came slowly, as if he wasn’t sure where they’d come from. “I may not always understand people or how they feel, but I do understand grief. I never wanted anyone to grieve for me.” His eyes traced Carly’s face, then Preston’s. “That’s why I was so ang
ry I’d
been called by the Grand Mast
er. Now I don’t have any choice
but to let people into my life, people who might come to care about me.
I didn’t know it would be like this.
”