Nothing More Beautiful (45 page)

They released him around four in the
morning, and I drove him home, where I had security check out the
condo before we entered. Although it wasn’t the scariest moment in
my life, it made it into the top five, easily. The security team
restricted the elevator access so that it wouldn’t go to the
penthouse unless they permitted it.

In the morning, the police reported good
news about the knife, which Luke had left behind; now they could
definitely pin the crime on him, which unfortunately wasn’t the
case with the bakery fire. Yet, they were unable to catch him, and
he remained lurking in the city somewhere.

“IT’S NOT THAT BAD,”
Vince
said, as I re-dressed the wound two days later. “Honest.”

“It’s not that great, either.”

He ignored my pessimism. “I fired those two
guards who were working that night. Drinking on the
job . . . Christ, I don’t know how I ended up
hiring such a shitty crew . . . Cory, Terrance,
those two—all terrible.”

“Well, I don’t think Terrance was really the
same,” I said, finishing up with the bandage.

“Anyway, let’s move onto a better subject.”
He got up, heading for the kitchen. “We still haven’t discussed
what we talked about the night of the wedding.”

“It’s kind of hard to think about who we
should choose to include in the bedroom when you’re lying there
dying.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little
overdramatic?” he said, getting out the pasta leftovers from the
night before.

“Luke tried to kill you, Vince,” I raised my
voice. “It’s hard to overreact about that.”

“So do you have anyone in mind?” he steered
the conversation away from Luke and the attack.

“No, I don’t,” I snapped. “If you’re not
willing to talk about what happened, then I’m just going to go.” I
swept toward the elevator.

He quickly blocked the way. “Just because
I’m not ready to talk about it right now, doesn’t mean I won’t ever
be. For now, indulge me, okay?”

I sighed. “I haven’t thought about it,” I
answered truthfully. “I really can’t think of anyone. Why? Have
you?”

“No,” he said flatly. “Besides, I think it’d
be better if you chose. I don’t want to overstep any lines with
proposals. I’m not sure how comfortable you are with talking about
women’s physical features and attractiveness.”

“Then we should talk about it so I get used
to the idea, and we should talk about what we both want out of it,”
I suggested. We entered a long conversation revolving around the
proposed threesome. The more we talked about it, the more
comfortable I became with the idea of Vince with another woman—in
my presence only—and the idea of being with another woman grew more
exciting.

The next day, I set out to find the third
for our threesome.

A WHOLE WEEK WENT
by and I
had come up with bupkis. Everyone was either too close or too much
of a stranger. I asked myself how attractive I was willing to go as
I passed people on the street, scrutinizing physical appearance
even more than usual—and I had been trained since middle school to
compare other girls. Now I had to consider if I wanted to kiss this
woman, or touch that woman, and it was a lot to handle for someone
who hadn’t given it much thought in the past.

The pursuit seemed pointless until a visit
to the gym that Tuesday afternoon. The June sun climbed high,
filling the sky with so much sunshine, I was thankful to be
indoors, under the gym’s air-conditioning.

And that’s when I spotted Emma on the
elliptical.

It hit me that she made the perfect
candidate. I knew her well enough through our workout sessions, but
I had never seen her out of the gym, and had no other connections
to her. Plus she was gorgeous, supporting a fit body, long blond
hair, full lips, and perfect skin. I found myself staring after a
while, picturing her and me with Vince, our bodies grazing,
sensual, electric. I could almost feel the current from across the
room.

On the downside, she might have been too
attractive for such an experiment. I quickly banished that thought
from my mind. If jealousy flowered in my mind, the threesome would
never work. I knew I had to let go of my insecurities; the trouble
was, I didn’t know if I could.

I approached Emma like it was any other day
at the gym. She wore a huge smile as she worked out. When I set my
stuff between our machines, she took out her earbuds, her smile
growing. “Haven’t seen you for a few weeks,” she said, as I climbed
onto the footpads.

I swallowed hard, from nerves and stress,
both tearing at me for different reasons. “Been having a rough
patch.”

“With Vince?”

“No,” I shook my head. “He’s the only thing
that’s been stable. My car died, and my bakery burned down.”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry. I saw that on the
news . . . what happened?” she asked. I began
to detail the horrific event, and the entire time I was wondering
how I would bring up the proposition.
How would she react? Would
she be into it? Would I have to find a new gym if she was appalled
by the idea? I guess Vince could just strip her membership
away.
A million thoughts zipped through my head.

At the end of her workout, I snapped a few
photos of her and the equipment with my phone. “It’s for a friend,”
I said when she asked what I was doing. “She’s thinking about
joining and wanted to see the inside.”

Emma didn’t question my answer.

LATER THAT NIGHT, I
showed
Vince. “I think I found the one,” I said, practically running out
of the elevator, shoving my phone in his face.

“I’ve seen you working out with her. What’s
her name again?”

“Emma Barker,” I answered, while he scrolled
through the dozen pictures I had taken.

“She’s very pretty.” He handed the phone
back. “Did you already ask her?”

“That’s the thing—I have no idea how to
bring it up.”

He pulled out a baking sheet, displaying two
bubbly calzones dripping with cheese. It was another recipe I had
taught him. “Well, how did Nikki get you into the idea?”

I reflected on the early parts of the night
that I could recall. A hazy mess, I couldn’t tell what was true and
what I might have been imagining. “She kept pointing out attractive
women and remarking on their bodies.”

“Then try that,” he suggested. “If it worked
to get you in the mood, it might work on her too.”

“Yeah, except women do that all the time. It
wasn’t anything out of the ordinary until she started saying stuff
like, ‘I bet she has perfect tits’ and other more explicit
comments. I’m not sure I could do that at the gym—or anywhere
really.”

“You could tell her about the bachelorette
party, and how Nikki kissed you. Then you could ask her if she’s
ever had an encounter with a woman or if she’s ever thought about
it. I think it would be a good way to feel her out.”

“That’s actually not a bad idea,” I said. “I
bet she’d love it if you came over and asked her to have dinner
with us.”

“Tomorrow?” He dumped a calzone on a plate
for me at the table. “I’m interviewing for another bodyguard in the
afternoon, but I can stop by around four?”

“That’s about when we get done, so I’ll try
and stall her if you’re late.” We worked out our strategy to seduce
her over dinner, though I didn’t think she would require that much
convincing with how she’d talked about Vince in the past. Time
would tell all.

“LOOKS LIKE YOU’VE BEEN
here a while,” Emma said, hopping onto the stair stepper next to
me. Nerves actually caused the sweat dribbling down my forehead,
not training. My throat tightened at the sight of her. I let out a
nervous laugh. “Did you want to hit the weight machines?”

“Yeah, let’s go another fifteen first.” I
had only been there five minutes and was still warming up. A fit,
attractive girl was running on the treadmill in front of us. She
was the whole reason I had chosen to start on the stair stepper,
hoping to use her as a segue into the bachelorette story.

Emma nodded. “Sure.” After a few minutes,
she surprised me by saying, “God, look at that ass.” She nodded at
the girl in front of us. “She must work out, like, three hours a
day to maintain that figure.”

I didn’t know if she could sense my anxiety,
or if she was just talking normally, but her words put me at ease.
“I’d say your ass is just as toned,” I said, taking her lead.

“I don’t know about that, but thanks,” she
laughed. “I’ve been trying to get more time in on the stair
steppers.”

“It’s definitely working.” I figured the
more compliments thrown her way, the better. We continued the
conversation on techniques to firm up our lower bodies until the
timer rang. “I had a lesbian make a pass at me two weeks ago,” I
said, as we headed downstairs for the weight machines.

“Really? Where?”

“At Dirty Nightlife, a club downtown. And I
guess she was bi, not a lesbian.”

“Still,” Emma said. “That’s always exciting.
Was she ugly?”

“No,” I answered. “She was very pretty. She
looked a lot like you, except she had to use more makeup.” My heart
pounded in my chest. The time had come to divulge the secret and
gauge her reaction. “She actually kissed me.” My heart was pumping
so wildly, I was afraid I might faint.

Emma stopped me, grabbing my wrist. “What?
No way!”

“Yeah, and I was so drunk, I kissed her
back.”

“You’re kidding. Really?” The excitement in
her voice pushed me on with confidence.

“No, it’s true. My friend had to break us
apart before it went any further.”

“Wow,” she said, stunned. I guess she
considered me the type of girl who’d never do such a thing. Her
assumption had been correct up until the point it happened. “Well,
how was it?” she asked in the same eager tone that Vince had used
when he found out.

“It was exciting, and different,” I said
with frankness that couldn’t be misjudged.

“So you liked it?” Emma didn’t possess the
personality that held back, and she showed her interest
plainly.

I nodded, and the heat on my cheeks
intensified by ten, my sexual shyness on display. “I did,” I
rasped, taking a drink of water afterward. With the
adduction/abduction machines open, we started on them, sitting side
by side.

“I’ve always wondered what it’d be like to
kiss a woman,” she said, staring ahead at the pulleys. “I’ve never
had the courage or the opportunity, though.”

Baited.

But kissing was different from sex. I had to
know how deep her curiosity went. “Have you ever wondered what it
tastes like, you know, down
there?
” I asked. If her
curiosity only went as far as some necking, then she probably
wasn’t the candidate I thought she was.

Emma paused and looked over at me. She
regarded my expression for a second before answering. “Hasn’t every
woman? Just like I bet every man wonders what it’s like to suck on
a cock once in his life . . . but, I’ll admit,
I’ve thought about it more than once . . .”

The thought of tasting her set a dark,
hidden lust on fire in my veins. I bet she tasted sweet like how
Vince said I tasted. Before I could respond, Vince walked into the
gym from the parking lot, earlier than expected. He immediately
jogged over to us, and he had a certain bounce to his step, the
same thoughts probably running through his head that were consuming
mine.

He leaned in for a kiss. “Hey, this is
Emma,” I introduced her. “Emma, this is my boyfriend, Vince
Forte.”

She practically jumped up to meet him,
shaking his hand for a prolonged minute, but I didn’t mind the
contact. I tried to picture the three of us naked on Vince’s bed,
his hard cock waiting for us as we pleased each other.

“Everything go well with the interview?” I
asked.

“Very smooth,” he said. “I actually hired
him. His name is Avery Havill. I’ll be giving him a tour, and
showing him the ins and outs the rest of the day, so you can meet
him tonight.”

I nodded, and then gave him two quick winks,
the signal that Emma was interested. “If you don’t have plans,
Emma, would you like to join us for dinner?”

Her mouth exploded open in surprise.
“Uh—tonight? No—no, I don’t have plans. Uh—”

“Perfect,” Vince said, taking that as a yes.
“I’ll see you tonight. Maci will give you the details.” He seemed
just as nervous as I had been before our conversation started
flowing. Quickly, he leaned over and kissed me goodbye before
hurrying up to the second floor.

“You two really want me over for
dinner?”

“We do,” I replied, a bit hoarse from the
sinful images playing in my mind. “It will give us a chance to get
to know each other in a more intimate atmosphere.” Terrible at
innuendo, I tried making it as clear as possible without blurting
“threesome.” I was sure she got the hints. After we did a few more
weight machines, she left, with Vince’s address saved in her
phone.

Sitting on the row machine, I glanced
around, checking for peepers. No eyes were looking my way. I
reached between my legs and felt the thrilling wetness, biting my
lip as I watched her walk away. Letting out a long exhale, I wiped
my hands on my towel.

The anticipation for the deviant, naughty,
and solely delicious thought aroused me in a completely different
way, and I found it hard to believe the intensity of it, so new, so
conflicting with all my previous feelings toward women. With all
the questions about what would happen next, one thing was certain—I
couldn’t wait for dinner.

“OH YEAH, SHE’S DEFINITELY
into it,” I answered, taking out the lasagna I had prepared for
tonight. Emma was due any minute, and we both had butterflies,
asking the same questions, repeating the same conversations about
how we’d approach the subject of her inclusion in our bedroom
activities.