The heat in her gaze practically melted his bones. His balls tightened and his cock throbbed. Yes.
“Sounds good.”
It took her a second but she finally nodded and turned to head upstairs.
Jared couldn’t believe the amount of control it took him not to throw her over his shoulder and race for the bedroom.
Annabelle tried very hard to keep her mind from wandering further than what to have for dinner as she made her way up the stairs.
Because if she let herself get beyond dinner to dessert…Hell, she couldn’t even think about dessert because she certainly wasn’t thinking about chocolate.
Unless it was smeared all over two male bodies.
Oh, God, was she really going to do this?
New Year’s Eve had been a step out of time.
Did she really mean to go through with…this?
She took the last step and immediately sensed Dane in the room. She sucked in a sharp breath when she found him seated at her dining table, typing on his laptop. He hadn’t turned on any lights other than the one in the kitchen over the sink. Come to think of it, maybe she’d left that on this morning.
He seemed engrossed in what he was doing, his expression intense as he studied something on the screen.
She felt like a rabbit who realized the hawk hadn’t seen her yet.
Then Jared came up beside her and her entire body went weak with lust. She tingled from her scalp to her toes and everywhere in between, a tingle that soon turned into an achy burn.
God, she really was crazy to even be considering a repeat of New Year’s Eve.
But you have to admit you want it.
She did want it. More than she ever thought she would.
For months after her parents’ murders, the debate about what constituted a family had raged. Her granddad had tried to shield her from most of the American news machine and its hideously invasive, and mostly exaggerated, coverage of her parents’ lives.
But even the move to Europe hadn’t shielded her from everything.
And when the discussion had turned from the horror of what had happened to the more controversial aspect of the ménage and the fact that the three of them had raised a child in that atmosphere of sexual freedom, her parents had been called perverts.
And worse.
Hell, there’d even been a documentary on CNN about the mental health of children raised in alternative households that focused mainly on Annabelle. Not that they’d bothered to talk to her, to find out how very well-adjusted she’d been until a crazy woman had blown apart her life.
No, they just assumed she’d grow up completely screwed in the head.
Wouldn’t all those talking heads be shocked to hear she was questioning whether she should indulge in a ménage herself?
Or was she merely letting the past interfere with what she did want here and now?
Damn it, she was young, unmarried, and healthy. And the man she was sleeping with was all for it.
So are you just doing this to please him?
Jared moved by her, heading for the drawer where she kept the take-out menus, as if he lived there.
His movement caught Dane’s attention and his gaze went to Jared first and then to Annabelle. She expected to see cocky self-assurance there or at least a leering desire.
Instead, he gave her a breathtaking smile.
“We’re going to order sandwiches,” she said. “What would you like?”
God, the man was almost as beautiful as Jared, maybe a little broader and a few inches shorter but gorgeous just the same. He had pale skin that made his green eyes that much more striking, especially set against his dark hair.
“Anything dripping with fat and grease. And fries. I’m dying for decent fries.”
He could certainly afford the calories. Neither guy had an ounce of fat on him.
And you get to see that firsthand.
Her mouth started to water and not for food.
“Hey, Belle. What do you want, hon?”
She wanted Jared to strip her naked and lay her on the dining table so he and Dane could make her come. So they could put their hands and their mouths all over her body until she couldn’t take the pleasure any more. She wanted them to fuck her until she couldn’t see straight.
Biting her tongue so she didn’t accidently blurt that out, she took another deep breath, trying to hide her quickening pulse and the fact that she wanted to squeeze her thighs together to ease some of the burning ache.
“Just put me in for a grilled chicken salad.”
“Two burgers and fries for me.” Dane handed the menu back to Jared then looked at her. “Menu says they make the best chocolate cake around. That true?”
Jared snorted in amusement. “Dane’s got a hell of a sweet tooth, Belle. You’re gonna be old and fat one day, buddy. Just remember that.”
“Then I better enjoy life while I can, right? Don’t bust my ass just because you never touch the stuff.”
“Oh, I have a sweet tooth,” Jared said, his gaze transferring to her. “Just not for chocolate.”
If there was such a thing as spontaneous combustion, she’d be igniting right now.
“The cake lives up to the hype, Dane,” she forced herself to answer, tearing her attention away from Jared before she told him to forget dinner and move onto activities that would surely burn a few calories. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.”
Dane’s smile seemed to burn a little hotter as well. “I’m sure I will.”
He wasn’t talking about the cake. She knew that as surely as she knew her own name.
She needed to cool down, collect herself. “I’m going to go take a shower. I’m sure you two can entertain yourselves until I get back.”
She saw Jared nod as she turned toward her bedroom, and she swore she felt two hot male gazes follow her all the way.
Without looking back, she closed the door behind her, shutting her in her room, where she collapsed back against the door and took a deep breath that she released with a sigh.
Are you really going to do this? And are you only doing this because Jared wants it?
She pondered that question as she stripped off her jeans and sweater and turned on the water for the shower. Her stomach had tightened into a knot and her hands shook as she washed her hair and body. As she drew her washcloth across her breasts, she bit her lip at the sharp pleasure that zinged through her.
Oh, God, yes, I want this. I want it for me.
And that was the bottom line.
She wanted them. Jared because her heart demanded him.
And she wanted Dane because…Well, the man was gorgeous. What red-blooded woman wouldn’t want him?
The fact that Jared wanted him in bed with them only made her that much hotter.
Okay, maybe you are a pervert.
No, enjoying sex did not make her a pervert. Not even when there’d be two men in bed with her instead of one.
After drying off, she walked into her bedroom and pulled open her underwear drawer, staring down at the colorful jumble, most of it courtesy of Kate. She hadn’t been exaggerating her friend’s abilities. Kate truly had a gift for creating breathtaking lingerie.
What would Jared and Dane do if she walked out there dressed only in a pink satin-and-lace thong and a pink satin demi bra? Part her of her wanted to do it, just to prove she could. And to see the looks on their faces when she did.
Another part knew that wouldn’t happen.
Still, she’d get to see their faces when they took off her clothes later.
And they would take off her clothes. She had no doubt about that.
Anticipation made her dress quickly. Over the lingerie she pulled on a clean pair of form-fitting jeans and a tight, long-sleeved black T-shirt with a rounded neckline. The shirt showed off a good amount of cleavage, the mounds of her breasts pushed up and out. She thought about pulling out her red-heeled stilettos but that might be pushing it so she went instead for bare feet.