Stella held herself perfectly still in my arms. I didn’t even think she was breathing.
“Is it always just the two of you?” AJ asked, his focus shifting from me to Stella.
“Why?” I said, a rough edge to my voice. “Are you offering to join in?”
Slowly, his eyes rose back to mine. “What if I am?”
20
Stella
“We are not seriously doingthis,” I hissed.
Theo and I stood in the middle of AJ’s childhood bedroom while he freshened up in the en suite. Any second now, he would walk back in here, expecting a fun little hookup with me andmy boyfriend,and I was starting to panic.
Theo raised his brows. “Are you going to be the one to tell him you changed your mind?”
“No.” I poked him in the chest. “You are. You’re the one who started this.”
“And you went along with it.”
“Because I didn’t think it would go this far!” I whisper-yelled.
“So do it,” he said, his expression lit with challenge. “Back down. Throw in the towel and admit defeat.”
I took a step back, suspicion worming through me. Was that what he wanted? A way out of this without having to be the one to do it? Or was this just another game? An attempt to see how far he could push me before I broke?
My spine went rigid with stubborn refusal. Suddenly, all of our bickering, all of our microaggressions and fights felt like they’d led up to this moment. I’d caved too many times, and even after our truce, he still made all the rules, all the decisions, controlled almost every aspect of our interactions. Sure, I pushed back where I could, but Theo always got what he wanted in the end.
Well, not this fucking time. Here, we had an audience, making it impossible for him to coerce or intimidate me. So yes, Iwouldgo along with it, for as long as I had to, because no way in hell was I backing down first.
I heard the sound of a doorknob turning and launched myself into Theo’s arms. He automatically wrapped them around my waist, his eyes wide as I grabbed his face and hauled his lips down, mashing our mouths together for the barest of moments before pulling away and pretending to be breathless.
“Getting started without me?” AJ said.
I sent Theo an evil grin before twisting in his arms. “Can you blame us?”
AJ shook his head. “No.”
I leaned against Theo’s chest and—holy shit. His dick. Fully aroused. Pressing into my lower back. How long had he been hard?
“Come here,” Theo said, his tone gaining a husky edge as he extended a hand toward AJ. “I want to see your mouth on hers.”
Cool, cool, cool. This was fine. I could totally make out with AJ in front of Theo.
AJ strode toward us, his steps sure, just as handsome as I remembered: my height, trim but muscular, with an expressive face and beautifully curly hair. His skin was tanned to a light bronze, evidence of the recent vacation he’d been telling me about by the pool before Theo interrupted us.
AJ and I had been on-again-off-again throughout our teen years and into young adulthood, not because we’d had a tumultuous relationship, but because we’d always gotten along so well that whenever neither of us was seeing anyone (and sometimes even if we were) we’d wind up together at the end of a party, talking all night, before it turned into something else.
He was one of the few decent people in this world, which was wild considering his family had more wealth than some nations. Catching up after all this time had been... nice. Even when he’d gently chided me for cutting him off, like I had everyone else, after the car accident. I’d apologized, and he’d graciously accepted like the gentleman he was, asking how I’d been, admiring all my new tattoos and wanting to see more examples of my work. In that moment, I realized how much I’d missed him.
He stepped into me without hesitation, wrapping his arms around my waist and skirting his hands into the open back of my dress. The smile he sent Theo over my shoulder was lopsided and full of promise as he leaned in to kiss my neck, trapping Theo’s arms between us. It was easier to relax into his embrace than I anticipated, but then, I’d slept with AJ more times than I could count. Though it had been a while, my body still recognized the softness of his lips, the feel of his fingers stroking my skin.
Warmth pooled in my belly at the expectation of pleasure. AJ was unselfish in bed, insisting on making me come at least twice before he allowed himself to, and I wanted that right now. Because Theo was correct about one thing: Ithadbeen too long since I’d done this with someone, especially someone I liked and respected. Maybe after Theo threw in the towel, I could lock him out of the room, and AJ and I could finish what we were starting.
One of Theo’s arms slipped free, and I thought surely this was the moment he would put his foot down, but instead, he swept my hair aside, out of AJ’s way. Hoping to call his bluff, I shifted my hips backward, right into his straining erection.
Come on,I thought, brushing my ass back and forth over his cock.It’s me. The woman you hate. You don’t really want to do this, do you?
