Rule of Three

Chapter Nine

Things got a little weird when they ate breakfast, the three of them in the kitchen, but Chris and Dag kept insulting each other and joking around until they were all laughing and Kassidy had to shake her head. They started talking about last night and the friends Dag hadn’t seen for so long.

“Kevin’s lost half his hair already,” Dag said. “I can’t believe that.”

“Yeah, the poor fucker.”

“Actually, your hairline looks a little higher than the last time I saw you,” Dag said.

“Fuck off, it is not. At least I haven’t packed on the pounds like you have.”

Dag snorted. “As if. You wish you had my svelte physique.”

“Svelte? Ha!”

There wasn’t an ounce of fat on either guy. Chris had always been muscular and he worked out to stay that way. Dag was a couple inches taller, his muscles a little less bulky but no less impressive, his shoulders wide, his hips lean.

“Okay,” Dag finally said, draining his coffee. “I’m off back to the hotel.”

“What’re you up to today?”

“I gotta get some work done. I’ve got more meetings set up for next week.”

“I thought you were done.”

“Nah. After I got this great idea and talked to your most excellent and intelligent girlfriend here, I got on the phone and set up some more. Different people to talk to. I need to get some things ready.”

“Okay. So we’ll talk to you tomorrow maybe.”

“Yeah. Sure.” Dag turned to Kassidy. “If I have questions, can I call you?”

“Of course.”

He was leaving.

Of course he was leaving. They couldn’t have sex twenty-four-seven, and she and Chris had lots to do—new curtains to put up, pictures she wanted hung, and she had her Saturday afternoon yoga class.

When he was gone, she turned to Chris, desperate to talk about it, to reassure herself yet again that he was okay with what had happened, to ask him about what he and Dag had done in the past, and, even though in her head she thought what they’d done was absolutely depraved and kinky, to make sure Chris didn’t think any less of her because of it.

But when she kept asking questions, Chris started to get annoyed. “Yes, I’m sure. I still love you. I’m not mad. I wanted to do it. Can we just drop it for now?”

“But I want to know…you and Dag…you did that before. I want to understand…”

“What’s to understand?” Chris stood on a stepladder in the spare room trying to install the new curtain rod. “Hand me the drill.”

“There’s a lot to understand.” She picked up the power tool and held it up to him. For a moment, the sound of the drill drowned out any further talk. “What we did…that’s not…normal.”

“Sure it is.” Chris drilled again. “What’s normal anyway? If we all wanted it, then it’s fine. We’re not hurting anyone.”

She bit her lip. No. They weren’t hurting anyone.

Chris clearly didn’t want to talk anymore about it. Which was just like him, dammit. He’d never been one to talk about how he felt. In fact, the day he’d told her he loved her she’d damn near died. But right now, she could have exploded with all the questions inside her, the pressure that built up with wanting to know more, including…was it going to happen again?

The next afternoon, Dag met Chris and Kassidy at the beach, lazing away a sunny June Sunday on the shore of Lake Michigan, people watching, but mostly watching each other, Kassidy in a tiny bikini that exposed maximum flesh to the sun for it to turn it a deep golden hue, gleaming with the sunscreen Dag and Chris helped her apply with tantalizing strokes of both their hands.

As they ate dinner together that evening at Chris and Kassidy’s, Dag sensed the tension in Kassidy, from the way she kept looking at him then Chris, then him again. He observed the uncertain flickers of her eyes, the slight tremor in her hands and he knew she was struggling.

She was wondering what was going to happen. She was afraid of what was going to happen. Even though she’d loved it. She’d been more into the threesome than any girl Dag could recall. Why that was, he couldn’t say and didn’t want to think too much about. He certainly didn’t believe it was because she was any less committed to Chris. The bond between the two of them was almost tangible. Substantial. Enviable.

No, she definitely loved Chris. So what she had to be feeling was guilt. Something stirred inside him that he’d made Kassidy feel bad.

After dinner, Chris went to the bathroom and Dag and Kassidy wandered into the living room. Kassidy curled up on the couch and Dag stood in front of her. “Do you want me to leave?” he asked, meeting her eyes steadily.

She just gazed back at him.

“We don’t have to do it again,” he said, voice low and gruff. “It can be a one-time crazy thing that happened. If you want me to apologize and leave and never come back, I will.”

Still she said nothing, looking at him with those big dark eyes.

“Kassidy? Is that what you want? I don’t want to do anything to make you feel bad.”

“You didn’t make me feel bad,” she whispered. The corners of her mouth lifted a tad. “I’m doing that just fine all by myself.”

“Ah hell. Don’t beat yourself up about it, sweetheart.” His heart turned over in his chest.

“I tried to talk to Chris about it, to understand…but he didn’t want to talk.”

“You can talk to me.”

He meant that, even though he knew this wasn’t going to be the time. He sat beside her and took her hand in both his. “Seriously, Kassidy. I never wanted to hurt you.”

“You didn’t,” she said again, turning her hand in his so their palms met, fingers curled around each other. “You can’t take the blame for what happened.”

“I will if you want me to. If it will make you feel better.”

Her eyes went even bigger and liquidy. “Oh Dag.” Her lips quivered. “You’re not such a bad boy after all.”

His cheeks heated and he looked away.

And then she leaned forward and kissed his mouth.

His heart stuttered, his blood sizzled through his veins, and his chest went soft and warm. And his resolve that once would be the only time it ever happened somehow faltered in the face of her sweetness.

“You didn’t answer my question,” he said quietly, their hands still joined.

“No. I don’t want you to go.”

Chris walked back into the room as Kassidy drew back and she and Dag both looked at him. He lifted a brow.

Dag gave a small jerk of his head, indicating Chris should sit on the other side of Kassidy, and Chris gave a slow smile as he did so.

They kissed for a long while, Dag and Chris taking turns kissing Kassidy, their hands getting bolder, touching her, caressing her. She slipped an arm around each of their shoulders, turning her mouth from one to the other. Dag slid his hand beneath her T-shirt as he kissed her, found her soft breast and cupped her through her bra. She moaned into his mouth.

Heat wrapped around his cock, burned in his balls. He watched Chris kiss her, their mouths fused, so close to his own he could see the golden stubble on Chris’s jaw, his gilt-tipped eyelashes, the smooth curve of Kassidy’s cheek. Chris cupped her jaw, his fingers long on her face.

Dag slid both hands now up under her shirt, pushing it up over her breasts, revealing the simple pink cotton T-shirt bra, cut low to reveal enticing softness. When Chris pulled back, Dag said, “Sit forward, babe. That’s it.” And he lifted the shirt over her head. Then his fingers went to the button and zipper of the shorts she wore, opened them and dragged her hips forward on the couch so he could get the shorts off.

“Such a pretty body,” he murmured. His gaze wandered over her body, her tanned skin from their day at the beach a contrast to her pink cotton underwear. She bit her lip.

“Yeah,” Chris agreed, sweeping a hand down her arm. “So sweet, Kass. I wanna lick you all over.”

“I want to see your bodies,” she said, sprawled on the couch, peering at them from beneath lowered lashes. The corners of her mouth tipped up.

Dag willingly reached behind his neck to drag his own T-shirt off, and Chris did the same. Clothing littered the living room floor. Kassidy smoothed a palm up each male chest. Sensations slid through Dag at her touch, hot and sharp, straight to his groin where his dick swelled.

Chris bent his head to fulfill his wish, dragged his tongue from the tip of Kassidy’s shoulder up the side of her neck, making Dag even harder. “Mmm,” Chris said. “Wanna eat you up, sweetheart.”

Dag slid to the floor, dragged Kassidy’s ass right to the edge of the couch so she was almost lying, her head tucked up against the back cushions. While Chris nibbled and licked his way across her chest, Dag dragged her panties off and spread her legs. She was wet, so slick and hot, it made his mind hum and his ears buzz. He could hardly think for wanting to taste her, feel her. Another ragged groan tore from her throat as he gazed at her pussy. Then he leaned in to taste. Sweet. Succulent. She gasped and a small tremor went through her body. Heat slid down his spine and settled deep in his balls.

He barely noticed the bra being tossed aside as he held her thighs wide with his palms, using his thumbs to part her folds for his tongue to probe and lick, her cream like honey on his tongue, her soft cries of pleasure sweet to his ears.

“Good, Dag?” Chris murmured, his mouth against a nipple. Kassidy writhed beneath them.

“Yeah. So good. Love your pussy, Kassidy. So hot and wet.”

Dag kissed and sucked and licked more. She cried out. His cock strained against his jeans, so he reached down and freed it. “Wanna fuck you, babe,” he groaned. “So bad. I want inside you. Inside your tight little pussy.”

She moaned again, hips lifting against his mouth. He pressed a closed-mouth kiss to her clit, then gently sucked it in, flicked his tongue over it.

“Oh yeah!” Her voice sounded thick. “That feels so good. Oh god.”

Her hand had wrapped around the back of Chris’s head as he moved from one nipple to the other, and Dag stood, stripped off his jeans and underwear and rolled on a condom from his pocket. He knelt again between her legs, this time lifting her ankles high, guiding them to his shoulders, and then he pushed into her. He watched himself enter her, her pussy pulling him in, accepting his girth as if she was made for him.

Fuck. He gritted his teeth. She was tight, and so fucking hot she was scalding his cock. Pleasure licked up every nerve ending like flames, a fiery wave of heat over his body. His balls tightened, pressure gathering, fast and hard. He tightened his buttocks as his hips thrust back and forth, in and out of her. Still holding her ankles, he turned his head and kissed her there, swept his tongue over the fragile bones and soft skin, then pressed her calf to his cheek.

He dragged his gaze up her body, over the flush tinting her chest, breasts rosy from Chris’s attention, and her eyes opened and met his over Chris’s bent head. Awareness sizzled between them, a connection, hot and bright, their gazes locked on each other.

“So good,” she whispered. “It’s so good.”

Chris made a small noise, reached a hand down between her legs and rubbed, seeming to know exactly how she liked it. When she came, her eyes fell closed, her body tightened around him in rippling waves that almost sent him over, soft noises leaking from her mouth.

Chris laid a last kiss on her chest, between her breasts, rolled off the couch and ripped off his pants too, then knelt beside her, offering his stiff dick to her mouth. She turned her head and opened for him. Chris rubbed the head over her lips, around and around, and she turned her gaze up to him, eyes big, gaze fastened on his face as he stroked his cock over her mouth.

“Lick it,” he whispered.

Her tongue came out and stroked over Chris. That was so fucking hot.

Chris pushed inside her then. “Take it all,” he murmured, watching her. “Take it all, sweetheart. You know how to do it. Show Dag how you can do it.”

Dag kept his gaze trained on the sight, Chris’s long, thick flesh disappearing farther and farther into her mouth. She blinked, made a small noise, but held Chris’s gaze as he slowly filled her mouth and throat. He released his cock, slid his hand around the back of her head, pulling her to him. Jesus! Right to the root she took him, until her nose pressed into Chris’s pubes, and then he pulled out. She gave a little gasp.

“Good girl,” Chris said, pushing in again, sliding in and out of her pretty mouth. Her cheeks hollowed as she sucked. Dag caught glimpses of tongue then Chris pulled out.

“Put out your tongue,” he ordered her. She did and he tapped his cock on it, one, two, three times. Then again. Chris groaned, on his knees, his muscled body taut, tanned, gleaming in the lamplight, the paler cheeks of his ass clenched tight.

Once again, Dag couldn’t believe this was happening. It had been so long. Seeing Chris like that, enthralled, fucking Kassidy’s mouth in a quick, hard rhythm, the rapture on his face made Dag’s heart expand in his chest. His own cock surged too and now there was no holding back, his orgasm exploding in his balls, pleasure racing through his body, through every vein, out of his cock.

“Aaah,” he cried out. “Ah fuck, Kassidy, baby, coming inside you…” And a long groan tore from him as he poured into her, hands tight on her ankles.

“Me too,” Chris grunted, quickening the rhythm. Kassidy curled her fingers around the base of his cock, sucked him with greedy wantonness until he spurted in long streams onto her face, in her mouth. Dag watched, heart pounding, ears buzzing, still pulsing inside Kassidy’s hot little body, watched her suck and lick Chris then swipe her fingers over the cream on her face and pop them in her mouth. Oh man. Oh man.

He fell forward onto her body, gasping for air, felt one of her hands come to rest on his damp back, fingers moving in small strokes.

“You are so hot, sweetheart.” Chris’s words penetrated the fog Dag’s brain was in and he felt Chris move on the couch, realized Chris had bent to kiss Kassidy. Her fingers still caressed his back, though, up and down in small strokes.

“The hottest,” he mumbled in agreement.

He heaved himself up onto the couch and collapsed beside Kassidy, laying an arm across her stomach. He pressed a kiss to her shoulder, his eyes closed. Once again, she’d destroyed him. The two of them had destroyed him, but Kassidy… He’d never been with a woman who turned him on, turned him inside out like she did.

Kassidy tried to breathe. She still tasted Chris in her mouth, her lips humming and burning from taking him so deep, her pussy still pulsing. She licked her lips, let a smile curve her lips, sank into Dag’s hot body on one side of her and Chris’s on the other. She’d loved sucking Chris with Dag watching, his eyes hot and intent, his big cock fucking her at the same time, both of them inside her.

What had happened to her? Kassidy, the good girl. Good girl gone wild was apparently what had happened. Once again she’d had the chance to put a stop to this. But she hadn’t.

Her heart softened and expanded in her chest at remembering Dag’s words, his offer to take the blame for this, to end it if that’s what she wanted. God, he was nice, so much nicer than she’d thought when she’d first met him, that wicked glint in his eye, that bad-boy smile and mocking attitude giving off a whole different impression. There was a lot he kept hidden, she was sure of it, carefully hidden way down deep, and Kassidy had a feeling even Chris didn’t know all of it.

The way he’d watched both of them. He’d watched her, yeah, as he’d fucked her, but his gaze had moved over Chris too, watching his cock slide in and out, watching Chris’s face as she’d sucked him off.

All day long, especially when Dag and Chris had both rubbed sunscreen all over her body, she’d felt as if her senses had been electrified. As if every touch sizzled, the coconut scent of the sun lotion intense and sexy, the sun hot on her skin, the sounds of the water rolling onto the beach a sensual rhythm. She felt sexy. Desirable. Desired.

By two men.

She didn’t even care what people at the beach must’ve thought watching two men rub lotion onto her body with such wickedly sexy strokes.

Dag and Chris started nibbling on her again, little kisses and licks over her shoulders and neck. She shivered, gave a small laugh and hunched her shoulders against the tickling.

“Whatsamatter, Kass?” Chris murmured against her skin. “Too soon?”

“Not for me,” she gasped as Dag kissed his way down her chest, over the slope of her breast and then kissed her nipple. Ooooh. Gawd. Her eyes drifted closed. “But you…”

“Hmmm. Doesn’t seem to be a problem.” And Chris tapped her thigh with his hardening cock.

“Not for me,” Dag said. He sucked her nipple in, her tender nipple, and heat zapped through her. He too rubbed his cock over her leg. He’d gotten rid of the condom in a pile of crumpled tissues on the table. Their condo was turning into a sex palace.

They were both hard again. Already. For her. How could she not be melted by that, completely, totally softened and liquefied?

“Bedroom,” she whispered.

“No.” Chris licked her jaw. “The couch is so…”

“Full of possibilities?” Dag suggested, looking up from her breast with gleaming dark eyes.

“Yeah.” The two men exchanged heavy eye contact. Oh lord, what did they have planned for her now?

“This time it’s my turn to fuck you, sweetheart,” Chris said.

“Um…wow. Okay.” Her insides went all heavy and achy. Again. Already. Dag’s fingers slid down there and played between her thighs.

“She’s wet. So wet.”

“Good.”

Chris gave her a hard kiss on the mouth then moved away. “Lie down, sweetie. On your back.”

Dag moved too, hands helping her down, and then Chris lifted her ankles up onto the couch and turned her body. She felt like a doll, a little helpless, a little used, but not in a bad way. They laid her on the couch, her head on the armrest, and Dag slid off to stand beside the couch while Chris knelt between her legs.

Chris smiled down at her, his face still wearing a flush, hair tousled. His chest, wide and muscled, his golden-brown hair in the center of it tapering down in a swirl of lighter gold around his belly button, then farther down to the thick nest of brown hair around his cock. He, too, had gotten tanned today at the beach, a nice golden tan that emphasized his muscles. He lifted her knees up and back and planted one of his feet on the floor, the couch too narrow.

She blinked at him and reached a hand out to touch Dag’s thigh, her head spinning a little. Then Dag slid his hands into her hair, turned her head to face him and angled her chin up. She met his eyes, dark and dangerous, and as he fed his cock into her mouth, Chris pushed inside her.

Dag held her jaw with one hand, his other hand pressed to his groin at the base of his cock, and fucked her mouth. She’d taken Chris deep, something she’d practiced and learned how to do, relaxing her throat, swallowing him, but there was no way she could do that to Dag. She raised her eyes to his face again, a little whisper of worry inside her that he might try to make her do it, but his eyes reassured her, his strokes firm but not aggressive.

“As much as you want, babe,” he murmured, watching her face with erotic hunger. “As much as you can.”

She wanted to swallow him, all of him, his thick length filling her mouth, bumping the back of her throat.

“It’s good,” he mumbled. “So good. As much as you can, that’s good, baby.” His smile warmed her.

Chris plunged into her again and again, hands on her inner thighs, pushing them wide for him.

“Christ, Kass, look at you. Sucking Dag’s cock like that. Oh man.” The urgent drag of sensation in her pussy, in and out, in and out, started pleasure building, a faint buzz of pleasure at first, growing bigger, faster, higher. She used her own fingers between her legs to accelerate it, rubbing her clit. “Oh yeah, sweetheart, yeah, do it…” Chris’s voice trailed off into a groan.

“Gonna come, Kassidy.” Dag’s words dragged her gaze back to him. “In your mouth…aw, fuck, yeah…” And a grimace contorted his mouth, his eyes squeezed shut almost as if he were in pain and the taste of him flowed over her tongue and down her throat as she sucked and swallowed. “Oh yeah, baby, that’s so good. Sooo good.”

“Yes, now…” Chris was coming too, pumping inside her in hard pounding strokes that rocked her body, jiggled her breasts, and sent her over too, flying high. Dag’s cock slid out of her mouth, and he bent and kissed her as she came. She left her body, she didn’t know where she went, but she floated and throbbed and soared on sensation.

Dag seemed to end up at Chris and Kassidy’s place a lot over the next week. During the day he met with other investors and business people he needed to get his venture started. In the evenings he spent time with Chris and Kassidy, sometimes with Chris doing guy stuff, but often with Kassidy, picking her brain for the training and development knowledge he needed.

What would he have done without her? She was a godsend, a treasure trove of information, experience and ideas. Advice from a human resources professional with experience in training and development was invaluable.

“You’ve done a ton of work on this,” she said slowly on Thursday night. She and Dag sat at the dining room table while Chris watched a baseball game on television not far away. Dag’s creation was coming together nicely, and the research he’d done showed he had something new and different and marketable.

He shrugged. “Yeah. Well. There’s a lot to do.”

She sent him a funny, almost puzzled look. “Just remember, we call it talent development now. You’ll want to use the latest buzzwords when you’re talking to people—investors or buyers.”

“Talent development,” he repeated, typing on his laptop.

“Learning and development has to be aligned with corporate strategic initiatives,” she continued. “For us, and probably most organizations these days, competencies are an important focus.”

“How do you train on those?” he asked.

“We hire external consultants who’ve developed specific programs on things like client service, problem solving, teamwork.”

“That must be expensive.”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” He typed again, fingers clicking away on the keyboard. “What do you think about doing that kind of training online?”

She frowned. “Hard to say. A lot of the learning comes from the interactive classroom experience where people share their experiences and learn from each other’s questions.”

“But if you could do it in real time? With the ability to share information and ask questions?”

“It could work.”

How could he test his product before he got too far into this? Maybe develop a prototype and get someone to try it. Once again, Kassidy.

He looked up at her, curled up cross-legged on the chair in a pair of short shorts and a tank top, her hair loose on her shoulders. “Would you try it? If I build a prototype. I need to know how well it works.”

“Wouldn’t you need more people?”

“Yeah. But I don’t have more people. Well, there could be you and me and Chris. Chris would do it too.”

“A class of three,” she said with a smile. “What are we going to learn?”

“I need some content.”

“Hang on.”

She disappeared down the hall and returned with some books and folders. “I can’t give you stuff from RBM obviously, but here are some training materials from courses I’ve taken. You can use this just as sample materials.”

“Perfect.” Excitement gripped him as always when he was working on creating something new. “Thanks, Kass. What would I do without you?”

Her pleased smile warmed him and he winked at her.

“Who’s winning the game?” he called to Chris.

“Cubs. Three nothing. You guys done?”

“Just about.” He had a few more questions for Kassidy. “So what about recruitment?” he asked. “Internal recruitment. I assume you often hire from within.”

“I’m not the expert on that,” she said. “But, yes.”

And they talked for another hour. Kassidy was passionate about her work and seemed to love to talk about it. Her knowledge impressed him. She was so much more than just a pretty face, but he should have known Chris wouldn’t hook up with someone who didn’t have more going on than looks. And she seemed impressed with all his work too, which gave him a warm, satisfied feeling inside.

And, like almost every other night that week, he ended up staying over at their place, sleeping with Kassidy and Chris in what was becoming the sweetest, hottest, almost daily routine.