Raising the Stakes: Three of a Kind, Book 2 (4 page)

“Great story.” Alex rolled his eyes. “Any reason you chose to share it with me?”

“I need you to understand why I was so upset with him last night. Why he was on my mind. We fought. Des and I don’t fight. Ever. We made up in the end, but it left me…unsettled. I must have been thinking about him subconsciously. Going through what happened and sorting it out in my mind.” Oh God, she was babbling. Trying too hard. Talking too much about Des.

Alex’s mouth tightened. He put his foot on the floor and stared steadily at her.

She babbled right on, her cheek ticking away. “Des doesn’t get mad. We don’t fight. We never have, until last night. It shook me to my bones, Al. I didn’t know how to deal with it.”

“So you called me Desmond. Did it help you sort things out in your own mind?”

His sarcasm cut her. “No.”

When it came to Des, nothing helped her sort through her feelings.

The muscle in her cheek throbbed madly. Heat rushed her face. She had to tell Alex everything. “Calling you Des was a stupid, heartless, cruel mistake I wish to God I’d never made.”

This time, Alex was the one who prompted her. “But…”

Her heart lodged in her throat. God, she couldn’t tell him. Couldn’t hurt him like this. But how could she not? How could she keep such a big secret from the man she loved? “But…there’s something I haven’t told you.”

Alex went rigid. He didn’t breathe, he didn’t blink.

Megan launched herself off the bed and across the room, dropping to her knees at his feet. “I do love him.”

“Fucking hell!” His face turned scarlet.

“I’m sorry,” Megan cried. Her heart twisted in four different directions at once, the pain excruciating. She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. God, she hated hurting Alex. What kind of a selfish bitch was she, subjecting the man she loved to such…such…anguish? “So, so sorry. I never dreamed my feelings for him would impact our relationship.”

Alex glowered at her. “If you’re trying to make me feel better, you’re failing miserably.”

Tears stung her eyes. She blinked them back. Alex was the one hurting. Not her. “I don’t want to lie to you, Al. I can’t. That wouldn’t be fair.” She’d never disrespect him like that. “The truth is I’ve loved Des for as long as I’ve known him.” The feeling was as instinctive as breathing. “But he’s
never
reciprocated my feelings. Ever. Never once given me any indication what he feels about me is anything more than friendship.” She swallowed. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to love someone who doesn’t love you back?” It had taken her forty-eight painfully long months to accept the truth.

Alex gave a sarcastic snort. “I’m getting a pretty good idea of it right now.”

“Then you’re getting the wrong idea,” she sobbed. “I do love you, Alex. More than I ever believed possible. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. It’s just not as simple as I’d like it to be.”

“Yeah. I can see how loving two men could be a complex matter from your perspective.” His bitterness stung. “You should look at it from my side. That’d really knock you over sideways.”

She absorbed his emotional punches as he struck out. She deserved every damn one of them. “Al.” She grabbed his knee. “I love you. You have to believe me. Regardless of how I feel about Des, I love you.”

“How about you keep your hands to yourself?” He pulled his leg away, letting her hand drop on the chair.

She stared at it, shocked at his rejection.
No! No, no, no
. She wouldn’t let him push her away. Not until he’d heard the full story. Not until she’d made it clear how deep her feelings ran for him.

And then…then…if he still rejected her…

Megan pulled her offending hand away and clasped it in her lap so Alex couldn’t see how shaken she was. “I’ve…I’ve…”
Breathe. Get yourself together.
“I’ve accepted the fact that Des doesn’t love me. It took a while, but I finally came to terms with it.” Her breath shuddered in her chest, and she forced her gaze up to his. “What I never expected was to fall in love with someone else, knowing how strongly I feel about him.”

She stared up at him, hoping to God he could see the honesty in her eyes. “I fell in love with you, Alex.”

His chest stilled, as if he were holding his breath.

“When I saw you at Hunter’s party, something changed, like a gear shifting inside of me. I knew then it was time to move on. Time to give up on my fantasies of Des and me. I hadn’t been ready to do that—until I met you.”

Alex had attracted her like a child to a lolly. She’d taken one look at him and known her world was about to change forever. “I couldn’t stop looking at you. Couldn’t stop my heart from pounding so loud I was sure Des could hear it too.”

The dark eyes staring down at her softened slightly. “I couldn’t stop looking at you either.” His voice was a tense whisper.

She remembered. Felt the heat of his gaze as it swept over her body before settling on her face.

“I made Des introduce me to you.” She’d taken his arm and dragged him over to Alex, the beginnings of a fire smoldering in her stomach. “When you shook my hand and told me your name I knew I was in big trouble.” She flexed her hand now, the same hand he’d held as Des had made the necessary introductions. “I can still feel the imprint of your palm on mine,” she whispered. “Your touch burned me. It set me alight. Made me feel something I hadn’t felt for anyone but Des in a very long time.”

She turned her hand over and stared at her palm. It tingled now with the same heat Alex’s simple handshake had inflicted the first time he touched her.
With the same heat that flared when Des kissed it last night.
“I fell for you, Al. Every minute I’ve spent with you since has just reinforced what I instinctively knew the minute I laid eyes on you. I love you.”

“You love Des too.” The accusation wasn’t as acid as his previous comments had been.

“Yes, but it’s irrelevant now that I’m with you.”

“It’s not irrelevant when you call me by his name.”

Ouch!

“It was a mistake. Fighting with Des is an anomaly. Something out of the ordinary. As far as you and I go it means nothing. I love you,
Alex
. You have to believe that.”

His cock twitched. “Tell me again.”

“I love you, Al.”

“Again.” The word was a demand, not a request.

She loosened her grip on her hand. “I love you.”

He stared down at her, his eyes burning with emotion. Hurt? Disbelief? Desire?

Yes. All three of them.

“Please, believe me. What you and I have has nothing to do with anyone else. I love
you
.” She placed her hand on his thigh and breathed a sigh of relief when he didn’t push it away. The muscle beneath his skin flexed and his cock, which had sat limp and disinterested, pulsed.

She felt an answering tug in her belly.

“
Alex
.” This time his name was not so much a confirmation of his identity as a moan of hunger and need. Megan straightened her back and shifted closer to him.

His head hit the back of the chair and he groaned out loud. “Christ, woman, what am I going to do with you?”

Megan took a shuddery breath, sensing his capitulation. He believed her. She blinked back tears of relief and tried to speak, but her throat was all clogged up. She had to swallow and clear her throat to answer him.

“You’re going to carry on loving me?” She hadn’t meant for her answer to come out as a question, but she needed the reassurance. Needed to know he’d accepted her truths and assimilated them. Needed to know her feelings for Des didn’t affect how Alex felt about her. “You’re going to tell me you understand, and you believe me. That you know, no matter what I feel about Des, I love you.”

“I hate that you can even think about another man.”

“I love you, Alex. I love
you
.”

“And Des.”

“That doesn’t matter. It doesn’t affect us.”

“Unless you call me by his name.”

“A horrible, terrible mistake. That’s all. Please believe me, that’s all. I’m with you because I love you.” Knowing actions spoke louder than words could, she inched her hand forward and brushed her fingers over his cock.

It swelled at her touch.

“
Shit!
” He clasped the arms of the chair as though he fought to suppress his rising erection.

“Don’t fight me, Al,” she whispered. “Let me prove I love you.” Her gaze was no longer on his face. It rested on his lap, on the movement of her hand as she stroked him more boldly, on the hardening of his shaft.

“God, baby, I
want
you to love me,” he said on a groan.

“I do, Al. I swear, I do.” She bent her neck, kissed the inside of his thigh, slowly working her way upward until she grazed his shaft with her lips.

She whispered his name. “Alex.”

It was an acknowledgment, a sign of recognition. She had no doubt which man sat before her. Which man she’d apologized to.

“Megan.” Her name escaped on a sigh.

She opened her mouth and ran her tongue lightly over the tiny slit in his cock.

“Ah, fuck.” Alex arched his hips, pushing himself against her mouth. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

“Shhh,” she soothed, letting her breath breeze over his shaft. “Let me make it okay. Let me love you. Please.”

She risked a glance at his face and found him staring at her with a devastatingly intense expression.

“Okay?” she asked, terrified of the answer.

He looked at her for a very long time, the intensity of his gaze not receding one bit. Finally, finally he nodded his agreement. “Okay.”

A dry sob broke free of her throat. “Okay then.”

Before she could burst into tears and cry like a baby, she turned her full attention to the job at hand.

Sitting on the tip of his penis was a precious bead of precome he’d spilled. For her. She licked it away and swallowed it down over the lump in her throat.

The tension broke free of Alex. His muscles relaxed and he released his death grip on the chair. She suppressed her breath of relief.

Megan ran her tongue down the length of his cock, accepting the chance he’d given her to make things right between them. She lapped up the musky salt that remained from their loving last night. Their mixed tastes mingled on her tongue, a reminder of everything she and Alex had created together. Not just the sex and the loving, but the relationship they’d built. The intimacy of their conversations, sharing thoughts and stories and their lives. Telling each other secrets no one else knew. Well, no one else except Des as far as her secrets went. Smiling at each other over wineglasses and debating world affairs over dinner. Shedding their clothes in their mutual desire to touch, and lying side by side, gasping for breath in the aftermath of their passion.

The taste sensation exploded on her tongue and she lapped at him, ravenous for more.

“Megan?”

“Hmmm?”

“Close your eyes.”

She licked her lips. “Already shut.” She moved over his erection, guided by touch alone.

“Keep ’em that way.”

She nodded obediently and found his cock again.

“Now…tell—” His voice caught as she sucked him in. “Tell me…my name.”

“Alex.” Her answer was muffled, compliments of the erection interfering with intelligible speech, but it must have sufficed because Alex thrust his hips up, surging deeper into her mouth.

Silence followed, punctuated only by the greedy sounds of her lips as she took him in as far as she could, relishing the thick shaft that tickled the back of her throat. She slid her lips back up his length and circled her tongue around his cockhead before sucking him in once again.

Up and down, over and over she worked him. Her hair fell over her forehead, onto his stomach and thighs, shifting with her as she moved.

He was too big for her, too long, and she wrapped her hand around the base of his shaft, pumping in time with the movements of her mouth. Long moments passed as she loved him, fed on him. His desire increased her own, and her clit throbbed, craving his touch.

She thanked God for giving her this second chance. After what she’d said, Alex had every right to hate her. To reject her and send her away. That he allowed her access to his most private of body parts, in this most private of rituals, was a blessing of the highest level.

Her pussy pulsed. The knowledge that he wanted her regardless of her feelings for Des aroused her more than words or actions ever could.

“Megan?” His legs shifted beside her cheeks, the muscles stiffening, until she rested her chin on one rock-hard thigh. Her nipples brushed against the hair on his shins, abrading the sensitive surfaces.

“Hmmm?”

Her answer vibrated over his cock and he shuddered.

“Your eyes still closed, baby?”

“Mm-hm.” More precome trickled from his tip and she swallowed it, moaning with pleasure.

His balls tightened below her hands, telling her his orgasm was close. God, she was close to coming too, and he hadn’t even touched her.

“Who am I?”

“Hmm?”

“Who am I?” he demanded again.

Loath as she was to let go of him, this was too important an opportunity to ignore. She released him with a wet slurp and tilted her chin so she faced upwards. She couldn’t see him, but she felt his gaze on her face, knew he was watching her.

“You’re the man I love.”

She continued to pump with her hand, refusing to free him altogether. Something told her that so long as they maintained bodily contact she wouldn’t lose him.

His testicles flexed each time she touched them.

“Say my name,” he said with a growl.

“Alex.”

His cock grew in her hands.

“Say it again.”

“Alex.” She pumped faster, heard his breath come out in small gasps. “Alex.”

She opened her eyes to find his gaze on her mouth, his eyes black as night and glazed with desire. Desire whipped free inside her, like a coil unwinding. She plunged her free hand down to her pussy and touched herself.

A jolt shook through her. “Oh, God,
Alex
!”

His body convulsed and he cried out.

She bent her neck and captured his cock in her mouth an instant before he erupted. Jets of come streamed down the back of her throat. She swallowed every drop, every delectable morsel he spurted.