The Strength of Three Read online

  TJ returned just as Kyle hopped on his stool. TJ’s hands were full, carrying four glasses of various sizes containing pale to dark brews. He plunked them on the table and divvied them up between himself, Jon, Kyle and Aislinn.

  “Thanks, Teej.” Kyle took a sip and licked the foam from his upper lip before leaning over to kiss his fiancée. A second of intense longing flitted through Chris. Aislinn looked so happy with Kyle, smiling and wiping his beer kiss away. On second thought, there was no longing. Gas, maybe, like the smiles you find on infants, but not longing. Who would long to be beer kissed?

  Joe threw his head back, capturing Chris’s attention, and downed what was left in his glass. He’d been left out of TJ’s drink run. Not that he needed another one. After devouring the remnants of one glass, he reached for a second one he’d brought with him.

  Chris tensed again and Jon’s fingers dug in, keeping her from rising off her stool like she wanted to. She half-expected him to say, “Stay.”

  Kyle raised his glass in salute. “Cheers.”

  Everyone lifted a glass above their head. Surely no one would notice how hers wobbled in the dim light.

  “And here’s to all the other Fortune 500 companies who switch their security needs to Turner Industries.” Joe’s slightly slurred voice boomed across the round wooden table. How long had he been drinking? And how long would it be before he turned inevitably violent?

  They gave a chorus of “Here, heres” which Chris felt disinclined to participate in. She shivered and fought back the panic bubbling its way to the surface. Jon’s fingers squeezed again, reassuring and adding comfort from a source she never thought she’d look toward. The man was wreaking havoc on her brain. From the seat he’d taken next to her, TJ covered the hand she had resting on her thigh with his own.

  A small gesture no one would see but the three of them. Everyone can see Jon standing behind you rubbing your shoulders, though.

  Kyle and Aislinn shared another kiss, this one deeper than their previous meeting of lips. Chris watched, mesmerized, as their tongues dueled. Joe cleared his throat, breaking the spell, but Chris continued to wonder, not for the first time, how Aislinn did it. From past to present, how had she swept her fears aside and moved on?

  More importantly, how did Chris start letting men get close, knowing in the back of her mind there was always the potential for things to turn ugly? Chris’s own mother was now a shell of a woman, unable to stand on her own. No, more like unwilling to. Chris had vowed long ago never to let a man treat her the way her father treated her mother.

  Mouth suddenly dry thanks to memories, Chris took a gulp of her warm, still mostly full Coke. Her hand shook so bad, the dark liquid sloshed over the rim to trickle across her skin.

  “Damn it.” She winced and searched for a napkin. Seeing none, she set the glass down and licked the sticky soda. A low growl made her jump.

  “Need some help?” TJ’s head came perilously close to her hand, his mouth open, tongue hanging out.

  Chris pushed him away with two fingers on his forehead. “No, stud, I do not need your help.” Mortified at having called TJ a stud, Chris slapped her palm over her mouth. Her cheeks flared with heat. She normally hid behind a “fuck off” attitude, which these two always seemed to bring out, but under the current damp-panty issue, now was not the time to be calling either one a stud. Both of them would misinterpret her meaning.

  “Stud? I’m moving up in the world.” TJ snaked an arm between her back and Jon’s front to lie along her chair back. His fingertips grazed her upper arm, leaving goose bumps.

  “Wrong, bud.” She scooted forward, hunching over the table. No man would move up in her world.

  Why was that thought starting to sound delusional? Resisting the urge to fan herself and possibly give TJ more ammunition, she took a long drink of Coke to try to dissipate the heat steadily building up inside her.

  “What’s wrong?” Jon curled his upper body over her, doubling her heart rate.

  Chris looked over her shoulder to see TJ wiggling his eyebrows.

  “She called me a stud.”

  Double damn. She slumped forward. Maybe she could knock herself out and chalk this whole situation up to a dream. Her head hit the table with a thud. “Owwwwchie.”

  She heard a smack above her head. They were giving high fives? Great. “Go away,” she grumbled, sitting back up.

  “Never,” Jon whispered.

  He really needed to stop doing that. It made her whole body prickle with need. Her heart pounded, with fear or excitement she wasn’t sure, but suspected the latter. The weird little tickle sliding from her tummy down to her clit only served to confirm her suspicions. This feeling was one of the reasons she lay awake nights.

  The ones she spent lying in bed, envisioning TJ or Jon caressing her skin with their mouths, licking and nibbling their way to her mound. More often than not, she wound up inserting her fingers into her tight, sopping passage wondering what it would feel like to have one of their cocks filling her. Just once she wanted to give up and let a man take control of her body and give her what she’d only read about in fiction. Maybe with them… Could she? Should she? The prospect was looking more and more appealing. She could drive her own car, get away if she needed to. It would for damn sure be easier driving off than kicking them out of her house. And surely they wouldn’t hurt someone they worked with, would they? Aislinn had said, “Have a fling, get it out of your system.” Chris could do this. She would. Tonight. If they wanted to, that was.

  This time she did fan herself by waving her hand. A pitiful amount of air wafted across her face. “It’s hot in here, isn’t it?”

  “Have a drink.” There was a definite smile in Jon’s voice. He stepped to her side, opposite the side TJ occupied, and grabbed his own drink. Before she knew what was happening, he tilted the glass to her lips. It was drink or drown.

  Shock nearly choked her. Two hands thumped her back between her shoulder blades as she spluttered.

  “Soda.” She cringed at how stupid she must sound.

  “What else would it be, baby?” Jon twirled a lock of her hair around his finger.

  Chris stared at him. Had he lost his mind? They were at a party on a Friday night, happy hour no less. Did she look like a complete moron? How many people besides her were drinking anything other than alcohol? A few, maybe. There was a pregnant woman from Human Resources at a nearby table.

  TJ’s lips brushed her ear. If those puppies got any more attention tonight she was afraid they might fall off. They’d been whispered against, breathed on, sniffed and now kissed.

  “Alcohol upsets you, so why would we drink it?” TJ asked as if it were already clear they wouldn’t drink around her.

  Chris’s stomach took a dive and her throat closed.

  “Breathe, sugar.”

  She did, sucking in a deep breath only to hold it again. Two soothing palms rubbed her back. “How did you know?” she rasped. They couldn’t know. Unless Aislinn had told them. Chris turned to her friend. Her face held a glimpse of sympathy Chris didn’t find comforting, but the mouthed words, “I didn’t do it,” helped.

  “Aislinn didn’t tell us anything, Chris. Don’t blame her. Hey.” Jon tilted her face toward his with his thumb under her chin. “Does it matter how we know? What really matters is that we do and that you know we’ll never drink around you.”

  Her whole body shaking, she laughed at him. She couldn’t help it. The peal came from somewhere deep inside, bringing tears to her eyes. Jon’s hand slipped from her chin to the back of her neck. He pulled her close and hugged her tight.

  “Did I say something funny?” His chest rumbled against her cheek.

  For a split second she felt safe. More so, she felt cherished and protected, like nothing would ever happen to her in the shelter of his arms.

  Then she recovered and pushed away. TJ had scooted closer so there wasn’t far to go. Chris straightened her spine and lifted her chin. “My father never drank aroun
d us either.”

  Chapter Two

  “Your father is a fucking moron.” Jon sighed when Chris gasped and tried to jerk farther away. He had wanted to get her fears out in the open, just not in this particular environment. A room full of witnesses had not been his ideal, but establishing that he and TJ would never drink around her was first and foremost in earning her trust. He also knew she wouldn’t have come if they’d had this party at a bar like Kyle had originally wanted. Jon and Teej had vetoed his plans immediately.

  The last thing they wanted was for her to stay away from a company party based on its location. Especially when the minx was proving to be a bit stubborn in the subtle flirtation department. It was time to bring out the big guns, but short of kidnapping her and thus terrifying her, they had to woo. Wooing wasn’t as easy as it looked. Not when it involved someone with a past like Chris’s. Jon would give anything to wipe the look of unease from her face right now. A wild romp in bed might cure it.

  Everything else revolved around her trust in them. Without it, they had nothing, and nothing was out of the question. He and TJ were determined to make Chris theirs in every way possible. If she started out thinking they only wanted a fling, they would quickly disillusion her.

  Jon wished they were anywhere but here. They needed somewhere they could talk in private. But he’d known from the get-go she wouldn’t just up and leave with them. It would take time and planning and a little help from her best friend Aislinn. Since he knew getting Chris here was half the battle, he’d implored Aislinn to help. Whatever she’d done or said to Chris had worked. Seeing her walk in with that flowing skirt just about knocked the breath from his lungs. His dick was rock hard and this close to her, smelling her, it was near to exploding without even being touched.

  He knew there’d be a battle easing her into their lifestyle. Hell, half the battle would be seeing to her comfort around men in general. She had nice diversionary tactics, hiding behind her attitude or flirting from a distance. None of which fazed him or TJ in the least. There wasn’t much in the world that could faze two ex Special Forces team members and they for damn sure weren’t going to back down without a fight.

  Jon swiped his thumb across one of her pink cheeks, counting it as a victory when she didn’t flinch or pull away. He couldn’t wait to see them flushed with the pleasure he and TJ would grace upon her. Would she scream out one or both of their names? Was she the silent type, a moaner? Based on the rapid pulse at her throat, he could tell she wasn’t as unaffected by him as she would like to think she was.

  “The difference between your father and TJ and I is that we won’t drink, ever.” He enunciated very clearly, giving her no room to misinterpret. “If there’s ever a time you don’t feel comfortable, you just have to tell us.”

  She snorted. “I’m not comfortable. Back off.” She raised her hands and pushed at his chest in an attempt to create space between them. He gave her a modicum and laughed. They’d never get anywhere if they let her have her way every time.

  The shrill ring of a cell phone interrupted them. Chris never took her gaze off him. The phone rang again and she lifted her glass and sipped. TJ moved closer. “You gonna answer that?”

  Chris did a double take. “What?”

  “Your pocket is ringing, sugar,” Jon offered.

  “Huh? Oh. Oh, crap.” She fumbled in the pocket of her skirt for the slim pink flip phone he knew she carried.

  He just smiled. She was fucking gorgeous when riled, which was most of the time around them. They seemed to bring it out of her in spades. There was the flush, this time from frustration. Soon it would be courtesy of an explosive orgasm given by him or Teej.

  “Hello?” She stuck a finger in her ear to drown out the noise. “Carter? Is that you?”

  Carter. Chris’s younger brother, who, from Jon’s background search into the Marshall family, seemed to follow in Daddy’s footsteps. At least in the mean department. Christina had done the smart thing, getting away from her family.

  “No, I do not have any money.”

  TJ stood, exchanging a knowing look over her head with Jon. They both disliked the tone they heard in her voice.

  “Well, geez, I don’t know, Carter. Get a job like everyone else in the world maybe?” She paused and her eyes widened. “I will never fund your disgusting habit. I work too hard for the money I earn to waste it on you.”

  Shit. If the kid had a habit and needed money for a fix, things could get ugly fast. Faster if he owed money he didn’t have.

  A second later her eyes narrowed into slits. “You leave Mother out of this.” She paused. “I already regret it.” She slammed the flip closed and growled.

  “Carter’s bothering you again?” Aislinn asked across the table.

  “Again?” TJ and Jon barked together. Jon saw red. If the little punk had taken to messing with Chris, Jon would put an end to it really quickly.

  “He says he needs money to pay his rent.”

  “And you know he’s lying, right?” Aislinn came around the table, nudging Jon out of the way with a sharp elbow to his stomach. He stepped back with an oomph while TJ and Kyle snickered. He flipped them both off.

  “After last month? Yes, I know.”

  “What the hell happened last month?” TJ snarled. Jon wanted to know the exact same thing and more. Like how they’d missed her brother’s problems when running a background check on her, something they did with everyone who worked for their company. Chris’s had been a little more involved since both of them knew she would inevitably end up in their bed. With their past in the Teams, it was both a habit and a necessity. He, Teej and Kyle had pissed off more than one baddy out there who would stop at nothing to seek revenge. A loved one would be an easy target.

  Before Chris could answer, Aislinn said, “Carter drove all the way from Chicago and showed up at her door begging for money for some overdue bill he had. When she offered to take him to the phone company to pay it for him, he flipped out saying he could handle it on his own. Then he tore through her house, grabbed her wallet and stole all the cash she had in there.”

  “Motherfucker.” Jon wanted to put his fist through a wall. Or better yet, Carter’s face. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell us?”

  Chris drew back, one eyebrow raised high. She crossed her arms over her chest. “Why would I?”

  Damn. Why would she? They didn’t exactly have a relationship. Yet.

  Starting right now, they did and he’d be goddamned if he let her junkie of a brother run roughshod over her again.

  “Oh, I don’t know, maybe so we could help?”

  “I think I can handle my own brother.”

  Jon snorted. “You handled him so well he ran you over to steal your money. How much did he get?”

  “I don’t see how it’s any of your—”

  “How much?”

  “A hundred and twenty bucks.”

  Feeling the muscle ticking along his jaw, he nodded once. “Do you think you’ve heard the last of him tonight?”

  “I don’t know. What does it matter?”

  “You matter,” Jon growled and leaned closer so she had no choice but to look him in the eye. “TJ and I are done waiting for you.” He saw the flash of heat flare in her eyes. Hell, he could smell the moisture pooling between her legs. She could deny it all she wanted, but her body craved what he and Teej could offer. “We’re not like your father or your brother and the only way you’ll see that is to let us close. Probably won’t be easy for you, but I can damn well guarantee it’ll be worth it.”

  Her eyes widened, her nostrils flared with each inhalation, and the pulse at the base of her throat sped up. He wanted to lean in and lick it, to taste her and leave his mark. Not here though. He straightened. If his dick got any harder, he’d be popping out of his jeans. Wouldn’t that be something?

  “I don’t”—she had to clear her throat—“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Sex, Chris. Remember the conversation we wer
e having earlier?” Aislinn butt in.

  “Aislinn.” Chris’s hissed reprimand made Jon laugh out loud. Oh God the woman was priceless. He’d wondered what they’d been talking about when she’d yelled out across the bar.

  “What?” Aislinn said innocently. “I’m just getting you back for a little incident that happened at work a couple of months ago. Remember there was something about a feather duster?”

  “That was your fault. You’re the one who asked Kyle if he had a duster but didn’t expound on what kind, or that we’d been imagining them wearing dusters, cowboy hats and nothing el— Oh my God.” Chris’s eyes closed. “Please tell me I didn’t just say that out loud.”

  “What kind of conversation were you having, Ais?” TJ grinned like a loon, ignoring Chris’s suddenly bright red cheeks.

  “I told her to have an affair, get it over with.”

  Jon was sure by the murderous look on Chris’s face Aislinn was in line for a not-so-quick, painful death. Time to get Chris out of here.

  TJ snorted. “I’m not looking for an affair.”

  “Me neither,” Jon grunted.

  Chris swung her startled gaze back and forth between them. Aislinn smiled sweetly.

  Somewhere Chris found her voice, but what came out wasn’t what Jon expected. A wounded, embarrassed look overtook her features. “Well. I wasn’t looking for an affair either.” She hopped off the stool and took off toward the door.

  “Ah hell,” TJ muttered.

  Jon cut off her flight. “Never said nothing about not wanting you, Christina, just said I wasn’t looking for an affair.” Her back went ramrod straight as she halted in mid-stride.

  She looked back over her shoulder and Jon saw the sheen of tears in her eyes. Fuck.

  “Teej, it’s time to go.”

  “Yep.” TJ slapped some bills on the table and saluted Kyle.

  Jon never took his gaze off Chris. She swallowed and he’d bet his Beamer sitting outside her nipples were hard as rocks.

  “See you Monday, Kyle,” he said, insinuating with his tone they didn’t want to be disturbed for the rest of the weekend. It was past time for them to start showing her they could be trusted with her life. He couldn’t wait.