Nicole Edwards - Zane

However, that time didn’t even remotely compare to his first threesome with V. When he and Beau had ended up with her, Zane had been blown away by her passion. Beau was painfully shy around women, and maybe Zane’s presence helped ease his social anxiety, but no matter what, there’d never been a woman who had complained.

V had somehow managed to draw out a side of Beau that Zane didn’t even know existed. She’d also managed to solidify Zane’s dominant nature. Something inside of him changed that night with her. He had decided to take a chance and try and expose her submissive tendencies. It’d worked like a charm and the three of them would likely never be the same again because of it.

Zane would admit to having doubts before that first time, but that was because of his reaction to V. She wasn’t like any woman he had ever known. The various emotions she pulled from deep inside of him were foreign to him. And although he’d had his own insecurities that very first time, they’d been eliminated when she’d given in fairly easily to the passion that roared from a small flame to a wildfire in just seconds when the three of them got together.

Now? Well, now Zane looked forward to those moments. V was a passionate woman, and despite her reluctance with men in her past, she gave herself freely to whatever Zane asked of her. There’d only been a brief hesitation that very first time, but that had presumably disappeared the second Beau had kissed her.

Damn. He was going to have to stop thinking about that night, or he was sure they wouldn’t make it through dinner. He hadn’t been lying to V when he told her that Beau was on his way with food. His friend had called a short while ago and told him he was on his way. When Zane remembered he didn’t have any food, he’d asked Beau to bring something, he didn’t care what.

As though summoned directly from Zane’s thoughts, there was a knock on his front door and Zane turned away from V to let Beau in. He slapped his friend on the back and grabbed one of the sacks from his hand and carried it to the kitchen.

It could’ve been because they were starving, or because they were all three ready to see where the night would lead, but they finished dinner in record time. While V cleaned the dishes, Zane helped clear the table and grabbed more beers while Beau messed with the sound system in the living room.

The stereo came on, and Beau hooted and laughed, turning his attention to Zane. “Dude, seriously? Thrift shop? I didn’t think you had it in you.”

Zane laughed, knowing Beau loved to give him shit about his choice in music. He was a country boy and yes, most of what was on his iPod consisted of country music, but he liked variety.

Zane carried the beers into the living room while Beau began flipping through the music on his iPod. After fifteen minutes of Beau’s ridicule, thankfully, he grew bored with teasing him about his choice in music before putting on Jason Aldean in the man’s warped attempt at setting the mood.

To his surprise, V took the seat on the couch next to Beau when she joined them, and the two had conspired to give Zane a hard time about his music, both of them laughing and even touching on more than one occasion. They were friends, that was clear and although V tried to keep herself closed off to most people, it was evident they’d become closer during Zane’s stint in the hospital. Rather than jealousy, Zane felt a sense of comfort knowing that his best friend had been taking care of V while he couldn’t.

They’d talked daily when Beau came to visit, and his friend had kept an eye on V at his request, but it didn’t appear to have been a hardship on either one of them. He wasn’t going to think about the things that they hadn’t realized were going on during that time though. He was determined not to ruin this night with his unresolved anger issues, and the mere thought of V and her debilitating panic attacks was a definite trigger.

“The way you’re looking at us, you’d think we were naked,” Beau joked, causing Zane to look over at him.

“Maybe y’all should be,” he replied, tipping his beer bottle to his lips and trying to pretend the idea hadn’t crossed his mind a time or two in the last hour.

“Have a preference on which of us goes first?” Beau asked.

Zane tilted his head to study his friend. It was interesting to see how relaxed Beau was around V. Normally, when he was anywhere near a woman, his face was red, and he usually never spoke more than two or three words at a time. Never had he been daring the way he was when she was around.

“I have a preference,” V added, grinning.

Zane noticed she didn’t seem to be nearly as nervous as she’d been when they got back to his house. After what had happened at his parents’, he’d expected her anxiety to be sky rocketing, but somehow she’d managed to relax. Maybe she was just looking to ignore everything else that was going on the same way he was.

“Yeah? Who’d you like to see naked first?” Zane figured he already knew the answer to that.

“Beau,” she replied, grinning from ear to ear.

“You sure about that, darlin’?” Beau teased. “I’d hate for you to drop Zane like a bad habit once you get to see me naked again.”

Zane watched, his lips smirking against the lip of his beer bottle as he watched the two of them. “A bad habit, huh?”

V glanced back and forth between the two of them, and Zane watched her closely. She was coming up with an idea, and he was interested in seeing what that devious mind of hers decided to do about the two of them.

“You’re right,” she agreed with Beau and Zane laughed, but waited for her to finish. “I think it’s only fair that you dole out your sexiness in stages. Maybe take turns.”

“What? You want us to do a strip tease right here?” Zane questioned her, sitting his beer on the side table beside the chair he was currently occupying.

“Great idea,” she replied, acting as though she hadn’t already had it all planned out.

“Who goes first?” Beau asked, sounding entirely too confident. At least in comparison to what Zane was used to.

This was likely going to get good.

♂♀♂

V knew the alcohol couldn’t be what fortified her nerves because she’d only had one beer and was working on her second.

For some reason, she just felt comfortable with Beau and Zane. Or maybe she just wanted to forget about all of the shit that had gone on that day, or in recent months. She knew what was coming, and for some reason, she wanted to get there soon.

Beau was in a good mood, laughing and joking, and it was contagious, making her want to tease the two of them. It wasn’t like the first time when the three of them were so worried about where they were supposed to put their hands. This just felt – it was strange to say it – natural.

“You get to go first,” V stated, looking over at Beau. “But before you get your freak on, I want the two of you to stand in the middle of the room. I want to see the goods before I take them for a test drive.”

Zane’s laugh tickled her ears making her smile even more. This was what she’d been missing for so long. They weren’t worried about what happened before, or what might happen tomorrow. This was just three friends, having a good time and enjoying each other’s company.

Beau stood, moving the wooden coffee table away from where they would need to stand in order to be in front of her. V pulled her feet up beneath her and pretended she was getting settled in for a good show. Zane took his time getting to his feet, taking another long pull on his beer and watching her intently.

The delectable, teasing smirk on his face did marvelous things to her insides.

“So, are we being graded on form?” Beau’s tone was serious, but his grin spoke of something much more carnal than V expected. “I’ve never done this strip tease thing, so I want to make sure I understand the rules.” Shaking his hand, his thumb waggling in Zane’s direction, Beau looked back at her “He’s probably got a lot more experience at this than I do, so I want it to be fair.”

“Yep,” V confirmed. “Form, execution, and style.”

“Got it. You gonna grade him on a curve? He looks a little frail these days.”

Zane’s laugh boomed through the living room. “Fuck off and get naked, bro.”

Beau’s chuckle warmed V even more. Considering Zane had lost some weight while he’d been in the hospital, it wasn’t obvious to anyone who didn’t know him. Standing next to Beau, he was still just as impressive as she’d always thought him to be.

Although Beau was close to six and a half feet, Zane wasn’t but an inch or two shorter. Granted, Beau was a big man. V had no idea how much he possibly weighed, but she knew it was a considerable amount, especially since he was all muscle. There couldn’t be an ounce of fat on either man. Unlike her. V was thin, but she probably didn’t have much muscle, aside from maybe her arms from cleaning. The rest of her was soft, but she didn’t mind. It helped define the difference between her and these men.

“Shirt. Off.” V pointed to Beau, trying to use a stern tone but failing as she laughed.

Beau grabbed his polo shirt with one hand behind his neck and deftly pulled it over his head. The move was sexy as hell, and the ripped, defined body he revealed was even more so. Her breath hitched, and she wondered whether they heard her. She purposely ogled Beau’s body, feeling Zane’s eyes on her.

“With a little hard work,” Beau looked over at Zane, “you could have a body like this one day.”

Zane reared back and punched Beau in the arm, a deep rumbling laugh echoing through the room. V watched as Beau glanced down at his arm, then back at Zane. “Why’d you pinch me?”