“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.