STORY EXCERPT

“I’ll be honest.” Kat kept her voice quiet because she didn’t particularly want their conversation floating through the restaurant for everyone else to hear. “At first, the way all three of you were flirting with me, I thought you were taking sibling rivalry to new heights.”

Her gaze flitted around the dining room. It wasn’t yet four thirty, but there were some early diners tucking into their meals. More tables held triads than couples. After that tour of the museum, she realized that they weren’t just groups of friends. They were threesomes in an adult committed relationship.

Paul’s voice came out just as quiet. “And we thought you were flirting with us so that you’d have an entrée to other movers and shakers in the film industry—a theory we believed had been proven when we saw you the next day with Larry Borden at Puck’s.”

“I guess we all jumped to conclusions,” Lucas said.

Kat looked at the three men and understood they were keeping their voices down for her benefit. They could have taken the attitude that this was their town and they’d be as loud as they’d like.

Oh, come on, Kat. You haven’t known them long, but already you know they’re not like that. They’re not pushy or bossy or the kind to treat you like a door mat, to marry you and expect you to stay home keeping house and raising kids while they go out and live the exiting life, the way your parents did things.

“Where did you just go, Kitty-Kat?” Paul asked.

The nickname, one she’d never liked, somehow sounded good coming from Paul Jessop’s lips.

“Sorry. I tend to over think things sometimes.”

“Don’t apologize for being the person you are,” Lucas said. “We all have our individual personality quirks.”

Kat thought that was a very sensitive thing to say. She liked that about Lucas Jessop—his sensitivity and his ability to see into the heart of a matter.

Or into the heart of a person.

“The question is, where do we go from here?” Wesley leaned forward. He sat directly across from her at the four-person table. Like his brothers, it seemed that he was being careful not to crowd her. He’d leaned in but didn’t really invade her personal space. “You should know by now that we’re not vying for your attention—although we do most definitely want you between us.”

“We, all three of us, are very attracted to you.” Lucas reached out and ran his finger over the back of her hand.

Such a simple touch, and yet Kat had to suppress the shudder that wanted to travel to every nerve ending in her body.

“I’m attracted to you, too. To all three of you.” She exhaled and shook her head. “I don’t understand it. I really don’t.” She sat back. Would she be thought too presumptuous to say what was on her mind? No. They showed me through their museum, took me to that wall showing “married” ménages. So in essence they’d brought up the dreaded “M” word first. “I’m not looking for marriage. That white picket fence and the house with the kids and the dog, where the little woman stays home and bakes cookies and takes care of everyone? That’s not me.”

“Thank God,” Paul said. “I don’t think any of us are looking for a woman to be our servant.”

“If we wanted a housekeeper, we’d hire one,” Wes said.

“We’re not nine-to-fivers ourselves.” Lucas met her gaze. “We tend to think outside the conventional mold. It’s really how we were raised.”

“Okay, that’s good, then.” Kat heaved a giant mental sigh of relief. And since the elephant in the room had been sent back to the circus, maybe she could entertain...well, entertaining them.

“Is there any reason why we can’t spend time together when we get back to L.A.?” Paul slid his arm around the back of her chair. Since that made it easier for him to turn to face her, she didn’t think of complaining about it. Admit it. It feels nice being so totally surrounded by these three studly men.

“We’ve promised our mother that we’d be home for at least another couple of weeks,” Paul said. “So we won’t be back on the Coast till mid February—which is when the filming of Finesse is set to resume.”

Kat liked that it didn’t appear any of these three would consider not keeping their word to their mother. “No, no reason that I can think of. Unless you’re in a relationship—or should I say relationships?”

“We’re not.” Lucas frowned. “I hope you haven’t given much credence to the headlines in the gossip magazines about us. The truth is a lot more boring than the fiction those rags produce.”

“Oh please. I’ve lived in southern California all my life. Plus, being in the business I’m in, I get a good look at the underpinnings of life in Tinsel Town and the film industry. I know there’s a lot of crap printed about people in the business, most of which is complete bullshit.” It suddenly occurred to her she was being awfully damn stingy on her side of the conversation. It was past time to give them something. “I knew within minutes of meeting you that you weren’t players.”

“Thank you for that.” Paul met her gaze and then looked down at her hand. He reached out then stopped. “May I?”

In that moment, Kat found she couldn’t speak. So she nodded. Paul picked up her left hand and clasped it gently. Reverently. A zing of electricity shot straight to her nerve endings. Her gaze met his, and she knew she likely looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He nodded, as if he’d felt it too. Since she didn’t really want to think about that and what it meant, she thought about his request.

When was the last time someone had asked for permission to touch her hand? And why was the feel of his hand holding hers so damn sexy?

Paul released her, and then Lucas took hold of her hand, just for a moment as he rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. The same mind-numbing excitement coursed through her. When he let go, she understood Wesley was going to—oh my God all three of them are electrifying.

They were screenwriters and had just used that wise chestnut of writing that showing is better than telling. They didn’t need to say that she really was turned on by all three of them. They’d just proven it to her. They’d proven it to them all.

ADULT EXCERPT

“Please.”

“Please what, Katrina?”

“Kiss me. Touch me. Take me.”

Paul’s grin flashed, wide and fast. “What an impatient little kitty you are.” He inhaled deeply again. “Did you know I can actually smell your arousal? You have an enticing aroma, and you’re making my mouth water.”

His gaze turned serious, making Kat’s heart pound. And then he cupped her chin, angled her face, and covered her mouth with his.

Hot and wet, Paul’s kiss seduced her, the sensation of his tongue stroking hers plunging her deep into a world of irresistible sensuality and dark desires. He drank from her, and the ambrosia he gave her in return overtook her blood, intoxicating her spirit, and made her crave even more.

The suctioning of his mouth on hers slickened her sex. Her hips undulated, as if her entire body was calling to him to come, to enjoy, to consume.

His mouth left hers and began a journey, kissing, licking, exploring. Her neck and shoulders, her cheeks and chest, every spot of her drew his voracious sampling. Hungry lips closed around a beaded nipple, and Kat moaned, her back arching, her body pleading with him to take more, more, more. He released her hands as he moved south, and her arms cradled his head. He gave her sweet, sweet kisses on her bruises, and her heart melted just a little. When he placed one hot hand on the inside of her thigh, she obeyed without thinking and spread her legs for him.

He moved, insinuating himself within the cradle of her thighs as he kissed a path down farther and farther. The brush of his lips against her slit as he moved downward hurled shivers through her body.

“I’ve dreamt of this.” Masculine words whispered against heated feminine flesh ignited the kindling of arousal. “I’ve dreamt of having my mouth on your pussy, of drinking you down, of swallowing your juices as you pulse in my face.” Then he used his tongue and gave her one solid lick, from the base of her slit to her clit.

Kat gasped and looked down, and for one moment, their gazes locked.

He said, “Mine.”

Then his mouth was on her pussy.

Intense pleasure, fiery and fierce, ate at her control, lapping up her will as if it was the most exquisite cream. Hungry spears, like the red-golden tongues of the hottest flame, shot through her body, burning away doubt and shadows and pain until all that was left was this passion, this raw, all-consuming lust.

Kat pushed her feminine folds closer to Paul’s ravenous mouth as mindless desire seized her. And all the while her arousal soared, the electric excitement elicited by Eros bound her with unseen silken ropes to this man, and this moment.

Kat yearned as she’d never yearned before.

Paul rubbed his lips back and forth over her pussy, his tongue snaking out to delve into her canal and then sliding out and up to swipe over her clit.

Passion became a frenzied dance, and ecstasy beckoned. Fingers caressed, spreading her moisture, gently seeking and then finally easing into her.

She could no longer distinguish one action from another, because the man lying prone between her thighs controlled every nuance, every nerve, as he rained pleasure upon pleasure upon her.

“Go over, love. Come for us.”

The vibration of words against her sopping and sensitive tissues shot her that last little bit, even as his fingers slid inside her and found her sweet spot. And then he sucked her clit into his mouth, and Kat’s world exploded.

Ripe, righteous rapture consumed her. The flames burned away all else until only emotion, only need and desire remained.