Two Are Better Than One (3 page)

For a long moment
Quinn lost himself in his orgasm, lost himself in the pleasure and closeness it
offered. Then Declan’s hand slowed and the sensations in Quinn began to
subside.

“Wow,” Declan
loosed his grip on Quinn’s shoulder and rested his forehead along his lover’s
spine. “That was amazing.”

“Incredible,”
Quinn added.

“And that was just
thinking
about Hannah.”

“Yeah.” Quinn let
go of Declan’s fingers.

Declan
straightened and eased himself out of Quinn’s body. “She’s going to be amazing,
you know.”

“I know.” Quinn
turned and sat on the bed, careful to avoid the wet spot. He watched Declan
remove and dispose of the condom. “It’s going to be hard to hold back.”

Declan retrieved
his swim trunks and gave Quinn a questioning look. “Who says we have to hold
back?”

“She probably
hasn’t had two men at the same time before.”

Declan considered
his words. “True, I didn’t think about that.”

“She might not
want to try it.”

Declan pulled on
his trunks and stared at Quinn. “She
has
to want it.”

“What makes you
say that? Because
we
want it?”

“Good point.”
Declan settled himself next to Quinn. “We’ll just have to be very good at
convincing her then, eh?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Declan smiled and
patted Quinn’s thigh. “Don’t worry, everything is going to work out perfectly.
You’ll see.” He stood and went back to the mirror. “Better get yourself ready.
We’re running late.”

Quinn watched
Declan for a moment as he thought about Hannah. “I hope you’re right.” He met Declan’s
gaze in the mirror. “Even if we convince Hannah to have sex with us at the
party, she might not want to make things permanent.”

Declan stiffened
his jaw for a moment and fire blazed through his blue eyes. “Well then, we’ll
just have to make sure that she has the orgasm of a lifetime, won’t we? Then
she’ll have no choice but to stay with us.” He tore his gaze away from Quinn
and straightened his hair.

“Perhaps.” Quinn
knew that sex was only one part of a relationship. The three of them seemed to
have incredible chemistry in class, but would it translate to outside the
chemistry lab? She seemed so innocent and straight-laced. Could Quinn and
Declan convince her to try out their kinky lifestyle?

God, he hoped so.

Chapter
Two

Hannah adjusted
her sarong as some of the other students helped Professor Kimmel put a pig on
the fire pit. As a second year grad student Hannah should have felt more
comfortable around the other people in the science department, but the truth
was, she hated crowds. It made her feel uncomfortable. It was part of the
reason why she wanted to be a chemist, and a big reason why she loved her
erotic novels. In both cases, she didn’t have to deal with other people.

“Stop adjusting
your suit. You look fine.” Becky poked her elbow into Hannah’s side. “Have you
seen them?”

By ‘them,’ Hannah
assumed she meant Quinn and Declan. “No, not yet. I’m not even sure that
they’re coming.”

Becky frowned.
“They’ll be here.” She turned away from the crowd to face Hannah. “So, which
one will you go for?”

“What?”

“You know.” Becky
gestured in the air with her hands. “Do you want to date Declan or Quinn?”

Both.
“Neither.” Erotic romance novels explored many different types of kink, but
Hannah had developed a fondness for the ménage. She loved Quinn’s easy laugher,
and Declan’s intensity. She felt connected to both of them equally. The thought
of having a threesome with them would be like having her most wild fantasy come
true.

“Oh, come on.
Choose.”

“They aren’t going
to ask me out, so I don’t have to choose.”

Becky shrugged. “I
just want to know which one will be available.”

Hannah stared at
her for a long moment before she realized that her friend was trying to get a
rise out of her. She shrugged. “You can have both. I’m not interested in that.”

“Sure you aren’t.”
Becky nudged Hannah again. “But if you want to keep your options open, that’s
cool. There are plenty of other men here for me to flirt with.” She glanced
around the crowd. “Do you want me to get you a beer?”

Hannah followed
Becky’s gaze to the cooler on the other side of the fire pit. Two new male grad
students—Hannah forgot their names—were sifting through the drinks.

“Sure.” Hannah
knew that Becky was only looking for an excuse to dump her and go flirt with
the men. Hannah didn’t mind giving her the opening.

Becky flashed her
an appreciative smile. “Be right back.”

“Okay.” Hannah
settled herself on one of the rocks and watched the small group adjust the pig
over the pit. She wasn’t much of a meat eater, and the sight of the poor animal
turning over the fire didn’t change her mind in that regard. It was a good
thing that she ate before coming to the party.

“Is this seat
taken?”

Hannah looked up
to see Greg, another grad student, staring at her. It was hard to hide her
disappointment. Where were Declan and Quinn?

“No.”

Greg settled himself
next to her. “I don’t remember seeing you here last year.”

“This is my first
time.” Hannah scanned the crowd. Greg was nice enough, but Hannah didn’t really
want to make polite conversation, and she wasn’t quite sure how to get rid of
him.

“Really?” He
inched closer. “Well, you can stick with me. I’ll help you navigate the
festivities.”

Hannah smiled, not
wanting to be rude. “Okay.”

“Do you swim?”

Hannah frowned.
“Isn’t the water a little cool this time of year?”

He shrugged. “Not
if you just want to stick your toes in. Come on.” He stood and held out his
hand. “Let me show you. It will be fun.”

Going with Greg
would mean leaving the crowd and going off alone with him. She didn’t want to
do that, but didn’t know how to blow him off politely. Maybe she could go for a
quick walk, and then plead a headache and go home. Yes, that was what she’d do.

Hannah glanced
around the fire-pit one last time. Her heart sank when she didn’t see Quinn and
Declan. They weren’t coming. What a wasted evening.

“Sure,” she said,
not sure what else to say. She took Greg’s hand and let him lead her away from
the crowd. They walked a short distance across the sand in silence. She tried
to pull her hand away, but he held it fast. She felt awkward and confused. He
smelled like cheap beer and had this look in his eye as if she were a piece of
meat, not a woman. By the time they reached the water, she became desperate to
get away from him.

He took a swing of
his beer. “You’re beautiful, you know that?”

“Thank you.”
Hannah noticed that he had led her quite a distance from the crowd, far enough
not to be seen by others. She suspected that the crashing waves would hide her
screams, too.

“Maybe we should
head back.” She liked Greg well enough, but there was something about him
tonight that made her uncomfortable.

“Not just yet.” He
stopped walking and pulled her closer. He nodded to the horizon. “Pretty, isn’t
it?”

“It’s a lovely
sunset, yes.” A wave crashed, and cold water washed over her toes. Hannah
yelped and jumped back.

“I’ll save you.”
Greg dropped his beer, swooped in and put his arms around her waist. He picked
her up and carried her out of the reach of the water.

“Could you put me
down?” She pressed her palms against his chest.

“Why don’t you
give me a kiss first?”

She smelled the alcohol
on his breath and guessed that he wasn’t working on his first beer of the
night. Greg had always been nice to her, and she guessed that it was the
alcohol talking now more than anything else.

She needed to get
away from him before things got out of control. “You know, I don’t think that
would be such a good idea.”

“Come on, just a
little kiss. You know you want it. You wouldn’t be wearing that sexy bikini
otherwise.” He set her down on her tiptoes and tightened his arms around her
waist, trapping her. “Admit it. You chose it because you wanted to turn me on.”

“No.” Oh God, why
had she let Becky convince her to buy the bikini? She should have taken the
black one-piece. Hannah pushed against his hairy chest as her panic wrapped
around her lungs and made it difficult for her to breathe. “Greg, stop.”

“Come on, I see
how you flirt with Declan and Quinn during chemistry lab. I know that you’re
trying to make me jealous.”

“What?” She turned
her head away as he tried to kiss her. “What are you talking about?”

“You wear those
tight tank tops and flowing skirts, then practically rub yourself up against
the exchange students, teasing the rest of us in the class. We all know how
much you want it.”

“No.” Had she
really acted so loose around Declan and Quinn? They must have thought she was a
tramp, some cheap fly-by-night floozy. Tears stung her eyes as she struggled in
Greg’s grip. “Let go of me.”

“Come on, one kiss
is all I ask.”

“No.” Adrenaline
surged through her body and she remembered Becky’s words.
Seize the moment.
No one was going to help her out here by the water. She had to help herself. No
longer could Hannah sit back and let others dictate her life. She had to take
charge, or end up having sex with some drunk in the cold ocean.

Hannah brought up
her knee hard and fast, hitting her attacker in the groin. Greg grunted, doubled
over, and whimpered. Hannah stumbled back.

“I’m not having
sex with you, Greg.” She started walking backward toward the party. “I’m not
having sex with anyone.” She wiped the stray tear on her cheek and glanced over
her shoulder. The party was in full swing. Music and laughter filtered down
over the sand dunes to where Hannah was standing. She didn’t want to be around
other people, especially people who thought she was an easy lay, like Greg
suggested.

Hannah wrapped her
arms around her middle and ran in the opposite direction. She didn’t know where
she was going, nor did she care. She just knew that she needed to get away.
Tears streamed down her face as embarrassment and shame washed over her body.
Had she really been strutting her stuff to Declan and Quinn like a two dollar
whore? Greg seemed to think so. How many others in the department thought as
Greg did?

She stopped
running as she went over her encounters with the exchange students in her mind.
Every sexy outfit she picked out, every twist of her hair and giggle played
through her head.

Good lord, she
was
a two dollar whore. It was amazing how someone so smart could be so stupid.

Hannah dropped
onto her knees on the sand, stunned by her actions. For a long time she stared
out over the crashing waves, wishing that they could somehow wash away the
events of the past year and allow her to do them over.

When had she
gotten so loose? She was never so forward with anyone before. Hannah hardly
ever dated, and never, ever flirted. There was just something about Declan and
Quinn that made her think of all of those erotic novels she read and brought
out her inner vixen. The men were so filled with life and testosterone. She
just couldn’t seem to help herself.

Heavens, what a
mess. If she lived through the embarrassment, it would be a miracle. Maybe she
could put in for a transfer to a different school in the fall…

Soft whispers blew
over the sand dunes. The voices were masculine and familiar, but too quiet to
make out any words. Who would be out here at this time of night? She wiped the
tears from her face with the back of her hand and stood.

Hannah briefly
considered going back to the party, but she didn’t really want to be around
people. Besides, there was something about the voices that called to her. She
followed the whispers over the dunes as her curiosity grew.

“Did you find
her?”

Hannah stopped
walking as she recognized Declan’s voice.

“No. I looked
everywhere.”

Quinn.
Hannah knelt down behind the dune and angled herself until both men came into
view. The setting sun cast a red-orange halo around them both, creating a
beautiful, romantic picture.

“Damn Greg.” Quinn
fisted his hands. “He’s such an ass.”

“I never liked
him,” Declan agreed. “Now he’s scared off Hannah and I’m not sure if we’ll ever
find her.”

Hannah stared at
the men. They were looking for her?

“I’d love to punch
his face in.” The normally jovial Quinn slammed his fist in his palm.

“Come now, you
know violence isn’t the answer.” Declan sighed. “I just wish I knew if Hannah
was all right.”

“You don’t believe
that she had sex with Greg, do you?”

“I don’t think
anyone believes him. He’s an ass, remember?”

Quinn shook his
head. “I’m worried about her.”

“Me too.”

“If only we
weren’t running late. We could have stopped it.”

Hannah stood and
was about to reveal herself when she saw Declan reach out for Quinn. She
hunched back down behind a sand dune and watched as Declan wrapped his arms
around Quinn’s shoulders. The act was gentle and affectionate. Soothing. It
seemed almost as if he was consoling a lover.

Desire sparked in
her lower abdomen. She imagined herself between the two men, their hard, naked
bodies pressed up against her like in one of her erotic novels. She had never
participated in a three-way, but she guessed that with Declan and Quinn it
would be so much more intimate than what she had read about, more intense. To
be surrounded by all of that warm skin, to feel their hands and lips on her
body, would be like a dream come true.

“Don’t worry,
we’ll find her.” Declan hooked his finger under Quinn’s chin and raised his
head to meet his gaze. Then he closed the distance between them and covered his
lips.