“Madison was a client of ours,” I told Karissa. “She lost just about everything in hurricane Sandy, including her boyfriend.”
Karissa’s pretty mouth dropped open in shock. “Oh my God, that’s terrible!”
“No, not like that,” Camden snickered. “He means her boyfriend abandoned her. After the storm he took off rather than stick around.”
“Oh.”
“Her house was all but destroyed, and she’d already sunk everything she owned into it,” I went on. “The insurance only covered half of what she needed to make it livable. When she hired us, she was living in a trailer.”
“And you rebuilt her house?” Karissa asked.
“Bigger and better than before, yes.”
Karissa chuckled and tipped back her own beer. “I can only imagine how she paid you.”
“It wasn’t like that,” I smirked back. “Madison was… well…”
“She was a very special woman,” Camden went on. “One with a sharp eye for things, and talents that really helped our business.” He pointed his fork at Karissa. “Sort of like you.”
“Actually exactly like you,” I countered. “Only with more planning and less hands-on experience. Over time we fell for her. She fell for us. It was crazy the way it happened, because it wasn’t like any one of us had the advantage or upper hand. She wanted usallequally, and over time it just seemed… natural.”
Karissa stayed silent for a moment, sipping her beer. Slowly twirling the next bite of pasta while keeping her thoughts to herself.
“She ultimately lived with us too, just like you,” said Camden. “Shit, there are a lot of similarities, now that I think about it. A lot more than I ever realized.”
“And you dated her,” said Karissa flatly. “Together.”
“Yes.”
“And then married her.”
“In a private ceremony, down in Mexico,” I nodded. “We took our honeymoon right there on the beach.”
She let out a low whistle. “That must’ve been some honeymoon.”
“You sure you want to talk about this?” asked Camden.
Karissa’s wry grin was all the answer we needed. She dragged another forkful of pasta through her sauce and looked thoughtful.
“So how’d you end up with this place?” she asked, twirling a finger. “Roderick told me Madison found it.”
“Yes.”
“And she convinced you to buy it?”
Camden nodded. “She dragged us over here, totally in love. The building was a complete wreck — almost a tear-down — but she had a vision for what this place could be. How we could all eventually retire here, taking care of it. Letting it take care of us.”
“All this after she’d sold her own place of course,” I laughed, “so we really couldn’t say no. But that was Madison for you. She was impulsive as hell, and when she did something she never looked back.”
“Again,” pointed Camden shrewdly. “Just like—”
“Me,” said Karissa. She set her empty bottle down and stretched back in her chair. “Got it.”
She looked flush from cooking, or drinking, or maybe listening to what we’d been telling her. But I could tell she was taking it all in. It was a lot to process. Even for us.
Maddy.
She’d been our first real love, all three of us, even though each of us had serious girlfriends before. The important part was we’d taken her on together. Just like our company. Our projects. Southhold.
We took on everything together.
Maybe that’s why it all worked out for us. Why there was no jealousy, no competition. The three of us were a team, always had been. And in dating Madison, we learned that nothing beat this particular lifestyle — at least for us — no matter how strange or unorthodox it might’ve looked to the outside world.
“So now you know pretty much everything about us,” I told her with a sigh. “So when exactly do we get to learn about you?”
Karissa looked back at me, all blue eyes and long lashes. I thought I saw something shift in the light behind her eyes.
“Eventually,” she said coyly.
“Not right now?”
She crossed her legs at the knees, a move that caused her sundress to ride a little higher. There was so much skin exposed it was wholly distracting. Which of course was exactly what she wanted.
“Maybe later,” she said. “Right now Camden and I planned to hit the couch and watch half a movie.”
“Half a movie?”
“Give or take,” she smiled wickedly. “You’re invited of course, if you care to join us.”
My gaze shifted and I saw the look in Camden’s eye. It was more than familiar.
“Why only half a movie?” I had to ask.
Karissa giggled and stood up. Bouncing her way toward the exit, she extended one hand back toward each of us.
“Because for the other half you’ll be inside me.”
Thirty-Eight
KARISSA
Sweet Home Alabama was my all-time favorite movie. Reese Witherspoon, one of my favorite rom-com actresses. The chemistry between she and Josh Lucas, the dreamy-eyed male lead, was nothing short of amazing. Whenever I happened across it, I stopped flipping channels immediately.
Tonight however, the three of us didn’t make it even a quarter of the way through.
MMMmmmmm…
My lips parted as Bryce kissed me again, forcing his tongue deep into my mouth. I’d been kissing Camden, only seconds earlier. The back and forth trading of my mouth to theirs was making me sopping wet, each of them equally sexy and sensual, but also so radically different.
Bryce was forceful and frenzied — a byproduct of his own unbridled excitement. When he held me he possessed me, and I found myself whimpering into his mouth whenever he drew me in.
On the other side of the coin was Camden, whose kisses were tortuously slow and sweet. His touch was electric, and his hands always seemed to settle over the most shiver-inducing places on my body. Making out with him was like falling into something warm and leisurely and wonderful…
“Feel how wet she is.”
We were still on the couch, and I was nestled between them. Bryce lifted one of my legs over his massive thigh, and Camden did the same on the other side. This spread me even further open. It stretched my panties, which
