Page 37 of Nailing Studs

“As I’ll ever be,” I sighed, finally following him out into the hall.

Dominic waited there, grinning. Well, as much of a grin as Dom could have. “Good night last night?” he asked.

Taylor murmured, “A gentleman never tells,” before wandering off to start work for that day.

“Yeah, but you’re no gentleman,” Dom called after him, as Taylor’s laughter echoed down the stairwell. Dom turned to me. “Right?”

“Uh, um, well, I mean...” I felt myself flushing bright red. “I wouldn’t…”

“Hey, it’s cool, I’m only playing,” Dom said, eyeing my outfit. Was he trying to imagine what I’d look like naked? Was he imagining when his turn would come? “I can be playful every once in a while, you know. Want some breakfast? I could make you something, if you worked up an appetite.”

He was fishing for information, but like Taylor, I wouldn’t tell. Whatever happened, happened, right? Dominic’s own words.

“I’m good. Besides, I’m the cook here and you’re going to be working hard enough as it is. Why don’t you let me make you breakfast?”

“You sure? You don’t have to.”

I took a chance and rested my hand on his chest. The muscles there tightened and he inhaled a swift breath. I caressed his chest, then leaned up and placed a light kiss on his cheek, so very close to his lips, before backing away. Considering what I’d done last night with Taylor, it felt more natural than I’d ever thought possible.

“I want to, Dom. I want to take care of you. To make you feel good. You know that, right?”

His eyes darkened and he placed his hands on my waist, pulling me to him.

I could feel the hardness of his cock pressing through his jeans. Did I care that I’d just spent the night with Taylor and was already flirting with Dom? No, I didn’t. This was our arrangement, our agreement, and once I’d gotten all my worries out of the way and saw for sure that no one would be hurt, it came more easily than I imagined.

Right as we were locked in that pose where I so easily could’ve kissed him, we heard a knock come from downstairs. Dom and I both cocked our heads as we heard the door open.

Taylor’s voice suddenly echoed up the stairwell. “Logan! Good to see you, but what the hell are you doing here?”

Logan. The thought of that oh-so-fine man all dressed in his business suit as sexy as fuck hit a primal part of my mind and suddenly my senses were in overdrive. I must have taken in a sharp breath because Dom’s grip on me tightened.

“You remember Logan, don’t you?” he said, his tone more of a challenge than a question.

“The real estate agent from when we went out to lunch. Friend of yours, right?”

The flicker of a smile I thought I caught on Dom’s face was there one second, gone the next. “Something like that.” He backed away from me, and at first I thought he was mad, but instead, his expression held something unique…like he had a secret he wanted to tell me and he hoped I’d like it.

I hoped I’d like it, too.

12

Logan

When I saw my old buddy, Dominic, at the diner the other day with a sexy-as-fuck woman, it was clear something was up. I knew the score between Dom and Taylor from back in the day, and I knew when Dom was getting possessive over a chick. He’d get this look in his eye like I better not come any closer, and the moment I laid eyes on Kayla Pratchett from New York City, that was how Dom turned.

She was hot, sitting there in the booth in her jeans and T-shirt, and she was hot now coming down the stairs with Dom. The way her eyes sparkled, how pink her cheeks were, I figured they’d just got done fucking.

I was still mid-shake with Taylor, who was saying something I wasn’t paying attention to. How could I? Kayla commanded the attention in the room. Damn, she had gorgeous tits and hips. I loved the extra cushion on her—something I could sink my teeth into. And the way she smiled—innocence mixed with vixen. She was a woman who wanted more than she’d been willing to take.

Not for long.

I gathered my charm. “I came by to say hello. Miss Pratchett gave me her card the other day. I promised her I’d run the comps on her place.”

“Well, you ran them. You can go now,” Taylor said with his wise-ass smile. “I’m kidding, man. Come on in. It’s been ages since I’ve see you.”

“You working on this house?” I asked, when really I meant were they working on Kayla. With both of them here, all that was missing was me. Taylor, Dom, and I had done the foursome thing before, back in college with Laura. That woman had had it bad for Taylor, but Dom was the one who’d fallen in love with her. Sharing had been fun, only the whole thing got fucked when Laura tried to get Taylor to declare his undying love—which he’d never do. After that, things had been tense between all of us, but especially Dom and Taylor. He stopped going out with us. He stopped talking to us. He’d certainly stopped fucking a woman with us. Eventually, friendships had been repaired, sans Laura, of course, but Dom had thrown himself into one meaningless fuck after another and work.

Years later he met Ada, who I knew was trouble, and he’d fallen hard all over again. Only then Ada left him for some other guy who’d come along. According to rumors around town, he’d taken that break-up just as hard as when he’d gotten his heart broken by Laura.

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