Page 1 of The Forbidden Trio

Chapter One

“Come to Lake Tahoe with us, Jessie. It’ll be a blast—just you and me and Noah, the blue lake, a campsite in the woods. We promise we’ll spoil the hell out of you. Say yes.” Jessie leaned in closer to the standing fan in her studio, the air ruffling her long hair. San Francisco was experiencing an unusual heatwave, and the fact that Paul was on the other end of the phone only made her skin hotter—her skin and every other soft, intimate part of her body.

She stifled a groan.

Paul. Her best friend. Her mad crush. She’d been in love with him forever, ever since they’d met in college ten years ago. They’d bonded instantly over simultaneous breakups, then had grown closer when Paul’s mother died the following year. They’d been inseparable ever since, and she’d only become more attached to him as time passed.

Waiting to outgrow her feelings for him had proven to be useless—instead, her feelings had grown deeper. Paul was gorgeous, outgoing, warm, smart, and probably the sexiest human being she’d ever seen—everything she could ever want in a man.

Except for the fact that he was gay.

She sighed, absently petting her black cat, Lulu, who was bumping up against her legs.

She knew he’d been with a couple of women when he was younger, but he was very much focused on men. Still, there was something more there…or maybe that was her imagination and wishful thinking working overtime. But even though he’d never made a move on her, she couldswearthere was chemistry between them and had been from the start. Intense chemistry that made her body go loose and warm all over simply hearing his voice on the phone. She shifted her weight on her bare feet, making the old, smooth floorboards creak. She felt that way when she talked to him—as if the world shifted beneath her feet a little, leaving her wobbly.

Stop brooding.

“Jessie? Stop thinking and just come with us. You know you want to.”

“I can’t, Paul,” she said, even though visions of comingwith themroared through her mind at a hundred miles an hour.

Bare skin and four strong hands on her body…

“Sure you can—just put down your paintbrushes and pack a bag. I’ll take care of the rest. And you’ll love Noah.”

Noah. Paul’s friend and sometime lover from Quebec. Paul had described him to her in detail. Blond surfer-boy good looks and a lot of muscle, he would make the perfect complement to Paul’s dark hair and classic jawline. She could imagine the contrast of their bodies twined together, the rough passion of male kisses, naked skin and muscled flesh. It was her favorite fantasy material, and it never got old.

She had to squeeze her thighs together, desire thrumming through her veins like a flame. How could she possibly consider this trip? Having to hear them—or see them!— together? She’d die of a massive lust overdose the first night.

“You still there, Jess?”

“Um…what? Yes, I’m here.” She cleared her throat, her fingers tightening around the paintbrush in her hand. “It’s just that it’s really not a good time for me. You know I have that show coming up at the new gallery in North Beach in a few weeks, and I have a ton of work to do.”

“Yeah,” he drawled, his faint Virginia accent making her shiver, “and as always, you’ve been prepared for it for months. Don’t even try to tell me you need extra pieces, even though you always think you do.” He paused. “You already have a few extra pieces done, don’t you, sugar?”

She eyed the canvases laid out all around the perimeter of her studio loft and couldn’t help but smile. There were twenty-three of them, nudes done in bold slashes of color—all completed except for the one she was currently working on. She’d committed to twenty for the show. “Sometimes I hate that you know me so well.”

“Nah, I think you secretly love it. Come on, Jessie,” he cajoled, his voice dropping to a low, sexy rumble, “you know you want to come.”

God, if she hadn’t needed to before, she sure as hell did now. “I really can’t.”

“I know you’ve been tense waiting to see if that big gallery in New York will pick you up, but why not take a few days off to relax? It’ll be a great distraction. You won’t even hear back from them until next week, right? And you’ll really like Noah—he’s not bad to look at, either. Mmm, mmm, not bad at all. He has this fine, tight ass that just fits in my hands.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure he does, you perv, and I’m sure I’d like him, and I’m sure he’s great eye candy—your playmates always are. I just think… I’d better not. Anyway, Noah’s coming all the way from Canada to see you, and I doubt he’d appreciate me tagging along. You two go and have a great time.”

“Party pooper.”

She laughed. “Oh, I’m sure you’ll have enough of a party without me.”

“True. But maybe we should swing by your place and kidnap you. That could be fun.”

“Paul…”

“I just might do it,” he said with a wicked edge to his voice. “A little abduction scenario? Yep, I might have to.”

She didn’t quite believe him, but the idea made her pulse pound harder. Whisked away by the hottest man ever born and his undoubtedly hot lover? Not the worst idea ever. Except maybe it was.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re all talk, my friend,” she said. “You two have a good trip. You can tell me all about it when you get back.”