Hunting for Curves (BBW Erotic Romance) Page 8

  He needed to say something to Evan, but he turned to Jasmine instead. "I'm not—This isn't about you or what happened."

  "Then look at me and tell me what it's about." Evan's voice was firm, sending a jolt through Luke's spine.

  Luke closed his eyes. "Stop it."

  "You know I haven't pushed you before now. I wanted to see you, but I knew you needed some space."

  "Stop trying to control everything." Luke clenched his fist over the surface of the table.

  "Lucas, I—"

  "He doesn't like it when you call him that," Jasmine blurted.

  Evan stared at her, his lips parted, as if for once he'd forgotten what he was going to say. Under other circumstances, Luke might have laughed; the expression was so unlike Evan. But instead, he just pressed his knuckles to his forehead and leaned on the table. This wasn't going well.

  Jasmine lowered her face. "Sorry. We talked a little earlier this week."

  Luke grimaced. So now Evan probably thought he'd been bitching about him, which was about the furthest thing from the truth. He didn't even talk to his co-workers about Evan. All they knew was that Luke was in a long term relationship with a good-looking guy.

  He'd only mentioned it to Jasmine because… Well, he liked her. She was easy to talk to, and the sexual tension between them was real. Wasn't it? But more than that, he was at ease around her. Not worried about the complications of power, or money, or having to schedule his time with his lover.

  Evan passed his hand over his face, composing himself before he spoke again. "I can take responsibility for my actions but I can't change who I am."

  Jasmine touched Evan's wrist. "I don't think he's asking you to," she said softly. "Are you, Luke?"

  Luke shook his head. "No." He sighed. "I don't know what I want."

  "That's where we're different," Evan said. "Because I know I want you."

  The words were needles in Luke's heart. God, he loved that unwavering confidence. Why did Evan have to remind him of that? It had only been Luke who'd doubted their relationship, doubted himself. Evan was straightforward about what he wanted. He just didn't make enough damned time for it.

  "Come home with me so we can talk about this."

  Luke watched Evan's cheek twitch. He wanted to say, "Yes, take me home." Or hell, part of him would have said, "Just take me." But the other half of him still felt abandoned and raw; he wasn't ready to bury that yet.

  "I don't know if I have anything else to say."

  "Maybe I do."

  "When do you ever want to talk about anything important?"

  "Now you're being unreasonable."

  Evan's lips were a tight line. Luke shot an apologetic glance at Jasmine, but her arms were crossed and she had a stern look on her face. She looked like she wanted to smack them both, or maybe bang their heads together.

  But that didn't stop him.

  "You want to talk about unreasonable?" Luke drew a deep breath. "Was it reasonable all the times you slept at the office when I was waiting for you at home? Or your surprise business trip to Europe on our anniversary last year? You know you could have taken me with you."

  "You would have resented it."

  "Yeah sure." Luke rubbed his brow. "Three days in Europe with you, I'm sure I would have hated it."

  "Think about how you would have felt if I'd uprooted you from your job, and then left you alone while I was in meetings all day."

  "And your way worked out so well."

  Evan's eyes softened. "I never blamed you for sleeping with another man."

  Luke jerked as if he'd been slapped. A sharp retort was on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed it. "Didn't you?"

  "No," Evan said gently. "I blamed myself. I still blame myself."

  Luke tried to breathe; the heaviness in his chest welled up to his throat. He stared down at his hands.

  "You're right to have complaints about me," Evan said. "That's fair. I have my failings. But you're not an easy man to be in a relationship with either."

  Jasmine's hand reached out and clasped both of Luke's, giving a gentle squeeze.

  Evan continued, "You like to be pampered, but not too much or you'll resist because I'm 'smothering' you. You let me buy you a car, but the restaurants I want to take you to are 'too pretentious'. And you prefer fish and chips over Faust."

  Luke licked his dry lips. "I thought you liked it."

  "I did." Evan gave him a wry smile.

  Luke's head hurt and there was a hollow pit in his stomach, but his anger had faded. Now he just felt tired and drained. Evan's words weren't entirely wrong either. He could admit that. And Evan hadn't asked him to change. No he accepted him; he'd always accepted him.

  "Where do we go from here?" Luke asked. "How do we fix this?"

  "I don't know." Evan shook his head. "Time, patience… sex."

  Luke squeezed Jasmine's hand. "It might be easier if I dated Jasmine."

  "What!" Jasmine yelped.

  Evan glanced at her with a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. Then he turned back to Luke. "If you leave me, I can't guarantee I won't be tempted to date her myself."

  Jasmine shot Evan a glare. "Hey!"

  "When have you ever dated women?" Luke scoffed, trying to stifle a grin.

  Evan made an exaggerated gesture, stroking his chin. "I did some experimenting in college."

  "Wait! This is not—No!" Jasmine stood up and placed her hands on her hips. "I'm not dating either of you unless I'm dating both of you. So you two had better kiss and make up, or I'm leaving."

  Evan chuckled. "I told you I liked her."

  But Luke barely heard him. He stood and pushed the chair aside, then he leaned across the table and reached for Evan. And Evan rose as well, touching Luke's face, then curling his fingers on the nape of his neck before he captured Luke's mouth in a long kiss.

  "That's more like it," Jasmine whispered.

  All of Luke's worry and tension melted into the background along with the dull ache in his heart. Sure, he and Evan had problems, but they could deal with them. The important thing was that they were together. Luke closed his eyes, rubbed his hand along Evan's jaw, and he drank in his scent as their tongues twisted together.

  It didn't occur to him until he heard voices and giggles that they were still in the crowded bar. He opened one eye and turned his head slightly, wincing a little. But most of the onlookers seemed appreciative or at least amused. One of the women even blushed and gave them thumbs up. Two college-age guys in the corner looked somewhat traumatized—but they were probably in the closet.

  Luke couldn't remember the last time they'd done this in public. There was a private beach in the Bahamas a few years ago, but that barely counted. Evan was too conservative, calculating; he wore his facade like one of his custom suits, only taking it off in the bedroom.

  Evan tightened his fingers in Luke's hair, turning his head back to him, crushing their lips together. This was the real Evan all right. God he didn't want it to stop.

  But they'd already given a room full of bystanders enough of a show. Regretfully, he patted Evan's shoulder and then broke away. "Sorry, babe," Luke murmured. "If this goes on any longer, Blake's going to eighty-six us both for indecent exposure."

  "True." Evan gave a slow blink, then he sat down. "Then I'd have to fire him for interrupting us. And I don't want to do that."

  Luke squeezed Evan's hand across the table and settled back into his chair. Someone hooted and clapped in the background. Heat crept up Luke's neck.

  He cleared his throat and turned to Jasmine. "You see what you've done?"

  She beamed back at him with a rapturous smile, and he could have sworn there were tears in her eyes. Jasmine was pure magic to him. She'd swept into their lives and shaken up everything, and she probably didn't even realize it.

  She was not just gorgeous, but gracious and brilliant too. And what she'd said about dating both of them… Luke knew it was only a joke, but part of him wondered…

  Ja
smine dabbed at her eyes with a napkin, but her voice came out even and confident, "You two are really okay?"

  "Luke?" Evan raised an eyebrow.

  "Yeah, I'll be fine." Luke said. "For some reason, I can never stay mad at you."

  Chapter 6

  Jasmine stifled a yawn as the night drew late, despite her excitement. But she didn't want to go home yet. It was amazing to her that the men had settled back into this comfortable intimacy. Like nothing had happened. Or maybe she'd imagined that their relationship was on the brink of collapse mere hours ago.

  No, what had happened was real. She'd caught them both shooting sidelong glances at each other, as if they each needed a reminder that the other was still there. And a note of raw honesty underscored the conversation. It wasn't like they weren't honest before, but she'd learned more about the men in the last few hours than she had in the last two weeks.

  Evan had started off as a programmer and dropped out of college to start his own company. He'd made a fortune during the dot com boom, and reinvested it before the crash, diversifying into everything from commercial real estate, to media, to telecom.

  He didn't like politics but he was a significant contributor to gay marriage campaigns across several states. Jasmine thought that Luke looked a little uncomfortable when Evan brought up that fact. But then Evan changed the subject tactfully, mentioning that he was also a large donor to the hospital Luke worked at.

  Luke had lived in an artsy uptown neighborhood, sharing a loft with three other guys while he struggled to put himself through nursing school. He'd wanted to be a doctor originally, but he'd realized that didn't suit him. He liked the one-on-one intimacy of working directly with patients.

  Waiting tables was barely paying the rent, so Luke had picked up other odd jobs on the side. He'd even tried a brief stint as a stripper on a friend's suggestion, but that had ended quickly and with some kind of disaster. Jasmine pressed for details, but Luke's face turned red. Evan gave him a knowing smile, but wouldn't say anything more.

  They'd met at a mutual friend's art gallery and couldn't resist each other. Evan had pursued Luke, cornering him in a hallway, and making it very clear what he wanted. Jasmine didn't think it was possible, but Luke turned a shade redder.

  She wanted to hear more but just at that moment, Evan stood up.

  "We need to call it a night. I have plans for Luke and I don't want him passing out before we get home." A sly grin played across his lips.

  Luke yawned. "I don't think I can make it. Why don't you take me upstairs? Then you can take advantage of me in my weakened state."

  Jasmine giggled. But inwardly she was disappointed. She hadn't known what to expect at the start of the night. Of course, she'd hoped for the best: that Evan and Luke would make up.

  When they'd finally kissed, she'd wanted to cheer for them and shout, "Yes!" But she thought that Evan would probably drag Luke home after, and that would be it. She might never see them again.

  What she wasn't expecting, was that they would want to spend time with her, chatting like a group of old friends. Just that feeling of closeness was mesmerizing and she didn't want it to end.

  "We have a spare room if you'd like to join us." Evan shrugged into his coat and then glanced back at her.

  She raised an eyebrow. "I've heard that before." But a smile spread across her face.

  He coughed into his fist. "I meant that innocently," he said under his breath. "We both enjoy your company. No strings attached. If you wish to have a bed of your own, the invitation is open."

  "That is if you don't mind a little noise through the walls." Luke chuckled as he stood up. "Although Evan does have ear plugs if you need them."

  She scrunched her lips. "Your room is magnificent." She slung her purse over her shoulder. "I think I'd like to join you."

  As they passed by the bar, the bartender lifted a hand. "Looks like you've got something special going on. Have a good evening, Luke, Evan…" He paused as he bowed. "—m'lady."

  "You, too. Blake." Luke waved as he held the door open.

  "Are you friends?" Jasmine asked once they'd stepped out of the bar.

  "I've known Blake a while but I rarely see him. He's a good man," Evan turned to her. "Very perceptive. If you need an honest opinion on anything, he's the one to ask."

  Luke leaned close to her and whispered, "And he's discrete."

  The three joked and laughed the whole way up to the penthouse. And once inside the spacious main room, they continued their conversation around the coffee table.

  Jasmine sipped at the tea Evan had given her and gazed out over the city lights. "You two have an amazing life, you know that?"

  Luke hummed and stroked Evan's leg. "I'll admit that I like it, but it does take a lot of work. I mean, someone's got to keep him grounded so this doesn't go to his head."

  Evan gave Luke a level stare. "That's a losing battle." Then a smile twitched on his lips. "But I like that he's still trying."

  "Well, I think he's doing a good job." Jasmine folded her arms. "I would probably go way overboard. You know, room service, shopping, spa treatments, the works. Not that I'd ever be able to afford one night here—-even if I did find another job.

  Evan's eyes narrowed. "You lost your job?"

  "Sorry," Luke glanced up. "Jasmine told me earlier this week but I didn't want to say anything."

  Evan's eyes flashed from Luke back to Jasmine as he sat up on the couch. "Why didn't you talk to me? I could have arranged something for you if I'd known sooner."

  "I'm not about to bother you for a handout." She dropped her gaze. "I'll be fine. I already have two interviews lined up: Morgan Consultants and Context Interactive."

  Evan grimaced. "Those fat cats will keep you working as a low level office assistant for the rest of your life." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out one of his business cards and a pen. Then flipped the card over and jotted down a number.

  "Call Ray. Tell him I've authorized an interview. He can call me to confirm."

  "Evan." Jasmine rolled her eyes. "I told you I don't need a free ride. I'll be f—"

  "This isn't charity." He slid the card across the table. "I'm only offering you face time with one of my top managers. If you get the job, it will be because of your own merits. And then you'll be working for Ray, not me. I won't have any say in the matter. He's a hard ass but he will treat you well. And he has a great eye for talent." He winked. "I think he'll be impressed with you."

  A blush crept up to her cheeks as she took the card. "Thank you," she said with a shy smile.

  "And on that note…" Luke stood up and stretched his arms. "I'm taking my boyfriend to bed. Feel free to stay up as late as you like."

  Jasmine glanced at Evan, who wore a crooked smile as he stood to join Luke. The term "boyfriend" sounded silly, all things considered, but he seemed not to mind.

  "Help yourself to anything in the kitchen," Evan said. "And if you'll stay until morning, Luke will cook you a superb breakfast."

  "I think I'd like that." She watched as Luke followed Evan into the hallway. "Goodnight."

  As she sat on the large, supple leather couch, sipping premium tea from a crystal cup, and gazing out at the night, fifty floors up, she had to admit that she liked the extravagance. But something was bugging her about the spacious room. It wasn't anything she could put a finger on, like a draft under her feet or the lights dimming slightly. The quiet in the room had a lonely hint to it without Luke's lilting laughter. Though adorned with fine art, the walls seemed pale without Evan's dominating presence.

  If she had this kind of wealth, she'd spend a day or so bathing in champagne or decking herself out in diamonds. What woman wouldn't? But she knew she'd tire of that quickly. Marble can't make you breakfast. Crystal won't talk to you about the long day you had at work. And money won't snuggle up with you at night.

  Evan and Luke are what make this so magical.

  She hadn't expected them to treat her well. No, she'd thought they
would use her, then discard her, which was how her experiences with men often turned out. But the truth was, they'd treated her better than any of those so-called relationships.

  The earlier comment she'd made about wanting to date both of them had been half jest, half frustration, but after she'd said it, she couldn't ignore the ring of truth underneath. Nor could she deny the gleam in Luke's eyes or the fact that Evan had shot her a wink.

  And there was the night on the boardwalk, when they had posed for the photograph. Evan had reached out and grasped her hand. The gesture was so small, insignificant to the point of being overlooked. Yet with a man like him, the simple act had spoken volumes to her.

  Part of her had been serious, and if they'd been serious too… Well, she couldn't pass up this drastic turn in her life.

  She set the glass down and rose to her feet. With confident steps, she walked into the hall, past the spare bedroom, past the two bathrooms, to the door at the end. Taking a deep breath she hesitated only for a moment. Then she knocked.

  "Come in—" Evan started.

  "We're indecent—" Luke said at the same time.

  She cracked the door open as the two men whispered and chuckled in the dim light. After a few seconds, her eyes adjusted and their sprawling limbs came into view.

  Luke lay on his side, his bare leg crooked over Evan's hip. Evan's hand caressed up Luke's side. And their faces pressed close to each other.

  She pushed the door closed with her back. "Is it alright if I watch you two?"

  Luke whipped his head around. "What? Just watch?"

  "That's all right." Evan said. "If you're uncomfortable, I—"

  "Oh, no." She lifted her hands. "It's not that. I just… don't want to interrupt your makeup… sex."

  "You're not." Evan sat up and lifted his hand, beckoning her. "Would you like to join us?"

  Luke braced on his arms. "Clothing's optional," he said with a chuckle.

  She giggled in response and pushed herself off the door. With a sly grin she slowly unbuttoned her blouse as she strolled to the bed. Luke swallowed and Evan quietly watched, a subtle grin on his lips.