Looking For It (Three Player Co-op Book 1) Read online

  My grin was back. “Like that’s a concern.”

  We didn’t play with traditional rules. The team with the most points at the end of one round won. We did have an extra set of rules we tacked on to anything we played as a group. Trying to distract the other team was both allowed and encouraged, as long as there was no touching, no stepping in someone’s line of sight, and no jump scares. When we were younger, it was Chase and Jax versus Anne and me. We stopped for a while after I met Lyn, because the teams were uneven. But once Grayson and Jax started dating, it was game on. It helped that Grayson was the only one of them who could match me at darts.

  The distractions were frequently more fun and competitive than the game itself.

  Anne was up first, with Lyn and me cheering her loudly.

  She lined up her first throw.

  “Shame we’re not playing DDR.” Chase’s tone was deceptively casual. What was he up to? “You’re always nice to watch on the dance pads.”

  Anne threw. She fell far right of center, but it was a steady toss. “You just hate that you suck at this as badly as I do.” She readied her second dart.

  “If we’re having a sucking contest, I want different rules. The no touching has to go. A little privacy might be nice.”

  “I don’t need to hear that.” I exaggerated my protest. His teasing seemed to get to me more than Anne. Her next throw hit the board and her third landed in the wall.

  Pretty much what I expected. But she made me look like spastic rag doll in DDR, and I didn’t have a problem admitting it.

  Chase went next. With a glance from Anne, I knew what she was up to. We gave him silence for his first two throws, with the guys cheering him on. He lined up his last shot.

  Anne let out a sharp wolf whistle. “Wow. Did you see her?”

  Chase whipped his head in her direction, and everyone laughed.

  “No one here but us, bro.” Jax slapped him on the back.

  Chase fixed his gaze on Anne. “Thought maybe you saw your reflection.”

  “Right.” She raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips.

  Jax stepped up to the line next, all swagger and confidence.

  “Cocky for a man who’s about to lose,” Anne teased.

  He kept his attention focused on the dartboard.

  Lyn had her phone out. She swiped the screen and a cash register sound echoed from the speakers.

  Jax didn’t flinch. He also barely hit the board.

  She cycled through several more sounds in rapid succession. Cheers. Boos. A rooster crowing.

  Jax made his second shot.

  A drawn-out gasp, like someone on the edge of ecstasy, echoed from Lyn’s phone.

  Oh, God. That was me.

  Jax’s last dart landed flat side against the wall, and tumbled to the ground.

  She must have taken that from one of my videos when I was messing around. I shot Lyn a glare, and she shrugged.

  “Fair’s fair,” she said, and grabbed three darts to take her turn.

  Lyn and Grayson were impossible to ruffle. Neither of them flinched or faltered, regardless of what we said. And Grayson hit every shot beautifully, with two in the bullseye and one in the treble ring.

  Which meant I had to be spot on my game. I should have made Grayson go last, to see if any pressure got to him. But as a competition gamer, he’d learned how to let most of that stress roll off him.

  I took my place in front of the board, darts in hand. Grayson stepped up behind me. He didn’t break the no touching rule, but he was so close I felt his heat.

  “I want to watch how a real master works,” he said. “See this from the same angle you do.” He wasn’t so near that his breath brushed my skin, but I swore I felt his words rolling over me.

  Whatever he was doing, it wouldn’t work. I grabbed my focus, and landed my first throw in the treble ring.

  “You ever have trouble with the tip not sticking in?” Grayson asked.

  A laugh bubbled up inside at the innuendo in his question. If I gave in to amusement, I wouldn’t be able to recover. “No.”

  “Any problems with it going in too deep?” Everyone was silent except Grayson.

  I threw again, and hit the bullseye. “No.”

  “Hmm...” Grayson dragged out the sound. “So it never gets stuck because it’s a tight fit?”

  The innuendo was killing me. I was so close to done, though. If I could hit the treble ring again, we’d win. “Nope. Never been an issue.”

  “Never?”

  “Not even once.” I aimed.

  “What about when the tip gets jerked up at the wrong angle, and you don’t expect it, and you get jizz in your hair?” Jax asked.

  Laughter and disbelief tore from me, and I completely missed my mark. It took me several seconds to collect myself, and shoot a glare at him, but with his smug expression staring back, I couldn’t hold onto my composure. “That was anything but subtle.” I finally managed. “There was zero innuendo there.”

  “Innuendo isn’t one of the rules. And she started it.” He nodded toward Lyn.

  She smirked. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  With the game over, we all fell into other conversations. The night sped by quickly, the way it tended to when we were all together. A few hours later, I found myself in the upstairs kitchen, looking for juice or something to drink that wasn’t alcohol.

  “So, what’s up with you three?” Anne’s soft question startled me.

  I hadn’t talked to her since the event—had it only been a day?—and it wasn’t the kind of thing I wanted to share over text. I could imagine the message now. Guess who I had sex with?

  That was the other thing holding me back. I could also imagine what she’d say next. She’d been there when Jax hurt me so long ago. She’d helped me pick up the pieces. Anne was the one person most likely to remind me this was a mistake.

  “What do you mean?” I winced even before I finished asking the question. I didn’t want to lie to her.

  She crossed the room to steal a sip of my Coke. “I mean they’re flirting with you. Okay, so Grayson always does—”

  He did?

  “—But I swear I heard Jax get an erection when Lyn played that sound clip of you.”

  “So... yeah, something happened. But it was a one-time thing, and we’re all being discreet.”

  “All? As in—“

  “All three of us.” If my confession to Lyn was any indication, it was best to get some of the details out there up front.

  Anne stared at me, mouth slightly agape. Here it came. “No shit. How was it?”

  Not the first thing I expected her to say, but it was the perfect answer. “Amazing. And I’m dying not being able to tell anyone.”

  “Lyn knows.”

  “Lyn guessed. It happened yesterday, and we were late. And she put some pieces together.”

  Anne leaned against the counter next to me, her arm pressed against mine. “But it was only a one-time thing, right?” The awe and surprise faded from her voice.

  “I already said it was.”

  “Because if Jax hurts you again, I’ll make him suffer,” Anne said.

  There it was. “He’s not going to. It’s not that kind of thing.” Except the part of my mind that agreed with her on the possibility was nagging and begging me to listen to it. To her.

  “Okay.” Anne let out a long breath. “Both of them. Really? Do I get details?”

  “When we’re not surrounded by prying ears, yes. Like I said, it was amazing.” Because I really was dying to talk about it. But my nagging voice didn’t shut up just because Anne had moved past her concerns.

  Chapter Seven

  Between sitting on my plans to expose Ms. G, and trying not to overthink Grayson and Jax’s behavior post move-in, I had a lot of excess energy to burn. I poured a bit of it into decorating my room for Christmas. Evergreen-colored garland decorated with strings of red lights and white lights hung along my wall, and I had holiday wall scro
lls to break up the design. I loved the way it looked for me, and on camera.

  That was done now, and I could go back to focusing on acting normal around Grayson. That should be easy, since Grayson and I did things together all the time similar to what I had planned for today.

  I dropped into my computer chair, careful not to let my outfit ride too high or drop too low, and surveyed the filming corner of my bedroom. In just a few minutes, I was taking the last clips I needed to create my Furry Christmas Cosplay How-To video.

  The outfits themselves were easy to make, and I’d already filmed myself doing so. The red fleece tops were trimmed with white, and had hoods with puppy ears for the guys and kitty ears for the girls. My outfit had a skirt that barely covered my ass, and thigh-high stockings. There were two variations on each top. A long-sleeved, jacket style, and a sleeveless, fitted vest.

  Grayson was going to be my model for the puppy clothing. One piece at a time to show them off, and then the entire outfit. He’d done this for me so often that I knew his measurements by heart, and the vest would give my subscribers the fan service they expected from him.

  They’d get the same from me. I was already wearing the skirt, and the low-cut top that pushed my cleavage up. I was going to look incredible helping him dress up.

  There were two big upsides to these collaborations—it brought in both of our fans and pushed my viewer numbers through the roof, but more importantly, it gave me the perfect excuse to run my hands all over Grayson’s body.

  Which... how did I ever think that was innocent? Because he had a boyfriend. Even if the touching didn’t mean anything, I’d never believe it again. He’d watched—jerked off—while said boyfriend fucked me. A pulse throbbed between my thighs at the whispers of memory.

  A sharp whistle cut through my swelling desire, and I whirled to see Grayson in my doorway. It was instinct to strike a sexy pose—our joint videos frequently started with his appreciation for my outfit of the day—but today his reaction also cranked the heat racing through my veins. How long until my face matched my clothes?

  The way he leaned against my doorframe accentuated the ripple of muscle along his torso and upper arms. “Where do you want me, bosslady?”

  On the bed. On the floor. Pinning me against the wall... “It’s a standard shoot.” I jerked a thumb toward an empty space I’d set up for this part of recording. “A piece of clothing at a time, and pose.”

  “All right.” He kicked away from the wall. His cheerful tone clashed with his frown.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “When do we film me helping you into and out of your clothes?”

  That was new, even for us. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have brushed off something that direct as status quo, even in the past. “I’m not taking it off the table.”

  His grin turned my insides gooey.

  Act normal. That was all I had to do.

  Had we ever really been normal?

  “Shirt off.” I had a remote for my camera tucked under my bra strap. It would make it easier to keep both of us in the right position without having to record everything.

  “I love the way you say that.” Grayson stripping his T-shirt off was a gorgeous sight to behold.

  I took advantage of the half second his eyes were covered to stare, when I should have been using the time to compose myself. Something about this situation had to change or we wouldn’t get any work done.

  “You ready for RinCon?” I asked as I handed him the tail belt, and stepped out of the frame.

  He raised his brows but fitted the belt into place without argument.

  I should have picked a better question to change the subject with. Not because it was unusual for us to talk about it—exactly the opposite. Our circle of friends lived and breathed RinCon in the weeks leading up to it, and there wasn’t much left to say at this point. He was going to use this video as a teaser to draw in more interest to his live streams during the event.

  But the con was all business to me. It was kind of like thinking about baseball to ignore horniness. It wasn’t working.

  “Specifically, do you have any details you can share that no one else has?” I grabbed his vest off its mannequin. This part needed to be hands-on. It was always more effective this way. I set the camera to record again, and slid the fleece up his arms. Made a generous show of smoothing everything out as I glided my palms over his chest. Kept his tattooed arm pointed toward the camera.

  Failed to ignore the prickles of desire racing over my skin and tightening in my nipples. Good thing this was a padded bra.

  I finished my part and stepped back to let him pose for the camera alone. Hood down and then up. I paused the recording.

  “They tell me there’s a surprise coming, but no details,” he said.

  Something none of us had heard yet. “You’re not just holding out on me to be clever?” I teased.

  He shrugged out of the vest and held it out for me. When I stepped into take it, he tweaked one of my kitty ears. “I promise that you look so adorable in these, I’d tell you the secrets of the universe if I knew them.”

  My heated cheeks were back. I turned away to hang up the top and hoped it would give my face time to pale again.

  He grabbed my wrist, startling me, and turned me to face him. “We need to talk about the other day.” His tone was serious, but a spark of playfulness danced behind his eyes.

  “What about it? We’re good. We all agreed.” I was being awkward, but that would pass with time.

  “We did. But I can’t move past the jealousy.”

  Oh. My heart sank. I never wanted to be a wedge in their relationship. “I thought you were okay with it. I’m sorry. I didn’t—”

  He pressed a finger to my lips. “Don’t apologize. Let me finish. I thought I was okay with it too, and don’t misunderstand... Watching you with Jax was good. But there’s this little slice of envy that he got to feel you and I didn’t.”

  And now my heart was not only fine, but skipping. “I wouldn’t want to leave you out.”

  “Me neither. Go figure.” Grayson tugged me closer, dipped his head, and trailed his nose up the side of my neck.

  Want clashed with concern. When I was with Jax, Grayson was there to give his explicit okay. This was different. “I don’t want to come between you.”

  “I promise you that he’s okay with wherever this goes. In fact, I’m planning to tell him everything about what happens between us.”

  “Like what?” My question came out timid and breathy. Obviously I had my own fantasies, but I’d never dare say them out loud.

  “Hmm...” Grayson settled his hands on my hips, on the bare skin above my skirt. “I’ll tell him if your nipples taste like sugar. If your pussy is peach-flavored. How incredible you feel when I’m buried inside you. So if you have issues with me kissing and telling, say so.”

  The only issue I had with it was that we weren’t doing any of that yet. “Does that mean—” The question stuck in my throat.

  “Does it mean what?”

  “That he’ll get off to the story of us together?” I barely heard myself ask the question over the hammering of my pulse in my ears.

  Grayson pressed his body into mine, heat searing through my thin outfit. “We both will.” His voice was a low hum, licking temptation along my skin. “I’ll be at his feet, sucking his cock, stroking my own during every delicious moment of the relived memory.”

  “Hot.” I hadn’t meant to say that aloud.

  He scrapped his teeth along my neck and yanked down my hood. “My point exactly. Is that a yes?”

  Was it? How many one-night stands did it take before we passed some invisible line of too many? Everything had already changed. How much further was I willing to alter the relationship between the three of us?

  Chapter Eight

  I didn’t need to think long about Grayson’s offer. Longer than I did for most things, but he was too tempting to pass up. “That’s a yes.”

  “Looks
like I get to help you out of your costume after all.” Grayson grasped the hidden zipper on my top and tugged it down one agonizing tooth at a time, his gaze lingered on my breasts. “Every time you run your palms over my bare chest, I want to return the favor.”

  Seriously—how had I never noticed before that what we did was more than friendly? “Now’s your chance.”

  “And what a chance it is.” He glided his hands up my chest to cup my breasts.

  When he dragged his thumbs over my nipples, I felt the zing even though the padding of my bra. It was a sharp spark that raced along my every nerve ending.

  Grayson pushed my top off my shoulders and tossed it aside. My bra came off next, leaving me exposed and topless. Every time he looked me over, a fresh wave of flame raced over my skin.

  When his palms touched my bare skin, the heat intensified. He teased my pale pink swollen nubs. “Not just sugar. Bubblegum. Yum.” He dipped his head to flick his tongue over one nipple, before drawing it into his mouth. He sucked and nibbled one side, while kneading the other.

  Pleasure sped over me, and I pressed into his mouth. He switched to the other breast when I started to squirm. The longer he sucked, the damper my panties got. I itched to drop my hand between my legs and relieve the building anticipation.

  Grayson grasped my wrist and moved my hand to his erection. I’d gotten a hint of how big he was the other day, but stroking him drove the point home. I traced the outline through denim, and his groan hummed across my skin. We were hooked in a delicious loop of pleasure.

  He drifted his kisses lower, moving down my stomach and pulling away from my touch as he knelt in front of me. He shoved my skirt up and over my hips—another reason to love fleece—and scraped his teeth over my panties. “You’re already wet.”

  Massive understatement. My laugh was breathy and strained, and most of my brain power was focused on my arousal. “Already? I’m surprised all that sucking and biting didn’t make me come.”

  “No?” The way he looked up at me with that dark, open gaze, I felt like I was being worshiped. “Time to try something else.” He hooked his fingers in my panties and slid them down my legs. When he licked once along my damp lower lips, I moaned.