Fourplay: Ever After Duet, Book 1 Read online

  “Yeah, I get it. I wouldn’t want to leave them either.” Andi crossed her arms and pouted. “I figured, but I had to try. If you change your mind, I’m sure we could make it worth your while.”

  Kari doubted that. The guys paid her extremely well, and she did her best to earn her generous salary. But tonight wasn’t about work. It was about having fun. “You feeling better now? Up to rejoining the crowd?”

  Andi nodded. “Much. Thanks for the medicine, and the distraction. I hope you’re steadier now, too.”

  “I am, thanks.” And she meant it. Her nerves had evaporated. Knowing Andi was there, and that she could relate, went a long way toward making Kari calmer. “If I end up locking myself in the bathroom tonight, will you talk me off the ledge?”

  “Absolutely. If you start to panic, come find me or have one of the guys do it.” Andi put her hand on Kari’s and squeezed. “You’ve got this. And even if you don’t, there are plenty of people here who will be glad to pick you up and help you try again, okay?”

  Kari got to her feet, then extended a hand to help Andi to hers. Briefly, she hugged the young woman, and smiled. “How about we sample some of the food? I picked it out and I promise you it’s going to be fucking delicious.”

  They were still talking and laughing when they piled their plates high and joined the guys in the cockpit. The look Ford shot her was one that surpassed hunger. She might have thought he was starving, except he waved her off when she offered to share.

  Andi shot her a glance that clearly said, See! What did I tell you?

  Subtly, Kari shrugged one shoulder. She focused on the exquisite flavors bursting over her tongue instead of the gazes she felt trained on her. Not only Ford, Brady, and Josh’s, but also Cooper, Reed, and Simon’s. Plus those of all the other curious guests who milled about as the eight of them spent most of the evening together in conversation.

  They had so much in common, aside even from work. She found it fascinating to hear the guys talk about sailing, the boat, and antics from the years they’d known each other.

  She was surprised when the last of the dessert trays were removed and the music grew louder. Had so much time passed already? Whereas earlier she’d feared making it through the entire event, now she wished she could slow the evening to make it last for a year or more.

  “Doing okay?” Brady murmured. He leaned in closer to hear her response over the music and conversations. It was a hell of a party. One people would be talking about for months. And not because of some poor office girl who’d been raped this time either.

  “Amazing.” She beamed up at him. They had no idea the gift they’d given her tonight. It was one she would always treasure. For the first time in months, she felt like herself again. Better than herself, because she knew how strong she could be if she needed to be. And how they would do the heavy lifting for her when she couldn’t do it herself.

  “Do you want to dance?” Josh asked.

  “Hey! It’s my birthday. I think I get the first dance.” Ford cut in front of Josh and held out his hand. It was strong, unwavering, and so damn inviting.

  Kari glanced over at Andi, who flashed her a not-so-subtle thumbs up. What was the code here?

  Rather than stress out about rules she didn’t know how to play by, Kari did what felt right. She laughed, then put her fingers in Ford’s but also grabbed Josh’s sleeve. “Nothing says we can’t dance together, does it?”

  “Only if I get to come, too.” Brady edged up behind her. Rather than feeling trapped between the three men, she felt…at home. Shielded and free to let loose.

  “I insist,” Kari said with a smile, then let them whisk her onto the trampolines, where people congregated and some, at the core of the crowd, were making the most of the festivities. She was about to be one of them.

  6

  Kari sang along to song after song as she danced, sometimes at the center of the three men and sometimes pairing off with one, or being sandwiched between the other two of them. They felt amazing in every combination. It unleashed something within her that hadn’t been loose in a very long time. Maybe ever.

  She felt it deep within her when they changed course—both shifted, the direction of the boat and her perception of the three men with whom she was enjoying spending time.

  Part of her mourned the dying night and feared the loss of everything that had happened out here at sea. When they went back, would they return to being bosses and employee?

  She wished their personal trajectory could be altered as easily as the route of a sailboat. Never before had she wished to veer sharply off the straight and narrow path she’d followed her entire life.

  “I’m going to help the crew navigate to the anchorage.” Ford brushed some of the hair that had escaped his usually neat style back into place. She preferred it wild. It would look even sexier and more rumpled if he’d fucked her instead of merely dancing with her.

  Where the hell had that thought come from? Kari put her hand on her chest to keep her heart from leaping from her ribcage when it skipped a beat.

  “Will you be okay by yourself if we go help?” Brady asked her.

  “Of course.” She smiled. “I think I need a breather anyway.”

  It would be nearly impossible to fill her lungs with enough air after her vivid mental image of Ford in bed. Maybe she could find Andi for another discussion. It felt like her whole world had changed in a matter of hours. What was she getting herself into?

  Worse, maybe it was nothing to them and she was setting herself up for disappointment and an awkward-as-fuck work environment.

  Lost in thought, Kari wandered to the life lines that ringed the edges of the boat. Unlike earlier in the night, she didn’t cling to them. Instead, she stood tall and faced into the wind, letting it cool her off. She must have stood there longer than she realized, because when she opened her eyes, she was alone on that part of the boat. Most of the passengers were congregating near the cockpit as the shore grew closer.

  One of them had been introduced to her by Josh earlier as Dr. Ansh Patel, a renowned neurosurgeon, the youngest to ever sit on the board of directors at his hospital. A man used to this lifestyle and seeing her bosses with far different women. He stared at her now with enough curiosity that she realized people were wondering about her and how she fit in with Ford, Brady, and Josh. As was she.

  Kari peered into the distance but didn’t see Andi, her guys, or Ford, Brady and Josh for that matter.

  Making small talk with strangers didn’t appeal, so she settled in to wait her turn on the dinghy back to shore. She relaxed, content to let the flutter of her extravagant dress mesmerize her, light flashing off the beaded sheath. The one her bosses had bought her.

  Bosses.

  Not friends.

  And certainly not anything more than that.

  It would be best if she remembered the distinction.

  With a sigh, she pried her eyelids open in time to see most of the other guests had already been ferried ashore by the tender while she daydreamed. It was funny. That gorgeous wooden boat would be most people’s primary vessel, not merely a dinghy for a monstrous catamaran.

  It figured Ford, Brady, and Josh had the best. Going small wasn’t their style. They had offices on the top of the tallest building in the city, an exclusive clientele list that grew by the day, and the highest billing fee to go along with it. Hell, they probably had big—

  And that was it. She had to get out of there before she veered into dangerous territory or thought about how they could also have the most amazing women, ones far more refined and desirable than her.

  Kari pivoted and headed for the crew member helping the final few guests cross the gap between the catamaran and the tender as they rocked in slightly different patterns. Right before she joined them, she remembered the shoes Josh had taken from her and stowed in the galley earlier. While she’d enjoyed strolling around the fiberglass, rope, and polished teak barefoot for the evening, the gravel parking lot would be an
entirely different matter.

  “Oh.” She glanced over her shoulder toward the interior cabin.

  “Forget something?” the crew member asked.

  “My shoes.” She nodded.

  “Would you like me to get them for you?” He winced as he raked his gaze over the passengers in the tender.

  “No, stay here with them and I’ll be right back. Or I could grab the next one if that’s easier.” She smiled softly, oddly thrilled when he latched on to her suggestion.

  “If you don’t mind, I’d rather do that than bob around for a few minutes. I don’t want anyone getting sick. Especially since most of them have been drinking.”

  Right. She wouldn’t want that either. “Go ahead. I’ll be ready when you get back.”

  Kari waved him off when he double and triple checked, then headed for the interior of the boat to hunt down her heels.

  “Damn it.” She wasn’t trying for any awkward goodnights or goodbyes. Slinking away unnoticed—like her Cinderella idol—would have been much preferable than causing a scene.

  Especially if they were taking some time to show Cooper, his girlfriend, and her other two boyfriends around the yacht since they’d all seemed to have vanished. Though Kari longed for a tour herself, she had declined their earlier offer. Going below decks in tight quarters with Ford, Brady, and Josh might lead to her plastered up against one of them due to the gentle rocking of the boat. Not to mention her building desire to touch them.

  How was it possible that they looked even better in the tuxedos they’d worn tonight than the killer tailored suits they wore to court?

  Kari fanned herself as she peeked inside the main cabin, hoping to find her shoes sitting right at the entryway. No such luck.

  The galley and salon were buried in refreshments and supplies for the caterers, the DJ, and the florist. No room for guests’ belongings there. So she crept to one of the two stairways leading into the hulls and the private living space within them.

  It looked like someone had been using it as a shoe rack. There was a pair or two on every tread, including hers, near the bottom. Yes! Kari climbed down and crouched to grab the gorgeous stilettos.

  That’s when she heard it.

  A moan. Of pain, or something else?

  The soft sound drew her forward, her curiosity impossible to resist. Kari crept along the remaining stairs, then peeked around the corner into the captain’s quarters.

  Andi sat on the edge of the bed—massive by any standards, never mind nautical ones. Her eyes were closed as she leaned against Cooper’s chest. He held her in his arms, so carefully and yet securely enough that she wouldn’t slip despite the motion of the boat and the sensations that had to be coursing through her. Because one of her boyfriends was kissing her while the other massaged her feet.

  What might have started out innocently enough seemed to be escalating as his hands wandered along the bare skin of her legs, which was exposed by her gorgeous red dress.

  Cooper cleared his throat, then said, “Well, we’d better head home before things get out of hand.”

  “Hey, don’t stop because of us,” she heard Ford rumble. What was he doing there? “Tonight, don’t think of us as your employers, please. Here, we’re not.”

  Did that count for Kari, too? If so, maybe she would be bold enough to announce her presence and join them. What would happen then?

  “I’d like to see what it could be like, if we were as lucky as you.” Brady said quietly. The raw emotion in his voice tugged at Kari, urging her to take a step closer, though she didn’t dare.

  Kari should have fled. She should have plugged her ears and ran back to the tender waiting to ferry her to shore. Put an entire ocean of cool, dark water between herself and temptation.

  She didn’t. Part of her lectured herself, this is probably how you got yourself in trouble last time. And the rest of her tried to stomp out those insidious voices. The ones that emerged at night and blamed herself for Marty’s actions.

  Hell, it was Andi who had told Kari not to listen to those terrible things she thought about herself.

  And maybe she could see why. See what it was like to be part of a healthy relationship. She wanted to discover what it was like when a woman was the center of all that very wanted, very focused attention.

  Just for a moment, she promised. Then she would go. Before she invaded their privacy too badly. She clung to the wall of the stairwell to steady herself, though it had more to do with her insides rioting than the subtle sway of the boat in the bay.

  Cooper looked to his friends and then to Andi, who nodded. He smiled as he slid his hand inside the top of her sweetheart neckline to cup her breast. Ford shifted in his seat, cupping his obvious erection. Kari’s eyes widened. Both because she was more turned on than she’d ever been in her life, and also because she realized she was intruding on a more personal moment than she’d intended to spy on.

  It wasn’t right for her to do this. To look when they hadn’t given her explicit permission. Having been violated herself in that way, she’d never be okay with watching without their consent.

  Kari backpedaled, jerking around so fast that she slipped.

  She stubbed her toe on the step and had to fling her hands out in front of her to keep from taking another one to the face. “Shit!”

  “Hello?” Josh called. He’d been sitting closest to her hiding spot.

  Oh god no!

  7

  Kari tried to concoct some plausible reason for why she’d wandered down to their private space, but she couldn’t think that fast when lust and mortification hazed her brain. So instead, she took the coward’s way out and ran.

  “Hey, who’s there?” Josh said, louder—and distinctly less friendly—this time. His question was followed by footsteps. She wasn’t going to make it before he spotted her. “Kari? Is that you?”

  She froze. No point in fleeing now.

  “Kari?” Ford echoed.

  “Son of a bitch!” Brady added.

  Hushed murmurs followed the revelation. Everything down below went silent.

  “Yes, sorry, Josh. I came to find my shoes.” She held up the heels and wiggled them lamely in the air. “Got ’em. Going home now. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

  Josh looked over his shoulder then, probably at Ford and Brady. He said, “I’ve got this. You guys stay. It’s fine. I’ll handle it.”

  Kari couldn’t say she liked the idea of being a problem to handle. She figured it wasn’t the first time they’d had to think of her that way either. Damn it. Things were already reverting to how they’d been before this precious time-out had made her believe she was making progress.

  She began to walk backward, slinking out of the boat’s cabin, wishing she could melt through the floor and drip into the ocean. Dissolve and disappear. “I’m sorry. Truly. I shouldn’t have looked. I didn’t see much. And I won’t say anything. I swear.”

  Josh didn’t relent. He pursued her, taking a step forward for every one she took in reverse. “Are you sure, Kari? You didn’t see anything at all?”

  Her shallow, rapid breathing, wide eyes, and rock-hard nipples probably gave her away.

  She had to get outside. Needed fresh air to breathe properly.

  Kari wasn’t proud of herself, but she pivoted on her heel and bolted.

  Behind her, Josh cursed beneath his breath. He followed. “Kari, wait! It’s fine. I’m not mad. None of us are.”

  She was running out of room. Even their boat wasn’t big enough for her to hide from him when he was in direct pursuit. She bounded across the trampolines at the front of the boat until she could cling to the life lines once more. For a wild second, she debated the likelihood of making it to shore if she dove in and swam.

  The stars reflected in the inky black waves beneath her blurred as tears flooded her eyes. She’d screwed things up. Again.

  This time it might cost Kari her job in addition to her pride.

  Josh came up behind her, slowing as he a
pproached. The ropes creaked softly as he crossed them, inching toward her. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m sorry if I startled you.”

  “I’m going to take the next boat ashore. I’ll be out of your hair in a minute. I won’t move from this spot until then, I swear. I understand if you don’t want me to come back to work Monday either.” She sniffled. What the hell was wrong with her?

  After having her own privacy so brutally invaded, she should have respected theirs instead of peeping on them.

  “Kari, look at me. Please,” Josh begged.

  It took everything in her to turn around. When she did, she squeezed her eyes shut rather than see disappointment or hurt on his handsome face.

  “I swear, it’s fine,” Josh whispered this time. From somewhere closer. Then closer still when he said, “I really want to hug you right now. Would that be okay?”

  “What?” Her eyes flew open. He was standing right there in front of her. Easily within arm’s reach.

  “Just a hug, Kari. I think we both could use one.” He held his arms open to her.

  Without a second thought, she flew into them and buried her face against his chest. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Please stop saying that,” he murmured into her hair. The sweet gesture made her realize that he was off balance, too. She wrapped her arms around his solid body, clinging to him or helping him to stand tall himself, she wasn’t sure which. “It’s good that you were interested. I’m happy that what Marty did to you hasn’t stopped you from being curious or wanting to experience intimacy with someone. I hope we didn’t frighten you or bring back bad memories. That’s the last thing we would want to do.”

  Kari shivered in his hold.

  She pulled away just enough that she could look up into his deep blue eyes, the color the ocean had been before that spectacular sunset earlier. His blond hair was rumpled, reminding her of how he’d been lounging, stretched out on the divan of the captain’s quarters just a minute ago, and the hours they’d spent dancing, nearly as close as they were now.