Three in Love

Chapter One

Heather dropped her carry-on bag just inside the apartment door and collapsed onto the leather couch with a sigh. Every muscle in her body ached. An eight-hour flight with one short layover was just ridiculous. Through the still-open door she heard thumping, a muffled curse, and a masculine grunt.
"Don't drop my suitcase," she called. The leather, warm from the afternoon sun streaming in the windows, soothed her. The boys had been right about wearing hot-weather clothes. Back in Ohio the air was still crisp, but in southern Nevada, barely into April, it was already broiling.
"What did you pack?" Andy gasped, hauling the huge black case through the front door. His brown hair stuck to his face, damp with sweat and framing his strong cheekbones and hazel-green eyes. "Your brick collection?"
"This one's worse," countered Daniel. She rolled her eyes at them while they settled the two suitcases and closed the door. "I know you had to pack a lot of your stuff in here to save shipping the rest, but goddamn."
"That's why I've got two big strong men to carry them for me," she said with a grin, looking over the back of the sofa at them. Daniel was less sweaty than Andy, but his tank top clung to his muscular chest in all the right places. She could see his nipples through the thin white fabric. His short cropped hair was almost midnight black and his eyes were a deep, chocolate brown; the slight tan of distant Asian ancestry gave him a perpetual glow.
Andy's hand slid around to cup Daniel's hip while he grinned back at her and she clamped down firmly on her libido. They were not for her to sample; oh, no. Andy and Daniel had been dating long before they'd moved out to the sunny west and left her behind. A few fumbled kisses in their teenage years weren't enough to count. They were firmly, happily in love. She'd just have to find somebody new.
"I'm so glad you decided to come out here," Andy said, flopping onto the couch next to her. "The graduate programs here really are great. You'll have to meet my advisor."
"I couldn't stand it anymore," she said. His hand found her upturned palm and squeezed it. "I missed you both so much. And after I graduated, it wasn't as if there was any reason to stay."
"Yeah," Daniel replied, planting himself onto the arm of the couch on her other side. "We were hoping. That's why we got the two-bedroom place."
She rolled her eyes. "No, you just have bad financial planning."
"Or we knew you couldn't resist our lure."
She laughed. It was true. No matter how much it seemed to hurt her other attempts at dating, she couldn't get her mind off her best friends. Nobody else measured up, and she had a feeling they never would. Being into their apartment and seeing them, their photos of her, and their old leather couch was like stepping into a home she'd temporarily lost.
"It's good to be here," she said warmly.
"Let's get washed up," Daniel said. "Then we can take you out on the town and show you all you need to see. Unless you want to unpack some of that ton of stuff?"
"I only have one more big box in the mail," she reassured them. "Books. I sold the furniture. It was crappy anyway."
"True," Andy said. "And you should have space in your room for a shelf. Want to see it?"
"I'll go hop in the shower while you kids look around," Daniel said.
Heather lost her response as he stripped his thin tank top off and tossed it on the couch. His back looked like a Greek statue, all fine muscle and sleek curves. He glanced over his shoulder at the pair of them frozen, watching, and smiled before sauntering down the hall. She swallowed and stood straighter. That show had been for Andy, and if she was going to live with them—both of them—she needed to stop thinking about those casual touches and hints back home. A year was a long time to forget about someone. They were settled and happy without her messing things up trying to wedge into their relationship.
"This way," Andy said after a moment.
The apartment wasn't anything special by design; to the left of the living room was a kitchen with an open dining room. On one side of the hall was the bathroom, its door shut and water running within. On the other, an empty room beckoned her. Andy’s and Daniel's room was at the end. She stepped into her new home, taking in the bare walls. The boys had an empty computer desk ready for her, but there was no bed or dresser.
"Obviously, I'll need to pick up a few things," she said. "But I really like it. Thanks for letting me come."
"We weren't joking about getting the second bedroom for you," Andy said, bumping her shoulder. "We missed you."
"You know, some people would think this was odd," she joked.
"Like Devin?" he said, lips curving into a frown.
"Oh, hell," she said, rolling her eyes. "We broke up as soon as you guys moved. If he couldn't handle me having guy best friends, we couldn't date. End of story."
"I recall him accusing me in one sentence of both being a fag and trying to steal his woman," Andy deadpanned.
"Well, like I said. We broke up shortly thereafter."
"Good," Andy murmured. The water cut off across the hall. "Want me to drag the suitcases in here?"
"Sure," she said. "I'll help."
"They're kind of heavy," he said, raising one fine eyebrow.
"I got them to the plane, didn't I?" she said, grinning. "No wuss, me."
"You're just a regular Amazon," he replied with a smile.
She smiled back. It was good to be home, even if that home ended up being across the country. Andy strode out of the bedroom and she followed. Daniel cracked the bathroom door open and peered out at them, his hair still damp and glistening with water.
"Forgot to get a towel," he said. "Pass me one?"
"Oh, yeah," Andy said, brushing past Heather to open the hall closet. "The closet is out here in the hall instead of in there. There's a lot of streaking going on around here, thanks to that."
"Ah," she said, trying not to leer. Her attempt wasn't successful, but Daniel just laughed and grabbed the towel from Andy with a wink.
The other man shrugged and went back to her suitcases. She tipped one onto its rollers and grunted at the sudden weight on her arms. While scrambling backwards down the hall wasn't exactly an attractive maneuver, it kept her from losing her grip or balance. Andy laughed, but he imitated her, lugging the second case. The bathroom door opened again just as they finished dropping them in the middle of the room.
"Damn," Daniel said, striding out in a pair of dark jeans and nothing else. "I missed the show."
"Wasn't that entertaining," Heather said, stretching to crack her back. The shock of seeing him in the flesh again hadn't worn off yet; a heat burned in her belly as she took in the fine muscles of his abdomen and chest.
"You next," Andy said. "Then you can unpack while I clean up."
"All right," she said. "There won't be any hot water left."
Andy snorted. "With the temperature outside, I'm okay to take a cool one."
"True,” she said.
Daniel stepped out of the doorway to let her pass and she was careful not to brush his warm, damp, inviting skin. She snagged a towel out of the hall closet and ducked into the bathroom before she could spontaneously combust. In the privacy of the still-steamy room she let out a sigh and inspected herself in the mirror. The draw to them hadn't been so bad before the separation. Before it was just a tension; now it was like gravity. A year apart had made a world of difference. Could she even live with Andy and Daniel, or would it cause too many problems?
She yanked off her sweaty clothes and tossed them on top of Daniel's in the corner. The water was still warm when she turned it on and stepped in, but not too much so; she hummed with pleasure as it cooled her down. She snagged the soap, still wet, and glanced around for a washcloth. There wasn't one, which meant Daniel had rubbed that same bar of soap all over his body. A little thrill ran up her spine, heat pooling in her belly. It was a weird thing to be aroused by, but as she stroked the soap around the heavy curves of her breasts, she didn't mind. Her nipples tightened and rose into firm, deep pink buds. She squeezed her breasts and sighed, wishing for bigger, rougher hands on her.
They wouldn't notice if it took her an extra few minutes in the shower. She was a woman, after all, and wasn't it expected for her to dawdle? She smiled and soaped the rest of her body with efficient strokes. The water cascaded in a half-cool curtain down her body. She leaned against the back wall of the shower, angling to spray to hit her lower stomach. Behind her closed eyes, the fantasy was quick and easy as washing had been: Daniel and Andy, tangled together in their bed. The sheets would be on the floor, or somewhere else entirely. Daniel's firm, tan back would ripple with muscle while he pinned Andy and kissed him, their bodies rubbing and slick with sweat.