Chapter One
Alex wanted Clare since he was a senior in high school and he knew Nick had the hot's for her since they became friends in college. He was never jealous of Nick wanting the same woman, they weren't friends like that. They had a unique relationship with no competition. It was probably how they met, because it had been extreme circumstances involving a college fraternity gone wrong. The hazing he and Nick endured had been out of control and incited by a bully classmen. They'd supported each other through the trauma and eventually together found the courage to break part the irrational hazing methods. They'd notified the college and police. There'd been a trial and they were both satisfied it wouldn't happen again.
So they knew each other's scars, and perhaps that was why fate wrote in their cards the need to share. They'd talked about sharing a woman before but had never done it. They might have never done it, if the perfect opportunity hadn't arrived. That fate, again, was pushing them. How else would two men and that one woman they desired above all else find themselves naked together?
***
Clare knew she was in trouble and once she realized the severity of it, she knew there was only one place to turn too. Alex and Nick. They wouldn't let her down if she were brave enough to admit she desperately needed their help.
Her hand shook as she pushed Alex's number on her blackberry. She looked over her shoulder at the closed bathroom door. How had she gotten herself into such a mess? She was usually so conservative. But this guy came out of left field.
"Hi, sweetheart, what can I do for you?"
Clare nearly wept hearing Alex's voice. Her voice cracked as she answered, "I'm in trouble, Alex, please help me!" She tried to be quiet, so the pervert the shower wouldn't hear.
"Where are you?" another voice demanded through her phone. Clare felt unreasonable relief at hearing Nick's voice.
"Nick," she whimpered.
"Tell me," he demanded.
"A private mansion on Hunter Mountain," she answered, with tears because she knew they'd never find her! It was a secluded mansion she'd been hired to redecorate for a high-end client. Nick and Alex were in New York, she was here — what could they do?
"What trouble?" Alex asked, as she heard Nick in the background ordering a helicopter.
Oh God, could they get here before...? No, she looked at the bathroom door knowing she only had minutes.
"The client wasn't supposed to be here, but he is! I think he put something in my drink. He's in the shower and I went outside to leave but my car isn't there. He caught me and dragged me back inside. Made me drink some more." She knew she wasn't making sense.
Nick's voice, "Get your coat and boots and walk out of there, baby. Now. Take your phone. We will be there in less than an hour."
"How can you find me!" she cried, already getting to her feet. She trusted them that much.
"GPS your phone," Alex said.
Clare lost the signal running outside. She was woozy and disorientated, seeing things in blurry contrast. But she remembered Nick's orders to get her coat and boots. She tried her blackberry as she ran down the snow-packed driveway. How could they find her if she couldn't get a signal? Still, she ran on half because Alex and Nick had told her too, and half because of fear — she didn't want to be in the expensive getaway when the man got out of the shower.
Her breath panted in puffs in front of her as she reached the end of the driveway. A beep sounded and she looked down at her blackberry. There was a text.
"It's from, Alex!" she cried, wobbling.
She quickly accepted it. "Stay off the road," it read.
Clare checked her coverage. "Out of area," she moaned. Sometimes texts could make it through when a call couldn't. She wandered down the road trying not to cry. How could she stay off the road, there was snow, trees, and mountain woods everywhere?
If she hadn't trusted Nick and Alex so much, she'd never been brave enough to just go into the woods. But another text came, "We will find you." So she went.
Wind bucked the helicopter and Nick had trouble keeping it level.
"The gusts up here are dangerous," he shouted to Alex. Alex shook his head looking grim, they both wouldn't stop because of the danger ... not when Clare needed them so badly.
"We are right on top of her," Alex shouted to Nick.
Nick nodded, but below was thick pines. "We have to find a clearing," he yelled to Alex.
He found one two miles away, but when he went to land the wind kicked up and pushed him toward the trees. The blades hit one and the copter crashed a few feet into the snowpack. Neither of them was hurt but the copter was out of commission.
"Let's go!" Alex shouted, grabbing gear and flinging open the helicopter door. "We have to get to her."