After the job was done, she gave Gage an over-the-counter pain medication. Her stomach growled as they thanked her and said good night after she refused any form of payment for her services. They departed, and she made herself something to eat and perched on her bedding with her knees drawn up to her chest.
She listened to the noises of family activities beyond her campsite. Adults were chatting, and children were running off their excess energy before settling down for the night, and here she sat inside her tent, eating alone.
She wrapped her arms around her knees, and many emotions crowded her thoughts. She was troubled by the scars on Gage’s gorgeous ass, curious at the way Duke had watched her as she worked, and painfully aware of her own lonely state as she looked around her tent. Being in such close proximity to two handsome men had unsettled her.
For some reason, as she turned out her lantern and settled down for the night, the “Instant Threesome” she’d purchased at Discretion came to mind. It was inside her locked cedar chest, along with the rest of her sex toys, in the walk-in closet of the apartment she’d just moved in to. She wondered what a threesome would feel like, and an image of her sandwiched between Duke and Gage came to mind.
Emma throbbed with need and wished that she’d brought it with her on this trip, even though it was totally impractical. Her thoughts returned to Gage with his turbulent green eyes and to Duke as well. In the lantern light, she’d been able to make out his slate-gray eye color. It didn’t matter though. Judging by Duke’s subtle reaction, she obviously wasn’t their type. Their type? She put her hand over her eyes and wanted to kick herself for imagining a ménage. She wasn’t that lucky.
Maybe someday she’d see them again, not that it would make much difference. She didn’t date patients, and she didn’t kid herself about guys who were clearly out of her league. They were nice to her because she’d done a good thing for them, but that was all there was to it. Duke had been so disinterested, he hadn’t even wanted Gage to come by her clinic to be checked out later. She was used to people coming and going like that. It was a fact of life for a doctor. The difference this time was that the subtle rejection hurt her feelings.
Chapter Two
Tuesday evening, Duke grinned as he walked in the front door of the apartment he shared with Gage and dropped the mail on the coffee table.
“Gage, you’re never going to believe who our new downstairs neighbor is,” he said, fighting the urge to do a fist pump. A pair of sparkling green eyes and soft-looking, kissable lips came to mind. This was the perfect opportunity to get to know the beautiful doctor better.
Gage craned his neck to see the address label on the top envelope. “Whoever it is, I hope they don’t bitch and moan like that lady with the cats did. We could hardly take a step while she lived downstairs. And I swear I can still smell her cat litter box.” Gage shifted uncomfortably on the couch, removing all doubt about the cause of his ill humor.
“Nope. I think you’ll consider this good news, actually.” Duke lifted the envelope from the stack and showed it to him. “Recognize that name?” he asked. It had only been a few days since the disastrous camping trip. They’d come to be at that particular campground because Duke had asked Summer about her doctor friend and she had mentioned that Emma favored that particular campground.
Duke had seen the interest in Gage’s eyes as they’d both watched her pacing the shoreline right before Gage had gotten tagged in the ass with the arrow.
When she’d shown up with her medical kit and treated Gage so soothingly, Duke had imagined what life would be like with her around. She’d spoken to Gage in the reassuring tones of a doctor, but her voice had a sexy, low-pitched, musical quality to it that made Duke want to just sit and listen to her talk. Neither he nor Gage had been able to resist her winsome smile when she’d explained why she’d preemptively yanked the arrow out.
He hadn’t missed the fact that Gage had been hard for her while she’d treated him, and had stayed hard despite the fact that he was in pain and she’d discovered his scars. Duke knew Gage was self-conscious about them and had been surprised they hadn’t dampened his libido.
They’d become intrigued by Emma that day in July when she’d visited Summer at Discretion and made her unusual sex toy purchase. Emma blushed very easily, and he’d fantasized many a time about what she would look like riding the “Instant Threesome” to a moaning orgasm before climbing onto him or his cousin and doing the same with them. He stiffened now just thinking about it.