The Engagement Gift An After Dark Standalone Romance - Lauren Blakely Page 0,20

took a deep breath, and exhaled. “Let me make sure I’m understanding this correctly. You’re asking me to join you and your fiancée in a devil’s threesome.” He made a hook ’em sign with his hand like he was at an 80s rock concert.

“Yes,” I said with a laugh. Then I stopped laughing. “I am asking you that. Never thought our friendship would come to this but that’s how it goes. This is what the woman wants. Both of us,” I said, and maybe I should have been processing this more, absorbing the enormity of what I was asking.

But then, I’d been processing this possibility for some time.

I’d been ready for it for a long while.

For her.

Because she wanted it.

His eyes locked with mine. “And that means you want me to fuck your fiancée?” he asked, deliberately blunt, I could tell. Putting it in no uncertain terms.

When he worded it that way, I bristled. I clenched my jaw. Jealousy flamed in me, but then seconds later, it died down. I was possessive of Lily, but what I wanted all to myself was what I knew I had—her heart, her soul.

They were never in question, so I didn’t need to be jealous.

And I wanted her to have all her dirty desires come true.

“She wants us both at the same time,” I said, making it clear how it would go down. “Which means the next question is this: do you want her?”

He laughed like I’d said the dumbest thing. “You’re marrying a babe. She’s also an amazing person. If she wants this, I’d much rather you ask me than find someone online.”

I shuddered at that thought. “No effing way.”

Jake laughed, amused it seemed. “Can you even imagine? The replies you’d get.”

I cringed. “Yeah, let’s maybe not think about that.”

“They’d be the worst. You’d get some serious freaks trying to take you up on that.”

“Instead, I’m asking my friend the freak,” I said, then I squared my shoulders, and swallowed. I waited. I had to be patient. He hadn’t given me a yes yet. Maybe he was still processing what this might mean for our friendship, or for his friendship with Lily. Hell, I’d contemplated all that too. But I had the faith the three of us were rock solid in every way. Would Jake feel the same?

He took a breath. Stared off in the distance at the card tables, maybe considering his fictional future as a card shark. Or maybe he was weighing the odds. What were the stakes of this proposition? To me, the stakes were clear, and this was a bet worth taking.

But would he feel that way?

He returned his gaze to me, his expression serious. “It’s good you didn’t look online. It’s definitely good you’re not hunting on some app. Truth be told, if you’d done this with a stranger, I think I’d be really offended.” One more deep breath, then a crooked grin. “So I suppose now that you’ve offered, you’re stuck with me and my ten-inch rod. But she definitely wants it?”

I rolled my eyes, scoffing. “Your wiener is not ten inches. More like ten millimeters.”

“Have you measured it?”

“No, and I never will, but I’m confident it’s not ten inches.” I took a beat. “And to answer your other question, yes, she does.”

“It’s coming from her?” he asked, confirming.

“One hundred percent,” I said, then gestured toward the club where we’d been. “Look, I can ask her to join us right now and work out the details.”

Jake held out his hands wide. “If it’s ladies’ night, the lady ought to be having a say.”

I texted her, and a few minutes later she joined us, standing by my side. She looked guilty, but in a cute way, like she’d been caught taking money from my wallet to buy me a gift.

She was the only gift I ever wanted.

“Hi,” she said, all breathy and sexy.

“Hey, Lil,” Jake said, meeting her gaze, his eyes intense. It was his lawyer face. The expression he wore when talking to a client, making sure they were on board with a plan, a way to proceed. “You really want this? This is coming from you?”

Her shoulders shuddered, but she remained poised. “I do.”

“And what are your rules?” he asked. “I’m assuming you have them mapped out.”

“My rules?” She sounded surprised as a nearby slot machine delivered a payoff. Cha-ching went the sound of coins, raining down.

I roped my arm tighter around her, reassuring her, letting her know we wanted her night to unfold exactly as