Playing For Keeps Part 1

Playing For Keeps.

by s.h.i.+loh Walker.

Dedication.

For my husband, for always being there, for being you. For being there during the darkest moments of my life and pulling me through. I love you more than you will ever know.

Chapter One.

"You tramp."

Dana Cochran slid her best friend, Cissy a sidelong glance as she ducked her head and climbed into the low-slung Mazda Miata. The car had a custom paint job, hot pink, that matched Cissy's favorite designer sungla.s.ses, and today it even matched her perfect manicure. Following Cissy's gaze, she looked back to the porch and saw Jacob McCoy standing there, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans and a smile as he watched her.

Swinging her head around, she grinned at Cissy and said, "You're just jealous."

"Hmmm." She slid her sungla.s.ses down her nose, watching as Jacob shoved off the wall and headed back inside the house. "Quite possibly. Was Mason there, too?"

"He left early last night, had to work."

"Shacking up with two men-two gorgeous men," Cissy muttered. She shook her head and slid her sungla.s.ses back into place. "A s.e.xy freelance photographer. A doctor. Geez, you've got some good karma. So how long you plan on enjoying these kinds of fringe benefits with these two friends of yours?"

Dana grinned wickedly. "I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts." She couldn't exactly call both of them friends, though. Jacob, definitely. He'd been one of her best friends for as long as she could remember. They'd dated off and on throughout high school, drifted apart in college-he'd won an athletic scholars.h.i.+p, she'd joined the Navy and gone to college on their dime, training to be a nurse and then leaving once her time was up.

Upon coming home, she'd bought her parents' home from them when they made the decision to move to Florida, settling back in across the street from Jake, her childhood best friend. At the time, he'd been living at home with his mom while he finished up his interns.h.i.+p. When Mrs. McCoy had died of a sudden heart attack in her sleep, Jake had inherited the house.

Once more, they lived so close together. They saw each other of a morning when going to work, very often of an evening, from time to time in the hospital while they were working...and as of a few months ago, they often saw each other in the morning over coffee.

Mason Caldwell was a newer addition to her life. Dana had been dating Mason since February, but she really didn't expect her relations.h.i.+p with him to last. She liked the guy-and she flat-out loved his body, loved what he could do to hers. But even she knew there was a lack of depth to the man. He was too hung up on what he could capture with the big Canon he toted around d.a.m.n near everywhere, too focused on catching his "big break", too focused with living on the edge and playing as hard and fast as he could.

Made him fun, but not altogether wonderful as a future life partner.

From the get-go, she'd made the decision to enjoy her time with Mason while it lasted and that was what she planned on doing. When it ended between them, she suspected she'd handle it just fine.

Cissy slowed at the stop sign and Dana glanced back over her shoulder. Jacob had gone back inside, but he hadn't closed the door. He was watching her-even though she was too far away now to really make out his face, she didn't need to see. The memory of his features were burned inside her mind. That slow, lazy smile, the way he watched her, the way he liked to smooth her hair back from her face as she woke up in the morning.

While it lasts...

Yeah, she could enjoy things with Mason in that manner just fine.

Jacob was a different story-he was part of her life. She wasn't so sure she could easily let go of him when the time came.

"I can tell you one thing."

Waving at Jacob, she dragged her attention back to Cissy. "Yeah, what's that?"

"Fantasy material, Dana. I'm telling you, you're living a life that is one hundred percent fantasy material."

Fantasy material?

Dana snorted under her breath as she stripped off the protective gown she wore over her scrubs. It was stained with blood and afterbirth. Off in the background, she could hear cries coming from the newborn nursery. Under her scrubs, relatively clean today, she was sweaty and the muscles in her back screamed from bending over for so long.

Her patient, a thirty-nine year old woman who'd just had her first child, hadn't had an easy delivery and if the baby hadn't finally come when she had, Dana would have told one of the nurses to put in a call to the office. A certified midwife, she handled the easy deliveries that came during the week and left the more difficult cases to one of the OB/GYNs she worked with.

Wasn't exactly what she'd call a glamorous job, but it was one she loved. She took a minute to wash her hands and then went to take a peek at the baby while the nurses finished with the mom. Paige, the new mom, gave Dana a wan smile and said, "Isn't she beautiful?"

One of the nurses approached, carrying the little blanket-wrapped bundle close against her chest. Leaning in, Dana peeked at the small, red face, dominated by big, dark eyes. "Absolutely beautiful," she murmured. She examined Paige quickly and then stepped aside so the mom and new baby could spend some time getting acquainted.

Tired and hungry, she glanced at her watch and decided she'd head to the cafeteria once she'd done her charting. Who knows...maybe she'd get lucky and run into Jake down there.

He heard her laughter before he saw her, and for one minute he was tempted to turn around and head back to his office. He could hop on the elevator, catch the pedway and be back in his office in ten minutes, easy. Avoid seeing her and getting tangled up in knots over things he wasn't ever going to have.

At least, not the way he needed.

But the need to see her was too d.a.m.n strong and instead of hiding in his office with a lunch of Mountain Dew and the half-empty bag of Doritos, Jake found himself walking into the cafeteria. She was just ten feet away, her back to him. Her long, gold-streaked brown hair was twisted into some complicated knot, a few stray strands working free. The pale pink scrubs she wore were wrinkled, covering a body that had pressed up against his throughout the night.

d.a.m.n it, he loved that body.

Somebody called his name and she glanced over her shoulder, saw him and smiled. Her eyes, a pale golden brown, met his. Heat and need threatened to swamp him. With a wave in the general direction of whoever had called him, he crossed the floor and settled on the empty chair next to Dana. "Hey."

"Hey, back."

By unspoken agreement, they kept their relations.h.i.+p quiet around the hospital. Made it hard for him to sit next to her without touching her, kissing her, wrapping his arms around her, but he managed. A wayward curl fell into her eyes and he brushed it back without thinking. "You look like you've had an interesting morning."

Dana rolled her eyes. "Interesting? We could call it that. My back is in knots." Her gaze dropped to his mouth and she murmured, "Maybe I'll get a ma.s.sage or something later."

Or something-yeah, he could give her a ma.s.sage or something.

A grin flirted with her lips as though she knew exactly what he was thinking. Dragging his eyes away from her face, he made himself focus on the other people sitting at the table. If he kept looking at her, he was going to do something stupid.

Of course, when it came to Dana, he'd been doing stupid s.h.i.+t for half of his life, it seemed.

Need and love could make a man do some seriously strangely things. Like move back into a home he hated, just so he could be near when she visited her parents on break. Things like taking her up on the sa.s.sy challenge he'd seen in her eyes one hot, stormy night. Things like sharing her with an overly c.o.c.ky, egotistical b.a.s.t.a.r.d who didn't have the sense to appreciate Dana for the woman she was.

It had been storming that first night when he'd gone to check on Dana. Her electricity had gone out during the storm and he hadn't realized she had company. He ended up walking around the house when she hadn't answered the door and had found her on the back porch, slightly tipsy, wearing nothing but a T-s.h.i.+rt made transparent by the rain and a wide, wicked smile as she smiled up at Mason Caldwell's face.

She hadn't noticed him right away.

If Mason hadn't said anything, Jake could have walked away, suffering nothing more than heartache and jealousy. Well, that and the need to pummel the man's face until that c.o.c.ky grin was nothing more than a memory.

But Mason had seen him, dipped his head to whisper in Dana's ear. Dana had looked at him and that was all it had taken. He'd been lost to her...but then he'd been lost to her pretty much from the beginning.

Rain pelted down all around, soaking his hair, soaking through his clothes, puddling under his feet as he came to a stop at the back of Dana's house.

She was soaked through, too, but she did things for that wet T-s.h.i.+rt that were just plain torture. Her nipples thrust against the white cotton, hard and erect, and the wet material clung to the slopes of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, her trim torso and flat belly, clinging to her hips and making it all too clear that she wasn't wearing anything under the T-s.h.i.+rt. It stopped at her thighs and left the long, golden length of her legs bare.

Water droplets clung to her legs as she sauntered his way, smiling at him through the rain. "Hey, Jake..."

"Sorry. Wanted to make sure you were okay." Forcing the words past his tight throat, he met her pale golden gaze and shook his head, backing away. "The...ah...the storm. It's knocked out all the power..."

Mason, the guy she'd been dating off and on since the past summer, slipped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Over her shoulder, Mason smiled at him, apparently not the least bit concerned about Dana's all-but-bare b.r.e.a.s.t.s, or the fact that Jake was all but drooling over them.

Dana leaned back against Mason and pressed a kiss to his jaw. "Hmmmm...I'm just fine, Jake." She slipped away from Mason and came towards him with a smile on her face. She stopped just a few feet away, and tipped her head back to the sky. She wobbled on her legs and ending up falling against Mason with a giggle. "I love thunderstorms."

He knew that. She'd always loved thunderstorms, even when they'd been children and other kids would run inside to hide. Dana's parents would have to drag her in out of the rain and watched her like crazy to make sure she didn't slip back outside.

Smoothing a hand up her side, Mason steadied Dana on her feet before grinning in Jake's direction. "We were playing truth and dare." There was a smirk in Mason's eyes, a look that made it more than clear that he knew what Jake was thinking, even if Dana was blind to it.

Just barely, he managed to keep from sneering at Mason as he replied, "I stopped playing games a long time ago."

Dana giggled and wiggled free from Mason's arms again. "You should play more, Jake." She stumbled against him, braced her hands on his chest. Lifting her face to him, she smiled and pressed her lips to his. "Wanna play with us?"

Us? Reaching up, he closed his fingers over her upper arms, eased a few inches between them. h.e.l.l, he'd play with her any day of the week if she'd stopped seeing him as her friend, her old boyfriend from high school. "You look like you've done enough playing for a while. How much have you had to drink, Dana?"

She pursed her lips and c.o.c.ked her head. "Two margaritas. One. Two."

Despite the jealous anger burning inside him, he had to laugh. "You're such a cheap drunk." He slanted a look over her shoulder, met Mason's gaze. "I take it you're not worried about the electricity being out."

Mason grinned. "We're doing just fine."

Nodding, he let go of Dana's arms but before he could leave, she threw her arms around his neck. "Awww, don't go, Jake."

Then she kissed him.

Hot, full-on and hungry, she kissed him. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s went flat against his chest, her hands tangled in his hair and as rain pelted down around them, she just about turned him into a raving madman. Quick, hungry kisses, soft, strong hands pushed under his s.h.i.+rt and teased the skin of his back. Her soft belly cradled his c.o.c.k. She moaned into his mouth and then sank her teeth into his lower lip. "Come on, Jake...play with us. Just while the storm lasts...I dare you."

While the storm lasts...

He reached up and wrapped his fingers around her wrists, tugged them down. "Dana, you're drunk."

She poked her lip out in a s.e.xy pout. "Not that drunk...I just want to play." Her gaze slid down, lingered on his c.o.c.k, stiff as a poker and so d.a.m.ned hot and hard he hurt with it. "You wanna play, too, Jake. I can tell."

Tearing his gaze away from her face, he glared at Mason. "You want to give me a hand here?"

Mason shrugged, slid a hand down his chest. Rain continued to pour down on them in a deluge, running in rivulets into their eyes. "She's not drunk, McCoy. She had two margaritas and the last one was before the storm started. A good half-hour." His bare feet were quiet on the gra.s.s as he came up behind them, cuddling his front against Dana's all-but-naked back.

The soaking wet T-s.h.i.+rt she wore was no barrier at all. Not a barrier to the eyes, or anything else. She pressed against him and through it, Jake could feel the hot, hard tips of her nipples stabbing into his chest.

"Play with us," she whispered against his lips. She licked rain from his mouth and slid her hands under his s.h.i.+rt, easing it up. "Play..."

Jake was a patient man. But he had his limits. As Dana met his eyes, he reached the end of his. Placing his hands against her sides, he caught the soaking wet cotton of her T-s.h.i.+rt, stripping it upward. "What kind of game are we going to play, pretty girl?" he whispered, dipping his head and raking his teeth along the line of her neck.

She laughed and fisted her hands in his hair. "Whatever kind we want."

Mason's hands came around, cupped her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and pressed them together. Jake's mouth watered as he stared at those pink-tipped curves. He stooped low enough to catch one nipple in his mouth. The taste of her, rain and woman, flooded his system and he groaned. She whimpered and arched, pressing against him. Using teeth, lips and tongue, he teased first one nipple then the other.

Dana tugged on his hair, quick and hard. Lifting his head, he stared down into her flushed face. Cupping her cheek in his hand, he whispered, "Done playing already?"

"Not by a long shot." Grabbing his hand, she tugged him up on the small porch and into the house, out of the rain. "I've just got a couple of toys up here I want to play with."

Mason backed along behind her as she moved. As Jake cleared the top step, the other man wrapped his arms around Dana's waist and hauled her against him. "How many more toys you need, Dana?"

Instead of answering Mason, she tugged on Jake's wrist, drawing him closer, close enough that she could hook an arm around his neck. "Kiss me, Jake. I like it when you kiss me."

He kissed her-but not on that soft, pink mouth. Sinking to his knees in front of her, he stared at her p.u.s.s.y. The soft curls between her thighs were dark and downy, wet from the rain and from her. Sweet. He licked her. Her knees buckled and she sagged, her weight supported between the two men. Sliding his hands up her damp legs, Jake cupped her a.s.s and nuzzled her. Wet. Hot. So d.a.m.ned sweet- f.u.c.k, he'd dreamed of doing this again. Dreaming of doing just this very thing to her, over and over. Forever.

From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Mason's hand. Jealous anger twisted through him, sharp and painful. He wanted to haul her away from the other man, but he managed not to. Just barely. Blocking Mason's presence out of his mind, he caught Dana's c.l.i.t between his teeth tugged. She jolted in surprise and moaned. Her hand cupped the back of his head and held close, like she was worried he might pull away.

Pull away...not in a million years. s.h.i.+t, he couldn't pull away from her if his life depended on it. He was the one who should be worried... She always pulled back. Always pulled away. If he was smart, he'd stop this now. Before he got in over his head with her again. Before he lost himself in her again.

But he couldn't do it.

Rolling his eyes upward, he stared at her over the expanse of her body, the sleek muscles in her belly, the ripe, full curves of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Her hair fell in a wet tangle of her shoulders. Dana breathed raggedly as she stared down at him, her lips parted. He kept his eyes on her face as he teased her c.l.i.t, watched her as he s.h.i.+fted lower and started to f.u.c.k his tongue in and out of her p.u.s.s.y.

Watched as she panted out his name when he used his teeth, watched as she started tremble when he went back to stroking her with his tongue. Watched as she bucked and started to come when he sucked her c.l.i.t inside his mouth while he pushed two fingers inside her tight, slick p.u.s.s.y. He kept right on watching her as she shuddered and trembled through the climax and then he sank back on his heels and lifted his hand to his mouth and licked his fingers clean.

Mason's hands around her waist loosened and Dana sank down on Jake. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, sighing against his lips. "Jake..."

Her hands came up, pressing against his shoulders. She followed him down as he stretched out on the floor, straddling his lap. She leaned over, grabbing something on the couch and then scooted down. With her knees braced on either side of his thighs, she held up a colorful strip. Foil tore as she pulled one off and then turned her head. Jake could see the smile bowing up her lips as she smiled as Mason- Mason.

Dragging his attention away from Mason, he focused on Dana's face, the heart-shaped perfection of it, her cheeks flushed, eyes hot and wicked as she turned her smile back to him. Foil tore. Dimly, he heard another condom wrapper being torn open, but he was too focused on Dana, on the feel of her slim, cool fingers as she sheathed his c.o.c.k with the rubber. He jerked under her touch, hissing under his breath at the sweet, tormenting pain.

Cupping her hips, he hauled her closer. "You're killing me," he muttered, reaching between them and bracing his c.o.c.k, angling the head towards her p.u.s.s.y.

"Hmmm...it's fun, too."

Over her shoulder, Jake saw Mason as the other man knelt down behind her.

That was when it clicked. s.h.i.+t. They weren't...

Mason urged her down, pus.h.i.+ng against her shoulders until she leaned over Jake, her elbows resting on the floor beside his head. Mason's fingers brushed against Jake's and automatically, Jake settled his hands higher, gripping Dana's waist instead of her a.s.s. She wiggled against him and sank down, taking him inside.

Deep. Deep. So f.u.c.king deep, he could come just from that alone. It felt so d.a.m.ned good being inside her. Too long-too f.u.c.king long since he'd had this. She was tight and hot. The thin barrier of the condom kept him from feeling her completely, but still-d.a.m.n it, this was Dana. Finally. Finally, he had her again in his arms. Dana...straddling his hips and rocking against him, riding him, kissing him.

"Be still a minute."