With or Without You Read Online Free PDF Page B

anyway.
    ‘I don’t have to be at the club for a few more hours,’ Nora said, gazing at the clock on her dresser. ‘So, I thought we might all get to know each other a little better.’
    This was all she needed to say. Dean moved over on the mattress, making room for me and, as if in a dream, I felt myself step forwards. ‘You thought,’ he prompted, and he gave me a look that was so utterly sexy I wanted to throw myself at him. I wondered whether he’d been sleeping while Nora and I had talked in the other room. Or had he possibly been listening? Did Nora ever talk to him about me? Did he know how long Nora and I had been best friends, and what I did for a living, and what my boyfriend was like – or did none of that really matter to him at all – the mere prospect of bedding two ladies at once enough information for him?
    Because clearly, that’s what Nora was planning.
    Dean looked me up and down, and I was once again aware of how hurriedly I’d thrown on my clothes, aware of the fact that my shoes didn’t match, that my hair was captured in its normal staid ponytail, that I was as plainly dressed as Nora was wildly decked out in her turquoise silk robe and multi-hued hair. But from the way Dean grinned at me, I could tell that none of this bothered him. He tilted his head from Nora to me to Nora again, as if waiting for one of us to give him the go-ahead. Nora did so willingly.
    ‘Look,’ she said, ‘Eleanor’s a little shy.’
    Dean reached up to snag the whisky glass from mytrembling hand and took a sip. ‘So am I,’ he said, and I started laughing. He’d definitely managed to break the mood.
    ‘Yeah, right,’ I said, suddenly finding the nerve to take one more step closer to the bed. ‘ You’re shy.’ The handsome man in front of me was entirely naked, hardly even bothering to hide under a sheet. Besides that, he knew for a fact that I’d watched him making love to Nora earlier in the evening, and he didn’t seem to mind at all. As far as I could tell, there was not one shy thing about him.
    ‘Really,’ he said, beaming at me. ‘It’s all I can do not to trip over myself when I walk up on stage.’
    ‘Come on,’ I protested, not believing a word.
    ‘I’m dead serious. My eyes are always on my feet, looking straight down. If I make a mistake and glance out there and see all the people, I feel as if I’m going to pass out. The very first time I was up on stage, I actually did – ask Nora.’
    ‘That’s a fact,’ she told me. ‘It was at Faux Pas. We had to pour water on him.’
    I looked down at Dean, wondering if they really were telling me the truth, or if all of this was a ruse to make me feel comfortable enough to take off my clothes. Either way, the trick was working. Here I was in Nora’s dimly lit bedroom, being charmed by a man I’d watched in motion less than an hour before – and I had no desire to flee. The thought of climbing onto the bed with the two of them was making me feel more than a little bit sexy. But did that truly mean I was ready to embark on a three-way? Something I’d never done before. Something I’d hardly dared to fantasise about.
    Perhaps …
    My mind grasped recklessly, uselessly, for some image of art that would help me. Art always holds the answers to my dilemmas. The swirls of colour on a canvas echo my emotions. The smooth lines on a sculpture soothe my soul. But for once I came up empty. There was nomasterpiece that could let me know if I should participate in a ménage à trios. What I needed for that was a Magic 8 Ball.
    ‘Eleanor,’ Nora whispered, her body behind mine, gently urging me forwards. I closed my eyes, trying to figure out what I should do. I wanted to sit down on the mattress, wanted to feel Dean embrace me in his muscular arms. As soon as I’d caught sight of the two lovers through the window, I’d had the desire to be on the bed with them. And now I had the chance.
    Still, it was difficult for me to believe that I was