Shameless. Tori Carrington

in his two best friends, the closest he’d come to any kind of real family, and he knew why he’d stayed. And why he continued to stay, trading a music career for selling CDs and working on a few CDs of his own that barely made it farther than the local college scene.

      “I’d better go take care of the last customer,” Kevin said in lieu of answering Nina’s question.

      Gauge shook his head again, having noticed that two of the browsers had left without buying anything, but the elderly woman who had kept her shopping close so she could listen in on their conversation had apparently been interested enough to add to her purchases.

      He continued strumming an old blues tune that his father had taught him when he was seven until Kevin had followed the customer to the doors and locked them after her.

      Kevin finally rejoined them, probably hoping that the conversation had moved on.

      Gauge had purposely made sure it hadn’t.

      As soon as Kevin sat down, Gauge placed the bottom of the guitar on the area rug and gave it a twirl. “Hey, Nina, why don’t you let Kev and I arrange that night of hot, anonymous sex you said you were looking for?”

      2

      NINA sat back into the couch as if pushed there by a man’s commanding hands.

      Gauge’s grin was dirtier than anything a washing machine and a gallon of bleach could clean.

      It seemed she wasn’t the only one looking to shock tonight.

      “Christ, Gauge, what is going on in that oversexed mind of yours now?” Kevin asked, picking up the book he’d been reading and putting it in his lap.

      “No, let him talk,” Nina said, intrigued. “What are you suggesting, Gauge?”

      The last thing on earth Nina wanted was to be predictable. Was it possible that her friends and partners were right and that she had been running in boring cycles for the past few years? Could her bad decisions begin as little more than basic, human need? Having gone without physical intimacy for months at a time, did desire cloud her judgment? Was she choosing men who were the most convenient based on their sexual attraction rather than on an equal balance of psychological and physical appeal?

      While she wasn’t one-hundred-percent ready to commit to the idea, she was willing to admit it might be a possibility.

      Gauge gave her one of his easy shrugs, pulling his T-shirt a little tighter against his biceps. “Nina, honey, you need to get laid. It’s as simple as that. And I think Kevin and I can help you there.”

      She looked back and forth between the two of them. “Do you mean…? Are you saying you think the three of us…?”

      They stared at each other for long, heart-pounding moments.

      “No….” Nina said.

      “I don’t think so,” Kevin said.

      “Actually that wasn’t what I was proposing, but…” Gauge said.

      Nina suddenly felt dizzy as she sank slowly back into the couch again.

      Wow.

      Okay, so her partners were hot. Gauge was John-Mayer attractive in a fundamental way that entranced women, who probably got home before they discovered they’d spent double or triple the money on CDs they’d never listen to while under his spell. He had a musician’s easy style, his jeans looked as though they’d been made to fit him, his T-shirt held the right mixture of alpha-male dominance and devil-may-care appeal.

      And she could look at his tattoos all day long and never tire of it.

      Kevin, on the other hand, was Hugh-Jackman hot. Tall and slightly bookish, he had an easy grin and a set of washboard abs that she imagined he got through coaching hockey in the winter and soccer in the summer, because she never saw him doing anything more physical than what it took to unpack boxes and shelve books here. His big, dark eyes were the type a girl could lose her footing and fall into and never want to come out of again.

      Yes, while she’d done her own share of bun-staring when they weren’t looking, as she knew they both did with her, she’d never really considered what it might be like to sleep with either one of them.

      As for both of them at the same time…

      “No….” she said again, shaking her head.

      Kevin looked at her curiously, as if surprised to think she’d even consider the idea of a threesome, and then looked at her again. “That’s the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard, Gauge. While pop culture may have become more pornified in the past decade, that’s way crossing the line for most people.”

      “You’re right. You think the three of us argue during tax time now, just think what would happen if we slept together,” Gauge said.

      They continued staring at him. He put his guitar down and raised his hands. “It was a joke, all right?”

      Nina didn’t buy it.

      “Okay, maybe it wasn’t. And I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve never considered guy-on-guy action.” He appeared to shudder. “But I think I may be on to something here. Give me a minute.”

      Kevin rose and picked up his coffee cup and novel. “I’m not giving you another second. Look at the tension the mere suggestion of sex between any combination of the three of us is causing.”

      Nina waved for him to sit back down. “Hold on, Kev. Let’s see where he’s going with this.”

      “Got it,” Gauge said, snapping the fingers of his left hand together. The knuckles bore the fading letters L-O-V-E he’d had tattooed on them when he was thirteen. “You don’t sleep with us—”

      Kevin interjected, “Smartest thing you’ve said all night.”

      “But we do arrange for you to sleep with someone….” He drifted off.

      Kevin sat back down as if incapable of doing anything that required any sort of mental concentration at the moment.

      Nina couldn’t seem to drag her gaze from Gauge’s striking face.

      “Someone completely anonymous. No names allowed.”

      Nina twisted her lips. “But how do I know I’ll be attracted to him?”

      “What does it matter? You won’t see him.”

      Kevin clasped his hands together between his knees as if trying to keep from slugging his friend. “What do you mean, she won’t see him? If we arrange for her to go out with someone—”

      “Ah, but that’s where you’re not getting me. I didn’t say anything about her going out with someone, like on a date.” He moved from the ottoman to sit in the chair next to Kevin’s, putting him closer to them both. “This is about sex, can we all agree on that?”

      Silence.

      Nina didn’t know how to respond.

      “About fundamental human urges. Look, we all agree that Nina’s made some bad choices because she has a tendency to go without for too long and then jump in too quickly as a result.”

      “Go without?” Kevin repeated.

      Nina smiled. “No, no. He’s got a point.” She gestured with her hand. “Go on.”

      “So we set up something where you won’t be able to see the guy, but he’ll be able to see you.”

      “What, are you suggesting she be blindfolded?” Kevin asked, looking more and more dangerous. Nina found it interesting that Gauge appeared not to notice his friend’s agitated state. Then again, maybe he did notice. He just didn’t care.

      “That’s exactly what I’m suggesting.” Gauge grinned and spread his hands wide as if his idea were the solution to all the world’s problems. “Nina