Next to him, Aidan voiced his agreement, then turned to Claire and said, “Come on, McKinley, you can’t expect us to buy this tree.”
“I can, and you will,” she said sternly.
She didn’t care that both men were looking at her like she’d grown a mustache. Out of all the trees in the lot, this seven-foot evergreen was the one she’d set her sights on, and she wasn’t going anywhere until that tree was strapped to the top of Aidan’s SUV.
Dylan let out an exaggerated sigh. “This is really the one you want? Really?”
“Yes.”
“But it’s all patchy—that entire branch over there has no needles!”
“Don’t care.”
“And it leans to the right. Who wants a Leaning-Tower-of-Pisa tree?”
“I do.” She crossed her arms. “Look, you know nobody else is going to buy this tree. Don’t you think it deserves a good home?”
“It deserves to be tossed in a wood chipper,” Dylan retorted.
“You deserve to be tossed in a wood chipper.”
He raised his eyebrows. “That’s your best comeback?”
“Children, please.” Aidan raised his hand to silence them, then glanced over at her again. “I’ll make you a deal. We’ll buy this tree, but only if Dylan and I get to bail on the Walmart portion of the day. I’ll give you my car keys and you can get the decorations and gift wrap by yourself.”
She beamed. “Deal.”
“I can’t believe you’re humoring her,” Dylan muttered. “Come on, man, this tree is going to look shitty in the condo.”
“You’re going to look shitty in the condo,” Claire said sweetly.
“Wow, another solid comeback, McKinley.”
“Thank you.” She caught the attention of the lone attendant in the lot and waved him over. “We’ll take this one,” she called, pointing to the neglected tree.
Dylan grumbled the entire time it took to pay the attendant, haul the tree to the car and secure it on the roof.
Claire, on the other hand, felt triumphant and pretty damn happy. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had so much fun. These past couple of days with Dylan and Aidan had been a total blast—well, if you ignored the sexual tension that continued to hover over the three of them like a canopy.
But just like Aidan had promised, neither man had tried to change her mind about the crazy threesome subject that had been broached.
Funny thing was, she was as disappointed as she was relieved. She knew they both still desired her; their hot gazes followed her all over the condo, and with Dylan doing classroom training at the base all week and coming home with Aidan at four o’clock every day, the three of them had been spending a lot of time together. Having dinner. Watching movies. Kicking ass in Call of Duty on the boys’ PS3.
All very innocuous activities, and yet Claire was liable to self-combust any day now. Memories of her encounter with Dylan continued to haunt her, mingling with the memory of Aidan’s kiss. The carnal images even followed her into slumber—she’d had so many dream orgasms she’d lost count.
God, how was it possible to feel such overpowering desire for two men? Equal desire, to boot, because she wasn’t drawn to one man more than the other, and as troubling as it was, when the three of them were together, she felt like everything…made sense.
Which made no sense, damn it!
“Oh, so now you’re a Silent Susie after making us listen to you babble about that tree for the past forty-five minutes?”
Dylan’s sarcastic voice brought a much-needed interruption to her crazy thoughts. “Sorry, did you say something?” she asked.
“I asked if you were cool with Sal’s Diner for lunch. We’re in the mood for breakfast food.”
“I’m fine with that.”
“Good, let’s get this show on the road then.” Dylan proceeded to prove that his gentlemanly nature didn’t extend to seating arrangements by shouting out, “Shotgun!”
Since he beat her to it, Claire grudgingly got into the backseat, while he turned to gloat at her from the passenger seat.
Aidan slid behind the wheel, started the car, and a moment later, the tree lot was nothing but a speck in the rearview mirror. When they came to a stop at a red light, Aidan glanced at the festively decorated storefronts in the plaza to their left, then mumbled something that sounded like “California Christmas”.
Claire was perplexed. “Did you just say ‘California Christmas’?”
Dylan twisted around to grin at her. “Don’t mind him. He’s got this idiotic idea that Christmas doesn’t count unless it’s celebrated in Antarctica.”
“Snow,” Aidan burst out. “It’s not Christmas without snow.”
Claire laughed. “Oh, you poor East-Coast baby.”
“Have either of you even experienced a snowy Christmas?” he challenged.
“No,” she admitted.
“I have.” Dylan sounded smug. “A couple of years ago the team went wheels-up two days before Christmas, got sent to frickin’ Russia, and I can’t emphasize how cold and unpleasant that experience was.”
“Well, no duh,” Aidan retorted. “You were carrying out an op—of course you didn’t get to appreciate the snow. You need to be in the holiday spirit in order to get the full effect.”
“Naah, I’d rather just celebrate in the sunshine, open some presents and then hit the beach.”