Tandem Unit Read online

  “And you chose me. Well thanks a lot.” She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. “Why me, guys? Won't any warm body do? All you need is a way to link to each other— a girl who doesn't mind taking…” she swallowed. “Taking you both on at once. Why not use a prostie-borg?” She felt the prickle of tears threaten behind her eyelids and tried to blink them back. All along they had just wanted to use her to make contact with each other.

  “Sadie, you don't understand.” Holt took her by the arm and led her to the couch and Blakely followed. Soon she was sandwiched between them, feeling the comforting masculine warmth radiating from both sides. “Blake and I don't want just any girl to share our lives. We aren't interested in using someone just to fulfill the link. It's true that only about one in a thousand women have the sensory capacity to handle the sensations of a T-link joining but there's more to it than that.”

  “Holt and I have been lookin' for a long time for a girl we both care about—both love. Someone we can share our lives with.” Blakely said, taking her hand again. “We started to care for you, a long time before we ever figured out we could bond with you.”

  “Bond with me?” Sadie looked back and forth between them. “What do you mean, 'bond with me'?”

  “It's how we were able to heal you last night, Sadie,” Holt told her earnestly, taking her other hand. “Your brain chemistry matches the composition of ours so perfectly that we've been able to establish a bond, a mental and emotional connection with you. It's not as strong yet as the T-link the tandem chips make possible between Blake and me but every time we touch you together like this it gets stronger.”

  “I … I don't believe you,” Sadie said weakly. A bond with these two? The two most handsome, fascinating, aggravating men she had ever met? It's not possible, she insisted to herself. But was it? She could feel the energy flowing between them and tried to pull her hands away but they didn't let her. Sadie felt her body reacting to their presence, to their need and hers even though she didn't want it to and wished that she hadn't been so hasty in her choice of clothing. The robe she had on hid nothing and she was sure that Blakely and Holt could see her nipples hardening with desire. Oh Goddess, their mouths on me, tasting me, touching me, making me come…

  “Close your eyes and feel it, sweetheart,” Blakely invited her softly. “I can feel you in my mind—taste you on my tongue like honey and I know Holt feels the same. The bond with you isn't as strong as our link yet but it's there all right or we wouldn't have been able to pull you back last night. Go on—close your eyes and feel.”

  Realizing that they weren't going to let her go until she complied, Sadie took a deep breath and forced herself to close her eyes. Concentrate, she told herself fiercely, determined to prove them wrong—to feel nothing at all.

  At first there was nothing but the warm, sensual current flowing between them. Then, in the back of her mind she began to feel a strange sensation, a doubling and trebling of emotions. A bright golden thread of hope and need like a ray of sunshine in her mind—Holt. A solid certainty, an unshakeable love, like a smooth, warm stone she could cup in the palm of her hand—Blakely. Need, desire, love, lust all crowded into her brain. A barrage of emotions she had never asked for and could not block out.

  “No, no! Stop it!” Sadie yanked her hands away from them and stumbled off the couch, nearly falling in her hasty attempt to get away. Too fast, this was all happening way too fast. Hell, she had dated Gerald for nearly a year and a half before he proposed to her. And here were these two, wanting her to submit to the most perverted scenarios she could imagine, wanting some sort of commitment when she hadn't even known them a month. No, not just wanting a commitment—forcing one. Merciful Goddess, she could feel them both in her brain. In her terror she forgot that she had admitted to herself that she was beginning to care deeply for Blakely and Holt, maybe even to love them both. All she could see was that what they were asking was too much too soon.

  “Sadie, please, honey…” Blakely appealed softly, leaning forward, the pain and need apparent in his vivid indigo eyes. Holt said nothing but Sadie saw the same pain reflected in his light blue gaze—the same need. Worst of all she felt it inside her mind. They wanted her … needed her. I need them too … No! She shook her head to clear away the treacherous thought.

  “Look,” she said, attempting to remain calm and deal with the situation in a rational manner. “I appreciate you saving my life last night even if you did use … some unconventional methods. But I didn't come on this mission to 'bond' with you or complete you or whatever the hell it is you're talking about. I came for a story and that's all I came for.” She took a shaking breath and hugged herself tightly, staying far back from the couch where the two men sat, light and dark, day and night, watching her. “Now I'm sorry if you got the wrong idea about me but I'm telling you for the last time that I'm not like that. I just … I'm sorry but I can't. Can't be what you're looking for.”

  Feeling her eyes blur with tears she ran back to the bedroom, hitting the door switch so hard that it slammed behind her and threw herself on the bed. Burying her face in a pillow that still smelled like Holt's fine, golden hair she let herself cry all the worry and fear and frustration out until she had nothing left inside.

  * * * *

  It was Blakely that came to her, rapping softly on the door to ask for admittance.

  “Come in,” Sadie said listlessly. She had an idea she'd been sleeping at some point but if so, her nap hadn't refreshed her at all. She had a dull, throbbing headache right behind her eyes that had settled in and promised to stay for a good long time and she felt completely miserable.

  She sat up in the large bed the three of them had shared the night before, leaning against the headboard, the prostie-type clothes scattered around the bedspread in a glitzy litter of fabric. She realized she still had on the ridiculous outfit that showed her breasts and sex and considered covering herself but then decided not to bother. I've been acting like a slut, might as well dress like one, she thought bitterly. It wasn't like Blakely hadn't seen it all before. Seen it, licked it, kissed it … She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the intensely erotic memory of having that dark, curly head buried between her thighs while Holt took care of her breasts, sucking and nipping so tenderly.

  At least Blakely was alone; they must have known that it would be easier for her if only one of them came. Easier and safer than having them both there, ready to start that sensuous, seductive energy flowing with a touch.

  “Hi, sweetheart.” He seemed subdued and moved slowly without the usual bounce in his step. “Can I … do ya mind if I sit down?” He gestured to the other side of the bed.

  “Sure, help yourself,” Sadie said. “I'm not worried about you sitting by me as long as Holt isn't on the other side.”

  Blakely winced at her comment but said nothing. Slowly, he cleared the mound of discarded clothing from the other side of the bed. “Sorry about these,” he muttered, gesturing with a handful of gaudy fabric. “I just wanted to get ya something new to wear but, well, the lady I got these from, she's a working girl. Guess she didn't know I wanted them for somebody who didn't … who doesn't…”

  “Fuck for a living?” Sadie said bluntly and he winced again. “It doesn't matter, Blake.” She hated the harshness in her own tone but wasn't able to help it. “Why sho uld I care about wearing a prostitute's clothes? That's what I've been acting like ever since I met you and Holt. Offering to trade sex for the chance to get a first-hand scoop on the story. Acting like a cat in heat every time you and Holt get me between you…”

  “Is that what's botherin' you, baby?” He scooted a little closer and turned to face her.

  “Among other things.” She looked down at her hands, letting her long hair hide her face. “I know you probably don't believe me after the way I acted last night but I've only ever been with one other guy—my ex-fiancé Gerald.”

  “Of course I believe you,” Blakely said quietly. “I could tell from the minute I