Tempting (Inked Hearts 1)

"Fuck, we must have orange juice or Coke or something." Joel jumps to his feet and bounces to the fridge. Even after pounding his drums for an hour and a half, the man is bursting with energy. He grabs a carton of juice, takes a swig, deems it acceptable, and returns.

He's incredibly smooth about pouring Kit a glass of OJ and handing it over.

I stick with straight vodka. It's bad, but rubbing alcohol–flavored OJ is worse.

Violet looks to me. "If Ethan can handle it, I can."

Joel shakes his head and fills his glass to the brim. He takes a long sip. "Almost decent." He looks to Violet. "You want to start, Valentine?"

Her eyes light up at him calling her by her last name like she's one of the guys. Have to admit, I wasn't sure how Joel and Kit would act towards Violet. Maybe I should be offended by the lack of loyalty, but I'm not. I'm glad they aren't giving her shit about walking out on me.

What matters now is getting her under me.

"Hmm. Okay." She only barely grimaces as she takes a sip. Her brow knits with concentration then her eyes light up. She's got something good. "Never have I ever had a threesome with a bandmate."

"That's awfully specific," Joel says.

"Drop the finger, drummer boy." She sticks her tongue out.

Joel shakes his head. "Sorry. I have a strict 'no fraternizing within the band' policy. But-" He motions to Kit then to me.

Both of us drop a finger.

Violet's jaw drops. Her eyes go to mine. "You and Kit?"

I swallow hard. Usually, I'm more than happy to flaunt my experience. At the moment, I'm worried what Violet thinks of me. I was quite the slut before we got together. She never cared but-

God dammit, what is wrong with me? I'm not fucking shy like this.

I clear my throat. "A few times."

"A few times!" She nearly spits out her drink. Her eyes go to Kit's. "How few we talking?"

"Few dozen," Joel mumbles.

Kit shrugs without a hint of shame.

Violet nods, playing like it's fine. But I'm not buying that. There's trepidation in her eyes.

"Wasn't a big deal," I say.

"Yeah. Of course. You think I haven't experimented since we broke up?" Her voice is confident but her eyes are still apprehensive. She looks to Kit. "That was a lucky girl. Or few girls. Or few dozen girls."

"Were they?" I ask.

She nods. "Yeah, that's quite a man sandwich. And four masterful hands—nobody calls bassists guitarists, but it's a bass guitar so wouldn't it be four guitarist's hands? I mean, that's a great deal." She catches herself babbling and takes a long sip of her drink.

Kit shakes his head. "Guitarists have no rhythm."

She laughs. "Is that right?"

Kit nods.

"Ethan lacking in rhythmic capabilities?" Joel asks. "I can keep a secret, Valentine. My lips are sealed."

"Uh-huh." She clears her throat, shifting back into a poker face. "I believe it's, well, it's someone's turn. How about we go in a circle?"

That means it's my turn. Need to get Violet thinking about how good I can make her feel. There. That's it. I look into her gorgeous green eyes. "Never have I ever had an orgasm in the ocean."