LAUREN

“Ouch.” Tara turns and glares at Stefano as they sit on the edge of the deck. “Lighter.”

Tara’s skin color matches the lobster we just ate for dinner. I told her to wear sunscreen, but being the stubborn person she is, she didn’t even bother. She gave me a line about her Italian ancestry and how the sun never caused her skin to burn. But this is the Caribbean, and even a pure-blooded Italian can burn.

“When I’m done, can you get my back?” Stefano asks her as he rubs the aloe on her shoulders, but this time much softer.

“Finish me, and I’ll take care of you.”

Stefano and Tara are a matching pair with their red skin and bullheaded attitudes. But they seem to work in the oddest way. Tara already told me that Stefano has tried to get the upper hand, trying to control every aspect of their time together. She quickly put him in his place and taught him how American women handle themselves. Surprisingly, she hasn’t scared him away, and he’s still panting after her like a little puppy dog.

He leans over her back but is careful not to touch her skin as he places his mouth next to her ear. “God, that sounds so sexy coming from your lips.”

Antonio peeks over the counter and smiles at me from inside the house. “Who wants something to drink?”

“Vodka.” I point at myself and decide I’m not going to spend our last night on the island stone-cold sober watching Stefano and Tara make goo-goo eyes at each other.

“Let’s have lemon drops,” Tara says over her shoulder, giving me a devilish smile.

Shit. I haven’t done lemon drop shots since college, and the last time, I vowed never to do them again. I’ve spent so many years devoted to my work and not having fun with friends while they barhopped and slept around that I quickly make up my mind.

“I’m in.”

“What is this lemon drop you speak of?” Stefano asks as he pours more aloe into his palm.

“It’s sin in a glass, baby.” Tara smiles at Stefano before shooting me a wink.

“Sounds perfect.”

“Let’s play a drinking game too.”

I glance upward, already regretting my call for vodka.

“What’s that?”

The cultural differences between our Italian companions aren’t really that noticeable until times like this. I’m sure Antonio was exposed to drinking games in college because frat boys are the same all over the world. But Stefano…he’s an entirely different case. I can’t imagine the Mafioso sit around coming up with childish reasons to down liquor in quantities that could be deadly.

“Well.” Tara taps her chin and pauses. “It’s where you play a game, and then you have to drink.”

“Americans are so strange,” Stefano says with a small laugh. “Why do you need a reason to drink?”

“Come on, No-No. Don’t be a party pooper.”

I almost fall off my chair when she calls him No-No. I cover my mouth and hide my laughter as she continues.

“It’ll be fun. I promise. That is, unless you’re scared you are going to lose.”

She threw down the gauntlet. A man like Stefano doesn’t like smack talk, especially when it comes from a woman. She knew exactly what she was doing when she spoke those words. They feed off each other, and for some odd reason, I find it amusing.

Antonio sits down next to me with a bottle of vodka in his hand as he stares at Stefano and Tara. “This is going to be trouble.”

“You up for it, Forte?” I lift an eyebrow and take a page out of Tara’s book with a little trash-talking.

Antonio smiles as he sets the bottle of vodka down on the table in front of him. “Mi amore, my baby bottle was filled with wine. I think I can handle anything you girls can throw at me.”

I twist my lips and laugh.

“We’re playing Never Have I Ever,” Tara announces.

“Ugh,” I groan. It’s my least favorite drinking game.

“Don’t pussy out, Lauren. It’ll be fun. We may learn a thing or two about these guys.”

She has a point. There’s so much I still don’t know about Antonio because they’re not things you can come right out and ask. But maybe after a few rounds, I’ll learn more than I ever cared to know.

“Bring it.” I snap my fingers and pray I don’t regret this in the morning

* * *

We’re six questions in, sitting around a table on the wraparound deck, and we’ve all had enough drinks to call it a night. That was if we were playing any normal game without the smack talk that got the ball rolling. I already know I’ll be cursing Tara under my breath. We have a long trip home, and the last thing I want to do is spend it curled up on the couch, praying for death.

“Okay. So…” Tara straightens in her chair and glances around the table. “Never have I ever had a threesome.”

I raise an eyebrow because I know Tara has had sex with more than one person. “Aren’t you supposed to say something you haven’t done?”

“It wasn’t a threesome.” She grins. “Technically, it was a foursome. You should know this.”

The vivid descriptions she’d given me come flooding back. She’s right; she was the fourth person in that group. I teased her for weeks afterward, but damn if I didn’t fantasize about being there in her place.

Stefano has his glass halfway to his lips when he turns to her with the biggest eyes. “Three other women?” He sounds so hopeful and turned on.

“Sorry, buddy. Three men.”

Stefano slams back his drink and sets the glass on the table before leaning over to whisper in Tara’s ear. She laughs, turning to stare into his eyes after he speaks. I don’t know what he said, but it made her face turn a whole new shade of red.

I peer over at Antonio and his empty glass. I’d been so wrapped up in Stefano and Tara that I hadn’t seen him drink. But I’m not surprised the man has been in a threesome. I’m quite certain, based on his past, that he’s had more than one.

“Drink the shot, Lauren.” Tara turns her attention to me because the bitch knows too many of my secrets.

I can feel Antonio’s eyes on me as I down my shot and slam the glass to the table. “What?” I say, feeling defensive. “It was college, and I experimented.”

I shouldn’t take offense at the stares. It’s not like any of them didn’t drink. They’ve all been in a group sexual situation, but I guess since it’s me, somehow it seems outlandish.

“Man or woman?” Antonio asks as I turn to face him. “For the third?”

“It was me and another woman with a man.”

Antonio rubs his chin as his eyes flicker down my body. “I figured.”

“You?”

“Man,” he says quickly.

I raise my eyebrows, wondering what that deliciousness would be like. Antonio with another man. Gah. It’s more than my brain can process at once.

Stefano raises his hand. “He’s sitting right here as proof.”

My eyes drift between the two of them, and my mind spins out of control. Maybe it’s the vodka or the fact that someone banged the brothers together, but my thoughts are everywhere.

“Whoa.” Tara’s eyes are almost bugged out of her sockets, matching my sentiments exactly. “That’s kinda freaky even for me.”

“Why?” Stefano asks.

I stare at Antonio, dumbfounded. He smiles with an easy shrug but says nothing more.

“’Cause he’s your brother. I don’t ever want to see my sister naked.” Tara pretends to vomit under the table. “It’s just…ew.”

Stefano laughs as he covers her hand with his own. “It’s not like I haven’t seen his dick before. I have the same exact one, love.”

“Was it just some random girl?”

I almost want to tell Tara to be quiet. I don’t want to hear anything more because, well, we’re talking about my boyfriend’s sex life. But then, we’re talking about his sex life, a sex life I didn’t know about, and I’m more interested to hear the answer than I should be.

“No. We dated during our last year of high school. It was graduation night, and we drank a little too much. One thing led to another and, well…”

“What a lucky cunt,” Tara says, looking down between Stefano’s legs. “You two ruined her for life.”

“My turn!” I yell, a little louder than I anticipated because all the threesome talk has made me uncomfortable and a little turned on.

“Fill your glasses, bitches.” I push the bottle of vodka forward and wait for Stefano to pour the next round. I glance over at Antonio and rest my hand on his leg. “Having fun?” I ask him because I’m torn between this being the best night spent with friends in a long time or the most awkward experience with my best friend and boyfriend ever.

Antonio stares back at me with a look I can’t quite place. Maybe he’s embarrassed about his brother, but they were kids. I did some stupid shit at eighteen too. I wasn’t too far into my freshman year when I agreed to have sex with my then-boyfriend and another woman. I never thought they’d end up falling for each other and I’d be left out in the cold. In all honesty, he and I weren’t serious and had only gone on three official dates when he broached the topic. I should’ve run like the wind, but I thought, what the hell? Gotta try everything at least once.

“It’s okay. I’m having fun,” I tell him and squeeze his leg. “Be ready, Forte. I’m coming for you.” I smile.

I lift my glass and peer around the table as they stare at me, waiting. There are so many possibilities. So many things I want to know, but I also don’t want to willingly incriminate myself either. This is about finding out their secrets and not divulging my own. “Never have I ever been arrested.” I smile because, hell, I’ve never been in any trouble with the law.

In unison, they lift their glasses to their lips and down the vodka before reaching for a lemon to wash it down. I add that to the growing list of things I didn’t know about Antonio.

This night is turning out to be full of surprises.

ANTONIO

Lauren can barely stand up without my help. She’s toppled over twice, and we’re not even three feet away from the table.

Tara’s no better as Stefano carries her toward the guesthouse, and she’s singing a very off-key version of “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses.

“Is an animal dying?” Lauren asks as she stares up at me with glassy eyes.

“It’s Tara, mi amore.” I lift her into my arms because I don’t want to spend an hour helping her make it to the bed. “She’s singing.”

She rests her head on my chest and sighs. “I wish you’d carry me like this always. It’s so much easier than walking.”

“Are you okay?”

She’s a little more carefree than she usually is, but that’s usually her way after so many drinks. Although Lauren’s been drunk in front of me before, even the first night we met, she’s way past her limit. Tomorrow, she’s going to be miserable.

I place her on the bed, and she sprawls out with her arms and legs wide, looking almost angelic. “Leave me here to die,” she whispers with her eyes closed.

“Are you relaxed?” I try not to laugh. The plan for this weekend was relaxation, and right now, she’s nothing but a pool of jelly. No, that’s not right. She probably has a higher vodka content in her body than water.

“I’m comatose.”

She starts to giggle softly, and her eyes flutter open. She stares down the length of her body where I’m standing over her, watching in complete amusement. “Get undressed.”

I raise an eyebrow and smirk. “I’m going to clean up outside. Why don’t you get some rest, and I’ll be to bed in a bit?”

With more deftness than I expect from a woman in her state, she climbs to her knees and places her hands on my chest. She bats her eyelashes as she uses her fingernails to trace my pec. “Take off your shorts. I don’t want to ask twice.”

“Love, I don’t think you’re in any condition to…”

She covers my mouth with her hand and leans forward. “You’re not my daddy. Strip and present yourself.”

I touch her shoulder, holding back my laughter at her stern sexy talk. “Where’s your whip?”

“I gotta a hand to spank you,” she slurs.

She sways, and I release her shoulders, letting her body fall backward onto the bed. Before she can say another word, I undo the button on my shorts and push them to the floor.

My cock is ready, standing at attention and pointing right at her. I like the frisky side of Lauren, where she takes charge. I don’t know if it’s the liquor talking tonight, but I’m not going to try to talk her out of it again.

“Come here.” She motions with her hands, still lying flat on her back but staring down her body at me.

I climb onto the bed, inching my way up between her legs with the biggest smile because she can barely focus and will most likely pass out before we even start to fuck.

“Not like that. Climb up here. I want to suck that beautiful cock.”

I straddle her waist, careful not to crush her with my knees as I move forward. “On your back?”

Her face grows serious. “Don’t question me.”

I hover over her chest with my cock just inches from her mouth. She licks her lips and places her warm hands on my ass, groping me roughly.

“You’re always ready, Forte.”

I place my hands on my hips, letting my cock bob in her face. When it comes to Lauren, I’m always ready for anything she has to offer, especially when she wants to suck my dick.

I can tell the angle is all wrong. The only thing I’ll be doing is smacking the roof of her mouth. I grab a pillow and lift her head, all while my cock is doing a mad dash for her lips like it has a mind of its own.

She wraps her tiny hands around my shaft and yanks me forward. “Closer,” she says in a deep, sultry tone.

I’d laugh at her behavior if my cock weren’t so close to her teeth and she weren’t drunk. I inch forward, careful not to suffocate her, but I don’t see how this is going to work with her hand-to-eye coordination at record lows.

“Lauren, I…”

Her snore echoes through the room as her hand falls away from my ass and plops on the bed to her side. The ride was good while it lasted. It could’ve been sexy if she were sober, but I know that tomorrow she’s going to be in more pain than I am now.

I climb off the bed and adjust her so she’s lying down the length of the bed instead of having her feet dangle off the edge.

The weekend hasn’t been a total bust. Lauren and Tara had fun, even though a majority of it was alcohol-induced. If nothing else, we learned more about each other, and I felt like my brother was finally turning a corner in his life.