Chapter Five
Piper stared at her hair in the mirror, uncertain what she should do with it. She loved the way the blue and purple streaks looked against her skin, but her normal, everyday style of slicking it back seemed too masculine for this. Its natural curl frizzed around her face, and she grabbed some frizz-be-gone and smoothed it into her locks. The magic substance instantly coiled the flyaway strands into tight corkscrews.
"I love it when you wear your hair like that," Baxter said, stepping into the bathroom behind her.
He was already dressed in a smart suit, and his gaze ran across the matching red bra and thong Piper had elected to wear. Her breasts spilled from the lace cups, ramping up her cleavage, and though she normally hated thongs, she wanted to feel extra sexy tonight.
"Piper!" Baxter whistled. "The fancy underwear tonight, huh? Are you hoping that we get lucky?"
"I swear if you say another word I'm hexing you to kingdom come." Piper put her hands on her hips and glared at him.
Baxter chuckled, reaching around her for his cologne as an excuse to nuzzle her neck. "Look."
He turned down the top of his pants, revealing a glimpse of red silk boxers. Piper felt a flutter of nerves and reached for her fit-and-flare orange dress.
She wanted to tease Baxter right back about wearing his fancy underwear, but she was far too anxious. Was this a good idea? She didn't even know if she could handle being in a three-way relationship. Was she leading them on too much?
"It won't just be tonight, though, will it?" she blurted. "If… I mean, it'll be for life. Just like you and me."
Baxter nodded. "Yeah. It will be. Which is why we want you to be certain before anything happens. I mean, you and me… we didn't really know what we were getting into. And I don't regret it. I love you and I love our life together. But it would have been much easier if we had realized what mating for life actually was before we mated."
"Yeah. I know. And the idea is appealing, but I don't know if it's a forever thing for me."
Baxter zipped her up and kissed the back of her neck. "Just don't do anything we'll all regret and it'll be fine."
Piper smiled, but she didn't know if it was that easy. How did she know what they'd regret and what they wouldn't?
***
Patrick's eyes gleamed with a distinct predatory look when he saw the two of them. He wore a pink silk shirt that stretched tight across his chest, thin enough that Piper could trace the contours of his pectorals and abdomen. He looked so yummy that her mouth began to water even before they got to the restaurant.
Control yourself, she thought sharply.
"You both look good enough to eat," Patrick said.
Piper wasn't sure if she choked out a thank you, but Baxter more than made up for it. Patrick escorted them to a limousine–an actual limousine–and opened the doors for them. Inside was toasty. One of the seats faced back towards the other one, and that was where Patrick sat, facing Piper and Baxter.
"Champagne?" he offered.
"I haven't eaten all day," Piper said. "I really shouldn't."
"You haven't eaten all day?" Patrick's mouth turned down and he gave Baxter a glare. "Why didn't you make her eat something?"
"There's no distracting this one when she's focused. She spent the whole day blending foundations to get just the right shade for her skin."
Piper glared at him.
"Not that that means anything," the Werewolf hastily added. "She does that every other week anyway. She is an artist, after all. She's very particular about her colors."
Patrick took them to the swankiest, most expensive restaurant in town. It wasn't that swanky or expensive when compared to what they could find in the city, but they served lobster, which was pretty expensive for the likes of the young, perma-broke couple. Piper's eyes nearly popped at the prices.
Thirty dollars a plate? This had better be good food.
She peeked over her menu at Patrick. How much money did he actually have? If he could drop ten thousand dollars on a couple of paintings, he had to be really rich. The Wolf League wasn't as nationally popular as human games, so she couldn't imagine he received a giant paycheck. The first date wasn't the time to ask about it, anyway.
"Oh my gosh!" The squeal interrupted Piper's thoughts and she turned to see a pretty girl standing three feet away, her round eyes fixed on Patrick. "Patrick Giles! I love you. I loooove you!"
Piper wanted to groan. Seriously? The girl was about to swoon, her hands clenched to her chest. Patrick smiled politely. The girl took a step forward, her face flushing.
"Can I get your autograph? To Kristal Clarkson, your biggest fan."
"I'll do better," Patrick said. He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a ticket. "For the final game. Already signed."
The girl squealed. "Oh, this is so exciting. Can I get a quick selfie?"
She had already whipped out her cell phone and Patrick frowned at her.
"No. I am having an important dinner."
"Dinner," the girl repeated as she glanced at Piper. Her eyes narrowed, her jealousy clear. She ignored Baxter.
"Now if you don't mind, I would like if you would let my friends and I discuss our business."
The girl flushed, took the ticket and scrambled away, shooting death glares over her shoulder at Piper. The witch twisted a napkin in her hands, feeling unnerved from the pure hostility in those glares. Some people were crazy and that girl was certainly one of them… she needed to get herself a proper boyfriend and stop being so obsessed with Patrick.
Wait, am I jealous? No… I can't be!
Piper shook off her thoughts and frowned at the hulking Werewolf. "Does that happen often?"
"Yeah, sorry about that. It happens more often than I'd like, but people usually don't recognize me without fur," he smiled easily, relaxing the mood instantly. "Have you decided what you want yet?"
"When did I have the time?" Piper muttered, but when Baxter snorted she flushed. "Sorry."
Patrick grinned at her. "Do you mind if I order for you? I think I know what you'll like."
It would probably be better if she didn't look at the prices. She nodded. "That would be lovely."
***
The rest of dinner passed without further incident. Piper had never tasted such delicious food before. Everything seemed to sing on her taste buds and she had no idea how she was meant to go back to plain old bread and butter after this. The creamy cheesecake–Patrick had clearly done his research on her tastes–the three of them shared for dessert was so divine that Piper ate half of it by herself before she realized that the Werewolves were just watching her eat.
Once they were back in the limo, Patrick surprised her by brushing his lips against hers. A jolt went through her and she kissed back, pressing his mouth open, demanding entrance. With a chuckle, he opened his mouth and their tongues danced.
Baxter pressed kisses to her neck and shoulders, slowly unzipping her dress. She let one sleeve come off, gasping when Patrick's hand cupped her breast, toying with the lacy fabric of her bra.
Oh, God! Are we really doing this? Piper forced herself to break the kiss and cover herself again, though the heat flooding her body begged her not to.
"I need to understand more," she blurted. "If this happens, is it just between the two of us? I mean, are you both going to be mated to me or will you be mated to each other again?"
Baxter slid back a little. Without his warmth pressed against her, she shivered. "I assumed we would… But I suppose a definite answer is needed."
"Of course," Patrick said. "That's the purpose of a trois amour."
His mouth caught hers again. Pleasure flooded Piper's senses, drowning out the voice in her mind that said she wasn't ready for this. She pushed herself against him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Baxter returned to her shoulders, moaning. It felt so, so good.
By the time they came to the house, Piper's lacy red thong had been discarded and Baxter knelt between her legs, his skillful tongue making her want to scream. Her dress bunched at her middle, Patrick was worshiping her breasts.
There wasn't enough room in the limo for what they wanted, so Piper hastily covered herself up again and the three of them rushed to the house.
The cold air slapped some sense into her, though. When the door closed behind them and Baxter tried to pull her and Patrick to the bedroom, she dug in her heels and shook her head.
"I'm sorry." Her face flushed as she saw the desire in the Werewolves' eyes. "I shouldn’t have let it get this far. I'm just… I'm not sure I can commit to forever. I'm sorry."
Both of them looked disappointed and Baxter wrapped his arms around her.
"I'm sorry, too," Patrick managed a small smile. "I promised I would be patient and I wasn't. I suppose I just didn't want to be alone tonight… if I promise to behave myself, can I stay? I'll sleep on the couch."
Piper bit her lip. She liked Patrick. She didn't want to hurt him, even though she knew at this point the only way not to do that was to accept him as her second mate. But would that hurt even worse down the road? Tears welled in her eyes. Why did life have to be so damn complicated?
"If I decide that I can't do a three-person relationship in the end, it'll just be more painful if we keep pushing things to be together."
"If I leave now, I might do something I regret," Patrick gestured to the bulge in his pants. "I'll take a cold shower and sleep on the couch."
"You can sleep in our bed with us," Baxter said suddenly.
Piper's jaw dropped. "But—"
"If we put on a show for him it's not mating," he said.
"But there's the same problem, that if this doesn't end well then—"
"Then we'll have the memories," Baxter interrupted and somehow it sounded like the most reasonable thing in the world. "I want to do this, Piper. Please."
"I won't touch either of you," Patrick said, his voice hoarse and deeper than normal.
Piper hesitated. Baxter always did everything for her. It was so easy to be selfish with him because he never insisted on his own way.
"I can handle it," Patrick added.
Baxter touched her lips. "Please."
His cheeks were flushed and his eyes were dark with desire. He pressed a kiss to her lips, so fiery and passionate Piper felt all her defenses breaking down. God, she wanted this night…
"Okay," she said. "But I hope we don't regret this in the morning."