Three In One (Teresa Book 1) Read online

  “So when are you and Jackson taking your relationship to the next level?” Adam asked Teresa who sat across from him in one of the bar’s worn torn booths. She looked up at him startled by the question.

  Good, he thought. Taking her by surprise might make her more forthcoming.

  Adam was one of Jackson’s longest friendships. He wanted to make sure his friend was doing right by the girl and himself.

  “The n-n-next level?” she stuttered. “What do you – uh – mean?”

  “Fucking, Teresa! When are the two of you going to start having sex?”

  Teresa almost laughed out loud at the thought. She reminded herself that Adam knew nothing of her past. Although he could see how ugly she was. It was a strange question to ask. She wondered why he asked it.

  “I don’t think that is possible.” she answered softly. Adam leaned in to hear her.

  “Why?” he asked. “Don’t you want to sleep with my best friend?”

  Teresa looked away at such a personal question. When she looked back at him, she could barely meet his gaze.

  “It really doesn’t matter what I want,” she told him. “Jackson doesn’t want to have sex with me. I don’t blame him. He knows my history and it doesn’t bring up a desire for physical intimacy. Just … disgust.”

  “How do you know this? That Jackson doesn’t want to sleep with you.”

  She smiled sadly at Adam.

  “He reminds me every day that I disgust him.”

  “How?” Adam persisted.

  Teresa looked down at her hands on the wooden table. She took a deep breath and then put words to the pain she felt. She looked up at Adam. He could see the tears in her eyes, but they were not falling.

  “Whenever I get physically close to Jackson, he quickly puts some space between us. Which I appreciated for the first few months we were together. As I learned that he was a trustworthy guy and I tried to get more … intimate with him hoping he would let me in closer. He did. To his mind. But he has never let me near his body though. He always backs away from my hands or … me.”

  “That sounds like he does it out of habit from the beginning of your relationship. Or maybe he wants you to keep coming, you know, chase him.”

  Teresa shook her head. “He doesn’t.” she said. “Because every time I try to touch him or get near, he gently pushes me away.”

  “No.” Now it was Adam’s turn to shake his head. “I don’t believe you. Why would he do that? It doesn’t make sense. You’re a gorgeous woman, who he loves dearly. He –“

  “I am not gorgeous.” Teresa interrupted. “I am not even pretty. I’m most especially neither of those things for Jackson. He loves me like a brother. He’s told me that. But he doesn’t love me like a man loves a woman. My touch and physical presence repulses him. Not so bad that he can’t be in the same room with me, but he is sickened by me. I’m pretty sure I’m a horror to him. I don’t blame him for not wanting to hang around with trash. The last ten years of my life made me unclean. So I don’t think ill of him for doing these things or believing what he does.”

  “I just can’t believe that this is true.” Adam said frankly. “Every time he calls all he wants to do is talk about you.”

  “To vent about how the stench was like that day.”

  “No.”

  Teresa looked around the booth and saw Jackson coming back with the sheriff in tow.

  Leaning in closer to Adam, she asked him, “Please don’t say anything to Jackson. I think it might embarrass him to know that I know. In the end it doesn’t matter anyway.”

  “I won’t say anything if you answer my question, do you want to have sex with Jackson?”

  Teresa bit her lip, wondering if she should lie or tell the truth. She didn’t want to scare Jackson off if she answered honestly. But she hated lying.

  She answered so softly, Adam had to read her lips. He smiled at her answer.

  Chapter 2

  When Jackson sat down on Teresa’s side of the booth, she scooted as far from him as she could without it being obvious what she was doing. Jackson smiled at her, which she took as approval for her movements. She smiled slightly at him and then broke out her real smile for the sheriff.

  “There’s that smile I’ve been looking forward to all day.” Sheriff Henry said honestly. Not that he thought she would believe him. “How’s my girl?” He held out a hand to her. When she placed hers in his, he leaned over and kissed the back of her hand.

  “Look how small your hand is in his!” Adam exclaimed. “How tall are you?”

  “6’ 4” Not much taller than Jackson.”

  “Are you younger than Jackson?”

  “36. Jackson is …”

  “41” he answered.

  “So just five years. I wonder why Jackson has gone grey already.”

  “Genetics.” Jackson supplied, wryly.

  “Genetics. You want to talk about genetics …” Adam began. While he talked he watched how Jackson reacted to Teresa. He wanted to see what she had told him in reality.

  Henry finally let go of Teresa’s hand. Before she could think about it, she placed her hand on top of Jackson’s hand on the table. She tried to hold his hand, but before she could almost form the thought, he had taken back his hand, leaving hers lying there on the table. Adam was astonished. He didn’t believe his eyes.

  Teresa moved a little closer to Jackson. He slid away from her the same amount of space. Instead of pushing him out of the booth, Teresa reached out to his shoulder, as if she were picking something off his sweater. Smiling he caught her hand and gently pushed it away and then swiped at his shoulder to get rid of whatever she had been trying to pick off.

  Adam stopped talking in mid-sentence. What Teresa had been telling him was all true. Why?

  “Guys.” Teresa began, taking advantage of the silence. “I am worn out from following the two of you around. I think I am going to call it a night and you both can have some man time.”

  “Will I see you tomorrow?” Adam asked.

  Teresa grinned and answered, “If you would like to I am sure we can arrange something.”

  “Good. Now how about a hug to tied me over?”

  Teresa was fearful about getting that close to Adam, a man she barely knew. It was reassuring to have Henry and Jackson there. They wouldn’t let anyone hurt her.

  “You were right.” Adam whispered to her as he hugged her. “He is an ass.”

  “No.” Teresa stood up for Jackson. “He’s just being honest.”

  “No. He’s being an ass. Because I am hugging you and I do not feel any revulsion.”

  “You and Henry must have some seriously good characters to not be able to feel my bad one.”

  “How do you plan on getting home?” Jackson asked after Adam and Teresa had broken up their hug.

  “I can walk.” Teresa answered not missing a beat.

  “No!” all three of them said at the same time.

  “Ok.” she conceded. “I’ll take a cab.”

  “No.” the sheriff said. “I can drop you off before my shift ends.”

  “Problem solved.” Jackson said.

  Chapter 3

  “Would you like to come in for some coffee or tea?” Teresa asked before she talked herself out of the invitation.

  “I would love some tea.” Henry grinned widely.

  “Hey Tanker.” Henry greeted Teresa’s pit bull shadow. He let out the strong animal. Normally he might worry about wildlife attacking, but Tank could take care of himself. And Teresa. The dog was her first line of defense, since she refused to carry a gun.

  When Henry and the dog walked into the kitchen, Teresa was already pouring the hot water into the infusers. She looked up
and smiled at him. It took his breath away to see her happy to see him.

  He was lonely. He suspected she was too. Could he be worthy of helping cure her loneliness? He was about to find out.

  “Here you go.” she said handing him a cup of tea.

  “Thank you.”

  He sipped at it nervously for a few seconds but then put it down. He looked at her with all his desire and wondered if she could see it. Did it frighten her?

  Teresa put down her tea. She looked back at Henry and for the first time in the 6 months she had know him, she saw him for the man that he was. Tall, gorgeous black hair, chiseled features hewn from golden marble, lithe and muscular. He had blue eyes, which were dark tonight, almost black, as they looked at her with – wanting? Teresa wasn’t sure about situations like this.

  “Teresa.” Henry said, his voice thick with his desire for her.

  The way he said her name gave her goose bumps.

  Chapter 4

  “You do know they are going back to her place to fuck.” Adam said bluntly to Jackson.

  “What?”

  “Don’t you see how they look at each other? He watches her like a hungry wolf. She is terrified but she wants to pet the big dog.”

  “You always were a terrible writer. Stick to your little ditties about Jagger.” Jackson waved his friend off. “Henry is my friend and he knows how I feel about Teresa. He won’t try anything even if Teresa wanted to do something.”

  “Henry may know how you feel about her, but she doesn’t know how you feel about her. So any opening she gets from him for some love, she is going to run through it. And the way he feels about her, he won’t stop her.”

  “You really think Henry would have sex with Teresa even though he knows how much I care about her?”

  “I would.”

  “No you wouldn’t.”

  “Ok. Probably not, but … I would be very, very tempted.”

  “I trust Henry. He knows how broken she is and isn’t ready for sex in a relationship.”

  “You are the only one who sees her that way. I don’t know what happened in her past. It did leave a lot of pain that she is going to have to process. She’s a tough lady. I’m pretty sure she can do that work while fucking someone. It should be you. I asked her if she wanted to have sex with you.”

  “No you didn’t. How could you do that to her?”

  “Because I wanted to know. For your sake before you have an aneurysm from not getting any.”

  “You’re kidding, right? Well. What did she say?”

  “I knew you wanted to –“

  “Adam!”

  “Yes. She said yes. Unfortunately the way you are behaving is pushing her right into the sheriff’s arms.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Chapter 5

  He reached out for her. She stepped away from him. He tried again. She stepped further away. Soon he had her against the refrigerator, with nowhere else to go.

  His large hands took her face and gently tilted her head up. He leaned down slowly. He watched her eyes go black with need and teary-eyed with fear.

  At the first flutter of his lips against hers, Teresa closed her eyes and tried to relax but her body shook from fear. She reminded herself she was with Henry. Henry wouldn’t hurt her. She could enjoy this, her first real kiss.

  His lips were so soft. For the longest time, he just kissed her very sweetly and gently. Gradually she stopped shaking and her body tension began to melt away. Yet as slow as it started, Henry quickly deepened the kiss. He took her lower lip between his teeth and bit down just hard enough to get a gasp. Then he thrust his tongue into her mouth and pulled her in closer to him. He lazily rolled his tongue inside her mouth, tasting the tea she had just drunk and an almost imperceptible suggestion of her own taste. He wondered if she would taste the same when he went down on her.

  Teresa heard him growl when she moved her tongue into his mouth. Thinking she had done something wrong, she tried to pull back from him. Henry pulled her closer. He intensified the kiss and Teresa wanted to moan in pleasure for the first time in her life. As he thrust his tongue in and out of her mouth, she felt a strong pulling inside her body, in her chest and between her legs.

  She wanted so badly to touch him. Yet she knew she couldn’t. To keep from doing so, she bent her elbows behind her back and had each hand hold the other side’s forearm.

  He finally pulled his mouth away from hers, but only for a second before he was kissing her neck. He was electrifying her body. She wanted to cry out with the sensations he was raising in her, but she knew she couldn’t do that. She unlocked her arms and brought a hand up to cover her mouth before she made any noises she would regret.

  Chapter 6

  “I didn’t believe it when she told me.” Adam began. “But then she showed me the truth of her words.”

  “What?”

  “You don’t like her being near you or touching you.”

  “What?!” Jackson repeated himself. “She’s the one who has issues with intimacy. I’m just trying to accommodate her.”

  “She tried to get near you and you moved away. She tried to hold your hand and you snatched yours away. She was going to touch your shoulder for 1 second but that was even too much for you and you waved her off. What do you think she is thinking?”

  Jackson shook his head. “She would be thinking that I don’t like her.”

  “No.” Adam disagreed. “She’s thinking you are disgusted by her.”

  Chapter 7

  As one hand kept her neck exposed for him, the other hand made its way down her back. He grabbed her ass and pulled it tight against his groin. After only 5 minutes of kissing, he was already hard for her. Hard as a rock. God he wanted to be inside her, moving in and out of her, hearing her moan with pleasure. He couldn’t wait to have her moving underneath him, scratching his back with the intensity of her orgasm.

  Chapter 8

  “I need to go.” Jackson said getting out of the booth. “Are you coming with?”

  “No.” Adam answered a smirk on his lips. “You’ll need your privacy. I’ll get a ride back to your place from someone.”

  “Ok.” Jackson turned to go but then quickly turned back to Adam. “Thanks man for this. What you did. Getting me to see reality. Keeping –“

  “Jackson, your welcome. Now get the hell out here and over to her place. Hopefully before they have started fucking.”

  Jackson turned without a word and practically ran to the exit doors.

  Chapter 9

  He took her sweater off. He tried to remain deliberate and slow, so as not to spook her. Henry knew she was still skittish. He also knew how strong a woman she was. To have survived what she had and not come out a vicious evil person, said a lot about her strength of character. Henry hoped that was where she was in her mind tonight. He didn’t think he could be deliberate and slow for much longer. He ran his hands up and down her arms. He hoped to relax her by soothing her with a gentle touch.

  “May – may I?” she asked looking at him with something like fear. Why would unbuttoning his uniform be scary?

  “Of course you can. You don’t ever have to ask.” he responded readily.

  Her hands shaking, out of both fear and desire, Teresa managed to unbutton Henry’s uniform shirt. She kept his gaze but felt like she was burning from the desire she saw in his now widely dilated eyes. At least she hoped it was desire. She’d never seen this emotion in a man’s eyes before. She had seen possessiveness desire, need for control and power, but never just desire for her and not over her.

  He began to take the uniform shirt off. Teresa let her gaze fall to his shoulders, chest, and then stomach. She looked everywhere her hands wanted to go.

  Chapter 10

  Jackson was pissed when he saw the sheriff’s patrol SUV still in Teresa’s driveway. He parked his own SUV behind Henry and quickly ran up the porch to the front door. He tried the door. It opened. Teresa always kept it locked. Unless she was di
stracted by something or someone.

  “Teresa! Henry!” he called out. He quickly made his way down the main hallway and into the kitchen. Henry was finished with buttoning his shirt. Teresa covered her mouth with a hand. She was wearing one of his t-shirts under her sweater, which seemed to be missing. She often did this. She didn’t think he noticed when she did this. Beneath this gray tee, he could see her breathing hard. He also saw that her nipples looked hard as pebbles, poking out, yearning to get out of his shirt. They would soon have the opportunity to do so.

  Chapter 11

  Henry pulled Teresa close against his body. He could feel how cool her skin was but not for long. He began to kiss her again. As he did so, he turned her around so that her back was against the kitchen island. He wanted so badly to push her over it and enter her from behind. He thought that might scare her into stopping.

  As soon as he heard her name called out, he stopped kissing her. “Damn it.” he whispered, angrily.

  “What did I do wrong?” Teresa asked feeling guilty. She also felt cold. Henry’s body heat had been keeping her toasty. But now he stood on the other side of the kitchen, by the sink, buttoning himself up. She hugged herself realizing that he was leaving.

  She wanted to go up to him and start their kissing again, but she didn’t want to risk the humiliation of him turning her away. It was humiliating enough when Jackson did it.

  She did ask Henry again, what she had done wrong.

  After he had finished buttoning up, Henry came up to her, his hands on her upper arms. He smiled, but it wasn’t a happy smile.

  “Was I that bad?” she asked in a shaky voice. “I can try to do better, if you tell me what you want me to -”

  “Shh.” He put a finger to her lips. “It was incredible Teresa.” he said softly. “It’s never been like that for me with other women. God you’re so beautiful. Somebody is here.”

  “What do you mean-“

  Henry pointed towards the hallway. She looked and saw Jackson. She wondered why he was there. She looked back at Henry. He kissed her on the forehead and then left her there in the kitchen.