Three to Tango by Chloe Cole, L. C. Chase Page B

Jace, her Jace. Everything would be okay. It had to be.
    She opened the door and saw him dancing in the near dark, a man possessed.
    This was no polished ballroom routine, but a lyrical free-form expression of
    heartbreak.
    The tears that had been locked and loaded since he walked out finally broke
    free and streamed down her face. Salt stung her lips where she"d nibbled them raw.
    She pressed a hand over her mouth to keep from sobbing out loud. She"d done this
    to him.
    When the music finally ended, so did he, on his knees, arms at his side, bare
    chest heaving. The room was silent but for the tapping of rain on the windows and
    Jace"s labored breathing.
    “I know you"re there. I can smell you, Melody.” His voice barely a whisper.
    “I—It"s not what you think.” She cleared her throat and tried again. “I should
    have told you. I know that now. But I love you. We love you.”
    “ We . Who the fuck is we? You and your boyfriend?” He let loose a bitter laugh
    and stood, tense and guarded. “Is this the part where you tell me that neither of you
    meant to hurt me and that you hope we can all stay friends? God, Mel, I slept with
    him! And somehow, between last night when he had his dick in my mouth and
    today when the two of you were sucking face, something changed, and I didn"t get

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    the memo. So great for you. You win. Send your clothes to a professional laundry
    service and send me the bill.”
    The pain in his voice shattered her soul. If she didn"t convince him right now,
    she"d lose him forever.
    She walked toward him slowly, tears still flowing. “I didn"t win. Either we both
    win or we both lose.”
    “I don"t even know what that"s supposed to mean, and I"m not in the mood for
    word games. I"m going upstairs to take a hot shower and get some clothes. I"m going
    to stay at my sister"s until I figure out what to do from here.”
    “Dammit, listen to me!”
    He met her gaze with a challenging stare.
    This was it, her one chance to make him understand.
    “I knew you and Alec were going to hook up. In fact, he and I talked about it
    for a couple of days beforehand. He overheard us talking about our bet last
    weekend, and we…had a moment. We ended up sleeping together. I was going to
    tell you, but I wanted to make sure it wasn"t just a onetime thing, because I knew
    you"d be hurt. Then, we got to talking the next day. Alec told me he really cared
    about me, loved me in fact.”
    Jace"s indrawn breath made her rush to finish. “But that he loved you too. He
    said that he wanted to be with both of us.” This next part was going to be the hard
    part. The „Melody is raw and vulnerable, soft underbelly exposed" part.
    Rip it off, like a Band-Aid . “He said he knows how much I love you too, and he
    could tell by our kiss that we wanted each other. See, he doesn"t want to take turns
    or toy with us. He wants us all to be together. An exclusive threesome.” She
    swallowed hard and added. “And I want that too.”
    The silence was louder than the music had been, and endless moments passed.

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    “Why didn"t you tell me that you slept with him when it happened? You could
    have told me. You know me better than anyone. I have an open mind. I would"ve
    listened to what you had to say.”
    “It"s because I do know you so well that I couldn"t tell you straight-out. If you
    knew that I"d already slept with Alec, you"d have never agreed to the idea. You"d
    have automatically put him on your off-limits list and stepped down gracefully. But
    don"t you see? It"s the three of us that works. And I wanted to make sure we were
    all on level ground. If you felt like Alec and I were an established couple, it never
    would have worked. I know you want him.”
    Jace bobbed his head once, then averted his gaze to fix on the liquid lightshow
    that played out against the studio windows.
    “The question is, do you want me too? If the answer is yes, then I want you to
    think about