Perfect Fit Series

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Caleb Black checked his watch as he exited his SUV. It was almost one o’clock in the morning. His destination was a lively Irish bar on the main street of town, owned by his brother Sean. He had been working later than expected but Sean and his wife Lisa were closing tonight, so the late hour shouldn’t be a problem.

Up ahead, the door of the bar, Roisin Dubh , swung open, emitting a man and a woman clinging to each other, clearly drunk. The woman’s laugh captured Caleb’s attention. Her long, thick hair was rich brown and his fingers itched to run through it. The man’s hand on her ass showed off her sexy curves to great appeal. For that matter, there wasn’t anything wrong with the man’s ass, either.

They stopped under a streetlight at the curb in front of the bar, hanging on to each other. Caleb chuckled as a wayward curl defied the man’s clumsy attempt to push it back and it flopped onto his forehead, the muted light picking up golden highlights in the light brown locks. His eyes tracked down over strong features to full lips that invited a nibble or two.

Caleb suppressed a slight groan as the woman brought one hand up to the man’s neck and rested her head on his shoulder. He wanted to feel that slight weight on his own shoulder. Well, on his chest anyway, she wouldn’t have been able to reach his shoulder. Something about the two of them together hit all of his buttons just right. He tried to determine which he found more attractive as he began walking again, heading toward the pub door.

The man started to fall, obviously trying to let go of the woman so as not to drag her down with him. She was just as obviously trying to hold him up, and not about to let go. Caleb hurried to reach them and held the man steady while he got his feet back under him.

Bracing one hand on Caleb’s shoulder, the man closed his eyes in an obvious attempt to gain his equilibrium.

“Thanks.”

Caleb looked at the woman who was eyeing him like a box of chocolates.

“Yummmmm,” she murmured under her breath, though Caleb heard it clearly. She put one hand out and laid it on his chest, her eyes glassy, her expression dreamy. She gave a tiny whimper and her fingers gripped tightly into him. Caleb worked hard not to smile. He checked her companion for a reaction, but the man’s eyes were still closed.

“Taryn,” the man said, then went quiet.

“Richard,” Taryn answered.

“Taryn,” Richard tried again. “Are we still moving?”

Taryn seemed to think this over for a minute, but then lost track of the question.

“Ricky, he’s so frickin’ hot,” she said, somehow under the illusion that Caleb couldn’t hear her. Her eyes hadn’t left his chest, but now they began to make their way south.

Richard blinked his eyes open, looked at Taryn, then followed her gaze straight to Caleb’s crotch. He licked his lips. His hand clenched where it rested on Caleb’s shoulder as he swayed.

“Taryn.”

“Richard.”

“Taryn, you are really drunk.”

“Okay.”

“No, I mean really. Are you aware that you’re staring at this nice man’s crotch?”

Taryn considered this. “Yes, but I don’t think it’s real.”

Caleb gave an astonished gasp, while Richard blinked some more. “It looks real to me. It looks real big. It looks real...” He licked his lips again, swallowed hard.

Taryn’s brows crinkled in confusion. “No, I mean, I don’t think the man is real. This is a dream, or maybe an hallucination. He’s like, our dream man or something, don’t you think? What’re the chances a perfect man would be standing right here, right now, while we’re really drunk?” she asked.

Richard started to nod his head and then started to fall over. Caleb stepped in closer to prop him up, bringing the three of them into a tight formation. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been so entertained by such nonsense. Drunk people tended to strike him as very stupid, but he liked these two. And not because they were attractive, but because they seemed like nice people. He snorted his disbelief at himself. His movement closer to the girl had gotten her hand moving and it began to roam his chest.

“Well,” Richard said. “Is it your dream, or my dream?”

This stumped Taryn for a good minute.

“Maybe it’s my dream,” Caleb threw in.

Taryn’s hand on his chest tightened and Richard’s moved down from his shoulder to his biceps.

“Huh,” they both said, then looked at each other.

“Do you know this hot man, and you’ve been holding out on me? Is he gay?” Taryn asked Richard.

“No. Do you know him and you’ve been holding out on me, worried he’d turn gay if he met me?” Richard asked in return.

“No,” Taryn said, then turned back to Caleb. “It can’t be your dream, you don’t know us.”

“I’m Caleb,” he said.

“Oh,” Taryn said.

“Huh,” Richard said.

“This must be your dream,” said Taryn. “If it was my dream I’d be naked by now.”

“You don’t think we’d be naked by now if this was my dream?”

“Oh. Maybe it is my dream, ’cause if it was your dream, I don’t think I’d be here right now. You don’t dream about me with other men, do you?”

“I never have before, but it seems like a fine time to start.”

“Do you dream about Richard with other men?” Caleb asked Taryn.

“Well, I had that weird dream where he was being stalked by that creepy doctor guy on that show Doctor England, MD. Remember that, Richard?”

“No,” Richard said. “I don’t think I was there for that dream.”

“And then there was the dream with that hunky action hero, from that movie this summer, remember, Ricky?” Taryn went on, not listening. Her eyes got wide and dreamy. “That was an excellent dream. You were still seeing Bruce then, so I might not have told you about that one. I was getting horny, because we hadn’t had s*x in like, six months. I had to go buy a new vibrator after that dream.” She closed her eyes, smiling as she remembered.

“Huh,” Richard said. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about that one. Taryn.”

“Ricky.”

“I don’t think we’re dreaming.”

There was silence for a few minutes.

“I don’t ever remember dreaming that I was going to throw up before.”

“Maybe you guys should walk down to the diner on the corner. Get some food into you,” Caleb suggested.

“How long have we been out here?” Taryn asked. “The taxi still hasn’t shown up.” She looked up and down the street in irritation.

“About fifteen minutes,” Caleb told her. “You should get some food into your systems, soak up some of the alcohol.”

Taryn looked at him some more, blinked a few times. Then the color washed out of her face. “Oh s**t. I’m not dreaming, am I?”

“Nope. Neither am I. Neither is Richard.”

She blushed. “I’m sorry, I don’t usually drink this much. I’m sorry we’re acting like idiots. You don’t have to stand here. We can wait for the taxi.” Her eyes were fixed on his chest, but not quite in the awe-inspired way as before.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Richard spoke up. “I think the food thing is a good idea, Tare. We should have thought of it. We’ll go down to the diner. By the time we sober up a bit, maybe we’ll have managed to forget that we’re idiots.”

“You guys don’t do this kind of thing much, do you?” Caleb asked.

“Proposition studly strangers?” Richard asked.

“Caress strange men in public?” Taryn asked.

“Drink,” Caleb answered.

“Caleb?”

“Yes?”

“I just wanted to say, before I get sober enough to care that I’m a fool, that I’m pretty sure I’ve soaked through my panties as well as my jeans, ’cause you guys are so f*****g sexy. Thank you. Bye.” With obvious care, she took her hands from both men, turned around and began walking toward the diner with only a slight wobble to her gait.

“Damn,” Richard said.

“Damn,” Caleb agreed.

Richard began to follow Taryn, and Caleb began to follow Richard. He pulled out his cell phone and sent a quick text message to his brother to let him know he wouldn’t be in tonight.

Taryn feared she was sobering up. She was not completely sure, as she wasn’t used to being drunk in the first place, but she was pretty certain that an hour ago she would have hardly remembered she’d said those words to Richard and a stranger, let alone be freaking out about them.

She walked into the diner and straight to a booth, sitting down with her back to the door, not wanting to see who might follow her inside. She managed a weak smile at the waitress who materialized and asked for a cherry Coke and a chocolate milkshake. Taryn put her elbows on the table and her head in her hands and stared down at the table.

She heard the two men slide into the seat across from her and managed, just barely, not to whimper. She was sure her face was still as red as the table, though. She heaved a huge sigh and sat back, her gaze straight ahead, right between the two men’s faces. Richard ordered a strawberry shake and an iced tea, Caleb ordered black coffee, and the waitress left.

“Taryn.”

A beat. Then two.

“Caleb.”

“You’re not allowed to say things like that then walk away.”

“I’m not?” Her brow crinkled. “Says who?”

“Me.”

“Huh.” Taryn looked at Richard, raised her eyebrow at him.

Richard just shrugged his shoulders and mouthed, “Oh my God.” Or maybe it was “He’s so hot.”

Either way, Taryn had to agree, so she nodded her head, looked at Caleb and said, “Sorry.”

Caleb nodded in return.

“Caleb.”

“Richard.”

“What are you...I mean, why are you...I mean, who...” Richard stopped.

Caleb looked at Taryn for an interpretation.

“I’m just as confused as he is. We don’t usually do strangers.”

Caleb’s eyebrows went up, Richard began to choke and Taryn’s eyes went wide.

“That’s not what I meant,” she squeaked.

“So you do,” Caleb purred at her, “do strangers?”

She whimpered.

“What she meant was, we’re kind of shy and besides, we think most people are irritating, so we don’t do so well at the whole ‘meeting new people’ thing.”

Taryn nodded emphatically, giving Richard a grateful look.

The waitress brought their drinks. Caleb looked at them sternly and said, “Food.”

They both ordered burgers and Caleb ordered a piece of cherry pie. The waitress left. Taryn tried to think of something to say that had nothing to do with s*x or strangers. She tried to remember if she had ever been so instantly attracted to a man before. Maybe it was being drunk. Maybe she should try that more often. Of course, with her luck, not to mention family history, she would be an alcoholic before the year was out. Probably not worth it. She sucked on her milkshake, eyes staring down into the glass, while she considered what had happened since leaving the bar.

“Taryn.”

She looked up at her best friend.

“He’s still here.”

Taryn glanced at Caleb then looked at Richard, confused. “Huh?”

“He hasn’t called the funny farm to come take us away. Or the prude police to come lock us up.”

Taryn considered this then looked back at Caleb. Almond-brown eyes watched her. The man was gorgeous—short, dark brown hair, his skin tan, different from Richard’s natural olive, as if he spent a lot of time outside. Muscular, but not overly so. She couldn’t get the phrase “tall, dark and handsome” out of her head. Her eyes began to glaze and she forgot what she’d been thinking about. The corner of his mouth quirked up as if he knew that.

“Ricky.”

“Taryn.”

She swallowed, caught in Caleb’s gaze. “I love you.” She couldn’t decide what to make of the flicker in Caleb’s face at that.

“I love you too. But?”

“But I’m about to melt into a puddle of goo, and he’s just looking at me.”

“I wish he’d look at m—” Richard’s voice jerked into a squeak. Taryn looked at him and his eyes had gone wide. He flicked his eyes down to his leg, next to Caleb.

“I mean, yeah, me too.”

Taryn nodded her head and decided she was done talking for a while. The waitress brought their burgers and Caleb’s pie. Nobody spoke, they just ate.

Caleb pushed his pie plate away and wiped his lips with his napkin. Taryn’s eyes remained riveted to his lips. He licked them then smiled just a bit when she gulped.

“Taryn. Richard.”

“Caleb,” they said at the same time.

“What’s your story? You two are...?” He waved his hand between them. “A couple? f**k buddies?”

Taryn looked at Richard and he nodded at her.

“We’ve been friends for a long time. After a few years, when we were both single, we started sleeping with each other. Sometimes one of us will meet someone we want to date, so we stop sleeping with each other. We’ve been doing that for about three years.”

Caleb looked at Richard. “You usually sleep with women?”

“No, only one woman other than Taryn, and it didn’t last very long.”

Caleb looked at Taryn. “You usually sleep with men?”

“I’ve never slept with a woman.”

“What about you?” Richard asked Caleb.

“I usually sleep with women,” Caleb answered, looking Richard up and down. “But I’ve had my share of men.”

“Together?” Taryn’s voice cracked so she cleared her throat. “Do you ever sleep with them at the same time?”

“A couple of times,” Caleb answered, “with two women. A couple of times with one woman, one other man.”

“And how did you find that?” Richard asked.

“Each situation was different. There can be...some confusion about who’s in charge.”

Taryn’s eyes went wide at this. She thought she might be bug-eyed at the end of this night. “In charge?”

Caleb’s eyes pierced her. “That’s right. What about you two—who’s in charge when you’re f*****g?”

Taryn looked at Richard, who cleared his throat.

“I guess you could say we switch off.” He flushed. Taryn wondered if he was flushing in manly embarrassment at not being in charge all of the time, or at the idea that Caleb would want to be. It was not something they had ever discussed, and she realized he was right. Sometimes she was more aggressive, sometimes more nurturing, while other times he took charge, or was especially sweet and caring of her. They had a good, complementary relationship and suddenly she wondered if they were endangering that right now. If something happened with this man, even if it were only for one night, would it change them?

She finished her burger and soda and moved back to her milkshake.

Caleb’s long right leg stretched out, coming to rest between her legs. Taryn was pretty sure the action was deliberate, but was becoming more and more sober, and less and less able to admit to how badly she wanted something to happen.

“Taryn.”

“Caleb.”

“Have you ever slept with a stranger?”

“No.”

“Richard?”

“Not since college.”

“Have you both been tested?”

Taryn’s heart rate doubled. “Rick’s a doctor, so he tests us every year, for everything, no matter what. I’m clean,” she managed to get out.

“Ditto,” Richard said, his voice thick. “And we made a promise not to have unprotected s*x until we were married to someone else and knew we wouldn’t be sleeping together anymore.”

Caleb waited, then looked at them both sternly, until Richard said, “And you?”

“I haven’t slept with a stranger in the last twelve years, and I get tested every year. I’m clean. I do not have unprotected s*x, ever.”

There was silence for a few minutes.

“Caleb.” Taryn’s voice was small.

“Taryn.” Caleb’s voice was gentle, soothing and in control.

“We’re not...we don’t...earlier we...” She gave up, took a long drink from her soda.

Caleb looked at Richard for an interpretation this time.

“She means that earlier, when we were so...um...outspoken, that’s not what we’re really like. If that’s what you liked...” He stuttered to a stop, licked his lips.

“Why don’t you guys worry about whether or not you want to see me again, and let me worry about what I want?”

They were silent again for a time. “Caleb,” Richard said.

“Yes?”

“Who are you?”

He seemed to think about the best way to answer that.

“You guys go to that pub much?”

“Sometimes we meet there after work, have a burger and a drink, listen to the music. We’ve never stayed that late before,” Richard answered, pushing his plate away. The waitress came to take their plates and refill Caleb’s coffee.

“Have you ever met the owner?”

“We met one of them, what was her name, Richard? Linda? No, Lisa. You were attracted to her, even before she got up and joined the band for a song.”

Caleb nodded. “Lisa. She and her husband are the owners, and he’s my brother, Sean.” He looked at Richard. “You have excellent taste in women.”

Taryn blushed.

“I grew up in the city, went into the military, retired, started a security firm, Precision Security, in Boston, with a partner. Moved here to North Fork last year when we decided a second, smaller office might be useful and I was getting tired of the city.”

The waitress asked if they needed anything else and left the check when they declined. Caleb asked her for a pen.

Taryn was losing steam, fast, and could tell that Richard was as well. He’d had a long, tough day, which had led to her encouraging him to let loose tonight. She had a feeling Caleb had realized this before either of them.

He took a napkin from the dispenser and handed it and a pen to Taryn. She looked at him for a few seconds, then at Richard, then down at the napkin. She drew in a deep breath and wrote down her name and cell phone number. She slid it across the table to Caleb, not meeting his eyes. Caleb handed it to Richard. Richard wrote on it and gave it back to Caleb.

He looked down at the napkin. “Taryn Moss. Richard Daniels.” He looked back up at them. “I’m Caleb Black. It’s been my pleasure to meet you both tonight. I hope you’ll have dinner with me sometime this week. I’ll call you, see if we can set something up.” He stood up, pulling out his wallet. He glared at them when they made to do the same. “Let’s walk back to the pub. There will probably be taxis out now.” He waited for them to exit the booth then followed them out.

They walked back toward the pub where they could see people getting into taxis.

“I’m going to tell you guys one thing, right now. I will not tolerate anything except honesty. If you like something, or don’t like something, if you want to have dinner with me or don’t want to have dinner with me, if you think I’m a controlling bastard or can’t wait for me to tell you to suck my c**k, whatever. Just be honest.” He stopped two buildings down from the pub, put one hand on each of their waists, leaned in and kissed Richard, long and hard.

Taryn thought she might pass out, she was so turned on. She had seen men kiss before, and it had been pleasant to watch, but this, this was so clearly foreplay and not just for the guys. Despite the fact that they were the ones kissing, she didn’t feel left out. Caleb’s hand inched its way higher, his thumb coming to rest just under her breast. Her breathing deepened, as if her breast was trying to coax his hand higher.

Then Caleb’s mouth fastened on hers. She tasted him, warm and hard, with a hint of Richard underneath. He f****d her mouth, plunging his tongue in and out and around. Normally she hated that in a first kiss, but the last hour had been working her up to this and she was so ready. He broke off and she couldn’t suppress a whimper. He chuckled warmly, his hands going up to cup each of their necks. Then his look grew stern.

“You two can sleep together, but no s*x until you talk to me, or you decide you’re not going to have dinner with me. I’m not going to be the only one not getting any, clear?” He quirked one brow until they both gave small nods.

“Be safe going home. I hope you answer my call.” Then he was gone. Taryn grabbed Richard’s hand and they walked to a waiting cab.