Slips

Drake has a bad habit of calling out the wrong name. Drake/Liam/MC.

The flickering candlelight painted them in warm gold. Shadows danced over the walls. Having taken the lead, Riley rose and fell over Drake, one hand braced on his chest. The chaos of the Homecoming Ball was far away. It was her and him and the pleasure climbing ever higher and higher.

Words had long ago failed. They communicated in sighs and moans, groans and whimpers. Her hand found his and their fingers laced together. She clung to him like as if he were her only lifeline. Her head fell back.

“Oh, God, Drake!”

And Drake yelled, “Liam!”

She realized what he said about a second after he said it. He did not realize it at all, if his euphoric expression meant anything. Riley waited, but…no.  He was completely unaware.

The post-orgasm glow was blunting a lot of the offense she could be taking. That, and having seen Liam for herself.

Still.

Riley slid off him, falling next to him onto the bed. Drake wrapped an arm around her to pull her against his side.

“God, Brooks, that was…” He fumbled for the right word. Riley didn’t give him a chance to come up with something. She fixed him with a stare.

“So you do remember my name.”

“What?” Confusion looked strangely endearing on him. Riley remained unaffected. She arched an eyebrow at him and waited. She was rewarded when his eyes widened so fast she was surprised they didn’t pop out.

She’d have to tell Maxwell that Drake made an excellent impression of a goldfish out of water.

“Brooks, about that, I swear, I…” Discomfort, guilt, and shame warred over his expression.

Riley shook her head.

“Drake, it’s fine.” She laid a finger against the furrow in his brow. He looked even guiltier. “Seriously. I don’t mind. I mean, have you seen him? I think of him too.”

“Oh. Oh.” Drake looked stunned. With a little laugh, Riley pecked him on the lips and pushed out of the bed. While she looked for her discarded clothes, Drake sat up.

“Wait, Brooks, what did you mean when you said ‘I think of him too’? When do you think of him?”

With a seraphic smile, she tossed his shirt and jacket at him.

“We’ve got a ball to get back to, Walker.”

“Wait, no, when do you think of him—”

---

The ceramic tiles of the bathroom still seemed to echo their earlier cries of Oh…Liam! Drake looked haunted. Riley was…

Well, honestly this had reached the point of hilarious absurdity.

“You realize that’s three times we’ve fucked, and three times we’ve somehow included Liam.”

That made Drake’s attention snap toward her with a frown.

“We didn’t mention Liam in the safe house.”

“No, but I was thinking of him. Mostly worried, some…” She trailed off, waving her hand. Water dripped from her fingers. “Are you going to tell me you weren’t?”

Drake shook his head. “No, but…” He reached out to clasp her hands. His face was serious. “Brooks, you know how much I love you, right? This thing with Liam…it in no way means I love you less.”

“I’d hope so seeing as we’re getting married,” she teased. Noticing his expression, she pulled herself across the tub closer to him. Riley wound her arms around his shoulders.  “I know you love me, Drake. I love you too. But I think at this point we’re past denying that we might have a little crush.”

“You call yelling another name a little crush?” Drake repeated skeptically.

“I was trying to be nice and not say you clearly fantasize about the King of Cordonia on his knees.”

Drake choked. Riley grinned.

“You’re absolutely right. It’s clearly the handsome commoner with the heart of gold waiting on his knees for his king’s command—”

“You’re killing me, Brooks. You are actually killing me.”

---

“I would like us to have one last fling before we’re married.”

Drake’s mouth dropped open.

“Oh, I—”

“And I know exactly who it should be with.” She watched understanding bloom across his face, followed by equal parts disbelief and anticipation.

“Brooks, are you sure?”

“I’m positive. Are you?”

“God, yes,” he exhaled as if an immense weight had been taken from his shoulders. She laughed and kissed his cheek.

“Then wait here.”

Smiling over her shoulder at him, Riley headed to the bar and the figure still sitting at it. Liam looked up from his scotch with a polite smile.

It was too easy to segue into her purpose when he brought up desire and temptation. She watched a familiar surprise spread across his face, eyes flicking from her to Drake still waiting where she left him. When Liam asked about Drake, she looked behind her too at the desire darkening her fiancé’s eyes.

“Believe me,” she said with a smile. “You are something we both want.”

She felt a flutter of wings invade her stomach when Liam pushed away from the bar with nothing more than a “Then what are waiting around down here for?”

She also felt a smug sense of satisfaction that she totally called this from the start.

When they walked up to Drake again, he looked like he was about two seconds away from doing his goldfish impression again. Riley took him by the elbow and steered him toward the elevators.

The elevator ride was torturous. An electric thrill of anticipation filled the limited space, and Riley wasn’t the only one affected. Drake and Liam snuck as many glances at each other as they did at her.

In her room, she let go of Drake’s arm and turned to Liam as he reached for her, one of his hand wrapping around her hip. She had forgotten how good a kisser he was. Riley was almost embarrassed by her reaction until the sensation of Liam’s tongue sweeping across her bottom lip wiped all thought from her head.

When his kisses trailed across her jaw and down her neck, she tipped her head toward Drake. He was watching them with a naked hunger on his face, an almost possessive jealousy — and she was not sure if it was meant at Liam or her.

Liam, too, was watching Drake, gauging his reaction. He moved behind her, his fingers finding the zipper to her dress, and caressing the skin left bare as he slowly pulled it open. As Drake did not seem turned off by the sight go them, Riley did not bother disguising the breathy catch in her voice or the soft whimper when Liam palmed her breast through the dress.

“Look at him,” Liam whispered in her ear. “That’s the man you’re going to marry. See how he looks at you.”

She moaned.

Drake abruptly pushed away from the wall. His arm went around her waist, but it was Liam he pulled closer, catching him in a hard kiss.

When they broke apart, Riley stood on her tiptoes to whisper in Liam’s ear, “I don’t think he was looking only at me.”

She felt his body tremble against her back.

Stealing kisses and touches and discarding articles of clothing, they made the way together to the couch first and eventually the bed. Drake called both right names, she noted distantly in her satisfied haze.

Entwined together in the knotted sheets, Riley relished the feel of Drake under her cheek and Liam’s warmth at her back. She ran her fingers idly through Liam’s hair; he and Drake’s joined hands rested against her hip.

“Thank you, Las Vegas,” she finally managed. She felt Liam smile against her shoulder.

“That was something else,” Drake said, a hint of awe in his tone. He sobered quickly. “But what happens in Vegas…”

“Stays in Vegas,” Liam finished for him. He didn’t sigh. “I know.”

“Maybe it doesn’t have to,” Riley disagreed, drawing both men’s eyes to her. She shrugged. “Look, Drake’s been calling your name when we have sex—”

“Brooks!”

“—and honestly, Liam, you agreed way too fast to this three-way to not have thought about it.”

“It would have been ungentlemanly to bring up before,” Liam flashed a rueful smile while Drake continued sputtering,“but now…there’s little point denying it.”

Riley smiled at both of them. “So, then, we don’t leave this in Vegas.”

Drake was staring at them dumbstruck.

“What just happened?”

Riley blinked at him innocently.

“We just improved your chances of you calling out the right name.”

“I swear to God, Brooks,” said Drake, but he was laughing. Riley and Liam dissolved along with him.