Three Times Lucky: Five Sizzling Tales of Three-Way Love Read online

  THREE TIMES LUCKY

  A BOXED SET

  Rebel Romance Books

  An Imprint of Irksome Rebel Press

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Made for Two Copyright © by Kim Carmichael 2014

  Darkest Dreams Copyright © by Solera Winters 2014

  Lucky Three and His Reward © by Chelle 2014

  A Perfect Fit © by Sascha Illyvich 2014

  Playtime © by Dorothy F. Shaw 2014

  Menage by Monday © by Louisa Bacio 2014

  Menage by Monday photo credit:

  Jenn LeBlanc / Illustrated Romance

  Cover Design by Khelsey Jackson

  Book Design by Tamara Eaton

  ISBN-13:978-0692329009

  Contents

  Made For Two

  Darkest Dreams

  Lucky Three

  A Perfect Fit

  His Reward

  Playtime

  Ménage by Monday

  She needed to prove she was made for two…

  Made For Two

  By

  Kim Carmichael

  Dedication

  To all the explorers…

  there is always something new to discover.

  Acknowledgements

  Tamara Eaton – My editor, my best friend, and an amazing person all around.

  Solera Winters – The creative force behind this great endeavor.

  Louisa, Dorothy, Sascha& Chelle – We rocked it!

  Teresa Neeley Martin - Thank you for taking Tre for a test drive.

  Desirae - thank you for being the perfect Trevini.

  Photo Credit - Image used with permission by Desirae Pifer

  Model: Desirae Pifer

  Photographer: Lucas Media Productions

  Chapter One

  “Damn the stars!” Trevini of Mersenne stormed into the lift chamber leading to her interplanetary ship. She slammed her fist into the wall twice before pressing the control to take her up. After traveling for three days to retrieve what was claimed to be a great lithium bounty, she would leave empty handed, the mission a complete failure.

  The slow hum of the lift soothed her some, but not more than the image of those waiting for her inside her humble vehicle. A welcome chuckle escaped her throat. The first time her two Earthlings entered the lift, they frowned at the mechanics, later admitting they hoped for some sort of instant teleportation device. Without breaking out into laughter and insulting the males, she explained how such things didn’t exist except in the multi-media productions they adored.

  Oh, the Earthlings. Known galaxies wide for their expertise in all forms of entertainment coupled with the brains to keep up with the rest advanced life forms, no doubt they made ideal life mates once they were educated and their inhibitions lowered.

  The lift stopped and she entered the sub chamber. She paused, closed her eyes and collected her thoughts, took an extra moment to calm down before she unfastened the latches on her helmet. Like all males, the Earthlings liked their females soft, sweet and sultry. Well, she liked her humans in bed pleasuring her, and she intended to finally get her wish before they returned home.

  Her heart sped with the same anticipation as when she rescued them about four Earth months ago, and at last she opened the hatch door.

  A set of hands dragged her inside and another pulled her headgear off. As a reminder she could hold her own, she swiped her blade out of its sheath and cut through the air. If she wanted, she could slice them in two.

  Markov Gauss, Pilot for the North American Space Coalition on Earth, shoved the weapon away. “Where have you been?” His eyes darkened, the beautiful brown turning almost black. Everything about him was dark as if he shunned the light. When she found him, his hair was a ragged mess, nothing like the short style his position on Earth required, but once she got him cleaned up and cut his hair, he insisted on combing it neat and straight back, showing off his face. His features were as perfect and sharp as the rest of him.

  “On the horrible piece of useless rock below us.” In search of his normal sparkle, she stared into his eyes.

  He lifted his chin, no glimmer of light in sight. “Pell, explain.”

  “You told us you would be gone for two hours at the most, you’re at least three hours late.” Pell Perrin, Mission Specialist serving with Markov, set her helmet aside and came forward. Though Pell was also gifted with gorgeous dark hair, it didn’t behave nearly as well as Markov’s, but he was equally as beautiful on a different plane. His blue eyes twinkled as if he hungered to take in any world presented to him.

  “I had some trouble.” Time and again they told her, no, they begged her, to rely on them, but one of traits she loved most about the Earthlings were how they allowed a female to hold her own and be independent, so unlike the Mersennian males treated their females. She returned her sword to its scabbard.

  “I told you.” Markov turned away. “She could have died down there.”

  “Are you all right?” Pell moved closer and swept his fingers across her cheek.

  Yes, they may let her be strong, but they still wanted to protect. She leaned into his touch. Too often they teased and taunted her with their stolen kisses and secretive looks, but they wouldn’t give her what she needed most. “I run these missions all the time alone.”

  “Not anymore.” Markov dropped the words as if he were stating a law. “You just told us you had trouble.”

  “What happened?” Pell took her hand.

  “Someone got the lithium before me, and I wanted to see if I could get something to replace it. I found some metal alloys that may be of use. Maybe the Figurates were faster.” Heat radiated through her at the way Pell rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand.

  At mentioning one of the rivals of her planet, Mersenne, Markov faced her. “Are you hurt?”

  “They wouldn’t have hurt me, they would have killed me.” With her free hand she pressed her palm to his cheek, taking in the way his stubble tickled her. “Well, they would have tried.”

  “Tre.” At long last his eyes lightened. He put his hand over hers. “It’s not worth it.”

  “What does it matter, I am not bound to anyone.” She glanced between the two of them.

  “That is not our fault.” Markov squeezed her hand.

  “We’ve made our feelings very clear.” Pell ran his hand up her arm.

  She shook her head. At first they both tried to be with her individually, a couple rather than a trio, finally they resigned themselves to sharing her, but even if there were three in a bed, she needed them to be a unit. “You don’t understand how this works.”

  “I think you’ve never had one male who can satisfy you.” Markov leaned in, his breath caressing her lips.

  “One male can’t satisfy me.” Their proximity only made her body ache. She slid her hand down Markov’s cheek to his chest, skimming his muscles, then tilted her head to Pell.

  They both inched in closer. While Markov lowered his face to her neck, Pell’s mouth neared hers.

  The energy between them heightened and she closed her eyes. “You’re mine.”

  “It’s you who doesn’t understand.” Markov straightened up.

  Pell lowered his head. “We are not your Earthling trophies
.”

  Earthlings were also too sensitive to words. “You know that’s not what I meant. We need to get out of here.” She did them the favor of pushing them away and stomping to the bridge of the ship. Owning another being was not only barbaric, but outlawed long before her time. However, she had to claim what was hers. Back on Mersenne, many male couples wanted her for her unique background, but she had to have the rare and gorgeous Earthlings. Everything about them was perfect. They set every primal instinct in her body she was told about but never experienced.

  She took her seat at the controls and began her pre-takeoff checks.

  “Do you need help?” Pell joined her.

  “I’ve told you over and over again that I fly these missions by myself all the time.” In fact, she was one of the first females allowed to pilot a space vehicle. She scanned the fuel reserves and life support system.

  “Yes, with only your robots for company.” Markov came up behind her.

  “Anthromachines.” She corrected. “And they are much better companions than the two of you.” The males had never seen robots like hers. Made to be true companions in every sense of the word, they were prized possessions. Something she could own and would obey. With the use of a simple program, she could have anything or anyone she wanted. She hit the sequence of buttons to start the rockets. “Fasten yourselves down, we can’t have you flailing around the ship.”

  They took their seats.

  “Did you compensate for the difference in your payload?” Markov asked.

  “Everything is fine.” An unwelcome heat encompassed her and she took off her gear and unzipped her all terrain jumpsuit. “I don’t need to be second guessed.”

  “If you want to change after liftoff, Pell and I can handle the rest.” Markov motioned toward the controls.

  “Why don’t I fly the ship and the two of you go play one of those games you are so fond of?” The rockets rumbled and she sat back allowing the vibrations to give her a makeshift massage. They had the universe unfolding in front of them, but she still caught the males staring at a little screen, laughing and elbowing each other as they played in some imaginary earthling land.

  “Hopefully you can find a little green alien to torture.”

  Neither man answered.

  She dug her nails into the arms of the chair. “Of course, maybe the two of you would rather play with each other and leave the females and the electronics behind.” They had alluded to their time in solitude on the isolated planetoid where they crash landed. On Mersenne, the more rare females were worshiped, flanked by the male couples she selected as the ideal mates. In their triad relationship they all enjoyed each other. The Earthlings needed to let go of their reservations. She had tried everything to help them, so they all could be together, but it always ended in a horrible fight. For some reason, her Earth males wanted to hide their attraction. Such a shame.

  “Trevini.” Pell’s tone took on a warning.

  The ship lifted off. She held her breath, the first moments always held a bit of uncertainty but thrill, but in perfect time the thrusters engaged and they sped away from the wasted trip and toward home.

  Once free of the planet’s atmosphere, both males unfastened their restraints and left. As usual she would run the mission alone.

  Chapter Two

  An annoying yellow glow caught the corner of Trevini’s eye, the signal to remind her to check a status. The commander’s console was full of lights, and in her half-asleep state she turned her chair away from the nuisance. Whatever needed to be attended to could wait for a few minutes.

  She remained true to the promise she made herself and didn’t approach the males, staying in her own bedchamber, eating separately, basically doing everything on her own. Neither even bothered to check on her. Rest eluded her, thoughts of them and unfulfilled need kept her awake when she should be sleeping. With the computers taking care of the majority of the navigation until they neared Mersenne, she spent the majority of the three-day trip alone dozing on the bridge welcoming any time spent in her dreams away from the never-ending silence.

  Right as the blissful calm of sleep took over, a buzz jolted her fully awake. She spun toward the console. The yellow light changed to red, and within the pause she took to scan the rest of the lights, the red light began to flash. Trained not to panic, but with her chest constricting anyway, she leaned over to discover the source of the situation. “Fuel?” Now? They only hours away from reentry..

  With a shake of her head, she went to the monitor and read the report. Her throat dried out and she forced herself to read a second and third time. Due to an overweight payload, they didn’t have enough fuel for proper reentry into Mersenne’s atmosphere. “What?” The computer should have warned her before takeoff of any errors. Several factors went into the calculation, so maybe they experienced some unusual drag on the ship or gravitational forces slowing them down, but she always accounted for such occurrences.

  “No.” She squeezed her eyes shut, replaying the takeoff. Her mind had been scattered, she wanted to get to the males, then they fought, and she never bothered to account for the new payload. Lithium was light. The metal alloys, heavier. While she took the time out snap at Markov and Pell, she never double-checked that she adjusted for the weight.

  “It’s fine.” She exhaled and went to the phase one fix. Drop the payload. Their lives were more important than the profit on her cargo. She ran the program to evacuate the hatch. The weight dropped and she reset the data.

  The red light continued to flash. A notice on the monitor repeated the earlier warning.

  “Can’t be.” She ran her hands through her hair and reset the data again. When nothing changed, she closed her eyes.

  At the academy they rehearsed for such an occurrence. She pulled her chair closer and began to run the scenarios to make her next move.

  The letters on the screen blurred as she tested different theories. Dropping more unnecessary weight, slowing down, and speeding up, but none of the scenarios ended with them landing safely on her planet. She pressed on, going to phase two solutions, including a search for any nearby place to land, and even calling for a rescue ship, but nothing worked. The fuel and life support would run out before help arrived.

  Phase three only included notifying mission control.

  None of her protocols had a phase four.

  There had to be a mistake. According to every calculation they had one of two choices. Soar into nothingness until life support and fuel ran out, or careen toward Mersenne and burn in the atmosphere. Trembling took over her body and her heart sped as if it would explode. In that case, at least her death would be fast.

  Wait.

  Her next revelation rendered her unable to breathe. Markov. Pell. The males. Her males.

  “Help me.” With only one place to turn, she ran out of the bridge toward the lounge.

  Rather than being met with the funny little chime of their game, they both sat silent in the small chamber at opposite ends of the cushion.

  She skidded to a stop in the doorway.

  They turned to her.

  “So she finally decides she has a use for us.” Markov crossed his arms.

  She bit the inside of her mouth. How did she tell them the news?

  “Mark, no, there’s something wrong.” Pell stood. “What is it?”

  As a youngster when she found herself in need, she always went to either her bram or rais, or what Markov and Pell would call her fathers, though she didn’t understand how they could be lumped together with one word. Her bram would coddle her and hold her tight, while her rais would tell her to be tough and teach her how to solve the situation. Her mena, or mother, would cite some precedent about how they were trailblazers for all Mersennian females. At seeing Pell and Markov standing there almost naturally fitting into their roles, she fought the urge to fling herself at them and beg them for help.

  “I missed you.” She cleared her throat. “I mean I hadn’t seen you and wanted to check on yo
u.”

  “That’s not the reason. Tell us now.” Markov also rose and made his way toward her. “Use us for more than a plaything.”

  “There’s a problem with the fuel reserve.” Though she wanted to turn away, she made sure to stand up straight and look them both in the eye before continuing. “I didn’t adjust the program for the new payload even after you mentioned it. Nothing I’ve tried will correct the problem. This is all my fault.”

  Pell dashed forward and took her into his arms. “It’s going to be all right.”

  “Did you drop the payload?” Markov grabbed her by the shoulders.

  “It was the first thing I did.” She searched his face for any answer.

  “Have you notified the ground?” He hammered another question at her.

  “Of course. I’m waiting for their response.” She prayed they didn’t notify her mena.

  “Let me take a look.” He slid past her and Pell and rushed toward the bridge.

  “I need to help him with the computer.” She tried to push Pell away.

  “Come on.” Pell took her hand and they followed, joining Markov in front of the main computer.

  Together, the three of them huddled in front of the computer for hours. Time counted down, each moment passing bringing them that much closer to their fate. They ran scenario over scenario without even a glimmer of hope.

  Pell took to pacing around the bridge and at last Markov stood. “Tre.”

  “No.” She stayed in her position, hands on the keyboard waiting for one of them to reach into their otherworldly minds to give her something else to try.

  “Why don’t we take a break?” In the first bit of affection he showed her since they started, Markov kneeled by her and massaged her neck.

  “No I have to fix it.” She refused to move.