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  Interchangeable

  Copyright © 2013 by Kim Carmichael

  ISBN: 978-1-61333-561-1

  Cover art by Tibbs Designs

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Decadent Publishing Company, LLC

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  ~Dedication~

  To everyone who said I could….

  Interchangeable

  A 1Night Stand Story

  By

  Kim Carmichael

  Chapter One

  “Is there ever a day when you don’t think about her?” Todd Shelton pushed his empty shot glass aside and glanced toward the entrance of the beachside bar. The last five years of his life he’d done nothing but wait. Mere minutes remained in his vigil.

  “I think about her every day when I look at my bank account. This whole thing is insane.” Cooper Montgomery slammed his glass down on the table and checked his watch again. “I bet she finds a way to ditch us, even on this ridiculous island.”

  “She doesn’t know it’s us.” Todd read his last text message. “Madame Eve said she only thinks she’s meeting with two men who are starting a business and want a woman companion.”

  “Obviously she likes two guys at a time. At least we’ll all be in on it with no secrets this time.” Cooper flagged the waiter. “I can’t believe that matchmaking lady agreed to let us do this. Her two-week screening process felt like an interrogation.”

  Todd scrolled through the texts from the 1Night Stand dating service. “She’s the one who suggested we try this as a trio.”

  Cooper squeezed the bridge of his nose but didn’t reply.

  “What? Are you backing out now?” The hair at the back of Todd’s neck stood at attention, but he forced his voice to remain calm, collected. If they were to move forward into a new venture, they had to deal with her. Everything always returned to Dahlia. “Not like you even tried to find her.”

  “You didn’t go scouring the globe for her either.”

  “No, I didn’t.” Todd glanced through the notes he’d made about the fiasco. “I needed to do a few things first.”

  “This isn’t one of your programs.” Cooper swiped the phone away, held it up and read the screen. “Actually, it is. I can’t believe you wrote an entire algorithm detailing how to get our business and Dahlia back.”

  Todd resisted the urge to lunge at him and retrieve his technology. “We needed to square things first.”

  “I didn’t go after her because I knew the money would be gone, and I didn’t have anymore to throw away on her.” With a shrug, Cooper handed him back the device. “She took everything and destroyed our business. We’re damn lucky our investors let us off or we’d be sitting in jail. Instead of walking away like two pansies, we should have gotten a warrant for her arrest.”

  “Madame Eve suggested that wouldn’t provide the satisfaction we need.” He gripped his phone tighter. “Anyway, what good would it do now?”

  “I suppose we’ll have to wait and find out. We don’t have to listen to anyone. No one is stopping us from taking any action we want.”

  With no more answers from his beloved technology, Todd slipped the phone into his pocket. “Why did you agree to meet her? You said yourself she was only a quick lay.”

  “Somehow I remember you calling her a whore.” Cooper strummed his fingers on the table. “Why are you here?”

  Every rehearsed answer echoed in his mind, but none fit. “No more limbo. It’s time to face her.” Heat rose in his face. For years he flitted around from project to project, but no matter how many times he ran his program, every path led to confrontation and closure. “We’re not finished, and it’s time to deal with her.”

  Cooper slid to the edge of his seat. “She needs to make up for what she did. I can’t let go, and I can’t move on. I want answers.”

  From the corner of his eye, a shadow caught his attention, absorbing the light tropical colors sparkling around the Carrington Caribbean Resort. Only Dahlia Adair would wear all black in a place where color reigned.

  “Now’s your chance.” On automatic, he stood as the host guided Dahlia forward. Unsure if he wanted to take her into his arms, or shake her by the shoulders and ask why she betrayed them, he broke into a sweat.

  Locating them, she stepped back.

  He balled his hand into a fist, primed to run after her.

  Cooper rose, his chair scraping across the floor.

  At the lazy smile on her face, Todd ground his teeth together. In the space-time continuum, minutes took on a meaning all their own. She approached with slow ease, no urgency or rush, but for him, her last few steps lasted an eternity.

  “Bitch.” Cooper crossed his arms.

  Yes, a bitch, a liar and a cheat. Todd took a breath. Also brilliant, she was the apex of the triangle that made him and Cooper forces to contend with in Silicon Valley. “Just wait.”

  As if walking a runway, she came forward. Even the lighting accommodated her, enhancing her every feature.

  Fuck, she’s hot. The five years apart hadn’t touched her. She wore her caramel-colored hair pulled back, showing off her huge eyes and high cheekbones. Only clear gloss accented her full lips.

  The dress she wore fulfilled its job, highlighting her copious cleavage and light complexion to perfection. In fact, the damn thing should get a raise.

  Once she reached the edge of the table, her distinctive perfume wafted around him, flowers and something he could never quite place.

  “When Madame Eve told me two men wanted to meet me, I thought it might be you.” Her green gaze took them both in.

  “And you still showed?” Cooper’s voice was stiff and sharp.

  “I could have been wrong.” As if deflecting any response, she held up her hand. “She said I wouldn’t be disappointed and to trust her.”

  “The fact is you’re here now.” Todd motione
d toward the empty chair between them.

  She didn’t move. “I didn’t have much choice.”

  Cooper pulled out the chair. “All you had to do was refuse or disappear again.”

  “And be left wondering?” She finally sat, crossing her legs.

  Todd raised his chin, signaling the waiter to bring their order. He and Cooper took their places on either side of her, completing their irregular triangle. Some things never changed.

  The waiter rushed to place three shots on the table, whiskey for him and Cooper, vodka for Dahlia.

  “You still drink the same drinks.” She lifted her glass.

  The woman possessed no emotion, her smile remaining unchanged since she’d arrived. Though only several yards from the ocean, the thick air threatened to choke him. This meeting might top the already overflowing pile of his mistakes when it came to Dahlia.

  “It shouldn’t matter. Last I recall, Cooper and I were basically the same person.”

  At last her smile dissipated. Without as much as a clink of a glass, she downed her drink in one swallow, never wincing or reaching for the lemon slice to ease the burn.

  “I think your memory is fading, Todd. I said the two of you were interchangeable.” She set her glass on the table.

  With a glare in her direction, Cooper tossed back his drink.

  “So why are you here?” Todd leaned toward her.

  In a signature Dahlia move, she inched her hand across the table to sneak his drink away. She always seemed to take what didn’t belong to her. “Why don’t you tell me?”

  He caught her wrist. “What if we proved to you we weren’t interchangeable?”

  Time stopped when she stared into his eyes, shifted her gaze to Cooper and back to him.

  “Maybe that’s what I always wondered.” Her eyes sparkled as if she’d uncovered a hidden treasure.

  He pushed his glass toward her.

  She finished off his drink as well. A slight shudder betrayed the alcoholic burn.

  Chapter Two

  The moment Dahlia received the email from 1Night Stand telling her two men wanted to meet her, the image of Todd and Cooper entered her mind. In her fantasy, she reunited with the men she’d always loved. Somehow, they forgave her for every sin she’d committed, and using their collective brainpower, figured out how to be together again.

  Instead, she sat between two men who appeared as if they’d received news the domain name they wanted was already taken after they built an entire website around it. The fantasy vanished and reality set in.

  “I thought Madame Eve ran a matchmaking service.”

  “Do you think you met your match?” Finally, Cooper looked at her, not beyond her. The expression he wore, jaw jutted out, eyes narrowed, lips hardened, was not unlike the one he’d worn the day he arrived early at her apartment only to find Todd leaving late.

  “In this case, wouldn’t it be matches?” Once the personification of a programmer, one who wore mismatched shoes and constantly brushed aside his mess of curly brown hair from his eyes, Todd had changed. Now his stylized crew cut and purposeful stubble matched his fitted jeans and trendy burgundy pullover. At least his blue eyes remained the same, half-closed and dreamy.

  The overwhelming urge to vomit or run away screaming matched the day she walked into the bank and withdrew the venture capital their business had managed to raise.

  Since the moment she stepped on the plane leaving her life and her loves behind, she’d both waited for and dreaded the moment she would be caught. They’d kicked her out and threatened to leave her with nothing. In her despair, the money served as a bandage, and she took every last cent since they owned her heart. Why couldn’t they understand she could never choose between them? They could have a three-way love affair if they gave it a chance.

  “You know what they say about matches.”

  Both men remained quiet, as if waiting for the incredible punch line to her joke.

  The waiter returned with a fresh round of drinks and an overflowing platter of fresh seafood.

  She reached for her drink. “You know, about getting burned.”

  “Don’t get drunk.” Cooper moved her glass away and picked up a plate from the stack.

  “Is there a reason you want me sober?”

  “You’re a sloppy drunk.” He held her plate while Todd filled it, selecting the shrimp and mussels, her favorites. Every time they ate together, they served her.

  “I thought you always said I was a fun drunk.” An ache filled her chest at their familiar actions.

  Cooper’s eyes widened and she held her breath, wondering if he remembered the night when they were determined to find out if alcohol did make one more limber. He’d always reminded her of one of those 1980’s heartthrobs, with his combed back, dark blond hair, glowing green eyes, and dressed in a timeless pair of jeans and white button down. A designer inside and out, no doubt he planned his outfit right down to his shoelaces.

  “It’s hard to remember what I said.” He diverted his attention to the plate in front of him.

  “Actually, Todd was the fun drunk.”

  “Are you sure you’re not confusing me with someone else?” Todd asked.

  She turned to him. “I’m confused, but not by who you are.”

  “Are you sure about that? How do you know who you’re even talking to?” He tossed his fork on his plate and crossed his arms, staring right at her.

  Cooper may have tortured her with silent acknowledgement, but Todd drove straight forward. Both shared her bed for months, she’d loved them for years, but when they confronted with her own deception, she defended her actions by calling them interchangeable.

  Rather than addressing his accusation, she focused on her mussels. Even their hard shell hadn’t protected them from the fisherman’s net. Maybe she and the mussels shared a few similarities. Somehow she always ended up trapped in a net no matter how hard of a shell she put up.

  “That’s a question I would love the answer to.” Cooper chuckled, one of those humorless chuckles he always resorted to when faced with a situation he didn’t want to deal with.

  A quick scan of the area gave her all her exit paths. Madame Eve promised her she’d be safe for the night, and the lady even arranged for them to meet out of the country. But instinct kicked in, shouting for her to flee, begging to be put in a witness protection program for wayward lovers.

  “Why did you go through all this trouble to get me here?”

  “We want what you didn’t give us before.” Though he tried to appear casual, relaxed, Cooper’s jaw twitched, betraying his tension.

  The money. No doubt the money. She took hold of the edge of the table, trying to stop her shaking. “What might that be?”

  “The chance to know about the other.” He strummed his fingers on his knee.

  Todd put a hand on her shoulder. “The chance to show you the difference.”

  They didn’t mention anything about money. Her stomach twisted at the way Cooper stared her down as if daring her to say no, and she shifted her gaze to Todd.

  His eyes remained clouded, half closed. The answer to her question came in the form of heat igniting between her thighs. She shifted in her seat. What were they offering, a challenge, a choice, or her ultimate fantasy?

  “What if I say no?”

  Neither man answered.

  One night with them. Her mind screeched to a halt. Instead of her dream, she pictured tomorrow morning, getting back on a plane to South America, returning to the small marketing consulting gigs that barely paid her rent, and spending her nights waiting to be found out. She needed to locate her spine and get what she truly needed out of the night. “One night and we part?”

  Todd moved in closer. “Isn’t this what you always wanted?”

  Yes, that was everything she wanted and planned for five years ago. Of course, back then it wasn’t one night, it was forever.

  Wait, she couldn’t want. Her wants didn’t count.

  What she need
ed was to get up in the morning without a bulls-eye on her back. She licked her lips. “No repercussions or retaliation?” They both knew her well and understood her question.

  Silence. Even the waves seemed to stop.

  At last, they both nodded.

  She took a breath. When she walked away tomorrow, she’d make sure she didn’t replace the bull’s-eye with a heart broken beyond repair, and haunting memories.

  Decision made, she pushed her chair back, and stood. “Did you get a room?”

  Rather than living her fantasy, she would give them theirs and take nothing more from them. No enjoyment, no dreams, not one more thing.

  Maybe she’d walk away with something she hadn’t had in years.

  Peace.

  Chapter Three

  Cooper forgot.

  He forgot a lot of things.

  Yes, he forgot about Todd, his brilliant mind, and his friendship. But, how could he forget Dahlia? The woman who could go head-to-head with either one of them and then challenge him in bed like no other. With Dahlia’s disappearance, he chose to remember only a failed business, false friends and a destroyed love life.

  He wanted to forget what it was like to love his job, and then Todd returned with a plan for a new venture and somehow they’d bonded over the past rather than having it lead them to blows again.

  He wanted to forget about passion, but the second Dahlia sauntered into the bar in her signature black clinging outfit, all he wanted was to fuck her brains out. He hardened just watching her ass and tits bounce as she walked through the resort property. Of course, Todd would be there as well. How the hell would that work?

  She peeked at them over her shoulder.

  Todd pointed ahead. “There’s our bungalow.”

  At the door, she spun toward them. While Cooper remained clueless, her slight smile told him she knew exactly how to play the game.

  Todd held up the key. “Ready?”