“That’s okay. Seriously. We can always get that from each other. We’ve had to be switchy and found it kind of suits us.”
“What exactly does that mean, anyway? You guys said that before.”
“It means we can be flexible. Top, bottom, whatever. Some people have really ritualized, strict rules with their BDSM dynamics. That’s not us. Janis was a sadist, but she was also a sensual Dominant. We had some protocols and rituals with her, but because of her job, she didn’t have the time or desire to micromanage our lives. So we’re flexible and happy taking this at your speed.”
“What if I decide I just want boyfriends and not the other…stuff?”
“Do you have a problem with boyfriends who like to do things for you?”
“No, but there might be times I don’t want to be in charge, you know?”
He stepped over to her and she had to tip her head back to look into his sweet brown eyes. “We’re good with that, too.”
Holy hell.
Yeah, there was definitely nothing wimpy about this guy. Today he wore a pair of running shorts and a T-shirt. He’d wrapped the wound on his leg with blue vet wrap, and he stood close enough she felt the bulge of the dressing pressed against her thigh through her jeans.
She glanced down and realized that wasn’t the only bulge pressing against her.
Swallowing hard, she looked up again and caught his smile. “Submissive doesn’t mean doormat,” he said, his lips just inches from hers. “So if you say you want us to take charge in certain ways, we’ll be happy to oblige you, Ma’am.”
Before she realized what she was doing, she’d reached up, cupped a hand around the back of his neck, and closed the distance between them for a kiss that had her softly moaning into his mouth.
A kiss she realized she was in control of, that he wasn’t pushing. She was the one swiping her tongue along the seam of his lips, looking for more, to deepen it. It was her throwing her arms around his neck and pressing her body against his. Her heart pounded against her ribcage as his arms slid around her, his hands skimming down her back to settle on her ass, his fingers tucking into the back pockets of her jeans.
Ooohh, yes, baby.
That was definitely a nice, hard, generous bulge she felt right there, in that perfect space, pressing against the juncture between her thighs.
Finally, he was the one who lifted his lips from hers even as she tried to follow him. “If you don’t finish your breakfast, Ma’am,” he hoarsely said, “it’s going to get cold.”
“What if I want you for breakfast?”
She pulled him down for another kiss. Now she was rubbing herself against him, having hooked her right leg around his left so she could rub against his uninjured thigh.
Holy hell, if he was this good and they were still dressed, she could only imagine what he’d be like in bed.
How long, exactly, had it been since she’d been laid?
A long fucking time, by her best calculations.
He finally made her come up for air again, his forehead pressed against hers. “Ma’am,” he whispered. “I really want to do more, but we have to talk about this first. All three of us, together. And you have to go to work today.”
“How can you even think right now?”
“It ain’t easy,” he said, pulling her in for a hug, tight against his body, but his chin resting on the top of her head.
That left her only able to nip at his T-shirt.
He let out a chuckle. “I would love nothing more than to put you up on this counter, get between your legs, and spend all morning eating you out before fucking your brains out, but we can’t. Not right now.”
“That sounds like a damn good idea to me. I can call in. Mitchell will let me. Especially for such a great reason as getting laid.”
His hands withdrew from her pockets and instead cupped her face, preventing her from going in for another kiss when he met her gaze. “We haven’t discussed protection, or testing, or ground rules, or anything. And I’m a package deal.”
“You have a nice-looking package, all right.”
He grinned. “Thank you, Ma’am. I hope you’ll be pleased with it when you see it up close and personal. But Garrison has to be part of this discussion.” He frowned. “You are attracted to him, I hope.”
“Hell, yeah.”
“Okay, good. Because that’s a deal-breaker. It’s both, or neither of us.”
“I would never think of separating you two.”
“Good.” His thumbs stroked her cheeks. “I’ll text him that we need to have a talk tonight. We haven’t been with anyone except each other, and Janis, in years. But occupational hazard, I want to get a full round of testing done for all three of us. Hep, STDs, HIV, all that. Done and out of the way. And are you on the pill?”
She fought and lost against the urge to pout. “No.” Hell, she hadn’t been laid in forever. She’d let her script for it lapse and hadn’t gotten it refilled.
“So there’s another point.”
“Sorry.” She felt a little stupid now that the blood was starting to flow out of her clit and pussy and back to her brain again. “It’s just been a damn long time since I’ve…you know.”
One thumb paused over her lips and she didn’t hesitate to open them and suck it into her mouth, swiping her tongue over it as she met his gaze head-on.
“Well, that we can take care of for you even before we get test results and you’re back on the pill. But we have to talk first.”
She released his thumb. “I guess a few more days won’t kill me,” she grumbled.
He grinned. “Oh, sweetie. I mean we can take care of that for you tonight, if you want. After we talk, though.” His smile faded. “I’m serious about that part. We have some rules of our own.”
“Like what?”
“For starters, we’re monogamous.”
That caused enough confusion to pull her brain the rest of the way out of its sexual haze. “Huh? How does that work if it’s the three of us?”
“Let me rephrase that. The three of us would be monogamous with each other. No sex, no sexual play, with anyone else. And at first, at least, no impact or other kinds of play with anyone else but the three of us. Except for demonstrations or something. We can renegotiate that later if you decide you either like being a Top and want to play with others, or if you want to let us have impact play with other Tops because it’s not your thing.”
Something about the thought of someone else touching men she was quickly coming to think of as “her” guys didn’t set well with her. “No, I’m good with it just being the three of us.”
“Was that a little green flash of jealousy?”
Why deny it? “Maybe.”
“Are you going to have a problem with Garrison and me being together sexually? Because it’s not something either of us wants to stop. We love each other.”
“No. Why would I do that when you guys love each other?”
“That’s part of what we need to talk about tonight. You haven’t exactly heard the whole story about how we got together. Just the highlights.”
Now that her brain was once again firmly seated between her ears and not between her legs, she felt a little silly that she’d thrown herself at him like that. She tried to edge back a step, but he caught her hands and gently squeezed them.
“Dinner tonight at our place. I can drive you there. If you’d like to plan to stay the night, you can take a shower there and I’ll bring you back here early enough tomorrow morning so you can drive to work. Or, I can bring you home tonight. Either way. And no pressure. We’ve got a guest bedroom if you decide you’d rather sleep alone and we end up not doing anything. But that way we won’t be rushed.”
He smelled so damn good, too. Whatever it was he’d used to shower with that morning, and his clothes smelled good.
This was a huge step. This was big.
This was scary, and like holy fucking hell would she let fear make her turn away from this chance of a lifetime. E
ven if she went to sleep alone in a guest room tonight, the possibility of having something more with the two men pulled at her.
“Okay.”
His smile did things to her she never imagined possible, including starting her clit throbbing again. He brought her hands up to his lips and, never breaking eye contact with her, kissed the back of each hand, then turned them over and brushed his lips against the insides of her wrists.
“Thank you, Ma’am,” he said. “Thank you for trusting us.”
“I’m terrified of fucking this up.”
He tucked her hands against his chest. “That’s okay, because so am I.”
Chapter Fifteen
Em managed to get out of Jarred’s house after finishing her omelet, and without ripping off Jarred’s clothes. The two of them would exchange texts during the day and he’d let her know when he confirmed with Garrison about dinner.
Not that he was concerned with it being an issue.
She returned home, now running about five minutes late, but knowing it’d be okay when she updated Mitchell about the latest developments in what appeared to be her brand spanking new love life.
Literally.
Em opened the front door and found her mom and dad in the living room, in the middle of a raging argument.
Em resolved not to escalate this. To that end, she didn’t slam the front door like she really wanted to. Instead, she closed it and walked over to stand next to her dad.
“That was completely uncalled for, Mom,” she said.
“You just disappeared and—”
Em held up her hand. “Stop. This is crazy behavior. Are you crazy?”
“No! Of course not!”
“Then you must have a medical issue going on, right?”
“No.” She frowned.
Em and her dad exchanged a glance.
Taking a deep breath, Em said, “Tonight, after work, I’m going out. I’m not coming home, either. I’ll be out all night and spending the night with friends.” Well, that decided the matter for her.
“What fr—”
Em held up her hand again. “None of your business, Mom. I’m an adult. This is my house. Since I don’t have any privacy in my own home, I’m going to go where my friends and I will have privacy. From now until you move out, you can expect that there will be quite a few nights I stay out all night.”
Her father turned to her. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. We’ll get a place this week. I promise.”
“Not your fault, Dad. You haven’t been the one doing this.”
“Oh, so it’s all my fault, huh?” her mom said.
Em ignored the taunt and continued talking to her dad. “I’m going to set my phone to ignore the house phone. So if there is a legitimate emergency, call me from your cell.”
“Will do, sweetheart. I’m really sorry about this.”
She hugged him. “I love you.” She looked at her mom. “Believe it or not, I love you, too. But this morning was the final straw. I’m done trying to spare your feelings. I’ve spent three years tiptoeing around you. I’m living my life, and if you don’t like that, I’m sorry, but that’s your problem and not mine.”
Em headed back to her bedroom to grab her stuff. On her way out, she gave her dad a hug, but her mom had already retreated into their bedroom after—predictably—slamming the door.
“Let me know what you find out today,” she told him.
“I’ll probably be putting in an offer on one of the condos.”
“I meant with the doctor.”
“I’ll be updating him about this.” He shook his head. “He did mention the possibility that this could be psychiatric. At this rate, I’m getting to the point where I don’t care what the cause is, I just want to get her whatever help she needs so we can get back to living.”
“Sorry, Dad.”
“Stop apologizing. Maybe this is what had to happen to force her to get help.”
How had her morning gone from such a great high of her encounter with Jarred, to what felt like an emotional tar pit?
She headed to work, now running about twenty minutes later than usual. She’d no sooner walked into her office than Mitchell walked in behind her, shut the door, and plopped himself down into one of the chairs.
Then he made with the “gimme” hands.
“What?”
“Don’t what me, girl. Tell me what happened this weekend, and why I just got a call from your mother asking if I knew who you were spending the night with tonight.”
She collapsed into her chair, head on her desk. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
That’s when the tears hit. She told him everything, about the guys, dinner, the party—leaving out the part about the A-list celebrity she’d met—that morning’s hot and sexy breakfast, and their plans to talk that night.
Along with her hopes that they ended up doing a lot more than talking.
She lifted her head and found Mitchell offering her a tissue. Taking it, she sat back and blew her nose. “So what did you tell her?”
“I told her that I didn’t know, but that since you were an adult, it was none of my fucking business, or hers.”
“You dropped the F-bomb on my mom? Wow. You never drop the F-bomb on people. Well, besides around me.”
He smiled. “She pissed me off. She acted very indignant the first two times when I told her I didn’t know, so the third time, she got the F-bomb. If your dad needs an extra witness for the doctor, ooh, pick me!” He held up his hand and waved it around.
“Great. I need to call my dad.”
“Already done. As soon as I hung up on her, I called his cell, after what you’d told me last week. He’s now aware of the situation and apologized profusely. If I were you, and you get along great with those two guys, pack for a week and just stay there, if you can.”
“This is…” She stared at him. “Is this just me, or is this surreal?”
“It’s definitely an issue. As in, your mom has issues. It’s not you, and it’s not in your head.”
“I hope she doesn’t scare these guys off.”
“They sound fairly unshakeable. If you want to take the day off and go home, feel free.”
“No. I don’t want to be anywhere around my mom right now.”
“I don’t blame you, sweetie.”
“Am I doing the right thing?”
“Be a little more specific.”
“The guys.”
Mitchell sighed. “Until I had to drop that shit bomb on you, you walked in here looking happier than I’ve seen you look in a while. That cannot be a bad thing, especially if you looked that happy after one go-round with your mom before you even got here. I say go for it. The worst that happens is it doesn’t work out. The best that happens is you end up in a relationship with two sweet guys who might be the greatest thing you ever had.”
Once Mitchell left her alone, gently easing her office door shut behind him, she called her dad’s cell phone.
He answered on the second ring. “I know, sweetheart. I’m sorry.”
She took a deep breath. “This has to stop. This is insane.”
“I know. I’ve already called her doctor and I’m getting her in earlier as an urgent case this morning.”
“Maybe I should cancel my plans tonight.”
“Don’t you dare,” he said. “That would give her exactly what she wants.”
“But if she’s sick—”
“Then we can talk about it then. For now, you go do what you had planned and try not to worry. If she’s not sick and this is her just acting out, it’s backfired on her in a big way. If she’s sick, then the doctors will tell us what the next step is.”
“Backfired?”
“He’s going to admit her for observation at least overnight,” he said.
“What?”
“I’m serious. If it’s a voluntary behavioral problem, she’ll straighten herself out real fast, won’t she?”
“Don’t you think that’s a little drastic?”
br /> “Not really, no. Not at this point. She’s mad because I called her last bluff about a divorce and she doesn’t have that hold over me any longer. So if this is her next attempt to try to control me and you, it’s not going to work.”
“So you don’t think it’s medical?”
“I don’t honestly know. I think she’s deliberately stirring up drama at this point. If I’m wrong, then she needs to be in a hospital until they can figure out what’s going on. She’s starting to spiral out of control, regardless.”
“What do you mean? What’s happened?”
“She started making comments after Mitchell told her off that maybe she should just go away. That we’d be better off without her.”
“Like she’s going to hurt herself?”
“I think that was her implication, but this isn’t my first rodeo with the woman. I’m sure she expected me to try to placate her. What she doesn’t know is that the doctor agreed we’re going to admit her for observation, based on potential self-harm issues. So either she’s going to have to admit she was making things up, or they’re going to help her. One of the two. Either way, she’s not going to be here tonight, and I’m going to get a peaceful night of sleep knowing she’s under a doctor’s care.”
* * * *
Em went to the bathroom and washed her face before returning to her office and calling Jarred.
“Hello, Ma’am.”
“Hey.”
His voice changed. “Okay, what happened? What’s wrong?”
She told him.
“If you want to take a rain check on tonight—”
“Nope. Dad told me not to change my plans. So that’s what I’m going by.”
“I’m really sorry. I—what the hell?”
“What?”
“Hang on.” She heard a noise like he was walking. Then, “I’m going to hang up. Call your dad. Right now.”
“Why?”
“She’s coming up to my front door.” In the background, Em heard someone pounding on the front door. “Call him.” He ended the call.