“I’m not a thing to bring anywhere,” I said to them both.
They looked at me.
I stepped out a bit from Charlie’s hug, though not so far he couldn’t reach for me if he wanted. “I’m not a bone for you two dogs to fight over, okay? Really. Meredith,” I said, facing her. “The fact is, there’s a reason why it’s called a couple. Couple is two. Not three.”
“Nobody tells me how I should live my life. I’m not going to be ashamed of it, or conform to what society—” she began, but it was my turn to interrupt.
“I’m not ashamed. Charlie’s not, either,” I added, hoping that was true. “But…you have to live in the real world. We all do. I love being with you. Both of you. But it’s not something we can just go flaunting around to everyone and expect the rest of the world to understand. Like Charlie said, it’s not anyone’s business.”
She frowned, her brow creasing, and crossed her arms. She looked as beautiful being stubborn as she did acquiescing. “If we were dykes we’d have parades to march in. But what, because we’re three…?”
I reached for her hand and, when she let me take it, tugged her closer to me and Charlie. “Baby, I don’t really care. I don’t need to go with you for Thanksgiving.”
“But I want you there,” she said.
“I want her there, too.” Charlie slipped his arm back around my waist and kissed the top of my head when I snuggled closer. “But I can’t just bring her in and tell them all the truth. I won’t subject Tesla to that, Meredith. You can call me a coward if you want, but I’m thinking of her, too.”
I stroked my fingers along the back of her hand, but she wouldn’t join our hug. “And you. They’d give you a hard time, too,” I said. “Or maybe pity you, thinking Charlie’s got himself a side piece.”
She glowered. “Anyone who knows me would not pity me. Ever. For anything.”
Charlie laughed. “No, but they’d talk about you behind your back.”
“You think I care?” she said, but her anger was softening. She sidled a little closer and hooked a finger through Charlie’s belt loop. “Fine. We could just say she’s our roommate. Let them think we made some bad investments or something and need the income. Though your sister’s not dumb, Charles. She’d totally see right through all of it, unless you can keep from looking at Tesla like you want to eat her right up. Which you can’t.”
“Probably not,” he admitted, and kissed me again. “And I don’t want to have to.”
“It’s better if I don’t go with you. Next year,” I offered boldly, since next year was something we’d never even talked about, “we can have it here and nobody needs to explain anything.”
Finally, Meredith moved toward us. Her hand slid over the ass of my fleecy sweatpants, cupping my butt. Her other hand did the same to Charlie. She pushed up on her toes to kiss his mouth briefly, then gave me a slightly longer smooch.
“That’s our Tesla. So smart.” Her forehead pressed mine.
So close I couldn’t focus, her face blurred, but her eyes stayed clear. She blinked and kissed me again. Her tongue slipped inside my mouth, delicately probing.
“You sure you’ll be okay? I hate the thought of you spending Thanksgiving alone.” She put her head on my shoulder.
“I don’t have to be alone. Cap needs someone to hang out with, anyway. I should spend the day with him. It’ll be fine.”
Charlie’s hand made circles on my back. “Hey, let’s stream a movie on Interflix. Just relax tonight.”
I liked the sound of that. “I’ll make popcorn. Real butter. Salt. It’ll be awesome.”
“All those calories?” Meredith said without real heat. “Guess we’ll just have to work them off.”
“I like the way you think.” Charlie kissed her.
He kissed me, too.
The three of us eased apart, Charlie to head into the den to find something to watch, Meredith with the last of the dishes. I went into the pantry to pull out the plastic container of popcorn kernels and then to the fridge for real butter. I was reaching into the cupboard for salt when Meredith moved behind me to put something in the drawer. We bumped into each other and, laughing, she put her arms around me.
She kissed me again, backing me up against the counter. Her hands fit neatly on my hips. Her tongue stroked mine as her thigh pressed between my legs.
“Mmm,” I said into her mouth. “What’s going on with you?”
“What do you mean?” She paused, her hands on their way to my breasts, but stopping just beneath. She frowned.
I didn’t want a frown. I wanted smiling and sultry Meredith. Playful, not pouting. “Nothing. Never mind.”
I leaned to kiss her again, but she pulled away enough to keep me from reaching her mouth. “Why should something be going on with me?”
I didn’t want to point out that she rarely, if ever, initiated anything with me like that. Flirty caresses and a kiss here and there, yes. But she’d kissed me the way she kissed Charlie, and that was unusual. Because I liked it, though, I didn’t want her to feel self-conscious.
I pushed my crotch lightly against her thigh. “It shouldn’t. I liked what you were doing. Don’t stop.”
She drew in a breath, her shoulders lifting. She tilted her head, looking over my face. Her hands moved up to cup my breasts, her fingers tweaking my nipples before moving away. “Charlie’s waiting.”
I smiled. “You think he’ll mind if we start without him?”
“He might mind if we finish without him,” she said, and kissed the corner of my mouth before moving away. “Besides. I want some of your insanely fattening popcorn.”
I caught her before she could move too far. “Meredith, you’re gorgeous. You know that, right?”
Sometimes I wasn’t sure she did, even though now she tossed the fall of her perfect golden hair over her shoulders and gave me a look worthy of any silent screen vamp.
“Of course I am.” She winked and moved toward the door to the laundry room that led to the garage. “Getting a soda. You want one?”
“Sure.” I pulled down a pot from the rack and set it on the burner. “Thanks.”
Twenty minutes later we were all settled on the big overstuffed couch with bowls of salty, buttery popcorn on our laps and cans of soda in front of us. Charlie had picked a horror movie I hadn’t seen, and though Meredith had curled her lip, she hadn’t insisted we watch something else. Set up between them, I could laugh when she jumped and hid her eyes, and discuss the plot points with Charlie.
In that moment, I knew how that third bowl of porridge felt, that third chair, the third and final bed Goldilocks had tried. I wasn’t too hot or too cold, too hard or too soft. I was just right.
The movie ended. I held up a handful of popcorn for Charlie to take from my fingers. He lipped at my palm, his tongue swiping along the flesh in a way that made me shiver. When I looked up at him, those dark blue eyes dug right into my soul.
I kissed him because I could. Because here in this place, on this couch and in this house, Charlie belonged to me in a way that had nothing to do with rings or ceremonies. Behind me, Meredith’s breath caressed my neck before I felt the warm, wet press of her lips on my skin.
Upstairs we went to their room by unspoken agreement. We’d fallen into the habit of bed-hopping, Charlie and me in mine one night, Meredith and me in theirs another, the two of them in theirs and me sprawled out decadently alone sometimes, too, but that was for sleeping. When it came to fucking, they had the better bed. Not quite big enough for the three of us to sleep in comfortably, at least not for the person who ended up in the middle, but for sex it was perfect.
I loved how easy it was for Meredith and me to push Charlie back against the mattress and strip him naked. To cover him with kisses up one side and down the other, passing each other at his cock, which we both took turns sucking and licking. I loved the flicker of her tongue on mine as our mouths met on Charlie’s prick, and I loved the way his hands stroked our hair back from our faces.
And the way he murmured encouragement, the hitch in his voice when he reacted to our touching, licking, stroking, sucking.
Meredith didn’t notice that I’d paused in my adoration of Charlie’s body; she was busy stripping out of her clothes and tossing the extra pillows onto the floor so we’d have enough space for everything else. Charlie noticed, though. He got up on one elbow to cup my cheek with his hand.
He didn’t say anything. We could communicate so easily with silence what some people needed an entire dictionary of words to say. I loved that, too.
I moved up his body to reach his lips with my mouth. He was smiling when I kissed him. I toyed with his nipple and trailed tickling fingers along his side, which made him laugh and squirm away. I looked up to see Meredith watching both of us.
“What?” I asked.
She shook her head and shifted closer to run her fingers through Charlie’s hair. He turned his head so he could kiss her hand when she pressed it against his face. His fingers closed over it, holding it to his mouth when I grasped his cock, sucking gently, then harder. His hips pushed up, and I laughed softly, gripping it at the base to keep it from choking me.
At the touch of Meredith’s hand on top of my head, I looked at her again. She leaned to kiss me. Put my hand between her legs. She was already slick and hot, and I pressed inside her just enough to make her shudder a little. She swallowed my breath when she moaned.
“Lie back,” I whispered into her mouth.
Her eyes fluttered open, the pupils wide and dark. I cupped the back of her neck to hold her to my kiss for a few seconds longer, then followed her to the bed when she did as I’d said. Straddling one thigh, I mouthed a trail of kisses along her hip and belly, but unlike ticklish Charlie, Meredith didn’t squirm. She threw an arm over her eyes and let her thighs fall open, giving me access to every bit of her.
I looked at Charlie, who’d rolled onto his side to watch. I touched his hair and cupped a hand under his chin to bring his mouth to mine. We kissed as I circled Meredith’s clit with my fingertip, but only briefly—I had other intentions for my tongue.
Sex with one person can be complicated if you want to get creative, but it’s still possible to sort of just go with the flow. See what happens. Roll around, find the soft parts, see what happens when you rub them against each other. Sex with two other people requires a little more thought. Sometimes diagrams can be helpful.
Sometimes we fucked like a V—both of us pleasuring Charlie and ourselves. We’d done the daisy chain, Meredith blowing Charlie, who gave me head while I did the same to Meredith. We’d even tried out some of those fancy positions from The Threesome Handbook. ’Cuz see, that’s the beauty of three, the variations you can’t get up to with only two.
Now I settled on my hands and knees between Meredith’s legs, my ass in the air, my mouth on her pussy. I kissed her clit, then sucked it more gently than I’d sucked Charlie’s cock. Under my tongue and around my fingers, Meredith’s pussy was slick and hot. With the reward of her sigh, I smiled and pressed the flat of my tongue to her clit. Lick, lick, lick. Not too fast, maybe just a little too slow. Teasing. I wanted her to come hard, not quick.
Charlie ran a hand down the curve of my back, over my ass. Between my legs from behind to stroke my clit. He pushed a finger inside me, then another, and I closed my eyes. I sank into the sensations of warm woman beneath me and hard male behind me. I pushed back, fucking myself against his fingers.
He got the hint.
The bed moved as Charlie got up on his knees. I heard the mutter of the bedside drawer opening, the tear of the condom wrapper. His cock nudged at me, but I wasn’t quite wet enough yet for him to slide all the way inside. I didn’t have to worry about Charlie forcing anything, though; he popped the top on the bottle of lube and used a generous amount. His fingers slipped against my clit, then deep inside me, curling against my G-spot.
“Oh, God,” I murmured. I had to stop for a few seconds, my fingers moving inside Meredith in an echo of the delicious stroking of Charlie’s fingers, but I had to catch my breath.
She made a low noise of protest, her fingers finding my hair and twisting in the short strands. Not quite hard enough to hurt, but definitely enough to let me know I should get back to business. It was difficult to concentrate, though. Charlie’s thick cock nudged again at my entrance and I found myself automatically breathing out, opening myself to take him all the way in.
I blinked, biting my bottom lip, then managed to nuzzle against Meredith’s clit again. She was so hot, so wet, and her pussy clutched at my fingers as I fucked them inside her—but it was her clit that needed the attention in order for her to get off.
My name broke into two pieces on Charlie’s groan. He filled me, pushing in slowly until I couldn’t take any more. But he didn’t move right away, just put his hands on my hips and held himself in place while I lapped at Meredith’s clit. She was shifting under me, lifting her hips. Her arm still covered her eyes, but her mouth was open, lax, her tongue flickering out every once in a while to run against her lips. I caught the briefest glimpse of her face when I stopped to take a breath and acclimate myself to Charlie’s cock inside me, and she frowned and tugged at my hair again, pushing me against her.
I smiled against her clit. Charlie had said my name; my goal was to have Meredith not just say it but scream it. I wanted her to let go, the way she did with Charlie.
But then I was having a hard time thinking about anything else, because Charlie started moving. He found my clit with his fingertips, stroking in time to his thrusts, which were slow, steady and amazing. The lube meant his fingers rolled over my clit, never tugging or scraping at my flesh. Smooth. Even when his strokes grew a little ragged as his fucking got faster, it was still fucking gorgeous.
Meredith rolled her hips. Her pussy fluttered around my fingers. I lessened the pressure of my tongue, using the tip instead of the flat and letting her move against me.
Tension coiled tight in my gut. Pleasure, icy hot, trilled through me, in my pussy, down the backs of my legs, into the soles of my feet. I wanted so much for it to spill over, fill me up, break me down. But all I could do was ride it as it built and built.
Meredith came first. The muscles in her pussy bore down on my fingers. Her clit pulsed under my tongue. And she gave me what I wanted—my name, uttered in a hoarse cry. She was thinking of me in those last seconds when orgasm boiled up inside her, and that was enough to push me over into my own climax.
I didn’t say anyone’s name. I was made voiceless by the pleasure pushing its way through me. I shuddered with it, my fingers digging into the sheets. I gasped. I pressed my face to the inside of Meredith’s thigh, found the sweetness of her flesh with my mouth and kissed her there as I came.
Charlie, ever the gentleman, didn’t last much longer. He gave a last deep thrust inside me, then a couple shallower ones. Breathing hard, he bent to press himself over my back. I felt the brief brush of his lips on my shoulder blade before he withdrew so I could flop down next to Meredith, whose eyes were closed. She wasn’t moving—well, except for her mouth, which was twitching into a smile.
I kissed her shoulder. Charlie joined us on my other side, his arm over my belly so his fingers could rest on his wife’s hip. We stayed like that in silence for a few minutes, broken only when Charlie yawned. He stretched. He kissed my neck and got out of bed to pad into the bathroom. The hiss of the shower began.
I was ready to fall asleep, but I didn’t want to do it there. I had to work the early shift and knew Charlie would be getting up early, too. Meredith grumbled as I sat up. Her eyes didn’t open.
I kissed her shoulder again, then went into the bathroom to use the toilet and say good-night to Charlie. He peeked out the shower door.
“You coming in?”
“Nah, I’ll get one in my bathroom.” I did meander over to admire him under the spray, though. “Just came in to say good-night.”
He leaned to kiss me. “ ’Night. Hey, dinner out tomorro
w? Maybe that new Indian place?”
“I thought Meredith hated Indian food.”
“She does.” He shrugged, soaping his hair and scrubbing at it. Suds formed and slid down his face as he tipped it under the water to wash them away. “But she’s got something going on, some party or something, tomorrow night. It’ll just be you and me.”
Just me and Charlie. Why did that make my heart skip in my chest, as if he was asking me for a date? “I love Indian food. Sure. Sounds like a plan.”
God, he had such a wonderful smile. It lit up his eyes. “Great! I’ll be home regular time.”
“I’ll be home before you. I’ll be ready to go.” I braved the spray to kiss his mouth, then laughed when he pulled me inside with him. “I said I’d take one in my bathroom!”
“You’re here already. Why not let me scrub your back?” Charlie wiggled his eyebrows. The lecher look didn’t work for him; I’d never be able to see him as anything but mannerly.
I turned, though. “Hmm. I guess I can’t turn that down.”
His soapy hands moved over my skin. With the sex out of the way, it was still nice to feel his touch. Nicer, in one way, because both of us knew it wasn’t going to lead to fucking. It was just…affection.
I was struck again with emotion. The casual way he turned me to soap my front, standing aside to give me a share of the water. Rinsing me. When he pulled me against him for a hug, my face pressed to his hot, wet skin, Charlie kissed the top of my head and I closed my eyes and willed myself not to burst into emotional tears.
It had been a long time that I’d gone without hugs. Plenty of love, yes. Some sex along the way, sure. But sloppy toddler kisses and grimy-fingered squeezes from Simone and Max aside, I hadn’t been with anyone I could just hold on to. Someone I could lean against.
The water would run cold before I wanted to get out of that shower, but that was silliness. I looked up at Charlie, whose back protected me from a faceful of water. I wanted to tell him how I felt, but the words wouldn’t come.