“When I met my Charlie and our eyes locked across the crowded dungeon, I knew,” Big Tag said.
She snorted, but her lips were turned up. “That’s why he promptly invited me to join him for a threesome.”
He chuckled. “Foursome, baby. Give me credit.”
She smiled at her husband, their faces close together. “I promptly got rid of all the other subs and started a fight that ended in butt plugs flying. All for your amusement. But I did know I wanted you in that moment. I knew, somehow, that you would complete me.” She turned back to Hutch, and a sad expression came over her face. “That’s why I’m sorry I set you up with her. I saw two people who should have had a lot in common, and I couldn’t help myself. I was definitely meddling, and it didn’t work. I won’t try again. I promise.”
Again, it was perverse, but he didn’t like the sound of that. “I think if I were in a different place in my life, we would probably suit each other very well.”
“I think she might have too strong a personality,” Charlotte admitted. “I did underestimate that.”
He wasn’t sure how that was a problem. “She obviously needs a guy as strong as she is.”
Charlotte nodded. “Yeah. I can see that, too.”
“You are such a bitch,” Ian said softly, though he was smiling in that way that told Hutch he wasn’t getting their inside joke.
“She was attracted to me, too, you know.” He’d caught Noelle staring at him, and it hadn’t been with distaste. He’d actually been surprised because most women would have watched Kyle, but she’d seemed oddly unaffected by him. And she’d definitely sparked when he’d started talking about helium. He was a science junkie. If she wanted to throw down over some future tech, he could be right there with her.
Except she was a sweet lady from small-town Louisiana who had probably never once been tied up and had her tits clamped. She’d never cried prettily while her Dom fucked her ass with a plug.
“I don’t know.” Charlotte sounded uncertain. “She seemed annoyed. But it’s okay because you don’t want a relationship. Maybe you should be the brother.”
“No.” He wasn’t going to let her play around with Kyle. He could be dangerous, and honestly, he and Noelle made more sense. “We’re the more believable couple, and I need access to the systems. She’s right. The company works on a closed system. I could hack them, but they have far better security than Noelle has on her laptop. Although, honestly, she’s got pretty good security, which makes me think this is an inside job. I can’t get into her lab as her boyfriend’s brother.”
“You could get a job there.” Tag seemed more interested in his wife’s earlobe than the discussion at hand. “I’ll fire you right now. I’m a team player, man.”
He’d been through this so many times. Ten years he’d been here, and he’d seen way too many times Tag decided to turn his office into a playroom.
God, wouldn’t that be something? Having a woman to share all of that with. Having one soul in the world who meshed with his. Someone he could tease and have discussions with. Someone who would help him figure shit out.
He was getting tired of figuring shit out on his own. Or rather not figuring anything out and letting life flow by him, bouncing from one good time to another until they all felt hollow and meaningless. Maybe it was the fact that he’d bought a house from a man who for years had been a whole lot like him, a man who’d finally gotten his life together and moved into a future with the woman he loved and their kiddo.
God, did he want kids? No. He wasn’t father material. His dad had been awful. But then he knew what not to do, and wasn’t that part of the battle? Didn’t he know exactly what he’d needed from his parents? He wasn’t a bad guy. He constantly checked himself because he knew there was darkness in him.
“Do you think he’s going to stand there and watch?” Charlotte’s question brought him out of his thoughts.
“I think he’s thinking, and I also think I don’t care,” Big Tag replied. “Hutch, I took the kids to church on Sunday and let my wife have a morning all to herself. She’s about to pay me back with a midday blow job.”
Hutch sighed. “I don’t suppose the fact that I need guidance changes your mind.”
Big Tag shook his head, a decisive no. “Church. Kids. I missed the first quarter of the Cowboys game. No. Also, I can give you good advice while I’m getting a hummer.”
“He really does think better mid-sex,” Charlotte added as she gracefully slid to the floor and found a submissive position.
“I think I’ll go and make sure my client hasn’t run.” He’d told her to wait at his desk and he’d escort her to her office, pick up a key to her place, and then get them all moved in together while she worked.
“You sure you want to do this? Because I can still fire you and you can go the employee route,” Tag offered as his hand went to stroke down his wife’s head.
So Noelle could ignore him entirely. “I think I’ve got a handle on it. I’ll call in with an update.”
He practically ran out the door because those two weren’t waiting. He almost bounced off Geneva Rycroft, Big Tag’s long-time assistant. She was a lovely woman with dark hair and a ready smile. Another woman who’d been through hell and found her happiness on the other side in the form of a husband and two kiddos she adored. She was carrying a stack of files.
Hutch shook his head. “You should wait a while. Big Tag had to go to church.”
Her eyes widened and she set the files down and picked up a single laminated sheet of paper that she often hung on her boss’s door. It had one word on it. NOPE.
Genny had once told him she’d made the sign because Big Tag and Charlotte never locked the door. They liked the danger, they often said.
He often thought Genny had saved them many an HR complaint.
“Cool,” she said. “I’ll set this up and go take a coffee break. Maybe I’ll go see what the bodyguards are up to.”
She had a sparkle in her eyes because her husband worked in that unit.
Everyone was getting lucky today.
Except him. He would likely be sleeping on a couch tonight.
Genny had two muffins on her desk. Noelle’s lemon muffins. She’d taken them to feed to Tag when he got snacky this afternoon. She did that a lot.
Well Big Tag could survive on one. Hutch grabbed one of the muffins and prayed it wasn’t as good as it smelled.
He savored that tart and sweet piece of heaven.
He was in so much trouble.
* * * *
Noelle sat in a chair in Hutch’s office and wondered about the man. The name plate outside simply said Hutch, Head of Cybersecurity. Not his whole name. Just Hutch. The office was surprisingly spartan given the fact that the man had worked here for a decade. That was what had thrown her off. Was he older than he looked? She thought he was likely in his early thirties. How had he gone from the military to college to head of a team for one of the world’s premiere security firms in a little more than a decade?
The math did not add up.
She looked at one of the three framed pictures he had in his office. This one wasn’t actually a picture. It was his degree from the University of Texas at Dallas proclaiming Greg Hutchins was a graduate with a Master of Science in Computer Sciences.