I cupped his face and kissed him gently. “We’ll be fine.”
He studied me, then smiled. “Yeah. We will.”
“In the meantime…” I picked up my phone again and checked the GrubHub tracker. “Food should be here soon. We should get dressed.”
“Good idea. I’m starving.”
We got up and each pulled on a pair of sweats. Neither of us bothered with shirts. Fine by me—Aaron worked hard to maintain that glorious physique, and I was never going to complain about having an unobstructed view.
The thought of his beautiful, naked body alongside the gorgeous man who’d contacted us had my heart racing, even if I did still had some nagging doubts. It frustrated me that I couldn’t give Aaron what he craved, and I didn’t like that we’d had to resort to bringing in someone from outside. It made me feel like a failure as a Dom and a husband.
But my ego wasn’t as important as Aaron’s happiness, and I had to admit it was a relief that we might have found our elusive third.
And if there really was chemistry between the three of us?
Watching those two was going to be hot.
Four
Aaron
“Busy?”
“Pfft. I’m always busy.” Tom sat back in his chair and rubbed his neck with both hands. “Because I swear more people in this town want to get divorces and get into civil snits than commit crimes.”
“Most people would consider that a good thing.” I dropped unceremoniously into one of his guest chairs. “I mean, not necessarily all the divorces and whatnot, but the lack of crime.”
“Uh-huh. So is that what you came in to chat with me about? All the divorcees who aren’t robbing banks?”
I laughed, but it came out a little halfhearted. “Something like that. Though if you raise your hourly rate, I might get more clients.”
“Right. Okay, don’t change the subject.” Tom studied me, putting on the same face he used when he was listening intently to a client. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Nothing’s—I mean, I don’t think…” I sighed and smacked my hand against the armrest. “Someone responded to the ad.”
Tom sat up a little, his expression curious but cautious. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.” I didn’t have to spell out the details. Tom knew about the ad, and there was nothing about my marriage that shocked him. After all, we’d run into each other at a kink party way back when, so that part of our lives wasn’t exactly a big secret. We talked candidly about everything, so he knew we were kinky and that we’d had the odd threesome over the years, and he knew about the experimentation that had slammed my newly-discovered needs against Will’s newly-discovered limits.
“So, what’s the problem?” He grinned and waggled his eyebrow a little. “It’s not Judge Faulkner, is it?”
I snorted. “No, it’s not Judge Faulkner.”
“You sure?”
“Not unless he’s hiding a seriously ripped body under those robes.”
Tom’s lips quirked. “I mean, it’s possible.”
“Also this guy says he’s one hundred percent, Kinsey six gay, so…”
“Oh.” He deflated. “Okay, so it’s not Judge Faulkner.” Turning serious, he said, “You seem kind of edgy about it. You were worried no one would respond, but now that someone has…?”
I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “I guess I’m just worried about what we’re getting ourselves into.”
Tom picked up his coffee cup and cradled it in both hands. “What do you mean?”
“I mean…” I thought about it, trying to figure out how to even articulate everything ricocheting around inside my skull. “Like, we’ve had threesomes before, and we’ve played with people in clubs. We’ve never had a regular play partner, though. And I don’t mind sharing at all, but I don’t want to be poly, you know?” I bounced my knee under the desk. “What if one of us gets really into him for more than just sex?”
“I wish I had that problem.” Tom shot me a sardonic look over his coffee cup. “I can’t find a guy worth dating, and you’re worried about dealing with two.”
I pursed my lips. “Okay. Point taken.”
“I get it, though.” He put his coffee cup on his desk. “You and Will have been together a long time and you’ve been through a lot. I get not wanting to risk what you have with him.”
Nodding, I sighed. “I guess we’ll see how it goes. It’s not like we’re committed to anything after tonight.”
“True. Why the poly limit? I mean, if this guy becomes a regular fixture in your bedroom, why the hesitation over it being more than sex?”
“I can’t even articulate it, to be honest. I guess I’m worried we’d be bringing in a third to save our marriage. I’ve known people who’ve opened up their marriage as a Hail Mary when they were on the rocks, and it works about as well as having a baby. Not at all.”
Tom watched me. “Except are you guys really on the rocks? Yeah, this is a tough thing to compromise on, but let’s be real here—Will worships the ground you walk on. With the way your eyes light up whenever you’re working late and he brings you food?” He smiled. “Pretty sure the feeling is mutual.”
I couldn’t help smiling myself. There really was nothing more welcome on a late night than Will strolling into my office with hot takeout and a giant cup of coffee, and not just because I was usually starving by that point. “Okay, so ‘on the rocks’ isn’t the right phrase. We’re fine. And I think we’ll be fine. But the fact is, we’re bringing in someone else to fix something that isn’t working between us.”
“Uh-huh. Because you’re both secure enough to know you can bring someone else in without jeopardizing your marriage. The alternatives are either you sucking it up and living without something you obviously want, or asking Will to do something that’s obviously a hard limit for him.”
I shuddered. “I’m not doing that. Making him give up a hard limit, I mean.”
“I know. And he knows that too.” Tom’s expression was soft. “The fact that you’re even concerned about all this tells me you guys are still as committed to each other as you ever were.” He paused. “Tell me, have you planned for what to do if one or both of you decides this isn’t working? Do you have, I don’t know, a safe word for it so someone can call it off with no questions asked?”
I nodded. “Definitely. Our marriage comes first, so if things get complicated with the third…” I gestured over my shoulder with my thumb. “Gone.”
“Then I think you’ll be fine.”
“I hope so. I just feel like I’m pushing him too hard. Or telling him he’s not good enough for me because I need someone else to step in and do what he won’t do.” I exhaled as I reached up to rub the back of my neck. “But he says he wants this because he knows I’ll be happier if I’m getting that itch scratched.”