by Zoe York
“That’s up to you,” Brent said. “What would you want to happen next?”
“I’d want to watch,” she whispered. “I want to watch right now.”
26
“If you want to, that is,” Jess whispered, her eyes wide. “It’s been a wild night.”
Evan’s heart pounded. He looked to Brent, who reached for him. She slid out from between them, and Brent crawled on top of Evan. Kissing, touching. It was painfully, beautifully intimate, and Jess was right there with them, holding them, urging Evan on to love her husband.
But tonight, he wanted Brent to be the one on top. He grabbed the back of Brent’s neck and held on tight. “I want you to fuck me.”
Brent’s eyes widened, his mouth falling open. “Are you sure?”
“I want you to. Tonight.”
Jess was already in the wooden box. Evan heard a clatter, then she delivered a lube packet and a condom to Brent before moving back, out of the way to sit on the ottoman. That wasn’t right, either.
Evan was shaking with need, his cock drooling. “Jess,” he said quietly. “Hold on. Not here. The bedroom. And bring another condom.”
He watched, hungry, as she unwound her shaky limbs and stood like a new foal.
Then he took them both to his bed for a long-overdue moment of the deepest kind of intimacy. Brent sprawled out, his cock heavy, his gaze lusty.
Jess hovered a few feet from the bed, watching.
“Closer.” Evan caught her around the thigh and tumbled her onto the bed. He turned around, getting on top of her. “I want to fuck you while he fucks me.”
“Oh!” Her eyes went wide.
“I don’t know about the, uh, choreography of this, but we’ll figure it out.” He grinned. “Okay?”
“Okay,” she breathed.
He looked back over his shoulder at Brent. “Lots of lube, fingers, take your time. Got it?”
A slow, are-you-kidding-me smile spread over his lover’s face. “Got it.”
Taking a deep breath, he moved down the bed a bit, settling between her thighs, and then he curved his back, presenting his ass to Brent.
Jess smiled down at him as he ducked his head and started to kiss her, then lick her. Coaxing her, getting her ready, because he wanted to crawl inside her and stay there all night.
Behind him, Brent spread his cheeks, making his tight hole even tighter. A reflex, that pucker. Brent touched his crease, the same careful stroking, then circles, as the last time they were together.
The first touch of lube was still a shock that made him gasp.
The first touch of fingers, a joy in comparison. He rocked back into that touch, then held it as Brent pushed past the first ring, holding still. Waiting.
Evan bowed his head and suckled on Jess’s clit. His head swam from the overload of sensation, and when Brent pushed in deeper, burying his finger, he was glad Jess was slick and swollen for him. He buried his face in her belly, breathed in the scent of her as her husband stretched him out and slicked him up.
For a moment, he thought better of his plan.
Then Brent stroked over his prostate, and his dick surged against the mattress. Yes, fuck, there. Oh God.
Evan surged up, Brent chasing him as he climbed up Jess’s body. He needed to be inside her so much it hurt. Needed to be settled between her thighs so Brent could fuck him.
Needed.
So.
Much.
Jess got the condom on him, then he slid home. She tangled her fingers in his hair as he buried his face in her neck, and behind him, Brent knocked his legs a little wider.
Evan was ready for the painful stretch. The jolt as Brent figured out the right angle.
It didn’t come. His lover was so careful, and waited at the first ring, then the other—his hand tight on Evan’s hip, the effort it took painfully obvious there—that Evan relaxed and brought Brent into his body.
He sank deep, his cock knocking Evan’s prostate again, and fuck yes, they were off to the races. He pumped his hips, and found the rhythm of it. Brent fucked him, he fucked Jess. Evan’s turn in the middle, and it was so good he wanted to laugh and cry and beg them never to leave him.
But he’d been the one to leave.
He would never do that again.
“I love you,” he whispered to Jess.
“We love you, too.” She held him tight, welcoming him into her body. He rocked forward again, and on the way back, he swung one arm back to grab at Brent’s hip.
He was theirs. And they were his.
“I’m not gonna last much longer,” Brent said, sounding like he was gritting his teeth.
Evan let go then, fucking Jess as hard as he could. He came first, but kept grinding, and she and Brent joined him at the same time.
“Are you okay?” Brent eased out of him, then disappeared, returning a moment later with washcloths. “My turn to clean you guys up,” he murmured.
Evan hauled in down on top of them. “Clean up in a minute. Cuddles first.”
Brent kissed him hard, then Jess soft.
Cuddles first.
Cuddles always.
27
The rest of June sped by. Weekends were spent together, all three of them. Sometimes Brent worked a split week, and he came down for two nights midweek and had dinner waiting for them at Jess’s place, or sometimes Evan’s.
They all preferred Evan’s bed for sleepovers.
Canada Day weekend, Brent had to work, and the winery had a big event as well. Jess would have been pouting over that, except her month of non-stop work had killed her immune system, and she spent the holiday in bed with a nasty summer cold.
When she missed the next Pilates class, Beth and Lola both called in concern. “Is everything okay?”
“Ebery-ding is bine,” she insisted.
“You don’t sound fine,” Lola said. “I’m coming over with chicken soup.”
“You don’t sound fine,” Beth said. “I’m sending Evan over with his best bottle of whiskey.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were this sick?” Evan scolded when he showed up twenty minutes later.
“I’m bine,” Jess insisted.
“You can’t even say fine,” Evan retorted. “And Brent is on his way.”
“Well, so ib Lola, so dat will be…” She didn’t even try to pronounce awkward.
Evan frowned and poured her a stiff drink. Then he went and answered the knock at the door that came next.
It wasn’t just Lola. It was Carrie, and Evie, Liam and DeShawn.
“I’m contagious,” she said. That she could say no problem, at least.
“We have a problem,” Liam said, frowning.
Lola glared at him. “Soup first. Then talking.” She disappeared into Jess’s kitchen.
Then the front door swung open. “Is the entire town here? There’s a pile of cars out front,” Brent called out. He walked into the living room. “Oh. Yeah. Hey everyone.”
“There’s a problem,” Jess said to him miserably.
“I know, you’re sick.”
She shook her head and pointed at Liam, who shrugged. “I’m not allowed to tell her until she’s had soup.”
She shot a Evan a help me look, and he looked at Brent. They both looked back at her. This would be easier if everyone hadn’t just shown up.
DeShawn cleared his throat. “We know, by the way. And it’s cool.”
“You know?” Evan said in his best are you sure you want to do this? voice.
Apparently Olympians were impervious to it. DeShawn shrugged. “We know that you three are dating, or in a relationship.”
Evie hastily added, “And we think it’s sweet. Also, I didn’t tell anyone that, for the record.”
“Group effort,” Lola said from the kitchen. “Sorry! You’re really adorable, though!”
Jess wasn’t sure she wasn’t having some kind of summer cold-induced hallucination. Where was her soup? She took another swig of Evan’s whiskey. Taking “medicinal�
� as literally as possible, maybe, but the burn felt good on her throat.
Lola reappeared with a steaming bowl of chicken soup, with red and green chilies in it, too. “The heat is good for you.”
Jess dug in. This was better than the hot tea and Vick’s Vaporub treatment plan she’d prescribed for herself. “Tell be the problem,” she said between slurps.
Liam sighed. “We need you well for the town meeting.”
“What town meeting?”
“Dale has called an emergency town meeting. Think of it like a confidence vote for town council, and his position as mayor.”
“What?” Evan burst out. “Why?”
“He’s caught wind of what he is calling a mutiny.”
“This is a town of business people and farmers, not a God damn ship.”
“Well, I’m not sure he knows that.”
Jess pushed the blanket off her legs. “Yeah, I want to be there for that nonsense.”
Evie pushed the blanket back on top of her. “It’s tomorrow. We wouldn’t spring that on you with zero notice. But eat that soup up, you’re going to need your voice.”
Jess spent the next twenty-four hours sleeping, prepping, and trying to get over the fact that their friends had known about the blossoming relationship almost as long as they had.
She succeeded on two of the three counts.
The town meeting started with Dale giving what could most generously be described as a nonsense speech based on erroneous conjecture. Then Carrie spoke, in the most general of terms, about the reasonable limits of town council and how they needed to make sure town meetings weren’t abused, but since they were here anyway, she would open the floor to community statements.
Evan had coached Jess here. She would wait until most people had said their piece. Since nobody really knew what Dale was blathering on about, that didn’t take long.
When the podium was free, she got up from her seat and beelined for the microphone.
Up there, she took a deep breath and smiled at the sea of faces. Some were friendly. Others were hostile.
“For those who don’t know me, my name is Jessica Doran, and I live on Beachside Street. I moved here two months ago, so it’s entirely possible that I am Wardham’s newest resident, unless someone has had a baby in the last few weeks.” That got her a few laughs. Good. “What brought me to Wardham were two things. The beach, and my clients. I’m a marketing consultant, which means I spend a lot of my time convincing clients to push themselves out of their comfort zones and try to reach new people. But here in Wardham you have a group of business people who don’t need to be pushed. They’re eager for new customers, new business. For growth and all the potential that will bring to your town.
“Some of them have spoken at town meetings in the past. One of them has been elected by you to sit on your town council. But tonight, it seems that our mayor—and yes, sir, I’m now a citizen of this town, too, so I’m counting myself in the affected group—wants us to take a stand against progress.
“The thing is, he’s been campaigning for this a lot longer than the last two weeks. Frankly, this was news to me. Shocking news, and maybe, in hindsight, it’ll be shocking to you, too. Sometimes we don’t see things clearly, because they’re deliberately being obscured. So let’s lay some facts on the table.”
Jess looked down at her notes. The room didn’t feel as cold anymore. She hadn’t won anyone over, but she’d warmed them up. Primed them for the truth.
Taking a deep breath, she launched into the raw stats. How many new visitors to town a modest marketing campaign could reach. How many wineries lay just outside the town limits, and how many daily visitors swarmed around the town but didn’t come into it. The viral reach of other small town efforts. A Harry Potter themed train ride in one, a stunning swimming hole in another.
“And nobody is trying to take over the entire town. Nobody wants to change the essential nature of Wardham, what you love about it. Some of us—those who have a vested interest in growing our businesses, absolutely—want to take one small part of the town and share it with the world.”
“And what part of the town would that be?” jeered someone from the audience.
“Your beach,” she said. “That’s what this whole meeting is really about. Brush aside the bluster, and you’ll find that your mayor—” She pointed at Dale, who’s face was beet red. “He knows that a number of businesses are test-running a couple of campaigns where we call the beach—not the town, just the beach—by a different name. A sign and an ice cream stand, people. That’s what this meeting is all about. Just ask him yourself.”
The room erupted. People were on their feet, yelling, and Jess stepped back from the podium.
She didn’t look at Dale. She looked at Evan, at the back of the room, and the smile on his face warmed her heart.
And then, just when she thought it couldn’t get any better, Carrie leaned in to the microphone. “While we’re here, I think we could also have a conversation about a certain development on the edge of town that has been blocked by town council for the most ridiculous of reasons, over and over again.”
One of the other council members shot her a disapproving look.
She cleared her throat. “Apologies for calling the reasons ridiculous. Setting that aside, I move that there’s no reason not to approve the license for the development opposite Go West Winery.”
“This is not the forum,” Dale protested.
“I’d say this isn’t the forum for any of this nonsense,” Carrie retorted. “Come on, Dale. Don’t make me call a vote.”
Everyone held their breath, then he nodded. “I’m in agreement. Approve the damn development.”
“Language,” Carrie muttered under her breath. Then she raised her voice. “I think that brings all the matters at hand to a close. Town meeting adjourned! Join us at the back of the hall for muffins and coffee.”
Through the crowd, Liam charged over and gave Evan a giant bear hug. “Hot damn.”
“We’re back in business.”
“The fall is a great time to build,” Liam said, his spirit undaunted. “We’ll sell some units for Christmas.”
Christmas. That made Evan think of what he wanted the holidays to be—and where. He made his way through the crowd, accepting congratulatory handshakes as he went. Jess was similarly swamped on the other side of the room, but Brent was alone on a bench at the back of the hall.
Evan sat down next to him and stretched his arm out behind his boyfriend.
Brent bumped his knee into Ev’s leg. “Having fun?”
“More than I ever have before.” His hand curled around Brent’s far shoulder and he squeezed. “You?”
“That was wild.”
“Things get heated here from time to time. But Jess owned the room.”
“She did. It was amazing.”
“Listen, I wanted to run an idea past you. What do you think of holding a Christmas open house? A party. For everyone here, everyone in town. Open doors, open invitation.”
“At your place?”
Evan hesitated. “It could be our place, you know.”
Brent went quiet. Thinking. “Christmas?”
“I know you’re looking for a job here. I thought, when you move down, maybe don’t move into Jess’s little house. She can keep that as her office, but it’s too small for more than one person. And my place is big enough for all three of us.”
Brent searched the room for his wife. “Let’s ask her first.”
Evan nodded.
His lover turned and smiled. “Don’t be mistaken—the answer is yes. But I want her to be the one to say it, okay?”
Evan pulled him for a quick, light kiss. It would always be okay that Brent loved their woman as much as he did. “Yeah. Oh yeah.”
Brent: Mr. S, about that conversation we had re: me moving out
Mr. Subramanian: Did you finally start dating someone?
Brent: I’m moving to Wardham to be with my wife. And her boy
friend.
Mr. Subramanian: I didn’t see that coming.
Brent: Honestly, Mr. S., neither did I. But I’m pretty darn happy about it.
Epilogue
Evan tapped the remote button for his garage and watched as the carriage door lifted open. He slid his car into its spot and gave a sigh of relief at Brent’s pick-up truck parked on the far side of the garage.
He’d spent too long coming home to an empty house. He’d built up all sorts of walls around himself, convincing himself that it was fine to be alone.
And maybe for a long time it had been fine.
But now he yearned for his partners when he was away on business.
“I’m home,” he called out.
Brent’s hand waved from the couch.
Evan went straight to him, bending over to give his boyfriend a kiss. “Missed you.”
“Mmm.”
“You look sleepy.” He tousled Brent’s hair. “Catching up on sleep or stockpiling for tonight?”
Jess had no problem keeping Brent’s schedule memorized. Evan was hopeless with it.
“Catching up, I came off shift at seven this morning.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“It’s okay. If I’d wanted to sleep uninterrupted, I’d have gone downstairs.” He had a basic bedroom there for when he needed to sleep while the other two were wide awake. Jess had joked he moved from one basement apartment to another, but at this one he had free and filthy access to the landlord.
Evan hadn’t found it funny. He wasn’t Brent’s landlord, he was his love. And hers as well. “Where’s Jess?”
“Having a last-minute meeting with Carrie at the bakery. Stealth sign plan goes into action tonight.”
Fuck, it wasn’t just Brent’s schedule that Evan had trouble remembering. “Right. Good, I’m glad I’m back for that.”
“I’m going back to sleep now, okay?”
“K. Rest up. We’ll celebrate tonight.” He gave Brent another soft kiss. “Love you.”
“Love you too,” Brent murmured.
