by Cara Adams
Sam did his very best to keep his mouth shut, but he couldn’t stop his fingers fiddling with the cutlery, the ketchup bottle, the pepper grinder.
“There’s no need to break the poor thing. It’s never done you any harm.” Barry removed the pepper grinder from his hands and placed it over on the far side of the table. “Now tell me what you said to Heather to upset her so much, and then ask me whatever questions you’ve brought me here to ask,” said Barry.
“I didn’t mean to upset her.”
“I can guess that. You wouldn’t be buying my lunch if you’d done it deliberately.”
Sam told Barry what had happened, managing to avoid the words “fuck” and “BDSM” in his recounting of the drama.
Barry shook his head at them.
“She’s told you about her family, right?”
“A professor, a CEO, a lawyer and whatever, yes,” said Sam.
“Well then you should know what you did wrong,” said Barry impatiently.
Sam just stared at him. It was as if Barry was speaking some foreign language, or a code for which he didn’t have the key. “I don’t understand,” said Sam.
“Me either,” said Tally.
“Well, pay attention or you’ll never understand. Heather’s family is all high-powered academics. Heather is no airhead. She manages her business and is making good money on it, building her profit, paying off her loan, and still charging a fair price for her work. But she’s not an academic. Sitting in front of a computer screen all day is just not her kind of thing to do.”
“I get that. I understand that she needs excitement—”
“No, Sam, you don’t. You pretty much told her to stay in the corner until you handed her some excitement in a box, all tied up with a pretty pink bow. That isn’t Heather’s version of excitement. When you took her to that bounce place I thought you understood her. That’s what she enjoys. Physical challenges that she can learn from and conquer.”
“So you mean I have to let her—”
Once again Barry cut Sam off. “It’s not a matter of letting her do anything. She’s an adult and her own person. You can’t prevent her from doing whatever she wants to. But if you were smart, instead of dead stupid, which is what you’ve been so far, you would find the kind of challenges she enjoys and do them with her in a safe environment.”
Sam winced at being called stupid. It was a fair description of his actions, but it still hurt.
Tally leaned forward on the table and asked, “So there are places that teach this free running gig and parkour in safe environments?”
Barry shrugged. “What exactly is safe? A man can get killed crossing the road. But safe enough. Yes. Thanks for the burger. It was great. Now get your heads out of your asses and treat Heather right.”
Sam leaned back in his chair and watched as Barry left The Steakhouse. “I feel like the teacher just gave me a detention,” he said.
“Yeah. I haven’t been told off so politely and succinctly since I was ten years old.” Tally scooped up the last few fries on his plate and ate them, even though they were likely stone cold.
Sam looked down at his own half eaten meal and shuddered. “And we still have to face Helena yet.”
“Look at it this way. We now know what we did wrong. As well as organizing um…er…romance, we need to work on the free running stuff. I suppose it’s just a matter of Googling it. Barry’s right, likely we should have thought of that already.”
Sam jumped up. “I’ll do that now. See you again at seven.”
* * * *
Tally had been in and out of the cinema so often today he was starting to feel like a jack-in-the-box. But somehow the place had carried on quite smoothly without him. It was a lesson to him he supposed. He wasn’t as indispensible as he liked to think he was. It was time he made Len his official second-in-command and brought someone else up out of the ranks as Len’s back-up person.
Also, he’d promised to get a junior to help with the paperwork. He needed to do that, too. Actually…Taliesin tapped his fingers on the desk. Persia, the relief receptionist for the professional suites. He ought to ask her. He’d heard she needed some more work but was finding it really hard to get a job that fit with the hours she filled in for Sophie, the regular receptionist. His paperwork could be done any time. A couple of hours here or there, and because she already worked at the mall he’d have no worries about the shape-shifter side of things. Hell, she might be a wolf or a part wolf herself for all he knew.
Tally leaned against the wall of his office and called reception. “Hey, Sophie, do you have Persia’s number? Is she still looking for a little extra work?”
“Yes, I do, and yes, she is. Have you heard of something?”
“I need someone here to help out with the paperwork, but the hours can work around what you need her for. It might only be the equivalent of one a day a week, though.”
“That’s fine. Here’s her number. Ask her.”
Ten minutes later Tally had himself an office assistant starting tomorrow right after she finished her shift at the professional suites. Persia thought it was perfect because there’d be no extra commuting time for her. Tally was sure it was perfect because he’d no longer have to do the most boring paperwork. Now that was settled he needed to think about Heather.
Just before seven he left the cinema yet again. He waved to Len and walked back to The Steakhouse. As before, Sam was like a cat on hot bricks, pacing up and down. Tally could almost see his tail swishing and it wasn’t a good look. He grabbed his friend’s shoulder and marched him back to their reserved table. “Sit,” he said, leaning on Sam’s shoulder. When Sam was in the seat and looked like he’d jump right up again, Tally pointed his finger at him. “Stay.”
Sam laughed. “All right, I get the message. I am capable of understanding more than one-syllable commands.”
“That’s good to know.”
Danny himself bought over a carafe of water and three glasses, and then two longnecks of beer. It was probably a quarter after the hour when Helena arrived and walked directly to their table. She sank into the spare seat and Danny was there instantly, handing Helena a glass of something pale and bubbling.
Whatever Sam was paying Danny, it wasn’t enough. The man was clearly a genius, as Helena took the glass, smiled, and sipped appreciatively.
“Ah. I needed that.” She put the glass down, leaned her elbows on the table and said, “Did Barry give you a reality check?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“So what do you want from me?”
This time Tally let Sam answer. “I looked up parkour and free running, and I know that’s what she’d like to do. Some of that stuff scares the sh—frightens me, but if it’s what she wants, we’ll come with her. But what about the rest of the time? I mean, clearly we’ll all be working during the day and there’ll be…er, other things to do as well, but…” Sam trailed away with a helpless shrug of his shoulders.
Tally really felt for his friend, but Sam had to make the decisions himself. He’d opened his mouth and inserted his foot inside it well and truly, and they both needed a decent plan for redemption before they tried to speak to Heather again.
Danny served their meals and there was a few minutes’ silence as Helena scooped up a forkful of salad, chewed, and sighed. Tally remembered she never had lunch so likely she was starving already.
But she began talking again quite quickly after only savoring a couple of mouthfuls of her meal. “That’s the whole point that you folks forgot. It’s the challenge of learning something that Heather likes. She picks out one thing, learns it, perfects it, and then picks out a new challenge to learn. If you join up at one of these parkour clubs or centers or whatever they are, she’ll watch for a while and decide what she wants to do. Then she’ll be wholehearted about it until she can do it well. Then she’ll take a break before picking out another new skill to learn. That’s just the way she is and you men need to accept that.”
“We do,�
�� said Tally, and meant it.
“I love her so much, I couldn’t bear it if she wouldn’t be with us anymore,” said Sam.
Tally was surprised he’d admitted that to Helena. But it was a measure of how deeply he’d been impacted by losing Heather or, hopefully, only almost losing her.
“I’m pretty sure she loves you, too. Did you know she was looking at collars at the mating party?”
Tally almost dropped his fork. Hell no, he hadn’t known that. Judging by the stunned look on Sam’s face he hadn’t guessed either.
“She’s very serious about the things you want, but you need to be just as serious about letting her have her freedom,” said Helena.
* * * *
Heather had been miserable since breaking up with Sam and Taliesin, but it had to be done. She knew she’d be ten times more miserable if she tried to abide by their demands. She’d spent eighteen years trying to please her parents and brothers, and even though she knew they loved her, she just didn’t fit in their world and never would. Going to a college far away from the family home and studying floristry had been the best thing she’d ever done. Away from their constant pessimism about her abilities, she’d flourished as much as any flower replanted into good soil, and had built herself a life that suited her perfectly.
Except for the tiny matter of the men. In the bedroom, in the dungeon, they were everything she’d ever dreamed of and so much more. But in her daily life they’d crush her and squeeze her into their staid little mold and she’d wither and die like a plant without sunshine. So no matter how painful it might be, she had to make the break from them now and stay away from them.
Fortunately neither of them had been near her store. That was a relief. She’d half expected one or the other of them to be almost camping on her doorstep, trying to change her mind. She was so glad that hadn’t happened, although a little bit surprised that she meant so little to them they hadn’t bothered to chase after her at all. Oh well, that was just more proof that she was better off on her own.
Tonight was Thursday but she was too distracted to watch the movie she and Helena had planned to see. Putting her own dismally failed romance aside she said, “Tell me all about Ieuan. I’m glad you’re so happy with him. What took him so long to date you?”
“Oh, it was him lacking self-confidence. Since so many werewolf shape-shifters are mating into ménages these days, he thought I wouldn’t be interested in just one man. But I’ve always been terrible at sharing. I know, in theory the men would share me, but I’d feel like I had to share them with each other, even if they didn’t fuck each other and only fucked me. Maybe it’s silly, but it’s no sillier than him holding back from dating me. Anyway it’s going great now, except that we’re both so busy it’s hard to find time to spend together. Having the salon open seven days is a real tie to the mall. But there’s no way I’m going to close on Sundays. I’d lose too many good clients.”
“I understand. Sam, Tally, and I were working through those exact same issues. Are you going to move in with him? Or is he going to move in here? At least that way you’d see each other in the evenings.”
Heather knew Ieuan, as the mall electrician, only worked nights when there was an emergency. Once he and Helena finished for the day they’d be free to spend time together.
“I had thought of him moving in here. But then I’d expected you’d be moving in with Sam and Taliesin.”
“We hadn’t gotten that far. It was all too complicated. But if he moved in here, then his apartment in the professional suites would be vacant and I could go there. It’d be a direct swap.”
Helena jumped up and hugged her. “Why didn’t I think of that? It’s the perfect solution.”
Heather hugged her back. At least Helena’s life was going well, even if hers had temporarily derailed.
* * * *
Having steeled herself to have Sam and Tally try to change her mind, then not having seen them for several days, Heather was unprepared when they arrived at her store at their favorite time of midafternoon. After the lunch rush had ended but before the after-school rush began. A time that suited all of them.
Sam looked at Barry and he nodded and said, “Off you go, Heather. It’s time you had a break.”
“Traitor,” she muttered at him as she left the store.
Barry just grinned.
Instead of going up to The Steakhouse, they selected a table down in the food court and asked her what she’d like to eat and drink. Heather couldn’t even remember if she’d had lunch, but suddenly she was hungry so she chose rice with lemon chicken, one of her favorite meals.
When they were all sitting down again with their food, Sam looked right into her eyes and said, “I’m sorry for trying to make you into something different. I love you for who and what you are, and it was very shortsighted of me not to understand I was trying to put you in a box.”
“You are intrepid, fearless, passionate, dedicated, and vivacious. We both love you for all those things,” said Tally.
Heather was blushing furiously, her cheeks, face, and even her neck felt as hot as fire. “I love you both, too,” she whispered.
It was true. The reason why it’d hurt so incredibly to part from them was because she loved them. That was the only reason why the pain of betrayal, or what she’d thought was betrayal, had cut so very deeply.
Sam took her hand. “We don’t want you to get hurt, but we’ll come along with you on whatever activity you decide to try out. I even found the name of a free running club not too far from here. Not that I’m trying to push you to join them. I just wanted to help.”
“Suggestions are fine and I do try to be careful. I’d really like to join a club but I thought the membership fee would be a waste of money, as I might not be able to go very often.”
“We’ve both gotten organized to let other people run the cinema and the restaurant a little more so we can have some spare time. We both realized we have capable staff who deserve the chance to be promoted,” said Tally.
“That’s great. Barry has already come to the flower market with me once and he was a huge help, so I’ll have some more free time as well. Plus, I’m going to be living here in the professional suites so there’ll be no evening commute to do.”
“That’s great Cadfael has agreed to let you move in. How did that happen? Oh, wait, is Ieuan finally making a commitment to Helena?” asked Sam.
“I don’t know about a commitment, but he’s moving into our apartment and I’m moving here. It’s a straight swap and Mr. Hanson was fine with it, even though I’m not a—” Her voice dropped to just above a whisper. “Werewolf.”
Tally and Sam both leaned over the table, holding her hands. The world around them faded away, and suddenly it was just the three of them, together as she longed to be. All she saw was their loving faces and delicious bodies. All she felt were their hands holding hers.
“Forgive us, Heather. Let us have a second chance. We love you so much. Please don’t shut us out of your life. Let us all be together again,” said Tally.
“I’m so sorry I upset you. I promise never to be a dickhead again,” said Sam.
She grinned at them both. “I love you both, too, and completely forgive you. We can start afresh again.”
“Instead of starting completely afresh, how about we pick up where we left off?” suggested Sam.
Now she laughed. “Of course.”
* * * *
Tally had demanded a proper bed instead of a futon or a mattress on the floor, so later that night they were all in his apartment. Just seeing how bubbly and happy Heather was made his dick harder than a rock. This was the Heather he was used to, a woman filled with joie de vivre, bubbling over with energy and sparkling wit, her eyes like chandeliers lighting up his whole world. Damn, he loved her so much.
Once again Sam had brought some food and Tally had his gaze fixed on a chocolate mousse and the ice cream that went with it. As soon as there was a break in the conversation he said, “I
have a plan. It requires you to be undressed.”
“I’m very fond of those kind of plans when you’re both undressed as well.”
Tally was in a hurry. He needed her too much to go slowly. He pulled at his Hanson Mall polo top and tugged it over his head. There was the ominous sound of ripping fabric but he didn’t care. He had another half dozen uniform shirts. He unbuckled his belt and pushed his pants down, kicking off his shoes, and scraping his feet on the floor to pull his socks off. He was down to his briefs in an elapsed time of two seconds.
Heather was standing, fully dressed, with her hands on her hips, and laughing at him.
“Need some help?” he offered.
“No, thanks. I don’t want my uniform shredded.”
“Well hurry up then,” he urged her, waving his hands. His dick was so hard and full he was desperate to be inside her, but they had a game to play first.
The moment she was naked he picked her up and laid her on the kitchen counter, and then he balanced the chocolate mousse and the chocolate swirl ice cream on her belly.
“Hey, where’s my spoon? Don’t you know never to get between a woman and her stash of chocolate?”
“The chocolate is where it needs to be, and don’t worry, we’ll feed it to you. In a minute.”
Sam, who was also undressed and had taken his boxers off as well as the rest of his clothing, grabbed a spoon and scooped some mousse, covering a breast with it. Then he trickled the ice cream over the top. Some of it dripped down the side of the breast onto her side and Heather shivered. Watching, Tally found himself licking his lips and it wasn’t to taste the chocolate. It was because seeing Heather decorated this way was more erotic than he’d imagined. He grabbed his own spoon and arranged the ice cream along her bikini line, and then over her pussy. Finally, he started licking.
Underneath him Heather was wiggling and fidgeting, but he held her hips and licked steadily until he was tonguing her clit. Now her own flavor mingled with the ice cream into a heady carnality that almost blew his mind. He played with her clit, licking and sucking it, and then scooped some ice cream and placed it on her tongue before he kissed her. He wanted her to taste herself as well as the food, and from the way her eyebrows rose high, he knew she’d recognized her own flavor. Or maybe she’d just guessed what it was.
