The Best Laid Plans

by Lauren Gallagher

  “Eh, I think we’ll need to review a couple of modules before the final exam, but otherwise, they’re doing pretty well. I wasn’t sure about Felicia’s idea for the physics curriculum, but man, she really was on to something.”

  “Good, good.” He scowled. “I think Jim and I need to tweak the chemistry curriculum, though. He’s been seeing the same problems I am, so something isn’t clicking. Maybe we—”

  His phone buzzed. He looked at the screen and then pushed his chair back and stood again. “Shahid’s on his way home. I need to put dinner in the oven. Be right back.”

  Shahid was on his way. Oh God.

  My stomach knotted. It wasn’t at all unusual for us to be here when Shahid came home from work, but it made me uneasy this time. We hadn’t seen each other since before Gabe and I slept together, and though Gabe had assured me a hundred times today that Shahid was still completely cool with it, I wasn’t sure how I felt about looking a man in the eye after we both knew what I’d done with his husband. Even if it was technically for their benefit. Cheating was a touchy issue for me, given how my marriage ended, so I wanted to make sure everything was on the up and up. Which it was. But seeing would be believing. And I’d see when Shahid got home. Which would be soon. Oh fuck.

  Gabe came back in and sat down again. “So, while we’re waiting…” He thumbed the pile of papers in front of him. “Shahid’s been doing some thinking about our arrangement.”

  I pushed my stack of exams aside and leaned back in my chair. “Is he having second thoughts?”

  “No, no. He’s…well, he might want to play a more active role.”

  “A more—oh.”

  “Yeah.” He glanced at me. “Of course, that’s only if you’re okay with—”

  “Are you kidding? I’m not going to say no to Shahid.”

  Gabe straightened. “Oh really?”

  “Hey, I’m not gonna lie.” I shrugged. “Your dude’s hot.”

  “Well, I can’t argue with that.”

  “Uh-huh.” I tapped my nails on the table. “How does he feel about this kind of thing? With his beliefs, I mean?”

  Gabe sipped his beer. “He’s struggled with it a bit, but I think the way he sees it, we don’t have any other options if we want to have children, so having you step in was God’s way of saying this is how it’s supposed to happen.”

  “Even if it’s technically adultery?”

  “Yep.” He set the bottle down and idly pried at the edge of the label with his thumbnail. “If I know him, he’s spent a lot of time questioning all this and thinking it through, so if he says he’s okay with it, then he really is.”

  “What about your beliefs?”

  “Mine?” Another shrug. “If I was against it, we wouldn’t be doing it.”

  “Fair point.”

  “I mean, I’m not quite sure how to explain it when I go to confession, but I’m hoping God knows our hearts are in the right place.” He grimaced. “It’s explaining it to my mother that worries me.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because it’s either tell her how the baby really came to be, or lie to her and tell her we did IVF. And I’m honestly not sure which one would be worse in her mind.” He grimaced. “I’ll, uh, cross that bridge when we get there.”

  “You could always tell people you adopted the baby.” I twisted a little to stretch a crick out of my back from being hunched over these papers. “They don’t need to know the particulars.”

  “True.” He studied me for a moment. “How do you feel about this? Aside from confessing that you’ve been secretly ogling my husband all this time.”

  I laughed. “Please. I’ve been ogling both of you, and don’t you dare act surprised.”

  Chuckling, he turned an adorable shade of pink. “Okay, okay.” He cleared his throat, and when he met my gaze, his expression was completely serious. “But things like threesomes aren’t… I mean, they’re…”

  “Yes, I’m totally down with a threesome with you and Shahid.” Oh God, yes, I so am. “Actually, I don’t think I’d be this adventurous with anyone else, to be honest.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m a woman. We’re not supposed to want threesomes and crazy things. So, sometimes it’s hard to tell people—even guys I’m dating—that I do want things like that, because then one of two things happen. One, he suddenly wants to swing from the chandeliers every goddamned night because clearly if I want to get freaky sometimes, I want it all the time. Two, I’m a slut, and he’d rather be with someone who has morals.”

  Gabe’s eyebrows shot up. “Please tell me those are hypotheticals and you haven’t actually experienced them.”

  “I’d be lyin’ if I did.”

  “Jesus.”

  “Remember, I’m the one whose husband had a problem with her even thinking about getting a piercing.” I scowled. “Especially since the whole point was that it’s supposed to intensify sensations.”

  “Oh for fuck’s sake.” He clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes. “It takes a real asshole to give his own wife shit for wanting to be more sexual.”

  “Especially when he was off with other women who apparently had no problem being sexual with him.” I paused. “Ugh. You know what? I don’t want to talk about him, or else I will end up having a few beers.”

  He raised his half-empty bottle and tilted it toward the kitchen. “There’s plenty in there. Have at it.”

  “Tempting, but if I drink enough to exorcise Tim…” I tapped the stack of exams with my pen. “I don’t trust myself not to write snarky comments.”

  He chuckled. “Fair point.”

  We continued grading—and Gabe continued drinking, but not very much—until an approaching engine outside gave us pause.

  Gabe turned his head. “And that would be Shahid.”

  Our eyes met, and we both gulped.

  “Second thoughts?” He raised his eyebrows. “Speak now or forever—”

  “You’re the one sharing your über-hot husband. If anyone’s going to have second thoughts, it isn’t me.”

  His eyes darted toward the door, then back to me. My stomach fluttered.

  “Gabe.” I leaned over my folded arms on the edge of the table. “Are you having second thoughts?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “It’s, um”—the front door opened, shifting the air pressure in the house—“not me I’m concerned about.”

  “Do you think—”

  “Oh hey.” Shahid stepped into the kitchen, and his eyes widened. “I didn’t expect to find you two down here.”

  “We, um.” I pointed at the piles of papers. “Homework.”

  He laughed as he set his lunch bag on the counter. “No rest for the weary, eh?”

  “Not during midterms, no.” Gabe shot him a playful glare. “You’re not disappointed, are you? That we weren’t in bed?”

  “Well, no.”

  They locked eyes.

  Then Gabe straightened a little, eyes darting toward me, and widening as if pieces were falling together in his head. “Oh. I guess you could’ve…” He hesitated. Almost as if he were speaking to himself, he said, “You could’ve joined us.”

  Now it was Shahid who blushed.

  Oh. Oh. He’d thought we’d already be in bed when he came home, and then he could just join us, which might’ve been less awkward and weird than sitting here in the kitchen, all of us fully dressed and wondering what to do next.

  Gabe stood and came around the table. Wrapping his arms around Shahid, he said, “I told her what we talked about.”

  Shahid glanced at me. “And?”

  I rose, hoping he couldn’t see my sudden nerves. “If you’re really comfortable with this, so am I.” I hesitated. “Are you?”

  “I am. I know it’s crazy. I’ve kind of been thinking about it a
lot lately and wondering why I’m suddenly okay with the idea when I wouldn’t have been before. But I guess I want to be part of this too.” He glanced at me and grinned shyly. “Maybe I can show you a few things he likes.”

  Gabe gulped. My heart sped up.

  “What?” Shahid chuckled, but a hint of shyness crept back in. And maybe some uncertainty. “I could. Right?”

  “Of course.” Gabe swallowed. “Are you really sure you want to do this?”

  Shahid nodded. Then they both turned to me.

  “I’m totally okay with it if you are.” I hesitated. “But only if you are.”

  “I am,” he whispered. “I mean, I’m not sure how else I can be involved aside from standing on the other side of the door and giving you both my blessing.”

  Gabe nodded. “True, but—”

  Right then, Shahid leaned down and nipped the side of Gabe’s neck, and I thought Gabe was going to come unglued. His eyes slid closed, and he grabbed the counter as a shudder shook him from head to toe.

  “Jesus, Shahid,” he said through his teeth.

  Shahid laughed and kissed the spot he’d bitten, which had almost the same effect.

  Gabe swept his tongue across his lips. “So, I’m not grading any more papers tonight. Just so we’re all clear.”

  I shut the notebook on the table beside me. “What papers?”

  Shahid craned his neck toward the oven. “How long does that need to cook?”

  “Another”—Gabe looked at the timer— “thirty minutes.”

  “Hmm. So we have some time.”

  “Time for—” Gabe’s teeth snapped shut. His eyes flicked toward me, then back to Shahid. “You’re serious.”

  Shahid’s Adam’s apple jumped, and he nodded.

  “Yeah. I’m serious.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Shahid

  Were we really doing this?

  Kendra—against a background of the familiar photos and dressers in the bedroom I shared with Gabe—peeled off her shirt.

  Yeah. We were really doing this.

  I gulped. I almost wished Gabe hadn’t had the foresight to pull dinner out of the oven so it wouldn’t burn—I could’ve remembered just now and hurried downstairs for a moment to collect my thoughts. Would I have come back up here? Would I have gone through with this?

  Maybe. Probably.

  Gabe’s hands snaked around Kendra, one sliding just beneath her bra strap, and he gathered her into one of those deep, lazy kisses that made my pulse soar.

  Oh yeah. I would’ve come back up. No way was I missing out on this.

  Which was weird in and of itself. As I pulled off my own shirt, my heart was going crazy. Threesomes were…not generally something I considered appropriate, but maybe this would settle my insecurities about Gabe and Kendra. If I could somehow be a part of it, then maybe I wouldn’t feel so far removed. As if this were something that could draw us closer together instead of possibly pushing us apart.

  That thought sent a jolt of worry through me, and as if he’d heard my silent uncertainty, Gabe chose just that moment to break the kiss with Kendra and look right at me. Grinning, he hooked his fingers in the front of my jeans and pulled me to him, and now it was my turn for a knee-shaking kiss. Deep, slow—gentle in a way, demanding in a way, promising a night of the kind of sex I’d been spoiled with for the last decade. How different would it be with a third person? With a woman?

  Only one way to find out.

  Gabe moaned against my lips, and his body tensed. I opened my eyes to see Kendra kissing her way up the back of his neck.

  I couldn’t help grinning into his kiss. Sliding my hands over his hips, I pulled him closer, and he held me tighter, and then he pulled in a sharp breath through his nose and arched against me. She’d bitten him, hadn’t she?

  Oh yes. We could both drive Gabe insane together.

  I pulled away from Gabe and met Kendra’s eyes just as she nipped his neck again, and we both grinned when he shuddered.

  “This is going to be fun.” She kissed where she’d bitten, and Gabe’s head fell forward as he released a ragged breath.

  “It’s gonna be fun,” he said. “But I think you two might be the death of me.”

  I ran my hand over the front of his pants, teasing his erection through his clothes. “What a way to go, right?”

  “Uh-huh.” He kissed me again, and as he did, he put his hand over mine and pressed himself against my palm.

  “Jesus,” Kendra whispered. “You guys have got to tell me your secret for being this hot for each other after this long.”

  We both laughed as we broke the kiss. Gabe shrugged. “The secret?” He gestured at me. “How could I not be this hot for a guy like him?”

  My cheeks burned, especially as Kendra looked me up and down.

  “Can’t argue with that.” She reached behind her back. “And you’re not exactly lacking either.” Before either of us could comment, her bra went slack, and she dropped it on the floor.

  Gabe’s lips parted. He glanced at me, eyebrows up, a hint of uncertainty in his eyes.

  I stepped behind him and wrapped my arms around him. Against his neck, I murmured, “If you want to…do it.”

  She came closer. “You heard the man, Gabe.”

  “Yes,” he growled, grabbing her belt, “I did.” With that, he pulled her in and kissed her. Her stomach was pressed against my arms, and when she embraced him, her hands grazed my arms. This was surreal, but I liked it. As the two of them kissed, I kissed the side of his neck, finding and teasing every spot from his hair to his shoulders that I knew would turn him inside out, and as I did that, he kissed her harder, breathing rapidly through his nose as they passionately made out.

  I ran my hands down his sides to his hips and pulled him back against me so he could feel my erection. He groaned, breaking the kiss, and she started on one side of his neck while I continued kissing the other.

  “You’re both…” He exhaled. “Oh God.”

  “I don’t know about you guys,” Kendra whispered, “but I’m feeling a little overdressed.”

  An image flashed through my mind of both of them—of all three of us—completely naked, and goose bumps sprang up all the way down my spine. “I think she’s right. We should do something about that.”

  “Y-yeah.” Gabe released a ragged breath. “Yeah. Definitely too many clothes.”

  We all pulled apart, and none of us wasted time stripping off our clothes.

  As she shimmied out of her snug jeans, I stole a glance at her. She was beautiful with clothes on, and even more so without. A memory flickered through my mind of her ex-husband giving her a hard time for putting on a couple of pounds, and I mentally throat-punched him. Kendra was absolutely gorgeous.

  Looking at her didn’t heat up my blood like looking at Gabe, though. I could appreciate her smooth curves, admire how utterly beautiful she was, but it was Gabe’s sharper angles and broader shoulders that sped up my heart.

  My nerves were still there—I definitely wanted to do this, but how much could I get into it with a woman? How much would the two of them expect me to interact with her?

  I caught Gabe looking her up and down, and grinned to myself. No, if that gleam in his eyes was any indication, she’d be fine if I couldn’t do much for her.

  Kendra lay back on the bed first. Gabe wasted no time—I’d barely settled next to her before he started kissing his way down her chest. Then her stomach. As he trailed kisses down her hipbone, she parted her legs, and he buried his face between them.

  Immediately, Kendra gasped. Her back arched, and she combed her fingers through his hair as she stared upward with unfocused eyes.

  “Whoa. Whatever you’re—” She nearly levitated off the bed, eyes squeezed shut and lips apart in a silent cry. “Don’t stop.”

  He
didn’t stop. She moaned and swore, gripping his hair as he went down on her.

  Out of nowhere, Kendra reached for me and hauled me toward her, and before I realized what was happening, our lips met. She kissed me hard—deeply, hungrily—and goose bumps prickled my spine. I cupped the side of her neck and opened to her kiss. It barely even registered that I was kissing a woman. All that registered were soft lips, a gently probing tongue teasing mine, warm breath across my skin.

  Abruptly, though, she broke the kiss. “Oh shit.” She blinked a few times. “Shahid, I’m sorry. I—”

  I cut her off with another kiss, and she melted between Gabe and me. It didn’t make sense, being this turned on by kissing her, but I was, so I didn’t fight it. I slid my hand up into her hair, and she combed her fingers through mine.

  She broke away from me again, this time with a gasp. She dropped onto the pillow. Both hands went to Gabe’s hair, and her back arched off the bed. “Oh God. Oh God, Gabe. J-just like that…oh God…”

  Gabe held her still—sort of—with an arm over her stomach. I had no idea what he was doing with his tongue, but she was coming apart at the seams and loving every second it. She was panting, and I was out of breath, and Gabe wasn’t letting up on her, and…

  Wow. One second, she was arching, gasping, pleading for more, and the next, she nearly levitated off the bed, releasing a throaty cry as her whole body thrashed and writhed.

  She collapsed onto the pillows again.

  Gabe pushed himself up, licking his lips as he did.

  “Someone… Don’t care who…” She squirmed, thighs squeezed together. “Someone fuck me now.”

  “With pleasure.” Gabe reached for the condoms. My heart sped up. As he came back with one in his hand, I gently grasped his wrist.

  He froze, eyebrows up.

  I took the condom from him and tossed it back on the nightstand.

  Gabe swallowed. We both looked at Kendra. She nodded.

  “Well, all right, then.” Gabe grinned. He leaned down, cupped my face, and kissed me, and…everything stopped. His mouth was sweet, vaguely tart—my first ever taste of a woman, and it was on my husband’s tongue. I didn’t know why in the world that turned me on, only that it did, and so I deepened the kiss in search of more. This shouldn’t have been as hot as it was. Oh, who cared?