by Robin Gideon
“Sure, there are two men,” Lydia said, instantly relieved of her worst fears, “but the men don’t know each other. I mean, they’re not sharing her, she’s just being a two-timer.”
Dylan shook his head. “No. It’s a legitimate ménage à trois romance.”
“And it’s love? Really love, not just a lot of sex?”
“As near as I can tell. Anyway, all three of them seem awfully happy with what they’ve got going.”
“And you won’t tell me who they are?”
“Sworn to secrecy.”
“And you can keep a secret?” Lydia’s hands began to tremble. When Dylan nodded, she said, “Against my better judgment, I had a fling, I guess you’d call it. First with Nick, then with Caleb. I can’t believe I did it, but I did and that’s a fact. But it’s over now. It’s behind me. Now I just have to get on with my life and never again behave so foolishly.”
Dylan got to his feet. “Why don’t you come to my place? I don’t think you’ve seen the new condo yet. I think you’ll find it quite interesting.”
He’s taking this news damned calmly for finding out that his older sister acted like a slut.
Chapter Six
Lydia looked at her brother’s profile as he turned into the parking lot of what had previously been a hotel, but was now being turned into luxury condominiums. A dozen construction workers and a foreman were outside, looking over a blueprint.
“I’ll bet you’ll turn a sweet profit on this when it’s finished,” Lydia said, opening the SUV’s door and getting out. “Why didn’t you let me get in on the action, though? I’d have loved to be a partner with you on this.”
“It’s a long story,” Dylan replied.
“I’ve got time.” The more tight-lipped her brother got with details, the more curious Lydia was of them. “And there’s no time like the present.”
Dylan chuckled and didn’t say anything, heightening Lydia’s curiosity.
They stepped into the front lobby, where the uniformed man behind the desk gave Dylan a professional smile, and stood.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Amberson. It’s good to see you again,” the man said, extending his hand.
Lydia watched as the two shook hands over the desk, then noticed that the man had a pistol in a holster at his hip. Having an armed guard at the front desk seemed a bit much to Lydia’s thinking, and she made a mental note to ask her brother about that, too, when she got him alone.
“I have a guest, Arthur,” Dylan said. “This is my sister, Lydia. Lydia, this is the man responsible for making sure that only people who live in this building are allowed to enter this building. Isn’t that right, Arthur?”
“Yes, sir. Nobody gets past me, no matter what.”
Arthur sat back down and then tapped in a numbered code into a computer keyboard. When he was finished, the lights above the elevator turned on, a soft chime sounded, and the double doors slid open.
“Security,” Dylan explained as he headed for the elevators. “Without the front-desk guard putting in the code, the elevator doesn’t work. The doors to the stairway are exit only.”
“My, my, my,” Lydia said as she stepped into the elevator. “Security is tighter here than at corporate headquarters.”
Dylan smiled cryptically and touched the button for the top floor. When the doors opened and Lydia stepped out, she was shocked to see polished mahogany paneling surrounding her. From the outside, the building looked a bit tattered and rundown, but from the inside, at least on this floor, it was the very definition of opulence itself.
“Over here,” Dylan said, reaching into his pocket for his keys. “We’ve got the entire top floor.”
“We?”
He opened the door and stepped aside for Lydia to enter. When she did and looked around, the word “opulent” seemed entirely too understated. The living room boasted a flat-screen television large enough to be a movie screen, a leather sofa at least seven feet long, with two matching wing chairs, also in oxblood leather.
“It’s gorgeous,” Lydia said quietly.
Movement to her left caught her attention. When Lydia looked, she watched as a voluptuous woman, completely naked, stepped out of the bathroom, wrapping a white towel around her head.
“Darling, is that you?” the woman called out.
Dylan chuckled softly and replied, “Honey, we’ve got company.”
The woman snapped her head up, her jaw dropping open in horror. “Damn you, Dylan!” she shouted, turning and running away.
“Oh, my God,” whispered Lydia, recognizing Candice Olssen, the owner of her favorite restaurant in New Oslo. “You’re having an affair with Candice?”
Just when Lydia was going to ask her brother why he’d kept his romance with Candice a secret, Sergeant Alvin “Bulldog” Herndon of the New Oslo Sheriff’s Department stepped into the room. He was in uniform, and by the way he walked, he was in familiar surroundings.
Lydia turned to her brother, her mouth open. For perhaps the first time in her life, she was shocked speechless. He gave her a sheepish smile and shrugged his broad shoulders.
“Damn,” Bulldog said, stepping closer. “I didn’t know you were bringing anyone here.”
“I suppose I should have given you fair warning,” Dylan replied, “but I didn’t get much of a chance with Lydia in the Cadillac with me.”
For Lydia, it suddenly seemed as though there wasn’t any air left in the room. Was this really what it looked like? Dylan, Bulldog, and Candice a threesome?
Candice stepped out from what Lydia suspected was a bedroom, now wearing a white silk robe that covered her body from neck to below her knees without in any way hiding her voluptuous curves.
“I’m sorry,” Candice said, stepping forward. The movement of her body made it clear to Lydia that she wasn’t wearing anything beneath the robe. “You gave me quite a shock.”
“You’re not half as shocked as I am,” Lydia replied truthfully. She turned to Dylan and added, “Little brother, I think it’s time you leveled with big sister.”
“This is exactly what it looks like. Bulldog, Candice, and I are in a loving ménage relationship.” Once again, his shoulders rose and fell beneath his lightweight herringbone suit coat. “It’s love, big sister. Real love. Just unconventional as hell.”
Candice said, “It wasn’t something we planned to have happen. Believe me, none of us saw what was coming, but once we were in the thick of it, we couldn’t turn back.”
As though to put veracity to her words, she stepped up to Dylan and kissed him on the lips, then walked over to Bulldog and kissed him.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to dry my hair and get ready for the supper rush.” She looked at Lydia. “Do you want to come with me? I’ll explain this insanity called my life to you while I get dressed.”
“I’d like that very much.” Lydia looked at her brother, then at Bulldog. “Not in a thousand years would I have guessed this one.”
She followed Candice to the bedroom. When she got there, the first thing she noticed was that along one wall was a king-size bed pressed alongside a queen-size bed. The combined beds would be comfortable enough for half a dozen people to sleep. Or have an orgy on.
“Yes, that’s our bed,” Candice said as she unknotted the sash to her robe. “There’s where Bulldog, Dylan, and I sleep every night. Bulldog’s to my left and your brother is to my right. As you might guess, I sleep between them.” She opened a bureau drawer and extracted a ruby-red thong panty. “We live here because nobody in New Oslo can tell that we’re all living in the same condo. Thank God your family’s got money. There’s no way I could pay for the renovation.”
“That’s how you got the money to buy The Cattleman’s Paradise? My brother?”
“Yes. The bank would never have given me a loan that big, but once Dylan gets set on something, it’s impossible to dissuade him. He paid for it, but I’m paying him back. He says he doesn’t want the money, but I’m insisting on it.”
Candice stepped into a pair of denim short-shorts and buttoned them, then from another drawer extracted a red bra. As Lydia watched her dressing, she tried to imagine her in the arms of Bulldog and her brother. Candice was every bit as curvaceous as Lydia, though she weighed a little more. It was a ripe, feminine body that two men could simultaneously enjoy, Lydia decided.
Just like Lydia’s was.
The thought made her shiver. Was it actually possible to have a loving relationship with two men at the same time? That appeared to be the case, but still…
“Are you thinking of trying what I’ve got going?” Candice asked. “I’m in love with your brother and Bulldog. Make no mistake about that. But sometimes it’s a real pain having to hide the fact that I’m in love with two men. I mean, let’s face it, do you think staid New Oslo is going to tolerate a ménage à trois in their midst?”
“So you’ve got to keep your love hidden.” It was a statement from Lydia, not a question. To her, it sounded like a dreadful condition to be in.
“Kind of like that Beatles hit, ‘You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away.’ You see, I was at work when all the guys there started watching the movie The Dukes of Hazzard on TV, all of them ogling that blonde girl in her halter top and Daisy Dukes. That’s when I decided that would be the uniform at Paradise for the waitresses. They like looking at a pretty girl, but if they knew that every night I go to bed with two men, and as often as not make love to both of them at the same time, they’d boycott Paradise in a heartbeat. I’d go from being the pretty hostess they like to flirt with, to the town slut nobody would be seen talking to.”
Lydia thought it must be terrible to be in a ménage à trois love affair. What could be worse than living with a secret that would get a woman ostracized?
“I guess I don’t understand this condominium thing,” Lydia said, watching as Candice put on a blouse and began rolling up the tails to tie it into a halter.
“Since its private property, Dylan’s only going to sell the other units to people who are cool with our living arrangement,” Candice explained. “That way we can come and go, and nobody knows that the three of us are living in the same condo. We’re going to be very selective on who moves into this building.” She turned away from the mirror and looked straight into Lydia’s eyes. “So, you’ve got some sweeties, I’m guessing. I don’t suppose you’d tell me who they are?”
Lydia shook her head, then combed fingers through her hair. “No. I’m sorry, but I can’t.” She closed her eyes, wondering whether she could live with such secrets. “I’m so flippin’ confused right now I can’t see straight.”
Candice laughed softly and patted Lydia on the shoulder. “Falling in love with Bulldog and Dylan is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me. Every time I think of the hassle of having to keep it a secret, I think about how much I love those men, and how much they love me, and then I thank my lucky stars for how I’ve been blessed.”
* * * *
After a night spent staring at her bedroom ceiling, Lydia went to the office the next day physically and emotionally exhausted. She was aware that there was a decade difference in their ages, so she didn’t know Candice Olssen very well. But she knew her well enough to never have suspected her of being adventurous enough to be the central character in a ménage à trois love affair. And it was equally surprising that her younger brother was one of the points in that triangle.
It wouldn’t have surprised me so much if Dylan had two women fawning over him, but for him to share a woman with another man? Not my brother! Sitting in her office, she shook her head and closed her eyes for a moment. But Dylan is sharing his woman with another man. Bulldog and Dylan are both so frickin’ alpha male it’s amazing they can tolerate being in the same room with each other at the same time.
“Actually,” she said aloud, but softly, to herself in her office, “they tolerate being in the same woman at the same time.”
Vague images of what it would be like to have both Nick’s and Caleb’s cock in her body simultaneously slithered across the surface of Lydia’s mind, and she shivered. What could be better than having Caleb’s cock in her pussy, and Nick’s cock in her mouth?
Lydia shook her head to chase away intemperate mental images. This wasn’t the time to let her mind wander onto forbidden territory, she told herself.
Nick’s going to want to fuck me in the ass.
The thought had come to her unbidden, and when it did, she flinched as though given a shock by a cattleman’s electric prod. Lydia was not a backdoor virgin, but it was something she hadn’t done since she was twenty, and she’d only allowed it because her boyfriend at the time had a woefully undersized penis.
She tried to remember the young man’s name, and couldn’t. She couldn’t even conjure up a good mental picture of his face. All she could really remember clearly, and with no small amount of disdain, was that he had a very small erection, and that he came very quickly. In their three months together in college as a “couple,” he’d never once given her an orgasm.
But Nick and Caleb had made her come. They’d made her climax sitting in a crowded tavern in India. They’d made her come repeatedly while standing up, getting righteously fucked against a soda machine. Oh, yes, Caleb and Nick had given her orgasms aplenty!
Dearest self, if you keep thinking that way you’re going to have to frickin’ finger-fuck yourself. Masturbating in your own office during work hours is against company rules. Show some maturity, please, dear self.
Sitting at her desk, Lydia gave some serious consideration to masturbating into a quick and, no doubt, rather unsatisfying climax. But then, to her supreme pleasure, her willpower seemed to grow a spine. She squared her shoulders, took a look at her wristwatch, and realized that it was nearly time for her conference call with the London office, and told herself for the nth time that only very stupid women would get involved, consciously and willingly, in a ménage à trois affair.
But Candice Olssen’s not a stupid woman, is she?
* * * *
Lydia had hardly finished with the conference call to the London office when her desk phone buzzed, and Nick’s voice came through the small speaker.
“Lydia, do you have a moment?” Nick asked. “Our new interns are in the office today, and I’d like to introduce you to them.”
“I’ll be right there,” Lydia replied.
Every summer the company hired on interns whose chief task was to do the petty, time-consuming tasks and research projects that the executives didn’t want to do. Consequently, Lydia liked having interns at the office. She stepped into Nick’s office, pleased that she wouldn’t be alone with him. Since her wickedly intemperate behavior on the plane, she had done everything she could to not be alone with either Nick or Caleb.
There were three young men standing by his desk. Lydia pegged them all at around twenty-two years old, and, if they were typical interns for New Oslo International Initiatives, fresh from getting their bachelor’s degree from some prestigious college or university. They’d also be connected by blood or friendship to someone doing serious business with the company.
“Ms. Amberson, I’d like you to meet Heath, Ian, and Sebastian,” Nick said.
“Pleased to meet you, ma’am,” Heath said, stepping forward with hand extended. His accent was British and very upper-class.
“It’s good to meet you. We don’t stand on formality here. You can call me Lydia.”
Ian and Sebastian introduced themselves, and Lydia shook their hands. The young men were impeccably dressed and exuded an aura of old money and fine breeding. Lydia decided she’d find out later how they were connected to the company. Internships were only given to the young men and women who could somehow benefit the company by who they knew.
Caleb knocked on the open door, then stepped in. When Lydia looked at him, she felt her heart do a summersault in her chest. He was always a handsome man, but he was particularly enticing in well-washed Lee jeans that hugged his trim hips and taut buns,
a red and black checked shirt, and black cowboy boots.
“Anybody in the mood for lunch?” he asked. “Lydia, let’s take the interns to The Cattleman’s Paradise. I think the company can afford to buy the new guys some sizzling steaks.”
“Not for me. I’ve got too much to do,” Lydia replied. “You men can go without me.” She saw the disappointment in Caleb’s eyes. “Without me you can have a manly lunch and tell those stupid jokes you know I don’t like.”
“We’ll keep it clean if you come along,” Nick said quickly. He put a hand over his heart. “Scout’s honor.”
Lydia laughed, told the interns to believe only half of the stories they’d be regaled with over lunch, then stepped out of the office, wishing like hell that she could ignore the fact that being in the same room with Nick and Caleb had caused her panty to cling moistly to the lips of her cunt.
Chapter Seven
Nick was standing in his office, staring out the window, ostensibly watching the traffic moving by several floors below on the streets of New Oslo. His eyes were open, but he wasn’t seeing the cars or the new construction underway, or even the oil rigs with their pistoning arms that were making him a wealthy man. He was trapped inside his own mind, lost in his memories of Lydia. Had any woman in his entire life so thoroughly entranced both his mind and his body?
No, he thought, of course not. Lydia was in a league all of her own. A true one of a kind. A one and only.
A thousand times he wished he’d never started that silly, erotic game at the hotel tavern in Mumbai, where he’d pulled the D/s routine and she’d gone along with it, responding just exactly as he’d hoped she would. That’s when it all got started, when the work relationship evolved into a sexual one.
But somewhere along the line, his heart got involved. That was something he hadn’t expected. And it damned sure was something he hadn’t intended.
