Random Encounter

by Allyson Lindt

  “I have your resume. It’s got your address on it,” Phillip said.

  “We were on our way to breakfast. Lunch? Brunch? Come with us,” Dustin offered.

  I didn’t mind making a habit of spending more time with them, but was that weird?

  Phillip jerked his thumb toward the door. “You did say we were taking you out. We can’t make you a liar. You’ll need to come with us.”

  I didn’t want to stay here, and I did like the idea of their company. “If you insist.”

  Dustin grasped my fingers and tugged me from the door. “We do. Get whatever you need, and let’s go.”

  I grabbed my stuff, and headed with them out to Dustin’s SUV. When I saw Sean’s car waiting by mine, him still in the front seat, a sick pit grew in my gut. He took one look at us and peeled out of the parking lot.

  What the hell?

  Eleven

  Phillip

  Despite my resolve last night to put some distance between myself and Dustin, I didn’t hesitate this morning when he asked if we were doing breakfast. Then again, he’d dropped everything the instant Adrienne called.

  And it was a completely different situation.

  I opened the passenger door for Adrienne. “You take the front. I’ll call the police.”

  She took her seat, lips pursed, and I slid into the second row, putting myself between Dustin and Addie so I could see them both.

  “What are young going to tell them?” Adrienne asked when I pulled out my phone. “That my ex-husband dropped by my apartment to talk to me?”

  Dustin started the truck. “He’s stalking you.”

  “Says you. Says me.” Adrienne’s voice was tight. “He’ll say otherwise.”

  I hovered my thumb over the keypad, ready to dial. “It’s three against one.” It didn’t work that way, I knew, but she couldn’t let this drop.

  She twisted in her seat and covered my hand with hers. “Please don’t. I’m not...” She clenched her jaw as she trailed off.

  “Not what?”

  She puffed out her cheeks and exhaled. “Not in the mood to be told it’s nothing, and that maybe I should just hear the guy out.”

  “Ah.” That killed a lot of my replies.

  “What are you going to do when he keeps coming back?” Dustin navigated traffic with practiced ease.

  Adrienne shrugged. “I’ll deal with it. I didn’t this time, but I’ll figure it out. I’m sorry I made it your problem, but I know it’s really on me to handle.” She sounded apologetic and distressed.

  Neither one felt right.

  “He wants to talk, then tell me where he lives and I’ll go talk to him,” Dustin said.

  I understood the sentiment, but also the futility of it.

  “That will not make things better.” Adrienne’s answer didn’t surprise me.

  Dustin turned another corner toward our usual breakfast place. “It might.”

  She shook her head, but a small laugh escaped. “I can’t stay by your side forever, and if you piss him off, he’s going to look for a way to make himself feel better. I just want him to go away, and I’ll figure it out.”

  I wanted to tell her ignoring the problem wouldn’t make it go away, and I didn’t see how it could. But like any troll in any online game or forum, giving him attention wouldn’t help either.

  “I’ve got it, I promise,” Adrienne said.

  I wasn’t used to hearing that tone from her. Deception? It couldn’t be. I didn’t know her well enough to make assumptions, though, and despite all of this, I only needed to know her well enough to teach her how to do my job.

  Dustin could stand getting to know her better, though. The two of them worked well together, already, and that dynamic could be enhanced. This morning seemed like the perfect way to nudge their friendship closer, and for me to start stepping back.

  That didn’t mean I liked dropping the subject of how to help Adrienne with her ex, but I didn’t know what to say that hadn’t already been said.

  We reached the same diner we hit up every other weekend, parked in the same spot, and inside, waved at the same waitress as we sat at the same table as always. When did my life become so intertwined with Dustin’s?

  The difference today was Dustin slid in next to Adrienne. They were cute together. A knot formed in my chest and I ignored it.

  “Hey, guys.” Heather greeted us with her same friendly smile. “And new friend. Is this your sister?” She looked at Dustin.

  I shook my head. “No.”

  Adrienne was most definitely not Daria. Who I also knew better than seemed normal for co-workers. And I knew her girls too.

  “Someone’s. Not mine, though.” Dustin draped an arm over Adrienne’s shoulders.

  Adrienne smiled. “We work together.”

  “You do the games too? That must be a lot of fun. Diet for you.” Heather pointed at Dustin. “Coffee, half-and-half.” She pointed at me. “And for you?” She asked Adrienne.

  “Hmm.” Adrienne scrunched her nose in thought.

  How was that cute? The kind of tiny detail that made a drawing three dimensional even when it was flat.

  “Coffee. Sugar. Do you have the flavored creamers? Any of those. Surprise me,” Adrienne said.

  “You got it, hon.” Heather left to grab our drinks.

  I couldn’t help but tease Adrienne just a little. “If you don’t want to taste the coffee, you shouldn’t order the coffee.” I kept my tone light.

  She stared back, unfazed. “You don’t salt your food? It’s a flavor enhancer.”

  “Oh.” Dustin’s face lit up. “Like pineapple juice.”

  And now breakfast had a cum joke involved. Yup, that was us.

  Adrienne’s cheeks turned pink. “I’d have to take your word for it.”

  “You don’t have to. There are easy ways to find out for yourself.” I shouldn’t be following this line of conversation. Now that I was thinking about how not-coworker-like Dustin and I were, it was obvious that I was drawn into every joke and jab and bit of innuendo, and that we were dragging Adrienne along for the ride.

  Not that anyone seemed to mind. But there was a distinct line between jokes about blowjobs and offering to show someone if myths about pineapple juice making cum taste better were true.

  Adrienne drew her finger down the back page of the laminated menu. “Doesn’t look like they have pineapple juice on the menu. Bummer.”

  “Damn. Too bad no one else sells it,” Dustin teased.

  I wasn’t doing this. Because then I’d be tempted to recreate last night, but naked, and fuck that was already too tempting. “You know what pineapples always make me think of?”

  “South Park?” Adrienne asked.

  “Paris Hilton?” Dustin added.

  And she got the same references we did. I laughed in spite of myself, but I was still going to make this conversation not sexy. “Xenomorph eggs.”

  “Gross,” Heather said as she passed our drinks to us. She took our food order.

  When she was gone, Adrienne said, “I always thought the eggs looked more like… mangoes.”

  “I was thinking avocado.” Dustin scooted the rainbow assortment of flavored creamer closer to her, then took a long drink of his Diet Coke.

  Adrienne picked through the flavors, landing on green, and dumped a few into her drink. “They’re not bumpy enough to be avocado. Maybe avocado colored mangoes?”

  “You’ve done an extensive study of Xenomorph eggs?” I wasn’t impressed. Maybe just a little. I was also just a little tempted to steal one of her flavored creamers. Just one Irish cream.

  She raised her eyebrows. “Aliens is classic sci-fi horror. One of the best movies in its class, and one of the few that’s stood up to time.”

  Fuck me, she was a fan. Why couldn’t she love, I didn’t know, conspiracy theory podcasts? Something completely unappealing. She did have one thing wrong, though.

  “You mean Alien,” I said.

  “No. I mean Aliens. With an S
. Don’t get me wrong—Alien brought Geiger to the big screen, and… wow. But Aliens is something else.”

  I could argue that with her, and have a lot of fun. But I’d rather put the focus back between her and Dustin. “Dustin loves the prequels. The Alien prequels, not like The Phantom Penis.”

  Adrienne snorted a short laugh. “Like, Prometheus?”

  “I don’t love them. We’re just occasional fuck buddies.”

  She stared at him with a blank expression. Damn, she had that look down. “What does that even mean?”

  Dustin shrugged. “I have an appreciation for their more subtle points and sometimes we sneak away into the shadows to do naughty things.”

  “Like watch them,” I said.

  “I won’t apologize.” He never did. Not for his passions.

  Adrienne sipped her coffee. “Usually I don’t like the term guilty pleasure—who should feel guilty for linking what they like—but Prometheus?”

  “We’ll watch them. Today. I’ll teach you how to appreciate them,” Dustin said.

  Did I really want to push them closer as friends and me onto the outside? Yes, but not today. We were here, we were having fun, and I was going to enjoy it. “I’ve got a great theater setup at home.”

  “He really does.” Dustin shifted in his seat so he was half-facing Adrienne. “What are you doing with your afternoon, Addie?”

  “Apparently, I’m watching the Alien movies.”

  Dustin high-fived her. "Smart lady.”

  “And then reminding you when we’re done that you’re wrong.” She grinned.

  He scoffed. “As if.”

  Our food arrived and conversation stuttered as we ate.

  “What’s the news with that Nolan guy?” I asked Dustin. In the bedlam of the last week, I’d forgotten to get an update.

  Dustin sneered. “Rotting in Hell? It’s in Legal’s hands now. We’re clear.”

  “Who’s Nolan?” Adrienne asked.

  “Dickhead extraordinaire.” Disdain filled Dustin’s reply. “But more specifically, a guy I used to work with who’s claiming AcesPlayed ripped off his art.”

  Adrienne looked horrified. “That’s… How are you supposed to fight something like that? Why would anyone…? I don’t understand. You wouldn’t.”

  She was right—Dustin wouldn’t steal someone else’s work and neither would I. But her faith in us was reassuring anyway.

  “It happens a lot in this industry.” I tried to return the favor of being reassuring. “We’re lucky that we have lawyers behind us.”

  “It’ll be fine,” Dustin said. “It’s irritating to be called a thief, and infuriating to be betrayed by someone I used to call friend, but we’ve already handled it.”

  “You’re taking it a lot better than I would.” Adrienne didn’t sound convinced.

  I gently nudged her toe under the table, drawing her attention. “That’s because you’re not a cold, heartless husk. You still care about the world.” The words came out with the playfulness I wanted, but they echoed hollowly inside.

  Her smile was warm. “You can’t fool me. I know you actually care.”

  The snippet of conversation echoed in my thoughts, especially Adrienne’s confidence in us, and the uncomfortable tug of emotion inside me. Why, after being certain for months, did part of me whisper I’d be losing something incredible if I went through with my quiet plan to quit?

  As we were finishing our meal, Adrienne reached past Dustin to grab the check from the edge of the table.

  I reached for her, but he got to her first, pinning her wrist to the table. “You’d really wound my masculinity like that?” Dustin sounded somber.

  She didn’t look impressed. “You’d really tie your masculinity to a restaurant bill?”

  “Which answer makes you feel better?” I asked.

  Adrienne cast a glance in my direction. “Take a guess.”

  “Hmm…” Dustin plucked the piece of paper from her fingers. “I’m paying anyway, because it’s my week. You get the next one.”

  She didn’t try to break free of his grip. “I’m holding you to that.”

  Which meant she and Dustin both planned she’d be here for at least one more breakfast.

  The attraction between them was obvious. They might be a cute couple, but more likely they’d be good friends. Dustin wasn’t a commitment kind of guy, which was one of the reasons I liked our friendship. Adrienne very much struck me as a settle-down long-term kind of woman.

  Though, maybe they’d be the kind of friends Dustin and I were.

  That knot was back in my chest. I gulped down the last of my water to wash away the unwelcome feeling.

  Twelve

  Dustin

  It was more fun swapping movie critique and light-hearted barbs with Phillip and Addie than it was watching the movies themselves. But every time the credits rolled or one of them walked across the room, my brain reset and I was treated to memories from last night.

  The memory card sat in my computer, and had I jerked off to the replay this morning like it was the best porn ever? Damn straight.

  Did that stop me from wanting a redo, but naked and with me in something more intimate than a spectator role?

  Not even for a second.

  Addie returned from putting a glass in the kitchen, and I wrapped an arm around her waist as she walked past me. She squealed when I tugged her into my lap, but she settled in, rather than trying to get away. Did bald Sigourney Weaver make me horny? No, but these two brilliant, fun people did.

  “I’ve been thinking, you two had all the fun last night.” I locked my gaze on hers.

  “You were there too.” Addie’s voice was quiet and sweet.

  Heat flowed between us, and her lips were so close. So tempting. I shifted to give her better balance and keep her here longer. “I was watching. Which is fine, but if you hadn’t noticed, I’m more of a center stage person than an audience person.”

  She licked her bottom lip. “I might have.”

  “We could always pick up where we left off.” God bless Phillip and his genius.

  But I wanted something a teensy bit different. “I was thinking more like we rewind and make some revisions.”

  “Revisions are an important learning tool in art,” Addie said. “What did you have in mind?”

  I cupped her cheek. “This, for starters.” I crushed my mouth to hers.

  Somehow she managed both hesitant and hungry as she leaned into me. I sucked her bottom lip in, capturing it between my teeth before letting go.

  “Is this okay?” Addie’s question was breathless, and she never pulled away. How was she such a tempting dichotomy?

  “Do you want to stop?”

  “I didn’t say that, and no, I don’t want to stop.”

  Another thing I enjoyed immensely about her company—her constant, almost involuntary honesty.

  “But we work together,” she said.

  “True.” I was so used to simply hooking up I hadn’t stopped to think she wasn’t. I should probably make sure she knew what this was. Did I know what it was? Nothing with a commitment attached to it, or that would push her out. “But we’re not at work right now, and this has nothing to do with how we do our jobs.”

  She licked her lips.

  When I leaned in to kiss away the shine, her gasp was fuel spilling through my veins.

  “I meant, it might help me do mine better,” she said.

  “See?”

  Addie ducked her head. “But what if…”

  I tilted her chin back up, needing the eye contact. “What if what?” I kept my tone kind and patient. There was no way she could miss my erection digging into the back of her thigh, but I could try not to be too pushy.

  “What if you don’t like it and don’t want to work with me anymore after?”

  I couldn’t even fathom. “The possibility never crossed my mind.”

  “It should have.”

  I brushed my lips over hers, then leaned in, deep
ening the kiss until all the raw need flowing between us overrode everything else. “I promise you,” I nipped her lips again and again, “that’s not going to happen.”

  “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

  “We do.” I kissed her again.

  She whimpered against my lips. “Yeah, you really do.”

  I couldn’t fight my smirk, and now I had even more motivation to make sure she enjoyed the hell out of this. I gripped her neck and brushed my lips over hers, again and again. Hard kisses. Soft kisses. They were all fun, especially when she squirmed in my lap. Part of me wanted to be impatient and rush toward the part where the clothes all came off and the soft sighs became loud screams of pleasure. But this anticipation was so sweet, I was going to stay here a bit longer.

  Phillip slid a hand between us, gripping Addie’s chin and stealing her away to tug her mouth to his. I had a good idea of where her groan came from, because I’d been on the receiving end of that kiss. Watching it play out, knowing what both of them felt in this moment, was scorching.

  How had I never been tempted by the idea of a threesome before?

  Because there had never been two people I wanted this way at the same time before.

  Every bit of last night, watching from behind the camera, joining in, was burned into my memory. Even if I hadn’t reviewed the clip a few times this morning, I’d remember it all vividly.

  And I was inspired by a moment stolen from time. Hands on her hips, I urged Addie to her feet and turned her so her back was to my chest. I glided a hand down her stomach. “You mentioned something about enjoying the possibilities this presents.”

  “I definitely did.” She arched her back, bringing her hips closer to my hand and her long, tempting neck closer to my mouth.

  I ran my lips along the curve, from her shoulder to her ear, sinking into her scent and the soft sighs that drifted from her throat. It was a shame this incredible woman didn’t know what it was like to be worshipped, but I could fix that.

  Which meant finding that line between drawing this out and making sure she enjoyed every minute. Why was that so important? It wasn’t that I was an inconsiderate lay. Everyone got off, and I always wanted the other person to enjoy it as much as I did.