Milo nodded. “Got it. Thank you.”
As we walked away, I clipped the badge to my chest and said, “You told her you got it? Way to play it cool. What the hell is this? Some kind of pineapple-lovers convention?”
Milo ducked his head in laughter. When he calmed down, his expression turned serious. “We’re at a fuck fest, Maddie.”
Huh? A fuck fest? My eyes went wide. “What?”
“This is a swingers event.”
“Oh my God. What?”
“The first dead giveaway was the goddamn pineapples.”
I wrinkled my forehead. “Pineapples?”
“Yeah.” He chuckled. “You didn’t know that?”
“No! What do pineapples have to do with swinging?”
“They’re a universal symbol to identify…like-minded people. I used to have neighbors who always had a pineapple flag hanging outside their house. I had no clue what the fuck it meant until the woman asked me to one of their parties. She seemed to think her husband would like Zoe, and she made it clear she wanted to fuck me. When I told her we weren’t into that kind of stuff, she made it sound like I should’ve known what they were insinuating—because of the pineapple. So I never made that mistake again. I see a pineapple now? I know what’s up.”
Still trying to make sense of it all, I asked, “Wait… You noticed the pineapples on the way up to our rooms when we first got here? You knew about this when you asked me to crash it?”
He shook his head. “No. I swear. I didn’t notice the pineapples until we got down here just now.”
My jaw dropped as I looked around. “Holy shit.” So many eyes were on us—like almost every set of eyes in the room.
“You look like you want to flee,” he said. “Remember our promise. We said we’d follow this through until the end—no matter what.”
“This is a pretty big ‘no matter what’! And what exactly does ‘the end’ mean under these circumstances? My name might be hooker...but I’m not a hooker, if you get my drift.”
“We won’t be partaking, crazy girl.” He laughed. “But it will be fun to mess around with these people.” He tilted his head. “Come on.”
Milo went to the bar and got us a couple of drinks while I stayed a few feet behind and continued to peruse the room nervously. I was definitely going to need alcohol for this.
Not to boost my own ego, but we were the best-looking people here. I suspected it would be no time before we were approached.
Sure enough, soon after Milo returned with our drinks, a man and a woman who looked to be in their late thirties came over to where we were standing.
“Hello,” the man said.
Milo smiled, looking cool and confident. “Hi.”
The woman sounded kind of tense. “I’m Carolyn, and this is my husband, Troy.”
“Nice to meet you,” Milo said.
My pseudo-brother gave me a challenging look, like he wanted me to say something to them.
I cleared my throat. “So...do you do this often?”
“Actually, no,” the woman said. “This is my first time. It’s my fortieth birthday, and I told him I wanted to try this at least once.”
“Ahhh.” I breathed out. “Well, happy birthday.”
Her husband took a sip of his drink. “I’ve been many times before. My ex and I used to like to frequent these things. Carolyn is my second wife and not quite as adventurous. Probably why we’ve lasted, though.”
After several seconds of awkward silence, the woman asked, “How about you two? How long have you been together?”
“Actually, we’re not together. Maddie is my sister.”
“Oh, wow. You’re both…single?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said, taking a long swig of my drink.
Troy leaned in to whisper in my ear. “You know there’s a name for women like you at these things.”
“What’s that?” I said, taking a long step away from him.
He wriggled his brows. “A unicorn.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.” He grinned. “No strings attached. That’s a hot commodity.”
After several minutes of small talk, Troy finally got to the point. “So, what are the chances you two would like to…play?”
No chance in hell.
I looked at Milo and let him do the honors.
He took my cue. “Thank you. But we’re already committed to another couple. We’re...supposed to be meeting them here.”
Carolyn looked super disappointed to not be getting a piece of my hot brother tonight. “Ah...well...worth a shot.” She smiled.
“In any case, it was nice meeting you two,” Troy said before they walked away.
Sayonara.
After they left, I felt like I needed a shower. But also, oddly jealous. Which was ridiculous because Milo wasn’t my boyfriend. But somehow the thought of him having sex with that woman—her even wanting him—made me feel stabby.
He sensed something. “You okay?”
I surveyed the room. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
There were several couples lurking around us. Women were checking out Milo, and I could see some of the men staring at me.
While my inclination was to flee, we’d agreed to see this through. But what was the end exactly if it didn’t involve “playing” with these people?
At one point, someone came up to us and announced in a low voice, “The penthouse suite is open now, if you’re interested.”
After the guy walked away, I turned to Milo. “What’s going on in the penthouse suite?”
“I’m supposed to know?” He laughed. “But let’s check it out.”
Well, we’ve come this far. Might as well see what that’s all about.
As we headed upstairs in the elevator, all I could think was: What the hell am I getting myself into now?
Once at the penthouse suite, we showed our pineapple badges at the door and were given access to the room.
The lighting was red tinted and muted. Soft jazz music played. Because of the dim lights, you couldn’t very easily make out faces. There were air mattresses strewn all over the floor and people lying about.
Next to where we entered was a bowl of condoms. Next to that, a bowl of wet wipes.
A man standing just inside the room took our cell phones before we could go in any farther, giving us numbered tickets and noting that we should pick our phones up on the way out.
Within a few minutes, there were people all around us, undressing and going at it on the mattresses. The smell of alcohol mixed with pungent cologne filled the air. This was literally, as Milo had put it earlier, a fuck fest.
There were plenty of people standing on the sidelines watching, too. I suppose we were part of that group. I noticed the couple we’d spoken with earlier also standing in a corner on the opposite side of the room. They were probably wondering where our “friends” were—you know, the ones we were supposed to be meeting in lieu of having sex with them.
The room was eerily quiet, compared to what I would have expected. As much as many of these people were not what you would consider typically attractive, I was surprised to find that the longer I watched them having sex, the more hot and bothered I became—not because of my attraction to anyone here, but because of my attraction to the man standing beside me. And when I turned to look at Milo, he was staring right at me.
Our eyes stayed fixed on each other for a while until he leaned in and said, “I think we’ve now seen this through to the end. You?”
Feeling flustered, I nodded and followed him toward the door. We retrieved our phones and left. My heart beat rampantly, and I wondered if that was because for a split second, I’d thought he was going to ask me if I was interested in joining in with him. But that would’ve been crazy. Milo would never do that. That wasn’t the type of relationship we had. Not to mention, those people were under the impression that we were brother and sister, so you could imagine what they would have thought.
The fact that I’d e
ven thought for a millisecond about Milo asking me to do that with him was pathetic. Yet, it seemed to be all I could think about as we walked together back to our rooms. What would it have been like down on one of those mattresses with Milo hovering over me—inside of me?
Wow. I really need to get laid.
We found ourselves alone in the elevator. I looked down and could’ve sworn he had an erection. Thank goodness the wetness between my legs wasn’t visible. The vibe between us had somehow been altered by that voyeuristic experience.
“Well, that was interesting,” he finally said, his eyes hazy.
In that moment, it all seemed to hit me. I burst into laughter. Then Milo did, too. We laughed until the elevator dinged open on our floor.
I wiped my eyes. “I’ll never look at a pineapple the same way again.”
Chapter 8
* * *
Matteo
It surprised me that she asked me to come to her room for a drink.
After our outings thus far, Maddie had escaped to her room and never invited me in. I was always fine with that, because it made it easier not to blur things between us. I knew she wasn’t interested in crossing that line with me. She’d made that crystal clear. And as attracted to her as I was, it was better for both of us if things stayed platonic, uncomplicated. That’s what we both needed right now: to have fun and make a clean break when we parted ways. Having sex would ruin that plan.
But the fact that she’d asked me to her room tonight—of all nights—was ironic. That whole experience upstairs had made me horny as fuck. I hadn’t realized just how hard up I’d been. And it had nothing to do with anyone there, but instead the idea of sex and Maddie put together. So given that, tonight would have been the one night I preferred to go to my room alone, so I could rub one off in the shower and put myself out of my misery. Instead, I was left sitting on the chair across from Maddie as she lay splayed out on the bed in that sexy dress. It was basically a form of torture.
Maddie sipped her hard seltzer and surprised me with a question. “If I wasn’t there, would you have given Carolyn her fortieth-birthday wish?”
I laughed. “No. No interest in Carolyn, or anyone else there, for that matter.” I took a sip of my drink. “You?”
She shook her head. “No. Troy wasn’t my type.”
My brow lifted. “Anyone else there your type?”
She hesitated. “Nope.”
I decided to admit what I was feeling. Pretty sure she’d noticed my dick was hard in the elevator anyway, so maybe it was better to be honest. “There was no one there who interested me, but somehow collectively, the idea of everyone so turned on—it got me worked up, I guess.”
Maddie looked flushed. Her voice was low when she said, “I thought I was the only one.”
Even though I’d suspected she was turned on up in the penthouse suite, hearing her admit it only made the situation in my pants worse.
I needed to change the subject. Stat.
“Any idea what you want to do tomorrow besides shop?”
She shrugged. “Just see some of the sights. Walk around, maybe check out the Santa Fe Plaza.”
“That sounds good.”
When she yawned, I took that as my cue and opportunity to escape this tense conversation. I needed a release.
I stood up. “Well, I’ll let you get some shut eye.”
As I moved toward the door, she suddenly got up off the bed. “Wait.”
My heart started to beat faster. “What’s up?”
She looked like she wasn’t sure what she’d planned to say. Until she muttered, “Can you unzip me?”
Fuck. What is she doing?
A man can only take so much.
“Sure.” I walked back over to her.
She turned around so her back was to me.
I slowly lowered the zipper on her dress, swallowing hard as I gazed at the soft skin of her gorgeous back. She hadn’t worn a bra. Her tits were so perky, apparently she didn’t need one.
Unexpectedly, her dress fell to the floor, showcasing nothing but a red lace thong over her flawless ass. I felt my pants tightening by the second. This wasn’t good. She kept her back to me, lingering there, seemingly wanting me to suffer. And then it dawned on me what she was doing. She was giving me that fucking show she’d promised me. My reward for performing in Steamboat.
The devil inside of me silently begged her to turn around, to show me everything, to take her thong off, lie back on the bed, and spread her legs wide so I could see her glistening pussy. The devil wanted her to beg me to fuck her.
Instead, she covered her breasts as she turned around and blushed. Then, she escaped into the bathroom.
I was wrong. The devil wasn’t inside me. She was behind that bathroom door.
And my gut told me she wasn’t intending for me to follow. She’d already made her intentions clear. This was simply a cock tease of epic proportions.
Don’t get me wrong. It was a cock tease I’d gladly accept.
I heard the water in the bathroom.
With my raging hard on, I headed for the door and retreated to my room alone.
• • •
The following day, we did not speak of her little peep show or the sex party we’d inadvertently attended. The vibe was back to platonic as we shopped for her boots. Thank fuck.
She didn’t need to know I’d spent the better part of an hour after I returned to my room last night whacking off to thoughts of her body, which morphed into fantasies of fucking her on those air mattresses in the penthouse suite. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d jerked off so much.
I’d slept with a few women since Zoe, but all of those experiences had been gratuitous and forced. I hadn’t been genuinely turned on in ages. Too bad it happened with a woman who was more interested in fucking with me than fucking me. Maybe I should’ve been thankful that Maddie and I had already set boundaries between us, because things would have gotten complicated real fast without them.
But if things were clear, why was I still overthinking everything when I was supposed to be helping her look for ugly cowboy boots?
Maddie lifted her foot. “What do you think?”
We’d been in the boot shop for the better part of an hour. Every pair she selected featured a mish-mash of bright colors.
“Those are pretty hideous.”
“This is what I’m going for, though. Bright and colorful.”
“You mean tacky?”
“You’re no fun, Hooker.” She winked.
I got the sudden urge to smack her ass.
Good job putting last night out of your mind, Matteo. Milo. Whatever the fuck your name is.
Several minutes later, when she came back from the register, she carried two large boxes.
Standing up from the bench where I’d been ruminating, I said, “Couldn’t decide, eh? You opted for two obnoxious pairs?”
She grinned. “Sure did! But not both for me. One pair for me, one pair for you.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What did you do?”
“Put on your new boots, brother.” Maddie opened the box, showcasing men’s boots that were completely covered in American-flag print.
I shook my head and chuckled. “I guess we have our souvenirs from Santa Fe.”
• • •
“Do you have a lot of friends?”
I glanced over at Maddie in the passenger seat before returning my eyes to the road. “That question came out of the blue.”
She smiled. “I was just thinking of the things I would miss if I packed up and left Connecticut. I’ve become good friends with a woman there. She’s also a photographer. Her name is Felicity. I’d really miss her.”
We’d been on the road for seven hours already today. Our next stop was New Orleans. It was about a sixteen-hour trip, but we planned to do ten today and the rest tomorrow morning. I knew from experience that road trips were conducive to deep thinking. There was nothing but you and your thoughts for hours on end. So it
didn’t surprise me Maddie was contemplating life during our drive.
“I have a few friends in Seattle. I go out with a group of teachers for happy hour every once in a while. And I play two-on-two basketball with these guys at the gym every other Tuesday night.”
Maddie nodded. “I had a few good friends when I was little. But every time we would move, I’d be so upset about losing them. After a while, I figured out that if I didn’t get too close to anyone, it was easier when my parents picked up and left.”
I frowned. “That sucks. Though, to be honest, I think I’ve been sort of doing the same thing the last couple of years. I had a lot of friends in high school and college, mostly because I played sports. But things have changed since I moved to Seattle. I chalked it up to relocating. Though looking back now, I’m not so sure that’s all it was. I’ve pretty much kept to myself since Zoe.”
Maddie sighed. “Yeah.” After that, she went quiet for a long time again, staring out the car window, seemingly deep in thought. When she broke her silence, she said, “Can I ask you something personal?”
I chuckled. “You mean all the shit we’ve talked about over the last six days wasn’t personal?”
She smiled. “I guess it was. But I don’t want to be too prying.”
“How about this? Nothing is off limits from here on out. Everything is on the table for the rest of our trip. You have a question, just ask it, and I’ll do my best to answer.”
Her face lit up. It was so freaking adorable. “Okay! And same here. I’m an open book.”
“Sounds good. Now that we’ve settled that, what was your question?”
“Oh yeah…” She bit her lower lip. “Do you…ever have trouble…you know, getting excited?”
My brows jumped. “Are you asking me if I have difficulty getting an erection?”
She nodded.
“No, that’s not happened to me as of yet. In fact, the last few days I’ve had the opposite problem. Especially after that little stunt you pulled last night, by the way.”
She covered a devilish smile with her hand. “I told you I’d return the favor if you got up and sang with me. I owed you.”
My Favorite Souvenir Page 8
