The Boyfriend

by Abigail Barnette

  “She’ll still be new next year,” I said with a laugh. “And why am I all of a sudden talking about it with pronouns? It’s a boat.”

  “It be the call of the sea,” Neil said, affecting a hilariously bad pirate accent. “Yer already talking like an old salt.”

  “Stop!” I covered my mouth with both hands. “It’s making your earring even worse!”

  “Now, I hope you haven’t overlooked the most important part of this craft,” El-Mudad said sternly. When I met him with silence, he said, “A bed big enough for all three of us.”

  I gestured to the stateroom doors on either side of the elevator. “Right this way, gentlemen.”

  The bed I’d asked for was more than enough room for the three of us. The size of two king-sized beds together, it was outfitted with a brown duvet and mounds of gray and beige pillows to match the cool, neutral tones of the decor. On either side, doors led to the en-suite bathroom and the closet, which, while not as big as the one we had at home, would do just fine on a trip.

  “There’s a steam shower and a his-and-his-and-hers sink set up,” I explained. “I’m not sure how we would explain that at yacht week.”

  “Good point,” Neil agreed. “At least one deck would have to be off-limits to the public.”

  “I don’t care,” I said with a happy sigh. “Everything in the world is made for two. It’s nice to have a place where it can be for three, and everyone else can just suck it.”

  “Speaking of,” El-Mudad said, and it was his turn to get elbowed.

  “There are so many other things I want you to see,” I told them. “Like the cigar lounge. And the matching little speedboat thingy. It can go right inside this boat!”

  “That will be handy if we want to visit any islands,” Neil said.

  “Right now, though, I really want some food.” I batted my eyes at El-Mudad. “Please tell me that you saw the captain, and he said everything was ready to eat?”

  “The captain doesn’t have much control over when we eat,” he informed me. “But yes, there are light hors-d’oeuvres set up on the sundeck on the second level, and your daiquiris are melting. I thought it would be a lovely place to relax while dinner is prepared and we get underway.”

  “When do we sail?” Neil asked, and I wondered how it counted as sailing when the thing had such fucking huge engines.

  “In about half an hour. The stewards will bring up our luggage and unpack it—”

  “Not my bag!” I gasped at the same time Neil said, “Not the carry-on!”

  “So, we haven’t come on this trip totally unprepared,” El-Mudad said with a laugh.

  “Um...no, not exactly. And if we had…” I went to one of the armoires and opened the doors, revealing a collection of necessary implements that was admittedly modest compared to what we had at home. “I know it’s not a lot, but it’s everything we really need. Whips, plugs, paddles, restraints…”

  “You’ve thought of everything,” Neil said with a laugh.

  El-Mudad came over and picked up a sizeable gray dildo. “My god. They match the room.”

  “I told you, I’m good at style.” I’d figured that if the smaller boat that lived inside our boat matched exactly, so should our sex toys. “It’s a theme. And on second thought, I could stand for people to see that during yacht week.”

  * * * *

  After dinner, I couldn’t wait to get into the private hot tub. Sure, the prospect of sex was a factor, but I’d been dreaming of relaxing naked beneath the stars ever since I’d seen the design.

  I stood on the deck in front of the dining room, breathing in the warm sea air. It amazed me how quickly land had disappeared from view, leaving us in a little bubble of light out in the darkness. I leaned on the railing between the staircases and sighed in pure contentment.

  Neil came to stand beside me. “Enjoying yourself?”

  I shifted closer to him. “I’ve never felt so small and insignificant and alone in my life. In a good way.”

  “It does put quite a lot into perspective, doesn’t it?” He looked up at the sky, filled with more stars than I’d ever seen even at home on Lake Superior. “Nothing we do down here is particularly earth-shattering.”

  My lips quirked in a naughty smile. “I don’t know. You’ve done some earth-shattering things to me.”

  “I plan to do more tonight,” he said, lowering his head to kiss me. I melted against him, one hand on his chest. I didn’t know what weird power he had over me, but I felt as free and untroubled as I had years ago, meeting my enigmatic, sexy boss in his hotel room at the W. The same giddy intoxication filled me, this time without the help of champagne. Over half a decade of comfortable familiarity with each other, getting used to the day-to-day had made us feel more like a single unit than two separate people. And sometimes, being two separate people could be exciting and mysterious.

  Then, El-Mudad came back and announced, “The toilet flushes so quietly!”

  I lowered my forehead to rest against Neil’s shirtfront and sighed in dismay.

  “Did I interrupt something?” El-Mudad asked, laughing.

  “Just Sophie’s regrets about being in a relationship with two men,” Neil explained wryly. “But good news about the toilets.”

  “You know, I think I’m going to go upstairs,” I said with a grim, closed-mouth smile. “Enjoy the plumbing.”

  “I would rather enjoy your—” Neil cut himself off and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Nope.”

  “You heard the way it sounded as you were saying it, didn’t you?” El-Mudad asked. He waved me on. “We’ll be up in a moment. Once we figure out how to salvage the mood.”

  I pointed my finger at both of them in turn, scolding, “You’re both gross. You are super icky gross boys.”

  I turned all the lights on in the sitting room of our private suite and used the controls to open the glass wall wide. Though the jets were turned off in the hot tub, steam rose from the crystal-clear water, and my skin broke out in goose bumps at the thought of submerging myself. I let my fingers drift across the surface of the water as I walked onto the deck. I’d never really taken much of an interest in astronomy before—I had been fully twenty-seven years old before I knew that there was a difference between astronomy and astrology—but the stars were so hypnotic I wasn’t sure I would ever stop looking at them. I wondered if we could take the yacht to Iceland, to see the Northern Lights. I supposed we could really go anywhere that had water. And we wouldn’t even have to be away from home since the boat was kind of a house.

  I laid down on the deck in my cream-colored Jenny Packham chiffon halter jumper so I could see even more of the sky. We could just live on the boat, like explorers. We could travel around the world and never have to think about what other people thought of us or what someone might say about the way we lived.

  That would be so cool.

  And so unrealistic. Obviously, we couldn’t uproot Olivia and keep her on a boat all the time. And just because things were strained between my mom and me, I didn’t want to end that relationship forever. I loved the people in our lives. It was the actually having to deal with what they thought of us and the fact that we would probably always have to hide a significant part of our lives that sucked.

  There were so many things I wanted to do. So many things I had to get started on. But I didn’t know how.

  I heard Neil and El-Mudad’s voices as they came up the stairs.

  “Sophie?” Neil called into the bedroom.

  “No, I’m out here,” I said, climbing to my feet. “I was looking at the stars.”

  El-Mudad came out to join me and slipped his arm around my waist, looking up at the sky. His eyes met mine again, and he brushed my hair back from my bare arms. “What a coincidence. So am I.”

  The corniest, most saccharine lines somehow always sounded unbelievably sexy coming from him.

  He leaned down and kissed my shoulder, reaching for the clasp of my jumper’s halter top. It released, and the deep
v-neck fell the short distance left to my waist, baring my skin right out there in the open.

  I loved being naked outside. Neil and I had spent hours of our honeymoon lying naked under the sun, floating nude in the waves and making love on an outdoor bed under the stars. We skinny-dipped all the time in our own pool. But something about being so isolated out there on the sea made me feel more exposed. My nipples hardened as he kissed his way up my neck, and he covered one breast with his palm.

  “Starting without me?”

  “Just making conversation,” El-Mudad said, lowering his head to take my nipple into his mouth.

  I ran my fingers through his soft black hair. “Waiting for you.”

  “Five more minutes and you would have already been fucking right here on the deck,” he said with a knowing half-smile.

  El-Mudad lifted his head. “No, we’d fuck in the hot tub. We need to make a sequel to our video from Venice.”

  Oh. That was an idea.

  “Actually…” I quickly considered my options in the toy chest. “You guys excuse me a minute. I have a plan.”

  “Shall we turn on the jets?” El-Mudad asked, gesturing to the hot tub.

  “No!” That would ruin it. “No, I want you both to get those chairs and pull them right over here. I’ll be back.”

  They gave me puzzled looks as I indicated two of the upholstered deck chairs and the area where we stood. I left them there, clicking on the can light over the hot tub as I passed.

  In the bedroom, I refastened the neck of my jumper and went to all our carefully curated sex toys. There was a large dildo with a suction cup base. I lifted it and examined it. Super-soft, body-safe, and a pleasing ecru color. Nobody could say I wasn’t stylish. I took some of the silicone lubricant from the chest, as well, and headed back out to the hot tub.

  “I think I may have an idea what you’re up to,” Neil said with a slow smile when I returned. He and El-Mudad sat where I’d instructed them to, in front of the fully-glass side of the hot tub. They were sitting close, still dressed but already stroking each other’s erections.

  “Do you?” I asked, walking up the shallow steps. I laid my implements on the edge of the tub and carefully tested the water with my toes. Did anything feel as good as scorching hot water? “Well, I hope that doesn’t ruin it for you.”

  “Not at all,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “By all means, proceed.”

  The pale material of my jumper went translucent immediately when it contacted the water, and it climbed up the fabric that hadn’t yet gotten dunked. I cupped some water and brought it up to rain over my head, down my neck and shoulders. I scooped up more in my hands and let it trickle down my arms and over my breasts. I pinched and rolled my nipples through the wet fabric, and sat in the middle of the three molded seats, opening my legs wide. With one hand, I reached down and spread my labia around the seam of the jumper, rubbing my clit with two fingers. El-Mudad sat forward in his chair a bit, and I smiled to myself. I had their attention, definitely.

  I relaxed into the seat and tipped my head back, touching myself the way I did when I went solo, but the lack of direct contact was maddening. I stood back up and slowly unfastened the clasp, then peeled the wet garment from my body. I lifted it out of the water and dropped it over the side onto the floor of the deck. Then I reclined again, legs wide, showing them everything as I touched myself and soaked up the delicious naughtiness of the moment. Just me, enjoying my body, enjoying showing my pleasure to the two men who watched me, enraptured by my every moan and sigh. My tongue darted to the corner of my mouth as I watched them stroking each other, getting each other off to the real-life porno I performed for them. I palmed my breast and arched my back, dipping two fingers down to enter my vagina, then up to get my clit more slippery than the water could.

  I picked up the dildo and lube and coated it liberally. Then I waded to the glass and pressed the suction cup base against it. El-Mudad took a loud breath at the realization of what I was about to do.

  It was a little tricky to bend over without falling or accidentally drowning myself, but I’d estimated the height perfectly to align my opening with the tip of the dildo. I wouldn’t be able to do anything vigorous without fear of losing my balance, but I slid back on it, filling my aching pussy with a long moan.

  I heard Neil murmur, “Stop, stop, love, or I’ll come,” to El-Mudad, and I giggled. Neil usually had fantastic stamina. So this clearly drove him wild. I looked over my shoulder as I slowly rocked back and forth on the dildo, feeling every inch as it penetrated me. I rubbed my clit and closed my eyes; the exhibition factor turned me on way more quickly than I’d expected. I came for them like that, fucking myself with the dildo, entirely on display, my cries echoing into the empty night.

  “I can’t wait any longer,” El-Mudad announced, rising from his chair. Before I knew it, he was in the tub beside me, still fully dressed but for his shoes and belt. He pulled me roughly into his arms. I tore at his shirt, scattering buttons in my haste. Neil took the time to strip down before climbing in with us, but he helped me by pushing El-Mudad’s unzipped pants and briefs down.

  “Let me fuck your ass,” El-Mudad begged against my ear, and I moaned, “Yes.”

  He sat on the edge of the tub and slicked lube over himself before lifting me onto his lap. I knew he was trying to go slow, but I didn’t mind being a little rough. I guided him to the right spot and let gravity do the rest, gasping in pain as he stretched me.

  “Fuck me,” I whimpered, and Neil pulled the dildo from the glass and handed it to El-Mudad. Without hesitation, El-Mudad plunged it into my pussy. I held myself up while he flexed his hips beneath me, pounding in my ass while hammering my pussy with the dildo. Neil knelt on the step beside us and pressed his cock against El-Mudad’s lips. There was nothing artful or coordinated about this. Just all out, frantic, animalistic fucking. The pain of El-Mudad’s cock in my ass sent those familiar cold shivers up and down my spine, even in the steaming water, until both sensations blended into one. The base of the dildo brushing my clit pushed me higher and higher.

  “Harder, please, harder,” I begged, my lips against his throat, and he was happy to oblige. My orgasm built and built and built, my clit stimulated inside and out from our desperate pace, and I came screaming so loudly that I was sure someone would run up and check on us. Luckily, no one did, because I wasn’t sure El-Mudad could have stopped if he’d wanted to; he buried himself deep, flooding me with wicked warmth, his shout cut off by Neil’s cock deep in his throat.

  “I’m close,” Neil warned El-Mudad. “I’m going to come in your fucking mouth.”

  “Save it,” I gasped, reaching up to trail one finger down his chest and over his stomach. “Let’s go to the bed.”

  He groaned in frustration as he pulled out. “Hurry, then.”

  El-Mudad’s thighs visibly trembled as we got out of the tub. We left wet footprints on the wood floor as we moved to the bedroom. The duvet soaked beneath us as the three of us tumbled onto it in a wild, wet tangle of arms and legs.

  “Lay down.” I wriggled across the bed to sit beside Neil as he lay back. I leaned on my arms and swung my legs across him, perpendicular. His eyes widened as I took the lube bottle and squeezed a generous amount over my feet and his cock.

  “I’ve seen your browser history,” I said with a wicked smile. “You could have just asked, you know.”

  “I…” he swallowed, his eyes closing as I stroked one foot up and down his shaft. “I was a bit embarrassed.”

  “There’s no reason to be,” El-Mudad said softly, lying beside him. He cupped Neil’s jaw in one hand and slid his fingers up, into his hair, ruffling the drying silver strands.

  “With everything, we do together, did you really think something like this…” I maneuvered his erection between my feet and glided them up and down his length. “Would make us uncomfortable? You’re all about exploring my desires, but you rarely ask for the things that make you happy.”

&nb
sp; “You don’t…” he breathed heavily now, watching every movement of my feet as I caressed his cock. “I’ve always been a bit shy about it. This is the first time anyone has ever—”

  “No!” I gasped. Had I found something Neil had never done? “This is fucking great! I can’t believe I get to fulfill one of your fantasies!”

  He curled up from the bed and grabbed me, holding my hair roughly to lean me over for a kiss. His tongue swept into my mouth until I had to pull back to get a breath.

  “You fulfill my fantasies every day,” he whispered. Then, with a moan of pure rapture, he laid back again.

  “Just enjoy it,” I said, slightly increasing my speed. “Just watch my feet on you. They’re so slippery and ticklish doing this. It’s really making my pussy wet.”

  “Your pussy was already wet,” El-Mudad teased.

  Neil groaned and reached one hand under my thighs, his fingers brushing my cunt. He plunged two between my labia, then pulled them back and sucked them clean.

  “What do you think of my toenail polish?” I asked with feigned innocence. “I don’t know about the red...does it seem kind of slutty to you?”

  “Fuck, yes it does,” he managed as his breathing sped up. “Oh god, I’m going to come.”

  “Do it,” I told him, gripping him just a little tighter. My calves burned, but it was totally worth it. “Come all over my feet.”

  That did it. He lifted his hips from the bed with a loud, strangled cry and I polished the head of his jerking cock with the arches of my feet as he pumped rope after rope of cum over them. I kept going until he reached down and stopped me with a hiss of oversensitivity. Sweat gleamed on his forehead and collarbones.

  “Sophie...thank you so much,” he said hoarsely, reaching for me, and I lay beside him to snuggle.

  I nuzzled my head into the dip of his shoulder. “Please, don’t ever feel like you can’t ask me to do something like that. Any sexual thing we somehow haven’t tried yet. If I’m not into it, I’ll tell you.”

  “The same goes for me,” El-Mudad agreed. “You’ve never pushed either of us to try anything we didn’t want to do. We’re all respectful of each other’s boundaries, and I think we’re all capable of being honest with each other.”