by Elia Winters
He could hear Lori’s smile in her words. “Ask nicely.”
Oh, fuck. “Please go deeper.”
She did, the next slide easier, giving him another few inches that opened him right up. His body tried to clench around her, tried to close up, and couldn’t, and that was…breathtaking. Beneath him, Geoff started moving again, short thrusts that rubbed the sensitive swollen head of Patrick’s cock. Lori wasn’t fully in, and he wanted more, and knew he had to ask.
“Please,” he repeated. “Please, fill me all the way.”
Lori smoothed a hand over his back, slow circles, before gripping his hips with both hands and pressing the whole cock inside him in one long, steady stroke.
Patrick cried out, louder and harsher, and if it weren’t for the cock ring, he’d have come right then. “Oh, god,” he sobbed, and he might have been crying.
“Are you all right?” Geoff asked, concerned.
Patrick nodded frantically; he was better than all right, he was incandescent, he was beyond words. “Fuck, I need to move. I need to move.”
“Here.” Geoff’s hands fumbled between them, around the base of Patrick’s cock, and then suddenly, the leather came away, and blood surged into his cock as his balls drew up snug with his body. Holy shit, holy fuck, holy everything, Patrick began to thrust into Geoff with long, uncontrollable movements. Every shift of his hips moved Lori’s large cock in and out of him, until she was fucking him as well, and he was filling Geoff while also being filled up, and he couldn’t find words for the pressure inside his body. It wasn’t like the way an orgasm usually built, spreading outward from his groin; his entire body seemed to be burning up at once. He was making noises, crying out and moaning and gasping, and he couldn’t stop, as the burning finally took him over and his senses whited out at once.
Everything fell away, and he was lost.
He didn’t feel what happened next, but when he opened his eyes, he was lying on his side, spent, empty, and Lori and Geoff were both cuddled up to him. Lori had slipped out of the harness, left it lying off on the floor, and she was stroking his hair while Geoff held him. Geoff was still hard, pressed against his stomach, and despite how much he wanted to do so, Patrick didn’t really have time to reciprocate in the intensity of that moment.
“Holy hell,” Patrick said, and Geoff laughed.
“Thank god. I thought we might have lost you there.”
“I might be permanently altered.” Patrick flopped over onto his back. “I’m a mess.”
“We’re all messes.” Lori smiled.
Patrick nodded. “Can I…” He was too wiped out to do anything else, but that didn’t mean the night was over. “Can I watch you two fuck?”
Geoff and Lori looked at each other, both smiling, and each shrugged at the same time. “I’d like that,” Lori said, after a pause. “I mean, I could also put the strap-on back on, if you want.”
Geoff laughed. “Maybe next time.” He paused, the smile slipping, and oh. There might not be a next time. Patrick hadn’t thought of that. Now, though, with the aftermath of emotions crashing through him, the possibility loomed over them all. He had to put it aside.
Geoff fumbled for a condom on the nightstand as Lori climbed over to him, and suddenly they were kissing, devouring each other, and Patrick lay there watching. They moved fast. They had to be as turned-on as he had been. He was able to lie there and enjoy as Lori helped Geoff with the condom, slicking it down over his cock, and then climbed gracefully on top of him to take him all the way into her pussy. They moved together, breathing together, moaning and gasping in unison. Patrick reached down carefully below Lori, below Geoff’s leg, and found the wet slick of Geoff’s hole. He traced the outer lip, swollen from their sex, and Geoff whimpered and grasped the sheets beneath him with one hand while the other found Lori’s clit.
Lori came first, seizing up and crying out, and Geoff followed soon after, groaning as he emptied himself into the condom. Fuck, Patrick wanted to watch this over and over again. Afterward, they would need to clean up, to shower and change and come down from this ridiculous high, but right now, all Patrick could think was that he did not want this to be the last time.
19
“There we go!”
Patrick’s triumphant cry pulled Lori’s attention away from the horizon, where she’d been slowly watching the sun sink below the waves. Patrick sat back on his heels and gestured proudly at the fire he’d built on the beach. “Look!”
“Very nice.” Lori was more entertained by the way Patrick nudged Geoff to get his praise too. Geoff put his phone in his pocket and gave Patrick the appropriate accolades, although Patrick rolled his eyes.
“You two are no fun.”
“We are very fun.” Lori scooted closer to the fire as the flames licked into the dry wood. They’d purchased a few bundles after Geoff secured the burning permit that morning, enough wood to keep the fire going into the night. Now, with the last traces of sun slipping below the horizon, the first twinkling stars came into view in the blue-gray sky overhead. Lori lay back on the beach blanket they’d stretched beside the fire.
She could see the appeal of P-town, or at least the appeal of visiting it with Patrick and Geoff. They knew all the best places to eat and shop, the can’t-miss stuff, and they didn’t drag her out of bed in the single digits. Even Patrick, who was the earliest riser out of all of them, had snuck out on his own this morning and came back with breakfast sandwiches, pastry, and coffee from the Provincetown Portuguese Bakery just as Lori was waking up. They’d eaten it sitting on the big king-sized bed in their pajamas, sunlight and fresh air streaming in from the porch. Today, after a day of shopping and eating, they’d come to the beach for a sunset bonfire.
Flames crackled, the heat radiating into the soles of Lori’s feet. She wiggled her toes and sighed.
Geoff stretched out next to her. “Nice, right?”
“So nice.” She closed her eyes. “I could sleep right here.”
“The tide might come in and wash you away.” Patrick’s voice made her open her eyes. He was settling into the space on Geoff’s other side. “I think we’re high enough, but it’s hard to tell.”
“I never come to the ocean.” Lori pushed up onto her elbows to look out past the fire at the waves lapping the shore. “I should swim. Or at least put my feet in the water.”
Without waiting for them, Lori shimmied out of her shorts and tank top to the bikini underneath and ran into the ocean. The water was breathtakingly cold. It was too early in the season for swimming, probably, and she paused with the water lapping her knees, ready to turn around and go back. Behind her, their laughter echoed across the sand.
“Cold?” Patrick called.
Lori glanced back over her shoulder, where they’d both sat up to watch her. “It’s freezing!”
“You want to come back by the fire?” Geoff asked.
She paused, braced herself, and then ran full-tilt into the waves. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she chanted under her breath before diving beneath the freezing cold water. All the air escaped her lungs in a huff, and she popped back up again, water sheeting off her. On the shore, Geoff and Patrick were cheering and laughing. She dipped back down beneath the surface once more. This time, the water didn’t take her breath away quite as much. It was still cold, but she could tolerate it. She surfaced and floated onto her back, putting her feet up in front of her, toes peeking out of the water. The waves carried her up and down like being rocked to sleep.
She could get used to this. Vacation with the guys, swimming in the ocean, good food and good company. For the first time since she’d applied for those jobs in New York, the thought came to mind that maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if they didn’t respond.
When the sky grew darker, and the inky-black waters blended with the sand, Lori emerged from the ocean into the cool night. The fire provided welcome warmth as she wrapped herself in a towel and huddled down at her corner of the blanket. Patrick stacked
a few more logs onto the pile, and one of the burned pieces cracked, sending a shower of sparks up into the sky.
Geoff pressed his hand to Lori’s leg. “You’re freezing.”
“I’ll warm up.” She held her hands up to the fire, letting the heat soak into her skin, rubbing her palms together. When that wasn’t enough warmth, she pulled her baggy sweatshirt down over her head and removed her wet bikini top from underneath it. “There. That’s better.” She sighed, finally warming up, finally relaxing again.
Patrick pointed out constellations as they appeared in the growing darkness, tossing out some astronomy facts, and Geoff filled in the gaps with explaining some of the mythology behind them, and even though Lori already knew some of this, she didn’t mind listening to the two of them. She let their words fade into a low background hum of banter before the conversation died down, leaving them all in contemplative silence staring at the fire or back up at the stars.
“Thanks,” Lori said into the quiet.
Geoff and Patrick both looked over at her, the firelight illuminating half their faces, casting shadows across the rest.
“For inviting me along. For having me on your trip.” She hadn’t really said it before now, and it needed to be said aloud. “I know this is something you two usually just do together. Inviting me into that…it means a lot.”
They had to know she wasn’t just talking about the weekend.
Geoff spoke slowly, like he did when he was thinking deeply about something. “It’s nice having you here. You add something new.”
Lori looked into the fire. “I’ve been told I do that.”
“It’s not just because of the sex.” Geoff was getting direct, now, and he put his hand on her bare knee. “It’s because it’s you.”
Lori ducked her head, unable to keep the smile from her lips. “Come on, stop it. You’re killing me.”
“He’s not wrong,” Patrick said, and Lori glanced over. “We wouldn’t have you here with us if we didn’t want you here. It’s special. You’re special.”
The direct comments had her squirming. She didn’t want to do this here on the beach; she didn’t want to feel this tumult of emotions. “Thanks. But can we just not get sappy?”
Geoff leaned in to kiss her cheek. “What’s wrong with sappy?”
Lori blew a raspberry at him, making Patrick laugh and Geoff wipe his face. It was a deflection, sure, but she wasn’t ready to face this kind of emotion. She wasn’t ready to confront anything other than the happy times together. Wasn’t that enough? Why did they have to go and bring feelings into it?
Even though this wasn’t their fault. She couldn’t deny how easily she fell into step with them, emotionally and physically; her interests overlapped theirs, and having the two of them together seemed like a perfect blend of everything she wanted from a relationship.
Relationship. The word settled into her mind like a stone. Obviously, technically, every ongoing series of interactions with someone was a relationship, in the strictest application of the term. But she had somehow gotten herself mixed up in a capital-R relationship, and as more than an accessory, to boot. The therapist in her pushed for the most helpful solutions: Clear the air. Establish some new ground rules. Give all of you some distance. But the sappy romantic inside her resisted, because right now, they were sitting at the tip of the Cape around a beach bonfire, and she was happy. She didn’t want to ruin the moment.
Tomorrow, when they headed home, she would bring them firmly back to reality.
Tonight, though?
Tonight, reality could wait.
Back in their room, Patrick was the one to bring up the idea that their night didn’t have to be over.
“A nightclub?” Lori was still wrapped in a towel, sand gritty between her toes. “I’ll pass. I have to wash my hair, and I have a long date with that hot shower.” At their mutual hesitation, she waved them off. “Go without me! Seriously. You don’t need me to have fun. Go have a date, just the two of you. You’ve been only dating me for weeks now.”
Geoff protested a bit, but Patrick eventually convinced him, and they changed into nicer clothes and left Lori alone in the B and B room. She took a steaming hot shower and deep conditioned her hair, and then in the quiet of the empty room, carefully tended her curls. The process soothed her jangle of nerves and calmed the restless part of her thinking of their triad and insisting, You could have this.
Afterward, Lori sat on the balcony with her phone and a wine cooler from the fridge and listened to the nightlife sounds of Provincetown. Music echoed up to her from a few streets away. Did Patrick and Geoff have a club they always went to, or did they try someplace new all the time? Probably one regular place. They seemed to fall into familiar patterns everywhere they went. She was the disruptor, shaking up those patterns.
The sweet, cold wine soothed like the cool night air, and Lori savored both for another minute before checking her phone. She had avoided it today, wanting to be in the present, but she couldn’t deny she was also pretending the outside world didn’t exist. Now, with the place to herself for a few hours, she scrolled through her email.
The sender caught her attention first, then the subject line: Scheduling interview. She speed-read the email, then read it again, more slowly, making sure she understood everything. Excitement and dismay warred inside her, which made no sense. This should be just excitement. She’d had her sights on one job above all else, one organization in particular, and they wanted to meet with her in person because she “seemed like she would be a great fit.”
Lori sat with the phone in her lap for so long that the screen went to sleep, and she didn’t wake it up again. Someone was laughing down the block, the sound echoing up to her on the balcony. No, not one person. Two people laughing together. A couple. Their words were distorted, and she couldn’t understand them, but whatever they were saying was making them both laugh even harder. Lori closed her eyes. The breeze blew past her face, colder than she expected.
She unlocked her phone and turned her attention back to the screen. Thumbs sliding over the tiny keyboard, she composed a reply.
Geoff was cozy and did not want to get out of this bed, especially with the rain lashing the windows, but something felt…off. He blinked heavy eyelids against the light—gray with the storm, but still bright enough to make him squint—and reached out to feel only empty sheets. Last night came flooding back to him, coming home in the wee hours, still a little drunk, and finding Lori asleep in the pull-out sofa bed instead of the king-sized expanse they’d shared the night before. He’d slept with Patrick, of course, but now Patrick was gone wherever he went in the morning, and the bed was empty. Geoff reached over to the nightstand for his phone, fumbling with sleep-numb fingers, and read the text Patrick had sent from twenty minutes ago. Breakfast, it said. Damn, who would even willingly go out in this rain? Patrick, apparently. Geoff loved the hell out of that man, but they were quite different people, weren’t they?
Geoff propped himself up on his elbows and peered over at Lori, curled up under the thin blanket on the sofa bed. She had her back to him, body curved like a parenthesis into the empty space between herself and the glass doors. For a moment, his heart pressed against his ribs like it was just too big for the space.
“Lori,” he said aloud into the quiet room.
She grunted once but didn’t move, and he repeated her name. This time, she rolled over, the bedsprings creaking, and gave him an annoyed glare from beneath the ridge of her hair bonnet. He beckoned, and her frown deepened.
“Come here.” He patted the empty bed beside him. “It’s lonely.”
Lori pursed her lips. She seemed to be making up her mind, her expression uncertain and grumpy from being woken up, and he didn’t know why he wasn’t holding her in his arms right now. Finally, she slid out of the bed, her expression still surly, and padded over to slide into the bed. “This is a bad idea,” she said, but she curled up into him anyway, backing herself up against his chest.
/> “Why is this a bad idea?” Geoff couldn’t fathom any reason why she shouldn’t be right here, pressed snugly against him. Her skin smelled sweet, and he nuzzled into her neck, breathing her in.
“It just is.” She didn’t give him more of an answer than that, but she let herself be held, eventually relaxing into his embrace. With her warm body against him, Geoff’s eyelids grew heavy, and before he could form another complete thought, he slipped back into sleep.
He woke some time later with a warm hand rubbing his back. “I’ve got breakfast,” Patrick said, voice low and soothing, like Geoff was a skittish animal.
Geoff opened his eyes. The light was brighter now, but still gray, and the rain continued lashing down outside. He rolled away from Lori, who was lightly snoring in his arms, to see his husband kneeling on the bed with an unbearably tender expression on his face. Patrick’s hair and beard were wet, but he must have changed since coming back to the room, since the rest of him was dry.
“I got lonely,” Geoff explained, but Patrick shook his head and smiled.
“It’s fine. You’re fine. You want some breakfast?”
Geoff nodded, rubbing sleepily at his eyes. He reluctantly left Lori snoozing and joined Patrick at the table in the corner for egg sandwiches that were somehow still hot. “Why did you go out in that rain?”
“I told you. Breakfast.” Patrick smiled. His smile cracked open all the uncertain parts inside Geoff, and god, he loved this man, and he said it out loud.
“I love you too,” Patrick replied, his words easy and simple, and maybe it could be like this. This easy, simple thing, like hot breakfast on a rainy morning, like a beautiful woman sleeping in their bed, like the way he and Patrick continued to come back together as though they were inexorably bound.