Cuffed to my Roomies

by Natasha Black

  “I’d appreciate that,” I said a little tightly. I knew I had a sheltered life, that I was the girl next door. But being told that it was a shortcoming by Liz Markham made me bristle.

  “I’ll have Celia send you a reading list. In the meantime, live fully. Explore neighborhoods you haven’t visited, try food you’ve never heard of. I’d like you to give me a list of three prospective topics for an article. Something that would set you outside the confines of your experience. A subject you consider edgy and intriguing. Have the topics by the end of the week for a spec article. I want you to push your boundaries, be less by-the-book. Your research skills were impressive and thorough. I want to see what else you can do. We’ll meet Thursday afternoon to discuss. This is your opportunity, Lynette. I’m willing to help you.”

  “I—thank you. That’s amazing,” I said, now feeling less put off and more excited.

  “I will mentor you through polishing up the finished product for possible feature in a future issue.”

  “Thank you so much,” I said, standing and shaking her hand, “I won’t disappoint you.”

  I left feeling elated. She wasn’t saying I was too young or too simple. She was giving me a chance to spread my wings. I wanted to impress her, wanted her to be astounded that I was so dedicated, so bright and creative. I couldn’t wait to tell the guys.

  Celia wasn’t at her desk when I left the office, so I just texted Ainsley who sent a string of happy emojis , stars, and flamenco dancers as her response. I messaged Derek and Brett saying I’d buy them both a drink at the bar during my shift, that I had a reason to celebrate. A thrill of heat ran through me. I was turned on just thinking of them.

  The fact was, that very morning I’d stumbled into Derek when he was wearing nothing but a towel. He was very muscular and still wet along his collarbone from the shower. I had wanted to lick the water droplets off his skin. Brett was right. I was awfully damned thirsty for a woman who’d gotten it from two men at once. But I wanted it. I had wanted Derek right then. If he would’ve broken the rule, taken me up against the sink just the two of us, I would’ve skipped my shower and gone filthy instead.

  The night before, Brett had looked in on me before he went to sleep himself. When I heard the soft knock at the door, I had stopped what I was doing—had turned off my trusty rabbit—and pretended to sleep. I had been so tempted to stir, to fake waking up and reach for him. I wished he would come to me, would sit on the edge of my bed, brush my hair back from my face and reach under the covers. His long, wicked fingers working between my slick folds. I wanted it. I wanted them both, all the time.

  I would’ve said six months ago that it was impossible to have feelings like that for more than one man, that the giddy attraction, the heady arousal were meant to be for one man only, a monogamous ideal. An ideal clearly created by a woman who wasn’t lucky enough to be spoiled by two gorgeous cops who met every want and need she had ever dreamed of.

  I was ready to believe that I was the luckiest girl in the world. I’d been given the chance to be mentored by my role model and have a chance at being published in Envy. I lived with two sexy men, protective and strong, who wanted nothing more than to make me feel amazing. It was a very good thing they were both interested, because after one night between Brett and Derek, there was no battery powered toy in the world that could take their place. Everything left me wanting more and more of the real thing. Only my hot cops could satisfy me.

  16

  At the bar, I was really on my game. I raked in tips because of my energy and attitude. I was always a professional, but some nights I was happier and more enthusiastic than others. This was a night I was at the top of my game. Jason asked if I was trying to seduce him and then laughed.

  “What?” I said, genuinely confused.

  “Come on. Nobody could resist you when you’re like this. First off, we have the hair down instead of the all-business ponytail. Then there’s the laugh and the glowing, open smile that says you’re up for anything. No offense, but you look highly fuckable tonight.”

  “Now why would that be offensive for my coworker to say that? Hmm…let me refer to that sexual harassment pamphlet they gave me the first day I worked here,” I said, elbowing him.

  “You’re the one who said ‘what?’ like you had no clue the kind of vibe you’re giving off. Did you have a kick ass day or what?”

  “Yeah. I got the sickest chance at work today. Not that mixing margaritas here isn’t my ultimate goal,” I said.

  “I get it. I get it. Not everyone loves this place the way I do,” he said, “Also, fuckable is a word I never used before Cammie started describing your roommates that way. With me standing right beside her.”

  “They are, aren’t they?” Cammie said, leaning in to the conversation, “Highly fuckable men. I bet the quiet one, the really big one, he uses his teeth.” She made a growling sound. I laughed but flushed red, and Jason rolled his eyes.

  Cammie served a few customers while I polished glasses and prepped extra fruit garnishes because it looked like a busy night. Jason nudged me away from the cutting board.

  “I’ll do fruit this time. You go get some tips. You’re radiating light back here, smiling to yourself like the cat that got the cream. Dazzle the customers. The oranges can’t appreciate it.”

  I grinned at him and practically bounced over to a group that had sat down at one end of the bar. I showed them the appetizer menu and took their orders. One of the guys flirted with me, and I laughed, “I’m so taken, but you’re very sweet,” I told him.

  “So taken, are you?” Derek’s voice came from behind the group.

  I felt the thrill of recognition along my skin. Derek’s voice did things to me. And made me want to do naughty things to him. It was like I felt a shimmer in the air when he entered the room, a sensation like a fingertip tracing up my bare spine when he spoke. I thought for a yearning, dry-mouthed moment that he could possibly make me come with just his voice. I knew my eyes fluttered shut for a second just riding the feelings washing over my body.

  “You have a break coming up?” Derek said as I served him a beer with shaky hands. I was beaming, blushing, nervous as hell. I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

  I wanted to talk to him on my break. I wanted to wrap my legs around his handsome face and let him go to town on me with that pretty, filthy mouth of his. We had agreed no hook-ups, no one-on-ones. So I’d have to keep my thirst to myself until both men were available. I shook my head, trying to clear my mind of what was turning rapidly into a private porno reel.

  “Do you need ten minutes?” Cammie asked archly, “I can cover for you. You can use the staff bathroom.”

  “Stop!” I said, “We’re going to talk.”

  “Yeah, make sure you lock the door when you talk. If Jason has to pee, I don’t want him walking in on that talk.”

  “I’m not going to hook up at the bar!” I whispered to her fiercely.

  “You so would if you had the chance. And I’m giving you the chance. Come on. Jason and I have done it.”

  “After hours?”

  “Yeah, but mostly when we first got together, drummer boy the ex-bartender would cover during slow times so we could hook up. Here’s a tip. Prop your foot on the sink.”

  “I’m never using that bathroom again,” I laughed, “And I’m not due for a break for an hour.”

  “Go,” she said, shooing me away.

  “Where’s Brett?” I asked Derek when I rounded the bar to join him.

  “He’s out on a call. He’s covering for one of the other guys this week.”

  “Saving kittens from trees?”

  “Something like that,” Derek said, finishing his beer, “He’ll be in soon.”

  “Ok. Good. I want to talk to both of you. I have happy news.”

  “You look like the fourth of July out there. You’re lit up.”

  “Thanks,” I said, “Everybody keeps telling me that. Do I usually look super depressed or something?”r />
  “No, you’re just even more beautiful when you’re happy. I like to think I have a little something to do with that,” Derek said, touching my face in a way that made me feel bashful and excited all at once.

  “I wouldn’t describe anything about you as little,” I said, smoothing his shirt just for an excuse to touch him.

  Derek had changed from his uniform into jeans and a t-shirt, but it wasn’t one of those goofy pun t-shirts that guys wore. It was a shirt with the logo for his union on it and a police insignia. It was somehow just as hot as seeing him in uniform, but even better because of the way the gray knit fabric clung at his shoulders and showed the contour of hard muscle in his sculpted chest. I liked touching him. Liked the breathless flutter of my pulse in my throat when he came near me, liked the chills that rose on my flesh when his hand came up and brushed against the back of my arm just below my shirt sleeve. Heat pooled in my abdomen, in my black panties. To tell the truth, God, I wanted him right then. Wanted all of him, and also wanted in some way to reassure myself that a one on one pairing was all I needed. That I wasn’t the kind of girl who did three-ways. I wanted Derek because he was hot and a great lover, but also to prove something to myself. I bit my lip and he groaned softly.

  “God, don’t do that or I’ll try to get you to sneak off to that staff bathroom.”

  “You heard that?” I said.

  “Your friend whispers really loud,” he grinned, “But not quite as loud as you when you’re about to come.” His mouth brushed my ear and I was so turned on I grabbed a fistful of his shirt.

  “Stop it,” I said through gritted teeth, “Or come to the back room with me. I’m so keyed up anyway, and then you talk to me like that I’m going to lose my mind.”

  I led him to the back room, a small staff lounge with an old leather couch, a TV and some cases of beer stacked in one corner. As soon as he saw the bathroom door, he pulled me in there. He shut the door and locked it, pulled me to him by my waist and kissed me.

  “Shh,” he said, as I was about to protest, “we won’t go all the way. I know you need some relief. And I’ll let Brett have you first later so it’s fair,” he said.

  I would have agreed to anything just to get his hands or mouth on me. I nodded.

  My chest rose and fell heavily, like I’d been running, as Derek raised my shirt. His fingertips skimmed my belly and I felt a hard clench of my inner muscles, a flutter of desire so strong I nearly collapsed against him. He pushed my shirt up and grinned.

  “No bra. God, I’m crazy about you,” he said, looking like a man about to feast on something delectable.

  He lowered his head, capturing one pink nipple in his mouth.

  “Ah!” I said, a high-pitched keen on the exhale of my ragged breath as he pulled hard on my nipple, his velvet tongue soothing it before he drew on it again. Everything in my being concentrated at that one spot where he was creating a deep, steady pull like gravity on my sensitive flesh. The scrape of his teeth, the stroke of his fingers on my other nipple as he sucked drove me wild. I raked my fingers through his thick hair. He pushed his knee between my thighs and I started riding it greedily. Derek sent a spike of almost painful pleasure down my body when he pinched my nipple between his thumb and finger and tugged at it. I rubbed against him, humping his jeans-clad, rock hard thigh.

  “More, more,” I whimpered. Answering my edgy plea, Derek put his mouth on mine, rubbing both nipples while his tongue drove in my mouth. I started to feel the sweet rush of a climax build, when a sharp knock came at the door.

  “Open up,” barked Brett.

  Derek and I broke apart. I pulled down my shirt, shaky. “I-I’ll be out in a minute,” I stammered, feeling caught out.

  “No, dammit, open the door. I know you’re both in there.”

  Derek’s eyes met mine, and I nodded. He unlocked the door and I stepped back toward the toilet so he could open it in the small space. Brett seemed to fill the doorway, looming over us.

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  “Don’t be sorry,” Derek said, “We weren’t going all the way. I was just getting her off on her break so we could take our time later.” He shrugged.

  “We said no pairing off,” Brett said, “If she needs to get off, we’ll take care of it together.”

  I gave a nervous giggle. He wasn’t angry with us, just wanted to join in. The room seemed so tiny, so overcrowded with three of us.

  “I can’t do this,” I said, “I’m at work. I’m being reckless. I can’t. I don’t want the whole bar thinking I’m in here with—"

  “You don’t want the whole bar to think we’re having a family discussion?” Brett said archly, “Or you don’t want them to know you have two cops seeing to your every need?”

  “I want it, I do. I just—I don’t want them to think—"

  “Think what?” Brett said, “Are you ashamed?”

  “No, I’m not. I just—I don’t think Jason, my boss, should know about my private life.”

  “Babe, your ten minutes was up a long time ago,” Derek said, “But if you want to hide this, what we are to each other, maybe we need to slow down.”

  My whole body was blazing from his touch, and wanted to speed up, hit the edge and jump right off into the open. But I had to be smart. I couldn’t behave this way at my place of work. What if I got fired? Or needed a reference and all Jason could say was, ‘yeah she was fucking both her roommates in the bathroom when she was supposed to be tending bar’? I adjusted my clothes again, which were already fine and didn’t need adjustment. I looked in the mirror. I was flushed, my hair a little rumpled. My eyes were bright and glassy, a junkie in need of a fix, if anything. I shook my head again to try to clear it.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, “I have to get back to work.

  “Wait,” Brett said, “Is it because it embarrasses you that there’s three of us, or is it because you really just want Derek?”

  I gaped at him, “Of course, I want you, Brett. I want him, too. I want both of you for different reasons, but what I feel for you is real. You’re the deep thinker, the one with all that compassion. And Derek is outgoing and funny and adventurous. He’s wild, and you’re intense. And I want it all. All of both of you. I know it’s greedy, but it’s the truth.”

  Brett reached for me in the confines of the bathroom, pulled me to him. He tipped my head back and kissed me, slow and deep, rocking me to my core. And my core lit right back up, hot, molten and wanting. Just like that. Derek got behind me, his butt wedged up against the sink in the small space, and reached around, up under my shirt and playing with my nipples again as Brett kissed me, his tongue big and insistent in my mouth. Soon I was rubbing my ass against Derek’s erection while the huge hardness of Brett’s desire pressed into my belly. I was panting for breath when Brett came up for air.

  “Will you have us tonight? Both of us?” he said. I nodded, lips parted and wanting.

  “Sober?” Derek said from behind me, his mouth at my neck.

  “Are you ready for this?” Brett asked, concern clouding his eyes, “Are you ready to be in this relationship with us both, to come home tonight with your eyes wide open, cold sober and choose this?”

  “Yes,” I told them, my voice as shaky as my legs. I was holding on to Brett’s arm to steady myself.

  “So do you want us to make you come now, or do you want to wait for it?” Brett whispered against my hair, his hand at my side, thumb drawing slow circles on my bare belly. Every beat of my pounding heart screamed ‘now now now’.

  “I’ll—I’ll wait,” I said, twisting my thighs together trying to find friction and relief even as I protested.

  “It would only take a second,” Derek said, biting a tender spot on my neck that made my body jerk involuntarily, “All I’d have to do is slide your panties down, open my zipper. I know you’re wet. I can smell you in here.”

  “God, yes, you smell amazing,” Brett said. “I could open my jeans, let you have me in your mouth again while Derek t
akes you from behind. You liked that didn’t you?” he asked.

  I knew I had to be gasping, pupils dilated, mouth half open with desire, looking like a junkie or a sex doll, some wanton thing that existed only to have him, them—put their cocks in me. But it was all I wanted. I was reduced to primal need, to this wild desire to rut with them, in the bar bathroom, in the mud if that’s what they wanted. Something about being filled by them, about Derek putting his big cock in me deep while I took Brett in my mouth as far as I could, about feeling the salty, soft tip of him brush the back of my throat while Derek thrust into me, it was so lewd and heady and everything I wanted. I licked my lips, stood up straight with effort, despite how vivid that lurid image was in my mind.

  “I have to get back to work,” I croaked out.

  “Okay,” Brett said, but he hooked an arm around my hips, dragged me effortlessly against him so his huge, rigid hard-on was against the cleft of my thighs, “Just remember what’s waiting for you. As many times as you want it.”

  I shuddered at the pressure of his rock-hard erection just above my clit. I wanted to do it in the bathroom, wanted to put my foot on the sink like Cammie had suggested. But I’d been away from the bar for too long, and I had to keep my mind on my work somehow.

  “We’ll hang around, have a few drinks, take you home,” Derek said, “And Brett, thanks a whole hell of a lot for interrupting.”

  “She doesn’t come without both of us in the room,” Brett said stonily.

  “Fine,” Derek said, “Don’t be late next time.”

  Back at the bar, Cammie and Jason teased me and laughed, but I could tell they weren’t mad.

  “So you’re acting like a horny teenager,” Cammie said, “It happens to all of us. Besides, we had a slump for about half an hour. Most of the customers coming in went to eat dinner at the pub. So I’m going to take my break now.”