Master By Choice_A Puppy Play Romance

by M. A. Innes

  Sawyer nodded, but the guilt hadn’t faded. Not sure if he was ready to talk about it or not, I gave him a teasing grin. “I’m going to need a shower after I’m done. I might need someone to help me wash my back.”

  Normally, they would have argued, or at least teased, about who got to help me. But this time, Cooper elbowed Sawyer and gave him another frustrated look. Sawyer finally spoke up. “I honestly didn’t realize how many hours you were putting in here. I’ve been thinking about the conversation we had about you wanting to hire somebody, and I feel bad.”

  I jumped in. “No, don’t feel bad about being honest. I’ve been doing the same schedule for several years, and I just wanted to have more time for you. I don’t mind the actual hours.”

  Cooper piped up. “But you deserve more time to relax, and you shouldn’t have to do everything.”

  “Cooper and I were talking, and I think I found an option that I’m kind of comfortable with…maybe comfortable.” Sawyer shrugged and looked like he was talking about a dentist appointment, not a possible employee.

  Over the last couple of days, Sawyer had grown more confident. But the look on his face made me think we were backpedaling. Feeling loved and hearing the words had left him relaxed, but I didn’t like the look on his face. Setting down the toys, I walked over to the door.

  “I won’t touch you because I’m gross. But I still want kisses.” That finally brought a smile from Sawyer. After two quick kisses, I gave him a long look. “We do things at our own pace. You weren’t ready to have people know about us. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  Sawyer interrupted. “You’re right, and if it were someone else or a different situation, I might not have said anything. Having people know is scary, but we’ve gone over all the possible outcomes, and I think this is a step I can handle.”

  Now he had me curious.

  We’d spent the last couple of days talking about the practical side of the moving in and the what-if scenarios around both of their employers possibly finding out about our life. We’d even gone over the financials of the business, so I could show them that even if it declined, we could still eat and pay the bills.

  “Tell me about your step.” I leaned in and gave him another kiss. “Next time, you have to wait to tell me until I’m clean enough to hug you.”

  They both laughed, and Sawyer shook his head. “Yesterday when I went in my boss’s office, his daughter was walking out. They had some kind of fight, and it looked like he wanted to talk. Well, it turned out that she, and I’m not sure if that’s the right pronoun, is having a hard time finding a job because she’s non-binary, I think. He didn’t say it that way, but by the words he used and the awkward way he said tomboy makes me think he doesn’t understand. In his mind, she should just pretend to be more feminine to get a job.”

  Now I was the one shaking my head. “That’s terrible. Telling them that everything would be better if they just lied isn’t helpful. There are websites for everything these days. He needs to look this shit up.”

  Sawyer nodded. “Well, she’s just out of high school, and it doesn’t sound like she has any real skills, at least according to him, but I thought it might be worth talking to her. No matter how she identifies, I knew you wouldn’t have an issue with it, and let’s face it, if she gets feeling different, she might understand us more.” Then he frowned again. “And that’s a little bit selfish.”

  “It’s honest and practical, and we’re allowed to be selfish when it comes to our own life and privacy.” I’d been thinking along the same lines, so I wasn’t going to let him beat himself up. “I would’ve wanted to hire somebody who could relate on some level, so I think it’s a good idea.”

  Cooper was growing impatient, and he seemed to think we were both morons, so I kept going. “Why don’t you get her number, and I’ll talk to her. Do you know if she’s expecting a phone call, or is this going to come out of the blue?”

  Sawyer reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “This has her information on it. I’m really not sure though—about the pronouns. If I’d met her in a social situation, I probably would’ve assumed male pronouns or asked. He said her name is Amanda, but yeah, I have no idea what she wants to be called.”

  “It sounds like he has no idea how to discuss this stuff with her. And yeah, I’m going to have to be careful and not assume pronouns. Did he say he was going to talk to her?” I was already trying to figure out how to start the conversation without sounding weird or creepy, and it was hard.

  “Yes, he said he was going to talk to her when he got home.” Sawyer seemed to be feeling less guilty now—his posture was more relaxed and his smile more open.

  “Okay then, I’ll give her a call as soon as I clean up.” I looked around at the room. “I’m almost done here for the time being. I need somebody to remind me to go through my email tonight. It’s been a couple of days since I did that.”

  Cooper shook his head. “I’ll go through the email. I’ll let you know if there’s anything important. Then after dinner, we’re going to sit down and look at everything that needs to be done and figure out how to divide it up better if, whatever the person wants to be called, doesn’t actually end up being hired.”

  I opened my mouth to speak, but Cooper just kept going. “I know you said we already had jobs, but we would rather help and have time with you in the evening than sit around watching TV and not spend time with you. So you’re not going to argue.”

  Part of me wanted to push back against what he was saying, but the more sensible piece said he was right. And it also reminded me that he wasn’t just my boyfriend; we were a family and had to make decisions together. “I can live with that for now, but once we find someone we’re comfortable with, then you guys go back to having one job.”

  With Cooper going to school, he was going to have two jobs for a while anyway, and that would make it harder on everyone. He didn’t need to be helping me on top of everything else. “Okay, five minutes here, and then I’ll come inside.”

  Cooper gave me a look that said he had a better idea. “One or two minutes, because Sawyer is going to help, and I’ll go inside and get the emails done. By the time you get back to the house and get a shower, dinner will be ready. After we eat, you can give them a call.”

  Smiling, I nodded. “That sounds like a plan. Thank you for your help.”

  I leaned in and gave Cooper a kiss. As he started to leave, Sawyer called out, “Don’t you need to get his computer password or something to answer those emails?”

  Cooper laughed. “He doesn’t even lock doors. There’s no way his computer has a password, and he probably has his email login automatically saved in his computer.”

  I wanted to be able to say I was more careful, but I didn’t want to lie. “Um, sorry?”

  Sawyer was shaking his head like he couldn’t believe it. “We are going to have a discussion about you being more careful.”

  “I’ll do my best?” Promising to remember would be a lie, but they were right. “How about I say thanks for helping me, and we ignore the fact that I’m an idiot?”

  Sawyer laughed. “I’ll do my best.”

  ****

  “Well, that had to be the most awkward employee interview ever.” Flopping back on the couch, I yawned.

  Not only hadn’t her father mentioned his conversation with Sawyer, I wasn’t sure she’d ever had anyone ask what pronouns she wanted used. At first, she seemed to think I was teasing, and for a few seconds, I’d worried that Sawyer had read the signs wrong. But after a few minutes, she opened up and admitted that yes, female pronouns were fine, but she wanted to be called Lee, her middle name.

  She’d been very honest about the fact that she would not wear skirts and pretend to be ladylike just because it made customers happy. When I told her I didn’t care—as long as she was dressed and polite to my customers and their dogs—she didn’t seem to believe me.

  Looking over at Sawyer, I frowned. “Are you sure about
this? She’s not the meek type who’s going to sit back and just wonder why we’re so accepting. She’s going to ask questions and figure it out.”

  Sawyer had been sitting at the other end of the couch, but as he started to speak, he moved closer and ended up curled up next to me. “Yes, I understand. I like what I’m doing, and I can see working at the company for years. But eventually, more about my personal life is going to come out. I need to know if this is going to cause a problem, so I can start looking at other options.”

  Wrapping my arms around him, I pressed a kiss to his head. “Worst-case scenario, we know everything will work out. Right?”

  Sighing, Sawyer nodded. “But I don’t want to be some unemployed slob who just mooches off you and Cooper.”

  I had to laugh. “I cannot picture that at all. But even if you do end up unemployed for a little while, I know you’ll figure something else out. Besides, just because we planned for the worst doesn’t mean that that will happen.”

  Cooper sat up from where he was lying on the floor and grinned. “You can always be the little house boy who runs around naked. That would be hot.”

  “Oh yes, that would be hot.” I trailed my fingers down Sawyer’s side. “I think you would be a fabulous naked houseboy.”

  He laughed and rolled over, so his head was on my lap and he was staring up at me. “Not a chance.”

  Cooper sighed like Sawyer just didn’t understand. “I think we should put it to a vote.”

  I nodded. “I like that idea.”

  Sawyer snorted. “When is she coming over for an interview?”

  Evidently, he didn’t like the idea of being our naked little sex slave. “Tomorrow around dinner, after the lessons are done for the day and Cooper’s back.”

  Sawyer seemed lost in thought, but I wanted to finish the conversation. “As long as the regular part of the interview is fine, I’d like to introduce both of you to her before I officially hire her. I think I’ll know pretty quickly if she’s open-minded enough for it to work out. Right now, all she knows is that I’m a friend. If we’ve read things wrong and she wouldn’t be a good fit, then we’ll just leave it at that.”

  Cooper’s expression made it clear he thought it was the best option. But we both waited to see how Sawyer felt. He was quiet for several minutes. I couldn’t tell if he was thinking it through logically, or just worrying.

  By the time he was ready to speak, Cooper and I were both nervous. “I think that’s the best idea. If we lie about it now and she turns out to be a great employee, then she’ll be pissed we didn’t tell her the truth. You need help. There’s no way around that. And something about her just feels right.”

  I had to agree. “Once we got through the initial weird part, she came across like she would be a hard worker and wouldn’t give me a lot of bullshit. She’s expecting to stand out, but I think once she realizes that this could be a place where she fits in, I think it’ll really work out.”

  “I agree.” Cooper’s big smile and pure excitement were contagious. “Then we know it will be perfect.” Cooper leaned in close and gave me a kiss. “Are you guys still going to have time to grab a load from the apartment this weekend?”

  They still had over a month until their lease ended, so we were planning to go every couple of days to bring back a load. Their furniture was going to go in storage until we figured out what to do with it. But we were going to handle that last.

  Cooper had to work most of the day on Saturday, so the plan was for Sawyer and me to make a run to the apartment midafternoon. Nodding, I mentally ran through the schedule one more time. “It should still be fine. Depending on how quickly I get cleaned up, we might even be able to do two loads.”

  Cooper grinned. “Perfect, then I’ll have more of my clothes here, and I won’t have to do a dozen loads of laundry a week.”

  Sawyer took offense to that. “Hey, I’ve done the last three loads of laundry.”

  I shrugged. “See, all the more reason to keep you both naked.”

  Excitement ran through Cooper. “I’ll be your naked houseboy. If you get a pool, I’ll even wear one of those tiny little suits and be your naughty pool boy.”

  Sawyer snickered. “He should have gone into porn, not coffee. We’d have been millionaires by now.”

  “But then you’d have been too famous, because everyone would have loved him, and I wouldn’t have met you.” No matter what he did, I knew Cooper would succeed. People loved his openness and the teasing way he flirted with just about everyone.

  Cooper threw himself across my lap, nearly smothering Sawyer. “I wouldn’t trade that for all the money in the world.”

  The sincerity in his voice was at odds with the crazy words, but I understood the sentiment. “I love you both. Now let Sawyer breathe.”

  I would have smiled, but it wasn’t the most insane thing I’d said that day. Life with my guys would never be boring.

  Chapter 19

  Cooper

  I was over-caffeinated; that was my only excuse. Well, maybe justification…or explanation. Yes, I liked that better. It was my explanation. Caffeine, sugar, chocolate, and excitement were a bad combination.

  As more of our stuff started moving from the apartment to the house, it made everything more real, and more wonderful. When I thought about how wonderful it was, my excitement kept growing, and somehow that led to more coffee consumption. I still wasn’t sure how that happened.

  By the end of my shift, I’d had three, no four, oh, maybe more than that.…Yes, too much caffeine. It made the day pass by faster, but it also seemed to turn my brain off. As I was dancing around the storeroom, getting ready to leave, April finally came in demanding answers.

  “You’ve been bouncing around the store since I came in. And according to everybody else, you’ve been doing it all morning. I even had one of the customers a few minutes ago say that they thought you’d had too much caffeine. So spill it.” She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the door. “What? Did Sawyer ask you to marry him? If you were a girl, I’d ask if you were pregnant. You’re glowing, and you’re stupid excited.”

  Oops.

  I had no idea what to say. “We’re getting a new place?”

  Unfortunately, that came out as a question, which didn’t help my situation.

  April gave me a suspicious look. “Why?”

  “Because we need more room?” Shit, a question again.

  “I know neither of you are pregnant. So unless you just got married and are trying to adopt a baby from some third world country, I don’t see why you need a bigger place. Your apartment is cute.” Her face went from frustrated to concerned. “Are you guys having money issues? Did you get kicked out? No, that doesn’t explain the excitement.”

  “No, everything’s fine.” Everything was perfect.

  “What the hell is going on? I thought I was your friend, but you’re lying about something. If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine.” As her tone changed to hurt, I was even more conflicted.

  She was right. She was my friend. But there was a huge part of my life that I’d left out.

  After telling Sawyer that I approved of whatever decision he made about his job, I’d done my best to ignore the fact that I had the same decision looming. “It’s personal. I don’t mind sharing with my friend. But I’m not sure it’s something my boss needs to know.”

  I finally sat down on one of the chairs and tried to pretend I was calm. “Can you see my dilemma?”

  April nodded, but she didn’t look pleased. “I thought you knew me better than that. As long as it honestly doesn’t affect your work, it’s not my business as your manager. As a friend, you can tell me anything.”

  I had a feeling I was going to test that “anything” to the limit.

  Deciding to just go for it, I blurted it out. “Sawyer and I are moving in with Jackson. He’s our third. We met him online. We’re in love.”

  I was pretty pleased that I’d managed to leave the puppy
stuff and the BDSM out of it completely.

  April’s eyes widened. “You guys are in an open relationship?”

  I shook my head. “No, it’s just the three of us. We’re all committed to each other, and we’re tired of going back and forth between his house and the apartment.”

  “Is this new?” She wasn’t running away screaming, but she still seemed confused.

  I wasn’t sure what she was talking about. “Well, we’ve always known we wanted a third. If that’s what you mean. But we met Jackson a few weeks ago. Things just grew from there.”

  “Wow.” The frustration had faded, and it looked like the confusion was starting to clear. “That’s great. You seem really excited. I can’t wait to meet him. This explains why you guys haven’t invited me over for dinner lately.”

  I winced at that. “We haven’t really told anybody besides his family. I honestly wasn’t sure if it would freak you out.”

  April nodded, finally seeming to understand. “I guess I get it. You’re going to get a lot of shit from some people. But honestly, this isn’t the weirdest thing I’ve heard from a friend.”

  “Yeah, I just don’t want it to keep me from moving up in the company. I like my job.” Then I gave her a little pout to lighten the mood and make her laugh. “And I want the manager job at the new location.”

  She smiled but didn’t get sidetracked. “Eventually, one of the other managers or employees will ask you about your family—there’s no way around that. But I honestly can’t remember having a personal conversation with anyone at the corporate office.”

  I could see her starting to think back through previous conversations, and finally, she shook her head. “No, I don’t remember anybody asking me if I was even married, except that lady in HR. As long as you hire people who are open-minded and fit in with the overall feeling of the company, I don’t see where you’ll have a problem.”

  “Great, that’s a load off my shoulders.” Standing up, I started patting myself down to make sure I had my keys and phone. “I have to go help unload the car, because they were going over to the apartment to get a load of stuff.”