by Tara Rose
“What’s going to happen now?”
He gave her a quick sideways glance, and his heart melted a bit. She looked lost and confused, not confident and strong as she had when he’d picked her up at her parents’ house. “We’re going to talk. That’s all. Just talk. All three of us. We’ll talk about what we want out of this…arrangement, and we’ll talk about any fears or insecurities we have.”
“I don’t want to cause trouble for you or Trent with your friends.”
“You won’t. You can’t.” He gave her a quick smile. “And if they can be that easily put off, they’re not really friends to begin with, are they?”
Her face brightened a bit, like what he’d just said gave her hope. “Do you think that’s why Zach came over? To break the ice with you two?”
Wyatt wasn’t sure why Zach had come over, but if letting her believe that had been the reason put a smile back on her pretty face, he’d go along with it. “Well, he sure was friendly. Even to you.”
“That’s true. Although, he must know that Rafe no longer speaks to me.”
“Maybe he doesn’t? Maybe Rafe hasn’t said anything to them?”
She shook her head. “Luke told me they all know that Rafe and I aren’t on speaking terms.”
So much for that idea. “Well then, maybe he was just trying to be polite and find some common ground between you two?”
“Maybe. That’s a good thing, right? I mean, it’s a positive step.”
Wyatt wanted to stop the car and pull her close. She was desperate for any sign from one of them, no matter how inconsequential, that they might accept her into their fold one day. How long had she held all this pain in her heart? Why hadn’t Bonnie or Leela seen this side of her? And if they had, why hadn’t they intervened by now with Marisol, at the very least? They used to be her friends, too. He couldn’t ask them. It wasn’t his place to do so. “It sounds like one to me. Just give this time, okay?”
She nodded. “You keep saying that, like a mantra.”
“No. It’s simply the truth. This will take time.” He pulled into the garage, and this time she waited for him to open her door. Trent pulled in next to his car, and once they were inside Wyatt asked Ria if she wanted another glass of wine. She did, and he poured all three of them a glass without asking Trent if he wanted one. She sat on the sofa and Trent sat next to her, so Wyatt pushed the coffee table to one side and pulled the armchair over so he could sit in front of them both. He tried not to picture her lying beneath Trent in the same spot both now sat.
Trent raised his glass. “To possibilities.”
“I’ll drink to that,” said Wyatt. He leaned back and crossed one ankle over the opposite knee, loosening his tie. “Okay. On the way over here, Ria asked what happens now. I told her we should all talk about what we want and don’t want from this.”
“This is uncharted territory for us,” said Trent. He placed his glass on the coffee table. “And, before we go any further, I need to tell you something.” He shifted his weight to face Ria, and Wyatt had to put his glass down, too, before he dropped it. One look at Trent’s face told him he was about to spill his guts about his years in Indy. He must have it bad for her already. “Do you remember a woman named Deanna Oster? She didn’t live in Racy for very long, but she had a job at Busler’s Department Store for a few months when she did.”
“The name is vaguely familiar, but unless she worked in the same department as I did, I wouldn’t have spoken to her very much. I didn’t eat lunch with my coworkers. I usually went down the street to Nan’s Place and met Bonnie, Leela, or Marisol for lunch. I was always getting back late, which is part of the reason I eventually lost the job.”
“Oh, I see. Well, a few years ago Deanna moved here from Indy. She was already a sub and came to Maddox’s club a lot. We grew close. I followed her back home to Indianapolis. That’s where I’ve been living all this time.”
Ria nodded, removed her boots, and curled her legs underneath her body. Trent stared at her legs as he continued talking, not that Wyatt could blame him. She had nice ones.
“Deanna liked to party, and she was a wild thing. I convinced myself that I was bored with small town life and wanted to see what it was like in Indy. She was definitely bored out of her mind living here, so when she moved back home, I went with her.”
Ria laughed softly. “Indy is not exactly big-city life.”
“I know. But it’s bigger than Racy, and I thought that’s what I wanted.”
“What happened?”
“I was okay with the partying, but what I didn’t know was that she also liked to play people.” Trent cleared his throat, and for a few seconds Wyatt wondered whether he’d be able to get through the story. “I came home early from a shift and found her in bed with two Doms from the club. And we had most definitely never discussed her having sex with other men.”
Ria reached over and took his hand, and Wyatt tried to tamp down the jealousy coursing through his body. “I am so sorry.”
“Thank you. It happened six months ago. I got into a fight with them. Both of them. That’s how this happened.” He pointed toward the scar under his left eye. “I’m not proud of that. Then I moved out of her apartment and moved in with a coworker. I stuck around just long enough to take the last class I needed to earn my paramedic certification, and then I came home.”
She glanced into his eyes for a long time before she spoke again. “I have to ask this. Given that history, and given the fact that you’re still obviously very hurt by what she did to you, how do you both expect this to work? I don’t mean I don’t want to try, but help me understand. Because if I’d gone through something like that, there is no way I could do it.”
The million-dollar question. Wyatt leaned back further into his chair and waited for his twin to answer her, because he sure as hell had no clue.
* * * *
Ria had to understand where their heads were before anything else happened with either man. She wasn’t going to jump into this without making sure they both really wanted to, because she was going to lose her heart to these two. She was certain of it. And if she was going to do that, she wanted to make sure there was at least a chance that one or both of them were going to stick around for longer than a few precious weeks.
Trent squeezed her hand. “I know it sounds crazy. Believe me. I know it does. But it’s not the same thing. This time, it’s consensual. Wyatt and I have agreed to this. I’ve agreed to it. We’re discussing it.” He sighed, but it wasn’t a sigh of frustration. It was more like he was choosing his words.
“You fascinate me. You’re pretty and sexy, but you don’t act like you know that. And you’re much stronger and braver than you let on. You kept your cool at Gino’s when Zach came over and made that comment about Rafe. I was very impressed. And you finally told your parents how you feel. That had to have been difficult to do, especially after all this time.”
“I’m committed to changing things. I want to make things right.”
“I know. That’s what I mean. You know, most people don’t. They never change. I should have seen what Deanna was before I left Racy with her. All the signs were there. Maddox and Sean both told me about things she’d done at the club, but I chose to ignore them because I thought she was the answer to my boredom and craving for something different. What I didn’t realize is that a person can’t give you that. You have to find that inside yourself.”
She shifted her weight, so many emotions bubbling up inside that she could hardly contain even one of them. “I know. That’s what I mean. That’s what I’ve finally figured out. I have to change this. No one else can. I’ve spent months blaming everyone for what happened, but I’m the one who did this. What I want has been right here, all along. And now that I’ve figured that out, I want it all, right now. I don’t want to wait for the changes. I think I expected to wake up one day and they would have already happened.”
Wyatt chuckled. “Slow down, hon. They will happen.”
“I know…I know…but that’s how I feel.” Had he really just called her ‘hon’? “I’m excited and scared at the same time, but I don’t want to lose this feeling. And I go from that high to a low, like when we walked into the restaurant and I got the nasty looks. Sometimes I feel like I’m losing my mind.”
Trent frowned and glanced at Wyatt. “She got nasty looks from them?”
“Let’s just say they weren’t charitable looks.” Wyatt moved closer and took her other hand. “Now it’s my turn. No one is more surprised than me that I’m willing to give this a shot. And I admit to wondering whether or not Trent was ready for it, but obviously he is. We both are. I think you’re very pretty and sexy, too, but that’s not all that attracts me to you. I like the strength of conviction you’ve shown. And I love that you’re willing to embrace this totally and commit to it. But you have to understand something.”
He glanced at Trent, and now Ria was used to the nonverbal communication between them. It didn’t freak her out any less, but she knew the look, and she merely waited this time until Wyatt spoke again.
“We aren’t only asking to go out to dinner with you, or take long walks in the park, or go shopping. We’re interested in helping you explore your fantasies. You know we’re both Doms. We don’t have to play at the club until if and when you’re ready for that. We can keep that private right here.”
She could barely take a breath as the images danced through her head. This was really going to happen.
“But we need to talk about a few things first, and we need to find out if your expectations for this include sex.”
There it was. The question had been asked. She stared into those dark blue eyes and imagined a crystal clear pool of water, cold and deep. If she dived in, there was no resurfacing. She’d just become one with the water and begin a new life, in a new form. She wasn’t afraid. Not anymore. Not sitting here with them both, holding their hands and listening to the sound of a clock ticking somewhere in the condo. This was right. It was what she wanted. It was what she’d waited her entire adult life for.
Chapter Eleven
“I sure hope it does. Because honestly, I’d go for that right now if you both said so.”
Wyatt smiled, and Ria could barely contain herself. It was suddenly too hot in here. Trent chuckled softly and she watched the lust fill his eyes as she fidgeted on the sofa. Were they actually going to have sex tonight, or would they torture her and make her wait?
Wyatt cleared his throat. “Well then, that’s that. So…let’s talk about condoms. We don’t have any social diseases but we use them, regardless. Unless you’re on the pill.”
“I am, but if it would make you two more comfortable to use them, I’m all right with that.”
He nodded. “Okay. Um…your sexual history. I don’t know it.”
Was he blushing? He certainly had lost his confident way of speaking. Ria smiled. It was endearing to see him so unhinged, and to realize she was the cause of it. What would a jury say if they saw him like this right now? “I’ve had sex with two men in this town and you know them both. They’re attorneys. Neither relationship lasted more than a few months because…” She bit her tongue, but then took a deep breath. This was part of the changing process. She could do this. She could admit that both men had found her too immature. “They said I was too childish.”
“Ouch,” said Trent.
“It’s all right. I was. But that’s the old Ria. You’re looking at the new Ria.”
“I like the old and the new Ria.” Trent brushed a finger along her hand and she shivered. “But I love that you’re so committed to this. As for me, Deanna was the longest relationship I’ve had. I’ve had a few subs but…not many long-term relationships. Don’t pass that around town.”
“I won’t.”
“Same here,” said Wyatt. “In fact, I’m sure Bonnie has told you that they tease me about being married to my job.”
Ria laughed. “Yes, I’ve heard her say that before.”
“All right. We’ve crossed that hurdle. Now, on to limits. Have you ever done any BDSM play?”
She shook her head. “Never.”
“And how long have you had fantasies?”
“Years and years.”
“If you don’t mind my asking, why did you never do anything about them?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I felt like I’d look foolish or something. I mean, can you imagine if I’d simply walked into Maddox’s club one night?”
“Well, you couldn’t have walked into Maddox’s club on your own. You would have had to come there with someone he knew. And you wouldn’t have looked foolish. But that doesn’t matter now. Tell us what you have absolutely no interest in trying.”
Her face burned. “I don’t know if I can talk about this.”
Wyatt moved closer, and now she could smell his cologne. It mixed with the lingering scent of pasta sauce that hung around all of them, and for reasons which Ria didn’t understand, it drove her to distraction. Her pussy was soaked, her clit throbbed, and she wished she could just jump them both right now instead of talking about it.
“This is important, Ria. You’re going to see us both naked. We’re going to see you naked. We’re going to see each other naked. We’re going to put our dicks into your pussy, your mouth, and your ass if you’ll let us. You’ll be bent over a spanking bench and tied to a St. Andrew’s cross, and we’ll be flogging you, spanking you, and paddling you. This isn’t the time to be coy. This is the time to tell us what turns you on, what does not and never will, and what might one day.”
Holy shit. As Wyatt’s words bounced around her brain, Trent’s words early that morning came back to her, when he’d told her wanted to fuck every square inch of her body. Apparently both men were that sexy in private. The possibilities of what could happen between them were overwhelming, and she actually became dizzy again. It was hard to breathe.
He watched her carefully, waiting for an answer, looking afraid that he might have gone too far. She didn’t want him thinking that. She didn’t want either of them wishing they’d never started this with her, or worse yet, reaching the conclusion that she was only a naïve little schoolgirl, playing a game.
She took a deep breath, and let the words come out. “I don’t want anything to cut my skin. I’m afraid of electricity, and I don’t want to be hung upside down. I get dizzy if I bend over to tie my shoelaces. I would love to experience wax play, knife play, impact play, and bondage.”
She swallowed hard, trying to remember all the things she, Marisol, Bonnie, and Leela had talked about over the years. “I have no problems giving or receiving oral sex, and I swallow. I’ve had anal sex a couple of times. Can’t say I enjoyed it but then, he didn’t use lube.”
“That won’t happen with us,” said Trent. “But tell me who did that to you so I can kick his ass.”
Ria laughed, more from nervousness than anything. “I’ll think about telling you one day.”
“No, you don’t get it. If we’re going to do this, it isn’t for play. We’re not pretend Doms. I want to know who did that to you.”
She stared at him because she wasn’t sure how to react to what he’d just said.
“Being a Dom is about more than tying someone up and flogging them,” said Wyatt. “If we do this, we do it right. We protect you and cherish you, as well as help you become the woman you want to be. It’s not a halfway thing for us.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
Wyatt grinned. “For starters, you can give us a name.”
“Jim Turner.”
Both men rolled their eyes. It was so adorable to see them each perform the same gesture at the same time, that Ria laughed again. Would their bodies look alike as well? Would their cocks? Did they make love the same way? She didn’t even know how Wyatt kissed. Not yet, at least.
“Unbelievable,” said Wyatt. “Is there anyone in this town that he didn’t hurt?”
“He does get around,” she said
. “But he always used a condom.”
“Good to know,” said Wyatt. “Thank you for telling us.”
“What are you going to do to him?” She winced as soon as the words were out of her mouth. That was the old Ria talking, tone of voice and all. “Ugh. Scratch that. I don’t need to know.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. The old me would have hounded you until you told me. The new me doesn’t care. I will not gossip.”
“For how long?”
She stared at Trent. “What? I don’t understand the question.”
“For how long won’t you gossip? Tonight? A day? Two? A week? For how long?”
A shiver ran through her body at the challenging, sexy tone in his voice. “Is this a test of some sort?”
“More like a wager.” He cut his gaze toward Wyatt for a split second. “What’s today, Tuesday? Are you working this weekend?”
“I work every weekend.”
“Hmmm…think we can talk Luke into giving you Friday night off? I work the next two nights but I’m off on Friday. And Wyatt works normal hours so he’s off every weekend.”
“You can try asking him. If Alexa is feeling better she’ll pitch in and help. But what’s so special about Friday?”
He brushed his fingers along her arm, and she had to bite her tongue to hold back the moan. “Well, I thought we could start introducing you to BDSM play on Friday night, here with both of us. And, since you’ve once again mentioned how you’re trying to stop gossiping, I thought perhaps we could up the stakes a bit. You stop gossiping for the next three days, and on Friday you get to direct the scene. Anything and everything you want us to do to you and with you, we will do.”
She didn’t know what to say, so she simply stared at him. The images dancing through her head nearly made her come. Was this real, or was he just teasing her to try and get her to stop gossiping?