“But we need to come up with some kind of a schedule,” Angharad said, not quite able to suppress the laughter in her voice. “I don’t know if either of you are aware of this, but you’re both voracious, and I’m only one woman.” Nick began to smile, his eyes suddenly brighter, the tension melting away from his skinny frame. Paolo chuckled, leaning back in his seat. The tension dissolved, Angharad plunged on. “I’m in love with both of you.” Paolo stopped chuckling and looked over at Nick, nodding slowly. “I’m not going to stop sleeping with either of you.”
“As long as Paolo is okay with it, I don’t intend to let you,” Nick said, glancing at Paolo before turning the full intensity of his gaze on Angharad again, lust flickering in the blue depths of his eyes.
“I wouldn’t have started this if I wasn’t okay with it,” Paolo added. “I’m not going to throw around any specific words, but you have to know by now that I want to be with you forever. I want you to have what you need. And I know you need Nick.” Paolo glanced over at his best friend. “I also know that Nick needs you. It started out as just needing a good woman in his life, but I can’t think of any woman better than you, and I don’t intend to get in the way of his happiness. But I was starting to worry we were wearing you out.” Angharad shrugged.
“If I didn’t have a career to maintain, it wouldn’t be a problem. But I am not about to become a kept woman.” She wagged a finger at them. They were more well-to-do than she was, both separately and together. “I am also going to lay a ground rule. I’ll stay at either of your apartments and you’re both welcome to stay here, but no one is moving in with anyone else. At least not right now. We still need to see how this is going to work in the long term.”
“Agreed,” Nick said, Paolo nodding assent at the same time.
“Even beyond the absolutely phenomenal sex,” Angharad said with a grin, “I can’t imagine being happy without both of you, now that I’ve been with you both. I want… I want to stay with both of you.”
“I should be honest, too, since that seems to be the theme of this talk,” Nick said, looking away from both Angharad and Paolo. Angharad saw the way his emotions flickered over his face, the intensity in his eyes even with his gaze off of her. “Paolo, I didn’t think I would ever love another woman when Cynthia died. But in the last few weeks, I’ve absolutely fallen in love with Annie. You’re right that I need her in my life. She’s more than just a good woman. I have to stay with her. As long as you’re both okay with it, I intend to stay with her.” He paused and looked at Paolo with a faint smile. “I’m amazed that you’re willing to share her with me.” Nick took a drag of his cigarette and finally looked up. “What kind of schedule are we talking about?” Angharad blushed, realizing she hadn’t thought that far ahead. She had anticipated a lot more convincing to take place before they hashed out details like this.
“Well,” she started, sipping her coffee. She decided to look away from both of them. Their gazes on her were so full of both love and lust that she couldn’t think straight. She looked down at her shirt and noticed that in the slight chill of the air, her nipples were showing against the thin fabric. That might be part of why they were staring at her so much, she thought, resisting the urge to cross her arms over her chest. They’d both seen her completely naked, after all. “It would have to be fair to all of us. And I should have one night a week where I can get to bed at a decent hour.” She felt herself grinning in spite of herself.
“What do you want to do?” Paolo asked. He took another drag of his cigarette and flicked the ash into the ashtray on the table. Angharad considered it a moment.
“Why don’t we do alternating days? With Wednesdays as my day off, at least to start. We can change it up, oh, every month or so.” She looked at Nick and Paolo in turn. Nick seemed to be counting in his mind, thinking of how the days would shake out for him.
“I think that’s fair,” Nick said. “We’d get you an equal amount of the time that way.”
“And if you need to cancel a night, we can work it out when it comes to that,” Paolo added. “I don’t think either of us wants you to get exhausted, trying to keep up with us.” Paolo looked over at Nick, who nodded.
“I can deal with it for now,” Angharad said, finishing her coffee. “We should really start a plan like this at the beginning of the week, which is only a couple of days away.” She suddenly felt mischievous. “Until then,” she said, standing up, putting her cigarette out, and picking up her coffee cup, “first one to catch me gets to keep me for the day.” She dashed for the door, giggling, and glanced over her shoulder to watch Paolo and Nick jumping out of their chairs to follow. When she got to the kitchen, she put down her cup, hearing them behind her, and wheeled around in time to be captured by two sets of hands on her waist.
“Now this is an interesting turn of events,” she said, looking up into Paolo’s dark eyes and Nick’s light ones, and unconsciously licking her lips. “I guess you’ll have to take turns with me.” Angharad felt both pairs of hands tighten on her, felt both Nick and Paolo moving closer. She pulled herself away from them and moved to the fridge. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m hungry.”
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mary K. lives in South Florida, not far from the swamp and even closer to the beach. Unfortunately, she doesn’t go to the beach that often. She has more books than she has room for, and reads and re-reads compulsively. She enjoys making friends with musicians, going to local concerts, cooking delicious meals and playing a little guitar. In her short professional life, she’s worked as an espresso artiste and a call center representative before finally being hired to spend her days writing. She loves words in all languages and has a list of foreign tongues to learn before she dies. She often wishes her fictional inventions were real people.
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Striking a Chord (Siren Publishing PolyAmour) Page 11