“Just that people have been talking,” she said reluctantly.
“Saying what?”
My gaze lifted to meet mine. “It was Viola. She told everyone about your ‘two boyfriends’ and now the gossip’s all around. I even heard that front desk girl – Patricia – talking about it. I tried defending you, but you know how seriously people take what I say.”
Tea kettle in hand now, I froze. The rumor had spread to my work too?
“It’s totally unprofessional of Viola,” Penelope was blabbing on. “And none of anyone’s business.”
I didn’t hear the rest. Instead, I carefully set down the kettle and leaned against the kitchen counter. Now my work too? What more could go wrong?
Bracing myself against the counter, I got the tea kettle and carried it over to Penelope with two tea cups. I sat down and poured the tea. I carefully steered the conversation to other topics. And then, when the tea was done and my energy almost entirely gone, I rose.
“I’m tired, actually. Would you mind if we went for coffee or something tomorrow?”
“Of course.” Penelope jumped up, and I realized she’d been lingering because she’d felt sorry for me. Great. “Let’s say Dunkin’ Donuts?”
“Sounds great,” I told her, giving her a light hug.
Only once she was gone did I release the breath I hadn’t even realized I was holding. Then, my body sunk into the couch and I closed my eyes, willing sleep to come.
Instead, what I got a few minutes later, was the sound of more knocking on my door. I groaned. Had Penelope forgotten something?
Instead, opening the door, I found myself face to face with Owen and Jake.
38
Owen
Don’t think, just talk, I told myself.
Luckily, Jake was on it. Sweeping into Cin’s apartment, he declared, “Get dressed. We’re taking you out.”
Cin blinked at him, stunned.
“Were you sleeping?” I asked.
“Trying to,” she said.
It was only six PM, but then again, Cin had had a rough few days.
“We just want to take you to dinner,” I finally said. “To sort things out, let you know where we stand and find out where you do.”
“And no,” Jake added quickly, before she could protest. “I refuse to do this here on an empty stomach.”
A ghost of a smile crept across Cin’s lips. “Getting out of here wouldn’t be the worst thing.” She paused. “But where?”
“We were thinking Vincenzo’s.”
“No,” Cin said suddenly. “I want to go to Pickle Barrel.”
“But that’s where you and that Paul guy went,” I said.
“Exactly.” She nodded. “I want to rewrite that experience with a nice one.”
“Ok,” we said.
She had just turned to leave, when Jake stopped her. “One more thing. It’s something I picked up a few days ago, that Owen agreed would look great on you.”
He held out a bag. As soon as Cin caught sight of what was inside, she exhaled. Lifting up the shimmery silver dress, she said, “It’s gorgeous.”
“Put it on,” Jake urged her.
A few minutes later, all I could do was gape. ‘Gorgeous’ was too weak a word to describe just how incredible Cin looked in that dress. It made me want to kiss her and rip it off and throw my arms around her and declare to the world she was mine all at once.
“So?” she asked, clearly uncomfortable under our stares.
“It looks good,” Jake sputtered. “Crazy good.”
“Really really crazy good,” I added.
A pause, then Cin giggled. “I guess we’re good to go, then.”
No sooner had Jake and I walked into Pickle Barrel, then was Mary Belle squealing, “My favorite guys.”
As we both grabbed Cin’s hands, her bubbly smile wilted a bit and became cautious. “The usual booth?”
“Please,” I told her.
As we walked through, I kept my grip tight on Cin’s hand. I wanted her to know that I didn’t care what any of these people thought. In fact, I wanted them to know that she was mine. I wanted them to all know.
“New friend?” another waitress regular, Sue, asked with a wink as she laid out the menus.
“New girlfriend,” Jake corrected her.
I could feel Cin shifting uneasily between us in the round booth. She wouldn’t have agreed to come here if she didn’t see a future with us, would she have?
The dinner – spaghetti bolognese, in a huge cauldron of a bowl with enough for three – was delicious. The wine was even better. Only once the dessert came did Jake catch my eye and nod. This was it.
We took her hands.
“We have something to say,” I told her.
39
Cin
My heart beat was a scrape at my chest walls.
“We’ve decided,” Owen said, in words quiet but powerful. “We don’t care about the cost or about what people say. We want you – us. We want to be with you.”
Part of me was trembling with happiness, but I couldn’t let it land. Not yet.
“What about your dad?” I asked. “Are you willing to be judged for the rest of your lives? It’ll be other people too.”
“I’d rather be judged for being with the girl we want, then be accepted for being with ones we don’t,” Jake said simply.
God, they made it sound so easy.
“Won’t it be hard, though?” I said, feeling a bit stupid as I said it.
“Probably,” Owen said with a shrug.
“Most likely,” Jake agreed.
“And you’re ok with that?” I asked, still not quite able to believe it.
“Yep,” Owen said.
“Sure am,” Jake grinned.
And that was when I caught their smile too.
“So that’s it then,” I said, mostly to myself. “Then yes.”
That was really, truly it. I was saying yes to whatever life brought us – judgement or not. I was saying yes to the difficulties following our hearts would entail. I was saying yes to the best lovers I could’ve asked for, two men who brought out the best in me.
Jake leaned in, his lips brushing my ear. “Tonight we celebrate for real.”
As it turned out, he was right. In the dark bed with Jake and Owen, someone had started kissing me, and someone else’s erection had nudged my butt and it occurred to me that it didn’t matter to me which was whose. Both were men I loved, who knew just how to pleasure me.
And so, it flowed. Body to body. I was kissed passionately by both of my men, fingered in perfect tandem. I was eaten out by two incredibly talented mouths until I was panting and begging for release, which they gave. Three times, four times, I lost count how many times I came.
By the time a cock entered me, I was thrashing with ecstasy. After we came, still another pierced me, ratcheting my pleasure up to new heights.
And then, finally, we were all curled up together, breathing together, holding each other. We were one.
Epilogue
Cin - One Year Later
As I gazed at the beachscapes, I wondered which one of them would be happier about what I had to tell them. Owen, maybe? Although his mind was pretty occupied right now. This crazy-popular art show was his after all.
He’d sold just about every piece he had, and now, the buzzing crowd leaving was still talking about how talented he was, and about the woman featured in quite a few of his works.
I blushed. At first, I’d been reticent about Owen photographing me on the beach. But the way he got into it, and how wonderful the finished photos were, I couldn’t say no. And now, here we were.
One year later, we were living together at the twin’s apartment. Every day we woke up to the kind of happiness I thought was reserved for movies. Owen and Jake were better for it too, or at least that’s what everyone tells me. Jake is still fighting, while Owen is still managing, with this photography business so successful it can’t really be called just a side
business. And then, there was me. At work, talk had died down, people had just taken my unconventional relationship in stride. My parents and sister loved the twins, although they didn’t come around easily. Even the twins’ dad had grudgingly admitted I’m the best girlfriend they’ve ever had.
Jake’s covert ass squeeze distracted me from my reverie.
“Stop it,” I scolded him.
“Don’t pretend you don’t like it,” he said, irreverent as ever.
“There’s still people here,” I said. Because no way was I about to admit that he was right.
The ride back home a few minutes later was even worse. As Owen drove, Jake, casual as ever, slipped his hand under my coat and started fondling my breast.
“Seriously?” I asked, although I made no move to disengage myself. No. It felt too damn good to stop him now.
Jake responded by sealing his lips on mine.
By the time we got to their place, we wasted no time getting inside. Owen went in first, disappearing into the washroom. As soon as we were in the kitchen, Jake pressed me up against the counter, yanking my top down to feast on my nipples.
“Whoa,” I said.
Whoa was right, and it didn’t even begin to describe the liquid nirvana pulsing through my bloodstream. Jake lapped and sucked, as his hand went up my thighs, squeezing and kneading the flesh.
When he reached my pussy, he paused, a smile sliding onto his face. “Someone’s super wet.”
I braced myself against the kitchen counter, unable to stop myself from groaning. “Jake, please.”
He feigned obliviousness, pushing a finger in and then out. “Please what?”
I thrust out my pelvis, my hands grabbing his dick over his pants. “Fuck me.”
Jake was only too happy to comply. As he was drilling me into the kitchen counter, I groaned as pleasure stabbed deep into me. Jake gripped my hips and picked me up off of my feet. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he fucked me hard and fast. I came with a tremor, although Jake wasn’t finished yet. He turned me around and fucked me from behind, while my head swirled with another orgasm. Then, picking me up, he carried me into the bedroom.
There, he put me on my knees. Catching his eye, I realized what he had in mind, and I loved every bit of it. Lifting up my face, I said, “Do it.”
Jake grunted, his hand fisting his cock. I opened my mouth and took him in all the way as he spilled down my throat with a grunt.
Jake dropped onto the bed and flung an arm across his eyes, his breathing still labored. “Good God, I love coming in your mouth,” he said.
I smiled and leaned down to kiss him before heading into the bathroom.
Owen was still in the shower and as he looked over at me, he smiled. “Wanna join me babe?” At the sight of his droplet- coated Greek god form, I couldn’t say no. Evidently, the sight of my naked body was enough to make Owen rock hard too. Our kisses pressed him into the wall, and then me. He held my hands above my hand as he stroked his way down.
Lifting me up and pressing me against the shower wall as I wrapped my legs around him, he slid into my wet warmth. “How are you always so tight?” Owen ground out, his dick twitching inside of me already.
He fucked me fast and shallow, slapping my back into the slick tiles. I almost slipped off of him once, but he steadied me with his hands. “I’d never let you fall.”
With that look in his eyes, there was no question of the truth of what he’d said.
Already, I’d come twice, but apparently, that wasn’t enough for Owen. Drilling me the persistently, he didn’t let up until I’d come two more times, the second ending with him spilling into me too.
Afterwards, he wrapped me in his arms, holding me close. “Damn, do I love you.”
I turned to kiss him. “I love you too. Come to bed quickly though, I have something to tell you both.”
Back in bed, Jake was waiting for us. We all cuddled together, and then I took a breath. This was it.
“So, there’s something I found out earlier today,” I told them.
Owen and Jake didn’t look as excited as could be hoped for, although I could hardly blame them. ‘We need to talk’ was usually girl code for ‘something is wrong’.
“I’m pregnant,” I said, and the silence that followed was deafening.
Owen was the first to grin. “Really?”
“Really,” I said.
Now Jake was grinning too. “If it’s a boy I call Jake Junior.”
Owen rolled his eyes, “Or Owen Junior.”
I giggled as my men wrapped me in their powerful arms.
“What if it’s a girl?” I asked.
Both men frowned for a moment before saying simultaneously, “She’s not dating until she’s thirty.”
I closed my eyes and laughed as Jake and Owen pulled me closer to them. After all the heartache I’d faced, I had finally found my happily every after.
Book Four - Training the Rookie
1
Blair
You’ve got this.
I repeated it to myself as I made my way to the police station, in order to cram out all the other thoughts. The ones about how hard I’d worked to get there, how I couldn’t let Mom and Dad and Ella down, how I didn’t quite get the ketchup stain out of the hem of my white shirt.
Talk about making a good impression. Chief Fallows was a notorious hard ass too. According to a girl who was in my class at the Academy whose brother had actually worked for her, he summarized her as a “talented bitch”.
This was my first day on the job. I couldn’t afford to mess up so early. No, I’d worked too hard for that.
Wow.
The guy walking past me was the kind you see on the front of some copper romance novel. The kind with shaggy dark hair and blue eyes that see right through you. Ridiculous, but I could almost see him, the way he was looking at me, pressing me to the wall with the flat of his hand.
When his smile quirked on the left side and he said, “Hey,” I came to my senses.
“Hey,” I said quickly, as I passed by.
There was no time to stop and talk, not that I would’ve known what to stay if I had. What were you supposed to say to the hottest guy you’d seen in months?
Anyway, finally, I was there. The last door on the hallway to the left.. There, I took a deep breath and raised my hand to knock. You’ve got this.
Then I knocked, three short knocks. They sounded way too loud to my ears, but I was just jittery. When the Chief’s voice came through, I could’ve fainted on the spot. This was it. This would decide everything. Sure, I had managed to land the job on the police force, but would I be able to keep it?
Inside, the Chief looked about the same as her picture on the wall. Silver hair strangled into a tight ponytail, curiously unlined face with dark eyes that pinned you to your spot.
“Ms. Collins,” she said in a voice devoid of emotion.
“Chief.” I stuck out my hand. “Thank you again for this opportunity. I’m excited to get to work.”
The chief gave her head a slight incline, as if to say, “We will see.”
I sat down at the only other chair there was in the room.
“So,” she said.
Her eyes began dissecting me like I was an insect on a clear slide.
Evidently having liked what she saw enough to proceed, the Chief continued, “I’m going to give it to you straight. I’m not going to give you an easy time just because you’re another woman.” She gestured to the door, seemingly indicating the people outside of it. “They’re certainly not. You're just another cop. I’d expect you to act as such. Not overdoing it, just because you’re a female trying to prove a point..”
Unsure of how to respond, all I said was, “Yes, ma’am.”
“This isn't your stereotypical cop job either,” she continued. “I don’t allow slackers on my force. The kind to frequent doughnut shops instead of catching actual criminals. And, as for your personal behavior, you better just hope that I don’t c
atch you doing anything you’re not supposed to. We're the police. We're supposed to be the upholders of law, not the ones removed from it. Remember that, and you’ll do fine with me.”
Judging by the harshness of her tone and face, part of me somewhat doubted that, although I only nodded once again.
“And what’s more,” she was saying. “I don’t tolerate laziness; just clocking in and out instead of challenging yourself. And that applies to now as much as ten years from now.”
She slapped her open palm on the desk, and I jumped a bit. “You better tell me how much you want this position now. And tell it to me good.”
While my mind fumbled for a response, I blurted out, “A lot.”
No expression. “Yes?”
“Yes,” I said. I was so sure I was practically speechless with it. Medusa boss or not, I wanted this job. I wanted to help people. “Ever since I was little. I started going to the gym, reading up on what I’d need to get in when I was a preteen.”
I didn’t add the why, the part about Ella and what had happened to her. How I hadn’t helped her then. Something told me the Chief wasn’t a fan of sob stories or sentiment.
As it stood, now she was the one nodding, still eyeing me critically.
“Then you may have what it takes,” she finally said.
“Thank you,” I said.
Her gaze returned to some papers on her desk, and to them she said, “You can go.”
My limbs feeling weak, I rose and made my way to the door. Was that what you would call a good interview? Or a bad one? Was there more I should’ve said or shouldn’t have?
I was at the door when her voice stopped me, “And Officer. Collins?”
“Yes?” I said.
Her face wore the slightest trace of a smile. “Good luck out there. I think you’ll do great.”
I mentally reminded myself to close my open mouth. Was that an actual compliment?
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