Time went on, though, as it tends to. Paul got a job with the local butcher, and Riley divided time working at the local paper and waiting tables at her father’s restaurant. Mark had long since been working for his parents’ ranch, wrangling the cattle and herding them to sell. During the few times he had been able to get together with his friends over the past few years, he had assured them that it was nothing like what the movies made out cowboys to be. They never believed him and kept cracking their jokes. Slowly, as it goes over time, they saw each other less and less. But Paul’s marriage proposal had changed things. Everyone had been getting in touch, offering their congratulations. For most, it meant a simple message over Facebook or a text, but Mark had actually called them both separately, insisting that they meet up for old times’ sake.
‘I guess it’s not like it’s out of the blue,’ Riley thought as she lazily ran her fingers up and down the stem of her martini glass. ‘Just a friend offering his time for some old friends. I shouldn’t be reading into it at all, but…’
Paul didn’t reject her suggestion outright; that was the biggest surprise. When she had asked to bring another man into the bedroom, he had been reluctant. When she suggested Mark, he shut down and just stared. She sighed as quietly as she could. Paul was right. She should have waited to bring it up until they got home. It was a lot to sit on, though. The idea hadn’t even crossed her mind until she had gotten the call earlier that day.
“Congrats, chica! You’re finally one step closer to being a real honest woman,” Mark had said, his voice carrying the same amount of warmth it always had. Even so, she was surprised that he hadn’t dropped even a bit of the northern accent from his childhood. He always had been stubborn.
“You ready to head home?” Paul asked, pulling Riley out of her memories. Remembering the conversation that waited for them back at the house, she downed the rest of her martini and grabbed her purse.
“So,” Paul said, once they got back to his truck. “Mark.”
Riley blushed all over again as he started up the car and pulled out of the parking lot. The bar wasn’t far from the house; she had hoped that they could at least spend the short drive in embarrassed silence. “Well, I mean…” she cleared her throat and started over, pulling her chestnut hair away from her face.
“You talked to him, right? Not about this, but like, he called to congratulate us, yeah?” She waited for his nod to continue. “Well, I don’t know. We’ve talked about what it would mean to be married instead of just being, you know, us, and I think this is something that I want to try. You know, before. Just a bit of fun. And we already know Mark, and he’s gonna be passing through on his cattle drive, and I mean, it just felt like good timing you know?” Riley studied her fiancé’s face and bit off her rambling train of thought. “You’re enjoying this, you ass!”
Paul replied by bursting into sharp laughter. “You got all flustered, and it’s just too cute. I couldn’t help it. Sorry darling.”
Riley folded her arms against her chest and said, “Don’t waste your fake apologies on me. Ass.”
Paul continued laughing until they got back to the house—a cozy two bedroom place that Paul’s mother had left him. The gravel driveway and weathered porch swing had always looked like home to Riley, even before Paul had first asked her out. It felt that way even more as she and Paul walked through the door holding hands, still stuck on the same conversation.
“But you’re really serious. You want a threesome.”
“Yes. I want to try it out. And it’s something you’d also like?”
Paul sighed. “I can’t say that I’m crazy about getting in bed with a guy, but if it’ll make you happy, that’s all I want. You know that.”
Riley’s mouth became a thin line. “And if it’s Mark? Does that make it…easier maybe?”
Paul scratched his neck and looked at the wall. “I might be more…comfortable if it’s someone I know. Mark would be a good choice.”
“Why? Because he’s never in town for long? Won’t have the time to tell anyone how much you like playing with my asshole,” Riley teased with a quick wink.
Paul snorted. “Only because you like it so much.” He dug his fingers into Riley’s ribs for a quick tickle. “But really. It feels like you’ve thought about this a lot.” He pulled her to the couch and into his lap. “Are there any other fantasies of yours I can address this lovely evening?”
Riley smiled wide as his hands slipped around to grip her lower back as she leaned down for a kiss. “I’m sure I can think of a few things,” she murmured before their lips met.
Chapter 2
Riley spent the next day in a daze. It was the day they would meet up with Mark for drinks. Riley routinely ended up staring off into space, running a finger over her bottom lip, anticipating an event that might not even come to pass. More than once, she had to ask her customers repeat very simple orders. It was so out of the ordinary that even her father left the kitchen to come talk to her.
“Now sweetheart, I know you’ve got your wedding coming up, but you’ve been wandering around like you ain’t got a single wit about you,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “What’s bothering you, my dear?”
Riley swallowed back an embarrassed giggle, and launched into a huge coughing fit. It wasn’t like she could admit to her father that she was playing over dozens of dirty scenarios involving her groom-to-be and their best friend from school. Her dad sat her down and brought her a glass of water which she accepted with a nod and a thumbs up.
“Well daddy,” she said after she got her lungs back under control, “I guess I’m just thinking over the guest list, wondering who will come…” The double entendre turned her face a brand new shade of red, somewhere between crimson and vermilion. She shook her head vigorously and cleared her throat.
“Whoever you want to, darling. It’ll be your special day,” her father said. All of his good intentions about made Riley crack up, but she maintained her bright red composure. She made a mental note to replay this entire conversation for Paul at the end of the day.
“Daddy, I’m fine. Let me finish up my shift and I promise I’ll be bright eyed and bushy tailed tomorrow.”
“You got it, baby girl,” he said with a wink.
As he disappeared back into the kitchen, Riley finally allowed herself her giggle fit. It took a lot of effort to draw herself back up and return to the floor with table five’s drink order, but she managed to get her composure in order for the remainder of her shift.
She got back to the house before Paul and forced herself to relax. They were going to meet up with Mark for drinks in a few hours, and Riley wanted to get herself prepared. She was going to make herself irresistible. If they managed to ask the question—which still felt like a big “if”—Riley didn’t want to even entertain the possibility of Mark being able to refuse.
She started with a bath, stripping herself bare and drawing the water. As the tub filled, she looked at herself in the mirror, trying to picture herself as someone who would proposition a man for a threesome. The thought sent a current surging through her body, straight to her pussy. The slightest touch revealed how soaking wet she was.
‘Save it,’ she cautioned herself, savoring the feeling of her fingers tracing over her clit and labia. The face she saw in the mirror barely resembled her own. It was so peaceful, so lewd but so serene. Imagining another man’s hands on her body turned her cheeks bright, and staring into her blue eyes, she saw her pupils dilate as she imagined Paul there in the same room as he watched and shared the moment. Her fingers left her wet need to find her nipples.
“Ahh.” With an audible rejection, she rocked her head from side to side. She needed to get out of this train of thought. It would happen, and she shouldn’t rush it. She eased herself into the bathtub and washed herself, doing her best not to pretend that the hands on her body were anyone’s but hers.
By the time Paul got home, Riley was drying her hair. Her favorite red dress made her s
kin glow, brought out the blue of her eyes. She knew the effect it could have, as Paul reminded her as he entered the bathroom.
“Jesus,” he said, taking her in. She smiled, turning of the hair dryer.
“You approve?” she asked, knowing the answer as he pulled her in for a kiss, then immediately pushing her away to look at her all over again.
“Jesus,” he repeated, burying his face in her neck.
“Whoa, whoa,” Riley made herself say. Her entire body tingled at his touch, but it wasn’t the time. “We have a date, remember?”
Paul’s face took a few hard moments to settle into acceptance. The things that lingered there until then—lust, jealousy, affection, need, and a touch more lust—almost set Riley off, but she had also accepted what the night required. Her utmost desire. It was the only thing that could beat the naughty feelings that she knew she wasn’t supposed to want so bad, but she did. She couldn’t help it. Maybe, if Paul had said it would be impossible, then maybe she would have been able to let it go. But he hadn’t. And things had come this far.
“We have to ask him tonight,” she said, her hands coming to rest at the base of his neck. She spent a moment, just feeling the muscles of his shoulders and chest. For a moment, she was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to pull away, she was so mesmerized by the feeling of his body, but he was the one that pushed her back.
“So, all of this—,” he gestured to her dress, “—is for him?”
The jealousy in his tone made every bit of warmth drain out of Riley’s body.
“Paul,” she took a step closer to him, taking his hands in hers. “This is for me. For us. All three of us.”
The look on his face…Riley bit her lip and looked away.
“We don’t have to. We haven’t even asked yet. We don’t have to. We can just have drinks, share a few laughs, and be home by midnight.” The words didn’t feel like hers, but Riley knew that they were right. If Paul didn’t want to, she couldn’t blame him. And she knew that she didn’t want to be with anyone else. Nothing was worth ruining what they had.
“Hey,” Paul said, pulling Riley out of her thoughts. “Hey, you.” He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close enough to kiss her forehead. “This is something that I want, too.”
The assurance was enough of a surprise that Riley pulled away. “Really?” she couldn’t help but ask.
“Of course. Do you think that I’d go through with something like this without giving it serious thought first?” His voice became a growl as he yanked her back to him, pressing his body against hers. “I want to know what it’s like to share you,” he murmured, his lips against her ear. He backed her against a wall and pressed his whole body against hers. “I want someone else to feel the parts of you that I can have whenever I want. Want him to know how fucking precious you are. How lucky I am.”
She felt as he grew hard, knew he wasn’t lying. The jealousy was there, but it only built into the arousal that they both felt. She wanted that jealousy, wanted to show him what it meant for her to enjoy fucking another man. And she would definitely enjoy it. The thrill of a new lover, feeling Paul’s love and possessiveness, feeling him let her make someone else hers. She sighed loudly into his neck, giving him a gentle push.
“Easy, tiger,” she said, her voice a soft, husky tone. “We’ve got a long night ahead of us.”
Paul pulled away slowly, hands slipping over Riley’s waist and hips. “Okay,” he said, “but wear something comfortable. You look like you’re about to lure your third husband to his untimely death.”
Riley laughed, tension spilling out of her body. He was right. She was being too calculated. Mark was an old friend, not some kind of target. She didn’t need to seduce him, just convince him. For that to happen, she didn’t need to be some kind of sex goddess, just the Riley that he knew from back in the day. She let herself relax, traded the red dress for her more familiar blue jeans and flannel, and took her nerves down a notch. Paul wouldn’t be jealous in the ways she had feared, and the prospect of him enjoying himself as much as she would amped her libido a few more notches. She threw a fresh thong in her purse in case the restaurant talk got her too aroused.
She couldn’t help but laugh at herself. She felt like she was sixteen again, going on a date with one of her brother’s older friends. She had no idea what to expect, what to prepare for. She pulled out her makeup, knowing that blush would be the least of her needs. But it was another step of her routine, another ingredient in the formula. With the wardrobe change, the makeup was simpler. A bit of eyeliner, mascara, and maybe some lip color. She never remembered being so calculated in the past as she smeared gloss over her lips. As her lips rubbed together, she tried to remember any first date in the past that she went into with sex as the only objective. None came to mind. She hadn’t dated since high school, and those dates had been fairly tame. This time, with the goal the complete opposite, she felt mildly guilty. Like she and Paul were luring Mark into a trap.
‘Calm down, girl,’ she told herself, staring at her reflection. Paul was ready to get in the car and go, and her time to prepare was all spent. ‘He can say no, and that’s completely fine. Or he could say yes…’ As her mind took off again, Riley rubbed her neck.
“You ready to go?” Paul asked. Riley blinked, and looked away from her reflection. Standing there in the door, Paul looked like himself, but he was wringing his hands. His feet were too close together.
Riley took a moment to smile at him. “I love you,” she said. She crossed the room to kiss him. The small token evolved into a full-tongue endeavor. She buried her face in Paul’s neck, biting at his ear, caressing the line of his jaw with her tongue.
“Love you too,” he murmured back, “but we’re about to miss our table.”
“Ah,” Riley said, breaking off. She wiped her spit from Paul’s neck with her sleeve. “Let’s go, then.”
The drive wasn’t pleasant or unpleasant, but it was definitely awkward. Riley and Paul knew exactly what they were headed towards, but no amount of talk could take the edge off of the anticipation that they felt. It was intoxicating, it was intolerable, it was a new feeling that neither of them could accurately describe. They both knew what they wanted, but it was Mark’s reaction that they needed to know, the only thing they couldn’t know.
At the restaurant, Riley and Paul sat in their booth, making meaningless conversation. Riley kept fussing with her napkin and tearing up her straw wrapper and just plain fidgeting. Paul wasn’t faring much better. His eyes kept running over the menu even though he had said three times so far that he wasn’t hungry. Riley had smiled at the lie at the time, completely capable of hearing the growl of his stomach. One of her hands stopped fidgeting long enough to take one of his and hold it between them, underneath the table. Mark walked in, and it was like all of the air in the room left.
He hadn’t changed, but he had. He had the same face, same pinched mouth, same crooked nose. His hazel eyes had adopted a new kind of squint, a new kind of scrutinizing that Riley had never seen before. That was how he looked at the both of them before he joined them: as if he was trying to figure out what it was that they wanted from him. Riley’s first thought was that he knew, but as Paul stood to give his friend a hug, Riley felt it all melt away. She hugged Mark too, and they all sat and felt the warmth of each other’s company.
“How in the hell are you guys?” Mark asked as the waitress dropped off a glass of water for him.
Paul easily took the reins. “Well, all the wedding stuff is big stress, but we can’t really complain. Not when we’re so happy together.”
Riley shared the smile, but her mind was so far elsewhere, so absorbed in the thought of sex that everything else was just white noise around her. It was so many minutes, so many points of missed conversation before she was pulled back into the conversation.
“Didn’t see anything about gifts yet. Where you guys thinking of registering?” Mark asked. His smile hadn’t faded. Everything about him felt
so nostalgic, so familiar, Riley completely relaxed. She let herself laugh, lose herself in this talk amongst friends. There was so much catching up that they needed to get back to the closeness they’d shared years ago, but she was still so impatient.
“See, I think that’s something we need to talk about.” Both Mark and Paul looked at her as she said the words, “We think there’s something else that you can give to us.”
Mark leaned back, his entire face a question. “You’ve lost me,” he said, looking at Paul.
“What I mean,” Riley said, annoyed at herself for getting so distracted, “is that we have something for you to consider.” Both men leaned in, and Riley made a face at Paul, knowing that he was about to make her ask for this on her own. Sure, it was her idea, but she still wanted to have some support, wanted for it to be a proposition from the both of them.
“We were both wondering if you would be up for sleeping with us.” Riley’s voice cracked in the question, and she flushed all over again. The warmth in her face spread down to her chest and lower as she felt the need to continue. “A threesome. Just once, with me and Paul.” Her gaze was fixed on the table, Mark’s hands in her peripheral vision. She wasn’t brave enough to look at his face, but at the same time, she needed to see it. Needed to know. The short silence already felt like an eternity. As soon as she gathered the courage to look up, she heard it.
Chapter 3
“Okay.”
Riley blinked. Time froze. She looked back and forth between Mark and Paul. “Really? You’re sure?”
“I said okay,” Mark said with a shrug. “If that’s something you want, then, well, sure?” The resolution on his face dissolved and he dropped eye contact. Riley felt suddenly invigorated. Of course it’s what she wanted. But if both of them were equally ready, felt the same kind of trepidation, why was she holding back? She reached across the table and took Mark’s hand in hers.
She Does It His Way Page 4