by Daisy May
The arrangement wasn’t uncommon among the gay couples we knew. We’d never been interested in having outside relationships, and we’d never gone out looking for threesomes, but we’d played with other men together when the feeling was right. It was a lot of fun… and sometimes it got extremely hot.
Over the past few years, the situation hadn’t come up naturally, and neither of us had been inclined to go out and look for something to spice up our relationship. Our relationship was spicy enough on its own.
It’d just been the two of us for the past five years or so, and I was perfectly content with that. Even if this Reuben guy had gorgeous eyes, a graceful neck, and an innocent smile with a twist that implied a hint of naughtiness underneath. And that was just what I’d gotten from the professional-style headshot he’d had on the networking website!
“Interesting how your mind went down that path,” I told Charlie. “I never said anything about bringing him into the bedroom.”
“My mind is always on the bedroom path,” he chuckled.
“But no more sharing.”
He coughed. “I don’t know. Maybe in exceptional circumstances.”
I put my arms around him, nudging his chin with my nose. “You might think this kid was exceptional if you saw him.”
“Show me his picture, then.”
“I have to get going.”
I disentangled myself and stepped out the door, still wondering how firm Charlie’s anti-threesome stance was. I hadn’t really worried about it before, hadn’t had any reason to, but something about that kid’s picture just did it for me. I could already picture bringing him over to our house, plying him with wine, taking him into the bedroom and slowly removing each article of his clothes…
But no. I had to stop. This was a professional meeting, not some kind of sex date. I didn’t even know if Reuben had a boyfriend. Hell, he could’ve been married! The goal for him was to get all the information he could out of me. The goal for me was… uhh… sharing my knowledge. And free tea.
I drove to the coffee shop he’d suggested, which was about ten minutes away. When I got out, the guy I’d seen in the picture was already waiting outside. A little shiver coasted down my spine as I looked at him. I took a second to steel myself before getting out of the car.
“Hey there!” I called, reaching out to shake his hand. “I’m Jasper.”
“Nice to meet you. It’s so kind of you to meet me today.” Instead of taking my hand, he went for a full-on hug. “Sorry, I’m the huggy type. Especially with seasoned professionals who take the time out of their day to do a favor for someone they’ve never met before.”
“All right, then.” My heart was hammering by the time he let me go. He smelled like coffee and sugar and muffins, and I wanted to take a bite out of him right here and now. “Let’s go inside.”
Reuben
Lawyers were supposed to be old. Stuffy. Wrinkled.
Jasper Culver was none of that. Yeah, his hair was going ever-so-slightly grey, but other than that, he looked about thirty-five. My impression of him being a super-hot bear was, so far, a hundred percent correct.
As we walked into the coffee shop, I mentally reproached myself for being interested. This was a networking meeting. Nothing more.
Even if Jasper had hugged me back a little too eagerly.
“What kind of drink would you like?” I asked, standing back from the counter. “I’ve had everything on their menu, so I can recommend something if you want.”
“I’m not much of a coffee drinker, so I’ll just have a chamomile tea,” Jasper said.
I ordered one for him, along with an almond milk green tea latte for myself. I paid, waving Jasper off when he tried to put a few dollar bills down. This was on me. I just wished he could also be on me.
My gaze went to his hand as soon as he took his mug. A wedding ring—damn! Why were all the sexy men taken lately? All right, not just lately—always. I was far from ugly, yet it seemed like I’d missed the day when all the gay guys had coupled off together.
“So, how do you know so much about coffee?” Jasper asked, blowing on his drink.
“I actually work in another coffee shop at the moment,” I said. “Just a temporary job until I find something better. But I’ve made a point of coming to the other cafes nearby and trying out what they have on offer.”
He nodded. “Sounds like you’re a real self-starter. Not many baristas would take that kind of initiative.”
“I try,” I said. “I don’t want to be in this field forever, but while I’m here, I’m putting my all into it.”
“Good for you.” He pulled out his teabag and set it on a napkin.
Wish he would teabag me… What the fuck? “So you’re in family law,” I blurted out, eager to get the image out of my mind. “You’ve been at your firm for almost eight years now.”
“Exactly,” he said with a smile. “I see you read my profile.”
“This is my first informational interview. I figured I should do my research.”
He laughed and blew on the tea again. Fuck, those full lips looked good when they were formed into an O like that. “It’s my first informational interview, too,” he said. “I think you’re the first person to contact me through that site.”
“Really? I figured you’d be getting inundated with messages, what with your picture and all.” I stopped myself with a fake cough. “I mean your experience. Your qualifications. Everyone must want to meet you.”
His eyes tracked mine as I took a sip of my still-too-hot latte. “Not so far,” he said. “I’ve gotten a few messages from complete strangers who wanted me to do something for them. No one offered to buy me coffee and have a chat.”
Thank you, law school buddy. “I’m glad you came out.” Another cough, less fake this time. “To meet me, I mean.”
Jasper’s lips twitched. “It’s great to meet you. I just hope I can help. The law schools are definitely graduating too many students these days—more than the amount of jobs that are available. I’ve heard that the number of unemployed lawyers is going to keep growing until people realize that.”
I sighed. “Right? All my life, I was basically told that law school was some magic bullet for finding a good job. I stuck it out because I believed it, and now that fancy diploma’s gotten me no further than an undergrad degree.”
“No further than a high school diploma.”
Part of me riled at the comment, but Jasper’s tone was gentle and contemplative rather than sarcastic. And he was right. I was working at a damn coffee shop—no undergraduate degree needed.
“What kind of law would you like to practice?” he asked.
“I don’t really care at this point,” I said. “I was always interested in human rights issues, like standing up for LGBT refugees. But right now, I’d take anything.”
“You did well in school?”
“I did great,” I said, fiddling with my napkin. “Always got good grades. I thought that was the key to getting a job afterwards. I studied so much, I missed out on extracurriculars and socializing, a.k.a. networking.”
“High grades are still a good thing to have,” Jasper said.
Ugh… why was he so sympathetic? As I stared into his kind grey eyes, I only liked him more and more. He was married, I reminded myself. He’d made a serious commitment to somebody. He had a freaking life partner.
I could sit here and hope he’d gotten divorced and just happened to still be wearing the ring, or that the wide gold band signaled something other than marriage. But even if by some miracle he was single, he wasn’t going to be interested in me.
A gracefully maturing silver fox of a lawyer with a baby-faced, underemployed kid who had to scour networking sites for the barest hope of getting a job? I didn’t think so.
Jasper’s husband was probably just as amazing as him. Another ruggedly gorgeous, incredibly intelligent lawyer. Together they probably earned about a million bucks a year. I’d bet they lived in some kind of mansion.
And that they were still madly in love and had sex ten times a day.
“Did you want to ask me anything?” Jasper asked.
Oh… I did need to say something instead of sitting here and staring at him.
I’d brought along a file folder with a print-out of questions to ask at an informational interview. I flipped to that now and asked him a few things about his typical day and how someone could advance in his firm. He answered openly, smiling all the while. I jotted notes as he spoke—partly because I knew I was so focused on his looks that I wouldn’t remember anything, partly just to have a reason to drag my eyes away from his face.
After those questions, I took the next step the job-hunting websites had recommended. I pulled out a copy of my resume and slid it across the table to him. “I brought this along just in case you wanted to take a look,” I said shyly.
Now he looked taken aback. “I don’t know what I can do with that. I don’t participate in the hiring for my firm or anything. And I haven’t written a resume in years, so I can’t really give you advice.”
Oh… again. I shouldn’t have listened to that stupid website. I filed the resume in the folder again, my cheeks getting slightly hot.
“I’d love to help you,” Jasper said apologetically. “I just don’t know how I can.”
“No, yeah, it’s not a problem.” My face had to be visibly red now. I dipped my head down, hoping the other people in the coffee shop wouldn’t notice my embarrassment. “I didn’t expect anything more than this.” I started to get up.
“Listen, maybe I can give you some resources to look into.” Jasper’s words made me slide back into my seat, although I still stared at the table. “Check out this website,” he said, writing something down on a scrap of paper. “And maybe you can visit this legal center in person.” More scribbling.
“Thank you so much.” At least tonight hadn’t been a total failure. Jasper seemed to like me well enough. Too bad I couldn’t offer him anything in return—anything more than the two-dollar cup of tea, anyway.
“Not a problem.”
“Well, it was great meeting you,” I said. “I really enjoyed hearing about your job and all, and I appreciate your help.”
When I started again to get up, he gestured at me to sit down. “You don’t have to run off. I don’t have anywhere important to be.”
“Okay.”
What did he want now? If we were done with the professional aspects, did he just want to chat with me or something?
I cleared my throat and drank the last of my latte, painfully aware that my cheeks were still flushed. Could I ask about his relationship status? That was kind of normal, right? If there was a ring on his finger, that had to be fair game for conversation. It would just seem like polite chitchat. At least I hoped so, because the words were already spilling out of my mouth.
“You don’t have to get home to your husband, or something?”
He smiled, looking oddly content. “That’s all right. He knows I’m out with you.”
So he did have a husband. I slumped slightly, even though I had absolutely no reason to be disappointed.
“He was a little jealous of this meeting, actually,” Jasper said. “He thought it sounded a little like a date.”
I stared at him, mute. What in the world was I supposed to say to that?
“I told him that was silly, of course. But you never know. He and I don’t really do the jealousy thing, anyway.”
I found my voice enough to whisper, “What does that mean?”
“It’s not like we have an open relationship… not exactly.” The slightest bead of sweat appeared on his forehead—for once, his calm seemed slightly ruffled. “We don’t date outside our marriage, but we do have a kind of understanding.”
“What are you saying?”
“My husband and I are monogamish,” Jasper said. “Would you be interested in getting to know both of us better?”
Jasper
Propositioning a younger man for a threesome had not been in my plans for the evening. Especially when he was only trying to network with me. Especially-especially when Charlie had just been saying how he didn’t want to share me.
All of that had gone out the window when I saw Reuben in person. He only got more delectable the longer we sat at the little café table. He didn’t quite have his life on track, but he was getting there. Passing the bar was already a great accomplishment. Now he was taking initiative and trying bold moves like contacting me. I admired his ambition and determination.
Reuben was tall and willowy with a neat goatee, just the opposite of Charlie’s burly build and thick beard. He was a bit of a twink, his fashion sense was impeccable, and all right, the age difference kind of turned me on. I’d never been with a man much younger than myself. I was curious what I might be able to teach him…
But as he stared at me in stunned silence, I wondered if I’d just barked up the completely wrong tree. I’d thought I saw a tinge of desire in the way he was looking at me and stammering. Maybe he was taken, or just not into me. Maybe he had never heard the term “monogamish” before and couldn’t figure out what it meant. Hell, maybe he was too vanilla to ever consider a threesome. Maybe he was a damn Mormon—I didn’t know!
I put my hand around my cup of tea, squeezing it a little too tightly. “Sorry,” I muttered. “That came out of nowhere, didn’t it? I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I may have misread the situation.”
“No,” Reuben finally said, although his eyes were still wide and his voice was hesitant. “I’m interested. I just don’t exactly understand.”
“Okay.” I took a breath and firmly instructed myself to not fuck this up. And get Charlie on board at some point, or there’ll be no point to any of this. “My husband and I occasionally bring another person into the bedroom with us. Or more than one.”
Reuben stared at me as if I were telling him the secrets of the universe. “You do?”
“Yes.” It was the truth… although maybe I should’ve mentioned that we hadn’t actually done it in the past half-decade. “We have a very stable, strong relationship, so this kind of thing is just a way to add some fun to life.”
“You don’t mind seeing him with another guy?” he breathed. “He doesn’t mind seeing you?”
“Not at all,” I said, keeping my voice low so no one else would hear us. “In fact, it excites us both.”
Excited would’ve been more accurate. But surely Charlie would be into the idea when he saw Reuben’s picture. He had to be. I’d make him be.
“Have you always done that?” Reuben asked.
“Not always,” I said. “We started a year or two after we first got together. We’ve been together for fifteen years, you see. Married since it became legal. We’d both dated around before that, but he had a lot more experience than me, and I was a bit jealous.”
That part was completely true. I was twenty-three when Charlie and I started dating, but after some high school experimentation, I’d focused on school to the exclusion of everything else.
I’d been determined to succeed academically. Partly as a “fuck you” to my parents, who’d kicked me out when they found out I was gay. Partly to as a “thank you” to the cousin who’d taken me in and paid for my education.
So I’d only been with a few guys before Charlie. They were mostly quick, rushed experiences that I didn’t take much pleasure in.
Charlie, on the other hand, looked as good then as he did now, and he didn’t have any hang-ups about sex, to put it mildly. He saw sex as a recreational sport, and swingers clubs and group scenes were nothing unusual for him.
I wasn’t exactly jealous he’d been with more men than me, but it was in the back of my mind. When he figured it out, he came up with this suggestion—one that’d worked for us for the past fifteen years.
We made sure to only bring in men who understood our relationship. And ones who understood pleasure. There were no quick fucks for us anymore. We liked men who would be into long
, drawn-out sessions that went on for hours.
“I see,” Reuben said, still looking slightly staggered. “I don’t really know what to think right now.”
He hadn’t said no! “Of course,” I said. “I’m so sorry to just come out of left field with this. I thought you might be interested, but if you’re not, that’s completely fine. Or if you want to take some time and think about it, that’s fine too.”
“I definitely want to think about it.” He stuttered a little as he said this, but he got the words out. “I just, well, do you have a picture of your husband or something?”
“Uh…” I could show him one of the million pictures of Charlie that were on my phone, but Miami could feel like a small town sometimes. What if Reuben wasn’t interested and then he ran into Charlie? I wasn’t going to risk ruining my husband’s reputation. “I don’t have one here, but I can tell you what he looks like.”
Reuben nodded.
“He’s taller than me, and he has the most amazing body. He’s active all day for his job, so he’s extremely fit, but not in that gym kind of way. More like the kind of real-life muscles that can actually get stuff done. Bit of a farmer’s tan, but somehow he makes it fucking sexy. His background’s Latin. Oh yeah, and he has a beard. Sold yet?”
Reuben was practically salivating. “He sounds pretty interesting.”
I leaned in, hoping to get another whiff of Reuben’s sweet scent. I could already imagine taking him into my bed and sharing him with Charlie. “What if the three of us got together sometime?” I asked. “No pressure or anything. Just a meet-and-greet to get to know each other.” If things went well, of course we could always bring Reuben home with us afterwards.
Slowly, Reuben nodded once more. “Sounds like a plan.”
Charlie
This networking thing was taking way longer than Jasper had said it would. I glanced at the time on the DVD player. Seriously, it was getting late! I thought he said he was only going out for an hour or so.
Horrible scenarios drifted through my head, as they always did when Jasper was away from me. What if he’d gotten into a car accident? Or if some random shooter had taken down the coffee shop?