He’s in a shirt again, sleeves rolled up to his elbows to expose those incredible forearms, leaning casually on the edge of his desk to receive me, a smile so wide across his face anyone might have thought he’d won the lottery.
“Hello, Penny.”
“Hi Jack”, I say, unsure whether I should move towards him for a double kiss and hug, stand here looking meek and silly, or step forward anyway, even if only to grasp his hand and shake it firmly. It’s kind of a weird situation and I knew it would be, but I didn’t want to think about it in advance, hence not being entirely prepared now it’s here and staring me in the face. Thankfully, Jack doesn’t think twice. He closes the distance between us, pulls me into him and gives me a hug, the absolutely last thing I’d expect a boss to give his new employee on her first day of work anywhere but here.
“It’s great to see you again”, he says, stepping backwards slightly to see me, his hand still resting playfully on my arm. “How was the rest of your weekend?”
“Good, thanks, I was drawing”, I say, my cheeks beginning to color.
“Oh, anything good?” Jack asks.
“Just something I’ve been thinking about quite a lot recently, a new story. It’s not quite finished yet, but when I know how it ends I’ll be sure to show you. How about you?”
I think I handle that well enough, obviously not well enough to stop myself going bright red, but in a decent enough way to come across as mysterious, while I bury a mountain of subtext in something that could be interpreted as suggestive by anyone who might be looking for exactly that, and then turn the question immediately back to him before he has a chance to respond.
“I was thinking too”, Jack says. “About Friday night, about the story of our pirate, about what I’d like you to do here for me.” He pauses briefly to take me in like a cat contemplating a bowl of milk it’s about to devour. “I started the rumor”, he adds, excitedly. “Shadowheart is officially real.”
“How so?” I ask.
“An interview with a man who claims to have discovered what can only be described as a true indication of the truth of the Shadowheart story in a thrift store in Williamsburg, along with claims of a ghostly figure walking the water line at Red Hook. I’ve set up a Facebook page, asking for people to come forward with information.”
“Wow”, I say, partly in response to what he’s saying, mostly because I’m in awe of just how sexy he is.
“That’s not all. I’ve got a Wikipedia page set up already about our pirate, and there seems to be a buzz developing online about both the treasure and about our lovely female protagonist Rosalie herself. We’re climbing up Reddit, and there’s every chance this thing could go viral in the next few days. Here, I’ll show you.”
I follow Jack to his desk and stand alongside him while he clicks open the pages. Wikipedia, Facebook, ghost forums, Reddit, in forty eight hours he’s managed to create a storm.
“How on earth have you done this in such a short amount of time?” I ask.
Jack shrugs. “It’s kind of what I do”, he says. “Logan finds stuff, you draw, and I make fake stuff seem real.”
“I’m astonished”, I say. “I never thought we’d be able to create something like this.”
“There’s still tonnes of stuff to do”, Jack says. “We’ve got to keep the rumor going, which is why drip feeding information will be the best way to achieve it. When we’ve got people hooked enough they are convinced there’s treasure out there, bam, we hit them with a fake story about someone thinking they’ve found it, and then again with details about another piece of the treasure map, you know, so it seems like the thing the guy found was just one piece of the puzzle. I’d like to incorporate your drawings into that if I could.”
“Sure”, I say, happy to work on anything as long as I’m working with Jack. “What did he find in the thrift store?”
“An old book on pirates with a section about the Shadowheart legend, although conveniently he hasn’t shown anyone the manuscript yet.”
“Clever”, I say. “I had no idea it would be this easy to create a fantasy that people actually believed was true.”
“If you want to believe something enough, you’ll convince yourself it’s true”, Jack says, “even if common sense tells you otherwise.”
I hope he’s not referring to the belief my infatuation for him and his brother is reciprocated, because the sexual tension in here is as visible as the expensive furniture of this office.
“I suppose that anything like that could be true until you prove that it isn’t”, I say. “We can’t prove the existence of ghosts, or the legend of pirates, or anything else equally as improbable until we know for certain they don’t exist.”
“Proof is subjective, though”, Jack says. “If the person that finds the skull and necklace is so convinced they belong to our invented pirate Shadowheart and his mysterious lover Rosalie, there won’t be anything we can do to change their mind, even if we tell them the whole thing was a hoax.”
“You think that might happen?” I ask.
“Sure”, Jack says. “People still believe in UFOs even when there is a mountain of evidence to suggest otherwise, and all ghost stories essentially work on the same conceit.”
“I guess when we want to believe something so much”, I say, meeting Jack’s eyes, “we try to avoid the signs that it can’t be true.”
“Exactly”, Jack says. “Although in some cases, there aren’t any signs at all, because the thing you believe does actually exist for real.”
That sexual tension just got ramped up a notch.
“How are you supposed to tell the difference”, I ask, stuttering slightly to get the words out.
“A positive sign”, Jack says. “Something that proves beyond doubt that the thing you thought were true, is actually true.”
“A sign?” I ask, sliding along the desk a little closer to him.
Jack nods. “It could be anything. A document, a testimony, or something really simple, like a kiss.”
I gulp. For the second time in my life in the space of a single month I actually gulp again. When I’m done gulping, I just about manage to get the word out before I lose myself completely in the moment.
“Logan”, I say, guilt seeping into me.
Jack puts hand on my thigh and I nearly jump. “It’s okay, Penny”, Jack says. “We can wait for Logan to join us if you feel more comfortable that way.”
I don’t know what to say. A few seconds ago we were talking about Shadowheart and right now I feel like Jack can read my mind.
“He knows how I feel-”, Jack continues, and still I don’t know how to respond. All I seem to be able to do is stare at him open-mouthed in complete bewilderment about what I can’t grasp is actually happening.
“I’m sorry, forgive me”, he says before taking his hand away, the moment passing so quickly I want to reach out and grab hold of it with both hands to drag it violently back between us before it disappears completely. “I must have completely misunderstood.”
And then, as though acting on pure instinct alone, in what can only be understood logically as a desperate attempt not to fuck up the rest of my life completely, I take Jack’s face in my hands, pull myself towards him and plant my lips so passionately against his I nearly kiss him right off his desk.
Essentially sitting in my boss's lap, reaching over to pull him towards me and then kissing him spontaneously isn’t something I’ve ever had the pleasure of doing before, so it’s not like I’ve had much practice, but my God if I don’t make it look as professional as a top grossing actress in her career defining performance.
And then, just as quickly as I let it happen, I realize exactly what I’ve done. I’m horrified. As horny as hell, which obviously isn’t helping, but absolutely horrified all the same. This is certainly not the behavior I’ve grown up to expect from myself, and yet, even if I could, I wouldn’t take it back for the world. If I had time to think, I might wonder if that made me a bad person, but wit
h Jack’s taste still tingling on my lips, he doesn’t give me a chance. This time he’s the culprit, leaning in like the suavest movie star in the sexiest film of the century, to return what I’ve just given him: a secret kiss of stormy desire too strong to hold in any longer.
I’ve been in my new job for all of five minutes, and I’ve already made out with the boss. What the hell am I going to do after lunch?
It appears my lips are stuck to Jack’s for quite some time, neither one of us wanting to move. When we do finally move away from each other, my hand still on his thigh, his on my arm, I feel an overwhelming sense that I shouldn’t have done what it appears we just did.
“I-”, I begin, the words not coming as easily as I’d hoped.
“Don’t worry about Logan”, Jack says, somehow able to read my mind. “You’ll just have to make it up to him.”
Is this really happening? Is Jack really about to confirm my fantasies for me, as though actually what people dream has the potential to come true?
“I feel bad”, I say eventually.
“I wanted to tell you before”, Jack says. “It just didn’t seem right on Friday night with Alice there, and Logan and I needed the weekend to think. You haven’t done anything bad at all, in fact, you’ve confirmed what we were both hoping.”
“I have?”
“Logan knows I like you”, Jack says. “We both do. I hope that’s not an issue for you, because as weird as a three way thing between us might sound, it’s exactly what we’d both like to happen.”
“Ow”, I say.
“Are you okay?”, Jack asks, his eyes narrowed into concern.
“I’m not dreaming”, I say, rubbing my elbow where I’ve just pinched myself. I touch Jack’s cheek. “And you’re real.”
Jack takes my trembling hand in his. “I wasn’t even going to tell you this today, we were going to wait and tell you together, but then this happened and I couldn’t avoid it.”
Things are moving way too quickly for me to be able to process them correctly. Jack likes me. Logan likes me. They are both okay with it. I’m searching hard for the catch, but as much as I scrutinize the facts of the situation I can’t find one. Jack likes me, Logan likes me, they are both one hundred percent cool with it. I can feel a heat rising from my belly that twists around my torso and meets with another heat swimming from my neck, out across my shoulders and down my spine. Jack likes me, Logan likes me, they are both going to be mine.
“Are you okay, Penny?” I hear Jack ask, but his voice is already echoey and distant as though coming to me from under water.
I can’t remember if the sensation in my hands comes first or the blurriness around my vision, but the last thing I remember saying is: “One million, one hundred and one thousand, and eleven”, before I pass out and slide off the desk, like a marionette that’s just had her strings cut.
Chapter Seventeen
I don’t know how long I’m out. I’m floating for what seems like an eternity amongst clouds made out of marshmallows, across a blue sky backdrop that at some point converts itself into an ocean of crystal clear water, complete with exotic fish and beautifully shaped coral. Around me are objects from my youth: the waving cat that’s supposed to keep time, the brightly colored feather, the snowglobe, all of which seem just too far out of reach for me to touch. I’m suddenly amongst the fish, swimming underwater seemingly without the need for any kind of breathing apparatus, and it’s here, half buried in the sand that I see Shadowheart’s skull, my necklace still wrapped through it.
When I finally come too, God knows how many minutes of fever dreams after I’ve slipped off the desk about as gracefully as ice cream falling from a cone on a hot summer’s day, I think I’m seeing double. Two Jack’s standing over me, both of his sexy faces twisted into concern.
I have to blink several times and rub my eyes like an animated cartoon character before I realize what I’m seeing has nothing to do with my vision, and everything to do with the fact that while I’ve been off in la-la-land, Logan has magically arrived.
“Are you alright?” he asks.
“I think so”, I say. “What happened?”
“You kind of fell of the desk”, Jack says, helping me up to a seated position. “Quite spectacularly.”
“Where did you come from?” I ask Logan. “You weren’t here before. And how long have I been out exactly?”
“I just got here”, Logan says. “I came to speak to Jack about something, and when I got here you we’re already splayed out on the floor as white as a sheet. What did he do to you?”
I can feel myself going red as the memory comes flooding back to me. “Kiss me”, I find myself saying unexpectedly to Logan. It sounds a bit like kissed me, which would be a more accurate response, but it’s not what I seem to be trying to communicate right now. Logan has arrived, and I want to turn this from a two way thing into a threeway without inhibitions.
“You think that’s wise after what’s just happened?” Logan asks.
“I can’t fall any further from here”, I say.
Logan looks at Jack, and Jack shrugs. “Just try not to pass out this time”, he says to me.
“He may have kissed you first”, Logan says, “But when I kiss you now, you’ll realize he wasn’t doing it right. Lie back down and close your eyes.”
I look at Jack who nods encouragingly back at me, and then I lie back down and close my eyes. I can feel Logan mount me, balance his weight with one strong arm either side of my head and draw his lips as close as they can get to mine without touching them. I know he’s teasing me, and I like it. I have tingles running up and down my spine in anticipation of what’s about to happen, and my stomach won’t stop doing somersaults. He leaves it so long I almost have to open my eyes to check to see if he’s still there, before he lowers himself gently, lets his lips drop softly against mine and kisses me back into la-la-land.
As if the kissing weren’t enough on its own, Logan bites my lower lip gently, traces the outline of my mouth with the tip of his tongue and encourages it ever so slightly into my mouth, making my whole body tense up with excitement and my toes point towards the far wall as if attracted there like tiny magnets to a huge sheet of metal. I feel like I’ve just been given the kiss of life by a sexy TV doctor and what I’d really like now is a full examination to check I haven’t suffered any kind of lasting damage from my fall. The kind of familiar scene where the very lovely and extremely horny young patient has her clothes cut off and two identical looking doctors subject her to a serious of rigorous tests to make sure all of her erogenous zones are functioning as they should.
I lick my lips, smack Logan’s taste against the roof of my mouth and finally open my eyes.
“Well?” Logan says.
I ease myself up onto my elbows. “Thank you”, I say, “I feel much better now.”
Jack takes my hand and pulls me onto my feet. “You were out for quite some time, we were getting worried. Are you okay?”
I’m spaced out but definitely not hurt, and I have tingles all over my body but not a single one is from that fall. “I haven’t passed out since I was a kid”, I say, brushing myself down and righting my clothes. “I guess I must have overheated or something.”
“It must be a lot to take in”, Logan says. “I freaked out too when Jack told me he liked you.”
“I didn’t want to cause a problem between you”, I say, my lips still buzzing from each of their kisses. “I just didn’t know how to say it.”
“Don’t worry about that”, Logan says. “We’ve already had experience of managing a three way relationship. You remember we told you about Ocean, right? It’s not as weird as you think it might be.”
“I still can’t believe this is happening”, I say.
The whole thing still feels so surreal to me. I’ve spent almost a quarter of a century waiting for something good to happen in my life and now in a relatively short space of time I’ve met the two most perfect men in the world for me and they both
seem to want to indulge my somewhat unusual desire for a threeway.
“And Jack told me about the drawing”, Logan says. “That’s some smoking hot imagination you’ve got going on right there.”
“Jack!” I remonstrate, the color in my cheeks not there through anger but because what I want from both of these men is now no longer a secret.
Jack holds his hands up passively. “What can I say? When you came in for the interview last week, I was spellbound by you. Your looks, your personality, the way you carry yourself.”
I knew he was checking me out!
“The date on Friday just confirmed it for me. I thought there may be a chance you liked us both, and you’d be open to a three way relationship because of the drawing you’d accidentally left in your portfolio, but until this morning, until you kissed me, I wasn’t sure.”
“It was an accident”, I say. “The drawing, not the kiss.”
“I know”, Jack says, “I could tell that by how mortified you looked when I found it there, but I’m so glad it was there because otherwise I might never have known.”
“I like things to come in doubles”, I say meekly, almost to myself.
“And that kiss”, Jack continues. “I’ve never felt like that before. You may have passed out, but I wasn’t far behind.”
I can’t help but giggle. “Do you want to do it again?” I say, the same kind of sensation running through my belly as I get when I do something I know is a little naughty but perfectly acceptable for a fully grown adult, the same kind of courage I had a moment ago in asking Logan to kiss me.
“More than anything in the world”, Jack says. “But not here. I know this might sound a little forward, but do you want to work from home today?”
The adrenaline running through my body twists my stomach and pushes my heart up into my throat. Work from home? Does that mean what I think it means? I can barely believe the words he’s saying to me. Forget taking my breath away because that went when the possibility of this happening first arose. Forget melting my panties either, because they went when I tumbled like a bowling ball off the desk. Right now, if either one of these twins just so much as hints at pushing me anywhere near multiple orgasmic bliss, I’m liable to explode into a million pieces in some kind of creative sexual recreation of the primordial big bang.
Obsession: A Twin Menage Romance Page 13