by Brit M.
“Hi,” she said, sliding into the booth next to him. Under the table, Adrian's foot found hers immediately, pressing them together. “How are you?”
“Better now that you're here,” Adrian said.
Paul hummed his agreement and dropped his arm around her shoulders to hug her against the line of his body. It was still a familiar, pleasant sensation, as if it had only been a day since she'd last hugged him. She inhaled the musk of his cologne and leaned up to press a kiss to his jaw.
“We barely managed to wait,” Paul admitted. “I wanted to call you the next day. But—we thought letting you finish your semester and get things settled might be better. Give us steady footing to start this, whatever it'll be.”
“I had a lot going on,” she admitted. “I think the doctor I've been seeing has really helped. She's very, ah, ‘kink-positive’ is the term she used, I believe. I'm much more comfortable.”
“Good,” Paul said. Adrian nodded. “I'm glad you're happy.”
“Not as happy as I could be if I had you,” she said to them.
“Well,” Adrian said. “Here we are. I want to do this. I want to date. I want a relationship with you, with Paul, with all of us. Is that what you want?”
“It won't be easy,” she said, glancing between them.
“It never is,” Paul said.
“Just as long as we're clear,” she replied with a smile. “I want to be with you both, too. I want this to be equal.”
“Then we're all on the same page.” Paul hugged her tighter for a moment, then let her go so she could pick up the menu and look it over. “Nobody here has to work tomorrow, right?”
“I don't,” she said. “I'll have finals to grade next weekend, but for now, I'm free.”
“Would it be uncouth to suggest we break the not-on-the-first-date rule?” he asked.
She looked between Paul's handsome, boyish grin and Adrian's flirtatiously wicked expression, a warmth kindling in her belly. They'd waited long enough, she thought. To hell with the rules.
“Your place or mine?” she asked.
“Is your bed big enough?” Adrian asked.
“Who says we have to use the bed?” she replied.
His smirk deepened. He winked. “Touché.”
“God,” she said, almost a sigh. “I missed you both so much, you don't even know.”
“You won't have to miss us any more,” Paul said. He kissed the top of her head. Adrian reached across the table to grasp her hand, squeezing reassuringly. “You're our girlfriend now.”
She shivered, blinking hard to keep her eyes from watering. “And you're my boyfriends, aren't you?”
“Of course, darling,” he muttered against her hair.
“Good,” she said.
* * * *
The spectacular bruise on Marissa's lower back had not yet faded by the last day of her classes. She sat gingerly in the hard plastic chair behind the desk and watched students scribble their final exams. The pile of their graded essays on the corner of the desk drew a longing glance every now and then from someone half finished with their exam. It was a fifty-fifty split for the grade: half paper, half test. They were understandably nervous.
Her auditor was there, a cup of coffee in his hand that he toyed with absently. Their eyes met every few minutes over the students’ heads. She shifted to try and take pressure off of the aching spot on her back.
It hadn't been either of her boyfriends’ faults, really. It was just that the kitchen countertops weren't as sturdy in her apartment as she'd thought they were, and they were definitely more slippery, so when Adrian's foot slipped on the tile and he dropped her a few inches she slammed her lower back against the ridged edge of the counter.
He'd apologized profusely and the yelping had brought Paul from the living room to see them half clothed and suddenly unable to continue fucking, judging by the expression on Marissa's face. It had hurt more than she'd expected. Adrian felt suitably awful and went out to buy her a heating pad. He'd applied it to her back, and licked every inch of her in apology until she was moaning with something much better than pain. After he'd made her come with his mouth, she'd watched them together. They had traded blow jobs, messy and wet and thoroughly delicious to see.
The thought made her smile. They were due for dinner again after her last class of the semester. She couldn't wait. It was still a fresh, new, exciting relationship, but there were emotions running deeper than any of the three were quite ready to discuss yet. She suspected they would be, soon enough, but for now it was still scarily new and intense.
The timer on her desk dinged and students put down their pencils reluctantly. She handed out papers, collected the exams, and finally found herself in an empty room, except for the auditor.
He stood and approached her desk.
“How did I do?” she asked.
“Very good,” he said. “You won't have to worry about keeping your job. It's settled. You're a fine instructor.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“And now I'm going to do something unprofessional,” he said. She blinked up at him, noticing a faint flush on his cheeks, almost hidden by his beard scruff. “Would you like to have dinner with me?”
“Oh,” she said. She smiled, gently. “I'm afraid I'm already seeing someone, but thank you.”
He nodded, then gave a little shrug. She was glad he didn't seem terribly put out. Benefit of age, she supposed. “Too late, huh?”
She took the hand he offered her up and gathered the exams into her bag.
“Yeah,” she said. “I had to get some things sorted first, but I think things are going pretty well now.”
“Well, congratulations,” he said with a smile. “Lucky man.”
“Men, actually,” she said with a laugh. He raised an eyebrow and she grinned. “Have a good night.”
“You, too,” he said.
Marissa walked out of the classroom with her bag over her shoulder, head held high and grinning. She was off to dinner with her boyfriends, then there were three weeks before the start of the next semester. That was plenty of time to get acquainted.
THE END
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven