by Trent Evans
“Wine would be great.” Joely looked up at him through long lashes. “A Riesling? Whatever you have is fine.”
“Great. Be right back with that.”
She watched Joely’s eyes home in on the kid’s butt like a radar-guided missile.
“Ho, damn. Very nice,” Joely whispered, grinning at Kirsten.
“You need to get laid, Jo.”
“Oh stop it, you old lady. He’s cute! They know they get checked out. It’s good for their tips.”
“Horndog.”
Joely laughed. “So seriously, what about that book didn’t — um — do it for you?”
Kirsten wanted to tell her. She really did. But how do you tell your friend that the supposedly racy BDSM erotic romance she’d lent her was too… tame?
“Maybe I’m just weird. The heroine just seemed — I don’t know. Should we be talking about this here?”
Joely looking around, her hand waving at the crowded tables nearby. The huge rock on her finger sparkled in the muted light of the restaurant. “Who cares if they can hear us? We’re grown women. Nothing to be ashamed of, right?”
“Joely, stop. Lower your voice, at least.”
She was the boisterous to Kirsten’s reserved, the frivolous to Kirsten’s sober. She wasn’t sure how they’d become friends. Sometimes opposites did attract after all. Kirsten loved her friend, loved her fearlessness and outspoken ways. She appreciated those qualities most… because she’d never ascribe them to herself. Quite the opposite, actually.
“Fine, fine mom.” Joely kicked her foot under the table. “Was it the spanking? Too much?”
“Joely, shit.” Kirsten rubbed her eyebrow. “Not so loud.”
“Was it because he tied her up? That’s pretty standard now, you know.”
“I don’t read the kind of books you do, apparently. Perv.”
Joely snorted. “Please. You need to get with it, Kirsten. There are some — let’s say, fringe benefits, to reading this shit.”
Kirsten shook her head. “I can only imagine.”
“When I read that thing, I called Kevin and told him to come home. Now.”
The waiter returned with the wine. “You ladies ready, or do you need a couple more minutes?”
They ordered, and Kirsten watched Joely’s predatory eyes roving over the young man’s ass once again as he left. It was a nice ass, she had to admit.
Slut.
“Kevin would just love to see you checking out guys like that. Love it.”
“Whatever,” Joely said. “What do you think guys do when the wives aren’t around? It sure as hell ain’t talking about football.”
Kirsten smiled, taking a drink of her water. How did she tell her friend about The Game? The one-upsmanship, the daring? She’d seen a new side of Keihl in the past month, and God, she wanted more of it. So much more of it. Now with the baby on the way, things might change. They’d have to, right?
“Earth to Kirsten,” Joely said, waving a hand in front of her face.
“Sorry, Jo. Mind wandering, I guess.”
Joely lowered her voice. “It’s the baby, isn’t it? Worried?”
“A little. It wasn’t exactly planned, and things have been so good. So good.”
Her friend’s wicked grin returned. “Keihl’s been laying it down?”
“What are you ‘street’ now?”
“Bitch, please.”
Kirsten laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. “Yeah, he’s been — yeah, it’s been really good.”
Joely sat back, sipping from her wine. “Get it while you can, girl, because the first trimester sucks.”
“Was that how you were with Kaitlyn?”
“Don’t you remember?” Joely grimaced. “I so much as looked at food and I was retching.”
“Probably not a good time, Joely.” Kirsten looked around at the people seated nearby.
“Sorry, right.”
Kirsten hadn’t been sick at all, but then she was essentially only a little over a month along. Her OB had warned her that by the beginning of the third month she’d likely not be feeling so well.
“Do you remember Kelly Hartwood?” Joely asked, pointing at Kirsten.
“Um, yeah I think so. She was a grade behind us, right?”
Joely reached into her purse and pulled out her phone. She punched a few keys on the phone then handed it to Kirsten.
“That picture is from two days ago.” Joely said, her eyes wide.
“Holy crap. She looks — great!”
“I know. The bitch. How is that even possible?”
Dishes crashed in the kitchen at the far end of the seating area, and both women flinched.
“Didn’t she have a bunch of kids?”
Kirsten smiled, placing her hand on her still flat belly.
“I did a little social media check and the number I saw was five.”
“Five? And she looks like that?” Kirsten handed the phone back to Joely. “She must have sold her damned soul to look that good after five kiddos.”
“Just think how often they must fuck to get her knocked up five times.”
“Jesus, Jo.” Kirsten shook her head.
“A shitload. I’ll bet he was on her twenty four seven.”
“Well, he was on her at least five times, anyway.”
“I showed her picture to Kevin,” Joely said, “He told me about her husband being part of some clean living society. Can’t remember what it was called, but he said it was all about living as purely as possible. No drugs, no booze.”
“No birth control either, apparently.”
Joely’s peal of laughter was loud even over the din of the crowded restaurant.
“I shouldn’t have said that. I’m one to talk, right?”
“Pfft, whatever.” Joely ran her hand through her long blonde hair. “She deserves it. Too perfect, really.”
“You’ve had two and look how you’ve turned out, Jo.”
Her friend’s smile faded. “Too bad it’s not noticed.”
“What?” Kirsten frowned. “Trouble? Is it Kevin?”
Joely nodded, looking away a moment. “Since Kaitlyn, things have been… rough.”
“You guys fighting?”
Kirsten hated fighting. She just wanted harmony in her marriage. She’d grown up in a household with constantly fighting parents, and even though they still loved one another, fighting was just her parents’ way. Their way or not, Kirsten had vowed she’d never live that way again. So far, she’d gotten what she wanted with Keihl, and she hoped the new baby wouldn’t change things — even though she knew a baby would change everything.
“He just — I don’t know, Kirsten.” Joely set down her wine. “Do I look good? Hot?”
“If I was a dude, I would so do you.”
“You going lesbian on me?” Joely’s smile was bittersweet, but Kirsten was glad to see it.
“Why did you ask that?” Kirsten thought her friend was stunning. If anything she was a little envious of Joely’s blonde California girl good looks. So unlike her own dark haired, dark eyed paleness.
“I — oh hell, I might as well say it.” Joely brushed her fingers across her lips. “Kevin’s hardly touched me since Kaitlyn was born.”
“Not at all? Shit Jo, that’s awful. What’s going on?”
Joely shook her head. “No, we’ve done it a few times, but it was… rushed. Like he was getting it over with.”
“Oh hon, I’m so sorry.” Kirsten reached out and clasped Joely’s hand. “Why?”
“I think it was from when I was pregnant. He didn’t want to have sex, especially once I started getting bigger.” Joely looked around, her voice almost a whisper. “I think he thought he was going to break me, or something. Said he didn’t want to hurt me or the baby. All I wanted him to do was touch me, screw my brains out. Anything.”
“Really? Seriously?”
Joely nodded, her gaze firing with the memory. “Especially the second trimester. It was all I could think about
. Don’t you remember how I was?”
Kirsten giggled. “A little. You were reading smut non-stop.”
“That part didn’t stop after Kaitlyn,” Joely said with a wry grin. “I don’t even want to think how many batteries I went through.”
“That bad? Kevin just checked out?”
Joely nodded, sipping her wine, the memory of the hurt still obvious in her eyes.
Kirsten hoped, prayed, Keihl wouldn’t lose interest once she started showing. She knew she’d need him to show that he still desired her, still valued her. She knew it was stupid, going against all the feminist ideals drilled into her from an early age, but there was something inside her that needed it. If she was going to carry a man’s baby, she needed to know more than ever that her man loved her, still lusted after her.
Still, she wondered if a part of her might be afraid sex would endanger the baby. Especially with the recently added dimension to their relationship. They’d have to tackle that issue when they came to it.
Her phone buzzed in her purse, and she pulled it out. It was Keihl.
Her shaking hands fumbled her phone, and it bounced off her lap and down to the floor.
“Dammit.”
She pulled up the tablecloth, looking under the table.
God, please don’t let Joely see that message.
“Did it fall over here?” Joely leaned to the side, scanning the floor.
“No — no, that’s okay. I’ve got it.”
Thankfully, she was able to retrieve the phone and slip it back into her purse. She tried not to sigh in relief. Then, mercifully, their food showed up and they both ate in silence for a few minutes, Kirsten’s mind thinking about that message, a slow, simmering heat between her thighs.
She thought of what Keihl might be doing at that very moment, what he was thinking about. If he knew what she was thinking about, he’d probably track her down at the restaurant and drag her home like a caveman.
That would be great as long as there was hair pulling and spanking.
She giggled, putting a hand to her mouth.
“What?” Joely said through a mouthful of food.
“Oh, sorry. Just thinking about something Keihl said.”
Joely swallowed, and took a sip of her wine. “Like what?
“He just — he’s looking forward to seeing me.”
“Ahh, someone’s getting laid this afternoon.” Joely winked at her.
Kirsten could feel her cheeks warming.
“Don’t be embarrassed.” Joely pointed her fork at her. “I’m happy for you guys, really.”
“Thanks, Jo.”
“Let me ask you something though.” Joely pointed down at the book she’d lent to Kirsten. “If that didn’t really do it for you, what does? How do you guys keep things hot?”
Kirsten felt her blush deepen. “I don’t know, Joely. Maybe this isn’t the right place—”
“Oh stop, Kirsten. Nobody’s going to hear. Just talk softly.” Joely waggled her eyebrows. “I’ve got good ears.”
Kirsten took a drink from her water, licking her lips. “Okay, so we have this… thing. It wasn’t anything we planned, we just kind of fell into it. But it’s been growing, getting more serious.”
“Oh this sounds good.”
“Well, we call it ‘The Game’. I know it sounds dumb.”
“So what is it? New position every day? Do it in public? What?”
Kirsten cleared her throat, her voice lowering.
“I stumbled onto this website one day.”
* * *
Keihl checked his phone, not sure if he wanted to see a reply from his wife. He thought a true surprise might make it even better. It was a risk, sure, but after tiptoeing through her e-reader earlier in the week, he thought it was a relatively safe risk.
Holy shit, he had no idea.
He remembered reading halfway through one of her historical romance paperbacks one weekend. He wanted to see what the attraction was. It bored him nearly to tears. All the incessant talking and thinking about emotions. Now, the sex scenes… those were more his speed. All in all though, it was about what he expected. Predictable.
The stuff on her e-reader was anything but.
He put his phone down and got back to work. The environmental impact statement he was reviewing was a borderline disaster. The development would not only impinge on a protected watershed (that meant costly abatement additions to the plans), but one of the fucking state biologists had filed an addendum stating that the land was habitat for an endangered vole.
A rodent.
He could say he couldn’t believe it, but it would be a lie. It was all too common, and got more so every year. He wondered how many years it would be before environmental “concerns” completely paralyzed any expansion of cities. He considered himself an environmentalist, and though no “tree hugger”, he’d gotten into environmental law initially as a way to ensure developers had a check on their seemingly limitless power. Ironically, after getting out of school, and learning how the world really operated, he ended up being hired by a developer. Funny how things worked out.
Keihl’s IM window popped up. It was Tom.
Keihl picked up his phone again. Still nothing.
He felt a little weird telling Tom about this — like it was invading her privacy.
Keihl chuckled, imagining Tom’s self-satisfied grin. There was a knock at Keihl’s door.
“Come on in, Ella.”
His admin assistant slipped in through the door, flashing him a quick glance of her baby blues.
“This came in today from the state,” she said. “Another addendum, I’m guessing.”
She set a thick, legal sized manila envelope on the corner of his desk.
“Ah shit,” Keihl said, rubbing his chin. “Thanks, Ella.”
She gave him a knowing frown and let herself out.
Keihl’s memory flashed back to her curvy hips encased in skin-tight white shorts. No.
Tom signed off before Keihl could reply.
Chapter Seven
Her keys shook in her hands as she unlocked the door, peering through the side window as she drew the deadbolt.
It’s your house, idiot. Relax.
How could she relax though? It was time to move things along. The conversation with Joely confirmed that for her.
She cracked the door open, the weatherstripping whispering along the tiled foyer. She peeked her head in as if she were a stranger. Keihl’s black truck was outside, so she knew he was home.
Early.
He’d been doing that more often of late, and it was usually for the sole reason that he’d come home to fuck her. Hard.
She loved it.
But it sometimes scared her, in a way. Since the start of The Game, her mind seemed more and more to be on Keihl. And sex.
It was as if she were sixteen again, and everything was new and fresh — and dangerous.
She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed dangerous.
Maybe she was just being a stupid slut. It didn’t matter though, as long as Keihl loved her.
She walked down the front hall, her heels clacking disconcertingly on the wood floor. The house was dead quiet, with not even the background noise of television to fill in the silence. All the lights were off, but plenty of afternoon sunlight poured through the huge picture windows of the living room. She set her purse on the couch, stopping to pull off her heels.