holding out on me, or it would be next Christmas before he gave in. That was his favorite kind of sadism—holding out until I was squirming with need.
Will drew back. “Okay. We should go for now so you can get some work done.”
“Like I’m going to be able to get anything done now.”
He laughed. “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
“Uh-huh.” But I kissed him goodbye, and then I shared a long kiss with Kelly.
Once we’d all collected ourselves and no one had an incriminating hard-on, we left my office so the guys could head out. Tom was in the reception area, thumbing through something on Kip’s desk, and he glanced up. “Taking off?”
“Yeah.” Will shot me a playful look. “Gotta let this guy get back to work.” Before I could come back with something smart, Will turned to Tom. “Make sure he’s not slacking off, will you?”
“Hey!”
Tom laughed. “That’s half my job around here.”
“You know what?” I tsked. “Fuck you.”
He just chuckled. Will and Kelly shook hands with him. Then I kissed them each goodbye, and they left.
Tom eyed the door Will and Kelly had gone through. Whistling, he turned to me. “You were not kidding when you said Kelly was hot.”
I felt myself blushing as I laughed. “I know, right? He’s gorgeous.”
“Seriously.” He sounded amused, but from the way he glanced at the door again, he had some unspoken thought on his mind.
“What?”
“Hmm?” He looked at me. “What?”
“You’re thinking something.” I gestured at my face. “Not exactly hiding it.”
“Oh. Just, um…” His eyes lost focus for a moment before he met my gaze again. “Tell me if I’m out of line, but didn’t you say Kelly is like a casual addition to things?”
“Yeah, he is.” I shrugged. “Doesn’t mean we don’t hang out sometimes. They just brought me dinner tonight, so—”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.”
I eyed him.
Tom sighed. “You know that gooey-eyed look people get when they first fall in love with someone?”
I furrowed my brow. “Yeah?”
He pointed emphatically at the door.
I shook my head and laughed. “Dude. No. He’s our fuck buddy, and we’re friends with—”
“Don’t bullshit me, Taylor. I’m just as trained to read faces and body language as you are. And that”—he gestured toward the door again—“is not someone who’s a casual part of anything.”
“But… We…”
“Aaron.” Tom shook his head. “I know what you guys set out to do, but the way all three of you look at each other? There’s more going on there.”
“No, it’s…” I swallowed. “It’s nothing like that.”
He studied me, then shook his head again. As he walked past me, heading back toward his office, he gave my shoulder a squeeze. “Talk to them. I know what I saw.”
He left me standing there like an idiot, staring at the door my Dom and our sub had walked through.
Tom was wrong. He was seeing something that wasn’t there. We had to be close for an arrangement like ours to work, but at the end of the day, this was just friends with benefits.
We were just hanging out in between engaging in some intense kinky play.
Weren’t we?
Thirty-Two
Kelly
All day long, I looked forward to going over to Aaron and Will’s place. In fact, it kept me distracted enough that I barely spent much time thinking about all the baggage stuffed into these rooms and boxes in my late father’s house. Was that a good sign? Because it kind of felt like one. I had a long road with both the grief and the house, but I was totally down with having something that could preoccupy me enough that I didn’t stress about those things.
But that evening, when I joined the guys in their living room, Aaron was tense. I could feel it coming off him. Hell, it was visible to the naked eye. His shoulders, his neck, his features—everything was tight with unspoken tension and frustration.
I tried to keep my disappointment to myself. I had hoped we were going to play tonight, but if he was in this frame of mind, obviously not. Damn. Between the three of us, we were a great team of not being able to play as often as we wanted to.
Well, there was still plenty we could do. If nothing else, I was happy just to hang out with them. They were fun to talk to and both were endlessly fascinating, especially as time went on and they showed more and more cards. So as we settled in the living room with some iced tea and a pack of lemon-flavored