as I could, and I knew damn well he was reading me right now. Before I could say something, he straightened. “You met that sub last night, didn’t you? The sadist?”
Some heat bloomed in my cheeks, and I nodded, not even trying to suppress the grin. “Yeah. We did.”
His eyebrow shot upward. “I’d ask how it went, but from the look on your face…” Chuckling, he shook his head. “You dirty dog.”
I laughed as the heat burned hotter. “It was good, yeah. He’s…” I whistled, leaning against the counter where I’d nearly forgotten my coffee cup a moment ago. “Holy shit. He’s hot.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. No big red flags, either. We spent a lot of time talking to make sure we were all on the same page, and… Man, he’s about as close to perfect for us as I could’ve asked for.”
“Nice.” He grinned, but his eyes held back some enthusiasm. I felt kind of guilty about that—Tom was in an awful losing streak when it came to men, and it was hard to feel good about being excited over getting my hands on a second amazing man.
Clearing my throat, I shifted my weight. “We’ll see how it goes, you know?”
“Well.” He smiled with a touch of sadness. “I hope it works out. With as much as you and Will have been stressing…”
I tried not to cringe, and just nodded. That must have driven him up a wall, me and Will being frustrated because we hadn’t been able to find an additional person to enhance our (mostly) perfect marriage. “Let’s hope.”
“If it does, I want details.”
I blinked. “You do?”
“Well, yeah.” He tossed the stress ball at me. “If you’re going to have wild, kinky sex with two hot guys, then as your friend and business partner, I am entitled to live vicariously through you.”
I barked a laugh, relieved he was joking about this. “Entitled, huh?”
“Entitled.” He pulled a coffee cup down and started pouring some for himself. “If you’d actually read the fine print of our business agreement—which, I should remind you, is legally binding—you’d know that.”
“Uh-huh. Sure it is.”
He chuckled and put the coffeepot down. “Anyway. Don’t you have work to do?”
Oh. Right. I had clients coming in T-minus not very long. “Yeah, I do. Damn it. Being an adult is stupid.”
“Ugh. I know, right?” He headed for the door. “Somebody’s gotta do it, though.”
I made a melodramatically petulant sound, which made him laugh.
Just before he disappeared down the hall, I called out, “Hey, Tom?”
He turned around. “Hmm?”
“You forgot something.” I pitched the stress ball right at his chest. He went to catch it, nearly dropped his coffee, and muttered, “Damn it, Taylor!”
I just chuckled and turned to top off my own coffee. I was grateful for the effortless banter with my business partner. Our jobs were stressful, even in a small town like this, and the verbal sparring and fuckery kept us from losing our minds.
I probably wouldn’t regale him with stories about Kelly, Will, and me. I suspected he’d just told me I could so that I didn’t feel guilty about even mentioning my two dudes when he was struggling to find one. Because I really didn’t want to be a dick about it, and I was pretty sure he knew that.
And for the millionth time, I wished he’d just swallow his nerves and let us introduce him to Max.
Eight
Kelly
Drinking coffee in my dad’s kitchen—in my kitchen—the next morning, I still couldn’t believe I’d connected with Aaron and Will like that. Had last night been real? Or had I crashed my car somewhere between Los Angeles and Laurelsburg, and this was just some coma-dream or last flicker of consciousness before they declared me brain dead? Because I was pretty sure I’d spent the evening in the company of two incredibly hot men who had their shit together as a couple and as individuals, one of whom was a Dom who preferred not to inflict as much pain, the other a sub who hated humiliation but craved a lot of pain. And they rolled with me not being into anal. No pushiness or third degrees. Just, “This is a thing? Duly noted. Moving on.”
There was no way they were real. There was no way they wanted me.
And where do I find guys like this who aren’t already spoken for?
My heart sank as I stared into my coffee cup.
Ah. Right. There was the catch. They were each the man of my dreams, but they’d already met each other. While I’d been