he answered with a grin and a less suggestive idea.
“Let’s go get one of those cupcakes.”
Chapter Seventeen
They were in time for another food demo, where they had the chance to watch a Dom decorate his female sub with several dessert options. Then he and Daralyn shared a cupcake, her laughing as she helped him get frosting out of his beard. He licked hers off her top lip.
It was getting close to time to call it a night. They were country people with a normal ten o’clock bedtime, up with the sunrise, and it was past midnight. They’d made a good accounting of themselves though, since the other guests had begun to thin out. Some he suspected would retire to the guest cottages, while others would head back into the city or to area hotels to continue their activities in private.
The evening had had some of everything. He’d seen a few scary things, but watching those things get other people off had undeniably affected him, and he thought Daralyn felt the same. He was also considering alternative uses for his store inventory, sure he’d never look at certain items the same way again.
They’d had that one scary moment when Daralyn had freaked out about Des touching her. But it had been more than balanced out with laughter, smiles, arousal, and a strengthened sense that the two of them were in this together. They were discovering new stuff, and comfortable being with one another while they did it.
As they swung back toward the pavilion for what he figured would be their last lap, he noted an informal gathering of people at several round tables, cozily spotlighted with strings of paper lanterns. The servers had consolidated the remaining food on a nearby smaller buffet table, next to a drink station still well stocked with an ample beer and wine selection. A pretty woman in a black dress and white collar with a heart lock was serving as bartender.
Julie and Des were sitting at one of the tables with Tyler, and gestured at Rory to join them. Daralyn looked pleased at the chance to visit, so he decided they’d stay a while longer. He guided her over to a chair next to Julie and ordered himself a light beer and Daralyn a soda from the attendant. Des moved the empty chair from beside Daralyn so Rory could slide in next to her.
Tyler, Des and Julie were sharing the table with two men and a woman, twenty-somethings like Rory and Daralyn. One of the men was a polished-looking kind of handsome, like a lawyer. The other man looked like a cross between Brick and Johnny. His callused hands suggested his job was some sort of manual labor. The woman between them was willowy, with straight dark hair and clear eyes. Both men had an arm along the back of her chair, a message of intimacy and belonging.
The lawyer-looking guy’s hand overlapped the big man’s, and he was stroking his forearm and her shoulder with an equal intimate ease. A possessive one. The bigger man’s hand was cupped in the same way around the woman’s shoulder, teasing a line up and down her upper arm.
Another threesome. In this world, that kind of grouping apparently wasn’t all that unusual. And the touches between the men said it was a full three-way, not just two guys sharing a girl.
Polyamory. The term had come up while he was reading Marcus’s recommendations. While he’d only recently wrapped his mind around men getting married, seeing relationships that weren’t just one boy, one girl crop up in the BDSM research stuff made sense. He assumed most non-traditional relationships would find a comfortable overlap with other kinds.
The lawyer definitely had the Dom-vibe, but the gaze the bigger man periodically sent his way was harder to define. As if they might both be Doms to her, but to each other, it was more fluid, even as the lawyer probably still held the reins most of the time.
Rory told himself he wouldn’t stare like a country bumpkin, but he did notice Daralyn studying and taking in the nuances, same as him.
“This is Geoff, Sam and Chris,” Julie told them. She’d started with the lawyer and proceeded in order to the right. Sam might be short for Samantha, Rory deduced. “They’re from North Carolina, too, and made the trip with us for the party. I’ve been trying to get them interested in doing performances at the theater. Sam in particular.” She winked. “Because if I get