Play the Game

Chapter 4

CHAPTER

FOUR

SLOANE

A firm, muscular, heavily tattooed arm wraps around my waist, dragging me into an equally firm and tattooed chest. My hair falls around us in a blanket of security and I sigh comfortingly in the warmth that belongs to this man.

“Good morning, beautiful.”

“Nuh-uh,” I whisper back as I turn my face back into the pillows. Just because I love this man does not mean that I want to talk to him yet. “Go back to sleep.”

“I haven’t slept yet, actually.”

My head snaps up as I shoot my eyes to the alarm clock on our nightstand, right next to the small ghost-shaped dish that always holds our wedding bands. Both engraved with snakes, like the emo trash we absolutely are.

“What the fuck?” My voice comes out groggy as I turn towards him. “It’s seven in the morning. Why haven’t you slept?”

His eyes nearly sparkle as he responds, “I don’t know. Someone sent me a very, very naughty video while I was with the group, that has been replaying in my mind for hours.”

A blush immediately marks my face.

I wasn’t even drinking last night. Can’t blame any fantasy on the booze this time.

“And?” I ask, trying to appear braver than I feel.

“And…” Simon responds, shifting us so that we’re no longer spooning. Instead, I’m on my back as he towers over me, placing his weight on his hands, right beside my head. The man spends hours in the gym, almost daily, and it always strikes me as intense whenever he can do fucking planks above me without even flinching. “I enjoyed it very much.”

I smile. “Yeah? Even with the other guys on the screen? You seemed so big and bad at the convention, so I didn’t know how we were feeling there.”

“Pffft,” he scoffs, “c’mon, baby girl. I think you know how hard my dick actually gets to the thought of other men or women touching you. But that’s for us, until we make a plan for otherwise.”

I nod, even as my stomach sinks slightly at his words.

That’s the issue. All talk, no action.

Though, I had long-since relayed to myself that this would always be an interesting discussion within the boundaries of our marriage. Opening a marriage was…unbelievably daunting.

Having fantasies about fucking your husband’s best friends was much easier than actually doing it.

“Right. Yeah,” I nod and smile up at him, “just for us.”

He sees right through it. The absolute bastard. “Unless, you were ready to take that step?”

“I’m good where I am if you are.”

“And if I’m not?”

Now, I sigh. It’s fueled with a mixture of agitation, annoyance, and bratty snark. I am damn tired of always having a say regarding this topic. “Then make the first move so I can figure out my life, Simon.”

All of a sudden, his weight shifts to a singular hand, though he balances himself as he drags a knee down in between my legs. I gasp at the sudden pressure, though I find myself silenced as his hand covers my mouth. His rough voice grows heavier. “Do I sense an attitude still in you, pretty girl? I thought we were just talking.”

I lick his hand over my mouth, but he doesn’t even flinch.

We were just talking.

But I’m a scared girl, at the end of the day, who will never risk losing my best friend on my own accord. And I don’t know how else to get it through his skull that I’m ready for a change.

Just as long as I don’t have to be the one who pulls the trigger.

“Mmmm,” he growls out. “I would normally get your paddle out for such an attitude over the last few days, but I think you just need some loving today. Don’t you?”

My eyes roll.

In pleasure, from the pressure of his knee digging in even more, or from annoyance over more softness, I can’t tell.

But I also wouldn’t fight a good oral session, either.

This man knows how to pleasure a woman, and I am always okay with it.

Finally, he releases his hand from my mouth and leans down to kiss me hungrily. Hungry enough for me to think, we’ll be just fine.

Because that’s a kiss that held more of a promise than anything he’s said or done yet.

Even as he climbs down my body to finally fix my attitude.

And I welcome him happily, because we have a party to prepare for, and I will have to look all of our best friends in the eyes, knowing it was actually them I was fingering myself to the night before, rather than my just beautiful husband.