21. Caution
CAUTION
I’m petting Kate’s hair, my length now flaccid, but getting ideas about going again. I’d never come on someone like that before. Didn’t think that I’d ever like it, but with Kate? With her telling me that’s what she wanted? Watching as ropes of my release splattered against her bouncing tits?
Yeah, I liked it.
“You okay?” I ask her, and she kisses my thigh before pushing herself up more, cautious about not making a bigger mess of her bed.
“More than okay,” she says with a dreamy sigh. “I didn’t know how it would work, if it would’ve worked. I wasn’t as vocal as before. Was that okay for you?” she asks.
Shit. I’m already so enamored of her, and then she asks me how I am. If she was enough for me.
“Your hands and mouth were all over me, and you let me come on you. I’d say I’m better than okay.”
“It’s just, I know you like?—”
I cut her off, leaning down and kissing her forehead.
“It was good for me. Very good for me. It doesn’t have to be the same script every time.
When you’re with just Gavin, it will be different than when you’re just with me, just like it will be different when you’re with both of us.
It’s different, not any less. Trust me, you… this was everything I needed.”
She nods as Gavin comes in with a warm washcloth, wiping over her chest, before moving to her ass. He’s methodical, quiet, and I know that I’m not alone in this feeling, in this fucking madness.
Once he’s wiped her down enough, he plops on one side of the bed, putting Kate between us. His chest to her back, and her eyes meeting mine as our legs tangle and she pets down my hair.
Gavin's hand is wrapped around her waist and we just lie there. This isn’t standard protocol. There’s always some level of aftercare and checking in at Avalon, and if I’m being brutally honest, if we were with a woman we met at a bar, we’d already be halfway home right now.
This is different, and I’m not sure any of us know how to cope or what to say.
Thankfully, my cat friend decides to help make it unawkward as he jumps on the bed, chirping as he holds a toy in his mouth, placing it between Kate and me as he nearly hollers for attention.
“Mikey, you know you’re still my man,” she coos, petting his chin.
“How many cats do you have?” Gavin asks conversationally, though I can tell more is on his mind. He pets the cat along with me and Kate, and the small orange prince seems to love all the attention.
“Four,” she whispers. “In all fairness, I got Frida and Berth together, since they were a bonded pair. But then they didn’t like each other, so I thought they needed more friends and I got Michelangelo and Edvard.
They all get along minus Frida. Berth hides most of the time.
Mikey and Edvard are my two cuddle bugs. ”
“You don’t have to rationalize the amount of cats you have,” Gavin says.
“I like cats,” I repeat.
She’s clearly somewhat embarrassed, or defensive about having four.
It may have something to do with single cat lady stereotypes, but it’s clear based on her home they’re very well loved and cared for.
If they make her happy, which I totally get as this fat guy purrs and looks at me with innocent eyes, who cares?
“Do you guys have any pets?”
“No, we’ve been too busy getting the business off the ground. Speaking of which, what’re you doing next weekend?” Gavin says, kissing her shoulder.
It’s bizarre watching my brother be so intimate with someone. This goes beyond how he normally is with the women at Avalon.
“Hmm,” she says, tapping her chin. “I’ll have to check my very busy calendar,” she jokes.
“We’re doing a soft launch for the club. Friends and family type thing. If you’d be interested in coming,” I say, my brother gives me a look that says I phrased it too much like a question and I want to roll my eyes.
“I’m very interested in coming,” she says with a grin, shooing the orange cat out of the room as she climbs my lap. It seems like she’s trying to avoid the question of coming to the launch and I won’t push her on it. If Gavin wants to press her more, he can, but that’s just not me.
“And how would you like to come?”I ask her with a smile.
“Well, there are three of us, I don’t think three rounds is out of the question.”
“You can have whatever you want from me,” I tell her.
She slides her hand between us, stroking my semi-hard cock, each swipe of her thumb over the head making me harder.
It’s not long before round two becomes round three and then four.
I wake up with something sitting on my bare chest. When I blink my eyes open, it’s Kate’s cat. We spent the night.
We never spend the night.
I wonder if Gavin is going to wake up and have an absolute meltdown, but when I look over, there’s no one else in the bed.
“Where are they?” I mumble to the cat.
He tilts his head at me, like he doesn’t have a single thought in his head. When I go to move him, he digs his claws into my bare skin and instead of pushing him off of me; I cradle him like a baby and make my way into the kitchen.
They each have a yogurt parfait in front of them and a third one sits waiting for me. I rub my eyes, and place the cat on the floor, and take a seat, glancing at my brother and then back at Kate.
“It’s not a big deal,” Gavin says, and Kate nods her head.
“I agree, sleepovers are fine. Friends have sleepovers all the time,” she says, like she’s trying to make herself believe the words coming out of her mouth.
“Okay,” I say, spooning a mouthful and eating my breakfast.
“So, this weekend. You’ll come?” Gavin asks, bringing up the conversation from last night that got interrupted by more sex.
Kate’s cheeks blush, but she nods. “Well that’s entirely up to your and Ben’s stamina, isn’t it?”
“I think we more than proved ourselves in the stamina department last night,” Gavin says, arching a brow at her.
She lets out a breath of frustration like she wants to talk herself out of going, but nods. “Fine, I’ll come.”
“Good, music to my ears,” Gavin says, going back to eating.
“Good,” I repeat, because I truly don’t know what else to say. Morning afters have never been a thing we’ve endured. It’s not awkward per se, but I’m not really sure how to act.
Kate kicks us out after breakfast, saying she has errands to run, and when I’m alone in the car with Gavin, I finally turn and face him.
“That was a lot of kissing,” I say, trying not to be too accusatory, because I’m not sure what I want out of this conversation.
Mostly I want to know that I’m not alone in this feeling, that he also feels this strange cosmic pull to this small woman, that she’s sunk her hooks into both of us, and what the fuck are we going to do about it?
“I don’t have an issue with kissing.”
“Oh, you’re so full of shit. You kissed her on the mouth at the restaurant before we were even fucking. Just kissed her to be nice. I think the last time I saw you kiss a girl because you wanted to was senior year at prom with Harley Paulson.”
“She jerked us off at the same time in the limo,” he says, reminiscing instead of owning up to what I’m saying.
“You kissed her. On the mouth, and everywhere else. Not to mention this whole leaving marks thing you’ve got going on right now.”
He slides his sunglasses over his eyes, keeping his focus on the road.
“What’s your point, Ben? Are you not also into Kate? We agreed to rules, it’s an agreement. You’re reading too much into it,” he says.
All I hear is denial leaking out of his lips, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. Me and my brothers are all stubborn as hell, but Gavin might just take the cake in that regard.
“You like her,” I accuse and Gavin shrugs his shoulders.
“We both do. That’s the whole fucking point of this agreement. No need to go to Avalon and roll the dice on what kind of night we’re going to have. She’s a sure thing. There are rules in place. You’re making a big deal out of this for nothing. And for the record, I’m not anti-kissing.”
Fucking liar.
He turns to face me, though I can’t see his eyes through his sunglasses.
“What’s really bothering you? Do you like her more than a friend? Should we stop this before it even starts?”
That’s the last thing that I want. I agree with him, of course I like Kate.
She’s easy to like in every way. It might be a physical way right now, but what happens when I get to know her?
Already the little glimpses I’ve seen have me intrigued.
I’ve been so dead set on never having a relationship and I’m starting to wonder why.
For the longest time, it felt like becoming serious with a woman would change my relationship with Gavin. But if we were committed to the same woman?
“No, we shouldn’t stop. I just wanted to see where your head was at. Tonight seemed different,” I say.
Maybe Gavin is being honest, and he doesn’t see this going anywhere beyond our agreement. Or maybe he’s like me and hiding what he really thinks.
All I know is that I’m not as scared of the idea of having more with Kate. What I’m scared of is being the only one who feels this way.
Either way, I’m getting way ahead of myself. We spent one night together. Albeit a very hot fucking amazing night. One that has my quads aching and I know I need to rehydrate. But it was just fucking…and a sleepover. Not to mention I think that the orange cat is imprinting on me.
It’s what we agreed to. A friendship with very delicious benefits.
Kate’s just providing an outlet I’ve been yearning for. I’m getting ahead of myself. It’s physical, it’s fun.
“It was different. Good different. Are you sure you’re okay with this agreement?” he asks and I nod.
“Yeah, I’m just being cautious.”
“Don’t be. She’s our friend, that we’re fucking. It’s simple.”
Simple.
Yeah. Fucking. Right.