Chapter 17
seventeen
GREER
Greer stumbled into the kitchen before dawn, desperately in need of some coffee. Lachlan had kept her up all night, and she needed to wake her brain back up. Luckily, it was Saturday morning, so she was officially off duty from all the kids.
“Bright eyed and bushy tailed,” Natalie said loudly from the kitchen table, sipping coffee and eating small bits of oatmeal.
“Not quite,” Greer said, spying the coffee. She really wanted some of that. Scrounging through the kitchen, she found the full pot and poured herself a mug with a heavy dose of milk in it. “But soon,” she added as she slid into the chair next to Nathalie. “Coffee first.”
Nathalie hummed, her lips covering the spoon as she sucked the oatmeal off it. Nathalie was giving her the stare down. Greer knew that. So instead of being intimidated, because she was pretty damn sure that’s what Nathalie was going for, Greer just stared back. She said nothing. She was going to make this point. She wouldn’t be bullied?—
“If you’re going to have sex with someone, I really suggest you make smarter decisions.” Nathalie took another bite of her oatmeal, dropping her spoon into the bowl. “Ones that won’t affect the entirety of three families.”
Greer panicked. How the hell had Nathalie even known?
And did she know about Lachlan and Ivy or just one of them, because she’d be getting reamed for both if Nathalie did. Greer slowly took a sip of her coffee, keeping herself as calm as possible. She wasn’t going to give an inch on this one.
“What makes you think that the decisions I’m making are stupid?” Greer set her mug down, ready for a fight. Though getting the rest of her coffee into her system would keep her on her toes even more than she was currently.
“Lachlan? She doesn’t know which way is right and which way is left sometimes.” Nathalie stirred her oatmeal aimlessly.
“Now she does.” Greer’s cheeks pinked. She hadn’t just said that, had she? Oh God, she couldn’t believe she was punching back this much.
Nathalie’s look was murderous. “Don’t be a smartass. It’s not a good look on you.”
“I beg to differ. I think you actually like looking at my ass. Don’t think that I haven’t caught you looking before.” Greer bit the inside of her cheek. What the hell was she doing? Why was it that Nathalie was pulling this out of her? Inwardly cringing, Greer held her own. “And really, what’s it to you who I’m having sex with?”
“She’s my best friend!” Nathalie slammed her palm onto the top of the table. Her bowl and spoon rattled from the force of the move. “And she’s your boss.”
“Is the issue that we had sex? Or is the issue that she’s one of my bosses?” Greer narrowed her gaze, lazily sipping her coffee again. She’d never seen Nathalie this worked up before. She could see that she had it within her, but she hadn’t ever expected to bear the full brunt of it. Greer waited, though. She needed to make sure that she wasn’t going to bow down and bend to Nathalie—not on this one. “Or is the issue that you think we both weren’t consenting? Because let me tell you, we absolutely were.”
Nathalie’s cheeks reddened, and her eyes narrowed. If that wasn’t anger, then Greer wasn’t a nanny. What was it that was pissing Nathalie off so much about this?
“She is your boss, and so am I.” Nathalie gritted her teeth, seething. “And you better respect that, because you can be out of my house quicker than you can blink.”
Greer’s heart fluttered. “You’d kick me out for having a consensual relationship?—”
“It’s not consensual when she’s your boss!” Nathalie’s nostrils flared.
“I think… we might not be talking about me. Nathalie, what’s going on? Because you’re not someone who would balk at sex, nor sex outside of a relationship. You live and breathe those types of relationships. I’ve seen you. So what’s really bugging you?”
“Poly relationships aren’t uncomplicated, Greer. They take careful planning and open communication.” Nathalie frowned, but she had seemed to calm slightly.
“Are you schooling me on polycules?” Greer raised an eyebrow at Nathalie. “Is that what you think you’ve been doing?”
Nathalie whipped her head up, staring directly at Greer with a glower. “ Is that what you’re doing?”
“Not formally, not right now, anyway. But I’ve been in a polycule before. I fully understand how it works—the unhealthy ones and the healthy ones.” Greer finished her coffee and glanced over at Nathalie’s. “Would you like a refill?”
The seemingly normal question asked in such a calm and gentle tone seemed to surprise Nathalie. But she did nod and slide her mug over toward Greer. Saying nothing, Greer picked up both mugs and made her way back to the coffee pot. She used the silence to her advantage. Why was Nathalie so bothered by this? She still hadn’t gotten that answer yet, and she wasn’t sure that she was going to be able to.
“Here you are,” Greer said as she slid the mug in front of Nathalie. “Anything else I can get you while I’m up?”
“No. Thank you.” Nathalie frowned.
Did she look a little gray under her normal color? Greer hated to see that, but perhaps she had been up too late and wasn’t feeling good, or perhaps she was still sick from before? Although that’d be a long time for someone to be sick.
“What’s really bugging you about all of this?”
“It’s immoral.”
“Certainly not the sex part, or the lesbian part, so only the boss-employee part?”
Nathalie nodded sharply. “You shouldn’t have slept with her.”
“And she shouldn’t have slept with me, presumably, because this was entirely consensual, Nathalie. I promise you that we both wanted this.” Greer wasn’t looking forward to Nathalie figuring out that she’d also had sex with Ivy, that she wanted to do it again, both with Ivy and with Lachlan. Greer slid in closer, leaning her elbows on the table. “Did you stay up all night just so you could yell at me this morning?”
“Hardly.” Nathalie rolled her eyes. “I’ve been up sick all night.” She rolled her shoulders, and Greer could finally see the bags under her eyes and the gray sheen that really was there.
“Hmm, yeah, you don’t look good.” Greer sipped her coffee, not offering any other kind of support or comfort. “Because I don’t think you’d normally be upset about two consenting adults having sex for a little bit of fun, stress relief, and exploration.”
“Greer.” Nathalie snapped her name out, that glare hard and precise. “Lachlan isn’t a random person you met on the Internet. She’s my best friend.”
“And you’re hella protective of your friends,” Greer answered, leaning in closer.
Nathalie’s gaze dropped from Greer’s face to her breasts pushed up in the tank top she’d worn that morning. “I am,” Nathalie answered. “And you better remember that.”
“Would you not be protective of me? If something happened.”
“Between you and Lachlan? I’ll choose her every day.”
“Good to know.” Greer hadn’t expected a different answer to that one. “But what about me and someone else?”
Nathalie paused, her lips pressing together hard. “I would choose you.”
“Well, that’s a relief.” Greer put her hand over her heart and eyed Nathalie carefully. “Now tell me… what exactly did you see last night?” Because at this point, Greer had no doubt that Nathalie had walked into her bedroom and walked out without her noticing.
Nathalie’s red cheeks were nearly answer enough, but for some reason, Greer wanted the specifics. She wanted to know exactly what Nathalie had witnessed, what had turned her on, what had turned her off, did she want to join them?
“What did you hear?” Greer tried again, shifting the conversation slightly.
“More than you probably know,” Nathalie responded, her cheeks still pink.
Greer held the silence, still waiting for an answer. Perhaps Nathalie just needed more of that, time to think about what she wanted to say and what she wanted to share. Greer would give it to her. She sipped her coffee, studying Nathalie, the way she kept stirring the oatmeal and not eating any more. Was that because she was sick still or was it because it didn’t taste good? Greer would wait, typically, for a conversation like this to pan out a bit more, but she wanted answers, and if she waited, Nathalie would find a way to get out of them.
“I watched you coax Lachlan onto the bed, the way you cared for her as you asked her what she’d like and what she wouldn’t like.” Nathalie dropped her gaze to the bowl and pushed it away from her. She settled on the coffee and dragged it closer, warming her hands around the mug. She sighed. “I heard you moan, both when you were giving and when you were receiving.”
Greer’s heart raced. Exactly how long had Nathalie been watching them? It could have been hours or simply thirty minutes at this rate.
“I heard the way you cried out when you came.” Nathalie took a sip from her coffee. “The soft exhale as you came back to yourself.”
Greer could feel herself getting wetter by the second. What was this magic that Nathalie was weaving? What was the power that she had over Greer and Lachlan and Ivy? And would she ever use it against them?
“I saw the way you writhed under her after moving yourself to get in the perfect position for your pleasure. The way you weren’t ashamed to feel more and need more and beg for more.” Nathalie eyed Greer over the rim of her mug. The exact view of Nathalie’s eyes that Greer would get if Nathalie was going down on her.
That was on purpose. Even though she wasn’t feeling well, Nathalie still knew how to flirt.
“And did you like it?” Greer asked. “Did it… turn you on?” Because it was turning Greer on just knowing that Nathalie had been watching her, and for so long. Normally, she’d be upset about permission not being asked, but the way Nathalie was eyeing her now was everything her body needed to get going and more.
“Isn’t that the question to ask?” Nathalie’s voice dropped low, and she flicked her gaze over Greer’s shoulder. “And isn’t it the one thing you’d like to know?”
“Yes,” Greer breathed out her answer, leaning in even closer. “I do want to know.”
Nathalie chuckled, and it sent a shiver of arousal coursing through Greer. She wanted to know everything that was going on in that mind of Nathalie’s, every little dirty thought that she was having about Greer, about Lachlan, maybe even about Ivy. How long had Nathalie harbored feelings for them and just never admitted it? How long as she watched them go through life and ignored them because they would come with too many emotions?
Nathalie slid in closer, positioning her leg on the outside of Greer’s and lining them up so that they were touching hip to knee. “Does it turn you on to know that I was watching?”
“Yes,” Greer answered honestly. “I’d love to fuck you and them together.”
“Hmm, now that is a tantalizing proposition.” Nathalie moved in even closer, pressing her lips up against Greer’s ear. “Too bad it won’t ever happen.”
“Never say never,” Greer answered. “Circumstances change every day. Two weeks ago, I never would have guessed I’d have sex with Lachlan.” Or Ivy. But Greer didn’t add that last little bit. It was clear that Nathalie had no idea about them.
“I will never have sex with you.” Nathalie’s breath was on her ear, and Greer’s nipples hardened from the brush of their bodies. “I will always choose them.”
“I would expect nothing less,” Greer responded, turning her head just enough that Nathalie’s mouth touched her cheek. “But don’t rule anything out that you haven’t tried yet.”
“Are you saying that you’re worth a taste?”
Greer chuckled, her lips curling upward. She latched her hand down on top of Nathalie’s knee and pulled her even closer, so she sat on the edge of the chair. “Are you saying that you are? Because I imagine that a taste of you would have anyone coming back for more.”
Nathalie hummed, but she pulled away slowly, looking over Greer’s shoulder again. “I don’t do emotional relationships, Greer. And I don’t have sex with employees or friends.”
“Pity, you don’t know what you’re missing out on. Lachlan tastes delicious.”
Nathalie scoffed.
“Guess you’ll just have to take my word for it.”
Greer stood up without another word. She refilled her coffee cup and made up a second one for Lachlan, who she’d left passed out in the bed still. This wasn’t going to be a fun conversation with Lachlan, but she was going to have to give her a warning before she ran into Nathalie when she was leaving. If Nathalie had given Greer the third degree, there was no telling what Lachlan had in store.