CHAPTER 8 #3
“You did. And you sounded so … serious.”
His jaw muscle flexed. “I was. I am.” Edge closed his eyes for a moment, breathed deep. When he opened them, they were clearer. “This is new for us, Jamie.”
My eyebrows lifted. “What is? Dating? Or dating the same woman?”
A slight dimple formed when he grinned. “Both.”
“Whatever.” I chuckled. “I’d bet my last dollar you have to fight women off. Both of you.”
“Not true.”
Our eyes held, and I could read his sincerity. How was that even possible?
Not wanting to think about either of them with another woman, I shrugged it off. Smiled. “So, it would seem the three of us are dating each other. You and Cav, me and Cav, me and you.”
“True.”
I waved my hand, not sure where I was heading with this. “Plus, you both copped to sharing.”
“We did.”
“It seems to me like we’re stalling, running around in circles.” I peered at him again. “Why? Why are we avoiding the issue?”
“We’re not. We’re feeling our way through it. It’s true. Cav and I have shared submissives before.” His eyes remained locked on mine. “But there’s a significant difference between sharing a submissive at the club and … this.”
My belly fluttered. “How’s it different?”
“For one, you’re not a club submissive.”
True.
“And two, I haven’t been on a date in a really long time. The other night … I had a great time with you, Jamie. I was hoping to spend a little more time with you.”
“A little?” I teased.
“Fine. A lot.”
“So why’d you kiss him then?” Why him and not me was what I really wanted to ask, but I couldn’t.
“I don’t want to scare you off, Jamie.”
Damn, but the man could make my heart speed up. His eyes were hot, but I could detect a vulnerability in his tone. It was completely unexpected, and I wasn’t sure I knew how to respond. Or if I even could.
His gaze dropped to my lips briefly. “I want to spend as much time with you as I can. With Cav and without him.”
His admission had my insides glowing. “Ditto.”
Edge’s grin formed, this time lighting up his eyes. “But you’re right. This isn’t going the way I’d envisioned, either.”
Shifting so I faced him more fully, I put my hand on his. “And how did you see it going?”
“Well, I didn’t expect it to be quite so … complicated.”
That was a good word for it. While it had sounded so simple when he’d laid it out at the club, this past week had changed things.
Spending time with Cav and Edge, separately, had been eye-opening.
I wanted more time with them. But to be fair, I didn’t want to choose one over the other.
I wanted to spend time with them both. Together and separate.
“It probably wouldn’t be,” I told him, “if we let things happen as they’re meant to be.”
He laughed. “You wouldn’t think that way if you knew some of the thoughts I’ve had about you.”
I leaned in, lowered my voice. “Trust me. You’d probably want to lay me over your knee if you knew the thoughts I’ve had about you and Cav this week.”
A rumble sounded in his chest, and his eyes practically glowed with heat. I’d hit my mark with that, and I could tell he hadn’t expected it.
Good. I wanted to be the one to shake things up a bit. So far, Edge had been the one to make the rules, to outline the plan, to carve out the playing field. I wanted to see where it went without so much interference on our parts.
“You’re tempting a very hungry man, sweetness,” he mumbled.
I took a sip of my wine, tried to play it off with a coy smile.
Edge cleared his throat, took a swallow of wine, then leaned close to my ear once more. “I think it’s safe to say I’ve wasted far too much time already, and I hope like hell you’ll let me make it up to you.”
When he pulled back, I could only stare. I hadn’t expected that—the man always seemed so guarded—but I appreciated it all the same. “I’d like that.” Then an idea came to me. “So what do you say we make this less complicated?”
“How do you suggest we do that?”
“If you call Cav, invite him down here, the three of us can spend time together. We’ll figure it out as we go.”
Edge’s eyes widened slightly, and I caught his surprise at my forwardness. I wasn’t sure how he felt about that until he smiled.
The man had a really, really nice smile.
CAV
I hadn’t made plans for the evening, but as I sat in my hotel room, bored out of my mind, I knew I was going to have to do something or go crazy. While I wanted to take Jamie out tonight, I’d been too impatient earlier. Since I’d already seen her once today at lunch, I didn’t want to overdo it.
And it wasn’t like I didn’t have other things to do to keep me busy.
Considering I’d made some life-altering decisions in the past week, I had a few options.
For example, having accepted the job Zeke offered me, I could easily look for a more permanent residence.
Part of me wanted to do some Internet searches on real estate, but the other part didn’t find that at all appealing.
I had the option of an apartment in the Chatter PR building, but I hadn’t decided whether I wanted to go that route or not.
But I needed to do something. I couldn’t stay in this hotel forever.
Hell, I didn’t want to stay in this hotel.
Of course, I could hop in my truck and head over to Edge’s.
I could use the excuse of wanting to see if it was a place I was willing to live for the foreseeable future.
He’d see right through it, but I’d be there at that point and could probably play it off.
Or I could go over to Edge’s and do what I wanted to do.
See if we could pick up where we left off the other night.
Between the incident at Edge’s place and the kiss we’d shared here in my hotel room, I didn’t think he’d be too opposed to the idea.
It was when I was trying to decide which fast-food joint I was going to hit up that my cell phone rang. I glanced at the screen, noticed it was Edge, and answered immediately.
“What’s up?”
“Hey.” His voice was low, and there was noise in the background. “You busy?”
I glanced around the bland room. “Not at the moment.”
“I’ve got a proposition for you.”
Hmm. I definitely liked the sound of that. “What’s that?”
“I’m out with Jamie right now, and we thought maybe you’d want to join us.”
I frowned. “Seriously? You want me to tag along on your date?”
“Preferably, no,” he said quickly.
I laughed despite myself. “Well, fuck you, too.”
There was an answering laugh, and something relaxed inside me.
“Since I don’t consider you a third wheel, Cav, it wouldn’t be like that. We want you here with us.”
Before I could respond, there was shuffling, and then Jamie’s sweet voice sounded. “Hey, Cav.”
“Hey, cupcake.” I stared out the window at Chicago’s skyline.
“Are you doing anything exciting tonight?”
Just hearing her voice made me smile. “Define exciting.”
“Oh, you know. Maybe you’re two hours deep in a game of Monopoly and you’re not sure whether to sell all your hotels or not.”
I chuckled. “No Monopoly tonight.”
“Maybe you’re gearing up to play This or That. The naked version, of course.”
“Hmm. That sounds like a good game. You’ll have to give me instructions on how to play.”
“It’s pretty straightforward, actually.”
“Have you played it before?”
“No. But I’m not opposed to exploring new things.”
Jamie’s sexy laugh made my dick hard.
“Better yet, maybe I’ll teach you how to play. You and Edge.”
“I won’t turn you down,” I told her. “But seriously. Aren’t you on a date?”
She sighed heavily. “So, here’s the thing. I think we’re ready to graduate to the next phase of our … uh … situation.”
“The next phase, huh? What would that be?”
“The three of us hanging out. Together.”
“So, you’re not interested in the one-on-one dates anymore?”
There was a smile in her voice when she said, “I didn’t say that at all. I happen to enjoy spending time with each of you. But I think we’re trying to fit this into a traditional box and we’re all adult enough to admit that’s not going to work.”
I laughed, couldn’t help it. That was one thing I highly admired about this woman. She didn’t beat around the bush. “Agreed.”
“Good. So, please come down here. We’ll have a couple of drinks, watch some people pretend to be comedians, then maybe we can … play naked This or That afterward.”
Not willing to think on that too hard, I said, “May I speak to Edge one more time?”
“Of course.”
Edge’s deep voice sounded.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked, my thoughts drifting back to what happened the other night, when I’d had to refrain from fucking Jamie in the passenger seat of my damn truck.
“Very.”
“So you’re up for naked This or That?”
Edge chuckled. “I could be, sure.”
I never knew which direction that man was headed. But who was I to argue? “All right. Shoot me the address and I’ll be there in twenty.”
“Uber over here, will you? That way we’ll only have one car.”
“All right.”
The call disconnected, and I headed for the shower.
It took ten minutes to get myself presentable.
The Uber arrived in the time it took me to get from my room to the front desk.
And ten minutes after that, I was walking into the bookstore/bar, a place that surprisingly reminded me of the two people I was coming to meet.
It wouldn’t have been my first choice for date night, but I could see how it would appeal to the two of them.
And considering Edge’s sister owned the place, it was probably familiarity that had him selecting it.
Gregory Edge was the type of guy who liked to play it safe whenever he could.
I, on the other hand, was not.
I found Edge and Jamie sitting in a corner, watching a hefty, middle-aged man on a small, makeshift stage ramble into a microphone.
I took a seat on the opposite side of Jamie, all three of us facing the stage, and kept my mouth shut while the guy made people laugh with his self-deprecating humor.
He wasn’t half bad, but I was grateful when he finally concluded his act.
After the clapping ceased, Jamie turned toward me. “Welcome to our first date.”
“We’ve already been on our first date,” I corrected, grinning.
“The three of us haven’t.”
“True.”
Her dark eyes flashed with heat. “I suspect this one’s going to be even better than the ones leading up to it.”
That would be something considering our dates had been pretty damn memorable.
I certainly didn’t have any complaints. Then again, if there was naked This or That—or naked anything, for that matter—yeah, probably.
But I did want to know what direction Jamie’s thoughts were going, so I said, “How do you figure?”
Her smile was like sunshine. “Because the three of us are here. Together.”
Well, when she put it that way…
I caught Edge’s gaze. The memories of the other night flashed in my mind. The way he’d walked into my hotel room and kissed me like the world was ending. Although our interaction had ended after that, I figured it was safe to say neither of us would’ve been disappointed if it hadn’t.
I wasn’t sure why he was holding back, but it was obvious he was. From Jamie and from me. Perhaps he was giving us time to let it all sink in. I could’ve told him we didn’t need it. The longer he held out, the harder he was making this.
“Do you want to stay here?” Jamie asked, her gaze bouncing back and forth between us. “Have another glass of wine and watch some more of what they’re laying down?”
“Or…?” I prompted, glancing at Edge, then back to her.
She shrugged.
Edge was the one who spoke up. “Or we could go back to my place, share a pizza, watch a movie, and … see where the night takes us.”
“Yes,” Jamie said immediately, smiling at me. “What he said.”
I leaned toward her, kept my voice low enough that no one else could hear. “You know that you’ve changed the program by inviting me here, right?”
She nodded.
Edge leaned in. “Which means slow is no longer on the menu.”
We were clearly on the same page there.
I heard the rasp of Jamie’s sharp inhale. “Yes, I know.”
“As long as you’re aware of that,” I told her, “then I’m game for whatever the two of you want.”
When I looked up at Edge, I knew what he expected would happen tonight. The question was… Did Jamie fully understand what she was getting herself into?