Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81518 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81518 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
“Maybe,” Tate mused. “But you’ve already come further than my friend did. Last night, Reese mentioned something, and I got the impression that you sleep in their bed…?”
I raised my brows. “Yeah?”
He shrugged a little. “That’s a well-known limit of theirs.”
“To be fair, I never asked,” I replied. “After they told me to sleep in the single bed the first night—and after they explained it’s where their play partners sleep—I snuck into their bed when they were downstairs.”
Given how frequently rumors flew around in this community, I wanted to make sure I didn’t star in any.
Tate laughed quietly and swept some water up his arms. “Since when are those two in the habit of agreeing to something they don’t want?” He offered another shrug. “I think there’s something special about you. It’s a good thing. Just…don’t postpone the discussion on limits, perhaps. But if you prefer open relationships, you’re golden.”
I didn’t know that I had a preference either way, because I’d never really been in love. So far, I hadn’t cared enough. I’d been in monogamous relationships, I’d been in poly relationships, and I’d been in open relationships.
“Have you had a relationship with the twins?” I asked curiously.
“Me? Oh no.” He let out a laugh. “I’ve had some casual play with them, but they’re too intense for me.”
I grinned. “They’re definitely intense.”
His humor faded some. “I’m also not a fan of open relationships, despite that I recently spent six years in one.”
Ah. That sucked. “I’m sorry to hear that. I thought you and…whatshisface were solid.”
“We liked to think so.” He smiled ruefully to himself and averted his gaze to the water. “Our kinks didn’t line up awesomely, so we were supposed to be temporary. Then we fell in love and tried to make it work, but… I don’t know. It was always there in the back of our minds that it wouldn’t work forever.” He sighed heavily. “Plus, I want children. He doesn’t.”
I inclined my head in acknowledgment. Love was already complicated. Add kink to the mix and…yeah.
“Anyway. That’s why I’m gonna hide out here in Penelope’s cabin for a while,” he said. “I’m not handling the breakup very well, and neither is Kingsley.”
Kingsley. That was his name. I remembered now.
“I didn’t realize it was that recent,” I murmured.
Tate weighed his response and squinted toward the cabins. “It’s been going on for a while, I guess. Then last week, he read my text conversation with someone else and blew it out of proportion.”
I sensed that the guy needed to talk, to get some shit off his chest, and I needed to pull my head out of my ass and make some friends. I’d pushed everyone away in the last two years.
“Was texting someone else not okay in your open relationship?” I asked.
Granted, couples had their own limits and so on, but it sounded strange to me.
“We don’t date outside of kink,” he explained. “Or, we didn’t.” He cleared his throat, visibly bothered by having to change it to past tense. “But Franklin, the man I was talking to, isn’t part of our community—or any other kink community, for that matter—so Kingsley flipped his lid. The problem is, there was nothing weird going on.” Tate became frustrated, and I got the feeling he’d tried to plead his case more than once recently. “Franklin is the father to one of the special-needs kids I work with. He’s married—to a woman, mind you—and he’s just trying to make friends.” His mouth twitched with humor. “In his own words, once you’re on the wrong side of forty-five, you wake up one morning and realize your buddies are just the husbands of your wife’s socialite friends. He’s…” Tate chuckled a little. “I don’t know. If he were into kink, he’d probably be one of those rare, submissive Daddies. He’s very sweet.”
Uh-huh. Maybe Tate hadn’t acted inappropriately whatsoever, but he sure talked about this Franklin dude with freaking stars in his eyes.
“Shay.”
Tate and I both whipped our heads toward the main house as Reese stepped out onto the deck, followed closely by River.
I submerged myself quickly and then moved closer to the edge. “Good morning.”
“Morning, baby boy.” Reese gave me a smile before eyeing Tate. “Have you eaten, Tate?”
“I had cereal,” he responded.
Reese nodded at “our” sunbed. “That ain’t sufficient. Join us. River bought breakfast to feed an army.”
I planted my hands on the edge and pushed myself up out of the water. An army seemed correct, ’cause they were both carrying bags that appeared full of stacked Styrofoam containers.
Reese gave no fucks about my having come straight from the water, and he pulled me in for a hard, wet kiss. “That sweet little ass of yours drives me batshit.” He kneaded my butt cheeks, then told me to lose the briefs. He wanted me naked.
“Aye-aye, Daddy.”