Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 103033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
The Little in him came out in full force with a long-suffering sigh and a playful scowl.
It made my heart happy. When Littles and Middles lost their filters, all was well in the world.
I returned to the other side of the island and sorted through my thoughts. The soup was going to simmer for a couple hours, so I only needed to get the ball rolling. The spices, the broth, the vegetables that took time to soften—all in the pot.
“I reckon the first thing we need to discuss are boundaries.” I ran a hand through my hair, then washed my hands so I could continue chopping vegetables. “I’m a big fan of group play and relationships with more than two men, but I’m monogamous in the way that I don’t enjoy play with others unless my partners are present, and I want our relationship closed.”
Considering Gael had listed four group-play-related kinks in his fetish list, I wasn’t worried that my preferences would rock anyone’s foundation, but nevertheless… For all the openness I enjoyed, I wanted several rules to erect a fence around that freedom.
“There’s a big difference between playtime and dating to me too,” Gael said. “And what you said, I wouldn’t want to play with others without my partner present. Which…” He exhaled a laugh and shook his head. “It’s bizarre to talk about this. I’m so new in kink—I’ve never reached the pre-play negotiation part.”
I smiled and threw a dish towel over my shoulder. “We’ll get through it together—and we’ll negotiate and renegotiate whenever someone needs it.”
He would need it far more than I would. When I’d been new in kink, I’d barely known left from right. One second, I’d been convinced I was monogamous and madly in love with whoever I was dating, and the next… Hell, at this point, I wasn’t sure it’d ever been true love. Either way, I’d dabbled in most kinds of relationships, from strict monogamy to open poly-houses.
“May I ask—do you like Dean, Sir?”
I looked at him, only half surprised he’d asked. But I supposed my attachment to Dean wasn’t invisible.
“He’s been in the back of my mind for as long as I’ve known him.” I turned on the water in the island sink and began breaking apart the broccoli. “I do like him—a lot—but we’ve never acted on the what-if between us. We’ve never been single at the same time—or I’ve been working too much, and then he moved across the country to teach at Stanford.” I paused. “I kissed him today, though. When I was waiting for you to come back from the bathroom.”
Gael’s cute smirk put me at ease. “Okay. Then I don’t have to feel crazy for wanting to see you two together.”
Well, hey.
“I want all of us together,” I replied and raised a brow. “How’s that for a goal?”
“Definitely crazy,” he snickered. “All this is. I’m still processing.”
He seemed to be doing fine to me. He was more relaxed, didn’t stammer as much…
Then he hesitated a little. “But you mean you want to date him too—and me?”
The last thing I wanted was to confuse Gael or, even worse, make him insecure about where he had me, so I spelled it out much like I had earlier today.
“I’mma shoot for the stars with both of you,” I admitted. “I want the three of us to date one another as a triad. No him and me, and you and me—all three of us.”
He nodded slowly and found my stack of grocery ads to fidget with. He rolled the corner of a coupon. “As dreamy as that sounds, Dean and I don’t know each other. I don’t know what he wants, what he’s into—”
“That’s why you date, querido. I don’t have a success-rate guarantee. I’m only saying I would love for us to give it a go.” I didn’t want him to feel any pressure. “But this is after your class ends,” I reminded him. “I may be impatient to get things started, but I have all the patience in the world for every step that comes after.”
He smiled impishly. “I kind of like the impatience. It makes me feel like you don’t want to wait.”
I smiled back. That was exactly how it was too. I didn’t wanna wait.
After dumping the broccoli into the pot, I rinsed my fingers and moved on to the cabbage.
“You used the word dreamy,” I noted. “Do you like the idea of a triad?”
The slow blush that crept forward—and how he squirmed in his seat—at least told me he enjoyed the thought of threesomes. My kind of boy.
“Yeah… I really like what Kit has with Colt and Lucas.”
They were a great example of what I wanted too, even more so since I’d heard they were exploring a closed playtime dynamic with Greer and his partners. That was my brand of boundaries, which I did my best to explain to Gael. Viewing kinksters as a free-for-all buffet of playtime was something I’d liked in the past when I hadn’t been interested in more meaningful relationships.