Cool With Her (3 page)

I didn’t realize that I’d begun to touch my erection through my jeans until my own cum nearly joined theirs. Fighting back from the brink, I faded away from the door and took a deep, steadying breath.

The couple’s moans tapered to gasps and sighs. To swishing sheets and soft kisses. I found my composure. The silence in the hallway was thick. Casey had finished her shower.

Heat filled my face. My heart leapt into my throat. I turned and crept away as quickly as I could, disappearing into the office just as I heard Casey rattle open the bathroom door and step out. I held my breath. I watched the doorknob, waiting for Casey to burst in. I raced to formulate some explanation for why I’d been peeping into Amber and Paul’s room.

Instead, I heard Casey’s padded footsteps pass the door, pause by Amber and Paul’s room, then continue on to her own.

I released my breath, found the matches in the drawer, and hurried back downstairs.

****

It was only as I watched the flames curling the newsprint black before hitting the kindling, that I got past that adrenaline rush of nearly being caught. The things I’d heard Paul say—that Amber had confessed—came racing back.

I’m thinking about him now.

I’m thinking about the birthday boy’s thick cock fucking my pussy...

Filling me like my boyfriend’s can’t...

I never would have guessed that Paul had a cuckold fantasy. Not in a million fucking years. He was the guy who brought a six-pack of cheap American lager to every sporting event he attended. He was the guy with season tickets to the Redskins and took the day off on draft day to watch the team picks.

I’d known Paul since kindergarten, and he’d always been the cooler, tougher kid. I’d looked up to him, and for whatever reason, he’d kept me under his wing. Me. The fat kid. The total nerd. Girls who looked like Amber—leggy blondes who looked like models—saw me as a
friend
if they saw me at all. I was certainly not the object of their fantasies. My circle of friends amounted to Paul and Casey, and I’d never even felt up a girl until college.

College. That was a big shift for me—a clean break. I joined the wrestling team and lifted weights. Running became my religion. I traded fat for muscle, and insecurity for confidence. I joined a frat. I started dating.

Thing was, even as I shed the weight and hooked up with girls like Amber—including Amber—that stigma lingered. When I thought of myself, I didn’t see the clean-shaven guy with the tumble of dark blonde hair—the guy Beth called distinguished and handsome and all kinds of other things I felt too modest to admit even to myself. I saw the fat kid. The one who was laughed at when he asked Michelle Thompson to prom.

So how did that guy become the subject of Paul and Amber’s bedroom fantasies?

I couldn’t stop the smile from forming, and since I was alone, I let it grow into a shit-eating grin. How fucking cool was that? Maybe I wasn’t so insecure after all.

I let the heat of the fire wash over me. Paul’s fantasy wasn’t that unusual. Plenty of guys fantasized about their partners with other men. And who doesn’t think about an ex-lover from time to time?

“Proud of yourself, aren’t you?” Casey startled me out of my revelry. She pointed to the flames as they grew taller, twisting and flickering up the chimney. “Explain that one to me?”

Her question threw me off. For a second, I thought she was asking for my thoughts on being the subject of Paul and Amber’s fantasy. When I realized she was asking about the fire, I sputtered to say something.

“Well, guys like, um...fire.”

Turning to look at her, I saw that she only had a towel on. The towel didn’t do much to hide her full breasts and the perfection of her skin, turned golden in the firelight. Her dark hair was still wet, loose and pushed back from her face.

Recalling what Beth had said earlier, I mentally corrected my wife. Casey was more than pretty.

She said, “Lost your train of thought?”

I shook my head, more to clear it than deny. “Sorry. Distracted.”

Casey had a bright smile. “By me? Or by Amber and Paul upstairs?”

“So you heard that, too?”

Casey laughed. “I couldn’t not hear it. They left their door open! Almost like they
wanted
to be heard.”

Now that was something I hadn’t considered. “Maybe.”

“Could you do me a huge favor, Jace? I left my bag in your car when I arrived and as much as I’m flattered by your eyes all over me, I’m going to get cold really soon. Mind grabbing that for me? You still have your boots on...”

“I don’t know. I do like this look on you.”

“Uh huh.”

“Be right back.”

Along with Paul, Casey was my kindred spirit when we were growing up. We were a clique of three, not really fitting into any one group. We were both studious, but didn’t fall in with the geeks and nerds. We certainly weren’t part of the popular kids, although Paul got us invited to a couple football parties in our senior year. Mostly, though, we were just a trio of teenagers, undefined by the social categories that television and movies tried to enforce.

I grabbed the suitcase from my SUV and vowed that this would be the last time I’d brave the snow tonight. It was my birthday, after all. Paul could do the chivalrous thing next time.

Casey met me at the door, shivering as she took her bag and ran upstairs to change. I checked in on Beth, asking her if she needed any help. She just handed me a glass of mulled wine and shooed me out.

Out in the living room again, I sat by the fire and drank my mulled wine. Casey joined me a few minutes later, mercifully dressed in a sweater and a pair of tight jeans.

“That’s better,” she said, taking a seat on the floor in front of me.

“Says you.”

“Please, Jason. You’re too much in love with Beth to be comfortable with half-naked women walking around you all the time.”

I sipped my mulled wine, then changed the subject. “So you’re dating someone now, I hear?”

A smile tugged at her lips. “We’re still figuring it out. It’s kind of...complicated.”

“Oh?”

“He’s a coworker, so there’s that...” She looked like she was going to say more, but nothing emerged.

“Yeah, the whole workplace thing can be complicated.”

“Oh, you have no idea.” Casey took a sip from my glass of mulled wine without asking.

“But you’re having fun? You like him?”

Holding the warm beverage with both hands, she nodded. “I’m having a ton of fun.”

“Good. That’s the most important thing.”

“So how’s married life? Has the honeymoon period worn off yet?”

I thought about the g-string that Beth had teased me with earlier and grinned. “We’ve only been married a year, but honestly, I can’t imagine it ever wearing off.”

“You two are good for each other,” Casey said. “It’s kind of inspirational to watch.”

Before I could reply, Beth swept into the room carrying a collection of dinner plates. “Should I be jealous?” she asked.

I realized how close we were sitting, with me on the stone fireplace and Casey on the floor at my feet. Casey replied for us. “Trust me, Beth, you don’t have to be jealous of this one at all. He’s too in love with you.”

Beth met my eyes. “Then he can help me bring the dinner out.”

Chapter 3:

The Game

Paul and Amber finally joined us, walking down the stairs hand-in-hand. Casey and I shared a knowing glance as the couple settled in around the fire.

We decided to eat around the fireplace. The wine flowed along with the conversation as snow continued to pile up. Beth filled us in on how the DC Metropolitan Area can’t handle snowstorms—not like they could in Colorado where she grew up. Paul made a misogynistic reference to her being a snow bunny and Amber pouted that
she
wanted to be the snow bunny.

“You would’ve loved the hot tub at my parents’ house,” said Beth. “It was perfect for days like this. Nothing like coming in from a full day of skiing and soaking in that thing.”

We’d set our dinner plates aside and sat in a semi-circle around the fire. I was on the long piece of the sectional and Beth was on the floor at my feet. Sharing my fascination with pyrotechnics, Paul was parked next to the hearth, prodding the flames, while Amber and Casey shared the other couch.

“I could go for a nice soak right now,” Amber said. She looked at me quickly, then back. “Did you ever get any action in there?”

That earned Amber one of Beth’s eye-rolls-with-a-smile. “I’ve brought a boyfriend or two home while my parents were out...”

“Now there’s something I’d like to try.” Amber turned to Paul. “Honey, let’s install a hot tub at home!”

“Sure thing, Amb,” Paul said sarcastically. “We can have it built on the balcony, next to the fantasy herb garden we have out there.” Amber and Paul lived in a condo in the center of the city.

“You’re no fun. So tell me about it, Beth. Was it hard to do in the water?”

My wife shifted a little against my legs before answering. We never spoke much about our past experiences. We both knew we’d been with other people and were fine with leaving it at that. I’d never been too curious. I felt differently now. My ears perked up. I wanted to know.

“At first, yeah... I mean, things aren’t as slippery underwater, you know?”

We’d had sex in the shower on a few occasions and she was right, it was never easy until you got started. Then it was incredible. I’d never thought about it, but Beth’d used a few tricks to get us started. Now I knew why.

“I bet.”

“I never got that,” Paul added. “I mean, if it’s so hard, why bother?”

Casey smirked, like she had something to add. But as usual, she kept quiet.

Beth shook her head. “I don’t really know. At the time, it felt like I was rebelling against my parents, so there’s that. Plus, it just felt good, being surrounded by all that hot water while...” She glanced up at me. “Anyway, you two should try it sometime.”

“Seeing a new side of your wife?” Amber asked.

I’d consumed too much mulled wine to be anything but honest. “This whole night’s been...educational.”
Paul with his cuckold fantasies. Beth’s past sex life. The way Amber and Beth had kissed.

“Educational
good
?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

Beth eyed me like a poker player searching for a bluff. “If you want to know something, honey, all you have to do is ask.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. I eyed our audience, suddenly wishing that the three of them would go away. Paul spoke before I could form a thought, much less a response.

“Hold on, one sec. I want in on this, too.”

Beth swiveled her head in my best friend’s direction. There was a hint of challenge in my wife’s normally calm voice. “Go ahead. I’ve got nothing to hide.”

“How about we play a game?” Paul suggested. “Never Have I Ever...”

“Is everything you do so structured?” Beth asked. “Don’t tell me you two have a scheduled sex night.”

Amber burst out laughing.

Paul’s chin jutted out. “You have a better idea, Mrs. Freebird?”

I was pretty sure Beth would be fine having no guidelines at all. I also had a hunch that Paul wanted more, and now that he’d been challenged, he wasn’t going to back down until he got something. Personally, I was intrigued by where this was going, so I offered a compromise. “Okay, how about this. Someone asks a question, everyone answers. Simple enough?”

“I like it. There shouldn’t be secrets between any of us,” Beth said. Thinking about my history with Amber, I wasn’t so sure about that.

“We all good with this?” I asked the group, but mostly it was directed at Casey. Amber, Paul, Beth, and I had always maintained a flirty relationship. We got together frequently—even before Beth and I got married—we drank too much, went out to clubs and swapped dance partners. Casey lived in Philly, and while I saw her more than a few times a year, usually, I still saw her as my high school friend. I felt the evening taking a turn and worried that things were about to get awkward for Case.

Instead, she stood and held up her empty glass. “I’m totally in. But first, let’s get refills.”

“Awesome,” Amber said, joining her.

Paul stood as well. “I’m going to get another beer. Jace?”

The kegs were outside to keep them chilled. “Sure, but I’m not going out there again. Get me a refill?”

“Sure thing, bud.”

Alone with Beth, I slipped down to the ground and hugged her. She had such beautiful eyes, large and dark. It was her eyes that I’d fallen in love with first. “I love you, Beth.”

“Happy birthday, baby.” She kissed me. When she pulled back, her brow was furrowed. “If you want to call it a night, we can.”

“I’m good.”

“You sure? We never talked about our pasts much,” she said.

I pulled her closer, running my thumb along her soft cheeks. “I promise, I’m good. Those three are closer than family.”

Beth giggled. “Good thing they’re
not
family. I have a feeling we’re going to be confessing things I’d rather not tell my brother.”

“Ditto.” My heart skipped. She was right. There was no way those questions were going to be PG.

The fire was getting low, so I went to work adding logs and poking it back to life.

Beth asked me the same question Casey had. “Both you and Paul seem to obsess over that fire. What’s up with that?”

This time, I didn’t have Casey’s scantily clad body—and the guilt of looking—to distract me.

“Something about creating something that’s both beautiful and deadly, maybe? I don’t know. I like it because it clears my mind. Like when you do yoga.”

“My contemplative husband.” Beth stroked my shoulder.

Paul returned with two Solo cups of beer, spilling them as he set them on our coffee table.

“We need to figure out a few more things,” he said.

“How about you not staining our furniture, for starters?” Beth said.

“Oh, I see how it is.
Now
you have rules.”

Beth tossed a napkin at Paul as Amber and Casey came in from the kitchen, armed with three full glasses of wine and an unopened bottle.