True Perfection [Aspire 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (3 page)

“
I
don’t, Warren,” she said. “I need to get going now.”

She literally felt his eyes warming her ass as she preceded him down the hall. She would have never chanced refusing the old Warren, and enjoyed the sensation of establishing a boundary, even if she could feel his frustration. He really was trying, and Haley felt another reason to stay fall into place. She was too conflicted. Something had to give. She kissed Gordon good-bye at the bottom of the stairs and let Warren take her arm and escort her to the car. She avoided looking at him as he helped her inside and fastened her seatbelt, his hands lingering on her waist. When he pressed a kiss on the top of her head before withdrawing to shut the door, Haley blinked back tears. She wished she could just agree to what they wanted, and trust that Warren would keep growing and changing, believe that Gordon would balance him out. They truly had her best interests at heart and likely knew what was best for her, especially Gordon. But she wasn’t ready.

The drive to the restaurant was made in silence, Warren perceptively recognizing her need not to converse. She was grateful for that. He helped her out of the vehicle, mirroring the same courtesy he had shown earlier, and Haley kissed him with her heart at the door. Then she hurried inside, assuming her chef’s persona, and didn’t look back.

* * * *

The end of her shift couldn’t come soon enough. Jeffrey the jerk had lived up to her expectations, and the resulting blow-up had been everything one could hope for. Or not. They weren’t on reality TV for heaven’s sake. In any event, Jeffrey was gone, but not before disrupting the kitchen with hurled invectives and a few pieces of dishware. That meant Haley was without a sous chef and had to press one of the serving staff into service and pick up the slack herself. However, the kitchen staff all pulled together, and with the wait personnel fronting with their usual aplomb, the covers went out without a hitch and the evening finally ground to a halt on a positive note. Haley sat at her desk in the corner where she tried to put the new menus together. She was too tired to think straight after the extra work and the emotional drain of her worry about committing to Warren and Gordon and the hassle with Jeffrey. She put her head in her hands and closed her eyes. A pair of large hands settled on her shoulders and began to massage the tension away. Gordon. Haley jerked her head up and looked at the time.

“Oh, Gordon, I’m sorry. It’s been insane tonight, and I forgot to call and tell you that I’d be late.”

Gordon pulled her up and into his arms, where he spoke against her hair. “It’s fine, sweetheart. I just came in to see how you were.”

Haley looked up at him. He was so damn perceptive. He had picked up on her stiffness with Warren earlier, but he wouldn’t push her, wouldn’t pry. He would just be present, and she would tell him because she wanted to. She took a breath. “I have to get these done so that the orders can go out first thing, Gordon. Have a drink or something and wait, okay?”

“Take whatever time you need, Haley.” His quiet, deep voice held no inflection other than patience, but Haley felt reproached.

She went through the necessary documentation as quickly as possible and left them for the owner. She stood and stretched and turned to Gordon. His large, broad body was slouched against the counter, and Haley winced again at the memory of Jeffrey’s threats, made as he hammered that very counter for emphasis. She blocked those thoughts and smiled, reaching out to Gordon.

“What’s wrong, Haley?”

“Nothing, just work stuff,” she reassured him. “Take me home, Gordon. I’d like a cup of your tea and a cuddle.”

Gordon wrapped his big arm around her and ushered her through the door. She waved to the few remaining staff, and they called their good nights, assuring her they would lock up. She relaxed during the drive home, and Gordon tuned the radio to some modern jazz. It was becoming her recent habit not to talk with her men, and while this was mostly a comfortable silence, Haley knew that she was withholding and what the penalty for that would be, the biggest fine of which she would impose on herself.

Gordon didn’t ask again until she had changed into her robe and was curled up in his arms on the couch, sipping the longed for cup of tea.

“Talk to me, Haley.” His tone was darker and brooked no argument.

Haley sighed. “Tonight wasn’t much fun, Gordon,” she began.

“I’m asking about earlier, little one. We can’t do this without communication.”

Haley sighed again. “I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, Gordon. I once thought I knew what happiness was, and I was wrong. It hurt me terribly. Then I found out you had feelings for me, and I thought I was an absolute slut for wanting to explore that when I had just broken up with Warren.”

Gordon made to interrupt when she called herself a slut. “No,” she said. “You wanted to talk, so you had better listen.”

Gordon’s eyes narrowed, and Haley knew she might have wracked up a punishment for later, but that was okay. Gordon always made discipline worthwhile. She snuggled in closer to his massive chest, and listened to the steady, reassuring beat of his heart before she continued.

“I had just found work and was feeling more grounded and good about myself, starting to heal a bit over Warren, when you invited him over! I’m still pissed at you over that, Gordon, in case you didn’t know.”

“I told you I wouldn’t move on you until I thought you were ready, Haley,” Gordon advised her, “and I believed you were.”

Haley slipped off his lap to sit on the edge of the coffee table. She leaned forward to lock eyes with him. “And I’m not so certain.”

She cringed inwardly at the look in Gordon’s eyes. She hated that she had put that uncertainty there, that she had the power to hurt him so, but the sense of foreboding she harboured was so unsettling. If they all tired of the sex, and there wasn’t anything else left, then what? And Gordon wanted children on top of it all. Where would that leave the children?

“Are you saying that you don’t have feelings for Warren anymore, Haley?” Gordon brought her back to the present, and his voice was filled with surprise.

“Of course I have feelings, Gordon, and don’t think I don’t have them for you as well!” she retorted indignantly. “But you both overwhelm me and I can’t think straight, and I’m scared.”

Haley felt the tears spill over and streak down her cheeks. Shit. She didn’t want to do this to Gordon. He handled her tears more easily than Warren did, but it would just cloud the issue. She resisted him when he reached to pull her back onto his lap.

“I can’t talk anymore tonight, Gordon. I’m going to bed.”

“Our bed, Haley.”

Haley opened her mouth to protest, but read the resolve in Gordon’s eyes. He was both right and wrong to insist she sleep with him. She wanted to sleep alone and process, and not be influenced by his presence. But she needed the comfort, too. She nodded mutely and let him walk her up to bed, tuck her in, and then spoon behind her, wrapping her in a warm embrace. She thought she would lie awake, tormented by her ambivalence, or at best rehashing the events at work, but she felt herself slipping away. Gordon always seemed to know best.

* * * *

Gordon stared unseeingly into the dark. The love of his life was warm and safe in his arms, breathing gently and making those little sounds that signalled deep sleep. He was glad that he could give her such comfort because she had been as tense as finely strung wire when he had picked her up at work. Had he been premature to bring Warren into the picture? Was Haley truly resentful that he had done so? Warren couldn’t have picked a worse time to have to go to his New York office. Haley still didn’t trust what they had together, and Gordon couldn’t figure out how to fix that, and he shouldn’t be doing this alone. He carefully extricated himself from the silken feel of her and found his robe in the dark. He made his way to the den. This felt like the day he had called Warren to come and find his sub, only this time Gordon was worried for different reasons.

“Warren Chalmers.” Warren’s voice was slurred by sleep, and Gordon remembered the significant time difference.

“Sorry, Warren,” he began.

“Gordon? What’s going on? Is there something wrong with Haley?” Warren’s voice cleared as if by magic.

“She’s fine, Warren, at least physically. I’m not so sure what’s going on in her head though. She seems to be pulling away from us, and tonight she said we overwhelm her and that she’s scared.”

“God damn it! I knew I shouldn’t have left. I knew it!”

“We all have work commitments, Warren,” Gordon replied.

Warren literally snorted. “I don’t need to have work commitments, Gordon. That’s the joy of being wealthy. Haley is my commitment. I’ll be home early tomorrow if I can catch the red-eye. Figure out a way to take Haley on vacation. I’ll book it.”

Gordon didn’t even pretend to want to talk Warren out of coming home early. He hung up and punched another number in. As he had hoped, Nick Lewis was still at Enrico’s, probably counting the receipts and looking through the orders Haley had placed, if not drinking up the inventory. Gordon knew Lewis through a variety of venues and had strongly encouraged him to hire Haley. Not that she knew that, nor had she gotten the position based solely upon his recommendation. Haley had probably given Lewis’s restaurant a new lease on life because the other chef hadn’t been doing a great job. Now it was Lewis’s turn to repay the favour.

It took a bit of chat and pressure, but Lewis agreed that Haley could take a vacation in preparation for the anticipated extra work of cooking in two restaurants. Lewis hoped to open his second space in a few weeks, and close Enrico’s for renovations. The two closures would now overlap for two weeks, and Lewis would get a significant premium reduction on his insurance to offset the loss. Gordon smiled. Haley hated renovations, so that would give them the perfect excuse to take her away. All of the renos would be done by the time they returned. And if Gordon had anything to say about it, they would return as a committed threesome, with Haley married to Warren and hopefully willing to start trying for his baby. They could really connect with Haley and reassure her when they were away from all distractions. Gordon believed it would be both cathartic and fruitful. He walked back upstairs with a lighter step and the feeling of a job well done to climb back into bed and bracket Haley with his body. She murmured in her sleep and fit herself against him like she was made for him. The only thing missing was Warren. Gordon woke several hours later when Warren’s weight rocked the mattress and he stretched out on Haley’s other side, gathering her to him and effectively robbing Gordon of her warmth. His eyes met Warren’s in the burgeoning light from the sunrise.

“We’re booked in Aruba in two days’ time. A nice beachfront house, private, with a daytime staff. We’ll take her shopping for a few things, not that she’ll need much as we should plan to keep her naked most of the time.” Warren had to be exhausted, but his tone was exuberant, if hushed in deference to Haley’s slumber.

“Lewis released her for two weeks. That’s the time we have, my friend,” Gordon said. “We need to make the best of it.”

He saw Warren’s teeth flash and knew he was smiling as hugely. It was all coming together. They had covered every detail.

“Excuse me?” Haley’s voice cracked in outrage, and her eyes shot daggers at him.

Warren winced and saw Gordon’s astonished face mirror his own. He had woken after just a couple of hours of sleep, having rushed to the airport following Gordon’s call to catch the red-eye by the skin of his teeth, and having had to travel coach to boot. Gordon’s arrangements at Haley’s workplace and his own online planning to secure them the place in Aruba, including a chartered plane, had filled them both with complacency. Warren had revelled in Haley’s startled then pleased reaction when she opened her eyes and found him lying beside her.

He had kissed her, both of them laughing over morning breath, and then he had slid the palm of his hand down between her breasts to cup her sex. Gordon’s hand curled over her waist and slipped up to caress her breast, trapping the beading nipple between his fingers. Warren pushed a finger up inside her to ensure her wetness and fit the head of his cock at the entrance to her pussy. He surged into her, and her gasp aroused him further. He stilled and looked over her shoulder at Gordon, who read his mind.

“Haley, we want to take you together, sweetheart. Can we?”

He watched as her brow furrowed and then cleared when Gordon didn’t prepare her ass. Her eyes widened as they searched his face and then they filled with excitement. She nodded, and Warren looked to Gordon. He pulled out of Haley, relishing her regretful moan, and took the lube from Gordon’s hand. He flooded Haley’s pussy with it, adding to her wetness, and then lubed up his cock as well. Gordon pushed up into her from behind, pulling Haley tightly against his chest, and lifted her leg to allow Warren better access. He carefully hooked a finger where she and Gordon were joined and pulled to allow a small area to open to fit his cock into. He pushed upward and slipped and slid along Gordon’s erection, marvelling at how Haley relaxed and facilitated his entrance. The tight quarters were beyond anything he could describe, and he pressed a reverent kiss on her forehead when he finally was seated as deep as he could go. Haley had started to pant and thrash her head, and she moaned deep in her chest. Warren grasped her hips, and together he and Gordon lifted her in small increments up and down their shafts. Warren soon felt his eyes rolling back in his head and registered Haley’s screams of passion as she bore down and clenched on them. Gordon groaned like a man in extremis, and Warren felt a gush of fluids bathe his cock. Then he came so hard he saw proverbial stars.

After what seemed an interminable time, Warren slipped out of Haley, and Gordon’s flaccid cock followed suit. He knew that one of them needed to get up and take care of their woman, but he couldn’t find an ounce of energy and Gordon clearly wasn’t able to move. Haley was curled between them, napping, and Warren drifted off. When he awoke, both Haley and his friend were gone, and when Warren dragged himself to the bathroom, he found that there was a dearth of hot water in the shower. He made do and quickly dressed. He wanted to hear what Haley had to say about their surprise.