Perfect Addition

Chapter 1-2

“First you have to tell me where you’ve been and why you haven’t been coming to Apex,” she insisted as Grant angled them into a twenty-four hour diner. They moved to a four-top and Jesse slid in beside her, which gave her Grant as a view. It didn’t suck. He wore his brown hair short, but long enough that she wanted to ruffle through it with her fingers. His blue eyes had seemed more gray in the club, but now, in the fluorescent light of the restaurant they were bright and piercing.

“We’ve been around, just not at the club.”

“Oh crap, am I going to have to give the lecture about becoming old and stale again?” she asked as the waiter came by for their orders, offering a pot of coffee. She waved off coffee and ordered vanilla ice cream and fruit, Jesse asked for a brownie a la mode and Grant requested strawberry ice cream with chocolate sauce.

When the tired-looking waiter had left, Grant lifted a brow at her. “Do you think fun can only be had at Apex?”

“Wellllll,” she drawled.

Jesse laughed and bumped her with his shoulder. “The club is about exploring yourself, trying new things, being around others like you, but for us it was mostly about trying new people. When you’re with someone already, you don’t need it.”

“Exactly,” Grant agreed. “Doesn’t mean it’s not fun to go once in a while, but you don’t need it. Or at least, we don’t. It’s nice to shake things up a bit, see people you miss.” He lifted his coffee to her, before bringing it to his lips.

She watched the action a bit more closely than she should. She’d been attracted to the man since the first time she’d seen him deliver a spanking that ended with him sucking the sub off to a howling orgasm. When he’d focused most of his attention on men, she’d been quietly envious. When he’d really focused his attention on her friend Jesse, she’d been thrilled for the other man.

Letting her head rest on Jesse’s shoulder, she gave their words some thought. She supposed it was true that while it was amazing to go to the club and meet others like her, see the lifestyle in action, experiment and play, meeting people she could play with was sort of the true goal.

“When I was with Tony, we kept coming to the club. Nearly a year,” she pointed out.

Jesse snorted before answering. “Tony liked to be seen working you. He liked people to see you, with him. You guys dated that long and never even moved in together. Sorry, honey, but you weren’t that serious about him.”

She supposed that was true, too. It hadn’t bothered her, and she’d liked to be seen with him, hadn’t she? Hell, she liked to be seen at all. They’d had a few scenes at home, but they’d never been half as hot as the ones they’d had together at the club. Both of them had gotten off on the exhibitionism, though maybe there’d been a bit of ego involved, on Tony’s part, as Jesse intimated.

“Hmm. All right, I’ll give you those points,” she said as their food arrived. She picked up her spoon and waved it at them both. “But that doesn’t mean you haven’t made friends and that we haven’t missed you while you’ve been off playing with each other and forgetting all about us.”

Jesse slid his arm around her shoulders. “Honey, we could never forget you. Why do you think we came tonight?”

“Hmph,” she mumbled around her bite of creamy goodness. Once she swallowed, she turned to give him a good study.

His hair was somewhere between her blonde and Grant’s brown. She supposed it was the dirty blond that women seemed to hate, but looked great framing his hazel eyes. She’d seen them go from almost green to honey gold, something that fascinated her. He looked fantastic, somehow more healthy and vibrant than she’d ever seen.

“Have you been working out?” she asked.

He laughed. “He’s been working me out.” He pointed at Grant. “And I’ve been loving every minute of it.”

“Well, love looks good on you. I’m happy for you.”

His arm around her shoulder squeezed for a minute, and he offered her a bite of brownie. She accepted, wrapping her lips around his fork to take in the delicious morsel. Pulling back, she glanced over at Grant. His eyes were on her, them, she wasn’t sure. But his look was pure heat.

A flush ran through her. Here was the n****e-tingling, skin-hopping anticipation she’d been waiting to feel all night. As much as she’d thought she’d been attracted to Trevor, he hadn’t invoked this visceral reaction. She should have paid attention to her body. Of course, Trevor should have paid attention to her body, too.

She frowned at her ice cream before taking another bite. The boys were right. She’d been looking for a man, not just a play partner. She’d found Tony, and it had been good for a while, but they’d had different ideas about their futures and when he’d been offered a transfer to Ohio, neither of them had been too broken up about his decision to take it. Still, because they’d been together for a while, she’d been able to trust him more than her usual hook-ups, and that was a feeling she missed.

And looking for someone outside the club was so annoying. Trying to feel guys out for their willingness to tie a girl down and give a good spanking didn’t usually end well, she’d found. Which left her the club, the same guys most of the time. It was enough to make her think she needed a break.

Maybe she should join one of the online kink sites, see if meeting someone that way, getting to know them through emails before actually doing a scene, might make a difference. Something had to change. Tonight had been partially her fault. She’d gone to the club without really even thinking about if she wanted to. Just gone through the motions of getting ready, getting herself there, and immediately looking for someone to play with.

She dropped her head back against the seat. “Ugh. Tonight really was my fault, at least to start. I was going through the motions, not really even excited to play. Even with the new guy, who I’d been waiting to get my hands on.”

Grant studied her. “In a bit of a slump?” he asked.

“I guess. I hadn’t realized it.”

“Still,” Grant reached out and covered her hand with his. “He should have seen there was a problem, and even if he didn’t, he shouldn’t have disrespected your safe word, or you when you used it. You know that, right?”

She smiled at him. “Yes, I’m not so slumped I don’t know that. That part pissed me off. But now that I’m over being angry, I’m annoyed with myself. I’m young and should be having fun!”

“Being kinky doesn’t mean you get out of the usual ins and outs of dating,” he pointed out.

“But it does mean you should have more fun during all those ins and outs,” Jesse drawled.

They all laughed. Thank god they’d been there tonight, or she would have just gone home and slumped herself right into a fit of depression. Putting her spoon into the bowl and pushing it away, she snuggled into Jesse’s side.

“I’m glad you guys were there. Did you have a good night, before I interrupted?”

“You didn’t interrupt,” Jesse assured her. “We were done. Just going through the main room to see if there was anyone, like you, that we wanted to catch up with.”

“First, though, I put him into the webbing. We can’t do that at home, and I do love seeing my Jesse strung up and helpless.”

The heated look he directed at his lover made her happy and sad at the same time. She really hadn’t understood how much she wanted that, until tonight. Hadn’t realized how tired she was of looking, but not finding, the same thing for herself.

Jesse dipped his head, and murmured low enough that Grant probably couldn’t hear, “Makes you all creamy, doesn’t it? When he looks like that? Talks like that?”

“You are a lucky guy, Jesse Arnold.”

The hand he had draped over her shoulder came up to play with her hair, teasing some of the loose strands. “This is very true.”

“I bet you looked freaking hot up in the web.”

“This is also true,” Jesse drawled.

“What did he do to you?” she asked Jesse, though she was watching Grant.

Jesse gave a sharp tug, then soothed the spot with a little message. She shivered.

“Well, you would know if you hadn’t gotten there so late,” Grant said, eyeing the waiter coming to drop off their check. Stephanie went to reach for her purse, but Jesse restrained her as Grant took the bill.

“Let Grant get it, he loves rescuing damsels in distress and taking care of them.”

She rolled her eyes. “That is so not necessary.”

Grant pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, dropped several bills on the table and stood up. “But you’ll let me do it anyway, because you understand my needs. Come on, let’s walk and I’ll tell you how amazing Jesse looked tonight.”

Well, she couldn’t really argue with that plan. She slid out behind Jesse, and he tucked her into his side. It was cold out, but they had their heavy jackets and didn’t seem to mind strolling through the quiet streets. Grant took her other side, reaching an arm behind her to tuck his hand into the waistband of Jesse’s leather pants. The heat of their arms shouldn’t really have penetrated her heavy coat, but somehow it did. It was a good thing it was winter, keeping her cool. She had to remember that these two were a couple. Unavailable to anything but her occasional fantasies for being sandwiched between two gorgeous men.

She aimed a look up at Grant. “Tell me, tell me.”

He smiled. “I faced him away from me, even though I knew he wanted to watch.”

“I like to watch you working!” Jesse cried.

“Instead he had to watch the people who gathered to admire him.”

“More like admire your handiwork,” Jesse interjected.

Grant took his hand out from under Jesse’s coat, slapped the man’s ass, then returned to tuck into his waistband once again.

“I strapped him to the webbing at his wrists, elbows, upper arms, chest, hips, ankles, calves, thighs. I spent a good long time securing him to that thing.”

“What was he wearing?” she asked.

“A harness to keep him plugged for me. A c**k ring. A ball gag and a set of n****e clamps.”

“Mmm. What color was the rope?”

“White, against the black webbing.”

“Nice.”

Picturing it, having seen Jesse naked or mostly so before, she wished she’d gotten to the club earlier. “What did you do then?”

Grant tugged and led them across the street at the crosswalk. Stephanie realized he was making a big square, leading them back to Apex, keeping them in the well-lit, somewhat populated streets. Keeping them safe.

“I spanked his ass until it was glowing for me. He has a great ass, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.”

She murmured her agreement.

“Then I used the slapper. I wanted his whole body slick with sweat and aching with need.”

“Oh, yeah,” Jesse whispered.

“And finished off with a flogger, until he was making one long, begging moan behind that gag.”

She’d stopped walking, so they both turned in slightly and she could see the memory in their faces, just as she could hear the lust in Grant’s voice.

“And then?” She sounded breathy, but she didn’t care. Both of their arms had tightened around her and she felt like she wasn’t just a listener, but an active observer in the scene Grant was describing. Jesse’s breath was warm against her hair, Grant’s energy, his dominating presence, drawing both of them into his sphere, inviting them to be a part of his story, a part of his—

Stephanie blinked, gave a small jerk. Damn, he was a good story-teller. She was going to have some serious fantasy time with these boys once she was alone in bed. She cleared her throat, realized Grant was watching her instead of answering her.

“And then?” she repeated.

“And then I tucked up tight against his back, touching as much hot, slick flesh as I could with my body, and I reached around and took off the c**k ring. Jacked him off in front of his audience. They loved what they were seeing. I could hear them watching, waiting, wanting to see him go off.”

“I didn’t hear them,” Jesse said. “They didn’t exist. I only heard you, whispering dirty things in my ear. Only felt your body covering mine, your hand on my d**k. You told me to come. And you bit my shoulder.”

“And you came.”

Stephanie pulled in a huge breath. “I need to go home.”

She stepped forward, breaking the intimate circle, and looked for a taxi.

Grant put one hand on her back and raised the other, and a cab appeared, as if by magic. Or maybe she wasn’t paying attention because her brain was stuck in a s****l fog. She was totally turned on now, unlike when she’d been mostly naked and bound to a post for Trevor’s attentions. That was a distant memory compared to the one she’d just heard which felt so much more real.

“Let me see your phone,” Grant said, pulling her brain back to the present.

She dug it out of her coat pocket and handed it over.

“I’m texting myself. Use this number when you get home safe, let us know.”

“I do have Jesse’s number already in there,” she pointed out.

“And now you have mine. You can text both of us, if it makes you feel better.”

She tried to argue, but Jesse gave her a kiss on the cheek, Grant a smile full of heat that she assumed meant Jesse would be getting more attention when they got home, and she fumbled herself into the car. She managed to give the driver her address and spent the ten-minute drive trying to get herself under control. She mostly succeeded.

It only took a few minutes after getting through her front door to send the text, get naked, and climb into bed.