Perfect Addition

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Though she’d been out late, Stephanie didn’t sleep in much more than usual on Sunday. Her Pilates routine and breakfast of fresh fruit and oatmeal energized her and she did some work on one of her client’s fitness plans, even though she’d promised herself the day off. Still, work when she didn’t have to work was actually enjoyable, especially when she knew she could stop at any moment.

She’d just finished coming up with some new routines for a client she’d had for a couple of years, when her cell phone buzzed. The number came up as not being in her contacts, but looked familiar. As she was bringing the phone to her ear, she realized it was Grant. She could hear the smile in her voice as she answered.

“Hello?”

“Stephanie? It’s Grant and Jesse.” Grant’s deep voice sounded warm and inviting.

“Good morning, sunshine!” Jesse’s voice was enthusiastic and she guessed he was a morning person, like her.

“Hey guys, how nice to hear from you.”

“We decided we didn’t get enough of you last night, so you need to come over for dinner.” Jesse said.

She laughed. “Is that right?”

“Definitely,” Grant said. “Our place, six-thirty. I’ll text you the address.”

“I don’t know about this,” she teased. “Who’s doing the cooking?”

“The Thai restaurant on the corner,” Grant answered.

She laughed again. “Sounds good, then. I look forward to it.”

“Not as much as we do,” Jesse singsonged.

Hanging up, she was glad they’d called. She’d always enjoyed Jesse’s friendship and had been pleased when he’d quickly snatched up Grant within months of the other man joining Apex. That had been, what? Seven months ago? Something like that.

Watching their scenes had been an exercise in pleasure and frustration. Pleasure because it made her hot and because she was happy to see Jesse match up with someone who complemented him so well. Frustration because though she’d known Jesse was gay and therefore off the table as far as potential play partner, she’d heard that Grant was bi and had been hoping to get a shot at him. Once she’d seen the two together, though, it had been obvious their relationship was special and she was content to watch and gain what pleasures she could from that.

Since she had the phone in her hand, she decided it was a good time to call her parents. They had a close relationship, though it had certainly gone through its ups and downs. Her friends had thought she was nuts for telling her parents about becoming active in the b**m lifestyle, but she hadn’t even considered not letting them in on such an integral part of her life. She’d waited six months or so, until she’d felt confident it was something that was always going to be part of who she was, rather than a phase or simple experimentation.

The fact that her dad was a cop made it both easier and harder. Easier because he wasn’t an i***t, knew there were things out there that he didn’t have to understand exactly in order to appreciate that they were right for an individual. Harder, because he was most familiar with the times the lifestyle could be dangerous. But that also meant that he forced himself to deal with it, become comfortable with it, because he preferred her telling him about it, to an extent, than keeping it hidden from him and not letting him advise her on safety issues.

So, even though she’d known Jesse for a while, and even though she was going to their house for dinner, not play, because she’d met them through the club, she would give her dad their names and address and let him know she was going to their house.

It was an extension of the request he’d made when she’d gone into business for herself as a personal trainer. Give him the names of clients she was meeting outside of gyms. Even as she knew it was unnecessary overkill, she appreciated that her dad wanted to see her safe. He didn’t want to hear about what she got up to at the club, specifically, but he’d checked up on it, on the owners, and given his approval on its reputation.

Her mom answered the phone and they chatted about both of their work, as well as family gossip. When her mom passed the phone to her dad, they talked about his opinion on the mess that was Maine politics and the weather. Both of which he would never stop bitching about but also never consider moving to get away from. Eventually she told him about her dinner plans.

She always gave him the names of the people she played with outside of the club, though it was rare. She generally gave him the names of the people she played with inside the club, as well, though she felt a little weird about it. She knew that sometimes he ran their names, but she did trust him not to do anything bad with the information. Still, last night gave her pause but since she didn’t ever intend to play with Trevor again, she didn’t mention him.

The whole name thing was more to make him feel better about her safety than because she thought he would find anything to caution her about. Though he had twice asked her not to see someone because of the information he’d found, he hadn’t told her what the information was and in both cases she’d already decided she didn’t want to continue playing with those Doms. She couldn’t deny that she was curious, but she didn’t ask for details. She’d subtly given her opinion to a couple other subs who’d seemed interested and neither Dom had lasted long as members of the club.

By the time she’d hung up the phone, she was ready to get out of the house. The weather was cold but dry, so she decided to do her grocery run. When she got home, she took a long, hot soak. Her favorite waterproof toy and her imagination of how Grant and Jesse had looked last night made for a very pleasurable bath. She dried her hair, ate lunch, then lost herself in a romance novel until it was time to get ready for dinner.

She considered taking a cab but she had a client session early the next morning so she wouldn’t be drinking much, even if that were an option. She decided to drive and made good time, getting to their apartment building with plenty of time to search out a parking space and still make it to their door five minutes early.

Jesse hovered near the front door, waiting for the buzzer to announce Stephanie’s arrival. Grant wandered by and slapped his ass, but didn’t stay to obsess like Jesse was.

He wanted tonight to go well. He wanted that very badly, since last night had gone so well. When they’d gone to Apex, they’d been hoping to see Stephanie, been disappointed when she hadn’t been there. Seeing her at the last minute, as they were getting ready to leave, had been great. Seeing her in a not-so-wonderful situation, had sucked. It had worked out in the end and he was hopeful that it would work out even better tonight.

He’d thought about her a lot since things with Grant had calmed down from the initial all-consuming start of their relationship. When Grant had asked him if he’d ever consider adding a woman to their play, Steph had immediately sprung to mind.

He’d been attracted to her before he’d met Grant, but hadn’t really known what to do with it. He was gay, after all. It had been silly, not knowing how to move forward, if she would welcome an advance from him, since they were friends. But he’d never been interested enough in a woman to have tried before, so he’d been sort of frozen. And then Grant had come into the club, and the attraction had been instant and overwhelming.

The buzzer sounded and he almost squeaked, but managed to hold back the embarrassing reaction. He looked over his shoulder and found Grant watching him with an amused smile. He hit the button that would open the lobby door for Stephanie, and unlocked and opened their front door. It would take her a minute to get up to the third floor.

He looked back at Grant. “We’re set, right? We see if either of us has an opportunity to make a move on her, see if she’s open to the idea, but you know it’s most likely going to be you. She sees me as her gay friend, not someone she’s interested in fucking.”

“I told you, you didn’t see her face last night when she was imagining you tied to the web,” Grant reminded him.

“She snuggled up to me—”

“I noticed,” Grant drawled.

“—because she thinks I’m safe. Gay. Non-s****l in her world.”

“Mmm, hmm. I repeat, you didn’t see her face when she was imagining you tied to the web.”

“All right, all right, so we need to think positively and make this happen.”

“It’s going to happen,” Grant said.

They shut up as the door to the stairwell opened. He had to smile. Stephanie was the only friend he knew who would have taken the stairs instead of the elevator. He certainly appreciated the athletic beauty of her body, but her soft brown girl-next-door eyes contrasted by her elegant blonde hair that was turned uber-sassy by the ever-colored streak she added to it was what really did it for him. Her current color was purple, though the last time he’d seen her it had been pink.

He pulled her into the apartment with a hug, then passed her off to Grant with a tiny shove. Grant rolled his eyes at him, but gave her a tight little hug.

“What would you like to drink?” Jesse asked. “Wine, beer?”

“I’ll save the beer for when we’re eating. Nothing right now, thanks.” She smiled at him. “Are you going to show me around?”

He waved his arms to indicate the small space. “Nothing worth seeing, I promise. We’ve been looking for places to buy, actually.” He led her to the couch and wasn’t at all subtle about maneuvering her so she was sitting between them, though it meant they were all practically on top of each other.

“Oh, that’s great! It’s such a tough market though. Do you have a pretty good idea of what you want?”

He turned into her before answering, putting a hand on her knee. He felt like he was back in high school, but he was determined for her to see him as a possible s****l partner, not a buddy. Grant mirrored him on her other side, but without the hand on her knee.

“Yes, we think so. But it’s so hard to know until you find the right thing,” he said.

“Oh, sure. I keep thinking I should look for a place, too. Business is going really well. But I just have this nagging doubt, like what if I meet the man of my dreams and he already has a place, or together we’d want a completely different kind of place than I’ll want on my own. Or, the fact is, right now I’m single, and since I work for myself I could decide to go anywhere, anytime. Nothing is keeping me here other than friends and being somewhat close to family. A mortgage would change that, tie me down.”

“Do you want to go somewhere else?” Grant asked.

She shrugged. “Not so far. But the possibility, the option, is there.”

“Where is your family?” Jesse asked.

“Maine. That’s where I grew up. I like having some distance, but being close enough to go see them whenever I want. Not that I get up there all that often, but holidays, big birthdays, that kind of thing.”

She’d left her hair down again, so Jesse reached up and tucked it behind her ear, then pulled a hank free and wound it around his finger. She blinked at him, but didn’t say anything, or move away.

“That’s nice. You’re close with them?” he asked.

“Sure. I talk to my parents usually every weekend. My brother comes down to visit every so often. He’s younger, just getting out of college, trying to decide where he wants to go. I think he’ll probably stay in Maine, but he’s exploring his options right now.”

“That’s great that you have that,” Grant told her.

“You don’t?” she asked.

“My family’s okay. They try, but they’re still waiting for me to grow out of the ‘gay phase’, and hoping it happens soon.”

“Ouch.” She turned to Jesse. “What about your parents?”

“It’s only my mom, but she’s pretty cool. We’re not super close, but she doesn’t have a problem with my being gay.”

“No siblings?”

“Nope. I have some cousins that I see every few years. They invite me to weddings and whatnot. They’re cool.”

“That’s good. My extended family is pretty big.”

He gave a sharp tug on her hair and she retaliated by poking him in the stomach. He was very tempted to start a tickle fight. A classic hands-on maneuver for a reason. But he didn’t think she was ready and thought Grant would be better off making the first move. Hopefully the first of many.

“Come on,” he said, “let’s go pick up dinner.”

He gave her the menu and once they’d all decided, called the order in. By the time they walked down the stairs that he’d only used once or twice before, and down the block to the restaurant, the food was ready. It wasn’t long before they were back, seated at the dining room table, and digging in.

“Oh, wow, this place is good,” Stephanie said after a couple of bites.

“Would we steer you wrong?” Grant asked.

She laughed. “Of course not, I didn’t doubt you, I promise. I just didn’t expect it to be this good.” She took another bite, then waved her fork at them. “So, I take it neither of you cooks?”

“We can make scrambled eggs and omelets as well as the next guy,” Jesse defended.

“Steaks, burgers and baked potatoes too,” Grant added.

“Please tell me you manage some vegetables in there somewhere,” she demanded.

“Um. Sure. We eat out at least once a week, and there’s almost always vegetables on the side,” Jesse assured her.

She rolled her eyes at him. He suspected if they convinced her to come around more often, they were going to have to up their vegetable intake significantly. He could live with that.

“So, after dinner, movie or monopoly?” Jesse asked.

The look on her face was positively demonic. “Probably best that we watch a movie so that I don’t make you cry in your own house.”

Grant raised his beer towards her. “Oh, it’s on now.”

She shrugged. “If you’re sure you can handle a beating.”

“Oh, honey, I know which end of a beating I like to be on.”

“Too bad we don’t always get what we want, then, isn’t it?”

“Don’t I?” Grant asked.

“Bring it, mister tough guy.”

“I’ll clear the table, you guys set up the game,” Jesse said, laughing. Grant was competitive, but not that much, not over a board game. He just liked firing her up, Jesse knew. And Jesse liked watching him do it.

He stacked their dishes and took them into the kitchen. He gave them a thorough rinse before slotting them into the dishwasher, then made coffee and pulled out cream and sugar.

It couldn’t have been much more than five minutes before he walked into the dining room to ask how Stephanie liked her coffee, so he was shocked to see her pulling on her coat, heading to the front door, Grant staring after her, a look of uncertainty on his face.

“Hey!”

“Sorry, sorry, I forgot something.” She was opening the door, not really looking at him. “I have to go now.”

“But—” He looked to Grant, but the man was just standing there, scowling.

“Got to go! I’ll talk to you later.”

And she was gone.

Grant continued staring at the door until Jesse stepped right in front of him. “What the hell happened?”

“She freaked out.”

“I see that. What did you do, command her to strip off all of her clothes or something?”

Grant gave him a look of disgust. “No, of course not.” He shook his head, sighed. “I, well…like we talked about. Made a move. A small one.”

He looked uncomfortable, not a state Jesse was used to seeing his partner in. As unhappy as he was with Stephanie’s rapid exit, he couldn’t help but see the amusement in the situation. Still, out of respect, he tried to keep it from showing.

“Okay, baby, but what did you do?” He put his hands on Grant’s waist.

The aggrieved look was tempered by a blush. An actual blush. Grant wasn’t used to being shot down and he certainly wasn’t used to having to tell his lover about it.

Jesse bit down on the inside of his lip to keep from smiling.

“I uh, put my hand on the back of her neck, you know, rubbed my thumb up and down a bit. I said how glad we were to run into her last night, and I, you know, looked into her eyes.” He ran a hand through his hair and Jesse squeezed his hands on Grants hips. “I swear there was attraction there, Jess. I’m not so out of it that I don’t know when someone’s attracted to me instead of repulsed by me. And she shivered. You know what kind of shiver. Then she just, gave a little jerk, ducked under my arm, and headed for her coat.”

Jesse tried to imagine the scene, picture what could have gone wrong. He knew exactly how the move Grant had described would go over on someone who was attracted to him. The heat, the need, oh yeah, he knew the shiver that had worked its way through Stephanie. And he was positive Grant was right. She was attracted to him. Hadn’t he been insisting on that very thing to Grant all day? So, she was attracted, and Grant gave her the sign that he was attracted. It should have been…oh.

“Oh.”

“What.”

“I think I know what happened.”

“What?”

“She thinks you’re bislutual.”

Grant blinked at him. “She—I—what?”

Jesse started to answer but Grant interrupted him. “No, wait. I get it.” He sighed again. “You think she thinks that I made a move on her behind your back.”

“Right. She thinks that since you’re bi, and you hit on her, you must be one of those sluts who thinks it’s okay to cheat on his partner as long as it’s with someone of the opposite sex.”

“Great. Has a high opinion of me, doesn’t she?” He pulled free of Jesse’s hold and walked to the couch, dropped down into it.

“Well, from her perspective, you did wait until I was out of the room to make your move.”

“You told me to!”

This time Jesse couldn’t hold back the laugh. “I know baby. It’s all my fault.”

Grant’s glare indicated he didn’t appreciate the apology or the laughter.

“If you think about it, she was just being a good friend to me. I bet you money she contacts me to have a talk. Warn me about you.”

Grant slouched back against the couch. “Great.”

Jesse fell back next to him, but put a comforting hand on his man’s thigh. “It’s okay, baby, we can fix this.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Grant shifted next to him, turning into him, but Jesse didn’t open his eyes, afraid he’d laugh again.

“You laughed.”

“Um.”

A sudden sharp pain as his n****e was tweaked through his shirt. “Ouch!” he cried, opening his eyes. The amusement dancing in Grant’s eyes took the last of the sting away. He couldn’t help himself. He wrapped his arms around the other man and burst into laughter. Grant joined him and they ended up in each other’s arms, lying across the couch. Of course, Grant managed to be on top.

Finally Grant rested his forearms next to Jesse’s head and looked at him. “What should we do? Would it be too stalker-ish if we showed up at her place and tried to explain?”

“Do we know where she lives?”

“I think we could find out.”

“Hmm. Maybe too far. But I don’t know if she’d agree to meet up with us if we asked.”

“And she might not even have gone straight home.”

“Shit.”

“Well, I guess we try her phone and see what happens.”

Grant pulled out his phone and handed it to Jesse.

Jesse rolled his eyes at him and shoved him back so he could sit up.

He pulled out his own phone, scrolled to Stephanie’s name and typed a message.

Hey sweetie, it’s Jesse. Are you okay? I can explain, I promise, it’s nothing bad. Can I call you?

They sat and stared at the phone for a minute. The perils of becoming used to instant gratification.

Jesse started to pick up the pieces of the Monopoly game laid out on the coffee table and return them to the box.

Grant stood up. “I’m getting a beer. You want one?”

“Yes, please.”

The phone beeped just as Grant returned, setting both bottles onto the coffee table.

What did he tell you?

Jesse typed quickly. Let me call you. Better, let us come talk to you.

Her response this time was very quick. What did he tell you?

“Christ.” Grant stopped watching him type and dropped back against the couch again.

“It’s fine. It will be fine,” Jesse assured him.

He told me he sort of hit on you. It’s not what you think. Can we come explain?

This time there was a longer pause, but Jesse held tight.

When the phone beeped again, Grant gave up ignoring and read the screen too.

I’m still downstairs. In my car. I can come up, if you’re sure it’s a good idea.

Yes! I promise. It’s all good. Please come back up.

Another pause.

Ok

“Woot!” Jesse leaned in and gave Grant a celebratory kiss.

Grant gave him a cautious smile. “Do we still want to do this? Or do we just apologize and move on.”

Jesse gaped at him. This was so unlike his man. “Seriously? You’re going to give up that easily?”

Grant gave him the look that said he’d underestimated his Dom. “Only if you want to. If you’re uncomfortable.”

Jesse retuned the look with two raised eyebrows. “Oh, please. We made a strategic error. Now it’s time to fess up and put it all out on the table. Make this happen.”

Grant’s smile was wolfish. “Then let’s do this thing.”