MEARA
I paced Damien’s office, deep in thought. He was trying to calm me down, being all chivalrous. I appreciated his eagerness to please, but I didn’t want to sweep everything under the rug. Something important had happened, and I couldn’t ignore it.
I wasn’t angry exactly. Kent hadn’t hurt me, and while he didn’t ask for my permission, I wasn’t horrified or disgusted. He’d seen me at the party and walked right over. At that moment, I might have accepted a dinner invitation. But he offered me a job, and that was something even better.
Because Damien was also a partner at this firm, I let the possibility of a relationship with Kent drop, but that wasn’t Kent’s fault. I couldn’t deny that there had been a spark of attraction between us. The kiss was more shocking than anything else. Over the weeks I had been working for them, I only thought of the other two partners as my bosses.
Damien was technically also my boss, but we just used that word in our sex play. I didn’t really think of him as an authority figure. Kent and Sean were different. There was a level of distance between us that Damien and I had done away with. Both Kent and Sean were unknowns, and yet they were both undeniable handsome.
I wouldn’t mind getting together with Sean. I didn’t want to think about it because it felt like a betrayal to Damien. But there had been that discussion the last time I was at Damien’s house. He’d asked if I was interested in dating more than one of them. I hadn’t given him an answer, but the sex had been extremely hot in the aftermath. I couldn’t deny that I felt some longing to experiment.
All my life, I’d contented myself with just one man. It wasn’t that I was monogamous or that I always had a boyfriend. But I didn’t date more than one person at a time. Was I seriously considering a ménage à trois? Or worse, a ménage à four?
Would it really be worse? Or was the word I was looking for…amazing, stupendous, out of this world provocative? It was a lot to consider, and I didn’t feel like calming down. So, I paced Damien’s office, completely thrown off my game.
“Would you like to get out of here?” Damien asked.
I looked up at him, almost shocked to find him in the same room with me. So consumed with my own thoughts and misgivings, I hadn’t realized I had company. He was only trying to be kind, I realized. He thought that I was shocked and appalled by Kent’s sudden affection. Shocked was right, but appalled wasn’t even close to what I was feeling.
I found myself imagining what it might have been like if I had allowed Kent to continue. What if, instead of breaking free of the embrace, I had gone along with it? Might Kent have locked the kitchen door? Might he have pushed me up against the counter and had his way with me?
What would it feel like to have him slip beneath my defenses? Kent was short but powerful. Did that mean he had a similarly structured cock? I groaned, imagining myself bent over in the kitchen, accepting his meat between my thighs.
I was crazy. That was the only explanation. But the knowledge that I could have all three of them if I wanted to was enough to set my heart racing. Damien might be able to help. If I went home with him, I could make love to at least one of them and satisfy the urges that way. But now that the door was open, even just a crack, I couldn’t help wondering what life would look like on the other side.
I needed to speak to Millie. She would know how to proceed. She had been daring enough to ask her cadre of men if they wanted to make a life together. Maybe she would have some advice to give someone just starting out on the same road.
“No,” I told Damien. “I’m okay.”
“I don’t want you to feel unsafe in the office,” Damien worried.
Far from unsafe, I felt well loved. This place was full of people who would do whatever it took to secure my happiness. Yes, Kent had stepped over a line, but up until that point, I didn’t know how deep his feelings ran. He made his point. He’d proven himself to be head over heels. I couldn’t fault him for that.
If I was angry with him for trespassing, I knew I could press charges. Kissing someone in a professional setting was a no-no. But I wasn’t angry. Or at least my anger was cooling. I was starting to gain some perspective, and that vantage point gave me all the power in the quartet.
“I might go home early,” I said, leaving the room.
Damien watched me go, perplexed. He looked like he was about to say something, but I didn’t give him the opportunity. I went straight to my desk and grabbed my phone. Sitting down, I texted Millie.
Where are you?I asked.
At work,she answered almost instantly.
Any chance you could take off early and meet me somewhere?
I don’t think so. I’m pretty swamped. Is everything okay?
I paused. I didn’t want to worry my sister. The truth was that I was fine. Kent hadn’t hurt me in the slightest bit, and I didn’t feel violated, just turned on. I needed advice, and I didn’t think I could sit still and pretend to work for the rest of the day.
“What’s going on out there?” Sam asked.
I looked up, almost shocked to discover that the other intern was still in the office. I had completely forgotten about her and the receptionist. Thank goodness things hadn’t gone according to my fantasy. I might be okay with sex in the kitchen, but that would definitely be breaking protocol. Even our kiss was suspect.
“Fine,” I snapped. I was in no mood to be friendly.
It wasn’t fair to my co-worker. She hadn’t done anything wrong. She’d kept her head down while we were all stomping around and shouting. Now she wanted to know if there was anything that she should be aware of. I wasn’t going to gossip about my bosses, and I didn’t want to incriminate myself in any way.
“I might be going home early,” I said.