“Stephen, I love you,” I murmur, “And so does she. She hasn’t said it out loud, but I can see it on her face. Please.”
He hesitates, then sighs. “I love you, too,” he whispers, “I’ve hated every minute of this. That weekend we spent together were probably the best days of my life, except for the day Judy was born. But I don’t know how to do this shit. I don’t even know how to navigate a normal relationship as a single dad.”
“So let us help. We’ll figure all of this out together.”
He’s quiet for a long moment, and I’m fully expecting a no, or another protest, but finally, he nods. “I can’t make any promises,” he says quickly, “But I don’t know if I can live with myself if I don’t at least try.”
I pull him in for another kiss and start to drag him out the door, but he stops me. “Wait, I can’t.”
I frown. Didn’t we just go over this? But then he gestures over his shoulder at Judy’s room. Right. We can’t just leave her alone in the house. “Go get Kristen,” he says, tugging off his suit jacket, “Bring her here. I’m calling in sick for the day.”
A grin spreads over my face. “I think I’ve got a phone call to make, myself, but then I’ll be back,” I kiss him, “I promise.”
He nods, and I hurry back home. I no longer hear the shower running, but Kris hasn’t made her way downstairs yet, so I decide to call work first. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve called in at this job, so my supervisor is more than happy to let me have the day.
Then I head upstairs, not sure what to say. Kris looks up when I enter. “Hey, where were you?” she asks, “I called down the stairs and you didn’t answer.”
“I took a little trip next door,” I tell her.
Her eyebrows shoot up into her hairline. “What? Why?”
“I think we should all talk together,” I say simply, “Grab your shoes.”
I throw on a pair of my own, since I’d neglected to do so in my hasty flight from the house earlier. Then, I take her hand and lead her next door.
I don’t bother knocking; Stephen knows we’re coming. And he’s waiting for us when we arrive, pacing. He looks up when we enter and meets Kristen’s eyes. “What’s going on?” she asks, looking from me to him.
I open my mouth to speak, but Stephen beats me to it. “I made a mistake,” he says.
We both turn to him, and he goes on, “The weekend we spent together…it was like a dream come true. And then Monday, picking up my kid, well…it felt like waking up. I felt like I couldn’t see a way out that worked for all of us, so instead I chose an option that worked out for none of us and left all of us miserable. And it was the wrong choice. So, if you’ll give me a second chance, maybe the three of us can figure this out. Together.”
Fuck. Even I’m getting a little misty-eyed, and Kristen has tears pouring down her cheeks. She can’t seem to speak, so she just nods and reaches for him. He steps into her arms and they share a kiss, and it feels like it heals the ache in my heart.
But I’m surprised when Stephen pulls back. That seemed like a pretty brief reunion kiss.
A smirk spreads across his face. “So, here’s the thing. We have about forty-five minutes until Judy wakes up and demands breakfast, so if I’m going to enjoy a proper ‘reunion’ with the two of you, I’m going to have to do it on fast-forward.”
“I think I can live with that,” Kris giggles.
The three of us scramble to his bedroom and he cranks up the baby monitor just to ensure that he’ll hear her if she wakes. And then, all bets are off. Clothes hit the floor, Kris’ back hits the bed, and next thing I know, I’m watching my new boyfriend eating out my girlfriend.Ourgirlfriend.
I like that thought.
“There’s some lube in my nightstand drawer,” Stephen says.
The words send a thrill through me. In the fooling around we’d done, neither Stephen or I had actually fucked. We’d sucked and jerked each other off, but we’d kind of saved the next step for “later.”
And I’m fucking ready. I go retrieve the lube and Stephen walks me through the process of prepping him with teasing fingers before I slick down my shaft and position it at his backside.
As I’m gearing up to enter him, however, Kristen howls in climax. He lifts his head, licking his lips smugly. “Hang on,” he murmurs, looking at me, “Before you continue, can you grab me a condom from the drawer?”
I look at Kristen, who looks at me in confusion. “We don’t use them,” I say, “And I mean, we had that conversation about tests and stuff.”
It wasn’t a fun conversation, but itwaswe definitely should have had before our first fling. Not after, but hindsight’s 20/20 and all that. And of course, all three of us were clean, so that fortunately wasn’t a problem.
“Well, yeah, but I could still…”
“I’m okay with that,” Kris pipes up in a small voice.