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  Sexy, tempting, fuckable distractions.

  And fucking would lead to them missing the munch.

  Which they really didn’t want to miss, because they pimped out the rope group during announcements. It was also one of the few times they got to see some of their kinky friends outside of Venture or the private play parties.

  Tris also wore a slightly guarded expression. “The intros. How do you want to handle them tonight?”

  Kyle leaned back against the counter. “‘Hi, I’m Kyle. I’m a Dominant, and bi, and a rigger. This is my boyfriend and fellow Dominant and rigger, Tristan. We run the Knotty Fun rope group at Venture.’ Or would you rather introduce yourself?” He grinned.

  “Asshole.” But a matching grin appeared on Tristan’s face and he crossed the kitchen and trapped Kyle against the counter with his arms. “I can introduce myself, but definitely feel free to say you’re my boyfriend. I’m looking forward to announcing I’m yours.”

  “Did you honestly think I wouldn’t want to say something about us?”

  The dark shadow in Tristan’s gaze vanished almost as soon as it arrived. “I wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to presume.”

  “Yeah, well, if you aren’t telling people I’m your boyfriend, I’m going to wonder if you’re ashamed of me.” Kyle’s smile widened.

  “Dude, that word isn’t even on the list I’d use to describe you. Ashamed, I mean. Of course you’re my boyfriend and I don’t have a problem saying that.”

  Kyle hooked his fingers through the belt loops on Tristan’s hips and held him close. “I’m not ashamed of this, or us. Yeah, some people will be confused, or assume we’re gay. I don’t give a fuck. They aren’t in my bed every night. You are. Since, according to Cali, we were the last ones to know, I don’t see any reason to hide it.”

  “Except from my family,” Tristan said. “Sorry, but you know why. I’m going to maintain the radio silence until one of my relatives on Facebook calls and tells someone.” They’d already added each other on Facebook—and FetLife—as being in a relationship.

  Tristan was friends with his siblings, parents, and other family on Facebook, but he had them all set up in a separate group, and most of his posts weren’t visible to them.

  “Prolonging the inevitable?”

  “Damn right.” Tris sighed. “I wish my family was nice, like yours is.”

  “Like I said, I’m lucky, and I know it.”

  Kyle hadn’t talked to his parents yet to update them. When he’d first moved in with Tris years ago, they’d erroneously assumed then that he and Tris were a couple, and had told him they were fine with it, as long as he was happy.

  And they liked Tris. So he knew updating them wouldn’t be any trouble at all…unlike Tristan’s homophobic parents. “What about your brothers and sister?”

  Tris shrugged. “I’m sure they’ll all disown me, too, or at the very least they’ll give me the cold shoulder. If they even bother inviting me to future family functions. Like I really care. It’s not their life—it’s mine.”

  He’d been the youngest of four kids, and by the time his parents got to him, they’d basically given up all pretenses of trying to be loving, caring parents. His siblings had always piled on, as well, since he was the youngest and unable to defend himself, the family scapegoat.

  It didn’t help that none of his siblings had gone to college, because their parents couldn’t afford it and they hadn’t earned academic scholarships like he had to pay his way. He was seen as an “academic elitist” by all of them because they’d found out they couldn’t call him and expect him to shell out money—that he didn’t have anyway—to help them out of jams. He was the only one of their family, including their parents, who owned his home and actually had a retirement plan.

  It also didn’t help that his sister had two unplanned babies by two different guys, and she’d lost both of them to the Department of Children and Families for child endangerment charges after multiple arrests for a variety of drug-related charges. She was currently out on parole and living with another boyfriend.

  One brother lived with their parents, because he couldn’t hold down a job. The other bounced from girlfriend to girlfriend and, at last count, had four kids with four different women, and was being sought for delinquent child support payments.

  It made Kyle even more grateful for his parents. “Sorry, buddy.”

  “It is what it is. That’s why I live here while they all live up in Tampa.” Tristan’s arms closed around Kyle and he kissed him. “Do you have any idea how glad I am we finally got our shit together?”

  “I’m glad I finally stopped letting fear hold me back.”

  “That makes two of us.” Tris ground his hips against Kyle, smiling as he stepped away, forcing Kyle to let go. “And I’ll show you how glad I am tonight, after the munch.”

  Kyle pointed down at the bulge in his slacks. “Now how the fuck am I supposed to deal with this for that long?”

  Tristan winked. “Just think about how much fun you’re going to have fucking my ass tonight when we get home.” He headed out of the kitchen and Kyle let out a groan.

  Dammit, the sadist was going to torture him all evening. Kyle could see it now.

  And as he turned back to the counter to finish his lunch prep, he smiled.

  He fucking loved it.

  And Tris.

  * * * *

  Between waking up Sunday morning, working, and time for her to prepare for the munch, Jessica waffled several dozen times about whether or not to go to that night. It wasn’t that she was too tired to go, because they’d had a half work day today.

  Finally, she made up her mind. Fuck it, time to live a little.

  She’d spent five years under Brad’s thumb. In her time after leaving him she’d struggled to make ends meet, denying herself basic little indulgences.

  Heavily resenting his betrayal and taking her away from Florida, leaving her alone.

  Berating herself for falling for him.

  Giving up dreams she’d had—like having children—because of him.

  For the first time in years, she had a tiny bit of money to spend on her.

  Dammit, she wanted the chance to see old friends again. Make new ones.

  Re-establish a local presence. If she could rebuild her photography business, she could bring in more money on the side.

  Right now, that was her primary focus—money.

  Besides, she’d been good at the photography. It was more than just a hobby, it was a passion of hers.

  Brad had basically shit all over her plans when he realized it was one way she was independent from him and he couldn’t do it better than her. It brought her more attention and praise than he’d ever hope to see.

  Never again would she allow herself to get into a position where she was reliant on someone else’s income to survive. She didn’t even have fucking health insurance, although in a couple of months, once they’d promoted her, she’d be eligible for their plan and able to afford it. It’d been too damn long since she’d been to a doctor for a basic annual exam. If it hadn’t been for low-cost clinics both here in Florida and in Texas, she wouldn’t have been able to get prescriptions for birth control pills.

  As it was, she was holding off getting her Florida license plate for her truck, because she wanted to wait until her first paycheck. Despite Kel insisting she didn’t need to pay rent this month, she wanted to give him something. And her next big expense would be the car tag.

  At least she was still standing, and finally digging out from under the disaster her life had devolved into. After years of personal storms, the steady rain she’d felt like she’d been stuck in had stopped, and the clouds were finally clearing for her.

  It didn’t hurt that, all day today, Purson had once again been playfully tweaking her conversationally, teasing, flirting. Nothing serious, but just enough to dampen her panties.

  Felt good to have attention from a hunky guy, especially when she knew it was “safe” a
ttention and nothing would ever come from it.

  Still, it did good things to her ego and libido.

  When Jess arrived at the restaurant where the munch was being held, she was pleased to see Ross and Loren were tonight’s hosts. After chatting with them for a couple of minutes and getting caught up, she picked herself a table and took a seat. It was still early, and not many people had arrived yet. There was only one other woman at the table she’d picked to sit at, and they started chatting.

  God, I missed this.

  It felt so good to be home.

  Finally.

  * * * *

  Tristan let Kyle drive tonight. It was Tristan’s turn to pay for their dinner, and he once again smiled at the thought that their brains had finally caught up with what their hearts had apparently known for years.

  They were a couple in every sense of the word now.

  “I wonder if Kel’s going to be here tonight,” Tris mused.

  “Why?”

  “I was thinking about talking to him about helping us put together some bondage tutorials,” Tris said. “You know, like we talked about doing last year. A blog or something. Good, quality pictures.”

  Kyle slowly nodded. “That would be fun.”

  “We could put together batches of lessons at once and set the blog posts to run after the rope night. Maybe help get more people through the doors if they see tutorials. More exposure for the club, too.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t think he’ll be here tonight. He hasn’t been coming out since Mal lost the baby. Cali hinted Mal’s going through a rough time right now. I can’t imagine him coming to an event without her.”

  “True.” He reached over and laid his hand on Kyle’s thigh. “I’d love to have professional pictures of you in rope.” He slowly squeezed his thigh, making Kyle laugh.

  “You just want more naked pics of me.”

  Tris grinned. “Yeah, I do.” Something to look at during the day at work when he had a moment or two to himself and needed to inject a little sanity into his day.

  There weren’t very many people there yet when they pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot. They’d attended munches here before and knew they’d be set up in the back room, so they headed straight there without bothering to wait for a hostess to appear at the greeting station.

  It looked like Ross and Loren were the hosts tonight, and after greeting them Tristan let Kyle decide where to sit. He steered toward a table where two women, apparently not together from how they were seated several spaces apart, were chatting.

  Upon closer inspection, Tris thought he vaguely recognized one of the two women.

  “Hey, there,” Kyle said to them. “Mind if we join you?”

  The one woman looked like she was in her early twenties. The other, the one Tristan thought he recognized, looked like she was closer to their age. Her longish pixie cut and hazel eyes, combined with her sweet, full curves, held his gaze.

  Exactly the kind of woman who could turn his crank.

  She’s the one who smiled at them. “Sure.” She tipped her head. “You look familiar.”

  “I was just thinking that, too,” he said. “Tristan. This is my boyfriend, Kyle. We run the Knotty Fun rope group at Venture.”

  “Ah, okay. Yeah, I remember seeing you around there before. Jessica. Or Jess. I used to have long hair.”

  “Oooh! Yeah. Aren’t you a photographer?”

  “Guilty. I just moved back to Sarasota from Houston after a little over six years.”

  Helloooo, Jessica.

  * * * *

  Kyle perked right up and started paying attention. He was no dummy—Jess was definitely adorable, and exactly Tristan’s type.

  Hmm.

  That’d be irony, to meet the woman of their dreams after finally getting their act together.

  Or maybe it’s just perfect timing.

  He didn’t want to be rude and ignore the other woman—Lindsey—but fortunately, friends of hers showed up, and she started talking to them.

  Leaving Jess all for them.

  “What made you leave Houston?” Kyle asked.

  Her smile flickered. “Hurricane Kiley. The trailer I was renting flooded out. Well, that was on top of me breaking up with the reason I moved to Houston six years ago.”

  “Ah. Sorry about that.”

  “Don’t be. It means I have a life again. And a job. And I broke up with him over a year ago. I just didn’t have a way of moving back before now. Thank goodness for renter’s insurance.” She caught sight of Ted and Mark walking in. “Speaking of a job, there’s my bosses.”

  “Oh, you work for the Collins brothers?” Tristan asked.

  “Yes. Kel introduced me to them.”

  Mark and Ted walked over, but there was only one seat left at their table.

  After Mark and Ted shook with Tristan and Kyle, Mark turned to Jess. “Glad to see you made it.”

  “I figured I needed to get back out if I ever want to start rebuilding my photography portfolio.”

  “You know,” Kyle said, “we’ve been talking about making shibari tutorials to go along with the rope group lessons. Would that be something that would interest you? I mean, we’d pay you, obviously.”

  “Sure!”

  Ted smiled. “We can vouch for these guys. I trust them, and I’ve never heard a bad word about them.” Tony signaled to Ted from the other side of the room. “Sorry, I’m being summoned. Catch you all later.”

  “Thanks, guys,” Jess said.

  That left her to them again. Except then Tony signaled to Tristan. “Excuse me for a moment, too.”

  Kyle damn sure wasn’t complaining at having her alone for a moment to chat.

  All he had to do now was see if they had any chemistry between them. If nothing else, they’d just found their photographer.

  He wouldn’t complain about their luck finally changing for the better, either.

  Especially if it led to something more between all three of them.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jess thought Kyle and Tristan were damn good-looking men. Tristan was a little taller than Kyle, and built slimmer, with dark blond hair and sweet brown eyes. Kyle had killer grey-blue eyes that dampened her panties, the kind that made a girl want to stand up and beg him to let her go down on him. Combined with his brown hair, the dramatic effect made Jess check herself.

  It was nice that Ted and Mark had signed off on the men because it meant one less worry for Jess about the men being serial killers. She vaguely remembered them from when she lived in Sarasota before, but back then she’d been busy working a day job while trying to build her fetish photography portfolio, and that’d been before the men had started running the rope group. She’d seen them at munches, open play sessions, rope classes, and maybe even a private party or two.

  Except…she didn’t remember them being a couple before. In fact, she distinctly remembered seeing Kyle dating a woman in the past.

  Jessica hoped that she didn’t eye-fuck the men too blatantly tonight. They were both hot, and not in a take-home-to-mom kind of way.

  They were hot in a going-to-melt-your-panties-off kind of way.

  Seriously.

  Aaannnd…they’re gay.

  My fucking luck.

  It would seem there was a sadistically random and fickle good-luck finger pointed at her. Sure, we’ll save the important crap from your home for you, and give you a great dog, but your love life is shit. Sorry.

  Sigh.

  She wasn’t going to dwell on it. She’d snagged her vibrators during the initial evacuation, and they made the move to Florida with her. One had fresh batteries, and for the other she had an extension cord that would reach the wall from her bed.

  I’m callin’ it good.

  Spank bank fodder, FTW. She could add the two men to her fantasies of Purson.

  Oooh. A sexy four-way fantasy. Yes, please.

  Maybe that was for the best. Adding a relationship to her life right now wasn’t in the cards.<
br />
  Then Kyle once again focused those piercing eyes on her. Slate grey with hints of sky blue, intense.

  Panty-wetting. “So do you like to bottom for rope? Or do you only photograph it?”

  “Both. Although it’s been too damn long since I’ve done either.”

  “What kind of ties do you like?”

  “Yes.” She smiled.

  He chuckled, glancing down at the table for a moment, and she noticed the smile lines creasing the outer edges of his eyes. That was a good sign, at least.

  He looked up again and met her gaze head-on. “Suspension? Predicament bondage? Decorative ties? Escape challenges?”

  “Yes please, yes, yes, and yes. Just, not crazy predicament bondage, like underwater or something. I saw a guy do that once and while it’s fun to watch others do it, I have no desire to do it. And I’m not as bendy as I once was.”

  “No, I don’t want to do anything that can end in an ER visit or an arraignment hearing.” Another smile.

  “Ditto.”

  Tristan returned from chatting with Tony. “Sorry about that. Where were we?”

  “Starting to sound the waters,” Kyle said.

  “What finally brought you back to Florida?” Tristan asked. “Family?”

  Here’s where she hated getting into the specifics. “Kel sort of lovingly ordered me to.”

  Both men frowned and exchanged dark glances. “Lovingly?” they asked in unison.

  “As a friend,” she quickly added. “Only a friend. We went to school together. High school.”

  Both men relaxed. “Ah,” Kyle quietly said. “You kind of gave me a heart attack there, for a moment. Thought I was going to have to put a beat-down on a buddy.”

  “No, nonono,” she quickly assured him. “Worried brother vibe, trust me. Not…inappropriate. His mom and dad sort of unofficially adopted me when we were in high school. My parents weren’t very…parental. When his parents found out, they kind of made me their honorary daughter. Not like my parents gave a shit if I was home or not.”