Friends Like These Read online

  Still, there were always trade-offs. Friends like these had come into their lives over a long period of time, and in a way that she knew she would not be able to connect with people out in LA. Hell, even when she looked back, she did a lot of vanilla things with her kinky friends. The bulk of her friends were kinksters, actively involved in the local BDSM community, or the Suncoast Society munch group, or both, in many cases.

  Tilly joined her in the kitchen. “Shaping up to be a great party,” she said as she gently bumped hips with her friend.

  “Yeah, it feels good to be around everyone again. I’ve missed this so much.”

  “When do you head back to LA this time?”

  “Next week. The guys are going out first. I need a couple more days here. I’m going to have some routine bloodwork done and go over stuff with my doctor before I head back. It’s not anything the guys need to be there with me for.”

  “Wise. I thought maybe you’d have a doctor lined up out there.”

  Leigh laughed. “Nooo. No, thank you. Hiding a baby bump will be hard enough without trying to sneak in and out of an OB/GYN’s office.”

  Leigh stared down at the counter. “I’m sure tabloid speculation will run rampant once I am showing, tying me to Nick romantically, stuff like that.”

  “Not that it matters.”

  “In this case, it does. We don’t want him to get a bad rep. It doesn’t matter that the rags are trash, we don’t want to damage his rep with the fans. If people think he’s involved in an affair with a married woman who works with him—or worse, they find out we’re a poly triad—it could cause a major PR headache.”

  “I figured stars were more easily able to absorb that kind of press.”

  “If we were both single, sure.” She let out a sigh. “One day, we’ve talked about sitting down and writing a documentary about poly relationships and then revealing our own dynamic. I’d rather focus on the stuff we’re doing now, and the BDSM documentary, and wait on the poly one. It’s weird, but people are okay with kinky sex between two people. You talk about a relationship with three or more partners in it, and everyone loses their shit.”

  Leigh realized who she was talking to. “Then again, I don’t have to tell you that. You’re in the same boat.”

  “Not exactly,” Tilly said. “Not publicly. Everyone at Lan’s offices here and out there know Cris is his partner, and I’m his wife, but beyond that, they don’t ask questions. He pays their salaries. They don’t care what we do in the privacy of our own home as long as they’re getting paid well and on time.” Tilly smiled. “Although he did seem to get a sadistic giggle out of it when he was finally back to work full-time after his treatments and told everyone the news about marrying me.”

  “So how are you doing?” Leigh asked.

  Tilly’s facade faltered the briefest of moments. “Adapting,” she said. “I had it in my head for so many years it wasn’t going to happen, but this made it…real. No turning back. No miracle out of the blue.” She examined her perfectly manicured nails for a moment. “I guess getting Cris back and getting Landry used up my happy-ending quota.”

  Leigh had worried how her friend would react when she spilled the news about her own pregnancy. Before she could say anything else, though, it was like Tilly had clued into Leigh’s thoughts.

  Tilly took her hands in hers. “Hey, you have every right to be happy and celebrate,” Tilly quietly said. “That’s not disrespectful to me. What happened to me is in no way, shape, or form your fault. I am happy to celebrate with you guys.” She grinned. “And I get to be an adopted auntie. I can spoil the little booger rotten, hop him or her up on sugar and caffeine, and send them home to you to deal with.”

  Leigh laughed, hugging her. “You would do that, wouldn’t you?”

  “Uh, yeah. I am a sadist, after all.”

  Chapter Six

  Lucas and Nick set up the second of their two Sybians in the living room for people to use if they wanted, along with a supply of condoms and wipes to use with the various attachments.

  Then it turned out Scrye had brought his Sybian, too.

  Tilly knew from previous parties that the devious machines were always a crowd favorite, and not just for the person perched on top of them, either. It was a fun spectator sport as well.

  And then somebody made the mistake of suggesting a competition. Tilly didn’t quite catch who made the original suggestion, but it spread like wildfire.

  Before long, Kel had Mallory stripped and was easing her down onto one of them, while Derrick had gotten his wife and slave, Marcia, mounted on the other machine.

  Tilly, standing there with her arms crossed, eyed the contestants of the impromptu race. “We missed the boat, Loren,” she said. “Why the hell didn’t we think of adding a Sybian element to the baby shower games? We could have had jockey hats and numbers and everything. We already have plenty of riding crops floating around.”

  Loren shrugged. “I honestly didn’t think of it.” She hooked a thumb at Ross. “I blame him.”

  “Me?” Ross asked. “What’d I do?”

  “You’re the keeper of the kinky lore of our group,” Loren said. “Sir,” she quickly added with a cheeky grin when he arched an eyebrow at her. “It’s your job to remind me and Tilly of stuff like this when we’re trying to come up with entertainment.”

  He scratched at his chin for a moment. “Again, how’d I get volunteered for that position?”

  Loren slipped her arms around his waist. “Because you’re so smart and handsome and dashing?”

  “And I wasn’t born last night,” he snarked, brushing a kiss across her lips. “Sucking up will only get you paddled harder.”

  “Yes, Sir. I know.”

  Landry laughed, then turned to where Abbey and Gilo were standing on his other side and watching the preparations. “So who’s on top tonight?” Landry asked.

  The two of them smiled. “Yes,” they said together.

  “Why?” Gilo asked. “What’d you have in mind?”

  “I was going to see if you wanted to try your luck against Cris riding the Sybians.”

  “Hey,” Cris protested. “How’d I get volunteered for that?”

  Landry’s hand shot out and grabbed a hank of Cris’ hair, pulling him in close, bent over, and head tipped to the side. “What was that, slave?”

  “Um, how’d I get volunteered for that, Master?”

  Landry chuckled. “Exactly. It would amuse me greatly for you to take one for the team.”

  “While I’ll admit those things intrigue me,” Gilo said, “I think you’d have better luck hitting up Max, Sean, and Cali for a taker on that wager.”

  “Hmm, perhaps. Come along, Cris. Let’s go ask them.” He walked off, leading a still bent-over Cris by the hair.

  Abbey laughed. “Wow. You sure threw them under the bus.”

  Gilo grabbed a handful of her hair, tipped her head back, and grazed his lips along the side of her neck. “And who’s to say I’m not about to throw you under the bus, hmm?”

  Abbey let out a whimper. “Yes, Sir.”

  Tilly watched, slowly shaking her head. She’d known Landry wouldn’t volunteer her for a public ride on one of the things. “We switches can get screwed no matter what we do, can’t we?”

  “That’s all part of the fun, isn’t it?” Abbey asked, her voice already sounding slightly slurred from subspace.

  * * * *

  Once the last of the Sybian races had been run, and dinner had been served, Loren and Tilly called for everyone’s attention. Leigh had felt relieved that, so far, everyone had honored Ross’ instructions in the invitation. She’d teared up at how many people had made donations to Hospice in Kaden’s name and brought cards for her and the guys with that noted inside.

  It’d been Loren’s idea, actually. Leigh had worried about how to tactfully handle it. She didn’t want to ask for gifts when she damn well knew they were far better off financially than pretty much all their friends put together, even
including Landry, Cris, and Tilly in that total.

  When Loren had made the suggestion, it seemed the perfect solution. Everyone in their group had either known Kaden personally, or knew of him because of their friendship with Seth and Leah.

  And before the invites had gone out, at one coffee time Leah had approached her privately and hugged her, whispering, “Thank you,” in her ear before quickly walking away and brushing at her eyes.

  Leigh couldn’t imagine—and didn’t want to—losing either of her men. She wouldn’t dream of thinking she had any idea what Leah—and Seth—had gone through. She and Lucas had met Kaden a few times before they—and Seth—dropped out of public events completely as his cancer progressed. But she would never have claimed a friendship with Kaden such as Seth or Tony or Ed or several others could.

  Okay, that is a depressing train of thought.

  Pulling herself back to the present, she listened as Loren, with Tilly for once acting as her assistant, prepped the assembled competitors.

  “Okay, folks,” Loren said. “These first two games are for two-person teams.” Tilly held up an assembled baby bottle and a binder clip while Loren talked. It reminded Leigh of flight attendants giving the safety spiel before takeoff.

  “We’ve substituted binder clips to save you all on dental bills later. Plus, they were cheaper. Not that pervertibles slows any of you kinky freaks down in the first place. One partner will hold the baby bottle thusly and stand at one end of the lanai.”

  Tilly stuck it between her thighs and clamped down on it.

  “The other partner,” Loren continued, “will go to the other end of the lanai, take the stand-in for the nipple clamp, and, well, do the obvious.”

  She looked at Tilly, who frowned and held up the binder clip to Loren. There seemed to be a little bit of silent wrangling going on between the women, each of them giving raised eyebrows to the other before Loren finally rolled her eyes and grabbed the binder clip. She slipped it into her mouth, pinched it open, leaned over, and affixed it to the nipple.

  “See?” she asked when she straightened.

  “That sounds too easy,” Gilo said from where he was watching, arms crossed over his chest. “What’s the catch?”

  “Well, for an added degree of difficulty, the clamper will be blindfolded”—Tilly held up a bandana—“and crawling on their hands and knees, while the clampee will have a pacifier in their mouth to mumble around as they try to give directions to the other one.”

  “How is the winner determined?” Gilo asked.

  Considering Gilo was still in shorts and a T-shirt, and Abbey was in a sundress so short it didn’t hide the fact that she wasn’t wearing any panties, Leigh took an educated guess that Gilo was in Top mode.

  For the moment, at least.

  “Fastest wins,” Loren said, pointing to where the MMA mats had been laid out on the patio. “Extra bonus points for the audience if someone ends up in the pool in the process.”

  “So who’s game?” Tilly asked.

  Lucas, of course, volunteered Nick and Leigh as one of the couples.

  “Oh, and no cheating,” Tilly added. “Thirds—and fourths, in some cases, Essie and crew—aren’t allowed to help out by hollering directions. That’s not fair.”

  “Dammit,” Toby muttered. “Here I thought I had a good idea.” Becca and Logan, his partners, both nodded.

  “I had the same thought, too,” Cody said. “Oh, well, guess we’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way.”

  * * * *

  Nick didn’t know what was funnier, watching Lucas tie on a blindfold for once, or seeing their bear of a friend, Scrye, on his hands and knees with a blindfold and a binder clip in his mouth.

  The other Nick stood next to him to watch his partners, Chelbie and Nick-1’s fraternal twin brother, Rich, take their positions. Kel and Mal were also going to give it a go, as were Gilo and Abbey, Tony and Shayla, Seth and Leah, Toby and Becca, Max and Cali, and Essie and Mark.

  With such a large field of competitors, at first they thought they might need to move the game outside into the private backyard area immediately surrounding the lanai. But with a little bit of reconfigurations of the MMA mats by Ross, Landry, Cris, and Derrick, everyone was soon ready.

  “Okay,” Loren said, holding a three-foot signal whip in her hand. “Ready, set”—she flicked the whip, cracking it. “Go!”

  Both Nicks stood there laughing with the other spectators as the pacifier-hampered mumbling contestants on the far end of the lanai tried to get their other partners coming in the right direction. Which would prove damn near impossible to hear over the laughter and cheering of the spectators. There was a little friendly jostling amongst the men as they blindly crawled their way down the mats on their hands and knees.

  Surprisingly, Scrye was the first to make it to the other end, but Chelbie had to keep dodging him when he mistook her for June, who was now screaming at her husband around her pacifier.

  “I hope June doesn’t swallow that thing,” Nick-1 joked.

  “She’s really competitive,” Nick-2 said. “Sometimes, it’s the tiny ones who surprise you the most with how vicious they are.”

  Despite his early lead, Scrye eventually fell to third place as Tony, then Gilo, managed to get their makeshift nipple clamps attached to the correct bottle before Scrye located June. Lucas and Leigh came in second to last, both of them hampered by laughing, Leigh over what she was seeing, and Lucas over what he was hearing around him.

  Nick was glad to see Leigh smiling and having fun. For the first time in a couple of months, the careworn shadow that had remained tucked around her like a cloak had seemingly vanished. This was the woman he’d first fallen in love with, smiling, laughing, and enjoying herself.

  Now if he and Lucas could just figure out how to keep her that way, to keep her from slipping back into her worry and protective shield that she’d been retreating into, that would be fantastic.

  * * * *

  Landry and Cris decided to participate in game number two, which, from the looks of it, amused Tilly to no end. It wasn’t like they could cheat, either. No air pumps were allowed, it had to be done all by mouth.

  Leigh sat this one out with Tilly and Loren, watching Lucas and Nick grab one of the six blow-up dolls. Max and Sean decided to pair up for this one, along with Eliza and Rusty, and Josh and Ted Collins. Gabe and Bill rounded out the contestants for that game.

  As the competitors found places to sit on the pool deck, Loren held up her hand to call for their attention.

  “Here’s the rules,” she said. “The dolls must be completely blown up before the diapering,” she said. “No half-assed kind of blown up. I am the final judge of what’s properly blown and what’s not. So not only must you blow up the doll, then you must get the diaper on it. Which, if you’ll notice, we’ve modified.”

  They had. The pull-up adult diapers had been slit up each side, and the contestants had each been provided with two safety pins.

  “Now, keep in mind, if anyone pokes a hole in their blow-up doll, that disqualifies them even if they’d gotten it blown up first. So take your time with the diapering, people. Ready? And three…two…one… blow!”

  More laughter ensued from the spectators, as well as the participants, as the teams started huffing and puffing and inflating their obscene baby stand-ins.

  “Come on, Cris,” Loren joked. “You can blow better than that.” He was already red in the face as Landry sat there holding the limp doll, trying to make it as easy as possible to get it inflated. The contestants had to switch off frequently or risk wearing themselves out, but five minutes later, several of the teams had recognizable sex toys taking shape in their laps.

  “This’ll be a good one,” Tilly snarked to her friends. “Lan and Cris, to my knowledge, have never diapered a baby before.”

  “How many of the Doms will have to fight the urge not to poke the pin into the doll, do you think?” Leigh joked.

  Loren let out an amused s
nort. “All of them.”

  In another ten minutes, Rusty and Eliza had their doll properly inflated and Eliza quickly pinned the diaper onto it. They held up their hands and cheered as Loren went over and poked at the doll with her finger to check for proper inflation.

  “We have a winner!” she declared.

  “Whoo hoo!” Rusty cheered. Dressed in nothing but a tiny mankini, he grabbed the inflated blow-up doll, tossed it into the pool, jumped in after it, and proceeded to use it as a raft, much to the amusement of everyone else.

  Eliza slowly shook her head. “Is my prize handing him off to someone else for the evening?” she asked Loren.

  “Sorry, but no.”

  “Dammit,” she playfully muttered.

  Actually, the prizes were expensive boxes of gourmet chocolate assortments Leigh had picked up at a specialty boutique out in LA and had overnighted back to Florida.

  Cris and Landry came in a close second, with Gabe and Bill in third. By the time everyone was finished, there were six blow-up sex dolls floating in the pool, one being ridden by Rusty.

  Leigh watched as Tilly cocked her head and studied the tableaux.

  “What?” Leigh asked her. “I know that look.”

  “Oh, just thinking about future party games,” she said.

  “Like what?”

  Tilly pointed. “Wet, naked pool rodeo. Maybe have people on sex dolls and race back and forth in the pool.”

  “Is there anything you can’t pervert?” Leigh teased.

  “Well, I think sex dolls are already pervertibles, if you want to get technical. And to answer your question, no. You know what Tony always says. If you can’t pervert something, you just aren’t kinky enough.”

  Chapter Seven

  Leigh was pleasantly surprised to find herself enjoying the evening without worrying about work or how much e-mail was piling up in her account. It was good to have all her friends there, smiling, happy, having fun.