Daye, Rainey - An Unconventional Love (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (37 page)

“Maggie, baby, you’re rambling,” Alex interrupted her.

“Well, duh! I’m PMSing! Do I have to actually spell it out for you?” she cried, embarrassed and exasperated.

Alex burst into laughter on the other side of the phone. “No, baby,” he said, getting his mirth under control when Maggie growled at him for laughing. “I’m gonna tell you something, but I don’t want you to take it the wrong way, okay? I don’t want you to get mad or embarrassed.”

“I can’t make that promise,” she replied truthfully.

“Okay, it can wait then. In the meantime, don’t worry. I won’t show up before next Tuesday, I promise.”

“When are you coming here?” Maggie wanted to know.

“I’d rather it be a surprise like Jess’s visit was,” Alex said.

“Okay. Oh, well, what the hell, tell me what you were going to earlier, then.”

“Maggie…”

“No, really. Do I always react the way you think I will? You won’t know if I’ll get mad or embarrassed until you tell me. And if you don’t tell me now, I’ll probably obsess over whatever it is and pester you to tell me when you get here and then it will probably mar our time together. So let’s just get it out of the way, okay?”

A long silence followed, and she knew that Alex was considering telling her. A long sigh then indicated that he was going to, so she braced herself for whatever he was going to say.

“Okay, just keep in mind the Scout motto, okay?”

“Be prepared? Okay.”

“All right then,” Alex said and took a deep breath. “Jess and I track your cycle.”

“Huh?”

“Your period, sweetheart. After we had that argument in the car and you mentioned PMS, I got to thinking, and I realized that we would have to take your cycle into account in the future. Be aware that some days we
would
have to walk on eggshells around you. Be aware that on some dates you wouldn’t want to proceed past second because it was that time of the month, or might not be in the mood for any fooling around at all. We figured that it would be better to know going in when that time was rather than you having to inform us. You know, to save you from embarrassment if you were uncomfortable telling us you were on your period, and keep us from letting our libidos get out of hand.”

Maggie’s cheeks were indeed flaming as she realized that her lovers probably knew her cycle better than she did. “I didn’t realize guys do things like that,” Maggie said carefully.

“Well, I’m sure most guys don’t when they are dating. But if they’re living with a girl? I don’t think they can help but be aware of her cycle. And I sure as hell remember my dad being well aware of what days he should probably work late at the office,” Alex said with a bit of dark humor in his voice. “I think being tuned into your partner’s cycle is just part and parcel of having a long-term relationship. And since the three of us are in a committed relationship and actively dating, well, it behooves us to keep track. To know what nights we can safely seduce you together, which nights you wouldn’t mind one of us slipping into your bed while you were sleeping. And with your six weeks at your folks’ house, when the best time would be to visit.”

“Oh”

“Are you mad? “Alex asked softly.

“No.”

“Are you embarrassed?”

“A bit.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. If I think about it rationally, then I would have to say that it is a mark of a good boyfriend that he is so deeply aware of his girlfriend. And I’m looking over a copy of the e-mail I sent you as we speak, and I’m cringing at what I wrote. No wonder you were so worried. It reads as if I’d lost my mind.”

“Well, if it’s any consolation, only intense situations seem to trigger PMS on your part. But I thought it only manifested as anger. You’re not usually as crazed as that e-mail makes you seem to be, which is why it never occurred to me that that was the problem.”

“Well, I’m just glad that you called to check in on the crazy lady before rushing off to the airport and flying here,” Maggie said. “And I really am sorry for having worried you.”

“And I’m sorry that I caused you unnecessary worry. If I had told you this sooner, then there would have been no call for alarm on your part.”

“Or if you had just bothered to tell me when you’re coming here, then I wouldn’t have panicked like I did.”

“Touché, sweetheart,” Alex said. “But I really do want it to be a surprise. And if it helps, you now know that I hadn’t planned on showing up prior to next Sunday after all.”

“Yeah, well, I’m PMSing, remember? Not really appreciating it right now.”

“I know. Sorry. But Mags,” Alex said.

“Yeah?”

“I’m missing you like crazy.”

“You mean you’re horny,” Maggie said drily.

“No. I mean that I miss you. I miss spending time with you. And if I have to prove it by showing up in a couple of days, I will.”

“Don’t you dare, Alex Cavalerri! I fully intend to enjoy your body every single day that you are here, and you will
not
deny me that pleasure. Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am. I won’t arrive before next Sunday. I promise.”

“Will I see you on Sunday?” she asked.

“To paraphrase you, I will not allow you to deny me the pleasure of surprising you. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir!” Maggie laughed.

Alex sighed in relief. “I can’t wait to see you, sweetheart.”

“Me neither,” Maggie said softly before they hung up, and she went upstairs to cry, deciding that if she actually was PMSing, then crying seemed the thing to do right now.

* * * *

Maggie spent the next couple of days trying to think of places to take Alex when he came to visit. Yeah, she’d show him the same sights around town that she had shown to Jess. But it was the private places that she could take him to that were giving her heartburn. It just seemed really slutty to take him to the same places where she had made love to Jess. When they were alone together, thoughts of the other weren’t supposed to intrude. And she knew they would if she took him to the same places.

Sighing, she reflected that it really sucked to live in a small town. There were only so many places where you could be intimate with someone. Yeah, sure, she’d been to Lover’s Lane with Troy and a couple of others before, and she hadn’t even thought of them at all while she was having her wicked way with Jess. But Jess and Alex were both her present, not her past like the others were, so she vetoed that idea. There was another section to Lover’s Lane, though, so if she took Alex there, then it might not be a problem. And of course she had every intention of spending mornings in bed with him. Damn. Now she was starting to get a headache on top of the heartburn. Talk about slutty. Doing two different guys in her brother’s old bed!

“You all right, Maggie?” Troy asked her as he slid onto the barstool next to her in Donovan’s Pub where she and a couple of girlfriends were having drinks.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks,” Maggie said, offering him a wan smile. Although Troy had taken the hint and hadn’t made any moves on her or approached her in any way that could be construed as anything but friendship, she was still uneasy, especially since she hadn’t even given him a chance to clarify any intentions that he might have toward her. And not wanting to lead him on in any way, she hadn’t asked him any personal questions about himself and what he’d been up to for the past year.

“You look pensive. Anything I can do to help?”

Maggie almost laughed hysterically as the thought,
Yeah, tell me where I can take my lover when he gets here where we can have down-and-dirty sex in a place where I won’t feel like I’m cheating on my
other
lover
, flashed through her mind. She desperately swallowed back the snort brought on by that thought and choked on her drink. Troy immediately whacked her on the back until she could breathe clearly again.

“Thanks,” she gasped.

“No problem. Talk to me, Mag-pie,” he said, using his old nickname for her. “Maybe I can help.”

“It’s stupid and nothing I would want to bother you with.”

“Hey, it’s what friends do for each other. Bother away,” he said with an easy grin.

“Okay. You asked for it,” Maggie sighed and took a deep breath. “Okay, you met my roommate, Jess, right?”

“Yeah,” Troy said slowly. “Did he do or say something that upset you before he left?”

“What? Oh, no, that’s not it. It’s just that he told me that my other roommate was also planning on stopping by some time. To meet my folks, reassure them in the flesh that he’s a good guy, see where I come from, things like that. And he’ll be staying for a week just like Jess did.”

“Okay, so what’s the problem? Don’t you get along with Alex? Is his girlfriend giving you grief? Are you afraid that his visit here will cause problems with her?”

“No, not at all. His girlfriend is really cool with everything. My concern is that Alex is going to be bored spending a week here. There’s not much town, and showing him around will only take a day. He’s a bit more intense than Jess. Jess is so laid-back and easygoing that he’s comfortable wherever he is, but Alex…” Maggie trailed off, shaking her head.

“So, you’re trying to come up with activities that will keep Alex occupied and interested during his visit?” Troy asked.

“Exactly.”

“Well, what kinds of things does this Alex like? I heard the stories, so I know it’s his house you live in. He might not come from a lot of money himself, but he’s used to being around it. Is he a city guy? Likes the hustle and bustle and all that? A jock? What?”

“Well, Alex can actually surprise you. We went horseback riding together once because his girlfriend is scared of horses”—Maggie fudged a little with the pronoun—“and I’ve also gone to the zoo with him, because his girlfriend doesn’t care for that. You see, his Aunt Ida used to take him all the time so going to the zoo is now his way of honoring her, and since I’m also living in her house now, I thought it would be a great way for me to honor her, too.”

“That’s really very sweet,” Troy remarked.

“Yeah, Alex really is very sweet. They both are.”

“I’m glad you have such good friends, Maggie. I’ll confess that I was worried about you going so far away to college. I’m glad they’ve taken you under their wings.”

“So am I. And that’s why it’s so important to me to make sure Alex has a good time while he’s here.”

“Well, you mentioned horseback riding and the zoo. Old Man Tucker has horses. We could probably get a group together and go riding. Tucker won’t mind. In fact, he’d be grateful that we’re exercising his horses for him.”

“Well, that’s a thought,” Maggie said slowly, not that keen on spending time with Alex in a group setting when it was a private setting she was searching for.

“And there’s a zoo about four hours north of here. Didn’t your parents take you there all the time?”

“Yeah, we usually made a weekend trip out of it several times a year.”

“Well, there’s two things you can do with him. And if he likes to fish, there’s the lake,” he continued as Maggie quickly took another drink to hide her blush as thoughts of what she had done with Jess at the lake flashed through her mind. No, she really didn’t want to take Alex to the lake.

“What about the reservoir? Alex likes to swim,” she mused.

“And Tom Hunter’s dad bought an old boat that he repaired and remodeled over the winter, and now he rents it out as a party boat,” Troy said enthusiastically.

Maggie nodded slowly, thinking that these were excellent suggestions to fill the days with a
platonic
friend, but it still didn’t solve the problem of alone time with her boyfriend. Unless…