Friends With Benefits (27 page)

Sis, can I ask you something? Do you and John ever…experiment? You know, play out some of your fantasies? Tyler and I had been talking a lot about ours—about the things we’d like to try, wondering if it might spice things up a bit. Nothing too serious, not whips and chains or anything. But maybe a blindfold or role playing, or…sharing.

Do you know what I mean? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be with another man? I’m not talking about an affair; I’m talking about you and John inviting somebody you trust into your bedroom.

Well…We did it. I did it. Steph, I’ve had sex with another man…
am
having sex with another man. Two men, actually—Tyler and Connor. Oh. My. God. It’s…it’s amazing. Hot. Erotic.

Connor’s been living with us since the start of the summer. We’ve done things…oh, Steph, the things those two gorgeous men have done to me. And they treat me like a princess. Last night we went to this private club. OMG. I can’t tell you the details, but let’s just say it’s hot, and I combusted. Afterwards, back at home, they took me places that left me feeling like a puddle of melted chocolate. I’ve never felt so loved.

But, I’m not sure where we go from here.

Angela had ended the letter there. She picked up her pen to continue.

Unfortunately, Connor’s ex showed up at our front door this morning. What if she wants him back? What if he leaves? I’m not ready for him to leave. I know this was only supposed to be temporary, a summer to explore our fantasies. But…

Can I tell you a secret?

Stephanie, I think I’ve fallen in love with my husband’s best friend.

Angela looked up from the pages in her hands. In her mind, she pictured the woman Connor had once, or maybe still, loved. Beautiful, sexy Cindy standing on her front porch in her short skirt, high heels, her breasts overflowing from the scooped neckline of the blouse she’d been wearing. She must really care about him to have come all this way after they’d been apart for such a long time. Had he called her?

Jealousy flared, bright and hot, but she shoved it aside. He’d had a life before them. He would have a life after them.

The question remained, how long did she
have left with Connor in
her
life?

Chapter Twenty-Five

Tyler paced in the den. After Cindy’s visit, Angela had hidden upstairs and Connor had stormed out back to the pool, to sit slumped in a chair, a beer in one hand, staring off into space. They’d been together for weeks now. Tyler could see the affection growing between them. Unless he missed his guess, Angela loved Connor and he loved her. Neither had admitted it, but the looks that passed between them, the touches they shared—he’d noticed the little things. Angela brushing Connor’s hair out of his eyes, going on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, going out of her way to make his favorite meals.

With Connor, he’d seen the glassy look in his friend’s eyes. The bulge in his pants every time Angela walked into the room. He noticed the soft touches at her lower back, the massaging of her shoulders when he stood behind her, or gave her a peck on the top of her head while he wrapped his arms around her from behind.

Hell, her parents had come to expect Connor to be there when they visited, though they didn’t have a clue about the extent of their relationship.

Tyler was so close to realizing his dream. He looked out the window and noticed Connor talking on his cell. By the gesturing, he got the distinct impression his friend was not happy. When Connor jumped out of his chair and appeared to be yelling into the phone, Tyler left the den and hurried outside.

As soon as he opened the sliding patio door, Connor’s angry words blasted him.

“Look, Mr. Tormonte, I have no intention of rekindling my relationship with your daughter. I told you, it ended a long time ago.” He paused. “I don’t care what she’s told you. My project with you has nothing to do with her. We’ve been through this. I respect you. I know the influence you have and your reach in the industry, and you know I do damn good work. All I want from you is your reference after this project is completed so I can get my business off the ground.”

Tyler slowed his steps. Cindy’s father was the person Connor worked for?

“You hired me for this project because you know I can make it happen. That hasn’t changed.”

Connor had his back to him, but Tyler sensed the tension radiating off him. So the ex was manipulating him through her father?

“Keep the O’Neil’s out of this.”

Tyler’s ears perked up.

“If she or you say one word that threatens my friends or their business—” Connor glanced down at his watch. “Fine. I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

Tyler backed up a step to stay out of view.

“I said I’d be there, but she’d better not be,” Connor went on. “This is between you and me.”

Tyler’s own rage began to build. Anger that this woman and her father dared to put his best friend in a position to test his professional ethics.

“I’m in love with another woman. I’ve already told you—and I believe I was crystal clear—I refuse to be coerced.”

Elation whipped through Tyler at hearing those words. He turned and hurried back inside, giving Connor privacy to conclude his conversation.

He knew it. Now he needed to get Angela to admit it too and they could move on and live as a true threesome.

* * *

“What do you mean, you’re leaving?”

“Would you please keep your voice down?” Connor glared at Tyler. “I can’t stay, man. I’m sorry.”

“But things are great between us. I heard you say you loved her.”

Connor stopped pacing. “When did you hear that?”

A chagrinned look crossed Tyler’s face, then he sobered, and the expression was replaced with one of determination. “I went outside and overheard you on the phone. You said you were in love, and not with Cindy. Unless you’ve been spending your nights somewhere other than in Angela’s bed, I assume you’re in love with my wife.”

Connor rubbed the back of his neck, working to rid it of the tension that had taken up residence there. “I do. But I respect your relationship with your wife and our friendship more. I won’t mess with that.”

Connor looked at his friend and then turned his head toward the window. His gaze clung to the reds and yellows of the setting sun. Regret sat like a stone in his gut. His heart bled. “Walking away from my best friend and the only woman I’ve…” He bowed his head. “You and Angela mean far too much to me, Tyler. I will not stand by and let vindictive and closed-minded people destroy your reputation in this community because of me.”

“We don’t give a damn what other people think.” Tyler’s voice shook with emotion.

Connor stared his friend in the eye. “But I do.”

Tyler stood tall, his fists clenched, a clear sign of his anger. Not at him, but at the situation.

Connor sighed and his nostrils flared when the scent of apple filtered into the room, overtaking the fading aroma of lemon furniture polish. His body reacted as it did every time she came near him—growing hard and hot.

“What about me? I guess I don’t have any say in this.”

At the soft-spoken query Connor spun on his heel to face the woman he loved. He closed his eyes against the confusion etched on her face, and the pain tearing her eyes. He hated hurting her most of all.

“I can’t stay.” His words came out a whisper.

“I thought you liked being with us. I thought you cared about us. About me.”

Connor’s frustration poured out, his tone harsher than he intended. “Don’t you see? It’s because I care that I need to leave, Angela. You’ve seen how people have reacted to the three of us.”

“They were reacting to rumors and innuendo.”

“Damn it.” Frustration pushed the words from Connor’s throat. Anger forced them out louder than he wanted. “What happens if you get pregnant? What would happen then? The possibility of our children being ridiculed by ignorant people makes me ill.” His chest tightened. He’d planned for this to be quick and had purposefully sought out Tyler in private to avoid putting her through this. But who was he kidding? He hadn’t wanted to see her face when he told her good-bye. “Christ, we haven’t even told your parents the truth.”

“You’re right. Maybe we haven’t handled this situation the way we should have. I haven’t told my parents, but I did tell my sister. And you know what I told her, Connor?”

He peered at her from under his lashes.

“I told her that I love you. I do. I love what the three of us have. I don’t want it to end. I don’t want you to leave.” Her eyes shimmered with tears.

“Listen to her, Connor.” Tyler moved across the room to join his wife. His arm snaked around her waist. He used his thumb to wipe away the tears streaming down her cheeks. “We—all three of us—can survive whatever people say. We can raise our children to do the same. It’s only because it’s new and different. In time, something else will catch their attention.”

“Fuck. I’m damned either way. If I stay here, I lose my chance at having my own firm. Everything I’ve worked for goes down the drain. If I go, I lose the both of you. But I’ll lose you regardless because Cindy and her father won’t let me walk away that easily. They’ll destroy your reputation, and your business will suffer, Tyler. I can’t let that happen. Your friendship means too much for me. I don’t want you to end up hating me.”

“Please, Connor. Don’t go.” Angela’s voice broke on a sob.

* * *

The pain of Connor’s announcement on Angela’s face was almost too much for Tyler to bear. Angela loved Connor and Connor loved Angela.

“I don’t want to come between the two of you,” Connor whispered.

“You’re not.” Angela sniffled and moved forward, her arms out to embrace Connor. But when he put his hand out to stop her, Tyler watched them fall to hang limp at her sides.

“Please, don’t. If I hold you now, I won’t stop.”

“But…”

“No, Angela, please. This is for the best.”

“The best for whom?” Tyler ached for his wife and his best friend. They had no idea the bond this type of relationship offered on a long-term basis.

“For all of us, Ty.” Connor’s shoulders heaved with his heavy sigh. “Look, it rips my guts out to witness Angela being shunned by other women in the neighborhood, or potentially by her family.”

“My parents would get over it,” Angela said with force. “And, you know what? I don’t give a damn what my neighbors think of me.”

“Angela…”

“No, you’ve had your turn, now you listen to me.” She stepped up to Connor and poked him in the chest with her finger. “I don’t plan to flaunt our relationship, but I don’t plan on hiding it either. I’m tired of hiding. If somebody asks, I’ll tell them I live with two men. If they have a problem with that, they can go fuck themselves. They don’t know what they’re missing.”

Tyler chuckled. He loved it when his wife got all riled up.

“I loved our night out at The Vault,” she went on. “I would suggest that if we want to be more demonstrative in public, we go there. What we do on our own property, and in the privacy of our home, is
our
business.”

“What if you get pregnant?” Tyler understood Connor’s question, and he already had an answer, but he wanted to hear Angie’s first.

“Then that child will be extremely lucky to have three loving parents. I will do what I can to give each of you your own child, but it doesn’t matter which one of you ends up the biological father, you’ll both be their dad.”

“It isn’t normal.”

“By whose standards?” asked Tyler. It was time he came clean with them.

“Oh, I don’t know. The public? The law?”

Tyler sucked in a deep breath, ready to bare his family’s secret and his own dream. “I grew up in a ménage household.”

“Excuse me?” Angela parroted Connor. They both spun to face him, stunned expressions on their faces.

“I have two fathers and one mother.”

“Then who’s Michael?”

“Both Michael and Daniel are my fathers. I don’t even know which one of them is my biological father, and I don’t care to find out.” The fact he looked more like his mother had never caused him to guess which man helped to create him. As far as he and his parents were concerned, it took three very special people to do the task.

“But your mother’s never said anything. You’ve never…”

Tyler shrugged one shoulder. “It’s not something we discuss in the open, and we’ve never said anything to suggest our family’s situation was any different from most. We simply let people assume what they wanted.”

Confusion marred Angela’s face. “I’ve never heard you call Michael dad.”

“Sure you have. You’ve just assumed I was referring to Daniel.”

“And your sister?”

“What about her? It’s how we grew up, Angela. We had a great life, and our parents loved us—all three of them.”

“Why didn’t you say anything before now? We’ve been married seven years.”

Was she angry? Did she think he’d lied to her? “It was my parents’ decision, not mine. I respected their choice, Angela. At the time, they didn’t want anything to come between us, or you and them. You know it’s a different type of relationship to most people. To me, it’s the way they raised me. For years, we kept a lid on it. My parents had trouble too, but like you said, it was their personal business—their secret to tell when the timing seemed right. To this day, we don’t really discuss it, but that’s because it’s just normal to us, so we don’t see a reason to bring it up in conversation.”

Tyler reached out to grasp her hands within his and pulled her close. “When I fell in love and married you, it was the happiest time of my life. I didn’t start our relationship knowing I’d ever consider bringing a third into it.”

“You orchestrated this whole thing, didn’t you?” Connor said, flatly.

Tyler’s gaze shifted to meet his friend’s eyes. He searched Connor’s face, trying to determine the depth of his sense of betrayal.