Abbey and the Partners

"Of course I remember, Will. That's why I chose this place to celebrate."

"Back then, I was trying to hide how nervous I was."

"So was I. You weren't my first recruit, but close to it."

"I had no idea what I was doing when we first met, but you helped me relax, Abbey. Gave me confidence that I could handle a career change."

At their cozy table in the middle of the quiet restaurant, Abbey rested her fork on her dinner plate. "Now look at you. Not even ten years later, co-owner of my firm's spin-off event company."

Will held her gaze. "Thanks to you. I now hold a small slice of a large pie."

"You earned it, partner."

"You trusted me."

"I had to trust someone. To grow the business the way I want to, experimenting with untested ventures in exotic locales, I couldn't do this alone anymore."

Will folded his napkin. "By the way, the twins keep asking when you're going to join us for lunch again."

"Anytime they like. Nine-year-olds are more fun than I remember."

"They were on their best behavior on Saturday, I made sure of it."

"You're a good dad."

"I'm such a good dad, I planned ahead of time to have them stay with their grandparents this week, since I worked late last week. Launching a new business is a trial."

"It doesn't have to be, Will."

"I presume I will meet Amelia at the wedding?"

"She and my mother are visiting next week for Thanksgiving. Would you lot fancy a Black Friday afternoon leftovers potluck at my place? I could cook something kid-friendly."

"We will be there."

The waiter whisked away their entree settings and swiftly returned with their dessert order.

Abbey watched Will dig in.

"Jed's here to stay?" he asked smoothly, dipping a bursting cherry into whipped cream.

"He misses the pace of D.C., but Oakland is growing on him. We closed on the bungalow, and we're moving in as soon as possible. It's been a long time since we have lived in the same time zone, much less the same house."

Will took him time polishing off his graham cracker crust before posing his next question. "You're really going to marry him?"

"We're ring shopping this weekend. Finding one for him, and resizing mine." She pinched the skin near her knuckle. "His mother's fingers are smaller than my chubby mitts."

"Making it official official."

"We need each other. Jed and I."

"I've said it before: Jed is a lucky man."

"I'm a fortunate lady myself, Will."

"Two new partnerships in such a short time. Actually, three, counting your joint venture with Hayes and her Pixie-Bob operation. Having your cake and eating it, too."

"I never ate the cake. I looked. I have done a lot of looking. I never touched. No matter how much I wanted to."

"Abbey. You could have touched. Eaten. Indulged. Nobody has to know."

"I would know."

"You hold yourself to an impossible standard."

"If I truly want something, then I devise a way to get it. So if I never indulged, then I never truly..." Abbey kept her eyes on her untouched slice of chocolate decadence.

"You stay true to your heart." Will wiped his pink lips with his cloth napkin. "But, without a doubt, the cake has always been ready."

"I have made my decision. Monogamy suits me."

"It looks good on you. Too bad your position has been filled."

"Jed is the best person for the job."

"Guess it takes a king to tame a queen."

"Tame? Like I'm a wild horse?"

"Couldn't drag me away." He released a sigh. "I understand the situation, Abbey. I'm happy that you are happy. I accept my role. It's cleaner this way. Separation of church and state, so to speak."

She nodded. "Keeping the line uncrossed. Because if I begin to unpack the conflicting emotions that threaten to spill out every time I daydream about... I would collapse into a puddle on this floor."

"I would catch you. Pick you up. Hold you. If you let me."

She placed her hand over her pounding heart. "Will, I have to--"

"Go," he agreed. "I will take care of this."

Abbey rose from her warm seat. She opened her mouth to speak. Instead of words coming out, tears stung her eyes.

"We're good," Will assured. "It will be okay."

Abbey silently searched for a response.

When she couldn't find one, she left.

...

"Deeper, Jed."

Sprawled on her back, brown thighs spread, feet in the air, Abbey urged her partner further inside her aching canal.

On top of her, making the bed undulate with his thrusts, Jed angled his dick to grind her spot, gyrating his tool like a butter churn.

Abbey moaned as he filled her up, her natural breasts bobbling, each rotation dragging her closer to bliss.

Knees digging into the mattress, he pulled her hips to meet his pelvis, his toned cheeks clenching as he rocked his shaft against her slick walls, unable to hold back any longer.

Their naked, sweaty bodies slapped together, shaking as their orgasms crested and crashed in alternating rhythms, covering each other with their amalgamated cum.

Jed slid out of Abbey and rested next to her anxious form. "What's wrong, Abs?"

She exhaled, then stroked the graying hairs on his dripping chest. "What do you mean?"

He looked at her pensive face. "I love making you cum, and three times isn't even close to our nightly record, but after you came home from dinner, your pussy has been squeezing my cock like your life depended on it."

"I have a lot on my mind."

Jed sat up and leaned back on the pillows. "You're in love with him."

"What? Who?"

"Will. You are in love with Will."

Abbey met him where he was. "I am attracted to him. Love is a bit much. I didn't know how to tell you."

Jed smiled. "You are the only one who thinks it is a secret. It's obvious to everyone that Will adores you as well."

Abbey covered her reddening cheeks. "I feel so stupid. Such a dummy."

He put his arm around her damp shoulders. "Don't say that about my best friend."

"Don't you feel hurt? Betrayed?"

"Because you are enticed by one of your male employees, whom you hired for your escort company specifically to seduce successful women like yourself?"

"Well, when you say it out loud... Wait. Is this a way to absolve yourself of your own dalliances?"

"I will concede that other people, women, have caught my eye over the years."

"And?"

"Nothing has changed, no matter how far apart you and I have been for two decades. I have been tempted, yet I've never gone through with it. No one compares to you, Abbey."

She nuzzled his arm.

He wrapped the other limb around her torso. "What have you two done about it so far?"

"Nothing. We are friends."

"Even after--"

"That stunt you pulled a while ago? Roping Will and two of my other co-workers into watching me ride you in my office? Were you trying to bring something to a head?"

Jed furrowed his brow. "That would have been a good idea, huh? Subconsciously, I guess, maybe? I just thought it would be fun. Clearly I'm not an insidious mastermind."

"It worked."

"Be honest with me, and with yourself, Abbey: do you want a sexual relationship with Will?"

"Honestly, I can't say yes or no. And that confuses me, because, according to the evidence, the answer should be yes. And you should be angrier than you are. Why are you so peaceful?"

"Compared to the depraved situations I've witnessed on the Beltway, this is refreshingly wholesome."

"I'm surprised you are not jealous."

"You and me both. Maybe I am getting soft in my old age."

"We're barely in our mid-40s." She caressed his crotch. "And you're not soft yet."

Jed plucked a tissue from the bedside table to wipe the droplets from Abbey's forehead. "You're so earnest. If this is something you want, let's make it happen. Try dating Will."

"So that you can date someone--"

"This isn't about me. The two of us, we're forever ever, with or without an overpriced ceremony."

"You want me to get him out of my system before the wedding?"

"Abbey. What do you want?"

She pulled her knees to her chin. "I need time to mull this over. Then, I need to talk with both of you at the same time."

"Invite him over for dinner tomorrow night. I'll cook."

"You are going to make us a meal? And he is going to come here? To my place? This isn't neutral turf. Would he be okay with that?"

"If you told Will to meet you at the bottom of the ocean, he'd beat you there, wearing flippers and a snorkel. Of course, I'd be right behind him wearing a wetsuit and a SCUBA tank, but that's not the point."

Abbey grinned behind her legs. "Isn't it?"

...

"As you can see in the chart I have drawn, Jed is under Pleasure, and Will is under Business. Separate. Although, I do have fun with my employees at work. In a nonsexual way. And I did help Jed find a location for his new office. I should write those in."

Abbey scrawled on the rolling whiteboard in the living room of her condo, while a bemused Will and Jed observed her machinations from their languid positions on the couch.

"Also, keeping up appearances. My colleagues would spread rumors that I handed Will a partnership because I was sleeping with him."

"They have already said those words to my face, and we've never even kissed," Will rebutted.

"When did you start caring about what other people think?" Jed inquired, shoving an accent pillow behind his back. "And aren't these colleagues either your clients or your employees?"

"Who," Will reminded, "by definition, are exchanging sexual favors with each other for money?"

"While you, Abbey," Jed continued, "have been intimately linked with only one person--me--over the past two decades? Compared to them, you're practically a nun."

"What about Brielle?" she aimed at Will.

"I will talk with Brielle. Like I told you, she and I are not exclusive. We both date other people. Well, she has, while the only other person I have wanted to date has been unavailable. Until tonight."

"The stars are aligning in your favor, Abs," Jed declared.

Abbey set the dry erase markers on the rail. "It's not that simple.

"It could be."

"If you let it."

She eyeballed the man who shared her business.

Then she scrutinized the man who shared her home.

Both of them appeared too calm, too casual, too smug for her liking.

Abbey turned on her heel and beelined toward the kitchen sink.

"These dishes aren't going to wash themselves."

...

"I have changed my decision."

In the middle of her bed, Abbey tapped Jed on the nose. "Wake up, I am making a declaration."

Jed yawned, his tongue sticky with morning breath and various fluids from the night before. "I'm listening."

"I am open to taking Will as a lover, while keeping you as my fiancé/husband."

Jed frowned. "Did that need to be said out loud, considering?"

On the other side of Abbey, Will twirled his finger through her dark curls. "I prefer the term 'stable boy'."

"More stable than me," Jed quipped.

"How about 'paramour'?"

"How about 'boyfriend'?" Abbey stuck out her hand.

Will shook it. "Done." Then he high fived Jed. "Bro, you sure you're cool with this?"

"I'm never sure of anything. But getting a front seat in Abbey's harem is going to be quite a ride."

"Two dudes does not a harem make," Abbey pouted.

"Then we'd better get recruiting!" Will jested. "That goes on the business side of the board."

Jed chuckled.

"Eat me," Abbey retorted with an eye roll.

Both of her partners dove under the sheets. "Gladly."

"Wait, wait." She pushed their heads away from her moistening crotch. "What are you two to each other?"

"Please don't say Eskimo brothers," Jed mumbled, his tongue lunging toward Abbey's outer lips.

"The luckiest men?" Will offered.

Abbey released their heads. "Continue."