"Welcome to Marbled, Dr. Bindre, are you ready to order?"
"Hello, Bindi, yes I am. I'll have the family bowl of Caesar salad, the tureen of black beans and the cowboy cut rib eye—and three plates. I've got friends coming along in a few minutes."
"Wow, I hope they're hungry. The cowboy rib eye alone weighs three pounds. And can I get you a carafe of the house red or maybe a pitcher of beer to start?"
"A pitcher of Horner Gold Lager, I think, and three mugs, please. How are you and the guys coming along?"
"Oh, I keep them in line. If they don't stick to their books I threaten to go sleep with Amanda and they put their noses back on the figurative grindstone. I just wish the men at Arts and Letters were as serious about their studies as the guys over at Tech. When I compare my partners' attitude to what Justin's was when we took Intro to Bondage together, I want to shake my head. I love Sam and Henry but they just aren't as—serious."
Laurie Binder leaned back in the comfortable booth and smiled benignly at the young Indian-American. She remembered watching her and her classmates perform in the 'lab' on closed circuit TV and nodded mentally. While all students at Futter College were required to take twenty-four units of Human Sexuality, the Arts and Letters and the Technical Institute campus pupils took different approaches to the discipline. The A&L kids were just in it to get laid but the techies and engineers put the same effort into quality sex as they did to differential calculus. As an experimental scientist herself, Professor Bindre had a very warm spot in her heart for the TI community, especially young Justin Hightyme.
"Oh, they'll come around, Bindi. Once they graduate and it comes time to earn a living, I expect that your men will do what most all of their predecessors have done, buckle down and get on with life. Sam and Henry will be fine. I'm sure they'll put as much care into keeping you in a lifestyle of comfort as they do in making you scream in ecstasy."
Bindi blushed a darker shade of tan. She'd been voted 'Most likely to break windows' by her classmates and was known campus wide as the screamer's Screamer. She couldn't help it. Orgasms just did that to her, especially when both her partners were doing her together. She put her order pad back into her apron.
"Are these 'friends', Dr. Bindre, or 'friends with benefits', if you don't mind my being nosy?"
"I don't mind, at all, dear, but I suspect that the most accurate term would be 'potential family.' After years of being single I seem to be acquiring a triad of my own. It's quite a surprise, to be honest, but a happy one."
"Well, congratulations. And now I'll go get that pitcher."
Laurie looked around her. Marbled had been a rather ordinary café for ages but after changing owners five years before, it had morphed into the best-reviewed steakhouse in the state. It had augmented the dude ranch and fly-fishing industry becoming quite a tourist draw in its own right and the cowboy rib eye was the chef's signature piece. Local grass fed prime beef cut into what looked like a small prime rib roast seared on a bed of rock salt—you had to either get there on a weekday (like today) or reserve one for the weekend if you wanted it. The thought made her start to salivate just as Willow McAllister blew in the room blowing kisses to everyone she recognized. The curvaceous little blonde hurled herself into Laurie's arms for a passionate hug and then slid across from her in the booth.
"So, where's Jake?"
"He texted me that he was going to stop by the construction site before he came. He should be here any minute. Oh, it's going to be wonderful having our own home, especially since it's next door to you."
Laurie's nose wrinkled mischievously. "You just want to be next door to my basement playroom."
Willow grinned. "Well, I have to admit that it doesn't hurt but I think the best part will be watching you and Jake in bed. You're so endearingly—
normal
. And to think I first believed you to be a genuine dominatrix. Funny how things turn out."
"Willow, are you losing weight?"
"Mm-hmm. The doctor said I that since he expected me to gain when I get pregnant, he wanted me to start lower. I don't think Jake is terribly pleased. He does like the way I jiggle. It's about the only part of spanking me he enjoys though I know he is really turned on when my ass is all red. Oh! Here he comes now."
Professor Jacob McAllister's long frame ambled through the door and across to the two women who shared (and managed!) his life. He bent down to kiss both of them and then slid into the booth next to his wife. A puzzled expression spread across his face.
"Willow, when was a 'small' change made in the blueprints?"
The art historian giggled. "You mean the slight modification to the foundation and basement?"
"Mm-hmm. I'm a little curious as to why there is what looks to be a tunnel between our basement and Laurie's."
Laurie Bindre sucked in both lips between her teeth to keep from laughing out loud. This should be fun to watch, she thought.
Willow's face was the very picture of eyebrow-batting innocence. "Why I should think that would be obvious to any Montana boy. One, when the next blizzard hits, you wouldn't want poor Laurie to get half frozen coming over to 'get warm', would you? And two, it will prevent having to explain things to the police (understanding as they are) why the some neighbor called in that you were carrying me naked and screaming from our house to hers. I don't understand why it wasn't in the original plans, actually."
Very slowly and deliberately, Jake's face went from puzzled to resigned. That was more than either of the women could ignore and they burst out laughing.
"Mercy," Laurie said to Willow, "the stage lost a great comic talent when Jake went into Soil Science. Nobody, and I mean nobody does put-upon like our Jacob."
"Honey," Willow turned to her husband after the giggles subsided, "if it makes it any easier I've decided that while getting clothes-pinned was amazing that one time, from now on I'll be quite content with plain, old spanky in our hanky-panky."
About that time Bindi returned with the pitcher and mugs and poured each of them a drink. They were about to toast the new construction when movement caught Laurie's eye and she looked across the room to a slight, freckled young man walking over to the bar.
"Justin!" she called out and waved him over to join them. Then taking his hand she dragged him into their booth and pulled him next to her before skooching against him, making him blush through his freckles.