It was our third night in Greece, as a three. We'd gone to the beach, we'd gone to see the tourist sights, we'd gone on a picnic and we'd gone dancing. Now we were walking slowly along a quiet street at night, taking in the stars as much as we were able with the town lights, and enjoying being quiet together.
I'd had more fun the last three days with these two than I'd ever had at any other point as an adult. Coming to Greece for three weeks had been my 25th birthday present to myself. It was coming to a close in 36 hours. Assos lived here but had slid casually into conversation that he was not tied down here and had wanted to try living in a different country for a few years now and America seemed as fine a place to do that as any other.
Miden was here on work. He wouldn't tell us what work, apart from he worked for a private security company and he was one of the odd job men, meaning there were many areas he could do and kinda just went where and did what they needed when no one else was able to cover it. He politely but firmly said his contracts specified privacy and it differed from job to job but mostly there wouldn't be much he could share each time, sometimes not even location.
He'd felt brittle as he said it, even though his voice was polite and warm and his body language open as he held the glass of bourbon he'd been about to sip from.
At that time I'd been curled up in Assos' lap, all of us in my room, a comedy playing in the background, and the balcony door open to let the breeze of the night in. Assos and I in the big chair, Miden on the couch. His legs had been stretched out and comfy under the coffee table but he'd carefully sat up when I'd asked the question.
"I understand if that's a problem. For most women it is. They think its a dramatic cover so I can run around and do whatever, fuck whoever, that its made up. OR that I'm off in some kind of firefight with drug lords every other week. In reality its not very exciting. The potential for danger is real sometimes, but its still usually safer than it sounds.
"But I'm not a liar. I'm a man of my word. And I'm not going to promise I can tell you things or offer you things I know I can't."
I'd held my breath, frozen leaning against Assos chest, him breathing low and slow as well, hand that had been stroking my thigh paused to listen. Miden leaned forward, closer to us, elbows on knees, glass held in both hands. Without anything actually changing in his tone he seemed sad and bitter. Angry.
"I can't offer a normal relationship kitten. I can't promise to tell you how my day went, or text throughout the day, or call every night before bed. I can't promise to be home the day I'm supposed to be. Stuff changes last minute all the time. Its the nature of the business. I can't promise to give a woman kids one day when she wants them. I don't want to have them if I won't be around enough.
"And I don't know where my career is going after the next few years. I'm not interested in changing what I do for a living to please another person. I worked very hard to be good at this. No one ever handed me anything in life so everything I have is because I worked for it. And I believe in the value of what I do. I'd rather do this than give it up to do something I don't believe in in an attempt to make another person happy. If it didn't work out, I've thrown away my life's work for nothing and didn't even like what I gave it up for."
He stared at me, eyes burning slightly from restrained passion at what he was saying. I could feel the weight of his words, the check list he was going down, the deliberation in laying it all out after loosing so many potential partners because of these truths before. The hurt, old ones and newer, and buried deep, was evident like a fire at night. Not because he was being open with it. He really was doing a good job at shielding it, keeping it hidden behind layers of calm and matter of fact and casual acceptance. But I could see it like it was written on his skin right now in permanent marker. When you recognize a shield of your own, you know how to see behind It to the truth of others.
I waited, knowing instinctively he wasn't quite done.
"But, kitten, If you let me, I'll love you like you wouldn't believe. I can't give you conventional but I can give you honest. I can give you dedication. You won't ever meet someone who's willing to work harder for what he wants. I won't miss a single opportunity to show you what you mean to me, that I'm proud to say you're mine.
"We don't have to go fast. We can take as much time as you want. I'm not asking for a mating tomorrow. I'm telling you to tell me if you're willing to give this a chance, a real chance. And tell me if you're not. I'll walk away and I won't think less of you. But fuck if I don't want to. Fuck if I don't want to give you the best of what I can, and build with you. Take it one step at a time, but doing it to build. I want to build with you, kitten."
He was breathing hard by the end, tense and nearly shaking from intensity. I'd felt bad afterwards until we'd talked it through, but Miden NEEDED. He NEEDED with a depth and a strength that pulled me nearly inside out.
And I didn't just know I *could* give what he needed. I wanted to. I'd wanted to give to him from that first meeting. My cat and something else that lived inside me that had felt dormant until meeting these men WANTED to give, to both.
But Miden's need was overwhelming and swept me away. Fix. Fix. Fix. My mind chanted even as the room and Assos and life and time melted away and I found myself crawling into his lap. Fix. Fix. Fix. My cat broke through part of the guard. My ears changed. My tail grew. My heart fell out and splashed on his lap. I was kissing him and rubbing against him, purring, my cat mentally asking to be taken, before I'd even realized I'd moved. And as Miden grew hard, grabbed my ass to pull me into him, flipped us over, fumbled with his belt and jeans, paused and stared at me desperately, searchingly, begging, I'd touched his cock, and I'd kissed him.
"Kitten. I meant every word of that. Are you sure?"
And I'd taken him in my hand and bitten his ear before guiding him to me, gasped one word as he entered.
"Very".
