Initiative (Suncoast Society #31)(11)

In fact, he was surprised she hadn’t seemed to notice Darryl’s bracelet yet. Maybe she was just too nervous.

He damn sure knew he was.





The men looked good, better than Susan imagined they would. Grant was still an inch shorter than Darryl, and his ice-blue eyes and blond hair still sent flutters through her the way they did when she was a kid. Darryl’s brooding brown eyes seemed to hold silent pain, and his black hair showed traces of grey here and there.

As he always had in high school, Grant captivated her with his gaze, holding hers, seeming to pierce right through her. Countless times she’d wished she could admit to the guys how she felt about them, but knew that would end in pain for all of them. She never could have chosen between the two of them.

In retrospect, if they were a couple, it effectively settled the point anyway.

Not that she was in the market for someone, but her fantasies about the two men could now be updated and upgraded to a more adult version.

“If you wanted to start gaming with us,” Grant said, “there are several NPC characters I know Axel would let you pick from. Or we could roll you up a new one and he could work you into the campaign.”

“Axel?”

“He’s our DM. Rusty’s still playing, too, or did Corey tell you?”

“He told me.” She thought about it. “When do you play?”

“Every Wednesday night. We rotate different places, but you wouldn’t have to host us if you didn’t want to,” he quickly added. “It’s not a requirement or anything.”

“We’d love to have you join us,” Darryl added in his soft voice.

She studied Darryl. Yes, he’d played keyboard in a band in high school, kids messing around, but his skills obviously better than some. It didn’t surprise her, with his long, graceful fingers, that he now played professionally for a living.

“I’d like that,” she said. “So…a church, huh?”

Darryl’s bashful smile also twisted her heart. Some things never changed, like that sweet expression of his. “Yeah, long story.” He held a finger to his lips. “Shh. Don’t tell them I’m an atheist and live ‘in sin’ with him.”

“You really think they’d fire you?” She tried to stifle her outrage on his behalf.

He shrugged. “I don’t know for sure and don’t want to find out. Very likely. They know we’re roommates. Hell, they know what I make for a living, so if they want to hassle me about my living arrangements, I’ll come back at them for a raise. Which they can’t afford. So at least it’s been easy to keep a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ kind of game going there.”

After another thirty minutes of sitting and talking, as Grant and Darryl ate cheeseburgers they’d ordered, Susan realized none of them had checked in yet with the reunion committee.

“They’re probably open by now,” she said. “Are you guys going to the pool party later?” She already knew Corey and his wife were.

“Sure are,” Grant said. “See you there soon?”

Dammit, she almost felt like the high school girl again. “Yeah. I’m going to check in, then run upstairs and change.”

“We won’t be far behind you,” Grant said. “We’ll just finish our burgers.”

“What room are you guys in?” Corey asked the men, which led to another quick round of everyone exchanging phone numbers via texting back and forth.

Susan made sure to save everyone in her contacts list. This time, she damn sure wouldn’t lose touch with the men.

Right now, she knew she could use every last friend she had.

Maybe this was a good idea after all.





Chapter Four


When they returned to their room, Darryl couldn’t help that his thoughts kept wandering back to Susie. She looked good.

Damned good.

Well, especially under the circumstances.

Did it make him an * that he still longed for her the way he had in high school? When he was too young and dumb and scared to make a move for fear of it scaring her away for good?

Add to the fact that he knew Grant had liked her, too, and he hadn’t wanted to piss off his best friend.

Twenty years later, they were more than just best friends…

And sharing a woman had led to some of the hottest times of their lives. Just because they were in love with and devoted to each other, and planned on spending the rest of their lives together, didn’t mean they couldn’t have some consensual fun with a third on occasion.

They had rules. It had to be someone they were both into, who was into both of them, too. Someone safe, who wasn’t five gallons of crazy in a two-gallon bucket.

This was Susie.

He longed to take the pain away from her, to make her smile, keep her laughing, the way the two of them used to be able to do back in high school.

“Did you notice her bracelet?” Grant asked as Darryl rooted through the suitcase for his bathing suit.

“Huh?”

Grant pointed at Darryl’s right wrist, where his day collar bracelet was fastened. The round brushed stainless rod locked around his wrist with a special hex screw.

He didn’t wear it at work because he couldn’t take the risk. Normally, during the week, he wore a small silver dragon pendant on a chain that Grant had given to him as his work day collar. Innocuous, but with several personal meanings to them both. Not something that would draw any untoward or uncomfortable attention. Something easily explained away.