Initiative (Suncoast Society #31)(12)

Darryl looked at his bracelet and then back to Grant. “I honestly wasn’t even paying attention. It was just so good to see her again.”

Grant walked over to him and took Darryl’s hands in his. “She’s widowed and said she’s alone. I’d be willing to bet that’s a day collar she had on. So I still don’t know if that means there’s someone in her life for sure or not. But I have a proposal for—”

“Yes.”

Grant arched an eyebrow at him, nearly thickening Darryl’s cock right there. “You haven’t heard my proposal yet.”

“Does it involve Susie?”

“Yes.”

“Then I don’t have to hear it. Yes.”

Grant squeezed his hands. “I’ve missed her. I didn’t realize how damn much until tonight.”

“I know. Me, too. Why did we ever let her get away?”

“Because we were dumb kids, that’s why. We didn’t know any better. We didn’t know this was a thing. Or that it was a thing we could actually do.” He pulled Darryl in for a hug. “Same rules apply. She has to be into both of us and want this.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Will you be okay seeing me top her?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“This is different. We’ve both held a torch for her for a lot of years.”

“You don’t think she’ll be freaked out?”

Grant smiled at him. “I hope to hell not, because I have twenty-plus years of fantasies about her and you both that I want to get out of my head and into a bed.”





Now Susan kicked herself in the ass. Why hadn’t she brought a bikini with her?

Oh, right. Not in the market.

And…what the hell? For the first time in two years, she actually felt…happy. It’d been so damn long since she’d experienced it that she didn’t recognize the emotion at first.

Happy.

Her two best friends back in her life. Okay, so they were gay, but still…

Maybe it was better she didn’t have a bikini. No use stupidly throwing herself at two gay guys who wouldn’t have any interest in her in that way.

But…friends. How many times in high school had she cried on their shoulders, literally, over shit going on at home? How many times had one or the other of them taken her home with them to hang out and do homework because she didn’t want to go home to whatever hurricane was brewing between her parents at the time?

How sad was it that her parents rarely, if ever, questioned where she was or who she was with as long as she was home on time?

Was it any wonder she’d fallen hard for John in college? She’d just been lucky that, despite him being ten years older than her, he’d had a good heart and had been able to take care of her and teach her how to be happy.

And she still felt that similar protective spirit from Darryl and Grant, the way they bookended her at the table, one on either side, just like when they were kids. At the movies, during gaming, or watching a sporting event at school, even at lunch, they’d always sat like that.

Changing into her bathing suit, she tied the sarong around her hips and studied herself in the full-length mirror. She wasn’t bad for her age, she guessed. Thirty-eight had been hard more on her heart and soul than anything. She still hadn’t gained back the weight that she’d lost—although that wasn’t a diet she’d recommend to anyone. Still a few pounds over where her five six frame should be, mostly in the ass and thighs.

John used to love her ass, joked that he liked having a bigger target.

She’d never felt fat with him. He’d loved her for who she was and refused to let her obsess over her weight as long as she was healthy.

Now she looked at herself with a jaded eye. The sarong hid the slightly rounded tummy bulge and the jiggly ass.

It’d have to do.

Okay, so the one-piece was the right call after all.

Not that Darryl and Grant would care one way or the other. For starters, they were her friends.

Secondly, they were gay.

Duh.

She put on her name tag badge lanyard the reunion committee had given her, tucked her room key card and a credit card into it, and headed downstairs. Tonight, she would do her best to live in the distant past and not the recent, more painful one.

Have fun.

The way she used to be able to have fun with the two men. The way they could make her laugh and take her mind off her troubles.

But compared to her current life, parents on the verge of divorce would seem like a happy camping trip.

She touched the bracelet on her wrist. It would remain there all weekend, until she got home and could wear her leather collar and cuffs again. Her tether to sanity.





Grant was eager to get downstairs to the pool party. To see Susie again. Now that he knew Darryl was in agreement with him, he really wanted to talk to her.

Maybe he was one hundred and eighty degrees off in his assumptions. Maybe it wasn’t a day collar. Maybe it was a day collar but she wasn’t as single as she let on for fear of “scaring the ‘nillas.” He knew he lived that every day, both at work and with Darryl, trying to keep their private lives private.

But if he was right and if that was her husband’s collar…

If she was open to maybe being with them…