Time Out of Mind (Suncoast Society #43)(36)

“Shi-oot.”

She reached out and grabbed at his chin.

He put her back on the changing table and tried again, this time getting it on her. “You are definitely your mother’s daughter,” he groused. “Little sadist in training.”

She giggled.

He carried her back out. Cris, seeing him there, smiled as he walked inside to take her from him. “How many tries did it take you?”

“Don’t ask.”

He laughed. “She’s sneaky.”

“That she is.” He noticed Tilly and Mevi were missing. “Where’d they go?”

“She’s showing him the pool house. We made an executive decision while you were diaper wrestling with KC. I’m going to eat inside with her so you guys can talk out on the lanai. Once she’s asleep, I’ll rejoin the conversation.”

Doyle washed his hands before joining Landry on the lanai. He was watching the steaks.

He also smirked. “You look like a man who barely survived several rounds with our tiny little sadist.”

“So it wasn’t just me?”

He snorted. “Nooo.”

Tilly and Mevi exited the pool house and walked over. “How many tries, Freud?” Tilly asked, smirking.

“Not funny. You could have warned me.”

She bumped hips with him. “Well, where’s the fun in that?”

Mevi helped Doyle move the place settings out to the table on the lanai. Doyle felt a little guilty about Cris eating in the kitchen, but on the other hand, as Mevi started asking Landry questions of a personal and adult nature, he was glad his friends were there to help Mevi.

Yeah, he was bi, but he wasn’t gay.

“You’re married to Tilly,” Mevi asked. “So you sleep together?”

Landry smiled. “If the question is do we have sex, yes. I love Tilly very much. I consider myself homoflexible where she is concerned. I fell in love with her as a person even though I still identify as gay. I have never claimed to be a gold star queer.”

“A what?”

That led into a whole other conversation of a more socio-political bent that not even Doyle felt qualified to discuss. Tilly remained mostly silent, occasionally sending Doyle little knowing smirks over some of Landry’s answers.

By the time they were done eating, Doyle and Mevi helped clear the table and clean up while Cris took a yawning baby back to her room to put her down for the night.

Tilly turned to Doyle. “So the next question—since you’re technically calling the shots here—is if Mevi is allowed to negotiate to play tonight for the purpose of exploration.”

Something…odd spun through Doyle at the thought of his friends getting to play with Mevi and he…couldn’t.

He immediately stomped that feeling out, nodding. “I can’t play with him. That’s crossing an ethical line. But I’m okay with it as long as I can observe and have safeword rights to stop it if I think it’s harming him in any way.”

Mevi looked…he couldn’t tell if it was gratitude or something more. “Thank you.”

“Then when Cris gets back,” Landry said, “we shall start talking.”





Chapter Thirteen


Cris returned about fifteen minutes later. “She’s asleep.” He tweaked the volume on the baby monitor on the kitchen counter.

Mevi felt his nerves return with a vengeance as he stared at the three Tops. Or…whatever they were. Landry was definitely a Dominant, and apparently Tilly and Cris were both switches with each other and submissive to Landry.

Doyle touched his arm. “I trust all three of them. I’ve personally seen all three of them play, and would trust any of them with you. But you need to negotiate if you want to do this. I can’t do that for you.”

“I…I don’t even know what to ask about.”

Tilly giggled. “Bingo. BDSM 101—Negotiations and Safety. It’s actually a class a friend of ours teaches, but I’m thinking that under the circumstances you should limit your club time if you want to stay anonymous.”

“We can mask him,” Cris suggested. “Put a hood on him.”

“Eh, true,” Tilly said. “Didn’t think about that. Except in a class, that would draw attention.”

“Oh,” Cris said. “You’re right. Sorry.”

“I don’t think I’d be comfortable playing at the club anyway. Not right now. Like you said, too much risk for me, and even more for Doyle if I get spotted.”

“We don’t mind playing here if the baby’s asleep,” Tilly said. “But you need to decide what you want and how you want it.”

He turned to Doyle for help.

Doyle held his hands up in front of him. “I won’t do it for you. I can’t.”

“Can you at least give me some guidance?”

Landry held up a finger. “Might I suggest something?”

“Sure,” Mevi said.

“Doyle, is it crossing a line if you warn him about a red flag?”

He seemed to consider it. “No. We’re starting to skirt technicalities now, but I don’t think it’s crossing a line for me to give him a warning.”

“Excellent. Then how about we guide him, and you throw the red flag, as it were, if you see fit?”