The Arrangement

I found myself giving our personal chef a much deeper look. Despite my initial misgivings, I was liking her more and more.

“Think about it,” said Nathan. “Chase’s off day is Monday, mine’s Tuesday, Burke’s is Wednesday. On each of those days, we’re gonna want to do something fun with you. We’ll want to take you out. Wine and dine you.”

“Sounds good to me,” smiled Kayleen.

“But if—”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t work, though,” Kayleen continued. “I’m not going to just give up on my clients.” She paused for a moment. “I could definitely trim the fat, I guess. Cut out a few of the less lucrative or more time-consuming jobs. Especially if I wouldn’t have the burden of paying rent.”

The other guys looked suddenly thoughtful. It wasn’t something we’d been totally set on, and she was making all good points.

“Besides, you’re doing this whole thing to avoid distractions, right? So when you think about it, do you really want me around the house twenty-four seven? Walking around in a towel? Prancing up and down the hallways in my underwear?” She smirked and shrugged. “If I’m being honest, that’s kinda of my thing.”

“Prancing, huh?” joked Nathan.

“Yeah, something like that.”

“What about the other stuff,” I said, nodding toward the agreement. “For us it’s easy — we split the time. But for you… you’re going to have three boyfriends. Three individual relationships to cultivate.” My eyes locked carefully on hers. “Three times everything, if you know what I mean. Emotionally. Physically…”

The girl on the other side of our kitchen refused to waver. She maintained eye contact with me, grinning wryly as she brought the wine glass back to her pouty little mouth.

“And your point is?”

“Well it’s a lot,” I said. “More than you realize. Maybe even more than you can handle.”

She was still looking at me, refusing to give up the challenge. Her irises bored their way into mine. “And how do you know what I can handle?”

“There has to be chemistry,” I said.

“Totally,” she agreed.

“So how do we know if—”

She’d already started walking before I could even finish. Kayleen set her glass down on the countertop, sauntered over, and the next thing I knew she was sliding two warm arms over my shoulders.

Then she kissed me… and my whole body was awash with a rush of intense heat.

Damn.

It was passion, plain and simple. Kayleen stood on her toes and kissed me long and deep, rotating her soft lips against mine and slipping her hot little tongue straight into my mouth.

God damn.

My hands went instinctively to her hips, settling beautifully in the U-shaped curve there. She smelled magnificent. Like strawberries and cream, or something equally delicious. I could feel her, smell her, taste her… it was like my senses were sharpened, bringing me to all new heights of awareness as I held her, kissing her back.

We must’ve stood there for half a minute, kissing like lovers, but when she pulled away it was all too soon. Kayleen flashed her eyes at me devilishly — a look shared only by her and I. Then she spun away in a scrumptious whiff of berries and returned to her wine glass.

Everyone else in the kitchen, including me, was utterly speechless.

“So… chemistry,” she said, taking another sip. She giggled musically into her glass. “Riiight.”

Nine

KAYLEEN

Every square inch of my skin was still tingling. I was all warm and flush, my heart practically beating out of my chest…

Kayleen, what the fuck?