The Ex (The Boss 4)

“We discussed the possibility of…having a little fun together.” Ian leaned forward, his arms crossed on the table. “But we laid down some parameters. I know this would be your first time, Sophie, and I don’t want you to feel,” he turned his hand over and back, as though he were turning the page of a book, “and Neil, obviously, agrees—”

“We don’t want you to feel pressured to do anything you didn’t want to do,” Neil interrupted, for the sake of coherence, I assume.

“Oh, um.” How did I phrase this with Neil right next to me? Ian ran the tip of his middle finger around the rim of his wine glass absently as he listened, and I couldn’t look him in the eye. “I wouldn’t be…averse…to, um.”

“Sophie?” Neil asked, a note of humor in his voice, and I realized that he’d noticed my intense concentration on Ian’s hands. I raised my eyes guiltily and caught Neil’s smirk.

“Well, you two spoke about it in more depth than we did,” Gena said with a sigh. “But I agree, Sophie, you shouldn’t do anything you don’t want to do.”

“No one will be disappointed if we just have a lovely dinner,” Neil reassured me, and I knew what he was really telling me: he wouldn’t be upset if he didn’t have sex with Gena.

That made me feel a lot better. Knowing that the two of them were a “package deal”, as Neil had once referred to them, it was only natural that Neil might worry I felt obligated to sleep with Ian so he and Gena could hook up.

How to approach this and reassure them, though, was still a delicate question. Did I just up and say, “Gena, I want to fuck your husband?” Would they believe me if I tried to couch it in more cautious language.

I settled for, “Why wouldn’t I want to do it?”

Ian’s slow smile made me shift in my chair and press my thighs together.

“Well,” Gena said, her gaze sliding from me to settle on Neil. “If we’re all in…”

“Ian and I have already exchanged medical details,” Neil told us. “But, if the two of you would also like to see proof—”

“I don’t need to,” Gena said.

I echoed her, adding, “But I do want to use condoms for intercourse, at least.”

“That’s a necessity,” Ian agreed. “I’ve never done the snip, and we don’t need any awkward accidents.”

“I have an IUD,” Gena replied.

“Hey, me, too!” It was like we were in a club or something.

“Good, then we’ll all be double protected,” she said with a nod. I was glad that safety was important to them, too; it made me trust them more, overall.

Neil and I had decided beforehand that, if we ended up having sex with Ian and Gena, we wouldn’t do it in our bedroom. That was too intimate a space for experimentation with others. We chose instead to take them to the largest guest room on the second level. It was a lovely room with a California king and a sitting area with comfortable armchairs. Neil sent me off with Ian and Gena while he went to the toy cabinet for lube and condoms.

As we walked, Ian put his hand at the small of my back. “Are you nervous?”

“A little,” I admitted. “We’ve done threesomes, and that was awesome, so…”

“It’s going to be fun,” Gena promised. “There is nothing like watching your partner fuck someone else. Especially someone as cute as you,” she said with a wink.

“Here we are.” I stood beside the open bedroom door and gestured them inside. I was acutely aware of Gena’s facial expressions as she looked around. I hoped she didn’t find the decor lacking. Neil loved the warm oranges and brownish-reds of the room, but I was undecided. Gena didn’t look utterly revolted by it, so I breathed a sigh of relief. Being friends with an interior decorator was going to be nerve-wracking.

Ian took off his jacket and laid it across the back of one chair, then unbuttoned his sleeves and slid them up. He took a seat and toed his shoes off then stretched his long legs out in front of him. Gena leaned down to kiss him briefly then moved toward me. “Could you help me unzip?”

“Yeah, sure.” I’d helped Holli with zippers hundreds of times, so I couldn’t figure out why my fingers fumbled as I unzipped Gena, or why I couldn’t take my eyes off the skin that appeared in the widening gap.

Well, I suppose the fact that she was about to have sex with my fiancé had something to do with it.

“Thanks,” she said, making eye contact with me over her shoulder. Her eyes were the prettiest shade of blue.

“Sophie, why don’t you come here?” Ian asked, patting his knee. “Sit in daddy’s lap.”

“Don’t be gross!” Gena scolded him. “She’s going to think you’re a sleaze.”

“I am a sleaze,” Ian reminded her. Somehow, I couldn’t believe it of him. No matter what crude, disgusting thing might pop out of his mouth, it seemed funny and affectionate instead of obscene. I never got the feeling that he would continue with those remarks if I told him they made me uncomfortable.