The Arrangement
He’s sharp, I’ll give him that.
“Yeah,” I chuckled. “That.”
“Well we’ve talked about it at length,” said Nathan, “and we’ve all agreed not to let jealousy play a factor. If the woman is exclusive to us, and only us, we’re sharing her within our same little group. It’s kind of like one relationship anyway, only she gets to rotate through all three of us. But it doesn’t change our one-on-one time with her. It doesn’t change the way we interact with her individually, or grow close, or get romantic, or—”
“Or love?”
“Love’s always possibility,” he shrugged. “After all, we’re looking for a girlfriend, not an escort. If feelings lead to attachment, love’s certainly not off the table.”
“So then what happens?”
Nathan laughed again, showing off two brilliant rows of flawlessly white teeth. “You’re sure asking a lot of questions.”
“Well it’s pretty fucking intriguing,” I countered. “It’s not every day someone’s advertising for—”
My voice dropped as Burke stepped into the hallway. He was wearing a fuzzy pink bathrobe with coffee cups all over it — I wanted to say I’d seen it in a movie once — and carrying a large mug of coffee himself.
“So you showed her,” he grunted, raising his mug at the computer screen as he walked by. “Good.”
Out of the three of them, Burke was the one I saw least. He came into the kitchen for coffee mostly, and our conversations were always short and to the point. He was no less handsome than the others, though. Big and broad in his chest and shoulders. Tall as all hell.
The door to his room swung closed behind him, without another word.
“Good, huh?” I asked Nathan. “Why good?”
“Because we’d agreed to tell you sooner rather than later,” he said. “It might be awkward for you to see each of us hanging out with the same woman, always on our days off. Maybe you’d think she was a cheating girlfriend or something.”
The idea made me chuckle. “I guess that’s true. I wouldn’t know what the hell to think.”
“Or say,” said Nathan. “Or do. If anything.”
“Yeah.”
“We didn’t want to put you in that position. Plus, you’ll be cooking and prepping for four, instead of three. That okay?”
I nodded mechanically. My head was still spinning.
“We’ll have to bump up the food budget. And of course pay you extra.”
“Extra’s nice,” I agreed.
“Good,” Nathan smiled. “Glad that’s out of the way. And again, sorry about Chase. He probably shouldn’t have kissed you.”
“No, no…” I said absently. “It—It’s okay.”
Nathan bent his six-foot-five frame at the waist, bringing his head next to mine. His voice was low and husky as his lips brushed the hair near my ear.
“I’m the one who should’ve kissed you,” he said, before closing the computer’s window and walking off.
Six
KAYLEEN
&nbs
p; I prepped their food like a robot all morning, and well into the afternoon. Not one of them emerged again, or came out into the kitchen. I figured they were in ‘the zone’, or at the very least giving me my space.
It wasn’t until I got home that I finally broke out of the fog.