“I can’t remember the last time I’ve eaten so well. Ignore that. I do remember; it was the last time I was here.” He paused as he gazed steadily at Haley. She could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. “Well. Meet you all in the barn in ten minutes?”
Haley felt her eyes go big.
“Did you say bar?” Jason asked. “Because I could totally use another—”
“Barn,” Gregory repeated, and Haley saw a flicker of frustration cross his face. “We’ve had all the drinks we’re going to tonight.”
“Why the barn?” Jason asked.
“It’s where Mr. Guidry has the…equipment set up,” Haley told Jason.
Jason’s eyes narrowed. She could see him preparing a response, one that wouldn’t seem favorable. Haley hoped he’d be able to get past his own hang-ups. Apprehension prickled her skin into goose bumps as she waited for his answer.
“Are there private rooms?” he finally asked.
“Yes, but I think there’s better equipment to be put to use in the main area.” Gregory paused and swept his gaze up and down Jason. “Equipment better suited to your tastes, I’m sure.”
Haley prayed silently as Jason clearly weighed his own desires against what could happen tonight. He wouldn’t want to start out in the open, but Gregory had taken the first step. If Jason rejected the idea, he’d be rejecting Haley too. At least that was how she felt.
“Fine,” Jason said, but it sounded forced.
Gregory smiled slightly and said, “Haley, tail and bridle, I think, tonight. Nothing too fancy to alienate our friend here.”
“I didn’t”—she swallowed—“I didn’t bring any of that…stuff.”
“Good,” Jason mumbled, and Haley flashed him a look.
“Well, that makes two of us,” Gregory said, seeming to have missed Jason’s comment. He looked at Jason. “What have you got?”
“Not any of your kinky toys,” he said. “Just the”—he formed air quotes—“standard stuff.”
“We’ll have to make due.” Gregory stood. “Ten minutes,” he repeated and then left the dining room.
Haley watched Gregory leave.
“I should go get my stuff, I guess,” Jason said, “and I need to see if the old man who runs this place has any rooms left.” He stood and left also.
For a moment, Haley felt quite lost and alone. She had no idea what would happen tonight with the both of them.
Someone reached over her shoulder and took her dessert plate. She looked up and met Zeke’s caramel eyes.
“Hey,
cher
,” he said as he straightened and added the plate to the stack he already held. Haley offered him a big smile. His presence immediately comforted her and made her forget the trepidation of a few moments ago. He wore a black wifebeater and dark blue jeans beneath a pristine black apron. He’d styled his dark hair in a pompadour—carefully held by a black hairnet—and he smiled back at Haley with genuine affection.
“It’s good to finally see you.” Haley stood and hugged him awkwardly around his pile of dishes. While Hank Guidry presented the picture of Southern gentility, Zeke came across as a definite Cajun: the way he spoke, his solicitous nature with the guests, and the fact that at any moment he looked as if he could drop everything to go wrestle an alligator. Haley eyed his strong, tanned arms. Good thing he was gay; otherwise her night could have gotten even more confusing.
“Come chat with me while I wash up these dishes,” he told her.
“I don’t have long.”
“You have long enough to come talk to your old friend Zeke, don’t you?”
Haley nodded, still smiling, and followed him into the kitchen. She loved all of Mossy Oaks, but the kitchen definitely spoke to her the most, as if she’d grown up stealing cookies from its soapstone countertops and washing off fresh fruit in the large country sink. Zeke set the dishes on the counter and poured Haley a cup of café au lait. She drank down the strong brew—laced with chicory and cane syrup—and sighed.
“Hank tells me you got yourself in a mess of trouble, cher.”
She giggled at the kind of trouble in which she’d found herself.
“Don’t take it too lightly now.” Haley could hear the real warning in his tone. “A man can be like a mama gator guarding a nest of youngins, true?” He paused in his washing and looked at her meaningfully. “You be the youngin’, see?”
Haley nodded. She knew exactly what he meant.
“Most men, they tear each other to bits before they let you near another.”
“They’ve already been hinting back and forth at that,” she told Zeke. “It’s like they’re just waiting for the right moment to go for each other’s throat.” She cringed at the image in her head. She didn’t want to see it, but she had a strong feeling that, at some point, things between them could come to blows.
Zeke nodded and finished loading the dishwasher. Then he turned to the pots and pans soaking in the large sink. As he talked, he faced away from Haley, but she imagined she could see his thoughtful expression.
“So you got to make both of them feel like they the big boss man, yes?”
That would definitely take some talent. “Split my attention between them?”
“Like the center of a teeter-totter, cher.”
“At the same time, do everything each of them says.”
“This ain’t no ménage lovefest. These men don’t want each other, do they?”
Haley shook her head. She didn’t think either of her doms sheltered any secret bi fantasies. That would make it too easy. This would be all about her.
At the thought, moisture seeped into her pussy. But then—
Oh God
! Both men completely focused on her? She didn’t think she could manage it. Doubt quickly replaced her arousal as fear coursed through her. Could anything more demanding exist? Haley didn’t think so. She’d had some fierce doms, ones that really tried to break her, to get her to use her safe word, but she’d always done everything they’d told her to do and ended up impressing them. She could take a lot.
But doing it for two men at once?
Zeke turned around, and she met his calm, level gaze.
“You can do it,” he told her quietly. “It’s all about the balance.”
His words echoed Mr. Guidry’s from earlier.
Balance.
The clock in the hall struck nine, and the sound pulled Haley back into the present. “How long have I been in here?”
“About ten minutes. Finish your coffee and—”
“I’m going to be late.” Haley jumped off her stool and left the kitchen through its back door. She ran across the lawn to the barn, hoping she’d beat Jason and Gregory there. She needed at least a few moments to compose herself and get into the right frame of mind to submit. She wanted to watch a few others in the barn as well. Maybe she could find a little inspiration.
The large barn doors stood open to the warm night. As Haley drew closer, she slowed her steps. Light flooded out onto the lawn in front of the barn, and silhouetted from behind, standing, waiting for her, were the figures of two men she could not mistake.
Haley stopped completely. They’d
both
arrived before her. Her gut wrenched with anticipation. She’d disobeyed and would suffer for it. They’d make sure of that, she knew, and no excuse would save her from it.
She took a few deep breaths, standing there staring at the barn doors. Gregory held a riding crop, beating it against the opposite hand in that oh-so-clichéd but oh-so-hot way of his. It promised so much. And now Jason held up something in one of his hands. A set of cuffs.
For me
? Haley steeled herself and took the last few steps toward the barn on shaky legs.
She had no retreat now. Whatever happened, she could not turn away. She imagined a tall brick wall behind her that moved forward with her, blocking any path of escape. Sure, she’d have a safe word—or maybe two so they could tell the difference—but if she couldn’t do this, then she knew destiny had decided she should remain alone.
She needed these men, and nothing else would suffice.
Chapter Four
As Jason rattled the chrome fastenings and hooks on the cuffs he held, Haley slowed to a stop. From where she stood, she could hear the rhythmic
thwap
of Gregory hitting his palm repeatedly with the riding crop.
Haley stood for a moment, her gaze sweeping across the two men. Perhaps it was better that she’d taken a little longer. Maybe they’d worked something out. Jason did look slightly more at ease. Gregory had a way with words. Perhaps he’d smooth talked Jason into accepting the idea of exhibitionism.
Finally she took the last step to close the distance between her and the two men. Jason grinned. “I want to taste her first,” he whispered.
Haley shivered, and she realized at least his desire for her overruled his dislikes right now. Too much time had passed since they’d last been together. She wanted him terribly too.
Then she glanced at Gregory and realized the other man fully expected to take her first. She could read it all over his face.
Evidently Jason could see it too, because he said, “Listen, man. We haven’t worked any of this out. Maybe we need to sit down and—”
“It’ll work itself out,” Gregory told him, his voice low and even, but Haley could detect the slightest edge of frustration. She hoped Jason didn’t push him too far. The situation felt too precarious to risk the slightest misstep.
They hadn’t had time to settle anything. Haley frowned a little.
“Yeah, but…” Jason glanced at Haley again. “Maybe some kind of schedule or something?”
“That’s not what I want,” Haley murmured. She couldn’t believe they would start in on each other right on the brink of something great.
Gregory actually chuckled at Jason now, and Haley’s throat tightened. “You’ve never co-dommed, have you?”
Co-dommed
? Haley felt a glimmer of hope. She’d never seen it done, but she knew what it meant. It meant both, together. Just like she wanted. But they would have to work together for it to happen, and right now she couldn’t see them coming together enough to change a tire let alone cooperatively dominate her.
Haley saw Jason’s face go red. “Okay, I can see this isn’t going to work. Why don’t I—”
Haley felt her own frustration building. Very unsublike. “Stop it!” The words snapped out of her. She could see the shock register on both men, and she felt her own surprise that she’d spoken up. But at least she seemed to remove their attention from each other and focus it on her instead. Both gazes burned into her, and she swallowed. She wanted to step back, to run away, but she still felt that invisible wall behind her, keeping her right where she stood.
“What?” Gregory asked quietly, his voice full of an unspoken threat.
Jason just folded his arms and didn’t speak.
“We haven’t started anything yet, so just hear me out.” Haley had to stop for a moment to put her words in the right order. She needed them to know exactly what she wanted. “There’s no taking turns. There’s no one, then the other.” She leveled her gaze on Gregory and then on Jason. “I did that. It obviously didn’t work, and I know now that’s not what I want in the long run. This is all three of us. Together…or it’s nothing.” She folded her arms and spread her legs slightly farther apart in what she hoped was a clear indication that she had made up her mind. “Co-domming is what I want.” She leveled her gaze at Jason and prayed he saw the desire she felt for him. He’d be the one to ruin it, she feared. “Have I made it clear this time? You work together, or I walk.”
Jason looked back at Gregory for his reaction. The taller man stood there, trying his best, it seemed, to stare Haley down. She raised her chin slightly and tried not to give in, though her heart thumped heavy—almost painfully. Nervous anticipation racked her.
“I’m not willing to risk losing you,” Jason said.
Haley’s gaze moved back to him. Relief flooded through her. She glanced at Gregory. “Well?”
“What kind of tone is that to take with me?” Gregory asked quietly.
Haley could see the glimmer in his eyes that showed her he was ready to play. He stepped toward her. She wanted to move back, but her legs refused to respond. He circled her, then stood behind her, and she felt his presence like a fire burning against her. She felt his breath against her ear as he hovered there, probably trying to intimidate her with his size. Haley knew she was a sub in the bedroom and that she liked to be shown off in front of people, to perform in nothing while someone told her what to do, to give up control in that type of situation, but right now, she would not waver on her desires.
“Okay, we’ll do this your way,” Jason told Haley. “We’ll make it work. Right, Greg?”
“Right, but this little filly needs to learn her place.”
Haley felt the hem of her skirt lift, and Gregory brushed his fingers down the backs of her thighs. Then the heat against her back disappeared, and she knew she would hear the unmistakable whistle of—
Thwack!
Haley leaped forward; she touched the stinging welt Gregory’s riding crop had left. She looked over her shoulder and up at him. Heat filled Gregory’s gaze. Haley glanced back at Jason, and she could see a bulge straining at his crotch. Haley lifted her skirt and turned slightly to show him the red imprint on her thigh too.
Gregory finally tore his gaze off Haley. “Remember who’s in charge here,” he said quietly as he turned to Jason. Haley felt the comment was for her, but she saw Jason’s eyebrows rise slightly.
Gregory took a deep breath. “For this to work, Jason, I’ll need you to follow my lead. Finding a balance of power can be difficult in a situation like this.”
Jason nodded.
“Now if you’d be so good as to cuff her, we’ll get started.”
“Right away,” Jason said as if he took orders from Gregory every day. Haley could tell from the look on his face that he felt better. They’d surmounted one problem, at least. Though she knew another still lay ahead tonight: whether Jason could put aside his distaste for exhibitionism and enjoy the evening. Jason stepped forward, and Haley obediently extended her wrists to him.
“You know your safe word?” he asked her as he fastened the buckles.
Haley nodded. “It’s usually ‘gumbo.’”
“Will that work for you?” Jason asked Gregory with a glance over his shoulder.