“You were supposed to wait until she got settled in and comfortable.” Parker spoke over my head as if that made his words inaudible to me. Normally, I’d be pissed off and giving my two cents if someone treated me as if I wasn’t there, but, as it was, I could barely breathe. I was in a room, with two over-the-top sexy guys on a what? A date. That should be freaking me the heck out, but for some reason, it was doing the opposite. It was intriguing me, even though it shouldn’t.
“Why are you both here?” I all but whispered? “I should go.” I made no attempt to leave, my words a façade to even myself. I felt like I was in a tailspin of confused and intrigued and safe, which was the dumbest of the lot. How could I feel safe in a room with two men I didn’t know who somehow found me via a dating service. Goodness, we were in an isolated room at that. If this were a movie, I’d have been yelling at the screen, telling me to get the freck outta there, yet, my butt was glued to the seat, zero warning signs going off in my head.
“Please wait us out.” Curtis sat in the seat across from me at the third table setting, the one I hadn’t noticed as I entered the room. “If you want to go after that, we’ll even call you a cab.” He sounded so sincere. I had no idea what their end game was, but I could do that. Listen.
“We’re in a public place with exceptional food,” Parker added as he, too, took his seat. We were evenly spread around a smallish round table that could comfortably fit four, which worked out well because I could easily get out of the way if they made a move I was uncomfortable with, which I had a strong feeling they would not. Ever. What was it about these two?
“Parker, you asked me out. You. Not you and Curtis.” My bravado was a big old fail. I came across hurt instead of mad. I wasn’t even really hurt. I was—I had no idea what I was but it was unsettling. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice? What are you guys, anyway, part of some religious cult?” Even as the words escaped my mouth, I heard the ridiculousness of them. Some cults collected wives, sure, but not by going through a well-reputed dating agency and eating in exclusive dining establishments. At least not according to any docudramas I’d seen, and I was addicted to those suckers.
“Madeline—” Parker began.
“Maddie,” I offered. Only my boss and the doctor’s office called me Madeline. It was a fine enough name, but felt too impersonal for whatever this discussion was turning out to be.
“Maddie, when I asked you, I thought Gerri had told you we were a combo deal and then—”
Crap on a cracker, she did tell me. Well tell me-ish, anyway. She said she had two perfect men for me. I assumed, like any rational human being might assume, she meant in a row, but she meant at the same time. Roxanne was so getting a call, no matter how late it was. What kind of an agency was she running? And, more importantly, why wasn’t I running?
“And then I told him he was a fool and to call you back.” Curtis chuckled before taking a long drink from his water and, darn it, my eyes were glued to his lips as he did so. Roxanne was right about at least one thing. I needed a date, and bad, if some possible creeper drinking his water had me so frazzled in a good way.
“Your wine?” A waiter startled me, now standing beside Parker with a proffered bottle of wine, one I assumed they’d ordered before my arrival. He looked nervous, as if he were catching us in the middle of something, which I guess he kind of was.
Maybe this was entirely a dream. If so, I best take advantage of it, but all signs pointed to it not being one, so, instead, I squeezed my thighs together and vowed not to look at either of their lips again until I figured this mess out.
“Just leave it on the table with the opener, Louis.” Parker waved him off, much to Louis’s relief from the look of things. Did they come here often with women? Was I just a flavor of the week? Suck. Maybe this was all about the kink. I was not going to be a fetish girl. Nope. Not gonna happen.
“Yes, sir.” He scampered off as Parker opened the wine, offering us both some before pouring his own. Drinking wasn’t the best of options given the uncertainty of the situation, but none of the options looked both good and rational, so I brought the glass to my lips to take a sip, which turned into half the glass.
As I put it down, both their eyes fixated on my lips. At least it wasn’t just me. I sighed leaning back into my chair before confessing, “She sort of kind of did tell me, but I misunderstood. I thought she had two men for me to pick between, not two men into weird kinky shit.”
Although that option wasn’t completely off the table anymore, much to my chagrin, or was it excitement. What was wrong with me?
“That’s not how it is.”
“Not at all.” Curtis finished Parker’s thought.
The two of them were so different looking, yet similar. They both sported the hot nerd look, their muscles visible beneath their shirts, and held an air of sexuality that even I, Little Miss Never Dates, was wanting in on. But, where Parker’s hair was dark and his eyes green, Curtis was a ginger with a smexy beard and blue eyes. Both super yummy, not that my mind should go there.
“Are you telling me you aren’t into kinky three-way sex, and that you just both like to hang out with the same woman over lively conversation and fine cuisine?” And why did the thought of that being true disappoint? I mean, sure, I liked a good meal as much as the next gal, but my mind had already started playing reels of porn featuring the three of us. I’d blame it on the wine, but it started before then, even if I’d been denying it to myself or attempting to, anyway.
“You’re doing this all wrong,” Curtis scolded. He seemed to be the more serious of the two, which I never would’ve guessed with how formal Parker had been on our call.
“Fine, you do it.”
“Parker and I are a pair.”
My eyes nearly fell out of my head. A pair. Here I was thinking of getting sweaty with them both, and they were already together. As if to strengthen the reality of their statement, the reached across the table and held hands. If they were a couple, why were they….
“Holy shit, you’re looking for a baby mama. Nope, my babies will be for me, not other couples, thank you very much.” And with that, I finished my wine, ’cause, fuck it, I’m not a walking incubator. Matchmaking service. It was supposed to be a matchmaking service, not a surrogacy ring. Was that even legal in our state?
“And I was the one doing it wrong,” Parker scoffed as I forced myself up from the table. How had this evening gone from anticipation, to weirdville, to filled with potential, to my being a handmaiden in half an hour?
Parker’s hand landed on my bare shoulder, and I stopped in my tracks, no longer trying to find my way to the door, his touch holding me in place not by force but by comfort and, shit to Cleveland, desire.
“No, Maddie, we aren’t looking for a surrogate or to have a fun weekend in bed and done. We’re looking for a third. An equal.”
“Wait, you’re saying you want a third person in your couple, like a trouple? Is that a thing?” His words made no sense, yet they did. Could they really be looking for a third, not for babies, but for more? Wasn’t that only in books or on bad reality television?
“A triad, and, yeah, it’s a thing.”
“How would that even work?” And why was I even considering trying to date two men who were dating each other? And that caused the porn reel to change to watching the two of them. Damn, my imagination was hot. I found myself inadvertently leaning into Parker and snapped away, showing my concession to hearing this out by finding my seat again and drinking my water in hopes of cooling myself down.
“You’re not running.” I swore I felt his lips brush the top of my head before he, too, returned to his chair.
“See, she’s not running, Parker. I told you Gerri wouldn’t steer us wrong.”
“She’s not running because she’s in shock.” There was a slight lilt in his voice, and I was pretty sure he was teasing, a conjecture he sealed with his wink to me.
“Not shock,” I disagreed.
“Then, what?” Parker sounded much more concerned than Curtis looked.
“Intrigued.” It was so much more than that, but that would work for the moment.
“Intrigued. We can work with that.” Parker refilled all our glasses, although mine was the only one that needed it.
“So, what now?” I had no idea what to do from here, but my gut told me to give it a go. My gut and the moisture drenching my panties, but that wasn’t the best way to make a decision.
“Now we eat dinner.” Curtis waved as he called out, “Louis, we’re ready now.” To which the waiter showed up far quicker than I would’ve imagined, ready to give us the evening’s specials.