Libby had excitedly explained that sometimes Brandon’s sister might stay over. Libby had told the guys, as they’d been gathering the extra furniture, that it only made sense that, on those occasions, Colleen should stay in her room, with her.
Libby’s enthusiasm for the idea was real, telling Rachel all she needed to know about whether or not her daughter wished, even a little, that she wasn’t an only child. The week before, Libby had met Colleen when they’d been joined by Brandon’s mom, husbands, and sister for an impromptu family supper. Colleen had adored Libby, and the affection had not been one-sided.
Brandon and Trace had also added a couple of items to the master bedroom. Brandon invited her to sit at the round glass table that hadn’t been here before. There were two other chairs, which told her that this was a seating area meant for only the three of them.
“While we were putting everything together earlier, I mentioned to Libby that when our bedroom door was closed, she should knock and wait if she needed one of us.”
Rachel met Brandon’s gaze. “That’s a reasonable request.” And she wondered if her daughter had given him an eye roll. It was something Libby had begun to master. No one could convey attitude via body language quite the way a teenager could.
“I thought so,” Brandon said. “Libby, however, looked as if she wanted to say something. She didn’t. She simply nodded, but I could see she wanted to give her opinion. She could have. I wouldn’t have minded.”
Rachel tried very hard not to laugh. Another time and place, she’d give in to that urge. But not here and now. Reminding herself that Brandon had no experience with teenaged girls, she decided she could be more forthcoming. “It’s altogether possible that once she gets used to you, she’ll feel free to protest or, as I suspect she wanted to in this case, snicker. She would have realized that if the door was closed and we were all three in here, we would most likely be having sex.” She’d told him not that long ago that Libby had told her she knew about sex. She recalled Brandon’s immediate response to that information.
Brandon’s eyes widened. It amused Rachel that the man hadn’t realized that, of course, Libby would understand the reason why she couldn’t just waltz into the bedroom if they all three were inside. Not laughing was becoming a challenge.
“I told you she was humoring you,” Trace said. Since both men were chuckling, she didn’t think they minded all that much.
Then Brandon looked at Rachel. “I guess it’s going to be a case of live and learn—especially for me. Trace, at least, has a sister who’s now nearly done with her teen years.”
“You’ll figure it out,” she said. “You’re intuitive. Before long, you’ll be able to read her well.” Rachel wasn’t pandering. Brandon was exceptionally smart, well-adjusted, and he had awesome people skills. He would figure it out, and before long, she’d bet.
“We thought it would be a good idea to have this space, here, where we could come and talk, privately.”
They’d promised conversation in time, about what their version of the D/s lifestyle would entail. Rachel decided to let them both know that she was ready for that conversation. “I think that’s a good very good idea…Sirs.”
Using that title not only put a gleam in Brandon’s eye. She could tell that Trace liked hearing that from her lips, too.
“Did you do the research we asked you to do, Rachel?” Brandon asked.
“Yes, Sir. I looked at every one of those websites you gave me.”
“What were your impressions? Did you begin to make your list of hard and soft limits?”
“Some of the practices I read about got me hot. Some of them definitely did not. But above and beyond the sexual, some aspects of what I read really…appealed to me.” It was hard being a thirty-six-year-old woman and understanding, for the first time, that all the things she’d secretly longed for in her marriage, and never received, weren’t fantasy wishes, after all. All those wishes had needed was the right man—or two—to respond to her needs.
“Tell us what appealed to you, sweetheart,” Trace said.
“This is hard.” She looked down at her hands and gathered her thoughts. “I want to be as open and honest as I can be with you both.” She exhaled. “I was reading all the accounts of the subs and Doms, what their relationships meant to them, how it filled their needs. There were some constant themes that surprised me. They all said they believed the key to keeping their relationships vital was to talk about how they’re feeling and what they need. That information added to everything I’ve seen since I came to this town...” Rachel sighed. She’d kept positive thinking as a daily practice, considering it a tool that would help her help Libby fight cancer.
Rachel hated when her thoughts turned negative. “It’s really hard for me not to be angry at the way I’ve been treated for most of my life—not just by Buck but by my parents, too.”
She looked at both men and was met with only encouraging nods. Rachel reached deeper. “I didn’t know there was another way for parents to treat kids and husbands to treat wives other than what I’d witnessed and experienced in my own life. I didn’t know that I should expect to have some of my needs met in my marriage. Did I meet Buck’s needs? I know I did, to the best of my ability. Did he meet any of mine? Seriously, I don’t think he even knew I had any, even though I tried to let him know.
“I see the parents in this town being the kind of parent I’m working on being—putting the needs of their children first, carefully thinking out each step. Caring about the kind of people their kids are growing up to be and also respecting them as people. I was doing that from
