Zac adds, “And we’ll want him to be able to take PJ to the doctor and make decisions, in case we can’t get there. We’ll have to figure out how to do that. Hire a smart lawyer, get them to make up some bullshit about how Cal can decide what kind of medicine to use or whatever.”
“That bullshit already exists,” Cal says. “It’s called a medical power of attorney.”
Zac and Anya are quiet a second, and then Zac says, “See, this is why we need him.”
Cal laughs again.
“We’ll have to figure out who to tell.” Anya tips her head to one side, considering. “My family won’t mind. My friends either. Hell, after they meet him, they’ll probably think this is one of the less crazy things I’ve done.”
Their manager, too, maybe. Cal imagines telling Larry that Anya’s his wife, or that Zac’s his husband, and he gets a tiny thrill all through his body. He tries not to sound ridiculous when he says, “That could work.” Then he closes his eyes, resting his head against her stomach once more. He lets their words wash over him as his pulse slows. He’s barely listening, but every word warms him, because he knows what it means. They’re his. He’s theirs. It’s more than serious. It’s for life.
“Hey, we can let him handle the grocery shopping from now on,” Zac is saying. “I hate doing that, and I know you do too.”
“God, we’re going to have to make a chore wheel, aren’t we?” Anya wrinkles her nose. “How fucking domestic of us.”
“The kid part is easy,” Zac says.
“Yeah.” Anya rubs the back of Cal’s neck sort of absently. It feels so good he kind of wants to never move. “And as for what PJ should call you both, I think we should stick with dad for Zac because he’s already starting to head that direction. But papa could work too, maybe? What do you think about that, Cal?”
“Papa works,” Cal manages. His brain is stunned, blank. He’s a papa. Or he will be, once they’re married.
Holy shit, he’s getting married. And then a sour thought slides through his brain. He doesn’t want to bring it up and risk ruining the mood, but it’ll fester like everything else if they’re not careful.
“Wait. What about when you two want to play again?” Cal swallows hard. “I—I can’t. I can’t—it feels like cheating to me, I can’t help it, I can’t share. The only reason it works with the two of you is that you already belonged to each other before I got here. I’m the interloper there, and it doesn’t—that’s fine. But when you—”
“Sweetie, don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t have the energy for another man’s drama once I’m done with the two of you,” Anya says.
“I’m not drama,” Zac says snidely. “He’s drama.”
“Yes, you’re very even-keeled, what with the way you hauled him upstairs so that I’d yell at him with you.” Anya rolls her eyes. “But the point, Cal, is that we’re all right with it. I value your happiness more than I value being able to get dirty with strangers. I still get to see that look on Zac’s face as he watches me with another man, and that’s like, 75% of it for me anyway.”
“90%, for me,” Zac adds. “It’s all about the feeling I get when I’m seeing someone else get her off. You’re good at that.”
“I hate the idea that I’m taking something from you that you might need,” Cal admits.
“You’re not,” Anya interrupts.
“...or that you’ll get bored,” Cal finishes, wincing.
Zac’s tone turns scornful. “New people aren’t the only way to keep from being bored, dumbass. Which you’d know if you’d ever slept with anyone who wasn’t a goody-goody.”
“Don’t be mean to my exes.” Cal gives him a dirty look.
“Cal, you let me ride you in a club.” Anya pats him on the cheek. “I’m not worried that we’ll get bored. And on the off chance that we do, there are other games we can play. There are some things that we like every bit as much as picking up strangers, and I think you’ll be far more open to trying those.”
“Like what?” Cal asks, intrigued.
She ticks things off on her fingers. “Like role playing, bondage, outdoor sex, pegging. That’s only the beginning.”
Zac makes a choked noise even as Cal asks, “Pegging?”
“Zac likes to be fucked,” Anya says, matter-of-fact. “By me, anyway. I’ll show you my harness. It has this little vibrator that goes over my clit. It’s wonderful. I named it Darcy.”
Cal’s nervous system shorts out briefly while he pictures it. He’s never seen a woman with a strap-on before, and he has no idea what it looks like, but he can easily imagine Anya leaning over Zac, putting her fingers inside him, maybe watching him with that sharp face she gets sometimes when she feels like she’s got one over on someone. She would be tough on him, Cal thinks, and Zac would probably run his mouth, daring her to go harder, the two of them fighting for dominance, but—
But that’s where the picture suddenly derails, because Zac’s fidgeting, his gaze on the wall, the skin between his eyebrows crumpled, his cheeks bright red. It’s a blush worthy of Cal’s own embarrassment complex. Zac doesn’t look anything like the way Cal pictured him.
“I’m the only one he’ll let inside him.” Anya sits down beside Cal, her long legs crossing, leaning against his shoulder and tipping her mouth up toward his ear like she’s telling him a secret. “You wouldn’t believe how much he likes it, but he’s only ever trusted me enough to do it. There’s never been anyone else. That’s not something any of the other men ever got. Just me. Just someone he loves.”
“Anya,” Zac murmurs hoarsely, shifting his weight. “Come on.”
“You should see him,” she tells Cal, hushed. It sends a shiver down his spine. “He gets flushed all down his chest. He can barely talk by the time I’m in him. I bet he’ll be the same way with you.”
Zac stares at his feet. Cal stares at him, at his already-quick breathing. God, he...he wants that. He hadn’t even known he could want that, that Zac would ever be tempted.
“You think he’d let me?”
“Only one way to know.” She nudges him. “Ask.”
Cal gets up, feeling like he’s moving through white water, being battered all over by the wild currents of the day so far. He was yelling and shoving Zac barely an hour ago, thinking he was about to lose everything, and now he’s almost engaged and about to kiss Zac again, who apparently finds his toes the most interesting things in the room.