They wouldn’t have to get divorced.

He could have both of them, keep her happy, keep Keith happy, live like this.

“We’ll give this two months,” Keith said. “Then we’ll have our collaring at the club. After that, at the one-year anniversary of her becoming my pet, we’ll talk again about having a baby. Are you good with that?”

Scott grinned. “Yeah. Real good.”

Keith kept his arms around both of them. “I will probably have more rules for you both once we settle in, kinky stuff.” He chuckled. “More for my amusement than anything. But when it comes to money and other things like that, even though I’m your Master and Owner, to both of you, we discuss that, and other important life decisions like having children, as equals. Got it?”

“Got it,” Noel said.

She not only sounded happier than she had in the past couple of years, she looked happier, too.

“Got it,” Scott said.

Keith nodded. “Good. Then let’s get cleaned up and snuggle. I’m exhausted. She’s fucked me ragged the past couple of days.”

Chapter Twenty-One

They’d been ensconced in their new world order for nearly four weeks when Noel finally started getting jittery. When she tried to talk to Eliza about it, Eliza stopped her before she got too far.

“We need to bring in some experts.”

“Experts?”

“I’m not poly. I mean, I understand poly in theory, but I’m not poly.”

“I don’t want to go to a counselor.”

“Not a counselor. If I get some people together, will you talk with them?”

“Who?”

“Friends of mine. I have access to some experts in the field.”

Despite her misgivings, Noel knew she needed to do something. “Okay,” she said. “I guess.”

“Good. I’ll pick you up tomorrow afternoon and we’ll go meet with them.”

Which is why Noel was now sitting in Eliza’s car with her outside a restaurant in Sarasota on a Sunday afternoon. Keith and Scott were at home having a little alone time, which was only fair. It’d felt more like the Keith and Noel show for the majority of the past few weeks.

She’d actually felt a little guilty about that. Not that it could be helped because of Scott’s work schedule. And she and Keith worked together, now rode into work together every day.

“So why am I here, exactly?” Noel asked Eliza.

“You’re here to talk to some friends,” she said as she shut the car off and looked at Noel. “People who have practical experience in the matters which are troubling you most.”

“I’m not comfortable talking about my personal life with strangers.”

“For starters, they’re not strangers. Secondly, I know them. And you’ve even met some of them, I think. Third, you have a better idea than what I’m putting forth?”

No, she didn’t.

With a resigned sigh, Noel unfastened her seat belt and followed Eliza into the restaurant.

They were expected, and the last ones to arrive, apparently. The hostess led them to a table in the far corner where several other women were already seated. Yes, she knew Tilly and Loren, and sort of knew Essie and Cali. The other woman, she thought her name was Clarisse, but she wasn’t sure.

Eliza quickly confirmed that with the introductions as they sat, Eliza on Noel’s left, Tilly on her right. Once the waitress took their drink orders and left them alone, Eliza started.

“I appreciate you all coming out today,” Eliza said. “I know I was sort of circumspect on the phone, but the story isn’t all mine to tell. It’s Noel’s. And she could really use either the combined strong shoulders of all of you, tapping into your wisdom, or both.”

Noel felt her face redden, now being the center of attention. Which she knew was stupider than hell, because she’d been used to being in front of a class full of fifth graders every day.

Adults should be a piece of cake.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t.

“I have a…situation,” she finally started, feeling lame and lost as she said it.”

“You can go with the tl;dr version, if you want,” Tilly said. “Then backtrack. Sometimes, that’s easier.”

Noel took a deep breath. “My husband told me a couple of years ago he thought he was gay, maybe bi. This was after eight years of marriage. We tried me being his Domme and that hasn’t been working for me. Or for him, really. He said he didn’t want to get divorced, and neither did I, so I let him go out. He met someone, Keith, who’s now living with us. And…” Here was where it got harder to admit. “He’s now apparently my Dom, too.”

“Apparently?” Tilly asked.

“He is.”

Loren looked a little confused. “He’s gay? The other guy?”

Tilly snorted. “So was Lan,” she said. “He’s homoflexible. Straight-for-me.” She turned to Noel. “The problem is…what?”

“The problem is that I don’t know what to do with this.”

“Do you like the guy?” Tilly asked. “I mean, I hope you like him if you agreed to let him be your Dom.”

“Yeah,” she quietly said. “I think I’m actually in love with him.”

“I still don’t see the problem.”

“Tilly,” Loren scolded her from across the table. “Let her talk.”

Tilly threw up her hands in frustration. “I’m just sayin’.”

“Is it the issue of poly you’re having problems with?” Clarisse asked.

“I don’t know,” Noel said. “It’s…odd. All those years together, I wanted Scott to take charge more. Now Keith is definitely taking charge, and I like it, but…”

Everyone stared at her, apparently waiting for her to continue.

“What do I do now?”

“Enjoy life?” Tilly suggested. Loren sent her a glare.

“What I’ve found,” Clarisse said, “in our situation, is that we do a lot of talking. I mean a lot. We don’t have to do as much now, obviously, since we’ve been together a few years and our focus is on our kids as much as it is on our dynamic. But even though I’m Sully’s wife, I’m his slave first and foremost, in my mind and in my heart. And so is Mac. And Mac was there first, but I don’t feel like I’m loved any less for that. We just sort of mesh together.”

“How do I explain this to my parents?” Noel asked.

Clarisse shrugged. “You don’t. It’s none of their business.”

“What if they want to come down and visit?”

Eliza snorted. “Honey, when was the last time they came down here to visit you?”

Never was that answer, but Noel didn’t have time to say it.

“There are a lot of nice hotels in the Sarasota area,” Loren said.

“Or, you just tell them,” Essie said. “We told my mom. And we have a baby, the four of us. It was a little uncomfortable having that talk with her at first, but we only had to have it one time. All she cared about was I was happy and safe, and once I assured her of that, she let the rest go.”

Noel snorted. “Oh, my parents will have an unholy cow if I tell them what’s going on.”

“So?” Cali asked. “They live out of state, right?”

“Yeah. Indiana.”

“Okay then,” Cali said. “It’s not like they live next door. Don’t tell them.”

“This all happened so fast, I really don’t understand it,” Noel admitted. “I mean, Keith lived with us for several weeks. Well, lived with Scott. The three of us were in the same house. And then when the storm came through and Scott had to work an emergency shift, we were alone there, Keith and I. And things just sort of…bubbled over.”

“Bubbled over how?” Loren asked.

Noel glanced around. “By the end of the first day, I had pierced nipples and had agreed to be his slave.”

Tilly’s eyes widened. “Wow. Okay, that’s the deep end of the pool—”

“Tilly!” Loren scolded.

“Seriously?” Tilly shot back. “One freaking day? I am sooo not out of line here on this one. Even Landry would agree with me.”

“So says the woman who married a guy she’d just met after, what, four days?” Loren drawled.

“Hey, that was a business arrangement that worked out well for everyone.”