For Research Purposes Only (5 page)

“Say, Lacy, why don’t you pack the SUV up, and let me take Jerry’s luggage to the guest bedroom.”

“Cool. Don’t take too long, lunch will be over, and it will be dinnertime before you know it.” She went off into the kitchen.

“Yes, ma’am.” He called after her then turned to Jerry. “Well?”

“Nothing.”

“Hmm. Come on, let’s get your things upstairs.”

They grabbed all his suitcases and took them to the guest bedroom next to the master. Jerry pulled out a jacket. “Are you sure she’s open?”

“She’s turned on by the idea, trust me.”

“I hinted and she looked at me like I’d grown an extra head.”

“That’s only natural. But trust me, a couple of nights ago, she showed me how much it really turned her on. Turned me on, too.” Just thinking about it got Marty hard again.

Jerry cocked his head. Marty gave him a look. “Ahhh. Understandable, considering what you and I shared. But let me ask you again. Are
you
okay with this? I will be the first to admit, on the drive over here, all I could think about was you, me, and that special woman. And knowing that special woman was Lacy got me turned on like nothing else.”

“I never would have let you come here if I wasn’t okay with it.” Marty set one of Jerry’s bags in the closet.

“That’s fine, but I’m still the
other
man.”

“She loves and trusts me, and knows I would never force her to do anything she doesn’t want to do. And I will never judge her.”

Jerry nodded, still looking a bit unconvinced.

“And, that other man, she happens to find very attractive and still loves him.”

“And you’re okay knowing that?”

“It can’t be any other way. It was meant to be. I want it that way. If Lacy is to sleep with another man, I want it to be with the man I love, my best friend, almost blood brother.”

Jerry rubbed his chin and nodded. “Okay, so what’s next?”

“Today, nothing. We’ll just enjoy ourselves on the picnic. Tomorrow at the crack of dawn, she’ll be at her computer again. That’s when we’ll talk about helping her with research. I do know she plans to go to an adult store for some DVDs and reading material.”

“Man, short of actually participating in it, she’s really getting into it.”

They headed downstairs to meet Lacy at the car. “Exactly. So, we’ll go with her to the store but make comments here and there. It won’t be long before she’s begging to be taken by both of us.”

“I got one more thing to grab and we’ll be set.” Lacy ran past them and back into the house.

Marty and Jerry got in the car to wait for her. “I haven’t told her yet about us. But I know it will be soon. It has to be before we do anything.” Marty checked the rearview mirror.

“Makes sense.” Jerry fastened his seatbelt.

“Okay you guys, I think we’re ready.” Lacy hopped in the passenger seat. “So Jerry, what do you plan to get into while here on the west coast?”

Jerry leaned forward between the front seats, put his lips up to her ear and whispered, “I plan to get into a lot of things, doll face.”

Chapter Five

They chose a great spot for their picnic. The little hill next to the ice cream parlor had a perfect view of the ocean. The weather cooperated, too, but Lacy made sure to pack a beach umbrella anyway, to keep the dangerous rays off them.

“This salad is delicious,” Jerry said, sticking another forkful in his mouth.

“Thanks, I made plenty, so help yourself.”

“So Jerr, what happened with Nancy?”

“Marty!” She smacked him on the arm. “How rude!” Nancy had just dumped Jerry, and even though curious herself, she didn’t want to push the issue. Of course if Jerry volunteered the info…besides, unless he degraded her, beat her or cheated, she figured Nancy must have been nuts.

“What?” Marty asked innocently, rubbing his arm.

“That’s not nice asking—”

“That’s okay. You two are closer to me than my own siblings.” Jerry grabbed a half of a sandwich and got comfortable on his side. “The sun didn’t rise and set on Nancy, that’s what happened.”

“Huh?” Lacy poured him some more sun tea.

“Well, that’s what she thought. I wasn’t giving her as much attention as I could have. But I was put on a very important project. One of our VIPs, you know what I mean. It took up most of my time.”

“So, you couldn’t take her places, or go out with her on a regular basis temporarily. Didn’t she realize it was
only
temporary?” Marty asked.

“Apparently not. The irony is, a huge five-digit bonus was coming my way. We were going to use the money to take a vacation to Europe, and would have spent a lot of time together. And, I was going to buy her anything her heart desired.”

“Aww, that’s too bad.” Lacy laid her head on Marty’s lap. “Some women don’t know they have it so good. It ruins it for the rest of us.”

“I’ll admit, I’m a bit burned and not just from work. But, I’ll get over it.” He reached for the other half of his sandwich. “You know, just looking at you and Marty gives me hope.”

Lacy and Marty looked at each other. “How?” they asked in unison.

“You’re devoted to each other, the love between you two shows, and you’ll do anything for each other.” His voice was wistful. “Plus, you being a stay-at-home writer, and him with a fat bank account, neither one of you have to worry about long projects keeping you away from each other and being neglected.”

“Well, my friend, you know the old saying, too much of a good thing. Lacy and I do take a vacation from each other once in a while.” Marty popped a deviled egg in his mouth.

“Yeah.” Lacy chuckled. “Do you think either one of us would still be alive if we didn’t?”

They laughed, continuing to eat and talk about relationships. A few hours later, the sun began to set, and they packed up the picnic gear.

“I forgot how much I missed the west coast,” Jerry said, helping Marty with the umbrella.

“No one told you to go to the Big Apple.”

“I tried getting a gig here, but I love New York. You need to come visit more often. When was the last time you visited?”

They got in the car. “Umm…three years ago,” Lacy said, as she fastened her seatbelt. “Okay, it has been a minute.”

“I’ll say.”

“We promise this Christmas we’ll come. It will be perfect. Lacy loves the cold winters in the east.”

“You’re weird.” Jerry smirked.

Lacy twisted in her seat and playfully smacked him.

Back at the house, they helped Jerry put away his things. Lacy sat on the bed, while the men chatted, mostly about guy stuff. She listened and piped in when she felt comfortable about the topic.

“Any plans tomorrow?” Marty asked.

“I think I’ll sleep in. That drive knocked me out.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask you.” She picked up a pair of horrible Bermudas from a suitcase and tossed them aside. “Why did you drive instead of fly?”

“I wanted to see the country. Interesting places.”

“Hey, maybe one summer we can rent an RV and travel cross country.” Marty tossed Jerry his shaving kit.

“Great idea, don’t know why we haven’t done it sooner.”

“We’re all so busy and we can never time our days off. Even though Marty and I don’t do nine to five, sometimes I have deadlines to meet and sometimes he’s out of town, doing one of his philanthropy things.”

“This is true. All right then, let’s put on our calendars right now, next summer, road trip.” Jerry took his organizer out of one of his suitcases.

Finishing the unpacking, they headed back downstairs to the den. Lacy stretched out on one of the couches, while Marty and Jerry sat facing each other.

“What are you two doing tomorrow? Don’t let my sleeping in disrupt anything,” Jerry fluffed up his pillow and stretched.

“Don’t worry, it won’t. Marty has a meeting with some bigwig who’s involved with an after school center, and I’ll be here trying to write out at least one sentence.”

“We can keep each other company then.”

She glanced over at Jerry, who seemed to be undressing her with his eyes. She quickly looked over at Marty. If Jerry undressed her, Marty was having sex with her. She felt herself getting hot and damp. Not a good combination.

She stretched out her arms and let out a great big yawn. “I’ve had a full day, I’m going to bed. I need to get up bright and early tomorrow.”

“You and me both,” Marty got up, caught her by the arm and kissed her on the cheek. “Are you sure you want to sleep tonight?”

She peeked back over at Jerry, who’d decided he wanted to get up, too. “You and I can’t do anything with him right next door. That’s rude,” she whispered, slapping his hand.

“I’ll gag you.”

“Marty!”

“Don’t let me put a cramp in your nocturnal activities.” Jerry came behind them and put his arms around each of their shoulders. “I’ll be listening to my iPod, and will more than likely fall asleep with it still plugged in my ears.”

Marty smiled, took Lacy by the hand, and ran upstairs.

“Well, you didn’t have to be so eager,” she said, getting undressed.

“Yes, I did, but don’t worry, I’ll be good tonight. I have that early appointment. You know how I love sleeping in with you after a night of wild sex.”

“Same here. Don’t worry, Jerry will be out doing his thing once in while, so we’ll have plenty of time to ourselves.”

“Uh huh.”

Lacy dropped some of the hair she had pinned up. When she turned to respond to the tone of that last comment, he was already getting under the covers.

She usually fell asleep before her head hit pillow. Not that night. Too anxious, she tossed and turned half the night. In the other room lay one of the sexiest men she’d ever laid eyes on, next to Marty of course. And, Jerry had made it a point to let her know he wanted her. But that wasn’t the full reason for her anxiety. The fact Marty didn’t mind and encouraged the feelings kind of worried her.

He usually went Rambo on any man who made a pass at her. Jerry came into town, stripped her naked with his eyes, and Marty did nothing. But, she wasn’t going to bring it up. Letting it go would be the best thing. She had enough on her plate already; she didn’t need to get into the minds of two men.

She wasn’t ready for what she might find anyway.

***

“Is she asleep yet, it’s the middle of the night?” Jerry stood in the doorway with his iPod in his hand.

“Finally. She tossed and turned for half the night.” Marty sat up on his elbows, careful not to wake her.

Jerry took the ear buds out. “She has a lot on her mind,” he said with a knowing smile. He came over to her side of the bed and kneeled down. “How many times have I told you that you were a lucky bastard?”

“Ever since Lacy and I started dating. You had your chance, my friend.”

“She didn’t need a playboy. And if I went with her, I wanted to be more. I couldn’t give her that then.”

“And now?”

“I can give her everything.” Jerry smoothed his hand over her hair.

If it were another man, he would have been strung up by his toes and hanging out the window. But it felt natural to see Jerry admire Lacy and see the love he had for her.

“Want to trade places?” Marty asked, half joking.

“That would be way too much of a shock.” Jerry chuckled. “I’ll be with her tomorrow most of the morning while you’re at your meeting. I’ll know by then how she’s feeling.”

“Great.”

Jerry softly kissed her on the forehead. “Let me go to bed, before I change my mind and take you up on your offer.” He stood up and walked back to his bedroom.

Marty looked down at Lacy. He leaned over, kissing her head, neck, and cheek.

The real test for him wasn’t sharing Lacy with Jerry. He loved Lacy and vowed to fulfill any and all her desires. Even with Jerry being like a brother and their mutual best friend, the real test would be leaving the two alone. A big part of Marty wanted to be there when they interacted. Being a complete control freak, he wanted to be in command of everything.

The last conversation he and Jerry had before he’d arrived was to make sure Lacy and Jerry spent some real time together. They both decided the perfect time would be in the morning while Lacy worked on her book—or at least tried to work on it.

Jerry promised him, however, he wouldn’t take it further than kissing. How many times has he said that to Lacy and they ended up on the floor having a quickie.

Marty pulled Lacy closer to him. She moved a bit and snuggled nearer, not once opening her eyes or waking up.

In thinking this whole threesome thing up, it occurred to Marty that he didn’t know what Lacy might do. What would her reaction be? After all, talking about it and kicking the idea around was one thing. Actually participating in it….

He just assumed since she didn’t make a big fuss about it, at least reject the idea of Jerry coming by, she was okay with it, at least open to the idea. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that they’d never really sat down and talked about it—at least the mechanics of it, and who would do what when. So far, there’d been nothing but hints and innuendoes from both he and Jerry.

He hoped she wasn’t being overly accommodating and only rolling with the punches for his sake. Too late now to change up the plan. Two things could happen. She either went along with it, or slapped Jerry and called it quits with him.

Marty closed his eyes, and tried to catch a few hours of sleep. All three of them would be tested. Whether they would all pass remained to be seen.

Chapter Six

Lacy found herself sitting in front of her old friend, who was quickly becoming her enemy. She’d been up since four in the morning hoping, praying she could at least get one paragraph typed out.

Strong hands rested on her shoulders and began to massage them. “That feels great.” She cooed, leaned back in her chair and sighed.

“Anything for a friend.”

Lacy leaped out of her chair. She spun around and stared into Jerry’s gray eyes. “Jerry, I didn’t hear…where’s Marty? He wasn’t supposed to leave for another hour.”

“He left already. He told me to bring you this.” He placed a plate of breakfast food in front of her. Marty’s Paella, which tasted great any time of day. “The man wanted to meet early, so he called and moved the meeting up.”