I glanced over my shoulder to find him staring at me from his perch on the coral.
“Why?” I shrugged.
It was a bit too late for modesty since he’d already seen all of me anyway. I just wanted to go for a swim.
“Oh, I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe because you have a fiancé, and he would likely want to gouge out my eyes for ogling your naked body?”
“Liam would never do that,” I laughed, loosening the ribbon, then tugging the dress off my shoulders.
“Are you saying he wouldn’t care?” Kye exclaimed in genuine disbelief, then added, pondering, “Of course if you were mine, I would never let you out of my sight long enough for abrackto take you.”
I would’ve been offended on Liam’s behalf if Kye hadn’t spoken with a dream-like quality to his voice and expression. His words sounded less as an attack on Liam’s vigilance and more like another fantasy, the one where Kye had claimed me as “his.”
His eyes remained on me when I dropped my clothes and stood in front of him naked as he was. As his touch turned things to glass, his stare could probably melt it. The ocean breeze caressed my skin, but the air around my body seemed hotter than ever.
“Except that I’m not yours,” I said, a little raspy. “I’m not Liam’s either. I’m my own person. Always have been, always will be. Even if Liam and I didn’t have an open relationship like we do.”
“What exactly does that mean?” He raised his bent leg in a way that concealed his dick from my view. A belated gesture, since I’d already noticed the raging hard-on he was now sporting.
He made no effort to hide his hungry stare, however. It felt almost tangible on my skin, making up for his inability to touch me. The phantom caress swirled up my body, puckering my nipples and pooling low in my belly with heat.
“It means we aren’t tied to each other sexually,” I explained, my breathing shallow, my focus wavering. “If either of us wants to have sex with someone else on occasion, we can.”
“Really?” He raised both eyebrows. “How convenient for me. But why enter into a commitment at all then? Whose idea was it?”
Liam suggested it years ago, shortly after we’d started dating. He said, “I don’t even dream of tying down a woman like you. I know you, Maren, I can only keep you in my life if I give you the complete freedom to do as you please.”
I appreciated his words back then. He made me feel independent, strong, and free, which was everything I always aspired to.
“Why does it matter whose idea it was?” I asked, stepping into the waves. “The important thing is that we both agreed on this arrangement and it works for us.”
“Does it? Does your betrothed have sex with whomever he pleases?”
“Yes, he does. As is his right. We both agreed to it, remember?” I retorted, maybe a little snappier than was necessary.
Liam and I didn’t talk about his encounters, but he didn’t make them a secret either. We weren’t living together. We both traveled often, sometimes together, other times apart, and I knew he wouldn’t turn down an attractive woman’s advances if he met her when I wasn’t with him.
The agreement between us was that he wouldn’t sleep with someone else if we were in the same city and that he wouldn’t fall in love with anyone else of course. He also decided that he’d rather stay away from friends or colleagues, and of course, clients were off-limits, but other than that we were both free to have sex outside of our relationship. Monogamy wasn’t for everyone. Arrangements like ours weren’t unique to us. Open relationships worked for other couples too.
“How about you?” Kye asked.
“Me?”
“Doyouhave sex with other people?”
I could if I wanted to, but I just hadn’t felt any particular desire toward any other man. Liam was enough for me. And when he was away, I had a few very capable toys on hand.
“No,” I said. “To be honest, I prefer my own hand or a toy to some random guy.”
I wasn’t sure why I admitted that to Kye or why I even had to say anything at all. But that was the truth, and now he knew it.
“That’s a shame.” He sighed. “I would’ve loved a chance to prove to you how a man could be so much better than a toy.”
“I doubt it,” I quipped, fondly remembering my vibrator.
“Sadly, I can’t touch you, ” he said. “But can I fantasize about you freely now, since I know you’re not committed to monogamy?”
I glanced at him over my shoulder. “Would you stop fantasizing if I said no?”
