The Love Of Money - S02 E110

Story 6 months ago

The Love Of Money - S02 E110

Read Story: SEASON 2 EPISODE 110

Fuuuuuuck.

Where was this sudden change in behavior coming from?

“You two looked good out there,” she deflected, handing me the rest of my drink.

“Thanks.” I took my drink from her, still trying to get a read on what she was thinking. 

Erin turned and leaned back against the bar, propping her elbows on it, her breasts pulled high. All I could see was her… naked, pinned beneath me, arms stretched overhead—my favorite view of Erin.

“I think you have a real shot with Natalie this time,” she said, watching the subject of our discussion as she chatted animatedly with the three other girls.

“Yeah… I think you’re right.” I leaned on the bar beside her, eyes on Natalie with the others. We stood in silence for a few beats.

“It’s what you want, right?”

I glanced down at her, wondering if this was a test.

If anyone deserved radical honesty more than Natalie, it was Erin. She’d been with me for months. She had become my co-conspirator… the one who orchestrated so many of my sexual and decadent exploits. If I said I wanted coffee, she bought me the whole damn coffee shop.

“I don’t know,” I said, and to my surprise, it felt like the truth.

Erin’s eyebrows climbed. “You don’t know?”

I shrugged and looked back at Natalie. She had a standard hourglass frame, but with her larger-than-average chest, she almost looked slender. The way she felt against me with those pillowy breasts on my chest and those lips pressed to mine… fuck, she was a good kisser.

Erin continued, “This whole time we’ve been together, you’ve been pining for this girl. Now that she’s a caramel puddle at your feet, you’re getting second thoughts?”

“It’s not the girl,” I said. “It’s the expectations. She’s a bit more traditional than you… or me. I’m afraid she’s too much like Danielle.”

Erin just watched me, not responding.

“I’ve changed, Erin,” I said. “I don’t think I could go back to that kind of relationship, and if I could, I don’t know that I would want to.”

“So, no girlfriend for you?” Erin asked.

“I don’t know about that,” I said, looking back at the girls. “I still think it would be nice to have that one special relationship. That ride-or-die… you know.” I looked back at her to see her still watching me, “that one person that, even if I lost everything and everyone else, would still be with me.”

“And you don’t think that’s Natalie?” Erin asked.

“Oh,” I said. “I know that’s Natalie. I just don’t think she can handle an open relationship.”

“You mean a one-sided open relationship.”

Fuck. I hated this point. I didn’t like sharing the women closest to me.

Jessica… it didn’t bother me all that much. I was on the fence with Bobbi. The thought of anyone touching Helen or Erin, though… it made me want to throw that imaginary man off a roof. Now that I thought about it, that included Natalie.

I hated Tyler.

“What is this?” I asked Erin, unable to hide my annoyance. “That month of ‘pining’ as you call it, and you guys spend it telling me that I should be careful about pursuing a relationship with her. You and Helen said that I'm throwing away one hell of a life for a chance to be with one girl. I'm starting to realize that, and you’re giving me shit for it now?”

I never got annoyed at Erin because she never gave me a reason.

And yet, she didn’t even flinch at my tone.

“I’m just doing what I’ve always done, boss—making sure you consider both sides. You wanted her more than anything else for a long time. Now that you’re so close to getting her, you’re telling me that you like the way things are. You’re talking about having your cake and eating it too, and it might seem unreasonable to a girl like Natalie.”

“Fair enough,” I said, grateful for what she was trying to do. I was starting to realize that she might not be mad at all. She was just being cautious. 

“Sorry I snapped,” I said. “Thanks for looking out for me.”

“You’re welcome, sir,” Erin said primly.

“Priorities change,” I said. “I was in love with Natalie. Maybe I still am… but I've come to realize that she might not be the only person I’m in love with anymore. She’s definitely not the only person I want.”

Erin held my gaze for a long moment and then looked back toward Natalie.

“What about you?” I asked.

Her eyes snapped back toward me, and I could see a sharpness in them. “What about me?”

I suddenly felt like I was walking through a minefield. Maybe all the looks weren’t just caution after all.

I’d been about to ask about us but suddenly thought that was a bad idea and decided to change tack. “If you were Natalie, could you accept that kind of relationship?”

She didn’t immediately respond, and I had the feeling she was wrestling with something. I felt myself growing impatient with this new dynamic that had surfaced between us, and I wanted to push her. We’d always been open and honest… where was this coming from?

But if Chloe had taught me anything, it was not to force anything; otherwise, I could end up losing her.

“I’m not Natalie,” she said.

“I kn—”

“You want a one-sided, open relationship,” she continued. “You want to be emotionally as well as physically involved with multiple women. That’s not too much of a problem for me because I know how to share, I know how to love more than one person at a time, and I’m aggressively bisexual. An arrangement like that doesn’t seem too much of a stretch to me.”

I stared at her and wondered if she was suggesting that she would be open to more between us than just a business arrangement.

Would I?

Fuck… on the one hand, our dynamic worked. I loved the way things were, and I hated the idea of that changing. If something were to happen and things didn’t work out with us, it would devastate me. I could literally find someone to fill her position tomorrow, but there would never be another Erin Malik.

On the other hand, a deeper, more meaningful relationship with Erin? Waking up to her every morning as my girlfriend. Having her as a partner and not as a woman who stood just behind me, propping me up…

That sounded nothing short of spectacular.

“But like I said,” Erin continued, “I’m not Natalie. If you want an answer, you’ll have to talk to her.” Erin nodded toward the group.

As always, she was right. Natalie and I had already admitted mutual interest in each other. She obviously knew I was playing around with other people, and she’d hinted at the idea of being okay with that, but that was right now. Would she be okay with it a year from now?

I needed all the cards on the table.

“You’re right,” I said.

“If she’s what you want, though, I wish you all the luck in the world,” Erin said. “She’s one hell of a catch. I certainly wouldn’t kick her out of bed.” She looked back at me, and there was that familiar heat in her eyes. “Like I said, you were both amazing on the dance floor.”

“Thanks,” I said, entertaining an image of both of them in bed together. Naked.

Jesus. All these tempting women.

“Are you going to get out there?” I asked.

“If the right partner comes along,” she said, giving me a pointed look.

“So, you’re telling me to keep a space open on my dance card,” I said.

She shrugged. “You or Tara.”

“How’s that going?”

Erin broke out into an enigmatic grin. “Marcus, she’s got it bad.”

“Well, tell me something I don’t know.” It was true. Every single person who had been with us on the European excursion could see it. Tara had spent an inordinate amount of time ogling my little assistant. Shea and she had been intimate on several occasions, and she had confided in Erin that any mention of her drove Tara insane.

“I told her that we spotted her watching us this morning,” Erin said, referring to our tryst earlier after my workout. Tara had left to grab a shower and had come back for her bag, only to find us having sex.

I glanced at Tara and finally noticed that her attention was split between me and Erin. The Australian knockout met my gaze and quickly looked away. “What did she say?”

“She apologized and decided to go for broke,” Erin said, picking up the drink she had just ordered. “She asked if you and I were actually a thing or if we were just fucking.”

“What did you tell her?”

Erin leveled her gaze at me. “The truth. That we aren’t a thing.”

Something about the way she said that hung in the air so thick I could almost smell it. “And what did she say?”

“She hit on me,” Erin said, glancing back in Tara’s direction. I did the same and caught her looking at us once more. “She asked if we could go out on a date.”

I took the opportunity to study Erin as she watched the others.

I’d never felt territorial toward Erin because she never gave me a reason, but something told me I was at a crossroads, and not just because of Tara. Erin and I had spent a lot of time together in Europe… more than we had in New York. We’d gotten close, and there were several moments along the way where things felt intimate in a way that went beyond just… casual.

“Well?” I asked, wanting to know Erin’s answer.

Erin’s dark eyes settled on me. “I told her that anyone wanting access to me has to go through you. Just like we discussed.”

Fuck. This woman was too good for me.

And I decided to go for broke.

Erin wasn’t Chloe.

“Erin, would you ever want to date me?”

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To Be Continued...