Page 31 of Temptation

Good. So did he.

“I can do that.” He reached up to tug on her ponytail, making her shiver again, before he gently disengaged and stepped away. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Nine o’clock?” She smirked at him, but he could see the way her shoulders relaxed at his statement. She liked knowing that he was going to call and that she could count on him to call at a certain time. Which was why he made it a point to tell her he still would be, even though they’d just made plans for the weekend.

He was starting to think of nine o’clock as ‘their’ time. There was a part of him that worried about that, especially when this came to its inevitable end… and then sometimes he thought maybe it wouldn’t end. He wasn’t sure which scenario was more dangerous… but he was on the ride, and he didn’t want it to end any time soon.

“Talk to you then.”

Another kiss and then he made himself get in his car and go.

It wasn’t a huge surprise when thoughts of Black Light consumed his focus for the rest of the week. Planning out what he wanted to do to Juliet. Thinking of and discarding ideas, going through his toys to see what he already had.Going online to see what he could get quickly.

Which, of course, he ended up buying things for the future that weren’t going to arrive in time for Saturday too. Plus, he couldn’t fit everything into one scene. He had to pick and choose.

Maybe it was foolish planning for the future so soon after starting up… well, whatever this was with Juliet, but he hadn’t been able to help himself.

He arrived at Black Light early Saturday night, so he could drop his bag of toys in the reserved room again. The same one they’d been in last time. Then he went to the bar to have one drink and wait for Juliet to arrive. Sitting at the bar also helped him to get in the right headspace.

Patrons moved back and forth between the bar and the scening areas, the scent of leather and sex permeated the air, and he could hear some of the cries and moans coming from the various scenes. Besides, even if no one was playing in the bar, most of them were dressed in fetwear or leather, which also helped set his mood.

As he sipped his beer, looking out over the other patrons, a big black man with short locs caught his eye and grinned. Orlando waved as Jafari made his way over, getting off his barstool to give the other man a half hug. They slapped each other on the back before breaking apart.

“Good to see you back here, Orlando. Why didn’t you tell me you were in town?” Jafari asked, his French accent lilting his question into something lyrical.

“I figured I would run into you here eventually. Besides, you know I’m terrible at keeping in touch.” It was true. His mom complained about it all the time. Which was why his nightly calls with Juliet were so unusual. He knew Jafari didn’t really mind though, they had the kind of friendship that maintained itself. When they were apart, they were busy minding their own business, when they were together it was like no time had passed at all. “But you have to tell me, what is up with that bowtie?”

Jafari sighed, reaching up to fiddle with the bowtie in question. It was covered in what looked like… tiny faces? Orlando squinted, adding on another question before Jafari could answer.

“Are those the twins?” The faces might be tiny, but they looked an awful lot like the faces of Jafari and Kacy’s twins. Orlando had gotten the Christmas card with the whole family pictured on it, so even though it had been a bit since he’d seen the twins in person, he still recognized them.

“Yes. Macie’s idea of a perfect Christmas gift for me.” Jafari snorted, but he couldn’t hide his smile. “Of course, the twins love it and insist I wear it as often as possible.” He lowered his hand, shaking his head as if aggrieved, but there was clear affection in his expression. He probably spent a lot of time pretending to be outraged, which would do nothing but encourage his family.

Orlando snickered. Macie was Jafari’s wife’s young cousin, and he had no doubt that Kacy had been just as instrumental as Macie in providing Jafari with the bow tie. He’d seen those ads on social media too.

“Where is your lovely lady?” Orlando asked, glancing around.

“In the locker room getting changed. She wanted to surprise me with a special outfit tonight.” Jafari grinned for a moment before looking around again. “What are you doing here? Not that I am not happy to see you, but you haven’t been here since…”

“Since Roulette night. With my stepsister. Not entirely true, I was also here last weekend… with my stepsister.” Orlando tried to say it as naturally as possible, but it was hard to manage such a statement without sounding a little dramatic.

Jafari’s eyebrows lifted in surprise.

“Juliet? I thought you had decided that was a poor decision.”

“Honestly, I’m still not convinced it’s a good one but…” Orlando sighed. “We managed to go the past year and a half without seeing each other at any family events. Our parents had no idea anything was amiss. If things do go wrong between us, we’ll just do that again. In the meantime, I’ll get to enjoy her, rather than spending my time torturing myself thinking about her.”

“You say ‘if’ things go wrong, but it sounds more like you expect them to go wrong. You’re starting a relationship with your stepsister while expecting it to end?” Jafari didn’t sound judgmental, but he did sound concerned. And he had every right to be.

It was just like Jafari to see right to the heart of the situation. Because even though Orlando told himself it was possible things could work out, he was fighting against what his brain told him was most likely to happen. And in some ways, it would be better for things to end before they ever told their parents. After all, once they told their parents, everything became much more complicated.

If it wasn’t going to work out, better to have that happen before they involved their family.

At the same time, there was the part of Orlando that wanted everything to turn out like a fairy tale, ending with love and marriage… but he’d already seen how that worked with his own parents. And Juliet’s parents. His sperm donor too, though he was pretty sure Cameron would never be happy in any relationship. He was too inherently selfish.

It was a fucked up fact that the only person he’d ever been able to picture himself marrying was his stepsister. He was at the point in his life where it was something he thought about. Truthfully, his younger self had thought he’d already be into his first marriage by now.

But here he was. Meeting up with his stepsister at Black Light to have filthy, kinky sex instead. It might not be what he’d pictured, but it was pretty damn good on its own.