Page 55 of Sizzle

Cue the awkward pause.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Alex says to Joelle.

“I’m glad to be here,” she says. She’s obviously feeling shy and I get the feeling we’re crowding her, so I grab the remote and head for the couch, flipping on the television for some background noise. Alex follows suit, taking the opposite end of the couch and leaving a conspicuous Joelle-sized space between us.

She’s grinning as she takes her spot to my right. Alex stretches his long legs out in front of him, laying an arm across the back of the sofa. If he lifts his fingers, he could touch my shoulder.

He doesn’t, but I’m burning up at the mere thought that he could. That he might.

“How’d the big launch party go?” he asks. It’s exactly the right thing to say. Joelle lights up and tells him all about it. It’s a joy to see her like this. I get to see it sometimes at work but here with us she doesn’t have to contain herself, doesn’t have to tone down her obvious passion for the work she loves. It’s incredibly arousing.

“—right, Elliot?” she asks. I nod, not having heard so much as a word of the question.

Joelle laughs.

“I was just telling Alex all about the elephant feet we served for happy hour tonight,” she says.

“What? We didn’t—” They’re both laughing at me now, but I don’t mind.

I like seeing them happy.

“Your face, El,” says Alex, still chuckling. “Where’d you go?”

“I got distracted,” I tell him, leaning in to steal a kiss from Joelle. “So sue me.”

They both go still at the casual affection and I wonder if I’ve made a misstep. I mean, this isn’t a typical date. And while this isn’t my first threesome, it very well might be hers. Or his. It’s definitely my first with another man present.

Leaning into Joelle had the added bonus of forcing me to brush up against Alex’s outstretched hand. He moved to accommodate me and now that big, heavy hand is resting on my shoulder.

“You’re shivering,” says Joelle.

“You have that effect on me,” I tell her, but all three of us are looking at Alex’s big hand on me.

Joelle takes pity on me, leaning in to kiss me again with a smile in her eyes. Alex’s fingers flex, reminding me that we have an audience this time.

“I take it you two have talked things out,” he says, his voice about three times deeper than usual.

Joelle sits back, shifting to recline against Alex’s chest and pulling her legs up to lay across my lap. She tips her head back to look at him.

“You could say that,” she says.

Alex’s other hand comes down to play with her hair. I haven’t seen Joelle wear her hair down since the first time she came to Duckbill, and I’ve been itching to touch it for weeks, just to see if those curls are as soft as they look.

I had them wrapped around my fist earlier and can say without a doubt, they are exactly as soft as they look. Delicate, even, giving her an air of innocence belied by the look on her face as she watches Alex.

I pull off Joelle’s shoes and start rubbing her Christmas-sock-covered feet. Those damn socks hit some tender spot inside me, and I want to scoop her up in a hug. She’s so damn sweet. But now’s not the time for that, so I keep my cool and focus on giving her the foot rub of a lifetime, socks and all.

“Anything you’d care to share with the rest of the class?” Alex asks, turning those blue eyes on me this time. It’s all I can do to meet his gaze because for some dumb reason I can’t stop looking at his mouth.

“I think the operative word there is ‘share,’” I say, losing the battle and watching his lips part at my answer.

Joelle’s breathing is shallow as she arches her back just a little like a cat who desperately wants to be petted. I run my thumb along the balls of her feet and she moans loud enough to have me and Alex both shifting in our seats beneath her.

“Talk to me, sunshine,” he says. “What are we doing here?”

Joelle takes a deep breath and even though I know what’s coming, she shocks the hell out of me anyway.

“Me, I hope.”