Sweet Heat

“Think she’ll actually come?” Jay asked, pacing from one end of the deck to the other. Back and forth, minute after minute. He was bound to wear a hole in the wood if he didn’t calm down.

Josh smirked at Jay’s choice of words. After the dream he’d had about her? Oh yeah. She was gonna come if he had anything to say about it and come a lot. He’d woken up an hour ago full of determination for their potential guest.

Wet dreams were nothing new for him, but those were intense and full of lust and hunger the likes of which he couldn’t remember ever feeling for any other woman he’d dated or gone to bed with. He couldn’t figure out what it was about her in particular, but every thought of her and his blood rushed below his belt and he was done for.

“Yeah, I do,” he answered instead, setting the charcoal ablaze. “We’ll get her a steak ready just in case.”

“I wish I knew her like you do.”

“Why? We’ve shared plenty of women. Some you knew, some you didn’t. Besides, you do know her like I do. You know her as much or as little as I do.”

“Yeah, but she’s not our usual type and I don’t want to feel like I’m horning in.”

Josh looked over his shoulder at his brother. The conversation was serious, more so than they usually had and he understood why Jay would be nervous. Jessica was a different type of woman than the ones they usually shared. “You’re not. To be honest, I’m glad you’re into her too. Or, at least interested in her.”

“What if she doesn’t do threesomes? She might not be into them.”

Josh nodded. He’d wondered about that too. She’d been this faraway obsession of his, this virtual crush he’d had for months. Faced with her up close and personal, on a shit day such as it had been for her, he wasn’t sure at all that a sweet, vulnerable woman like Jess would be into something as kinky and naughty as threesome sex…and with brothers, at that.

“I can hope, right?” Hope. That seemed to be the word of the day around their house. That’s all either of them seemed to be able to say.

“Sure, but if she isn’t up for it? What do we do?”

“I don’t know, Jay. I guess one step at a time.”

They lived in the Bible belt and their small city, regardless of how progressive some parts of it were, living openly with multiple partners wasn’t something that was really done. The fantasy of one women forever with them… Maybe it was closer to reality than they’d ever imagined it would be, but as he said to Jay, they could only take it one step at a time, one moment at a time.

Jay was the flirt between the two of them, the one who was more love ‘em and leave ‘em. Jay also had a romantic streak a mile wide, whereas Josh was the more standoffish emotionally and the get down to business type.

Josh shook his head. Their differences and their adventurous lifestyle outside their jobs made sharing women something that worked for them. It deepened a bond they didn’t know they needed and since they hadn’t met until they were adults, it strengthened a bond that was usually saved for sibling rivalry.

They didn’t have the rivalry part, but they damn sure had the sibling part down from the second they’d met three years ago at the fire house. Jay had been filling in for a sick EMT and Josh was a rookie firefighter having opted out of re-upping in the military. It wasn’t always choice everyone got, but when it was presented to him, he grabbed it. Serving had been an honor and a privilege and a duty he had given his all for. He had loved every second of it. He was also glad to be home and to not be looking over his shoulder every minute of the day. Peacetime wasn’t the reality that people like to think it was, especially in some far-off places in the world.

If he hadn’t come back to Greenville when he did, he’d have likely missed meeting Jay. Their connection had been instantaneous, something pulling them toward one another that neither could explain.

Over a couple of beers, it came out. Josh’s father was Jay’s step-father. Jay’s mother was who the man left Josh’s mother and Josh for. It was a one in a million shock to both of their systems that they were connected like that. Neither of them had seen the man in years and everyone was better for it.

“You ever think it’ll ever happen?”

Josh focused on Jay as he took a swig of beer. “What?”

“You know… One?”

“Yeah. Maybe a far-fetched shot, but yeah, I do. Why?”

“I don’t know. It seems a little much to ask the universe for, doesn’t it?”

“Maybe we’ll catch a break.”

“Her?”

“You saw her, touched her, talked to her. What do you think?”

“I don’t know. That’s the thing, I guess. How will we know? We’ve shared a lot of women, but none that either of us has been all that crazy about. It’s always a night or two of fun then on to the next.”

“Are you sayin’ we’re manwhores?” Josh laughed as he asked the question. They had been through a lot of women and neither actually dated any of them. Pick-ups in bars, at picnics, festivals…

“You’ve gotta admit we kinda are.”

“No denying it. None of them were like her, though, and there is the looming question of whether she’d actually be into it. Someone will have to bring it up.”

It usually happened naturally. Flirting, teasing, and beer. Jessica was different. No idea why, but she was, and he was interested in finding out why.

They began sharing women almost immediately and it was something neither of them had been able to explain. Josh had shared women with friends before, and Jay had as well. It seemed natural to them that they’d share between themselves, too. Their relationship as step-brothers didn’t bother them. They were more friends than brothers and more brothers than friends. Their close relationship was difficult to explain on the best of days given that the man they both called dad had skipped out on one in favor of marrying the mother of the other, but their interest in sharing a woman for life? Yeah, that hadn’t been a question.

Josh didn’t believe in love at first sight but he kind of thought Jay did. Funny that they hadn’t talked about that. Given what they wanted long-term, maybe it didn’t need to be a conversation. Maybe it was just something they’d know between them when it happened.

Jay drained his beer and tossed the empty bottle in the recycle bin. “You want another one?”

Josh shook his head at the same moment the doorbell echoed through the house. The two men stared at one another across the deck. “No. You want to get the door?”