Point of Contention (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (21 page)

“Maybe you should just go back to Travis full time.”

“Travis and I will never be full-time or permanent. We’ve found

our level of friendship and sex that works for both of us. I do have

one question though. Do you feel it would make you gay or bisexual

to have another man in bed with us?”

He smiled at her, finally relaxing. “No, Travis and I shared

women in our younger days. There was never a jealousy problem or

unanswered or unexplored feelings between us.”

“So I’m the problem. You don’t want to share me. Thank you,

Stuart, that means a lot whether you realize it or not.” Kay turned and

wandered away from him slowly, not turning back once. He went on

to the kennels and spent some time with the dogs, trying to figure out

how his life got so complicated.

Petting Chloe, he spoke to the dog as if she could understand. “I

guess I just wasn’t enough for her.” The dog looked at him and

blinked. “Maybe she was right. It took all I had to satisfy her for one

evening. I don’t think I have the stamina to do her on a continuing

basis. I’d die of exhaustion.” He put the dog down and shook off his

maudlin thoughts. Travis would be a better fit to her libido. Maybe it

was time for him to spend some time away from the lodge. Find a

woman who wasn’t always within arm’s reach, one who would be

thankful just to have him to herself.

* * * *

Summer was in full swing. Travis was grumbling about the

fishermen and their catch, wanting to serve wonderful steaks and

barbeque. The guests wanted to eat what they caught. Kay was on a

short fuse, too. The heat had finally gotten to her, as well as the

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tension between her and Stuart. Kay knew the night she told him

about his photograph being the draw for her to accept the job at the

lodge she’d lost him. She’d felt him shut down, physically and

emotionally, when he told her he didn’t want to continue a

relationship with her. For the weeks that had gone by, they’d seen

very little of each other.

Kay did her job to the best of her ability and spent almost all of

her downtime in town with Grace and Lisa. After the Timms incident,

she and Lisa had begun to form a tentative friendship, one they

included Grace in. The three of them were an odd mix, yet they

complemented one another. Neither Kay nor Lisa ever mentioned

Stuart or his short temper when they were away from work. It was an

unspoken rule between them and it extended to Travis, too.

The construction on Stuart’s home had begun, large boring

machines having been brought in to sink the pilings his raised

structure would be built on. She’d seen the site from the distance

when she ran but never went close enough to investigate further.

Chloe was back in the second pen, and her puppies were all

spoken for. Over the next two weeks, all of them would go to good

homes, and while it was a relief, it was also extremely sad.

Only on Wednesday afternoons did Kay and Stuart force

themselves to spend time in the same space. Their weekly manager’s

meeting was an ordeal they both managed to get through, but just

barely. Hoyt had mentioned the status of Kay’s garden last week, and

she saw the muscle over Stuart’s left eye contract. Holding back a

grin, Kay wouldn’t admit it was more work than she’d imagined.

Instead, she suffered in the heat and mosquitoes in silence to keep it a showplace that no one would dare degrade. She longed for an early

frost so she could finally let it go to seed. She knew there was a long

time to go before then and prayed she’d have the strength to maintain

it. Only remembering Stuart’s first words on the subject kept her

focused. She’d not give him the satisfaction of abandoning it. Deep

down, she figured he was enjoying her discomfort.

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Hoyt had given Kay a few quick riding lessons, but only when

Stuart was off site. Never did she allow him to see her tentative

movements with the horse, even though the mount she’d been given

was docile and trained. Just the height took adjusting to, let alone

straddling the beast and letting him carry her down the path. Hoyt had

joked with her that she was a woman who liked being grounded, and

she’d agreed. With each lesson she’d become more at ease, but

wouldn’t consider horseback riding as a sport or enjoyment just yet.

She decided she was forcing herself to learn to annoy Stuart and it

worked for her. Just like the garden, she refused to let him see her

struggle.

* * * *

Stuart had kept himself beyond busy. With the construction on his

home starting and the lodge being booked solid, he was on the go all

the time. He’d managed to find a replacement for Jimmy Timms but

kept a tight eye on the marina and its new manager. While it was only

weeks since his day with Kay, he felt a lifetime older. And every time

he walked past Kay’s garden, his stomach tightened. He’d caught

glimpses of her working in it almost daily and wondered if she was

keeping it up just to annoy him. He’d decided she was and knew if the

positions were reversed, he’d do the same thing.

What he didn’t need now was the tropical storm working its way

north. If it stayed a storm, it would be a major inconvenience. If it

turned into a hurricane, it would be a horror. But like anyone who

lived on the coast, it was a reality that had to be dealt with.

Tuesday afternoon, he called the managers together for a quick

meeting. Everyone was given the storm plan, and last-minute

decisions were made. The dogs would be moved to the barn, and all

the boats would be pulled from the water. The generators were

checked as well as their fuel supplies. Kay and Travis made up menus

of prepare-ahead meals, as well as taking into account the lodge-

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bound guests who would expect the first-class service of the lodge to

continue even if there was a storm.

Wednesday night, the storm strengthened as it hit the coast of

Florida. Thankfully, it petered out and raced up the coast as a windy

day that was inconvenient but not destructive. By Thursday night, all

of Agrarian Lodge was back in top working order. The guests had

been only slightly inconvenienced, and life seemed to get back to a

strained normal for Stuart and Kay.

* * * *

She’d thought long and hard in the last months and knew when

her contract was up she’d move on. Where, she had no idea yet. Not

back to New York, but definitely not any farther south either. She’d

taken to doing a lot of research on the Internet and was planning her

week’s vacation for the Seattle area.

Travis and Lisa seemed to be bonding a tentative relationship but

rarely acknowledged each other while at work. Kay didn’t know how

they spent their off time, but she knew Lisa was spending less time

with her and Grace. Even Grace, dear, sweet, broken-hearted Grace,

had started dating the basketball coach-math teacher from the local

high school. Divorced with two teenage sons, he seemed to

complement Grace’s quiet presence with humor. Kay had accepted a

blind date with one of his friends but only once. The commercial

fisherman they set her up with had more arms than an octopus, and

she didn’t want to spend another night batting at his hands. It all

brought back shades of Timms and made her uncomfortable. Instead,

she took to spending time with Grace when she could and spending a

lot more time alone with her research. She was also spending a lot of

time in the kitchen at night.

It would be a sin to waste the crop of plum tomatoes just because

she wasn’t in the mood to deal with them. Sunday night, with the

radio playing to keep her company, the smell of roasted garlic and

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olive oil wafted through the lodge. She’d been simmering the sauce

down for hours and had just started pulling out the glass jars to store it in when Stuart entered her space. They looked at each other for a long

time without saying a word. Kay took a small dish and filled it with

the hot, spicy tomato sauce and placed it on the counter before him.

“There’s fresh bread in the pantry,” she told him, then went back

to work. She refused to let him make her nervous and forced her

hands to steady as she filled the jars.

“That’s excellent, Kay. Is it the bounty from your garden?”

“Yes,” she managed, before turning away from him. She dried her

hands on a cloth and tossed it on the counter, leaving him in the space

while she made a pretense of looking for something in the storage

room. Hoping he’d be gone by the time she came out with a roll of

labels in her hand, she watched him stare at her. “What?”

“I miss you,” was all he said before walking from the room.

Kay leaned against the stainless steel counter and drank in his

words. The idea that he was as miserable as she was made her feel

better. It was stupid to think that way, but she did, misery loving

company and all that. Somehow her task wasn’t so trying anymore,

and she sang with the radio as she finished. Only after the kitchen was

cleaned and shut down did she hesitate.

The light was on in his office, the thin line of light coming from

under his door, reflecting on the polished oak flooring. She didn’t

think, just acted. Her hand raised at the wood surface, she moved it to

connect before she could turn away. Hearing his famous “In” was

enough to make her palms sweaty. Opening the door, she found him

at his desk, his head bent over the papers in front of him.

“I miss you, too,” she said, waiting for him to acknowledge her

presence. For a long time they watched each other, and finally she

said, “It doesn’t make a difference, does it?”

Stuart pushed back in his chair and studied her. His single-word

answer of “No,” was all she heard.

Kay didn’t know if he said anything else, for she’d pulled the door

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shut behind her and walked back to her apartment. She wanted to cry

but didn’t. She wanted to sleep but couldn’t. Even masturbating didn’t

give her the same level of satisfaction it used to, with or without toys.

It was all so mechanical now.

In the early morning hours just as dawn approached, she let

herself into the barn and carefully saddled her horse as Hoyt had

taught her. Her ride to the beach had been uneventful, the horse taking

her for a lazy ride.

That was how Stuart found her, sitting tall on the horse’s back, her

head toward the sky, her eyes shielded from the morning light by a

baseball cap, her braided hair tugged through the back. He

approached almost silently for a man on a horse and was beside her

before she had time to react.

“Hoyt?” he asked. Kay only nodded he was correct. He glanced at

the saddle and seemed pleasantly surprised to see it was correctly

used. He watched her for a long time before asking, “Have you been

to my home site lately?”

“No, it wouldn’t be right for me to invade your private space.”

She turned the horse around and slowly let the beast take her from his

side. When the horse was back in his stall and all the equipment

stored properly, she took her time taking care of him before heading

back to her apartment. Stuart didn’t join her, and she was long

showered and gone for the day by the time she saw him take his

mount back to the stable. And that was how they spent the rest of the

summer, avoiding each other at all costs.

* * * *

In September, both Travis and Lisa took their vacations the same

week, leaving both Stuart and Kay busy covering their absences.

Thankfully, the lodge was full, but the guest houses weren’t rented

that week. By the time Sunday afternoon rolled around, Kay was glad

to see the backs of their guests. She’d had enough. Skipping supper

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with the rest of the crew, she was swimming laps in the deserted

lodge when Stuart appeared. He watched her slide through the water

and didn’t turn away. Only after she stopped at the side of the pool

and pulled herself out of the water did she acknowledge his presence.

“Stuart?” He didn’t pretend not to watch her. Instead his eyes

followed every movement of the plush towel that stroked over her wet

limbs. Kay hadn’t felt that self-conscious since she was a kid and

pulled on a toweling robe to cover the clinging material that hugged

every curve of her body. When she was covered he pulled himself

from his appraisal of her.

“We have a problem,” he started, and watched her stiffen.

“What is it?”

“Hurricane…” was all he managed to get out.

“When?” she asked, finger combing her wet hair. Kay folded the

used towel and dropped it on the lounge chair she stood beside. Stuart

seemed to stare at her and didn’t answer for the longest time, during

which Kay decided to watch him back. He seemed tired to her, the