It Didn't Work Out Ch. 08

Sian nodded and started to get things. She had been over a few times so she had a vague idea of where things were kept. It was a little bit of a scavenger hunt but before long she had the dining room table ready. It was just in time for Bridget to serve the pasta. Don brought over everything else including the wine. As the women were sitting down, he poured a glass for the three of them.

Once Don was seated, Sian lifted her glass and looked her two hosts. Her genuine smile helped relieve a little of Bridget's anxieties about the night. Sian seemed okay with being there. She cleared her throat a little before speaking. "I just wanted to make a little toast. To Bridget, the reason we are together," she said as her smile got a little bigger.

Don laughed and raised his glass as well. "To our lovely Bridget!" Although she didn't say anything, Bridget followed suit and raised her own glass before sipping from it. As soon as they were done with their first sip, Don complemented Sian again on the wine. She had really done a good job on picking it.

To start off with, the conversation was mostly about the dinner and what tasted especially good. Sian had gotten a glimpse of what Don had been making and remembered to praise him for those things. She too wanted Don to be feeling comfortable and in a good mood. Fortunately both Sian and Don liked each other so a nice dinner conversation wasn't hard to achieve. In fact they talked so much that dinner took over an hour before it was finished.

While Bridget and Sian cleared the table, Don got dessert out of the refrigerator. Crème brûlée was his signature dessert, mostly because he loved getting out his torch to caramelize the tops. Sian watched the process with fascination. Bridget added to the dessert by pouring some small glasses of dessert wine. When Sian tried hers, she smiled as the top made a nice cracking sound and the custard was extra creamy.

"This may be the best crème brûlée I have ever tasted, Don!" she said as she was finishing by scraping every little bit out of her ramekin.

"Yeah, it turned out pretty good today. I'm glad you liked it." Don was grinning. There was something particularly satisfying in impressing Sian.

They stayed seated at the table as they sipped their wine. There was something about Bridget that made Don look at her. While she had been fairly relaxed during dinner, she didn't seem that way now. He realized it was the way she was twirling her wine glass between her fingers. It was a nervous habit but one that only appeared when she was anxious about something.

"What's wrong, Honey?" Don asked her. As he did so, he looked over at Sian. She didn't seem particularly nervous but he got the sense that she knew why Bridget was. It seemed to be confirmed when Bridget glanced at Sian who nodded at her.

"Sweetie, before we do anything more tonight I wanted to talk about where we are in all this," Bridget said. Her nervousness was betrayed again by her slightly higher pitched voice. After a moment, she reached out with both hands so that she could hold both of her lovers' hands at the same time. She felt the little squeeze from Sian. It was just the reassurance that she needed. In contrast Don's hand just lay there in hers.

"Where we are?" Don asked. "I'm not sure I know what you mean."

Before saying anything more, Bridget took another sip of wine. "Don, you know when we got started, I told you that I couldn't do what you wanted unless I felt something about the woman I met. It's why I didn't want to do this." Bridget trailed off and looked over at Sian then back at Don.

The silence dragged on. Finally Don spoke up. "I told you it was okay, alright? I said I understood. And I do. I know you care about Sian." He paused for a second. "I haven't complained have I?"

"No, you haven't. Don, you have been great and let me do it my way. I'm not saying you've done anything wrong, Sweetie, so please don't think I'm unhappy with you." Bridget hoped that Don heard the sincerity in what she was saying. She took a deep breath. It would get harder from here. "I do care for Sian, Don. I warned you when you wanted me to do this. I care for and I love her. It doesn't change how I feel about you, but I am in love with her like I am in love with you, Sweetie. I wasn't looking to fall in love, but it was hard not to."

There was a sudden tightness in Don's chest, like his heart was being squeezed. He tried to talk but nothing came out. A thousand thoughts raced through his mind, all of them bad. Bridget was talking again and he tried to focus on what she was saying.

"Sweetie, I'm not saying I want to leave you or that I don't love you. I love you very much and I want to stay married." Her voice cracked as she spoke. She knew that Don might miss what she was trying to say and no matter how the discussion went, it was painful at this moment. She treasured the steady support she felt through Sian's fingers, but even more that Sian was silent and letting her deal with it. "Sweetie, I love you, okay?"

Nodding Don finally found his voice. It had a bitter quality. "So you don't want to leave me. What do you want then?" He couldn't bring himself to echo Bridget's profession of love just yet.

"I told you when this started that I wasn't going to lie to you. It's taken some time for me to feel comfortable with accepting my feelings but I couldn't keep this from you. It is a challenge for our relationship, I know, but it wouldn't be better if I hid this from you. The only way we can go forward is by being open about where we are," she told him. "At least, that is how I see it.

"I just want you to know, I am happy with you and with our marriage. I hope you know that, Sweetie," Bridget continued. She took another breath and looked over at Sian. "But Don, I need to talk about the ground rules. I want to modify number eight."

Don didn't need to ask which one that was. It was his payoff rule. He felt his temper start to rise. "You want to change the rule that lets me watch? That was the whole fucking point, Bridget." He would have gone on but he saw how his anger frightened Bridget. He took a long shaking breath in as he tried to gain control of himself.

"Only partially, Don. Will you please not get angry and just hear me out?" Don could hear the fear in Bridget's voice. He glanced over at Sian trying to gauge her reaction to this but 100% of her attention was focused on Bridget. It wasn't that she was ignoring him; Bridget was her concern.

"Fine," Don said in a calmer voice. "I'm trying, Bridget."

"Thank you, Sweetie. All I am saying is that I want you to be okay with me to sometimes making love with Sian when you are not there; not always, just sometimes." Bridget looked over at Sian. "It isn't just you and me, Sweetie. Sian has feelings too and occasionally she would like to be able to have time with me where we don't have to worry about restrictions on what we can and cannot do."

For the first time, Sian looked at him and spoke. "I would Don. I didn't mean for it to be this way. But you know Bridget. I mean you fell in love with her. You know how wonderful she is. I couldn't help myself either." Don found himself nodding. He could understand Sian, maybe better than he understood Bridget.

Bridget caught his attention again. "Sian and I have talked and she is willing to try bending on your participation, at least as far as I am concerned since she is a lesbian. We will have to see how it works out but sometimes we would like you to be part of our lovemaking. And one more thing, I know that you would like to see us when we are on a date. So maybe occasionally you can be there, like if we went to a movie."

Despite how he was feeling about the bombshell that Bridget had dropped, Don couldn't help feel a little surge of excitement when he heard her offer. It was the other part of his fantasy. And to go watch Bridget and Sian on a date had been a long standing wish. He tried not to get too distracted by these erotic images and to think instead about his marriage to Bridget. It suddenly dawned on him that Bridget was asking for this because her relationship with Sian had changed.

"Are you asking to have a permanent thing with Sian?" Don asked.

Bridget blushed at the question. Neither Sian nor she had really thought too far down the road. She reached over and pulled Sian closer and hugged her. "Don, I don't know. Sian and I haven't talked about permanent. I mean for now. Sweetie, this is all so new. None of us have been in this situation before. We are just trying to feel our way forward."

Don got up from the table and paced back and forth while he thought. It was an old habit for him. Bridget and Sian watched him in silence. He did it for a couple of minutes and then looked at Bridget before sitting down. He took a drink of his wine before speaking. "I'm still not sure how I feel about what you said about loving Sian. I have to think more about that. But right now, what you are fundamentally saying is that you will keep on spending a few nights over at Sian's like you are now but you may or may not make love there, even though I am not with you. And that when you make love, sometimes you may invite me to join in with Bridget. Oh, and there is the thing about dates. Sometimes it may be okay for me to be a voyeur on your date. Did I get the basics right?" Don was surprised at how calm he both felt and sounded as long as he focused just on the change to the ground rules.

"Yes, Sweetie. That is what I am suggesting," Bridget said. She was clearly still nervous that there was another explosion waiting to happen.

Looking over at Sian, Don asked her a question. "So far, it's been mostly Bridget talking. How do you feel about this?"

Sian met his gaze and was quiet for a second. There was a fine edge that they were walking between this going okay and it turning into something ugly. She also knew that Bridget didn't want her to cover up her feelings. "Don, it's hard for me too. I have never been in this situation. Honestly I am very nervous about you being with us." She smiled a little bit and then said, "It's not my fantasy, but I got into this with my eyes wide open. I love Bridge and I am willing to do those things that will make her happy, you know?"

Don nodded. He did know. He thought about how before tonight this had mostly been about his fantasy for him. He knew that Bridget was getting something out of it but he hadn't focused on that. Things had just radically shifted. His marriage was no longer as stable as he had assumed. A thought struck him. Still looking at Sian, he spoke again. "Sian, I'm sorry but I have to ask. Are you willing to share Bridget? I mean you are in love with her too. Can you share the woman you love?"

Sian knew what he was asking. He didn't directly ask whether she wanted to break up his marriage, but that was really what he meant. But just as he skirted the issue, she felt that she could skirt it in her answer while still being truthful. "Don, Bridge already said that this is too new for us to know what we want in the long run. And like I said, I knew that Bridge was happily married when we started to go out." She smiled again. "Maybe I didn't really know what I was getting into, but I understood that sharing her was part of the bargain. I don't get to decide that." There was a touch of wistfulness in her last sentence.

"I guess none of us really knew what we were getting into," Don said. "And things are not necessarily what we would want, but they are what they are." Not having really looked at Bridget and Sian's relationship before, he had missed that along with the good parts, Sian was experiencing a fair amount of pain from her choice. He felt bad that he hadn't considered that. Up until now, he hadn't felt a similar pain to help him with that realization but now he was getting a taste in the awareness that Bridget wasn't just his anymore.

Saying no to what Bridget was suggesting wasn't an option to Don any more than it had been for Sian. First, Don would get more of what he was looking for in his fantasy. He was honest enough with himself to know that was still a powerful motivation. Second, it really wasn't much of a change from where they were currently. But most importantly of all Don thought to himself, was that he didn't know what other option there was. What would happen if he told Bridget no? If he was to tell her that he wanted to stop sharing altogether, would she give up Sian? She had warned him when they started that once she felt enough to want to make love to someone, she might not be willing to let her go even if he asked. Even if he really wanted the fantasy to end, Don realized that he wasn't willing to risk it. He didn't know what would be her answer anymore.

"Alright, I can live with those changes. Bridget, we are going to have to talk when it is just the two of us." Don looked over at Sian and then continued. "Just like I am guessing that the two of you have talked." Sian nodded.

"Thank you, Sweetie. And yes, we need to talk too," Bridget said before getting up. She moved around to give him a hug. There was a momentary hesitation on his part but then his arms went around her and he returned it. Leaning over, Bridget softly kissed him. "I do love you, Don," she said as it ended. Looking over at Sian who was impassively watching, Bridget gave her an encouraging smile. "I'm glad it is out in the open. I hated knowing that I was hiding something, especially something as important as love." Bridget's words brought a slow smile to Sian's face. Letting go of Don, Bridget moved over to give Sian a hug and a similar kiss.

It was Don's turn to feel uncomfortable as he watched. In the past, it would have just been something to excite him and he didn't lie to himself that he didn't feel a stirring of desire as he watched. At the same time, there were some butterflies in his stomach. It was different now.

Bridget knew both of her lovers well enough that she was aware of the mixed feelings they both had. She kept both kisses and hugs short. And despite really wanting to sit down in Sian's lap, she went back to her own chair and sat down. In fact she still hadn't gotten everything off her chest. She looked at both of her lovers. "There is one more thing, and it is for both of you. It's a new ground rule and it isn't open to debate. I love you both and I am glad you both like each other, so that will help. But this isn't a contest and I am not a prize. I don't want the two of you competing for my affection. Believe me it will have the opposite effect of what you want." She stifled their protests before they could even get started. "I know that you both think you won't, but I am just warning you. I will call you on it."

Reaching out, she took both of their hands again. "I am not asking you to not be jealous. I know that will happen sometimes. I will try not to make it worse. But I don't want you trying to top one another with gifts, lovemaking, or anything else. It will just piss me off." She looked at Don and then at Sian. "Do you both understand?"

"I understand," Don said.

"Baby, I understand what you are saying but I need to just say one thing back," Sian answered. She didn't want to just agree and ignore the potential problems. "I totally get what you are saying, but you also need to look at this from our perspective. I'm as competitive an athlete as you are going to meet. And over the last couple of month of getting to know Don, I think he is a bit on the competitive side too. It's our natures to compete. I get why that isn't a good thing and I want to avoid it and so does Don. But don't judge us too harshly if we fall into that trap. Just remind us of what we are doing and we will correct, okay?"

Bridget laughed. "Okay, I see your point. I will try and keep you on the straight and narrow." She stopped laughing and became a little more serious. "But you know that it has the potential for crossing the line and hurting someone, so you both need to try." She looked at both of them until they both nodded their agreement one more time. She got up and went to the liquor cabinet and got Don's best scotch and three glasses. Love of good scotch was another thing that Don and Sian shared. Bridget was less fond of it so her glass ended up with the least amount in it. "To the revised agreement," Bridget light heartedly said as she raised her glass. After they had clinked each other's glasses, they all drank.

It was quiet as they enjoyed their scotch until Sian finally had to tell Don how much she liked it. That led to him showing her the bottle and a conversation about the variants. Bridget grinned as she listened to them talk. There were a fair number of similarities between them. She thought about how consistent she was in whom she liked, whether they were male or female. She was glad because it meant that they got along.

After listening to them for a while though Bridget started to get bored. Sian's chair was still a little closer to her than Don's and Bridget found it easy to put her hand on Sian's thigh. That got her a startled glance from Sian. She gave Sian her impish grin. Don was even more familiar with it than Sian. He stopped talking midstream and looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"You both know I find listening to you two talk about scotch fascinating but I was thinking maybe there was something else we might do tonight," Bridget said in that sexy voice she had. Her fingers slid further down onto Sian's inner thigh. She began to softly stroke Sian. It hadn't been a fancy dinner so Sian had just come over wearing jeans. Bridget thought how much more teasing she could do if Sian was wearing a skirt. "Oh well," she thought. "There is still a lot I can do!"

Edging closer to Sian, Bridget gave her neck one little kiss. She looked over at Don to see him intently watching. She kissed Sian's long neck again. This time she nibbled just a little after the kiss.

"Mmmmm," Sian sighed as she tilted her head to the side to give Bridget better access. She did the same thing with her legs, opening her thighs wider. She was rewarded with the feeling of Bridget's hand expanding her caresses up higher.

Lifting her lips up from the little wet spot she had made on Sian's neck, Bridget smiled. There were the faintest traces of her teeth marks. With her other hand she reached out to cup Sian's breast. She began kneading it, feeling Sian's nipple hardening. When it felt like it was as hard as it could get, she cupped the other one and did the same thing. By then, her other hand had reached the apex of Sian's thighs. Bridget was applying gentle pressure there. She liked how she could feel Sian's growing excitement being betrayed by what her hips were doing.

"Let's move to the couch, Darling," Bridget told Sian. While this was fun, Bridget wanted Sian to be more visible to Don. Even though Sian didn't want him touching her, she had grown used to the idea of him seeing her and even desiring her. Sian understood that this was part of letting Don be more involved. At the same time as Bridget teased her, she would be teasing Don. It still made Sian a little uncomfortable but that was more than made up for by the combination of Bridget declaring her love in front of Don and the thought of getting unrestricted time with her. She felt the elation more than anything tonight.

As they all stood up, Bridget held out a hand for each of them. Together they walked into the living room. Bridget turned and pushed Sian gently down on to the couch. Looking at Don, she told him to sit in the chair at the corner of the couch. It was much closer than when he had been sitting in the bedroom, especially since she had positioned Sian at that end of the couch. Once they were both seated, Bridget went over to put on some music. There was an extra sway in her walk that attracted the attention of both Don and Sian. They had been sitting for so long they had both forgotten that she was wearing a short black pleated skirt that really accented the movement of her ass. For a top, she was wearing a white button up blouse that was just the decent side of being shear. There was a hint of her black bra underneath but no more than that. Don suddenly realized that she was wearing shoes. She almost never did that at home but tonight she was. They weren't just normal shoes either. They were a pair of black strappy four inch high heel sandals.