A careful yes to Bernie sharing Gary with Joyce

Long walks on the beach. Wasn't that you were supposed to put in your dating profile? But it also helped for when walking and holding hands felt better than talking.

Gary squeezed Bernie's hand. Bernie squeezed back.

Gary started chuckling, shaking his head as he laughed.

Bernie snorted. "Same thing?"

"Yeah. What a turnabout." Gary nodded.

Gary had enjoyed the sexual holiday with Joyce that Bernie had arranged as a peace offering to him after that wild night when Bernie had fucked Gary's dad. But given a free shot at her daughter's boyfriend, Joyce claimed Gary as her prize and didn't want to let him go.

"Mom is like that," Bernie said. "I fucked up and Mom is like whatever, it was good for me and I want to share him now." She sighed. "You are kind of a prize for a himbo. you know?"

"Ow. But you're not wrong. I just, you know? I, never thought of myself that way."

"Well, you're self-centered, a little. You're a great fuck, I mean, and whenever I'm in the mood. so are you. Whenever you're in the mood, you're never pushy. And you're, well, blond and boy-next-door pretty. But you listen. At least if I can corner you." She squeezed his hand and let it drop. "And you really do care. And you try." She turned her head. "You're on my side. You want to understand me so you can be on my side. You never escalate drama. That's, well...yeah. That's why I took a break from dating women and took a chance on you. I fell hard. Let's walk."

They ended up on a wooden picnic table outside a beachside snack bar, sucking thirstily through straws, a lemon iced tea for Gary, a diet cola for Bernie, working out the terms.

"Yes, I want to let Mom share you as a lover. I want to be there and see you together. Maybe be part of it. all three of us together, I don't know. But I get first call on you as a lover and..." Bernie swallowed and cleared her throat. "And because we love each other. And if it's not working out with Mom, we'll stop."

"Do you think she, you know, that she's falling in love with me?" Gary said.

"I hope it's just a summer fling," Bernie said. "Mom loves sex, but she's really been all about, you know, her whole life is basically about women's sexual pleasure, her events, her co-presenters, sexual pleasure as something to give yourself, but also to share and show off without shame. She's all in. Mom's rules, everyone is nude and everyone is..." Bernie shrugged and let Gary finish.

"Free to masturbate, yeah." Gary nodded.

"Right. So, I mean, a couple of times Mom has had a woman kind of glue herself to Mom after one of her Pleasure Circles, just not wanting that special glow to go away, to go back to normal life, and Mom lets it happen. Sexual crushes are normal, Mom says. Let it run its course. And it does, and there are no scenes. A couple of times the women ended up on staff. But this is the first time I've seen Mom be the one who doesn't want to let go that special feeling. By being close to you."

Gary nodded. "She was pretty insatiable. I mean, I don't think I'm that special, not, I don't know, skilled or anything."

Bernie turned around and put her hands on Gary's shoulders. "Mom. Mom is infatuated by you being a nice guy and a pleaser, who loves women, romantically and sexually, who is good at sex, AND also by you being an active bisexual man..."

Gary squirmed, not feeling comfortable wearing the label.

"...who is really turned on by anal sex. Like herself. Preferably with girls. With women. Like she prefers herself. So yeah, she fell pretty hard for you. Gary? You're kind of a dream lover. To both of us. In different ways."

Gary blinked. "I mean, and you're okay with that? The way she feels about me?"

"With Mom thinking you're her perfect living breathing sex toy? Yeah, I am okay with that. To a point. I love it that you enjoy making her happy, as Mom's perfect sex toy. But we're not going to move you into the house. And she doesn't get to interrupt us in my bedroom."

"So?"

"So Mom and I are going to share you. And we're gonna be doing a lot of boundary checking. You and I are going to be talking a lot about our feelings. About each other, about sex, about my mom. And some of that talking is going to be, you guessed it, with all of us in Mom's living room...." Bernie nodded to Gary and raised her thick dark eyebrows.

"Naked and masturbating together." Gary laughed.

"Uh-huh. Okay?"

Gary gave Bernie a long look, smiled. and said, "Okay."

They held each other close in a long embrace.

Gary whispered in her ear. "I love you, Bernie, you just step up and make things work. For everyone."

Bernie whispered back, "I love you, Gary. You're so kind and tender to me. So patient and open? And? And I want you to fuck my mom. A lot."

"I'll have what she's having," Gary quoted the line from the movie where a woman demonstrated a fake orgasm at lunch.

They held each other tighter as their shoulders shook with laughter.