Chapter 5 – How are we going to fix that skirt problem?

Miles was not home when I arrived and I ate the food and took a shower. As I was getting ready to go to sleep, I heard the door open. I wanted to confront him about what I saw, but then again, I just did the same thing to my boss.

“You are home?” he says, “you are early today, you were here around midnight last night.”

“Sorry, it is just busy at work.”

“I understand,” he says lazily.

This relationship is going to end, and it is all my fault, “um…. Miles.”

“Huh?”

“Are you still open to an open relationship?”

He looks at me in shock. He looks at me for a few seconds before he finally moves. “Are you going to agree?”

“Yes, I think we need it, maybe it will fix the intimacy problem we have been facing.”

“Are you sure?”

‘I saw you kissing someone, Miles,’ I want to say, but he will definitely flip this on me being unavailable and I will be the bad guy.

“Yes,” I say, this will give him his freedom, and I will not have to be blamed for his cheating.

I don’t know where this is coming from. Is this my guilty feeling about not being home all the time or was I just enticed by the new excitement I got a glimpse of when I kissed Mr. Beckett.

“If you are sure, we will need some rules,” Miles says, his voice sounds excited, but his face is unreadable.

“Yes, um… we should do that.”

Rule 1. We are not able to ask about the people we sleep with, we are not allowed to know who the other person is sleeping with.

Rule 2. We will respect our home, and we will not bring anyone into the apartment. We will always use hotels and other places for our hookups.

Rule 3. Use protection always.

Rule 4. Always make sure our hookup partners know we are in a relationship.

Rule 5. Stop the hookups when one of the partners is no longer comfortable with the open relationship.

Those were the five rules we agreed on, and with everything said and done, our relationship was now open.

I called Trish early the next morning and she agreed to see me for lunch; she was shocked when I told her during lunch.

“Open relationship? Really Ellie, did you listen to yourself?”

“It just makes sense, Trish; I am always busy.”

“Good reason to say no to this madness. Who are you going to sleep with while working?”

“Um….”

“Ellie, call this man and tell him you changed your mind, you cannot survive an open relationship.”

Maybe this was an impulsive decision, but I still feel like this is needed for our relationship, but I doubt that Trisha would understand.

“Just let me be for now, if it goes out of hand, we will exercise rule 5.”

“Fine, you will regret it,” Trish says, but I still feel like this is the right decision. This feels better than him cheating on me.

The day went surprisingly well, Mr. Beckett is his stoic self, and the office is calm and productive. It is weird how the kiss is not even a factor the day after.

“Um… sir, I will be on my way now,” until the time to knock off, Mr. Beckett remained in his office.

“Is it time to go yet,” his baritone voice rang, something I had never been aware of, how beautiful his voice was.

“Yes, sir, it's ten o’clock.”

“Can I drive you home?” he asks nonchalantly.

“Um…. I will take a taxi.”

“Come on, let me give you a lift,” I looked at his desk to meet his green eyes. He is examining me carefully and, man, I love how he does it already.

“If you insist sir.”

I gulp each time this man looks at me as we are on our way out of the office, and worse when we are in the elevator, and it is just us two.

“How are we going to fix that skirt problem?”

“Sir?”