Archive of Our Own

Whenever they have a happy hour together, Colin Bridgerton always tries to get there early and he always seats himself with a perfect view of the door. He loves watching the moment his best friend, Penelope Featherington, walks in the door. As her wild copper hair whips around her face from the near-constant London wind, her delicate hands quickly work to tame it. On particularly dreary autumn days like today, rain clings to the tendrils like dew drops. He loves seeing the look she gets when she sees him sitting there, waiting for her with her favourite type of wine. 

Her cerulean eyes always seem to brighten as they land on him, her beautiful plush lips stretching into a gorgeous smile as she almost skips over to him, eager to get their happy hour started. 

“I can only stay for one drink, I’m getting cucked tonight,” Colin says as he pushes over a glass of red wine to his best friend. 

He got her a nine ounce glass. She deserves it. 

“Colin, what the fuck?!” Penelope squeals as she sits quickly in the chair across from him.  Her cornflower blue eyes dart around the pub. “What happened to hello?!”

Colin shrugs as he takes a sip of his beer.  The pub is crowded but he can tell no one is paying attention to the duo.  The after work crowd is more concerned with cursing about their boss or flirting with their hottest co-worker to pay attention to Colin’s sex life. 

“Hello,” Colin says with a small wave.  “How was work?”

Penelope shakes her head, copper curls flying around her face. 

“Who cares about work?!” Penelope exclaims, throwing her hands in the air.  “What do you mean you’re getting cucked?”

“It’s when you watch someone have sex with your girlfriend,” Colin shrugs as he attempts to fight his smirk.  There might be nothing on earth he loves more than riling up Penelope. 

Penelope rolls her eyes exasperatedly as she takes a long sip of wine. 

“Obviously,” she drawls out.  “I just never took you to be the cucking type.”

Colin slides his eyes away from Penelope, almost embarrassed at how spot on she is about him. 

Colin never thought he’d be the cucking type either. Though he’s not generally a jealous man, he’s also not one to sit idly while there’s something that he could be doing.  

But his relationship has gone stale over the last year and a half, his sex life with Marina, his girlfriend of three years, grinding to a halt. The spark seemed well and truly dead and Colin was willing to try anything to see if they could bring it back, if only to avoid the annoyance of having to break up. 

“We, uh, haven’t had sex in a while,” Colin confesses bashfully.  “Marina found the idea on Reddit and thought it was worth a shot.”

Penelope blinks at Colin for a moment.  

“How long has it been?”  She asks curiously, her fingers playing with the stem of her wine glass.  

Colin hesitates.  “Which sounds better, eighteen months or seventy-two weeks?”

“Jesus Christ,” Penelope breathes. “I’ve gotten laid more recently than that and I’m perpetually single.”

Colin feels his nostrils flare at that.  This is why he hates talking about his sex life with Penelope: the inevitability of her sharing her own experiences.  The thought of Penelope having sex with someone makes something in Colin’s gut churn in a way it just doesn’t for anyone else.  He can listen to Phillip or Michaela talk about his sisters more easily than he can digest Penelope’s sex life.

He never really gave it much thought, so instead he waves her off, trying to dismiss her input.  

“So do you know the person who’s going to be cucking you?” Penelope asks, leaning back in her chair, a ruddy eyebrow raised.  

“Isn’t Marina the one cucking me?” Colin asks curiously. 

“Hmm,” Penelope hums.  “I think it’s the non-partner that does the cucking.  I can research it this weekend if you want.”

Colin nods in appreciation before running a hand through his hair.  “It’s, ah, it’s George,” Colin admits, wrinkling his nose.  “Phillip’s brother.”

Penelope gapes at Colin for a second before her mouth slams shut.  “Wow, he’s so fit.”

“Pen!” Colin admonishes Penelope, the feeling of a vice tightening around his heart.  “Tell me I’m fitter!”

Penelope throws her head back with a laugh.  “Of course, my darling, you’re the fittest boy at school.”

Colin preens, far too happily for a man of thirty-two.  

“Well, you might not be the only one getting laid tonight,” Penelope smirks before her face falls for a moment.  “Wait, do you get laid or is it just you and live porn?”

Colin feels the blood rush to his ears as he blinks at Penelope.  “What do you mean?” He asks. 

“Do you have sex after or-“

“Not that,” Colin says, cutting her off.  “What do you mean you’re getting laid?” Colin asks, almost choking on the last word. It seemed like such a crude word for what it would be like to make love to Penelope. Any man who saw her as merely a conquest was not worth the condom she would waste with the experience. 

Penelope looks at Colin oddly.  “I have a second date with some guy from Tinder.  The first date went well enough, we’ll see how it goes.”

The vice on Colin’s heart gets tighter.  

“I thought the third date was the sex date,” Colin says weakly.  

Penelope scoffs.  “It hasn’t been three dates since Covid,” Penelope explains.  “And don’t try to argue with me because I know you had sex with Marina on the first date.”

Colin’s mouth twists. He did have sex with Marina on the first date but he isn’t sure how Penelope knows that. He had been careful to keep his sex life separate from Penelope over the years.  He only decided to tell her about being cucked because she might find it interesting and he knows Penelope loves a bit of gossip.  

Now he was stuck in this nightmare of imagining Penelope getting railed by some greased up gym bro she sourced from Tinder.  Someone who would fall asleep during Pride and Prejudice. Someone who wouldn’t listen as Penelope rambled about whatever book she was reading. Someone who would pass over the TikToks she sends, not even bothering to like them.  

God, Colin hated her Tinder date.  Colin took a sip of his beer, working diligently to suppress his glare.  

“Tell me what you’re reading,” Penelope says, breaking the silence between them.  

Colin wants to protest.  He wants to fall to his knees and beg her not to go on this second date.  

But Colin technically has a girlfriend so instead he decides to talk about Emily Henry. 

-

When Colin gets to Marina’s flat, she’s already flitting around, dusting surfaces and rearranging photo frames. None of the photos are of Colin, instead Marina has snaps of nights out with her friends, pictures of her father’s dog in heart shaped frames and kitschy prints she’s picked up at one-of-a-kind shows.  

“Do you think I should lay out snacks?” She asks Colin, chewing her lip.  

Colin considers it, Marina does make a great guacamole, but ultimately shakes his head no.  His stomach has been churning since learning of Penelope’s date and the idea of eating held little appeal.  

“Are you nervous?" Marina asks, tilting her head to the side.  

Was he nervous?  Not about being cucked, that was for sure.  In truth, Colin hadn’t spared a thought to his evening plans, his mind conjuring up any number of scenarios for Penelope’s date. 

What if the guy was a wet blanket?  Just boring, droning on about nothing just to fill the silence?  Or what if he was too chatty?  Penelope got overwhelmed with people who wore their extroversion like a badge of honour. 

Or what if he was perfect?  A kind man with genuine interest in Penelope, attractive with a perfect cock?

That was the thought that plagues Colin the most.  

“Colin!” Marina exclaims, throwing her hands up. “I asked you a question?”

“What?” Colin asks, shaking his head.  “Uh, no.  I’m not nervous, I just have to sit there.”

Colin studies Marina’s face, seeing her chew her lip raw.  He approaches her, resting a hand on her shoulder.  

It’s the most he’s touched her in weeks. 

“Hey, if you don’t want to do this, we don’t have to.  We can tell George to go home and watch Top Chef,” Colin offers. 

He doesn’t have the heart to tell Marina he already watched this week’s episode in preparation for happy hour with Penelope. 

“I want to go through with it,” Marina says resolutely. “I think we need this, we need to try something to get the spark back or…,” Marina trails off awkwardly, almost cringing as she looks up at Colin. 

“Yeah,” Colin agrees quickly. He doesn’t need her to finish the sentence. Colin knows what they have to do. 

They have to break up. 

The reality is, it’s likely that in any other situation, they would have broken up a long time before now. The issue has been that there truly isn’t anything wrong with their relationship aside from the complete lack of passion. 

There isn’t much completely right about it, either. They keep in touch throughout the week, usually have a movie night or go out to a restaurant, sleep at Marina’s flat (never cuddling, never touching each other) and repeat the process week after week. 

Over the last year, Colin has grappled with the idea that he just has a low libido. Prior to Marina, his sexual history was sparse. A few one night stands a year, the odd six month girlfriend here or there. 

He thought that changed with Marina. 

Colin and Marina did have an active sex life, once. They didn’t even make it through their first date, running back to his flat a mere hour after sitting down for dinner. They spent their first few months as a couple barely leaving the bedroom, unless it was to fuck in another room.

But slowly, their passions waned. Colin would cringe when Marina touched him. Marina would wrinkle her nose as Colin pressed a kiss against her face.

But Colin doesn’t need sex in the way that others do, certainly not like his brothers who get itchy when too much time passes between getting laid. Colin just… goes about his life. 

The buzzer to Marina’s flat rings out, causing Marina to jump in surprise. 

“That must be him,” Colin says before shuffling to buzz George up. “Why don’t you sit and I’ll let him in?”

Marina nods before sitting down, her body still taught with nerves. 

It was Marina’s idea to try cuckolding initially. After a night out at the bar with the Bridgerton siblings, their partners, Penelope and George, Marina cautiously brought up that she was attracted to George. Her lips were stained red from the copious amounts of wine they all drank and Colin just snorted. 

Of course she was attracted to George, everyone was. George has the face of a high fashion model, all sharp angles and perfect cheek bones. He had a slim build, broad shoulders and tall with impeccable fashion. Even Colin could acknowledge the man smells like heaven. 

Colin couldn’t begrudge her having a crush on the baronet. Colin was a firm believer that there’s just certain people everyone has a crush on and it doesn’t need to be said. 

People like Penelope, who is so pretty that Colin wants to cry some days. His stomach swoops at her kindness and his heart glitters when she laughs. 

Colin asked Eloise once if his feelings were normal and she confirmed that she too assumed everyone felt that way about Penelope. Colin and Eloise agreed, how could any one not have at least a small crush on Penelope when she was so beautiful, so intelligent that she ran laps around everyone she came across and more hilarious than anyone Colin had ever met. 

After a few years, Colin double checked with Francesca, who agreed it was normal to have a crush on Penelope and Francesca was even married!

Like Penelope, George just has it. Even though he is handsome, easily attracting women, at his heart he is just a nerd. 

A nerd who gets laid on the regular but a nerd none the less. It is utterly charming. 

Marina initially broached the idea of a threesome with the two men. Colin thought about it for a few moments but eventually declined. He wasn’t someone with the highest libido, the idea of performing for two seemed intimidating and exhausting, not something he was eager to participate in. 

Colin had a threesome once in university and didn’t enjoy it. He found himself stressed about allotting his time equally between the two women. 

In the end, both women left satisfied and Colin ended up having to take a walk around campus to ease his stress.  

Marina was disappointed for a beat but then cautiously brought up the idea of Colin just watching. For Colin, it didn’t sound so bad. He might not have a lot of sex but he enjoys porn, loves masturbating. He also knew he wasn’t much of a boyfriend for Marina and he felt ashamed that he had no innate desire to try any harder. This was something he could give her without much work on his part. 

He immediately agreed, helping Marina craft the text message to George.

By the end of their first movie, George agreed to their proposal and they quickly set up a date. A date that crept up on Colin faster than he expected. 

Colin opens the door with a friendly smile, trying not to look too out of sorts. 

George stands on the other side, a shy smile on his face and his broad shoulders tucked in slightly. He looks effortless, like a high end fashion model, yet it’s tampered by his slightly nervous energy. 

“Hello, Colin,” he says, shuffling his feet. 

Colin straightens his shoulders. He feels like it’s his responsibility to put everyone at ease. After all, it’s his role in his family, certainly it can be his role in this cuckold dynamic. 

“George!” He says jovially. “Come on in!”

Colin leads George to the living room, pausing long enough for the other man to toe off his shoes and shrugs off his jacket, hanging it on a nearby hook. 

The trio quickly exchange pleasantries, though the energy in the room is charged. All three know why they’re there and there is no use dancing around it. 

“Have either of you ever done this sort of thing before?” George asks once everyone settles into their seat. 

Colin and Marina both shake their heads no. 

“Have you?” Colin asks, his mind briefly flitting to Penelope. She’d love the gossip. 

“Uh, no,” George admits. “A few threesomes but nothing quite like this but I did some research. Colin, if it’s okay with you and Marina, I’ll keep you involved by talking to you throughout.”

“That’s fine,” Colin says, though he isn’t sure if it is.

George nods, seemingly proud of himself for leading the negotiations. “And will you be masturbating?”

Colin startled, wide-eyed. His head swivels to Marina. 

He really should have done more research. 

“Of course he can,” Marina answers for him.  “I think it’s fine if Colin does whatever comes natural to him, whether he wants to masturbate during or after, but maybe he could just hold off for a little at first?”

Colin gapes at Marina for a moment. 

He hadn’t thought about masterbating at all. 

Of course he’s no stranger to the act. One doesn’t get through eighteen months of casual celibacy without jerking off from time to time but he still hadn’t put any thought into doing it tonight. 

“What’s your safe word?” George asks, jarring Colin from his thoughts. 

Marina and Colin glance at each other for a moment, eyes wide. 

“We, uh… don’t have a safe word,” Colin admits, feeling oddly embarrassed. 

Should they have a safe word? Colin’s never had a safe word in his life. Is he having sex wrong?

Does Penelope have a safe word?

He thinks Penelope should have a pretty safe word, like butterfly or… paprika. Something that sounds lyrical on the tongue. Something as soft and delicate as she is. 

He looks over at Marina, frowning. Marina is beautiful on the outside to be sure. She’s a little dull otherwise. Maybe their safe word should reflect that.

“Encyclopedia?” Colin offers.

Marina looks at him with a cocked eyebrow. “Encyclopedia?” She repeats skeptically.

Colin scrunches his nose. “Do you have a better option?” He asks pointedly. “Encyclopedia is a fine word. It wouldn’t come up naturally and it’s memorable. I think those are the two major factors in a safe word.”

George clears his throat from his side of the living room. “I usually use ‘red’,” he says.

“Let’s use ‘encyclopedia’,” Marina interjects, looking down at her wringing hands. “Something new for everyone.”

Colin nods emphatically. 

Something new. That’s what this was all about, wasn’t it? 

“I’m just going to go get ready,” Marina says before backing towards her bedroom. “You two can get to know each other a little better.”

As Marina closes her bedroom door behind her, George and Colin lapse into an awkward silence as they sit beside each other on the couch. Colin can hear the electric buzz of Marina’s shitty toaster from the kitchen. 

Does she not hear it? How can she stand it? 

Colin can’t resist using this opportunity to fish his phone out of his pocket, typing out a quick message to Penelope.

19:30, Fri 24 Oct 2025 - to: Penelope Featherington, from: Colin Bridgerton

           Colin: Let me know where you end up going out for your date tonight! You know I like to look at a menu haha

           Colin: And let me know how it’s going when he goes to the toilet!

He nods at his phone, pleased with his text. It’s a completely reasonable request for a friend to ask his friend to let him know how their sex date is going. 

“So,” Colin starts, tapping his fingers against his knee. “Did you know that the second date is the sex date now?”

There’s a beat of silence before George turns his head to look at Colin. “What?” He asks incredulously. 

Colin can feel the flush rise to his cheeks and can feel his ears flaming red. “It’s just something I learned today,” he mumbles. “People have sex on the second date now instead of the third date.”

George eyes Colin curiously. “I usually have sex on the first date,” he confesses. 

Somehow it doesn’t make Colin feel any better. 

“I haven’t gone on a date for a while,” Colin mumbles. He’s startled to realize how true the statement is. Sure, it’s been years since he went on a first date but he also couldn’t remember the last time he and Marina had been on a date, period. No nights out, no dancing, no hikes. They usually just watch tv at one of their flats before falling asleep after doing their skincare routines. 

George hums. “I guess you and Marina have been together a while, yeah?” He asks.

“Three years,” Colin responds. “I’m not even sure where all the time went.”

“And you both just decided to try cucking to get the spark back?” George prompts.

Colin frowns at George’s quasi-question. He’s sure Marina told George all of this before but he understands the need for clarification.

“It’s… sort of a last ditch effort,” Colin confesses. “We’ve been more like friends for the last year and a half. If this doesn’t stir up anything, I think she and I are on the same page that it’s over.”

“Really?” George asks, leaning in a little further.

Colin can’t help but notice his eyes, they truly are beautiful. 

“Yeah,” Colin shrugs. “She is a pretty great friend, though,” Colin adds. 

He doesn’t want George to end his friendship with Marina once the night is over. Marina could use a few more friends. 

Marina comes out of her bedroom clad in a pink neglige, a matching lace comb pushed into her hair. George inhales sharply and Colin glances at him. The other man’s eyes are glassy and his mouth is gaped. His pink tongue juts out to wet his plump bottom lip. 

Colin glances back at his girlfriend. 

She’s pretty to be sure. The lingerie is nice, looking more expensive than the clearance out of season pajamas she usually wears around Colin. 

Still, Colin thinks George is being a little dramatic. 

However, Colin uses Marina and George silently flirting as an opportunity to check his phone. 

Five minutes and no text back from Penelope. 

Colin frowns. 

“Colin,” George says, slightly in a daze. 

Colin looks up from the phone he has perched on his lap. 

“I’m going to kiss Marina now, okay?” George asks. 

Colin glances over to Marina. She has an eager look on her face, one he hasn’t seen in years. 

“Go for it!” Colin says with mustered enthusiasm, giving the other man a thumb’s up. 

He immediately regrets the thumb’s up but there’s no turning back time. 

George doesn’t seem to notice or care as he hoists himself up from the couch, moving towards Marina and capturing her lips with his. 

Colin observes silently as the couple kiss passionately, hands roaming over each other's bodies. 

It’s odd. They’re objectively beautiful together and Marina is Colin’s girlfriend but still, he feels nothing. 

No arousal. No jealousy. No humiliation. 

It feels like Colin is watching a movie he only kind of likes. It rouses no emotions from him. He kind of wishes he could scroll on Instagram as the scene in front of him plays. 

While the two are distracted with each other, Colin covertly types out another text to Penelope. 

19:50, Fri 24 Oct 2025 - to: Penelope Featherington, from: Colin Bridgerton

           Colin: Must be a fun date so far! Don’t forget to let me know how it’s going!

Colin considers the time. Surely they’d still be out at dinner, Penelope mentioned her date started at seven. There’s no way they’d be having sex already, right?

The thought churns in Colin’s stomach a little, a flare of sick emotion firing from his heart to his cock. 

What if they didn’t even make it through appetizers? What if the man was so taken with Penelope’s beauty, as he should be, that they barely finished their bruschetta before he whisked Penelope back to her flat?

He wonders if the man is chasing Penelope up the stairs towards her flat, playfully grabbing at her perfectly round and plush arse, making her giggle throughout the stairwell. Would he push Penelope up against the wall, using the stairs to even out whatever height difference they have?

Colin feels his cheeks flush at the thought of it. 

“Should we take this to the bedroom?” Marina asks breathlessly, not taking her eyes off of George. 

Colin stands, scooping up his silent phone from his lap before following the two towards Marina’s bedroom. She set the scene nicely, candles and music making her normally cozy bedroom seem romantic. 

It had been a long time since Colin saw this room in a romantic light. 

Marina had even pulled in a chair from the living room, the mid-century modern design clashing slightly with the bedroom decor. Still, Colin felt a little touched. It is his favourite chair in her flat, after all. 

That doesn’t stop him from cringing slightly at the box of tissues sitting on the arm of the chair. Thoughtful yet mortifying. 

As George and Marina keep kissing, Colin takes his seat in the chair. He leans back, watching the two of them together for a few moments before his eyes dart back down to his phone. 

Still no text messages. 

Marina helps George strip off his clothes and Colin can admit, the other man looks even more handsome naked, if at all possible. 

Colin wonders if Penelope’s date is as handsome as George. She certainly deserves someone this handsome, if not someone even more handsome. She’d probably be with a brunette, he thinks.

Marina gasps as George picks her up, her legs wrapping around his waist. Colin can admit, it’s a pretty good move. He files it away in case he ever has sex again. 

Colin settles back in his chair, his hands gripping his thighs. He sat his phone on the chair arm that didn’t have the tissues and can’t help but dart his eyes to the black screen as Marina and George roll around in the bed. 

Still no messages from Penelope. 

Penelope is usually glued to her phone so Colin takes this as a sign that they skipped dinner all together. The flame of jealousy Colin always carries when it comes to Penelope burns bright and he can’t help but dig his fingers into his thighs. 

The man is faceless in Colin’s mind. He wishes suddenly that Penelope had shown him a picture.  Was the man taller than Colin? Shorter? Was he more handsome? Was he more handsome than George? 

Colin struggles to conjure a face, his imagination flicking between features and hair colours. He finds it frustrating, his hands twitching towards his phone, barely holding himself back from texting Penelope to ask for a picture or at least a description. 

What Colin doesn’t struggle to imagine is Penelope. 

He knows her so well, he can almost guess what she would look like with her date on top of her. He’s never had the privilege of seeing her bare breasts but if he pictures the man’s hands squeezing and caressing them instead, it almost doesn’t matter. 

(Though Colin wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to see Penelope shirtless either.) 

Colin thinks that Penelope would be someone who has to be peeled back to respond in bed. Her shyness would overtake her as a partner laid her in bed but with each kiss, each caress, she would bloom so beautifully.  

He thinks her head would tilt back, her fiery red hair surrounding her like a crown. Her already plush lips would be kiss bitten, slicked with spit and flushed pink. 

Would she let her partner mark her? 

Colin can feel his pants tightening at the thought. In his mind, Penelope loves having her tits played with, the faceless man alternating between nips and soothing licks until Penelope is writhing on the bed under him. 

Colin presses his hand to his crotch to curb the urge to touch himself. 

He promised Marina he would hold back at first. Colin is already a pretty poor boyfriend to her, the least he could do is obey her wishes while she’s in a vulnerable state. 

Especially since he isn’t even thinking of her to begin with. 

A particularly sharp gasp from Marina interrupts Colin’s thoughts, drawing his eyes back to the scene in front of him. 

George is laying beside Marina, still clad in her lingerie, his hand trailing up her thigh to tease around the crotchless panties before scurrying away, leaving Marina frustrated and writhing on the bed, her head pushed back and back arched as she wriggles to get closer to George. 

“Stop,” George chides, smacking Marina on her inner thigh, causing another sharp gasp to rip from her throat. 

Oddly, Colin feels his earlier arousal recede as he watches the pair in front of him. 

Is he supposed to talk? Colin curses himself for not researching more. He wracks his brain for something to say and comes up empty. They truly seem to have it sorted as George coaxes the first orgasm from Marina. 

Yet Colin feels nothing. The two people in front of him are obviously both beautiful, even more so together, yet Colin just isn’t feeling aroused. 

Colin feels embarrassed how little the scene in front of him is arousing him. He’s desperate to feel something. 

With some guilt, Colin lets his mind drift to something he knows will at least stir some emotion in him. 

Colin pictures Penelope in a black form fitting dress, maybe with a high slit all the way up one thigh. He thinks that her pale leg would be framed so beautifully by the fabric. Colin pictures her date on his knees, urging her thick thigh over his shoulder. He thinks the date would place open mouthed kisses all over her silky inner thigh. She would throw her head back as he dug his fingers into her plush thigh, the skin dimpling around and spilling over his fingers. 

Penelope would writhe as her date’s lips trailed up and down her leg, never quite meeting her centre where she’d begged him to go. 

Colin pictures her date hooking the fingers of his other hand into the band of her panties —

“Please, Colin, let me taste her,” George groaned. 

Colin startles, launched out of his fantasy. His eyes flick up to Marina to check in. It feels uncomfortable to Colin to be the one dictating the encounter. Marina meets his eyes and gives a small nod. 

“Um, sure,” Colin says as he stretches back against his chair, trying to hide his wince. He wanted to sound suave but just felt awkward. 

As George begins to wholeheartedly eat Marina out, Colin spirals. 

What is he even doing here? He’s a terrible cuck, his heart not in it at all. The only thing this encounter has taught Colin is that his relationship is well and truly dead with no hope of coming back. Marina looks at George with more affection than she’s shown Colin in years. 

And why hasn’t Penelope texted him back yet?!

Colin suppresses his sigh as he settles back in his chair. 

20:30, Fri 24 Oct 2025 - to: Colin Bridgerton, from: Penelope Featherington

           Penelope: Ugh, he was such a dud! Going home alone 😭 Movies and cheap wine for me 

           Penelope: Let me know how the cucking goes!

Colin freezes, his eyes glued to the messaged in front of him. 

He feels a strange mix of relief and disappointment. His fantasies of Penelope getting properly fucked by a mystery man evaporate instantly and Colin mourns the loss of them. He loved the idea of Penelope coming undone at someone’s hands. 

But… why couldn’t it be his hands instead?

Colin indulges himself with that fantasy instead. What if he’s the man grabbing Penelope in the stairwell, kissing her passionately against the wall. What if he’s the man with her plush thigh draped over his shoulder? What if he’s the man playing with her tits?

Colin feels his breath quicken as his cock gets impossibly hard.  He hasn’t been this hard in years. 

He hasn’t felt this way in years. 

Well, it’s not strictly true. If Colin is honest with himself, he always feels at least a small spark of attraction whenever Penelope is around. It’s normal, she’s too beautiful to not feel a stirring when she’s around. 

But Colin sees beautiful women every day and he never feels this way. He doesn’t even feel this way when Marina is around, who is objectively gorgeous and his girlfriend. 

Yet none of them make him feel the way Penelope makes him feel. 

“I can’t wait any longer,” George gasps, pulling back from Marina to shove down his underwear. Colin can see the obvious (and impressive) tent in the other man’s boxers and he looks wide eyed at Marina, who meets his gaze with an equally owlish expression. 

“Encyclopedia!” Both shout together as Colin scrambles to grab Marina’s robe, the one that is three sizes too big and stained with coffee and soy sauce. 

“Should- should I go?” George asks with slumped shoulders. 

“No!” Marina exclaims, holding her hands out. She grabs the robe from Colin, quickly shrugging it on. “Just- just wait here. I have to talk to Colin.”

Colin’s shoulders sag with relief. He knows they’re on the same page. 

“Nice to see you again, George,” Colin mutters as he slips by the man to head out to Marina’s living room, Marina trailing behind him. 

“This isn’t right,” Colin says, spinning to face Marina as she shuts her bedroom door behind her. “We need to break up. Not… not over this,” Colin adds, gesturing to the bedroom where they left George.  “But I can’t let you have sex with him in front of me when I know this relationship is over.”

Marina chews her lip for a moment before nodding. “I feel the same way,” she says. “I have genuine feelings for George and I don’t want our first time to be in front of my boyfriend.”

It should hurt. There should be some part of Colin that feels rejected that his girlfriend has feelings for another man but he can’t begrudge her. Not while he has feelings for another woman. 

“I think we both know that this experiment was a bust.  When I watch you and George together, I don’t feel anything,” Colin admits. 

Marina raises a skeptical brow. “Come on, Colin, you were obviously hard for at least part of it,” she points out. 

“Only when I was thinking about Penelope’s date. I started spiraling that they might be fucking and it turned me on. You’re cucking me but it feels like I’m getting cucked by Penelope,” Colin says miserably, burying his face in his hands. 

Marina’s jaw drops open in shock. “Colin!” She exclaims, her eyes wide. “That’s insane!”

“I know!” Colin groans miserably. “I can’t even be mad you set this whole thing up so you could fuck George because all I can think about is Penelope getting bent over her couch by someone who isn’t me.”

Marina blinks at him a few times, shaking her head. “Do you love her?” She asks after a few tense moments. 

“Of course I love her, she’s my best friend,” Colin says absentmindedly as he clicks open his phone, swiping to the conversations he shares with Penelope. 

He’s desperate to text her back. 

Marina scoffs, rolling her eyes. “I mean are you in love with her?”

Colin looks up at Marina, shocked by her question. 

“I think you are,” she presses on. “And I’ve thought that for a long time.”

Colin gapes at Marina for a moment. “Why didn’t you say anything?!”

Marina glowers slightly. “It’s not my duty to sort out your feelings for you. Besides, you’re my boyfriend. I wasn’t going to give you a helpful shove to your girl best friend.”

“She’s my only best friend,” Colin frowns. “But I don’t understand. If you knew I loved someone else and our relationship had been dead for a while, why did you stay?”

“Same reason you did,” Marina says. “I didn’t want to be alone. I didn’t want to start over again. I was never miserable with you but… I wasn’t particularly happy, either.”

Colin can’t help but agree. It’s the hardest part of his relationship with Marina. Nothing has been bad enough to trigger the break up. They have fun together, they like spending time together but there isn’t much else there. 

Not like with Penelope. 

Colin has fun with Penelope, of course, but it’s more than that. He trusts her with everything he has. He is sure there isn’t a funnier person on the planet. He could listen to her talk for hours. Sometimes when he can’t sleep, he pictures himself with his head on her lap, with her telling him random facts she’s learned throughout the week. 

And of course, now he can admit that he’s wildly attracted to her. The idea of her panting and writhing under him is potentially the most erotic image he’s seen in his mind’s eye. 

Because he’s in love with her. 

The moment the realization washes over Colin, his entire world suddenly makes sense. All the dark spots are uncovered, like puzzle pieces being slotted together. 

He’s in love with Penelope. Of course he is. It could never be anything less than love. 

Colin takes a deep breath and looks at Marina, her hair mused, her neck reddening from George’s attention. Her arms are crossed over her chest as her body swims in the oversized robe. 

“I think we both know this is it,” Colin sighs, shoving his hands in his pocket. 

Marina smiles at him a little sadly. “I think we both know it’s been ‘it’ for a long time now.”

Colin can’t help but agree though he stays silent. They don’t need to dwell on the fact they should have broken up at least a year ago. 

“Goodbye, Marina,” Colin says as he moves towards her door, slipping his shoes on. 

“Bye, Colin,” she says as she holds the door open for him, giving him a small wave as he walks down her corridor. 

As Colin steps out into the cool London night, he looks up at the overcast sky and inhales deeply, breathing the fall air.

This certainly isn’t where he saw his night going but he feels lighter than he has in years. 

He’s single. 

He ended his relationship on positive terms. 

He’s in love with Penelope Featherington. 

He’s in love with Penelope Featherington. 

He’s in love with Penelope Featherington. 

Colin quickly pulls his phone out of his pocket, almost dropping it in his haste, before he types out a quick message. 

21:15, Fri 24 Oct 2025 - to: Penelope Featherington, from: Colin Bridgerton

Colin: I’m coming over, don’t move 

The moment he sees it’s delivered, Colin turns on his heel and runs. 

-

Colin is thankful that Marina and Penelope live in the same borough as he huffs his way through the last few strides to Penelope’s flat. He schleps his way up the stairs to her walk up, quickly buzzing her flat. The ring of the door being unlocked is all Colin needs to hear before he almost yanks it off the hinges before quickly trekking up the stairs to her floor. 

He can’t help but imagine chasing Penelope up these stairs. Maybe they would come back after having dinner at a hazy romantic restaurant. She would wave her ample hips in his face as she led him to her flat, shooting coy looks over her shoulder. 

Colin wonders if anyone’s ever been fucked in this stairwell before. He’s eager to make sure he and Penelope are the first. 

Perhaps his libido isn’t as low as he thought. 

As he rounds the corner, he can already see Penelope’s cherubic face peeking out from her door, curious about why he’s there. 

Colin can’t help but grin fondly. She’s just so cute with her rounded, flushed cheeks and insatiable love of gossip. He knows she’s desperate to know how his night went yet all he can think about is her. 

As he reaches her, he quickly sweeps her into a hug, pressing her soft curves against his body. He wants to sob at how good it feels, he wants to kick himself because it’s always been this good and he just wasn’t self aware enough to know what it meant. 

Colin doesn’t even want to figure out when he fell in love with her. The time wasted is too depressing. 

“Hi, Pen,” he breathes into her hair. 

“This is a surprise,” Penelope remarks, her voice muffled by his shirt. “I thought you’d be getting cucked at this point.”

Colin breathes out a laugh as he pulls away from the hug, backing Penelope further into her flat before kicking the door shut behind him. 

Penelope is in front of him in possibly the least flattering nightshirt he’s seen. She’s swimming in it, the billowing sleeves reaching her elbows and the hem covering her to her knees.  It’s covered in light tea stains and is emblazoned with the cartoon image of a pumpkin, a cursive script reading, “Morning, Pumpkin!”

Somehow it’s the sexiest nightwear he’s seen a woman wear. He understands George’s dramatic gasp from earlier in the night. 

“Why are you here?” Penelope asks bluntly, leaning against the back of her couch. “Should you be with Marina and George?”

“We broke up,” Colin explains. He watches as Penelope’s eyes widen before her face collapses into concern. He quickly holds up a hand to halt her pity. 

“It was mutual,” Colin says, waving off Penelope’s concern. “It hasn’t been right for far too long and tonight just helped confirm it.”

“Was it too hard to watch her with George?” Penelope asks, crossing her delicate ankles. Colin longed to uncross them, to crawl under her nightgown and taste her. 

“I barely watched them,” Colin confesses. “It’s why I had to come see you. The entire time they were together, I could only think about you.”

Penelope gapes at Colin as silence stretches between them. 

“Me?” Penelope echos incredulously. 

“Pen, I was so jealous of your date,” Colin explains quickly as he crosses the room to grab her hands. Penelope lets him, staring at their clasped hands in shock. 

“Ever since you told me you might have sex tonight, I’ve been going out of my mind. You weren’t texting me back and I completely spiraled, fantasizing about you and your date instead of watching Marina and George. I had to call the entire thing off once you said you were going home alone,” Colin says. He feels his hands sweat as they grip Penelope’s and suppresses the urge to drop her hands so he can wipe his damp palms on his jeans.

He never wants to let go of Penelope’s hands again.

“Pen,” Colin breathes. “I’m in love with you.”

Penelope blinks at him, her face slack with shock. 

“Colin,” she says softly after a few moments. “I know you think you may love me-“

“I don’t think, Pen, I know,” Colin says firmly. 

“But you’re in love with Marina,” Penelope finishes, pushing through Colin’s objection. 

Colin shakes his head, moving forward to grasp Penelope’s shoulders. “I don’t think I ever loved Marina,” he says regretfully. Though Colin can’t regret not loving Marina, he regrets that they wasted so much time together out of confidence. “Last Valentine’s Day, we ordered pizza and played Battleship for three hours. I purposefully ordered garlic bread so I had an excuse not to kiss her,” Colin explains. “She didn’t even try to kiss me.”

Penelope blinks at him for a moment, her wide blue eyes filled with shock. 

“But you were together for so long,” Penelope says. 

Colin shrugs. “It was easier to be together than to be alone,” he says. “My entire family is filled with couples, I didn’t want to be alone.”

Penelope shakes her head. “What if that’s why you think you love me? You’re just replacing her with me so you don’t have to be alone.”

Colin’s face crumples at that, devastation coursing through him. He understands why she thinks that but it couldn’t be further from the truth. 

“No, Pen,” Colin says firmly. “I’ve never felt this way before. I’ve never felt so utterly consumed by someone, so desperately obsessed with someone. I’ve always been someone who just sort of floats in a relationship but I don’t want to do that with you. I want to spend every day with you. I want to have everything with you, a flat, a marriage, dogs, kids.”

Colin watches as tears spring to Penelope’s eyes and he quickly brings their clasped hands up to wipe them away as they spill down her cheeks. Colin can hear the hammering of his heart as he waits for her to respond. 

“Colin,” she begins, her voice a little raspy. “I… have always loved you.”

Colin blinks once as the words crash down on him like an avalanche. He steals himself, letting her confession warm his heart. There will be time for regrets, for what ifs later. For now, he just needs her.

“I fucking love you so much, Pen,” Colin says before cupping her face with both hands, dragging her face to his to meet her in a kiss. Her soft lips massage over his as her hands wind into his zip up sweater, quickly shoving it off his shoulders.

Colin can’t help but smirk into her mouth. 

His girl is desperate to get fucked and he’s not about to let her down. 

Colin lets his hand drift up Penelope’s leg, moving towards her centre. She lets out the sexiest little whimpers as his hand runs up her soft inner thighs. As his fingers run over her wet knickers, Colin can’t help but groan.

“Is all of this for him?” Colin asks as he drags his fingers along her dripping seam. “Were you sitting across from him on your date, soaking your knickers?”

Penelope gapes at Colin for a moment. Her hesitation causes a dark smirk to cross Colin’s face. 

“It is, isn’t it?” He asks greedily, pressing his thumb against her clit, causing Penelope to keen. “You came home so desperate and empty, longing for him to fuck you.”

The idea thrills Colin and he doesn’t know why. The mix of humiliation and jealousy sends a fire through his veins that Colin has never felt before. 

Colin hooks his fingers into her knickers, dragging them down her thighs. He kneels as he continues to drag her knickers down to the ground, urging her to step out of them before he balls them up and shoves them in his pocket before he spins her around, bending her over the couch. 

Her ass is in front of him, round and so tempting. He brackets her wide hips with his hand, enjoying the view for a moment, framing her ass like the art it is.  As he stretches her cheeks apart, he comes face to face with her cute little asshole.

He wonders if she’s ever been fucked there before. Colin’s never done anal himself and the thought that someone might have taken Penelope’s arse before he had a chance fills him with jealousy and arousal. 

“His loss is my gain,” Colin quips before cracking a hand across her arse, causing Penelope to gasp. The sound goes straight to Colin’s cock and he can’t help but shift as his erection rubs against his jeans. 

“But from now on, this is only for me,” Colin warns before diving face first between Penelope’s legs. 

The first taste of her on his tongue is ambrosia, earthy and sweet and he already can’t get enough of her. Not even his most vivid fantasies could have conjured her tasting this good. Colin can’t help but pity the man who let this opportunity slip through his fingers. 

Penelope gasps from her position over the back of the couch, the sound of her nails clawing at the upholstery as Colin fucks his tongue in and out of her. She’s so sensitive, so revved up already that Colin feels his cock getting impossibly harder. 

He wonders if she has been this horny all day. Was she this horny as she sat across from him while they had drinks? Was she wet thinking that she’d get fucked later that night by her date?

Colin growls as he redoubles his efforts, causing Penelope to gasp and twist above him. He uses his free hand to pin her hips to the back of the couch as he slips his thumb to begin circling her clit. Colin wants to be sure the only man Penelope is thinking about is him. 

Penelope lets out the most otherworldly gutteral groan and Colin can’t help but echo it as he fucks his fingers into her. 

He feels ravenous, out of control as he licks up all of the wetness that leaks out of her.

For so long, Colin thought he wasn’t that interested in sex. That it was a fine way to pass the time but he didn’t need it. Now he knows better. 

He just didn’t know what it was like to have sex with Penelope and now that he knows, he can never go back. 

Penelope comes with a scream muffled by the couch cushions, convulsing above him, trying to wiggle away from his mouth. 

Colin leans back and looks up at Penelope as he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. She’s slumped over the back of the couch, her body limp. 

Colin quickly stands, pushing Penelope’s nightgown up her body, helping her remove the garment completely. With care, Colin quickly folds it before tossing it down onto the couch.  He spins Penelope around and quickly picks her up, urging her to wrap her legs around his waist. 

They stumble through the living room, Colin grappling for the doorknob to her bedroom before he navigates them through her bedroom, collapsing together in the bed as they kiss madly. 

It’s then that Colin realizes a very minor bonus to dating his best friend: he already knows where everything is in her flat and he very much intends on making himself at home. 

Penelope’s hands claw at the bottom of Colin’s shirt and he pulls back just long enough to pull it off his body, tossing it somewhere towards the other end of the room. Colin gathers his strength before pulling himself off of Penelope as he stands, quickly grappling with his belt. 

He tries to memorize what she looks like, sprawled out on her bed, naked and glowing in the moonlight. She’s perfect in his eyes, her soft body so inviting as she props herself up on her elbows as he strips off the remainder of his clothes. He can’t wait to sink into her, to fuck her in every single position he can think of and then rest his head on her plush stomach. 

Colin’s hands tremble slightly as he shoves down his jeans and underwear together. Penelope swallows as she looks at his hard cock, making Colin feel a little less nervous. It had been so long since anyone had seen him naked. 

He crawls onto the bed settling between Penelope’s legs before dipping his head to catch her lips, relishing in the feeling of her legs wrapping around his waist as her hands grasp his hair. 

“Do you have a condom?” Colin asks as he pulls himself from her for a moment.

Penelope bites her full bottom lip before looking at him slightly bashfully. It’s somehow more arousing to Colin than any set of “fuck me eyes” any other woman has shot his way.

“I’m clean and I’m on birth control,” Penelope says suggestively and Colin can’t help but look at her slackjawed.

“I’m clean too,” he says, perhaps a touch too eager to be seductive but it makes Penelope laugh anyway. 

Colin presses into Penelope slowly, gasping at how amazing she feels around him. She’s so tight, so wet, so hot. Colin steels himself as he looks up at her from where they’re joined. 

“It’s, uh, been a while,” Colin says bashfully. “I don’t know how long I’ll last.”

“I don’t care,” Penelope says as she pulls his head down to meet his lips, kissing him soundly. 

Colin moans as Penelope traces her lips from his mouth to his neck, finding all of his most sensitive spots through pure intuition.

“Fuck, Pen, I couldn’t stop thinking about this tonight,” Colin says as he begins fucking her slowly. “All I could think about was you on your date. I kept thinking about him fucking you while I was getting cucked.”

Penelope looks at him, surprised. “Fuck,” she gasps as she hitches her legs onto his arms, her hands slipping down to grab the duvet under her. “That’s so hot.”  

“Do you like that?” Colin asks, unable to keep the awe out of his voice. “Do you like that my girlfriend was fucking one of the fittest men we know in front of me and all I could think about was you?”

Penelope lets out a pornographic moan as she arches her back, tossing her head back. Colin groans, his chin dropping to his chest as he keeps fucking her. 

Sex has never felt this good. Colin has never felt this free before in his life. 

Is this what it’s always supposed to be like? Is this what he’s been missing all this time?

Colin can feel Penelope’s pussy clench around his cock as her moans start bleeding into each other, her nails digging into his shoulders as her thighs shake from their position on his elbows.

“Fuck yes,” Colin breathes. “Come for me, Pen, I need to feel you come on my cock.”

Penelope blinks her azure eyes up to his, meeting his gaze. 

“Pen, I love you,” Colin can’t help but gasp out. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

With that, Penelope shatters around him, gasping his name out and it’s the most beautiful sound Colin thinks he’s ever heard. 

“Fuck,” Colin groans as he feels her legs go limp over his arms. He buries his face in her shoulder, holding Penelope tightly to him as he thrusts in her twice more before following her over the edge. 

As he comes back to earth, Penelope is combing her delicate fingers through his hair, humming lightly under her breath. Colin gathers his strength before heaving himself off of her to avoid crushing her, though he doesn’t hesitate before gathering her in his arms. 

“This might be a new record,” Colin huffs out, burying his nose in Penelope’s hair. 

“What do you mean?” She asks, snuggling up closer to him. Colin relishes in the feeling of her lush body pressed against his, the weight of her thigh thrown across his abdomen, the press of her breasts against his ribs, the soft skin of her arm running through his chest hair as she shifts. 

“We didn’t even make it to the first date before we had sex,” Colin points out. 

Penelope barks out a laugh. “I don’t think that’s a record by any means, a couple of your sisters would have us beat there.”

“Digusting,” Colin says fondly as he presses a kiss against Penelope’s head. “What if we get engaged? Engaged before the first date sounds good to me.”

“Colin!” Penelope exclaims, leaning back to look at him as if he was crazy. 

(He might be.)

“You’ve been single for like half an hour!” She says exasperatedly. 

“I was single for half an hour, I’m not single anymore,” Colin says, giving Penelope his cheekiest smile. 

He knows they have so much more to talk through. Colin needs to explain that he and Marina have been over for more than a year, that they stayed together more out of convenience than love. That they had both unknowingly fallen in love with other people. 

That Colin has probably been in love with Penelope far longer than he’s realized. 

But none of that matters right now. All that matters is the beautiful woman in his arms, her plush body half-draped over his, her beautiful hair tickling his nose. 

“So,” Colin begins as he shifts slightly under Penelope. “Did you end up finishing dinner on your date? I’m starving.”

Penelope tosses her head back to bark out a laugh. “I have some left overs from my date in the fridge, Penelope says before shifting her body to lean an elbow on Colin’s chest, propping herself up to look down at Colin with a sly look on his face. “My date paid so in a way, you’re cucking him.”

Colin beams up at her. He thinks he prefers being the bull to the cuck, at least when it comes to Penelope.