He was reluctant to say the next words, but if he demanded honesty from her, he had to give the same in return. "Yes, we had sex at her place. While I was inside her, looking down at her, all I could see and think about was you."
Her suddenly fixed neutral expression made him wince. How many men said that kind of shit? While I was screwing someone else, all I was thinking about was you. She needed more than that. You started this line of inquiry, counselor, he reminded himself, and forged on. Chris's subtle shift was as clear as a held-up sign: You need to do better than that, dumbass.
"I'm not proud of it, Sam, but I realized somewhere in the middle of it that I was actually using thoughts of you to treat her properly and leave her satisfied. Yet all I wanted to do was come home to you. You and Chris. I took the shower because I didn't want to touch you until I had her scent off of me. And that was the last time I was with a woman, until you."
Sam studied him. "I'm not sure I've ever been used as an aid to--"
"Don't." He squeezed her wrist, a little harder than he'd intended. "I told you that you probably wouldn't appreciate it. But that is the true answer to when and how I knew."
She shook her head. "You know, it's weird. When I think of the three of us, it's like we each have roles that make us a whole. You're the intellectual and planner, which is why you're the one who put what happened at the club back in perspective. Whereas Chris is still working through his emotions on it, because he's all about harmony and truth." She looked toward him with a gentle smile. Chris gave her a nod. He looked more broody than Geoff would have liked, but she was right. Chris was working it out.
"I fit," she said with a sigh, "but I can't figure out what my side of the triangle is."
Geoff took both her hands. "You're Woman, capital W. You close the triangle. It's a quality neither Chris nor I can bring to this, but it's vital to both of us. You see the full picture, Sam. All of it. What's beyond harmony or intellect, what's important in all of it. Which is why I specifically wanted to know what your long-term thoughts about us are. I respect that you just wanted to enjoy it without getting too much into serious thoughts of the future, but share those thoughts with us anyway." He threaded his fingers through her hair, slid them along her throat to her shoulder. "Tell us. Unless I've upset you, telling you about Tally, and you need something else first."
"No. It wasn't great to hear, but . . ." She put her hand over his. "It's funny, with two people falling in love, there are already so many norms that tell you how to handle it, what to do, what the potential pitfalls are. If it had been just two of us, me and you, Chris and me or you and Chris, we probably already would have moved on those feelings long ago, right? It was this that held us back. That and the two of you thinking I needed decades to heal from one asshole."
She smirked as Geoff narrowed his eyes at her, and she tossed a smile to Chris. He shook his head at her. "Try to give a girl space and she complains. Rush her and she fusses. Damned if you do--"
"Damned if you don't," Geoff finished. She swatted him and he captured her hand. "Keep going," he encouraged her.
She lifted a shoulder. "Those norms give you a framework, time to enjoy it. If everything feels right, talking about commitment evolves gradually, because you sense that some of that is already handled, intuitive, if that makes sense. Those guys took me off guard tonight because the way I feel for both of you, it already seems like that, you know? When you're so in your head and heart with the people you love, you forget that other people maybe can't see what's so clear to you." She grimaced. "Which is just a complicated way of saying I wasn't ready to handle people's reaction to us."
"I thought you handled it pretty brilliantly," Geoff disagreed. "You were honest with them. Brutally honest. Despite Mr. Homophobe, who was obsessed with the idea that dicks are magnetized toward each other during a threesome, you defused things with the truth. And you humbled me with your feelings, Sam. You gave us both a gift there. Thank you."
Chris ran a hand down her back, a reinforcement of that truth and she gave them both a grateful look. Sinking to her knees, she put her cheek on Geoff's leg. The position gave her comfort, he knew. Whereas for him, her seeking reassurance that way steadied him as much.
Geoff reached out and touched Chris's shoulder. "You okay?"
Chris shook his head. "I hate it when people treat other people like that," he said. "But especially when someone treats either of you that way."
He pushed up off the couch, his knee hitting the coffee table with a jarring thump that revealed how volatile his emotions still were. Sam jumped but Geoff tightened his hand on her shoulder, keeping her in place. Chris moved out from behind the table. "I can let most things roll off. I see bullshit every day and just go along, do my thing and don't let any of it touch me. But we were having fun. You were relaxed and Sam was happy. It all felt right."
He sighed, looking out the windows into the dark. "I don't know why people have to suck so much of the time."
Pivoting, he moved toward the kitchen. Going outside was what Chris usually did when he was out of sorts, so Geoff was sure they both guessed the sliding glass doors leading out to the deck were his destination. However, when Sam met Geoff's gaze, he dipped his head in agreement. She quickly rose to intercept Chris, sliding her arms around him.
"They can be jerks all they want," she said. "I still know at the end of the day, I'm here with you."
He came to a halt as she leaned against him, framing his face in both hands. "Do you think I'm that delicate? My feelings might get hurt, but it's just a moment, like a shot at the doctor's. It's gone. Over and done with."
"I do think you're delicate. And strong. And . . ." He shook his head, and Sam's hands tightened on him.
"It doesn't matter. It really doesn't." Her expression warmed, eyes dancing. "Remember Meatballs? 'Even if we play so far above our heads that our noses bleed for a week to ten days . . . it just wouldn't matter because . . .'"
"'All the really good-looking girls would still go out with the guys from Mohawk because they've got all the money,'" Chris finished. His lips tugged in a rueful smile, and he repeated her words. "It just doesn't matter."
Curling his fingers in her hair and at her waist, he drew her up to her toes. "But you matter," he said, a fierce light in his expression. "I want to destroy anything that thinks it has the right to hurt you. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever met, inside and out."
There were plenty of perks to being in a three-way relationship, one of them being the chance to be both audience and participant. Sitting on the sidelines and seeing Sam bloom like a rose at such an unexpected and raw compliment ranked high on Geoff's list of perks. She rallied, though, giving Chris a little shove that didn't move him even a millimeter, fucking tank that he was.
"You say that because you love me. But I'm a skinny, gawky girl who's in love with two wonderful men who make me feel beautiful every time you look at me. That's all that matters."
Drawing a deep breath, she turned toward Geoff. "Not that I want you to get all bigheaded about it. I know just how much of a pain in the ass you both can be."
Pasting a blank look on his face, Geoff looked at Chris." I think we're very easy to get along with."
"She's just anal," Chris observed. "OCD. Thank God she's hot, even though she doesn't realize she is."
"One of her few charms." Geoff grinned as Sam gave Chris another ineffectual shove, but Chris put his hands on her hips to hold on to her, fingers sliding along the waistband of her skirt. It turned his thoughts away from further conversation and toward the desire to share feelings in a far more intimate way. "Speaking of charms, I think Chris and I would like to see them."
Sam looked his way again, and Geoff deliberately let the smile on his face turn into something else. "We want you naked, nothing between you and us," he said softly. "Right now."
He'd chosen his timing well. Instead of seeing a hitch in her response as he would if she'd been immersed in the earlier upset, he saw
a smooth change as she stepped away from that and into the zone she embraced best with them.
Chris was on board. He released Sam's hand, stepped back and took a seat on the arm of the occasional chair Geoff had vacated. Bracing his feet in a spread-knees pose, he crossed his arms over his big chest. Geoff couldn't have choreographed it any better, because Sam reacted as a woman did when two men who desired her made it clear she was the center of their attention. Her cheeks flushed prettily, and it seemed as if an internal radiance enhanced all her considerable charms.
Geoff gave her an additional push. "Show us how beautiful we make you feel," he said in a husky voice. "Undress for us that way."
Her gray eyes revealed so much of her heart and soul. He wondered if she realized what it did to them, seeing that kaleidoscope of response. Dipping her head so her hair fell forward over her shoulders, she freed her shirt from her skirt and slowly drew it over her head. The lace and small cups of her bra, the satin a rich purple color, barely held her quivering breasts. She worked the skirt off her hips, offering a sexy little wriggle to make it drop to the ground. Her panties were a sheer purple mesh down to the folds of her pussy, with only a bit of purple lace over that area to screen the cotton crotch.
She straightened and tossed back her hair, sweeping it back over her bare shoulders in a ripple, posing before them in the scraps of underwear. She'd taken off the pendant and earrings, but retained Chris's ring, the little cat design he'd bought her at Naughty Bits. The pewter teddy bear with rhinestone eyes winked at the dimple of her navel.
"I'm going to have to buy you a collar," Geoff observed. "He's ahead of me in the jewelry department."
That glow from her increased. "I'd love that," she whispered.
"Yeah?" He anticipated the charge it would give them both, him putting that around her slim throat and locking it. Maybe he'd get one with a key and give that to Chris to wear on a chain around his neck, a whole other mixed statement of ownership. "What else would you love, Sam? Right now."
"I want to be with my Masters in the hot tub. With nothing between us."
Chris glanced at Geoff. Geoff kept his expression neutral, giving Chris tacit approval to do whatever inspired him. Geoff enjoyed watching them both. Was Chris aware of that and, if so, did it get him even harder, as it did Geoff? Watching Chris satisfy a woman never failed to stir Geoff.
Chris rose and moved toward her. He stroked the delicate curve of her breast and earned a tiny little indrawn breath as Sam caught her lip in her teeth. Geoff's attention narrowed down to every response between them, his own body tightening in reaction.
As Chris continued to caress the sensitive curves, Sam swayed. Sliding an arm around her waist, Chris dropped to a knee and pressed his mouth between her breasts. She curled an arm around his head to caress his hair, fingers pressing into his wide shoulders. She was cradling him against her at the same time she was submitting to him, a pleasure to watch.
Chris curled his tongue around a nipple just below the edge of the bra cup. Sam's buttocks tightened, creasing the silken fabric of the panties, and the muscles in Chris's arm bunched as he steadied her. "I can't get enough of tasting you," he murmured. "Geoff."
Geoff moved to join them. Once he was behind Sam, Chris locked gazes with him. "Lift her."
As Chris slid his hands behind her knees, Geoff understood. Banding an arm around Sam's waist, he whispered to her. "Let yourself fall backward," he said.
She did it without an instant's hesitation, trusting him. Chris slid her legs over his shoulders until her knees bent over them. As he sank to his heels, Geoff cradled her head in one palm, his other arm under her shoulders.
"Move the cups out of my way," he told her.
She exposed her breasts to him as ordered but arched up with a cry as Chris buried his face between her legs, his hands curving over her thighs to hold her open for him. Bending to put his mouth over one breast, Geoff suckled a nipple to tautness as she writhed in their hold. The position was a precarious one, leaving her unbalanced and relying on their support, but she didn't seem to doubt them for a moment.
"Oh . . . God . . . going to come," Sam said on a note of panic, and a little shock, probably at how quickly it was happening. Geoff wasn't surprised. Despite the disruption to their evening plans, they'd all been on preboil mode at the club. Plus, having had Chris's mouth on his dick, he knew just how capable that tongue was.
"Do it," Geoff said. "Come for us. It won't be the last time tonight, sweetheart."
She didn't have time to respond to that, a harsh cry ripping from her throat. He kept suckling her nipples, moving from one to the other. Chris held her fast, so the cry broke into a scream, a plea for mercy that wasn't likely to happen, not for this.
She was still gasping when Chris let her legs slide off his shoulders. Geoff moved back into a nearby chair, adjusting Sam so she was lying in his lap. Curving his fingers behind Chris's neck, he brought him off his heels to suck on his lips, tasting her sweet cunt and Chris's heated mouth at once. Sam's fingers teased their joined lips, dipping inside his mouth to play.
"Hot tub," Chris muttered.
"Hell yes," Geoff agreed. "I'll carry her there. You strip." He gave Chris a glittering look that Chris answered with a curled lip of challenge, but when they rose, Sam cradled in Geoff's arms, Chris was already pulling off his shirt and opening his jeans, toeing off his shoes.
The hot tub had been prepped for their arrival, so all they had to do was uncover it on the back porch and turn on the jets. The tub was screened by lattice, so they had their privacy. The night air was just cool enough to make the contrast comfortable. Chris stepped into the hot tub, already naked, and Geoff eased Sam into his arms. She was still boneless from the climax, but Chris captured her mouth in a demanding kiss that said they weren't planning on giving her a respite anytime soon. Her grip on his shoulders said she had no objections. Geoff passed a hand over Chris's hair, giving it a tug, then he stripped off his own clothes.
He ducked back inside for the practical stuff to circumvent the water's complete lack of lubrication, but he also snagged a couple of other things he thought they might enjoy. He'd noticed someone had been considerate enough to install handles along the wall of the hot tub to help with getting in and out, and that was an opportunity he didn't intend to underutilize.
As he returned, he used the shadows to cover the things he'd brought, putting them down on the corner of the tub. The creek below was a gentle music adding to the bubbling of the hot tub, and the night was punctuated by a variety of twinkling lights from distant houses, like earthbound stars. Mountain air always smelled so clean, and Geoff inhaled it as he sat on the ledge of the hot tub, letting himself get used to the temperature. It was a little hotter than he or Chris preferred, but with Sam being more cold-natured, they wouldn't change it. And there was plenty to distract their attention from the threat of boiling.
Chris brought the two of them closer to Geoff, Sam still sitting on his lap. Sam's eyes were more focused now, a safety light on the porch and the crescent moon illuminating her creamy skin, her radiant eyes. Her fingertips slid along Geoff's thigh, questing, and he closed his hand over hers. As Chris released her, she rested her knees on the lower step. Water spilled over her breasts, highlighting their shape and the nipples jutting from the small curves. She raised wet lashes to him. "May I put my mouth on you, Master?"
Would there ever be a time his whole body wouldn't surge at hearing her call him that? Or his heart leap at what it meant, what it could mean, as the love and trust between them grew? He hoped not.
At his nod, she lowered her head and covered him with her mouth. He braced his hands behind him, his eyes closing. They opened as Chris took a seat next to him on the ledge. Without a pause for warning, he dug his fingers into Geoff's hair and tipped his head back so he could set his teeth to his throat. He ran possessive fingers over Geoff's chest, teasing his nipples.
"Bastard," Geoff muttered and seized the hand, but only to
put it to his face and bite the heel of Chris's hand. Leaning in, he took a deeper taste of that wide, sexy mouth. Jesus, having their lips on him in different ways was an incredible experience. Sam's pull on his cock was irresistible. He wanted to come right then and there. But instead, as he broke the kiss with Chris, he touched her shoulder and drew her off him, ignoring her pout of protest. "Stand up," he told her.
She obeyed, her eyes widening at his tone of wicked intent. Picking up the cuffs, aware of Chris's eyes on them both, he clicked them around her wrists. He'd visited Naughty Bits earlier in the week, thinking he might need something like them, in addition to the Velcro cuffs they'd already bought. They were modified police handcuffs, lined on the inside so that foam instead of metal would press against delicate bones when they were tightened, like now. He put his hand on the short chain between the cuffs, smiling a little when her fingers curved up to caress his hand as well as check out the new addition to their toy chest.
"She should still be wet from her climax, but there's lube there if you need it." He pointed Chris toward the tube on the corner. "I want to see you inside her cunt. You remember what I told you a while ago? About wanting to be balls deep in you while you're balls deep in her?"
Chris's eyes were already black in the shadows, but now they sparkled like coal, his mouth tightening. Sam trembled under Geoff's hold, the sound escaping her throat telling him she approved of their direction.
"Do you want her from the front or from the back?" Geoff said softly.
"Back," Chris said.
Geoff reached out and caught Chris's face in one hard hand. "Is that because you don't want her to see your face while I'm fucking you?"
Sam froze much the same way Chris did. Good. The lines were fluid, particularly now when they were all figuring their way, but Geoff wanted to be clear that he wasn't going to be dicked around. Chris's gaze locked with his, the muscles of his face tight, but Geoff didn't back off an inch. "No," Chris said in a low voice.