He stirred her up like a cake mix and left her to bake, her arousal rising and steaming off her skin. Those scones had made her think of too many cooking metaphors. Before she could untie her tongue to reply, Geoff emerged from the store, pushing his wallet into his back jeans pocket. "Let's go get Jersey Mike's. I'm ready for a picnic."
"I guess you're not going to tell me what the two of you bought, either," she said. Geoff took her elbow in firm fingers.
"Absolutely not. You don't get to ask. Patience is a virtue."
"A saying made up by smirking people who already know the answers the impatient person wants to know."
"Master Po never smirked."
"Kung Fu," Chris supplied at her confused look, taking her arm on the other side. "Kwai Chang Caine's mentor. She's not infected with geek."
"Seriously? She has the complete Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton Beauty and the Beast series on DVD."
"That's romance, not geek stuff."
"There is some overlap," she admitted, and chuckled at Geoff's smile. "And I bet Master Po was always smirking. He just did it off camera."
They headed to Jersey Mike's to pick up subs and went from there to Reedy Creek Park as planned. She squelched her curiosity about their purchase while polishing off lunch at a picnic table and watching other people's dogs play in the dog park.
Conversation gravitated toward their usual debate about when they thought they could adopt a dog, and what kind they'd adopt. When Chris suggested a St. Bernard or Newfoundland mix, Geoff pointed out they didn't need two large, furry behemoths in the house. His vote was for a man-eating Chihuahua. Sam told them it wouldn't matter; when the time came and they went to the shelter, the proper dog would pick them.
The three of them bantered back and forth on that for awhile, then drifted among the usual topics of politics, family and friends, work. Part of why moving in with Geoff and Chris had been an uncomplicated decision was how easily they could talk to one another about most topics, whether it was the three of them together or one-on-one. While Sam didn't enjoy all their interests or they hers, they still had fun talking about them together, and she'd never found either Chris or Geoff an overbearing conversationalist. For one thing, Geoff often liked being able to listen more than talk after a long day of having to do the latter at work. Chris's work, mostly being a silent communion with nature, meant he was equally comfortable chatting or remaining quiet, depending on their mood.
Reedy Creek Park had plenty of hiking trails and an open lawn overlooking a natural pond and a fishing pier. Locating a good shade tree on the lawn, they spread a blanket on the grass.
Geoff sat down, propping his back against a tree, and Chris directed her to sit there, between his spread and bent knees, her shoulder blades against Geoff's chest. For his part, Chris stretched out on the blanket to rest his head in her lap. Geoff had wrapped his hand around her waist, his knuckles brushing the crown of Chris's head.
"Comfortable?" Geoff murmured after they settled. She nodded. She was sleepy, the usual effect of a good lunch and a bath of sunlight, and though their proximity stirred her up in expected ways, she couldn't think of a more favorable position for an afternoon nap.
"Nothing better than an afternoon siesta between the thighs of a beautiful woman," Chris said, reading her mind. Turning his face to her thigh, he kissed it through the denim, chuckling when she flicked the side of his head.
"Any beautiful woman?"
"There is only one beautiful woman in the entire world, and we are with her," Geoff intoned, the words vibrating through his chest against her back. "So said because we are smart men who live in the same house with her and she has access to cooking knives."
She hmphed at that and let her gaze drift over the lawn. A small group of college kids were playing touch football. A woman was reading on her own blanket, her head pillowed on her chocolate Labrador. His head was up, eyes trained on the movement of the football. The woman reached up, rubbed his ears and spoke a calming word, the light smile on her face saying she knew he wanted to play and would probably give in to his desire soon with the can of tennis balls she'd brought.
"You're humming." Geoff's arm tightened on her. "What song is that?"
She had a tendency to do that, but when Sam realized the song she'd been humming, she felt a little embarrassed. Chris opened his eyes and looked up at her. "One of those romantic chick songs," he said. "Best not to ask."
He'd watched Hello, Dolly! with her, and he had a great memory for music. "It Only Takes a Moment" was what she'd been humming. It was probably a little over-the-top, but nevertheless, it was what had come to mind. Maybe because this was a precious moment--the first time they'd acknowledged in public the attraction among the three of them.
It hadn't gone unnoticed. There was a group of women sitting at a nearby picnic table, playing a card game and chatting as women did. The rhythm of their conversation was part of the music around her, so it caught her attention when the note changed, from casual chatter to lowered voices.
She noticed a couple of them glancing her way, probably prompted by the woman who'd just spoken to them in an undertone. It was obvious from how Geoff and Chris held her that she was intimate with them both. What was curious to her was that she was more intrigued by her own reaction than the women's speculation. Instead of feeling worried about the latter, Sam felt satisfaction curl in her belly. She became even more aware of Geoff's hand, spread over her hipbone, stroking her upper thigh in an intimate but not indecent way. Chris had his head still turned toward her upper thigh, his breath heating her flesh through her thin clothing.
Maybe she had some exhibitionist tendencies that had been dormant until now. Thinking of Madison's comments about performance art, Sam understood what the woman had meant about keeping herself open to the possibilities.
Geoff took her hair out of its barrette, combing his fingers through it and tugging so she laid her head back on his shoulder and looked up at him. "You liked the mask at Naughty Bits, didn't you?"
"It was beautiful."
"It was. But you liked the idea of wearing a full head mask. Why?"
She wondered if Chris felt the thrum of awareness that went through her when Geoff shifted to a Master's tone, posing a question he expected to have answered. In her peripheral vision, she saw Chris's gaze lift back to her face. Geoff didn't break eye contact.
"I'm not sure," she said. "I think it's having all my senses muted like that. Sight and sound, the ability to talk. I'd have to rely on you for guidance, my only focus . . ."
"On what we want from you?"
She nodded, and he touched her mouth. "I want you to say it."
"Yes. I like that. The idea of all my focus being on that . . . If you like it." She lifted a shoulder. "They kind of go together."
"Same for us." Chris spoke. Geoff's touch had created a silken fall of her hair over her right shoulder. It was over her breast, so when Chris reached up to play with them, his knuckles rubbed her nipple. It peaked and tightened against the stimulation. Chris registered it, making slower passes. It still looked like he was just playing with her hair, but as her nipple sculpted into a tighter point, he squeezed it between his knuckles. She drew in a breath.
"She's so responsive, isn't she?" Geoff murmured. "We could keep her hot and wet all the time, ready for either of us to fuck."
"She's that way now," Chris responded. When he lifted his gaze to Geoff, she wasn't expecting that gesture of male accord to intensify her response, but it did. As her lips parted, swallowing air to manage her reaction, Chris kept playing with her nipple in that disguised way. He watched her mounting desire with ruthless fascination. Still holding her, Geoff unzipped the tote of snacks she'd brought and withdrew a glossy cherry tomato from a container.
"Open up, Sam."
He put it on her tongue. It was the size of a smallish golf ball, but before she could chew, he made a quelling noise. "Hold it in your mouth, lips closed. Don't bite it."
He sl
id her T-shirt off her shoulder, the bra strap with it, and found bare flesh. "She focuses more on her own responses when she can't talk," he said casually to Chris.
Her cheeks heated. When she lowered her eyes, Chris touched her chin. "Is that so?"
He uttered the three words with a vibration of sexual demand that kept her eyes down, focused on his forearm, because if she looked up she was sure anyone looking would see she was a woman being blatantly stimulated. She nodded.
"Hmm." Chris rubbed his nose along her inner thigh. "She always smells so good. I want to put my nose right up against her pussy. I'd stay like that so I could feel her jerk in that sexy little way she does when she wants more."
"You said you wanted more from both of us," Geoff said against her throat, scoring her with his teeth. "If Chris wants as much of you as I do, we might take it all . . . and then some."
He slid his hands down both her arms, back up. She'd never been so aware of her skin. The women at the picnic table were getting an eyeful now. There'd be no doubt at all that these men had a sexual claim on her, but despite her internal war between civilized restraint and her own surging libido, the libido won. Sam wanted them to know. She wanted the whole world to know. No matter their reaction, she'd embrace whatever Geoff and Chris wanted from her.
Geoff's words were more than a sensual threat. They were a promise. The two of them would have fantasies and desires she hadn't even contemplated, and she was eager to discover what they were. Up until these past couple of weeks, she'd explored her submission as more fantasy than fact, but finding that she trusted them enough to do her best to follow rule number two, to do what they told her to do and explore those fantasies together, only made her want to get started on that now. Now, now, now.
"I think we might be skating over the line of public decency laws," Geoff observed. "How about a postlunch hike to cool this down some?"
She shook her head, but Geoff slid a hand up to her shoulder, pinching the sensitive point between her neck and shoulder. "I wasn't talking to you, Sam." That mild Dom menace shot another direct reaction between her legs, but his voice was laced with amusement that made her want to roll her eyes at him as well. She didn't, though. She had a feeling he knew temptingly cruel ways to hold her on that line of discretion like a tight wire, all while getting her so aroused her panties would soak through.
Chris pressed another kiss to her thigh and rolled over, sitting back on his heels. "Sounds good." He cocked his head. "You going to make her hold that tomato in her mouth, or let her swallow it?"
"I was just enjoying the silence," Geoff said. She tried to elbow him in the stomach and he stopped her, chuckling. Brushing a kiss along her cheek, he held there. "Give it to me, sweet girl. I want to taste what's in your mouth." He captured her lips, parting them with his own. She relinquished the tomato in a moist, heated tangle of tongues and teeth before he drew back, bit and chewed.
She slid her fingertips along his lips, collecting some of the juice that had escaped. He kissed her lips again, lightly this time, and then pushed her up into Chris's waiting arms. He accepted Chris's free hand to pull him to his own feet. "All right," Geoff said. "Let's go work up a sweat the publicly acceptable way. For now."
*
Though it took a while, she was ultimately glad for Geoff's suggestion to take a break. The breathers gave them the chance to explore the new intimacy of their connection, not just as sex, but as three people falling in love.
No, correct that. They'd made that step long ago. This was finally exploring and enjoying it, realizing they had time to do that. It didn't have to be rushed in a conflagration of hormones, though she was sure none of them objected to the occasional bonfire.
On their hike, they found a softball abandoned on one of the baseball fields and Geoff started a game of keep away, nominating her and him to keep it away from Chris first. She shot a ground ball between his legs and Geoff narrowly evaded Chris in a feint and dodge as he snatched it up and fired it back to her. With Chris thundering down on her, she lobbed it over his head and gasped, laughing as he seized her around the waist and dumped her over his shoulder, circling to face Geoff again and calling to him to throw the ball, which Chris neatly caught.
"That is so cheating," she protested.
"It's completely acceptable to tackle or carry someone to keep them from getting the ball," Chris disagreed.
"Yeah, like I'm going to be able to do that with you or Geoff." She thumped his back and then shrieked as he hefted her so she slithered further down his back. Seizing his belt, she wormed her hand down beneath the belted waistband to grab a handful of boxers and yank. It didn't work as well as it did with briefs, but even so, at his amused grunt, she knew she'd accomplished enough of a wedgie to make an impact.
He laughed and hiked her back forward over his shoulder, flipping her in a move that had her cradled in his arms. "Little brat. Geoff, come deal with this so I can pull my underwear out of my ass. She hates to be tickled, you know."
"Does she? I hadn't noticed."
"No, no, no." She started to struggle as Geoff approached. He and Chris took her to the ground together, Chris leaving her in Geoff's care as he backed up to deal with his underwear. Since to do that he unbuckled his belt and unzipped his jeans, he effectively stole her attention as he reached down in back to handle things in a sinuous, wriggling motion. Then Geoff's long fingers were under her shirt, spidering along her waist and rib cage. "Let's see, where's she the most ticklish? Here . . . or here?"
"Stop. Stop it!" She squealed and shrieked, giggling and shoving at him as he persisted, as inexorable as Chris when he was holding her over his shoulder. "No, stop." She rolled and twisted and he sat on her, straddling her hips. He kept teasing those sensitive areas until she was begging for mercy. "Help . . . Chris, please."
Though he was the one who'd started the whole thing, the best part of play was that sides could change in a blink. Geoff let out an oath as Chris tackled him. They rolled off into the grass while she scrambled to her feet, flushed and giddy. Since Chris was working on getting Geoff into a headlock, she shot into the fray and tunneled her fingers under Geoff's shirt, taking her revenge on some of his more ticklish spots. He snarled at her while strangling on a laugh, he and Chris still grappling. Then he managed to break free and grab her by the waist, tumbling all three of them in a tangle of arms and limbs.
"Time. Time out," Chris called. The wrestling stopped, though she noticed both men kept her pinned, their hands overlapping at her waist and hip. Glancing down, Sam saw Chris's hand was over Geoff's at her waist. A blink later, he'd adjusted it higher so they weren't touching, but she saw one of those intriguing looks pass between the two of them, Geoff's quizzical lifted brow, Chris answering with a blank I didn't do anything expression that had Geoff curling a lip at him.
"You concede defeat," she told Chris, drawing their attention from one another. "You called time."
"I called time because you jumped into the middle." He pulled her hair. "Boys play too rough. I didn't want you to take an elbow in the face. Geoff likes to throw elbows."
"It's the only defense against a human python who likes the headlocks and body pins," Geoff retorted. "And you knew I wouldn't throw elbows with her in the mix, which gave you the advantage."
"So I was being fair," Chris pointed out.
"In what universe would any rational person come to that conclusion?"
"You're both sexist," Sam interjected. "I had plenty of scraped knees and busted lips growing up. I even had my nose broken once."
"By who? We'll go beat them up for you." Geoff stretched out in the grass, one arm over his head. They'd left the baseball field during their keep away and the wrestling match had occurred in a grassy spot just off the wooded trail, a roomy glade to do what they were doing now. Geoff tumbled her down next to him. With a little satisfied sigh, she put her head on his stomach. Chris stretched out on his hip, his large hand resting on her abdomen, fingers curling in her shirt.
/> "Darcy Strange," Sam said. "She was a cheerleader who was making fun of me for being skinny and awkward. It wasn't the first time someone called me 'Knobby Knees,' but when I tried to walk away, she shoved me. I fell and landed on a curb, broke my nose. In all fairness, I don't think she intended that to happen, but I was so mad, I got up and punched her in the face. Broke her nose, too. We became friends sitting in the nurse's office. Still exchange Christmas cards. So I'd rather you not beat her up."
"Well, hearing it was a girl fight changes thing. That's a spectator sport."
She elbowed Geoff again, then subsided, staring upward through the interlaced tree branches. Clouds were drifting across a blue sky. "I was just thinking . . . I'm pretty sure I fell in love with you both a long time ago. I can't even remember when it happened. It just seemed meant to be, you know? It took me a while to figure out how that would work, because I'd always been told it had to be one person."
"Yeah," Geoff said. He was playing with her hair, strong fingers massaging her scalp. "I think we both were in that spot as well. Until you took us to Naughty Bits, telling us it didn't have to be that way. Thinking about it as a real possibility is a different level of critical thinking."
She looked down at Chris, who'd plucked a dandelion and was rolling it in his fingers, his expression pensive. She touched his face to make him look at her. "Would it have been easier if I'd chosen only one of you?"
"Depends on who was chosen," he said. His lips quirked as if to pass it off as a joke, but she knew him too well. He'd meant to say something else, she was almost sure of it. But he curled his fingers around her wrist, gave it a little squeeze and then let her go to grasp the hem of her shirt, lifting it up to expose her navel. Since he was still twirling the dandelion, she tensed, but he shook his head. "It will tickle a different way," he said. "Okay?"
"Okay." She understood the message. Leave it alone for now. She didn't tilt her head to look at Geoff, but she wondered what his reaction was to Chris's odd response.
Chris moved the white puff of seeds over her flesh, tracing his way around the teddy bear navel jewelry. She reached behind her, curling her fingers in Geoff's shirt, bearing down so she could stay still under the sensual tease. His hand closed over her wrist. Her other hand was free, but Chris adjusted so his grip curled over that one, pinning it to the grass. Her toes balled up in her sneakers as he bent and blew over the same flesh, sending the dandelion seeds floating away over her head. As she watched them go, he kissed her stomach, tugging the teddy bear in his teeth.