No, she couldn't. She'd decided she couldn't let friendship be the door that kept her heart's desires shut away.
However, if this didn't turn out as she hoped, she vowed she'd do whatever was necessary to make sure Geoff and Chris could still be friends when it was over. Even if she lost them both over this, she couldn't bear the guilt of them losing each other for the same reason.
"Sam, can you call in a personal day?" Geoff asked, pulling her back into the here and now.
Chris was stroking his hand along her back, teasing her snarled hair. It had been damp when he'd brought her in here, so it was likely a mess now. She'd have to wet it back down to get it to behave, but with his fingers combing through the strands, she didn't want to move away from that touch anytime in the next century. When Geoff spoke, Chris didn't stop, telling her he'd been aware of the other man's presence. But when she looked into Chris's face, she did see a slight tension, an anticipatory awareness. Was he thinking about Geoff standing there, staring at them both, at Chris sprawled out naked and replete? Chris was gazing absently at the ceiling, though, as if he wasn't yet ready to acknowledge what a Dom standing in the doorway looking at them like candy might mean.
"Yes, I think I could take a personal day." She brought herself back to the question with effort. "Do you have the day off?" She realized he'd showered and changed into one of her favorite pair of jeans on him, stressed and clinging in the right places. His Nike T-shirt stretched over his shoulders.
"I can shuffle some things. Chris, you're off today, right?"
"Yeah. Esteban said not to worry about showing up until tomorrow morning." Chris wound his fingers around Sam's hair, lifting himself up as he spoke. She closed her eyes as he nudged beneath her chin and put his mouth on her throat to tease her with tongue and lips. Her hand fell to his biceps to grip. She needed the anchor, because when his other hand slid over her hip to curve over her ass, the ground just fell away. Chris was kissing her body, her naked body, while Geoff watched. For all she'd fantasized about being with them like this, the reality was overwhelming.
"She's all I want to do today," Chris said against her flesh. "Come taste her, Geoff. She gets sweeter with every lick."
Geoff circled to the other side of the bed. Sam let out a shuddering sigh as he stretched out behind her, his hand molding over her thigh as he dropped a kiss on her shoulder, her upper arm. The soft material of his shirt brushed her shoulder blades as he straightened, and the firm heat of his chest beneath pressed against her. When he slid his fingers over her thigh and down between her legs, dipping into the mix of fluids she and Chris had left there, she dropped her head back on his shoulder, giving Chris better access to her throat. He moved lower, closing his mouth over one nipple and the flesh around it, pulling on her in a warm, swirling way.
She was in her bed, with Geoff and Chris. With both of them. It was like waking up in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory and getting a private tour, surreal and delicious, every moment too freaking precious to waste.
Geoff lifted his hand from her pussy and curved his long fingers over Chris's shoulder and neck, fingertips burying in his friend's dark hair as Chris suckled her.
Chris's big body tightened, and he drew back slowly. Not jerking away from Geoff's touch exactly, but making it clear that was an intimacy he wasn't prepared to accept. She couldn't read what was in his expression, but it brought the clock to a sudden halt as the two men considered each other over her. She put her hand on Chris's chest, her other on Geoff's thigh behind hers, fingers constricting on them as if the physical act could prevent a mental withdrawal. Chris put his hand over hers and caressed her fingers, while Geoff lifted her other hand off his leg, bringing it to his mouth to kiss. Yet when she glanced up, she saw he was still studying Chris with speculation in his sharp gaze. In this light, the hazel color was muted gold. His eye color seemed to change like his moods.
"I was thinking we could go back to Naughty Bits today," he said abruptly. "It's time to buy some things. Things she'd like. We could get some lunch while we're out. Go to Reedy Creek Park. You know Sam likes watching the dogs in the dog park. As nice as it would be to stay in bed all day"--his lips curved--"we need to work some things out. Right?"
Between work and schedule conflicts, it had been a while since they'd been able to spend most of a day together. Because of that, Sam would have been excited about the prospect, even if everything that had happened in the past couple of days hadn't happened. But knowing it had, knowing she'd had both men inside her and it was more likely than not to happen again, made the idea of a day with the two of them even more wonderful.
"All right." Chris glanced down at her. "That work for you?"
"Okay," she said, but she held on to them an extra moment. She wanted to ask them for promises, promises that if this didn't work, it wouldn't change things between the three of them, but that was a child's wish. "Okay," she said, and scrambled out from between them before they anticipated her. She hopped off the end of the bed and bounced on the balls of her feet, giving them both a radiant smile. "We could pick up sandwiches from Jersey Mike's and have a picnic. I'll bring a ball to the dog park area for Chris to chase."
"I see something I'd rather chase," Chris said, with a lazy look. "Do that bouncy thing again."
She hadn't thought about the intriguing side effect of her exuberance. She almost blushed, then instead decided to embrace the moment. Linking her hands behind her back and assuming an expression of feigned innocence, she rocked left and right, amusing herself by watching both men's eyes follow the movement. "You're like one of those cat or owl clocks," she teased them. "What is it about breasts?"
"It's where we start as babies," Geoff informed her. "And we never get over the attachment. Now quit being a tease. Or we'll each take a turn at spanking you."
Seeing the flicker in Chris's eyes, she remembered how he said he wasn't built that way, at least not using something as extreme as a switch cut from a branch in the yard. But spanking . . . She didn't necessarily see rejection in his eyes, and anticipation spiraled through her.
"Christ. Go get dressed," Geoff ordered.
As she moved toward the door with a grin, she saw Chris rolling off one side of the bed and Geoff rising from the other. "Sam."
She turned to meet Geoff's now sober expression. "I meant what I said earlier. From here forward, if you want to get off with your vibrator, you bring it to me and ask. Or you ask Chris, if I'm not here. If neither of us is here, you wait." He glanced toward Chris. "Agreed?"
A delicate power play. Geoff had taken the lead, as he naturally did. However, he'd acknowledged the unresolved nature of what his and Chris's relationship was in all of this, by asking for accord on how the two of them would top her. While all the possibilities of such a dynamic could make her light-headed, it brought tension as well. Until that element was resolved between them, it was going to be a sensitive area. But it wasn't going to be solved in a day. She'd do better to immerse herself in watching it happen than worrying about it crashing and burning.
Chris had pulled on his pants, leaving them unhooked at the waist. He didn't answer Geoff right away, instead looking toward her. She could almost see him considering all the angles of it, and wondered if he was imagining watching her use her vibrator to climax again. The sparks in his eyes sent another rocket launch effect through her brain.
A draft from the hallway made her shiver, and the men shifted gears. As quickly as they could arouse her libido, they could melt her heart just as quickly with their care for her. Geoff picked Chris's T-shirt off the bed almost at the same moment Chris reached for it. Geoff passed it to him with a neutral nod and Chris brought it to her, sliding it over her head and letting it fall down over her body.
"Agreed," he said. A glance up into his brown eyes, kindling with a heart-stopping heat, told her he was answering Geoff's question.
"Sam?" Geoff drew her attention to him. "Do you understand?"
"Yes sir." Calling him that was au
tomatic when he used that tone. Chris's expression shuttered, holding so much she didn't yet understand. She could only hope it meant good things.
"I'll go finish up in the bathroom so you can get showered and dressed, too," she told Chris. Then she dashed off, leaving the two men alone in her room.
*
It was both lovely and bemusing, how the relaxed banter among the three of them while they prepared for their outing was the same as it always was. What was different was that the sexual undercurrent that had vibrated below the surface for so long was now right up top.
Geoff's hand slid along her lower back and lingered on her buttock as he moved past her in the kitchen. When he reached over her head to pull down a cup, Chris sandwiched her playfully against the counter, but then wound his arm around her waist so he could kiss her throat before he released her.
When Geoff put on the TV news and started getting worked up over the politics as usual, Sam gave Chris a subtle look and he snapped it off before Geoff could get too far along. Geoff of course,complained and Chris pointed at her as the guilty party. A moment later, she yelped when Geoff pinched her ass, hard, as he put his coffee cup in the dishwasher. Chris, packing up the cooler with drinks and snacks, followed up Geoff's punitive measure by leaning over to give the offended cheek a soothing pat.
"If he gets too mean, you let me know and I'll beat him up."
"You can try," Geoff said dryly. He'd parked himself on a stool at the counter and eyed the man in challenge. Chris shrugged with another hard-to-read look, and then disappeared down the hall to retrieve something else from his room.
She watched him go. Geoff was so in charge, she didn't worry as much about what he might be thinking and feeling, but it was second nature for her to worry about Chris, because he could be so quiet about his feelings. She didn't think he could be pushed into doing things he didn't want to do, but his comment made her wonder if he really thought Geoff was being mean to her. Maybe she should . . .
She jumped as Geoff cinched an arm around her from behind, drawing her back against him with a decided thump. She hadn't even heard him move. "Stop worrying, Sam. He'll work it out. Just give him space. I swear, you're like a terrier."
"Did you bring a ball to throw for me at the dog park too?" she asked tartly.
"No, but a collar might not be amiss."
She had a rude response for that, but she couldn't hold on to it because her mind was invaded by the thought of Geoff putting a slender collar on her throat. She thought of how Chris had gripped her there. At Naughty Bits, there'd been a wealth of collars . . . What would Chris think of that? Or Geoff?
Geoff tipped up her chin and locked gazes with her. "Sam, I'm going to make this easy for you. I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. Leave it alone. Just because he isn't as up front about it as I am doesn't mean that it's okay to push. Respect him. You understand?"
"I do respect him. I--"
"Not what I meant, and you know it."
Chris returned and Geoff broke off the conversation. As they finished their preparations, Sam considered his words. Geoff had put both of them over the "vibrator permission" clause, sending a not-so-subtle message that Geoff viewed both of them as her tops. He was telling her to trust them, and to let go. Let them take the lead on this.
There were plenty of things she did better than either of them, and they deferred to her lead on that. She was a better driver, Geoff too much of a road rage troll and Chris too absentminded to pay attention to things like stoplights or when he was meandering along at fifteen miles below the speed limit merely because he was enjoying a sunny day. She had a better head for numbers, so she tracked the house expenses for all three of them, and she'd prepared all their tax returns.
But the subtle things on which she deferred to them were significant. It was hard to quantify them in a manner anyone else would understand. She'd automatically bring Geoff a cup of coffee when it was empty at his elbow, or give each of them her full attention if either man was speaking to her, listening carefully to what it was they were trying to tell her so she'd know the best response to please or help, because that was what gave her joy.
If she was napping on the couch and one of them came home, she'd start to get up, even if they hadn't asked her to do anything. Interestingly, the men responded in similar ways to that ritual. A touch on her shoulder, a murmured command for her to stay where she was, that they were fine, that they didn't need anything right now.
On the surface they were supposed to be three roommates, equals sharing household chores and conducting separate lives, so there was no reason she needed to get up and do anything for them. Yet she hadn't ever questioned why they said it that way, any more than she challenged her compulsion to try to get up. Both responses complemented her nature.
She doubted Geoff had ever questioned it, either, for the same reason, but maybe Chris wasn't aware of it. Which meant both of them might be responding to her in an intuitive way, playing on her nature as well as respecting their own, even if it might be unconscious.
"I like to watch you sleep," Chris had told her one time when she'd woken that way. He'd then sat down in a chair to do just that. Though it should have made her self-conscious, it hadn't. She'd fallen asleep under his gaze. "I want you to rest," Geoff had told her another time. "Taking care of the whole universe is hard work." He'd tugged her hair and gone to the table to work, but she'd sensed his eyes on her while she dozed.
She did defer to them in subtle ways that Geoff understood and she couldn't deny. So she'd listen to him. At least for today.
It was about a thirty-minute drive to Naughty Bits. They took Sam's car, Chris in the passenger seat, Geoff's handsome face in her rearview mirror as he tied up some loose ends at the office on his tablet. Chris fiddled with the radio, she and Geoff giving their usual opinions of the different musical selections. With matching groans, the guys vetoed the Taylor Swift song she wanted to hear, but Chris left it on that channel until the finish while she sang along. When it was over, he flipped it forward and found "Take It Easy" by the Little River Band. Chris cranked it up and they both sang along. Geoff tapped his fingers, accompanying the beat, though he had a frown line between his eyes as he read his email.
Seeing it, Chris shot her a look. Sam nodded. He reached in the back and copped the tablet, fending off Geoff's attempts to get it back with a patient look as he held him at bay with one long arm. "Asshole," Geoff said. "All right, I'll shut it down. Just let me finish that one email."
Chris grinned at her and handed it back. "We're timing you," Sam said. "One minute."
"Yeah, yeah."
Chris stayed half-turned in the seat, keeping an eye on Geoff, though Geoff shot him a look. "Do that again, I'll break off a few fingers."
"Big talk." Chris yawned. He had his hand propped against the seat, but now dropped it onto Sam's thigh. When she shot a quick look his way, she found Chris studying her profile, that scrutiny increasing as he slid his hand up her thigh to the hem of her knit shirt, tunneling under it to trace her side and abdomen. He insinuated a finger into the waistband of her jeans, finding the band of her panties. He traced that, caressing her hipbone. While she could focus on her driving safely enough, his attention was undeniably diverting.
Removing his touch from her jeans, he lifted his hand to her shoulder, one knuckle following the line of her throat. "Your pulse is jumping," he noted. He played with the dip at her collarbone and teased her bra strap, finding it beneath the shirt. When he twisted a finger in the strap so the cup tightened over her breast, her hands flexed on the wheel. The stoplight ahead went to yellow, and she pressed the brake, her Honda and the cars ahead of her coming to a stop on red.
"Geoff," Chris said. "Tell us when the light changes."
It was a busy intersection where there was a full round of light changes for protected left turns and through traffic. Sam didn't hear Geoff's reply. Maybe he'd looked up, realized why Chris had made the request and given him a silent acknowledg
ment. Or maybe the thundering response in her ears had masked his answer. Chris cupped his hand under the back of her neck, pulling her toward him as much as the belt allowed so he could crush his mouth over hers. Sam let out a whimper of pure delight as he parted her lips and dove, his tongue taking hers over, his lips teasing and caressing her mouth, nipping, sucking on her lips, then rubbing them in a sensual give-and-take.
His heated palm moved up her thigh to the crease between leg and hip, so close to her core the pad of his thumb was pressing against her outer labia through denim. It sent a flash of sensation through her. His grip on the back of her head tightened, holding her steady as he kept kissing her. He bit her lip, then moved to her throat, right behind her ear. When his teeth clamped there, his lips sucking hard, she realized he was intending to leave a mark.
"It's about to change," Geoff said. He was leaning forward and to her left, for his breath stroked over her other ear, her neck.
Chris broke the kiss. Sunlight turned his brown eyes to bright copper. His mouth was wet from hers. She could feel the faint tingle of the abraded skin at her throat.
Muffled sounds penetrated her window glass, causing Chris to look past her. He grinned. Turning her head, she saw a group of college girls were in the car next to them, and they were giving thumbs-ups and clapping. One of them had scribbled "10" on a pad of paper and was holding it up.
She thought the rating was a little low. "Go," Geoff said, chuckling. "Light's green, sweetheart."
She cleared her throat and accelerated when the car in front of her did. Chris went back to tuning the radio. She stole quick glances at him, the silken fall of dark hair over his brow, the shape of his mouth, which he'd just had on her. When she looked in the rearview mirror, Geoff had stretched his arms out over the back of the seat, the tablet put away as he watched them both with his multicolored gaze. Now the forest green of his eyes had a blue tinge when the sunlight flickered across the back.
"I'll have my loans paid off by the end of the year," he said conversationally. "I thought I might keep working for Payne & Greenway for about six more months to bank up some cash and then look at some other possibilities."