"Okay, I get it. I get it." She repeated it more softly, then shook her head. "Big jerk."
This was a side of Chris she wasn't used to handling. Correction--he'd just made it clear he wasn't going to be handled.
"So do you think we can use a new wheelbarrow?" Letting her go with a light squeeze, he turned to look at a few models out on display. "Our old one is about rusted out."
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."