Chris studied the diagram shoulder to shoulder with him. Neither of them had done more than a quick washup and toothbrushing this morning, so Chris still felt some of the effects of Geoff's taking him last night. Whereas the slightly sweaty smell on Geoff's skin from his morning run, a familiar pleasure, made Chris think about how his friend's dick would still have the scent of his release on it, since Chris had let Geoff's semen spill over the shaft as he was sucking him off.
They were guys; they couldn't help thinking about sex all the time. It didn't mean he had to act on it. But maybe all that waiting he'd told Geoff he'd done had him short on patience now. He'd touched Geoff, tasted him . . . and he wanted more.
He cleared his throat. "We should add the ergonomic modification for people with bad necks. She has that problem with her shoulder."
"We'll need to add a restraint piece. Hey, what about this?" Geoff put the drawing down on the workbench and sketched on it. "This protects her neck. The immobilization adds to the psychological impact, but it would also keep her from jerking it out of whack. Plus, in this vertical mode, she'll be in the perfect position to take a cock right between her pretty lips while the other one of us is fucking her."
It was so easy for Geoff to say these things, so straightforward. When he turned his head, meeting Chris's gaze, they were close enough that Chris's attention was on his mouth--he couldn't help it. The faint scent of coffee and mint toothpaste was on Geoff's breath. "Think we can get it done before she gets back?"
"Should. The wood's already finished, but we can add a coat of stain to make it pretty and sealer to keep it from giving her splinters. The rest is cutting and assembly."
Chris passed his hand over the bench portion they'd already put together, pressing down on the cu
shion. The plans called for straps over the ankles, backs of the knees, thighs, waist, shoulders and nape. When they did all that, she'd be helpless. He imagined her pale, quivering body there, her eyes full of the dazed arousal that happened when Geoff pressed that submissive trigger inside her. Her lips would part as he fed his cock between them. Then Geoff's gaze would meet Chris's, an unspoken order and encouragement to Chris to grip her delicate buttocks and ease into her pussy. He imagined her moaning over Geoff's steel flesh.
"So you think she'll like this," he said slowly. "Really like it. It's not more for us than her?"
"It's for all of us. That's the way it works. We let her desires lead, and figure out how ours fit with them, and the result is a hell of a good time for all of us."
"Yeah." A good time.
With a searching look, Geoff set the plans aside and shifted a hip onto the bench, picking up his coffee. "How about we take a seat for a minute?" He pointed to the stool across from him.
Chris's look was quizzical, but he straddled the stool, picking up his own coffee. Geoff swiped at the dark blond hair over his brow, something he did when he was considering how to say something. He didn't take long.
"I said this to Sam and I guess, with you having known about me for so long, I forgot to say it to you, though I probably made it pretty damn obvious last night." Geoff shifted. Seeing Geoff unsettled was a rare, fascinating occurrence.
"I've thought about this stuff for a long time, Chris. Even done some of it at the parties and such, with people who are experienced. I didn't have to put a lot of effort into making sure we were communicating clearly beyond function, because it was limited, temporary. It's like you said last night. Pursuing it with people who matter to me the way you and Sam do . . . I'm not always going to be right on target. Keeping you in the loop, keeping you safe emotionally, physically, that's what's most important to me, no matter that sometimes I let my pride get in the way, or my sheer damn desire to go after what I've been wanting from you both for so long."
Chris blinked at the raw passion in Geoff's face, his voice. His foot was braced only a couple of inches to the left of Geoff's, so they were close enough to touch, if one of them reached out.
"I was thinking about some of the things you said last night," Geoff said carefully. "You've watched, and you pick up things pretty fast, but we really haven't set aside time to talk, you and me, about how Sam is. Submission is pretty intuitive for her, and I'm clear on what I am, so what she is can be easier for me to figure out. If there's anything else you want to ask, anything making you feel uncomfortable . . ."
He trailed off, leaving it open for Chris. He knew what Geoff was saying about Sam was right, because hadn't he just acknowledged seeing those triggers in her? More than acknowledged; he'd pressed on them himself last night. Yet Chris was also remembering the first time they'd met Sam, when she'd been attacked by her ex-boyfriend. "Do you think how she is . . . that's why she let someone like Anthony past her guard? She wanted to please him, the way she wants to please us . . ."
Geoff's eyes flashed, his usual reaction to Anthony's name. Chris had a similar loathing for the male. "No. And yes. I think guys like Anthony can latch on to someone who has more submissive instincts, who's a pleaser. But there's a line between that and someone who gets screwed up in the head and stays in an abusive situation. Remember, she turned her back on him. She was strong enough to walk away. A healthy submissive knows her first responsibility is to take care of herself. Which might sound strange when she also craves some pain or erotic humiliation, but once you're inside it, you can tell the difference."
Geoff ran his hand over the bench again. "Like this. We want it to be soft and comfortable, even though when she's on it, fully restrained, she's going to want to get spanked. Maybe more than that. Maybe she'll want to be caned, switched, flogged, whipped."
Chris set his jaw. "I can't . . . I wouldn't do that."
"Could you handle me doing it, if it's what she wants?" When Chris didn't immediately respond, Geoff nodded. "You might surprise yourself. You liked the idea of spanking her, making her gorgeous ass red, and initially you thought you wouldn't. But then you saw how she reacted to it. That's the key, Chris. She might want to try out some higher levels of pain. A lot of subs do, after they first get introduced to it, though I suspect Sam is mostly about restraint, low-impact play and psychological domination."
"I don't want to talk about her like a lab rat." At Geoff's sharp glance, Chris lifted a shoulder. "I mean, it sounds so detached and clinical."
"You think I'm detached about this? About wanting to make her helpless, give her climax after climax, give her the chance to explore every room inside her that wants this?"
Chris shook his head. "I get it, but . . . it's still not second nature for me, at least not like it is for you. When we bought the plans for this, and I saw her wondering what we might be thinking about doing, it felt right, the vibes I got from her. But when we're doing it . . . it feels more impersonal. This is Sam. Our Sam."
"You bet your ass she is," Geoff said. "I'm glad you mentioned that. You remember the first wild animal you ever rescued? When we were ten?"
"The squirrel Joel Tanner hit with his BB gun. Knocked him out of a tree and he fell wrong."
"Yeah. You read everything you could about how to take care of that squirrel. You visited the Raptor Center, talked to the wildlife rehab people. That was how you learned all the mechanics, right? What they needed to eat, how often, how to rehab them back into the wild. But over time, there was the other side of it. When you knew what to do, what they needed to live, you followed your instincts and went beyond how to treat an injury to how to heal it. Two different things, but both were necessary. Right?"
Geoff reached out, closed a hand on his forearm and squeezed. It was the reassurance of a friend, but there was another element to it, too, from someone who knew way more about this than Chris. The gesture, Geoff taking the time to talk this out, reminded Chris he did trust Geoff more than anyone. And Geoff loved Sam, just as much as he did.
"We learn how to make this work, all the mechanics. But the reason we do all that is so we know how to get beyond that, how to care for her, enjoy her, love her on the deepest levels, way beyond mechanics. No one's detached from any of this. We're all in it together." Geoff nudged him. "We're all on the yellow brick road together, Tin Man."