Stop it. Settle down, take a breath.
Shutting down the computer, she left her room and came into the kitchen. Chris was setting his lunch tote on the counter. He looked hot, tired and sweaty, as he usually did after a full day. He had a dirty bandage wrapped around his arm--also not unusual, since he often came home with scrapes. She went right to him, winding her arms around his neck and pressing her body insistently against him as she rose on her tiptoes to bring her lips to his.
He looked a little startled, but then he figured out the same thing she had in the time it took her to get from her room to the kitchen. They could do this now, greet each other as lovers did at the end of the workday. He cradled her head in one big hand and deepened the kiss, pressing her against the counter. She curved her leg over his hip, willing him to put her up on the counter, press himself between her legs, relieve her all-over throbbing, but instead he moved her back, lips tugging in a smile.
"I'm filthy. I'll get you all dirty."
She so didn't care, but she forced herself to go back to her heels. "What happened to your arm?"
Chris rolled his eyes. "New guy on the crew. Don was swiping at a bee with his clippers and took a nice chunk out of my arm. Idiot. Think he'll work out okay, though, if he doesn't manage to kill us all first."
"Did you--"
"Yes, Nurse Nancy, I disinfected it and kept it clean. All's good. I'm going to go hit the showers. Geoff's on his way home--on time, for once. He's going to pick up some salads and fish sandwiches from Whole Foods. Pretty cool about the Bat Cave thing, right?"
"Yeah." She trailed him to the bathroom and watched him strip off the shirt. He hesitated when she was in the door.
"Oh, sorry." She started to move away, but he shook his head, offering her a half smile with enough lazy promise to uncurl warmth in her stomach.
"No, you're welcome to stay. Just getting used to it, you know. In a good way."
He stripped off his clothes, leaned in and started the shower. Her gaze
slid down his back and over his bare haunches, but when he began to unwrap the bandage, she came forward and took over. She told herself to focus on his arm, not the tempting weight of his genitals, so close she could brush her thighs against them.
She grimaced. "Chunk is right. This is going to leave a scar."
"Won't be my first." He kissed her cheek, reached into the shower and flicked water at her, making her draw back with a mock scowl before he stepped in and closed the shower door.
His cock had started to rise at her proximity, she noted, and wondered if that was why he'd so quickly moved under the spray. Chris had agreed to Geoff's mandate about no sexual activity for the next several days. Yet Chris was aroused by her presence, so why shouldn't they take advantage of that? If she slipped into the shower, he wouldn't deny her, would he? She fingered the hem of her shirt. All she had to do was strip it off, after all . . .
Chris spoke, his deep voice echoing off the tile amid the rush of water. "Geoff said to have you make up some of your famous lemonade to go with the fish. Mr. High and Mighty said you'd better have it ready when he gets home, or else."
She did like those masterful ultimatums, though she knew when her chain was being jerked. "I can see this whole Dom thing is going to his head."
"Yeah, I could have warned you about that. If you spit in his lemonade, I won't blame you. Just set mine apart before you do it."
She would have happily sat there and watched Chris run his capable hands over every inch of his powerful body, including all the tempting crevices, but she reluctantly left him to do as bidden. She was pretty sure she wasn't going to stay outside the shower if she remained another minute. Besides, Chris was studiously not looking at her, making it clear she was a temptation he had to avoid. It irritated her a little bit.
She needed to lighten up; she knew that. As she fixed the lemonade, she turned on her iPod and did a little disco improv around the kitchen to the Bee Gees classic "Staying Alive." Fortunately, it did lift her mood. Putting the pitcher in the fridge, she saw Geoff pull into the driveway, and those good feelings spiked further. She watched him get out and head up the walkway, handsome and serious in his suit.
As he entered the kitchen, she had the lemonade in a glass and was posed provocatively with it, like she'd done for Chris. Only today, instead of being naked, she had her T-shirt tied up under her breasts, baring her midriff and highlighting her breasts. When she was squarely in his sights, she shook down her hair in a practiced move she'd perfected in high school. She hadn't used the move since well before Anthony, the stalker ex-boyfriend Chris and Geoff had helped her banish into her past once and for all.
"Your lemonade as ordered, Master," she purred.
Geoff wasn't a 24/7-type Dom, any more than she intended to become their domestic servant, but he'd probably do things like this to tease or remind her of those moments when it would be about that. She was good with that, and teasing him back.
Geoff's lips curved, but the playful note she'd intended came out as mocking challenge, and he detected it. As her mother had said, he was sharp. A trace of puzzlement filtered through his expression. She set aside the lemonade to come to him, wanting to give him the same hello kiss she'd given Chris.
True to his nature, Geoff was even more demanding about it, setting down his briefcase and wrapping his arm around her, bringing her up on her toes as he kissed her back, scoring her bottom lip sharply.
His five-o'clock shadow was less coarse than Chris's, something she'd noticed before, but this hyperawareness of every difference, every sensation, was a delightful part of the change in their relationship. As she inhaled his aftershave, a contrast to Chris's earthy sweat, she thought she might be one of the luckiest women in the world, having the opportunity to indulge herself in those pleasurable variances with no restraint. She should have no complaints, no issues.
"Smartass," Geoff muttered, referencing her lemonade pose. He drew back and gave her a closer inspection. "Good day at work?"
"An even better end to it," she said. She'd push past this. No reason they needed to deal with her weirdly vacillating moods. "You have the food? I can get it set up if you want to change. Chris is showering."
"Sure. That'd be great." But he gave her one last penetrating look before he went down the hall.