Pivoting, he moved toward the kitchen. Going outside was what Chris usually did when he was out of sorts, so Geoff was sure they both guessed the sliding glass doors leading out to the deck were his destination. However, when Sam met Geoff's gaze, he dipped his head in agreement. She quickly rose to intercept Chris, sliding her arms around him.
"They can be jerks all they want," she said. "I still know at the end of the day, I'm here with you."
He came to a halt as she leaned against him, framing his face in both hands. "Do you think I'm that delicate? My feelings might get hurt, but it's just a moment, like a shot at the doctor's. It's gone. Over and done with."
"I do think you're delicate. And strong. And . . ." He shook his head, and Sam's hands tightened on him.
"It doesn't matter. It really doesn't." Her expression warmed, eyes dancing. "Remember Meatballs? 'Even if we play so far above our heads that our noses bleed for a week to ten days . . . it just wouldn't matter because . . .'"
"'All the really good-looking girls would still go out with the guys from Mohawk because they've got all the money,'" Chris finished. His lips tugged in a rueful smile, and he repeated her words. "It just doesn't matter."
Curling his fingers in her hair and at her waist, he drew her up to her toes. "But you matter," he said, a fierce light in his expression. "I want to destroy anything that thinks it has the right to hurt you. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever met, inside and out."
There were plenty of perks to being in a three-way relationship, one of them being the chance to be both audience and participant. Sitting on the sidelines and seeing Sam bloom like a rose at such an unexpected and raw compliment ranked high on Geoff's list of perks. She rallied, though, giving Chris a little shove that didn't move him even a millimeter, fucking tank that he was.
"You say that because you love me. But I'm a skinny, gawky girl who's in love with two wonderful men who make me feel beautiful every time you look at me. That's all that matters."
Drawing a deep breath, she turned toward Geoff. "Not that I want you to get all bigheaded about it. I know just how much of a pain in the ass you both can be."
Pasting a blank look on his face, Geoff looked at Chris." I think we're very easy to get along with."
"She's just anal," Chris observed. "OCD. Thank God she's hot, even though she doesn't realize she is."
"One of her few charms." Geoff grinned as Sam gave Chris another ineffectual shove, but Chris put his hands on her hips to hold on to her, fingers sliding along the waistband of her skirt. It turned his thoughts away from further conversation and toward the desire to share feelings in a far more intimate way. "Speaking of charms, I think Chris and I would like to see them."
Sam looked his way again, and Geoff deliberately let the smile on his face turn into something else. "We want you naked, nothing between you and us," he said softly. "Right now."
He'd chosen his timing well. Instead of seeing a hitch in her response as he would if she'd been immersed in the earlier upset, he saw
a smooth change as she stepped away from that and into the zone she embraced best with them.
Chris was on board. He released Sam's hand, stepped back and took a seat on the arm of the occasional chair Geoff had vacated. Bracing his feet in a spread-knees pose, he crossed his arms over his big chest. Geoff couldn't have choreographed it any better, because Sam reacted as a woman did when two men who desired her made it clear she was the center of their attention. Her cheeks flushed prettily, and it seemed as if an internal radiance enhanced all her considerable charms.
Geoff gave her an additional push. "Show us how beautiful we make you feel," he said in a husky voice. "Undress for us that way."
Her gray eyes revealed so much of her heart and soul. He wondered if she realized what it did to them, seeing that kaleidoscope of response. Dipping her head so her hair fell forward over her shoulders, she freed her shirt from her skirt and slowly drew it over her head. The lace and small cups of her bra, the satin a rich purple color, barely held her quivering breasts. She worked the skirt off her hips, offering a sexy little wriggle to make it drop to the ground. Her panties were a sheer purple mesh down to the folds of her pussy, with only a bit of purple lace over that area to screen the cotton crotch.
She straightened and tossed back her hair, sweeping it back over her bare shoulders in a ripple, posing before them in the scraps of underwear. She'd taken off the pendant and earrings, but retained Chris's ring, the little cat design he'd bought her at Naughty Bits. The pewter teddy bear with rhinestone eyes winked at the dimple of her navel.
"I'm going to have to buy you a collar," Geoff observed. "He's ahead of me in the jewelry department."
That glow from her increased. "I'd love that," she whispered.
"Yeah?" He anticipated the charge it would give them both, him putting that around her slim throat and locking it. Maybe he'd get one with a key and give that to Chris to wear on a chain around his neck, a whole other mixed statement of ownership. "What else would you love, Sam? Right now."
"I want to be with my Masters in the hot tub. With nothing between us."
Chris glanced at Geoff. Geoff kept his expression neutral, giving Chris tacit approval to do whatever inspired him. Geoff enjoyed watching them both. Was Chris aware of that and, if so, did it get him even harder, as it did Geoff? Watching Chris satisfy a woman never failed to stir Geoff.
Chris rose and moved toward her. He stroked the delicate curve of her breast and earned a tiny little indrawn breath as Sam caught her lip in her teeth. Geoff's attention narrowed down to every response between them, his own body tightening in reaction.
As Chris continued to caress the sensitive curves, Sam swayed. Sliding an arm around her waist, Chris dropped to a knee and pressed his mouth between her breasts. She curled an arm around his head to caress his hair, fingers pressing into his wide shoulders. She was cradling him against her at the same time she was submitting to him, a pleasure to watch.
Chris curled his tongue around a nipple just below the edge of the bra cup. Sam's buttocks tightened, creasing the silken fabric of the panties, and the muscles in Chris's arm bunched as he steadied her. "I can't get enough of tasting you," he murmured. "Geoff."
Geoff moved to join them. Once he was behind Sam, Chris locked gazes with him. "Lift her."
As Chris slid his hands behind her knees, Geoff understood. Banding an arm around Sam's waist, he whispered to her. "Let yourself fall backward," he said.