Just Past Two (Comes in Threes)

by Elia Winters

  Abby shuddered all over her body, and that idea alone was almost enough to get her off.

  “That turn you on?”

  She nodded, not really trusting her voice to speak. Sam stepped forward again and pressed his cock between her lips into the warm wetness of her mouth.

  He might do it, too. He might keep her like this, teasing her. She’d seen that side of him, the side that got turned on having her needy and desperate. She sucked hard, using her hands to cup his balls. He was trying so hard to hold out, but she knew what she was doing, knew what drove him wild, and took him steadily to the brink. He came into her mouth and she swallowed it down, sucking him until he trembled and stepped back on wobbly knees. “Fuck.”

  Abby sat back, sinking back down onto Stephan’s dick. He began rubbing her clit harder, and the pleasure started to spiral up inside her, building. She was mindlessly rocking against him now, driven by instinct, chasing that orgasm.

  “Make her come,” Sam directed, and the authority in his voice was all it took before she felt the climax crash over her body.

  She could still feel what was happening, the sharp rush as Stephan kept rubbing her clit and kept her coming and coming, but words were gone and she was a single raw nerve ending throbbing with wave after wave of climax. She shuddered and clenched and clenched and clenched, and in the middle of it all, she opened her eyes and looked at Sam. He was watching her with the kind of lust that made her feel like the most desired woman in the world.

  As soon as she was coming down, Stephan’s hands dug into her hips, and he came inside her, only a condom between them. His body relaxed, and she carefully lifted off of him.

  Abby sprawled out on the bed, catching her breath, and Sam came over and sat next to her. They both looked exhausted, she was sure. Stephan sat up, sighing, and got shakily to his feet to take care of the condom.

  Jo got up from the chair, shedding layers as she went, stripping down to nothing. Stephan grinned at her, beckoning her over, Abby and Sam seemingly forgotten as she climbed onto the bed with them. God, it was a good thing they had a king-sized bed; they wouldn’t all fit in a queen. Abby turned to watch. Jo, naked and unselfconscious, climbed on top of Stephan and kissed him full on the mouth, rutting against him. There was no way he was going to get hard again that fast unless he was some kind of superhuman. Instead, Jo climbed up his body and straddled his face, lowering herself onto his mouth with a sigh.

  Abby’s own arousal ratcheted up at the sight. Jo gripped the headboard and rode Stephan’s face, grinding herself against his mouth, head tilted back and lips parted. It was live-action porn, literally two feet away from them, and Abby rolled over onto her side to face what was happening. Without speaking, Sam urged her to lift her leg up over his where he lay spooned behind her. He reached down through her curls and began fingering her. She had just come, but she wanted to come again, and she watched the scene breathlessly as Sam manipulated her clit and bit her earlobe. Faster than she expected, faster even than the woman in front of her, Abby tumbled into another orgasm as strong and fierce as the first.

  She was just coming down when she saw Jo come. It was gorgeous to watch her in the throes of climax, fascinating and beautiful like it was in the best kind of porn, but realistic, not constrained by the limits of the screen and instead live and in front of her with its sounds and sights. She was captivated. Behind her, Sam kissed her neck, and she leaned into it, the drowsiness of her own post-orgasm feelings making her sleepy and slow.

  Afterward, when it was all done, when they lay in couples on the sprawling expanse of the king-sized bed, Jo propped her head on her hand and looked over at Abby and Sam. “Everything you were hoping for?”

  Abby hadn’t even known what she was hoping for. “Definitely.”

  “Well.” Jo sat up and stretched, arching her back before flopping back down onto Stephan’s chest. “We can always do it again.”

  Abby surprised herself by laughing. Yeah, actually, they could. They could do this again. With them, and maybe with Zach, and anybody else they wanted.

  Stephan rubbed his belly and yawned. “I’m starving.”

  Jo grinned. “We literally just ate.”

  “That was hours ago. And I did a lot of work. How about I make nachos?” He looked over at Sam and Abby. “You want nachos?”

  Sam chuckled and sat up. “You make nachos, I’m eating nachos.” He grabbed Abby’s hand. She smiled and followed.

  Chapter Eleven

  Where the hell was she? Abby looked around and blinked, taking a minute to recognize the guest room in Stephan and Jo’s house. The reminders of the night before came flooding back to her, memories of the intimacy and, holy shit, the sex, all of that feeling more like something another person would have experienced than something she really did. Her body was sore, but the good kind of sore, the “I just got fucked” kind of sore. She was smiling, too, and couldn’t stop smiling.

  Next to her, Sam stirred, sliding an arm around her and drawing her closer as he blinked awake. He smiled sleepily. “Hey.”

  “Hey.” Damn, he was handsome. He had this lazy sleepiness about him, the groggy look of one just waking up but completely sated. Her heart felt like it might be too big for her chest. So much for her fears of the morning after. The morning after felt pretty good right now.

  “I’m starving. You starving?” He propped himself up on his elbow and looked around, then fumbled for his phone on the nightstand. “Wow, it’s almost eleven.”

  “What? Really?” Abby sat up. She never slept naked, but without having packed an overnight bag for this trip, it had seemed like the most natural option. She checked her own phone, which wasn’t quite dead, even after having not been charged overnight. Sure enough, it was ten fifty in the morning. “Jesus. We never sleep this late.”

  “Well, we stayed up pretty late.” Sam rubbed sleep from his eyes.

  A knock at the door made them both turn. Abby’s first instinct was to cover herself, but the ship had kind of sailed on that, hadn’t it? “Come in. But we’re naked.”

  Jo was laughing as she opened the door. “I appreciate the warning. We were thinking about grabbing brunch. You want to come with? You can also stay here and sleep if you want.”

  As if in answer, Sam’s stomach gave a loud gurgle, and he looked down at it. “I think that answers that.”

  “Great. Oh, also.” Jo disappeared from the door, then returned a moment later with a pile of clothes. “I washed your clothes.”

  “What? When? You didn’t have to do that.” Abby took the pile from Jo, still warm from the dryer.

  “I got up early, thought you might not want clothes with sex all over them.” She smiled broadly, then laughed. “You look stricken.”

  Yeah, Abby probably was making that horrified face, and she let it go and laughed as well. “Sorry. I’m just not usually so blunt about talking about this stuff.”

  “I think once you’ve seen somebody’s bits, you’ve got to be a little more blunt.” Jo flopped the clothes down onto the bed and then backed away. “You want to shower?”

  Abby looked over at Sam, whose stomach gurgled again. “Nah. We’re starved. Let’s just go eat.”

  In the car, following Jo and Stephan as they headed to Sylvester’s for brunch, Abby kept glancing over at Sam in the passenger seat. His hands folded in his lap, he wore a slight frown on his face that seemed more thoughtful than upset.

  “What?” she asked after a little while of silence. “You okay?”

  Sam made a little “Hmm” noise and then shrugged. “I don’t know. I think so. I keep expecting to feel different, but I just don’t.”

  “Yeah.” Abby was having that same sense. It was jarring, the way normalcy seemed imbued in this morning that should have felt not-normal at all.

  There wasn’t time to talk further, though, because they were already parking. Sam took her hand as they walked up to the entrance, the cold biting into Abby’s skin and reminding her that winter was not ove
r by a long shot. For now, though, she felt warm inside.

  …

  They sidled into a booth in the corner, couples on each side facing each other, and Sam reached over to give Abby’s thigh a squeeze. She had been hard to read this morning. Although she was all smiles, she had this odd look about her. Maybe she was going through the same questioning that he was.

  “We come here all the time.” Jo didn’t even open her menu, keeping it flat on the table in front of her. “It’s our favorite brunch spot.”

  “We love this place, too.” Sam scanned the options, as he always did. “I try to vary it up a little, though. I never want to stick with the same meal every time we come.”

  “Well, variety is the spice of life, right?”

  Jo’s comment sounded cheeky, and when Sam peered over his menu, both she and Stephan were grinning like they’d collectively come up with the best and worst double entendre. Next to him, Abby chortled.

  “You know, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get used to this direct conversation thing.” She looked over at Sam.

  “That wasn’t very direct,” Jo corrected. “It was actually just barely a hint.”

  Stephan snorted. “Yeah, if she wants to be direct, she’ll just ask you if you had a good time fucking Sam and me last night.”

  “Jesus.” Abby looked around. “Guys. We’re at brunch. It’s the least sexual meal of the day.”

  “Maybe the way you do brunch, it is.” Jo raised an eyebrow. “But brunch for us is usually our favorite thing to do after partner swapping or going out on separate dates. It’s like, hey, let’s all check in. So.” She folded her hands. “Let’s check in.”

  The waiter came over just then, because of course he would. When he finally left, Abby let out a long breath, slowly exhaling while she presumably gathered her thoughts. “I had fun last night. I’m glad we did it.” She glanced at Sam. “I wouldn’t be opposed to doing it again. And…the rest, I think Sam and I have to debrief together.”

  “Of course.” Stephan nodded. “For what it’s worth, Abby, Sam, last night was awesome for me. I had a really amazing time. If you’re ever down for that again, I’m here. Whether it’s all of us, or just me and you two, or”—he looked at Abby—“just me and you, give me a call.”

  “Right. Thanks.” She smiled, and it looked genuine. “Sam? What do you think?”

  Multiple emotions ran through him in quick succession, but one persisted through all of them. “I think that last night is something to remember.” He looked at all of them. “And to do again.”

  Jo smiled. “That sounds good to me.” She folded her hands on the table. “Now, have you guys seen any good movies lately?”

  …

  Home felt weird. Well…not weird, exactly. Abby looked around as Sam followed her inside, shutting the door behind them. Home felt exactly the same, and she felt different. Not only well-fucked, but also psychologically different. And maybe it was silly to put such emphasis on sex, because it was just sex, but this seemed like a new step forward.

  “Let’s talk about this.” She rounded on Sam even as he was just hanging up his coat by the door, and he gave her the wide-eyed expression of surprise.

  “About last night? Now?” He swallowed visibly, then gave a nod-shrug. “Okay, yeah. So. I know you weren’t necessarily thrilled about having another woman there.”

  “That was surprisingly not a big deal.” She hadn’t felt weird about Jo at all, except that it was unusual. “I don’t want to fuck her.”

  “No.” Sam smiled, and the warmth in his smile made her heart feel a little bigger. “And, to be clear, I don’t want to fuck her, either.”

  “Okay.” After wandering over to the couch, she sat down, drawing her leg underneath her. Sam sat beside her on the sofa. “I think in time, I might be okay with you dating someone other than me,” she told him. “But I don’t think I’m there just yet.”

  “I don’t need you to be okay with that, ever.” Sam reached out for her, taking one of her hands. His thumb grazed the back of her knuckles, soothing her. “I’m not looking for that. What Stephan and Jo have, it’s hot, and it’s great for them, but I’m not looking for it for me.”

  “And if someday you are?” It was possible, after all. These things changed and evolved.

  “Then I’ll talk to you. And we’ll decide together what’s right for us.” He gave her a reassuring nod. “But that isn’t what I really want to talk about.”

  “Oh?” What was there to talk about, if not sleeping with other people?

  “We didn’t really talk about what this might mean for us long-term.” He stroked her thigh, once, and then took his hand back. “I like this. I like what we’ve been doing. I like what’s happened to our sex life, and I really like watching you be this lusty woman you’ve been hiding all this time.”

  Abby rolled her eyes, but she also smiled.

  “I want to know how you feel,” he said.

  That was the biggest question. She’d put this part of herself aside, and it felt weird to reconcile it with the way she was now. But she definitely didn’t want to go back. “I want to keep going with this. With Stephan and Jo, and…probably Zach, and…I don’t know. Other people. And I want the kink sometimes, and the playfulness, and maybe whatever weird-ass fantasies you’ve got kicking around in there.”

  Sam grinned. “You’re okay with that? You don’t think it’s the kiss of death for our relationship anymore?”

  “I guess I overreacted a little bit.” She interlaced her fingers with his. Nothing was going to replace Sam, who was so deeply a part of her life that she would never want to separate them. But sex was different. Sex could be fun and not be the end of the world. They could be adventurous together, and with other people, and their relationship could maybe end up even better than before.

  What was there not to like?

  “I think,” Abby said at last, “we should keep going just like we are. And see what happens.”

  Sam leaned her back onto the couch, kissing her like he had all the time in the world, smiling into her mouth. “I have another fantasy to tell you about.”

  “Oh?”

  He dropped another kiss on her lips. “It’s the one where we have wild, hot sex forever and our marriage just keeps getting better for it.”

  Abby rolled her eyes. “You’re killing me.”

  “You love me for it.”

  She looked into those warm brown eyes. She’d underestimated their relationship. This was only the beginning.

  “Come on, you weirdo.” She nodded toward the bedroom. “I want to get you back into bed.”

  Epilogue

  “Oh my God, I can’t watch this.” Sam exhaled a deep breath and turned away from the giant rock in front of him, facing out into the desert landscape instead. Beside him, Stephan shielded his eyes against the sun and shook his head slowly, gaze still focused on the woman climbing the sheer surface.

  “It makes my knees wobbly from here.” Stephan grinned, though, clearly not as shaken up as Sam. “Look at her go. She’s really come a long way in just a few months, Sam. You should watch.”

  Sam turned back slowly. He had never had a real fear of heights, not the way Stephan did, but watching Abby climb this rock face inspired all kinds of tension inside him. He wanted to protect her from every possible danger, but she didn’t need protecting. She needed adventure.

  Damn, Abby really was impressive. She’d claimed this wasn’t a difficult route, suited for beginners, but it looked pretty fucking challenging to him, who’d never climbed anything more difficult than a ladder. No matter how athletic he was, this was not exactly his cup of tea. Abby, though, was in her element, moving with deliberation. She reached carefully for another handhold, the red-orange rock covered in white chalk from previous climbers, and shifted her weight along with her feet. He’d watched her in the gym a few times, but this was different. Helmets, gear, a certain gravity—hah—to the way Abby and Jo interacted, all of it indicat
ed that they’d taken a new step together.

  Of course, all of this was a new step together, so many new steps these past few months, a friendship that kept deepening and developing the more time they spent together. He smiled to himself, because damn, a lot could change in a short period of time.

  “What are you grinning at?” Stephan asked.

  “I was just thinking.” Sam thrust his hands in his pockets. “Six months ago, if you had told me I’d be here, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

  “Which part?”

  “None of it. The road trip, the rented RV, you and Jo, it’s wild.” Everything was crazy, and somehow the most normal part was watching his wife climb a rock face in the middle of the desert. Tomorrow, Jo’s girlfriend Becca would fly out to join them, and the three women could scale more rock faces while he and Stephan talked shop and drank beer. Not a bad vacation.

  Stephan smiled, that warm, crooked smile that told Sam everything was going to be okay. “Cross-country road trip with your fuck-buddy friends. It’s a wild world, man.”

  A wild world indeed. And it wasn’t just vacation, either. They had a whole new set of adventures waiting for them after they returned. Mitchell had encouraged Sam to compete in his first CrossFit tournament, which was coming up at the end of the month. Angela was taking Abby into New York for a girls’ getaway weekend. What he was secretly looking forward to most of all, though, was Abby’s upcoming date with Zach. Sam sighed happily. “I’ll take wild.”

  By the time Abby and Jo came over, chalk-covered and sweaty, Sam and Stephan had set up four canvas chairs in the shade of the RV’s foldout canopy. The guys raised their beers as the women approached. “To our adventurous ladies!” Stephan announced, taking a deep swig.

  Jo collapsed into one of the chairs, grinning. “Give me one of those beers, or you will never see me naked again. And a water, because I am a shriveled-up husk of a woman.”

  Stephan passed her both drinks, and Jo downed an entire water bottle in one long chug before tipping her head back with a sigh. “Fuck yes.”