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"I . . . I went to a dance club."
"What did you wear?"
"A . . . uh . . . that red dress. The one with the spaghetti straps . . ."
Geoff's lips twisted in understanding. "The one that clings to your tits and ass and is about four inches south of legal. Did you wear heels with it?"
"Yes, but I--"
"Showing off your body. Those shoes give your hips that I want to be fucked sway, don't they? Yeah, you're going to have to be hurting for it, baby. He's possessive, our boy."
Geoff's glance went to Chris's hand, resting on his knee now, his fingers curved over Geoff's flesh like he wasn't planning to let go anytime soon.
She blew out a breath. Geoff tilted his head toward Chris, a silent Your play. Chris picked up the phone and murmured into it. "If you really don't want to wait, I'll let you come, Sam. Because I love you."
Quiet ensued. Geoff's expression changed, becoming more thoughtful. He sat up, crooking his leg on the spread and letting the other dangle over the edge. It put his knee against Chris's hip. Chris glanced down at the floor, his two braced bare feet next to Geoff's dangling one. He laid his hand on Geoff's knee again, held it the way he held Geoff's gaze, as they both waited for her answer.
It didn't surprise him, though it made him love her all the more. "I . . . I'd rather wait until I can be with you. That feels right. Horrible, but right."
Chris smiled at the resolve in her voice, mixed with a What the fuck am I thinking? surge of hormones he understood all too well. "Come home to us soon, then. And Sam? Wear something that you don't mind having shredded when you come through the door."
He tilted his head toward Geoff, a quizzical look to see if he had anything left to say. "No panties," Geoff said. "We don't want to wait that long. Got it?"
"I hate you both. Yes sir. Sirs."
Chris blinked at that, and Geoff grinned. Taking the phone, he clicked off, but he sent a quick text, turning it toward Chris so he could see what it said. Travel safe. We love you.
"She said you owed me pillow talk," Chris said after a moment. "Cuddling."
Geoff shuddered. "Women."
"Hmm." Chris studied him, his fingers tightening on Geoff's knee. He knew when his expression changed the tone between them, because the vague amusement died out of Geoff's face. "You don't get to check out on me because I hurt your feelings with the truth," Chris said evenly. "You don't get to act like you're in control when you know it's not that straightforward. So don't play bullshit games with me and draw back to teach me a lesson. It's not going to work that way for me."
Geoff tossed him a narrow look. "Because you're such an open book. You a
nswered my question, but you didn't add anything to it, anything that helps me understand what you are feeling. Would you care to draw me a fucking road map? Or is this like one of those twenty-question games? Is it here or there? Not there, not here, somewhere in between, and I have to wait until I hit it dead square to get a clear answer from you? Fuck you, and I do not mean that literally."
Chris rose then, pulling his shorts back on so he wasn't standing there naked. "You know how I think, how I figure things out. You want me to lie to you to make you feel better, I can't do that. I can't feel what I don't feel."
Geoff's expression was hurt, pure and simple. Damn it. Chris stepped toward him, but Geoff shook his head. "I get it, all right? Leave it there. Let's go to bed."
Chris stepped back, frustrated. He couldn't say what he needed to say without getting into the areas he simply wasn't ready to talk about. Geoff usually understood that better. Maybe he did and he was insisting anyway. He moved to the door, knowing that Geoff was right, they needed to let it rest for now, but he stopped at the threshold, turning to look at him. He glimpsed frustrated misery on Geoff's face before it was gone, wiped away into that neutral look.
"You hoping for a kiss good night?" he asked Chris.
"No, asshole." Though the minute he said it, he remembered the heat of Geoff's mouth on his. "Have you ever let anyone do to you what you did to me tonight?" Not that he really wanted to talk about other guys with Geoff, any more than he did with Sam. Why Geoff's male lovers bugged him in a way the female ones didn't was another mystery, but there it was.
He couldn't tell if Geoff was going to answer, but he waited him out and finally got a response. "I've usually done the pitching. And I've never let someone else be on top . . . so to speak." He spoke slow, staring at the wall now instead of Chris. "Might be interesting to feel the other side of things . . . with a person I trusted."
Chris's heart beat a little faster. "Am I in that group?"
"Do you want to be?" Geoff arched a brow at him, eyes becoming cool.
Chris set his teeth. "You do get that we're not your damn family, right? We're not the ones who turned their backs on you. You treating me with the same mistrust isn't the way to figure this out."
Geoff's expression turned into a torn flag, reflecting the war he'd lost with his family. "I trust you, Chris." He said it seriously enough Chris knew he meant it. "You and Sam, more than anything. But this is a new area for me. I have to figure out how to navigate it."
"Right." Maybe Geoff was right. Something he'd done tonight had dug up a lot of stuff in Chris. All that holding back, waiting, not thinking about the things Chris wanted, in order to preserve the treasure he already had, had stirred a lot of shit that had built up around that treasure. "Well, here's a big tip. If you want me to open up to you, tell you what's going on, it goes both ways. If you go all honest with me, and I'm not ready to respond in kind, don't draw back and bullshit like that. Don't do the Dom-poseur thing where you hold on to all the reins, try to make me and Sam rip our guts open for you while you give us nothing."
