“Now what?” Robert asked, amused in spite of himself. It has seemed like a huge step to take, but it had only been the beginning.

“Well,” Simon said playfully, setting Christy on her feet, “your wife was undressing me.” He looked at Robert expectantly.

Robert just stood there. After a moment, he understood.

“Surely you don’t expect me to do that. Again.” He could feel his cheeks heat up at the memory. When he’d stripped off Simon’s trousers the last time, Simon had been in a great deal of pain and Robert had felt like a lecher because that morning’s erotic encounter had still been fresh in his mind and he’d grown aroused even though Simon had not. It had been horribly awkward.

“I absolutely do,” Simon said. “This time I am not attempting to play injured.”

“This isn’t cricket.” Robert hated that he sounded like a grumpy old man. Christy actually coughed next to him, trying unsuccessfully to stifle a laugh. Simon didn’t bother to stifle his.

“Duly noted,” he said. “But, honestly, I do need help with my boots. And so will you.” He looked at Christy. “See? You wanted us to undress Robert, and now I have given you your wish.”

“And when did she wish for this?” Robert asked to cover his awkwardness as he tugged off Simon’s boots and tried to avoid looking at the bulge in the front of his trousers.

“Just before you caught us being very naughty,” Christy said breathlessly. Robert looked over at her and very nearly groaned at how decadent she looked. Her night clothes were parted just enough to see the deep valley between her breasts and the dark triangle between her legs. A hint of paradise.

“I would say you were being a bit more than very naughty,” Robert said. “That sounds as if you knocked over the milk jug.”

He now stood in front of Simon, facing Christy. Simon’s laughter from right next to his ear surprised him.

“I think you’re right,” Simon purred in his ear. “Bad. We were being very, very bad. But it felt very, very good.”

When Simon slipped his arms around Robert’s chest, Robert nearly jerked away but stopped himself at the last second. Wasn’t this what he’d been wondering about? Hadn’t Simon been right? Now was as good a time as any to find out if what he’d been feeling around Simon was indeed desire, or merely curiosity spurred by Christy’s feelings for the other man. Was what happened between them at Simon’s apartment an aberration, not to be repeated? Or the beginning of something more? Robert was no coward, and he owed it to Christy and to himself—and yes, to Simon—to discover which one it was.

He knew that he’d been sending messages to Simon that might indicate an interest of a sexual nature, whether he’d been doing that intentionally or not. It would be unfair to him not to follow through on them, or at least try to, if he could.

Simon began to unbutton Robert’s jacket, slipping each button out of its hole very slowly. Robert had never before imagined a button and hole could be so incredibly arousing.

“So, Robert,” Simon said, resting his chin on Robert’s shoulder. “Do you want to be very, very bad, too? I don’t imagine a constable gets the chance very often.” He chuckled, and the rumble of it went through Robert like a hot knife, making him shiver.

“I think I would like to see what you two find so appealing about it,” he said softly, trying to play the game. He must have succeeded, because Christy’s face lit up with excitement and anticipation. It was all worth it for that look alone.

“Excellent,” Simon said. He had Robert’s jacket unbuttoned, and as he began to slip it off, Christy stepped over, and she placed her hands on Robert’s shoulders and glided them down his arms as the jacket slid down and off. Robert was nearly undone by that simple touch alone. Trapped between the heat of Simon and Christy’s bodies, both of them half unclothed, and undressing him, their hands on him—he felt like a madman barely holding onto the merest edge of his sanity.

Christy leaned in and licked the hollow of his throat. “Why are neither of you wearing your cravats?” she asked, a little frown on her face.

“We had to tie up a couple of suspects with them,” Robert told her.

Her eyes got quite big at his casual answer. “Oh, dear,” she said. “Were they dangerous?”

“Not very,” he lied. “But Simon knows a very clever knot that only gets tighter as you pull on it.” Christy looked intrigued, but not, Robert was sure, for the same reason he had been.

“I plan to tie Robert up one night and have my way with him,” Simon said from behind him as he reached around and began to unbutton Robert’s trousers.

Robert caught his hand. “Not yet,” he said. He wasn’t ready for that yet, he knew that much. He felt Simon’s chuckle against his back again.

“Fair enough,” Simon said. “Shirt? Please.”

The last was said in a nearly begging tone, and Robert found he liked it, liked being physically desired like that. He knew Christy desired him, but there was something special about a man like Simon—handsome, suave, well-dressed, lethal, seductive—wanting him.

He nodded. “Yes,” Simon whispered with satisfaction.

He tugged the shirt loose from his trousers and then he let his hands play, gliding them around Robert’s torso as he slid the shirt up and then over Robert’s head. Christy stood in front of Robert, her fingers hooked in his waistband, watching his face as Simon played. Robert tried to remain stoic but finally had to close his eyes because he couldn’t contain the shudder of desire and didn’t want to see if Christy’s noticed. He was embarrassed at sharing his reactions like this.

Christy laid a chaste kiss on his bare chest right over his heart, and Robert blindly reached up and cupped her head, catching her braid in his hand. She rose up then and her lips met his, and he pulled her in and kissed her the way he’d watched Simon kiss her earlier.

He’d watched them longer than they’d thought. He had been shocked, and then the arousal had slammed into him and he couldn’t tear himself away. When he’d heard his name on Simon’s lips in that intimate moment between them—and the way Simon had said his name, longingly—he’d spoken without thinking. And now he was reaping the reward. When he felt Simon’s mouth on his back—hot, wet, open—it was one more thrilling sensation among a multitude, almost too much for him to take in.

Christy wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her bare breasts against his chest. When Simon’s hands slowly slid around his hips—slowly, slowly—stopping to rest just shy of his cock, framing it almost as they rested in the hollow of his crotch, Robert tore his mouth from Christy’s with a groan as his hips thrust up against her.

He was overwhelmed, and he felt that if he didn’t slow down he would embarrass himself further.

“Christy,” he said, his voice a little ragged. “I would like to do something, if it’s all right with you.”

“This sounds promising,” Simon said. He was probably trying to be flippant, but the breathlessness gave him away. He was as aroused as Robert and Christy were.

“What is it, my love?” Christy asked, kissing the corner of his mouth. Robert felt a thrill at the endearment.

“Come with me.” Robert stepped forward, pushing Christy with him, breaking Simon’s hold on him. It was almost a physical pain to lose that contact with him. Robert didn’t look back. He couldn’t. If he did, he would lose what willpower he had, and there were things that needed to be done, atonement to be made, homecomings to be celebrated.

Robert sat down on the edge of the bed. “Come here,” he urged Christy, who had stopped to stare at him curiously, her head tipped to the side, her brow furrowed. He loved that look. It meant she was trying to figure out what was going on and what her role was supposed to be. He’d seen it many times. Christy rarely acted until she knew exactly what her part was in the scene.

“Trust me?” Robert asked, holding out his hand to her.

“You know I do,” Christy said, taking his hand and quickly stepping forward until she was standing between his legs. Her answer gave Robert a deep satisfaction. He didn’t believe that Christy had trusted that many people in her life, and with good reason.

She smiled at him, and suddenly she kneeled, one hand holding his knee for balance. She knelt there between his legs like a supplicant, smiling up at him.

“What are you doing?” he asked quietly, cupping her cheek, confused.

“Isn’t this what you wanted?” Christy asked. “You’ve never asked for it before.”

“Asked for what?” Robert looked over at Simon then, who’d been quiet through the whole exchange. He looked very amused, and very aroused.

Robert realized what Christy thought he wanted, and he blushed. He’d never had anyone do that.

“No,” he said quickly. He pulled her up and she stumbled into his arms, her open night clothes slipping down off one shoulder. “No,” he said, less urgently. He hugged her and kissed her exposed shoulder. She looked very enticing like that, like a siren from ancient mythology. It wasn’t his doom she was leading him towards but rather, he hoped, his salvation.

“I know that in the past men have demanded much of you, darling,” he told her in a whisper, “but tonight Simon and I will only give to you.”

“Yes,” Simon agreed. Robert met his look and he could see that Simon understood what he was doing.

Simon came over to them and cupped Christy’s shoulders from behind. Robert had found being between Christy and Simon incredibly arousing, but this—the two of them surrounding Christy, both of their hands on her, the things that Robert was planning to do—this was desire like he had never known. He had never imagined that sharing a woman, sharing his wife, with another man would excite him so. But sharing Christy with Simon excited him beyond even his wildest dreams.

“May I?” Simon asked, gently gliding his hand down and pushing Christy’s clothing off her other shoulder.

It caught in her elbow, but the damage was done. Her breasts were entirely exposed as she stood between them. Robert leaned forward before she could answer Simon and took her nipple in his mouth, roughly sucking on it. It was still slightly damp from Simon’s kisses earlier, and it was another added dimension of decadence.

Christy exclaimed and her legs gave a little, so Robert reached around and cupped her derriere. He slowly pulled her in close to him, loving on her breast, and she moaned, clutching his head. He pulled away to enjoy the sight of her nipple damp from his mouth, then he leaned forward and sucked on the inside of the mound of her breast, leaving another mark. Her hips undulated in his hands as he did so, and she moaned.

When he stopped, he admired his mark and kissed the angry red spot. He put his hand between her breasts and ran it down over the soft swell of her stomach to her mound and lightly traced his finger through her slit. Christy gasped.

Robert held up his glistening finger. “You like it when I mark you like that.”

“Yes.” Christy ran her hand through his hair. He liked that she was honest about her passion now. He was sorry that it had taken so long for that to happen, that he had made her feel that she had to hide that part of herself. She hadn’t hidden it from Simon.

He looked over at Simon. The he held out his hand. Simon didn’t need to be told what to do. He leaned forward and took Robert’s finger in his mouth, sucking Christy’s essence from it. Robert’s cock hardened at the sensation. Simon lightly dragged his teeth down Robert’s finger as he let go.

“Oh, my,” Christy said in breathy voice.

“I always loved the way you tasted.” Simon straightened just enough to lean over her shoulder to look at the mark on her breast. He cupped the plump mound, rubbing his thumb over it. Robert searched within himself and could find no jealousy that Simon had kissed Christy’s quim before him, or that he was caressing her bare breast now. On the contrary, Robert wanted to watch him, enjoyed watching it.

“If this is what you want to do to me,” Christy said in a breathless, uneven voice, “then my answer is most definitely yes.”

“Good.” Robert hardly recognized his own voice. He pulled Christy’s clothes off and tossed them aside, then spun her around and sat her in his lap, hooking her knees over his, spreading her legs wide. Simon stepped back, giving him room.

“On your knees,” he told Simon. It was less a command than a request.

“Yes, sir,” Simon said. His obedient response thrilled Robert. It seemed an odd thing to arouse him, but then everything about this night had taken on a strange quality. He’d never imagined even an hour ago he’d be demanding that Simon put his mouth on Christy’s quim in front of him, but here they were.

Simon went to his knees, pushing Robert’s farther apart to accommodate his wide shoulders. He put his hands on Robert’s knees, and the simple, innocuous contact suddenly took on sexual overtones because of what they were doing. Robert’s knees were now the most erotic part of his body.

Simon leaned in, and at the first contact Christy gasped and grabbed onto Robert’s arms. “Oh, God,” she said, like a prayer. “Simon.”

Simon took his time, licking and sucking and deeply kissing her there, exploring her, reacquainting himself with her, perhaps. Robert was fascinated and aroused. He loved to watch Simon fuck her with his agile tongue, keeping Christy just on the edge of her peak. It was masterful, and yet there was almost worship on his face as he loved her. He did love her. And still Robert felt no jealousy. He didn’t want it to end.

Christy squirmed and moaned and gasped in his lap and he held her still, hushing her, soothing her. “Simon, please,” she begged when he stopped at one point to gently hold her folds open and blow against her.

Her head was resting on Robert’s shoulder, and she rolled it from side to side in agitation. Robert held her legs open, taking their weight for her, supporting her fully, and he turned to rest his lips against her ear, tendrils of her damp hair catching on his lips.

“Shhh,” he whispered, licking her ear and then biting the lobe. She gasped and tried to thrust her hips at Simon, but Robert held her in place and she whimpered. “Let Simon please you,” he whispered in her ear. “Let him apologize properly.”

Christy bit her lip and nodded.

“Kiss me,” Robert told her softly.

Christy looked at him and smiled. Her cheeks were flushed and her face was damp with sweat. Robert was suddenly aware of how hot he was, the sweat on his own body, the painful arousal pressing against the front of his trousers. He wondered if Simon could see it.

Christy cupped his cheek and turned his face toward her and kissed him. It was a sweet kiss that Robert immediately deepened. He wanted more. He needed more. He thrust his tongue into Christy’s mouth, tangled it with hers, tasted every corner of her mouth as he imagined Simon was doing with her quim. Christy moaned into his mouth, and he wondered what wonderful thing Simon was doing to her with his mouth. Robert had never felt so alive, so decadently alive.

Christy’s moans deepened, and her hips began to undulate in his lap and then Robert felt a caress on his cock and he tore his mouth from Christy’s with a gasp. He looked down to see Simon watching him, his tongue flicking against Christy’s slit while he fucked her with two of his fingers. His other hand was between Robert’s legs, rubbing his cock through his trousers. Robert began to pant as if he were running a race.

“I’ve pleasured many couples like this before,” Simon said. “I’m good at it. I teach them how to enjoy a third in their bed when one or both desire it.”

It took Robert a few moments to understand what Simon was saying. When he did, his arousal was replaced by an almost equal, simmering rage. He very carefully let go of Christy’s leg and reached for Simon’s head. He grabbed a fistful of his hair and dragged him off of Christy and up, until he was half standing, bent over at the waist, his face right in front of Robert’s. His face was a blank mask. That alone told Robert all he needed to know.