Mark stayed the night again, but when I woke up the next morning he was gone. I snuggled into my pillow and stared at Rick’s sleeping face. He looked softer in sleep, almost gentle. Short locks of black hair flopped over his forehead and his lips tilted up just a bit at the edges making me think he was having a good dream. When he opened his eyes and saw me watching him the smile grew slowly and my heart skipped a beat. He was beautiful.

“Good morning, sexy,” I whispered.

Warm hands slid around my waist and pulled me to him. “Mornin’.”

Neither of us spoke, we just lay there looking into each other’s eyes, breathing each other’s air, totally at ease. Finally, Rick shifted, bringing a hand up to cup my cheek. “How’re you feeling?”

He wasn’t asking if I was sick or tired. He wanted to know how I felt about what had happened that weekend with Mark. More than one emotion swirled about inside me but I focused on the foremost. “Curious,” I said. “You guys have done that before, haven’t you?”

Rick’s smile twisted. “When we were in college Mark brought home a girl who wanted us both. There were touches during the night that made it clear neither of us were phobic, and it all felt good. The next morning when she was gone and we both woke up hard, we went with it.”

“That wasn’t the end of it though was it?”

He sensed the question beneath the question. “We’ve continued to fuck around over the ‘;[, but not since I started dating you. It wasn’t really a romantic thing between us, it was only about pleasure . . . a different sort of pleasure from what a woman gives. And neither of us could ever abstain from women, but we were lovers, yes.”

“And it’s something you’ve missed.” It wasn’t a question; once I’d opened up my eyes to them together it had been clear that they’d reveled in the raw taking of each other. Rick nodded anyway, but stayed silent.

A small part of me figured I should feel betrayed that I’d been living with Rick, loving him, for a year and a half, and he’d never said a word, or even hinted that there’d ever been anything sexual between him and Mark before, or that he’d wanted there to be again.

An even larger part of me was okay with it. If I’d have known I might’ve looked at him differently, looked at Mark differently. I might’ve felt awkward about all those times that the three of us had hung out. Instead, things had come out naturally, and no one had been hurt.

“Okay.” I gave him a soft kiss on the lips then rolled out of bed to grin down at him. “Now I’m hungry. Feed me.”

We had a nice lazy Sunday together, doing nothing but eating, and cuddling on the couch watching movies. It wasn’t even ten pm when Rick plucked me off the couch and carried me into the bedroom. He lay me down on the bed and covered my body with his. He started with soft kisses along my neck as his hands roamed under my thin tank top. His lips covered mine and it was like coming home. Clothes disappeared and I gloried in our togetherness. Rick stretched out over top of me and I welcomed him into my body, and even deeper into my heart. Wrapping my legs around his hips I stared into his eyes and moved with him. We didn’t speak. We didn’t need to. Hands stroked, bodies moved, and we loved one another well into the night.

A week went by, the heat wave ended and I didn’t see Mark the whole time. But when I got home on Friday night, there he was again, sitting on the patio with Rick, beer in hand, wicked gleam in his eye. One thing led to another and less than an hour later we were all piled in bed, naked limbs tangled together, exhausted, sweaty and satisfied.

“Hey, Ange?” Rick said, breathlessly from the other side of the bed.

“Yes?” I answered, not opening my eyes.

“You know you’re mine. Always, no matter what.”

“Yes.”

He paused, and I waited, my heart pounding. I knew my man, and I had an idea of what was coming.

“What do you think about making this threesome permanent?”

It was my turn to pause. My body was limp, ripples of pleasure still vibrating through it. I opened my eyes and looked from the man on my left to the one on my right. I’d been the one in the middle this time. Sucking my bottom lip between my teeth I bit down on it softly. I should think about what was happening, two people in a relationship could get complicated enough, three would be so much more so.

I looked at Mark, who was suddenly very, very still. He didn’t speak, he didn’t move. He just met my gaze and let me see into his heart. Mark had been part of our relationship right from the first night when I met them both. Sure, making the shift permanent would mean more complications, but it would also mean that much more love and pleasure and comfort to be had by all of us.

Screw thinking, I decided. I wanted to do, to feel… and nothing made me feel better than the idea of always having both my men by my side.

“Yes,” I said. “Let’s do it.”