Elijah hit the button to bring the screen on his phone back to life.
Now, it was time to take the first step.
~~*~~
“Hey, baby,” Logan called to Sam half an hour later. He’d heard her cell phone ring, knew who it was on the other end so he had left her alone when she wandered back to their bedroom, phone to her ear. She had just hung up and was walking back toward the kitchen where he was sitting at the table, his laptop open in front of him.
“That was Elijah,” she explained. “He asked if he could take me to the art exhibit tonight. You work fast, don’t you?” she asked with a huge grin.
“What? I just called him to let him know I had to go out of town. It was up to him to do with that information as he saw fit. For him to call you was his decision, not mine.”
Sam walked up to him, and Logan leaned back in his chair.
As she did frequently, she straddled his lap, placing her hands on his shoulders. “Now is the time I feel like I’m supposed to ask you if you’re all right with this,” Sam said, placing her finger over his lips when he started to respond. “But I don’t think I have to ask that. I can tell. Something is… different. About this whole situation. I don’t know what it is, but I feel it.”
“I feel it too,” Logan told her.
“This isn’t just sex. Is it?”
“No,” he said straightforwardly.
It wasn’t for him. Then again, sex with Samantha had never been “just sex” for him. He’d known it from the moment he saw her that this woman owned him. Heart and soul.
And to top it off, she accepted his idiosyncrasies. She craved them as much as he did. And polyamory was unquestionably one of them that they both wanted. Although before Elijah, Logan would’ve said he was only interested in the sex part.
As his relationship with Sam continued to grow and strengthen, Logan realized that what they wanted was more. More than just sex as she’d put it.
“I’m going on a date with Elijah tonight,” she told him, although he already knew that.
“And?”
“And… What if he invites me back to his place?”
“Do you want to go back to his place?”
“Maybe… Probably. Does that seem like I’m cheating on you?”
“No,” he told her adamantly, looking directly into her eyes. “Sam, you’ve known this was something we both wanted from the beginning. I introduced you to this lifestyle and neither of us questioned it then, so why are you questioning it now?”
“Luke wasn’t serious about me and I wasn’t serious about him. Nor was Tag. They were… God, I hate to say it, but they were casual. We knew it was just for the sex.”
“No, I knew it,” Logan corrected. “I wasn’t willing to share all of you with them.”
“But you’re willing to share all of me with Elijah? Why?”
“Fuck if I know,” he told her truthfully. “I don’t question my gut feelings, Sam. From the moment I met him, I knew that what he represented was more than just casual. This is a lifestyle for him. Or at least it was when his wife was alive. I don’t think he’s been serious about anyone in a long time.”
“He’s serious about this,” Sam told him. “He and I just hashed this out over the phone. I figured we’d lay all of our cards on the table up front. It’s what the three of us deserve.”
“I agree.” Logan was glad that they had. He’d expected it. As much as he had expected to have this discussion with Sam. The two of them. This new situation was going to change their lives in ways they probably never expected.
But in a sense, Logan had expected it.
And he found that he wanted it. For whatever reason, he wanted to share Sam with Elijah. And maybe he had only been willing to share her body for a while. Or maybe he’d always wanted something more. That was why he’d invited Tag, believing the man was close enough to them that he wouldn’t hurt Sam. But he had. Inadvertently, sure. But he’d hurt her all the same.
Logan didn’t want anyone to hurt Sam.
“I don’t want casual any more than you do,” he explained. “If I’m going to share you –”
“God, do we have to use that word? Share? You’re not sharing me,” she told him abruptly. “I don’t see it that way. I don’t feel as though I don’t belong to you. When you say share, it’s as though you feel like I’m something you could toss away. This is something that you and I choose to do together.”
Logan felt his heart constrict. He loved this woman. Beyond words.