“She is so beautiful,” Emmy said, looking down at Angela’s peaceful sleeping face.

“I can’t believe how lucky I am,” I said. “To have the two most beautiful women in the world for my lovers.”

Emmy gave me a smile, reaching over to stroke my thigh. “I do not know how that is possible,” she said. “Because it is I who have the two most beautiful women in the world in my bed.”

I sat up, careful not to wake our sleeping beauty. I leaned in and Emmy did the same. Our lips met and we kissed, ever so softly. This wasn’t a kiss of fiery passion, but of gentle tenderness. Our love could be simple and sweet, too.

After I cleaned up a bit I wandered out to the kitchen to make us dinner. We’d had chicken salad for lunch, but I was out of ideas so I just grilled some more chicken breasts and added some more vegetables to bulk up the leftovers for another round. It was quick and easy, and I was feeling lazy.

I went to wake Emmy and Angela up, but they weren’t in bed. Following the telltale noises, I found them in the shower, Angela washing Emmy’s hair. As I got closer I could hear that they were talking, but their soft voices didn’t carry over the sound of the rushing water.

Angela glanced up and saw me, a big smile crossed her face. She gave me a ’come on in and join us’ wave, which was all the invitation I needed. I ditched my clothes and joined them under the multiple shower heads.

Emmy finished rinsing her hair, then turned and wrapped me up in a hug, resting her head on my chest.

“Thank you for joining us,” she said, still holding me tight.

Angela’s fingers immediately started working my hair, ensuring it was thoroughly saturated before applying the shampoo. Holding Emmy while Angela massaged my scalp, I would have purred if I could have.

“This is very nice,” Emmy said. “I can hear your heartbeat.”

“Yeah?” I asked.

“I love the sound,” Emmy said. “It is so very strong.”

“Of course it’s strong,” Angela said as she rinsed my hair. “Leah is the strongest, ever.”

“I think that is true,” Emmy agreed, still showing no sign that she wanted to let go of me. “Leah is incredibly strong.”

“On a totally different topic,” I said, “dinner is ready. I just made more salad. It’s in the fridge any time we want it.”

“Good,” Angela said. “I’m really hungry- the workout earlier really took it out of me.”

Of course we fooled around a bit when we got all slippy and slidey with the soap, because of course we did, but it was more of a light-hearted play time than anything else. I mean, two gorgeous naked soapy women rubbing up against me, right? There was no way it was going to stay completely platonic. Not that I’m complaining, mind you.

After the shower, I threw my clothes back on and went back to the kitchen to dish up dinner, leaving the other two in the bathroom.

A few minutes later, they came out to join me in the kitchen for dinner. It didn’t take me very long at all to notice that neither of them were wearing the slightest stitch of clothing. Of course, I acted like nothing was any different than usual. They were obviously scheming and wanted to get a reaction from me, so I was determined to keep a completely straight face.

Of course, I’d had both of them on my face earlier in the evening, so the novelty might not have been as great as it could be under other circumstances.

It didn’t take the two of them very long to realize that I wasn’t going to rise to their bait. They gave each other a look, then broke out laughing.

I kept my poker face on, even as the two of them completely lost it.

“I’m sorry I didn’t make anything else for dinner,” I apologized. “We really need to do some grocery shopping.”

This set off another round of laughter, but I continued to keep my cool.

“I told you!” Emmy said to Angela. “You did not believe me!”

“Em and I, we had a bet going. I bet that you’d be all over us, but she bet that you wouldn’t fall for it.”

“I see. So, what does Emmy win?” I asked.

“She gets to sleep in the middle tonight,” Angela replied.

“Well, it kinda seems like I won, too,” I said. “After all, I get to see you both naked.”

“Wanna know the truth?” Angela asked. “Earlier, when you chased me, I really liked running naked through the house. It felt…”

“Breezy?” I supplied, getting a laugh from both Angela and Emmy.

“I was gonna say ‘free’, but that works, too,” Angela said. “So I told Emmy I’m going to be naked around the house as much as I can.”

“I’m remarkably O.K. with that,” I said, “In fact, the more I think about it, the better it sounds.”

“It’s a plan, then,” Angela said. “Whenever it’s just the three of us, I’m going to do it.”

“Upon further consideration, I strongly support the idea,” I said.

The next morning I got up early to work out with Jody, since he was back from Toronto. I’d honestly been missing having a sparring partner, so I was glad to be back on the mats and getting physical.

“Grant and me, we did a lot of talking,” Jody said when we took a break. “He told me that you’re a natural with a knife. Among the best he’s ever trained- and he’s trained literally thousands of guys.”

“That’s nice to hear,” I said, taking a big swig of water. “He’s never said that to me. All he’s ever told me is that I’m better than most.”

Coming closer and dropping his voice so Eddie wouldn’t possibly hear, he said, “Grant told me that if ever I got in a situation where I had to face off with you holding a knife, my best move would be to run like a mother-fucker. I worked with him a bunch on my technique, and he said you’d have me filleted before I even knew it.”

What could I do but laugh?

“He said he’s seen you take down guys in one, two moves and then roll on to the next hostile without even blinking. He said you have a certain, um, focus.”

“Allegedly,” I said. “It’s all hearsay.”

Looking a bit irritated, Jody said, “Right. Allegedly. It has been alleged that you killed five hostiles in less than sixty seconds in a Chicago warehouse, allegedly.”

Taking a swig from his own bottle, Jody stepped in a little closer. “Look. Grant made it completely clear. Either I’m in this one hundred and ten per cent, or completely out. In either case, talking will likely be very detrimental to my continued… existence. He didn’t exactly say what would happen, but he didn’t need to. I know how these things work. And you know what? I signed on the dotted line. In blood. I’m so fucking far in now, whoever pulls me out will be crowned king of fucking England.”

“Alright. I think we can quit dancing around, but you’re not one hundred and ten per cent in until you have blood on your hands,” I said. “That’s the level of commitment I’m looking for.”

“Yeah, I get it, I do,” Jody said. “From what Grant and the guys tell me, that might take a while or it might be tomorrow.”

“Hopefully never, but who knows? Trouble comes to us, but we have to be ready to deal with it when it does.”

“Like I said, I’ve been talking to the guys, not just Grant. The more of their stories I hear, the more I think what you’re doing is, well, maybe the right thing. All the guys absolutely love you, you know. They love your wife and think of her like some sort of, I don’t know, not like a goddess, but maybe something like that. But you, they think of you as, like, a sort of unquestioned ruler. You say jump, they don’t even take the time to ask how high- they just do it.”

“Hmm…” I said in reply.

“Grant made it clear that he jumps, too. And he expects it from me, too.”

“Are you prepared to jump if I say so?” I asked.

“Yeah, I think I am,” Jody said.

Later, after the gym opened and Jody went to coach his classes, I saw Richie talking to him and tilting his head in my direction. Jody shook his head no, and when Richie persisted Jody made it clear he should drop it.

Richie came over to talk to me not long after that anyway.

“Coach Jody told me in no uncertain terms that I was never, ever to spar with you. In fact, nobody here should ever get in the ring with you, ever. What is it that has him and Eddie so convinced you’re not to be… Well, that nobody can work out with you? I mean, yeah, you’re a chick, but some of the other girls spar with dudes, right? So why not you?”

“Ask them,” I replied.

“I did,” Richie said. “Coach Jody just told me to drop it, but wouldn’t say why.”

“I think we all know the answer,” I said, getting ready to work the heavy bag some more.

“seriously, I gotta ask- the whole ‘government assassin’ thing is seeming more and more likely all the time,” Richie said with a lopsided smile.

“And there you have it,” I laughed, spinning to land a high heel kick on the bag, coincidentally right at the level of Richie’s head.

“O.K., O.K.,” he said, holding up his hands in an ‘I surrender’ gesture.

Since it was almost Christmas, work was slow. I didn’t have any meetings scheduled for the entire week, so there really was no compelling reason for me to even go in to the office, but I felt it was my duty to set a good example, so I put in my time. Thinking about Angela naked at home didn’t help my focus, but it was a pleasant thought nonetheless.

The positive aspect of half the business world being on vacation was that I got a lot done without the frequent interruptions that I dealt with most days. In fact, I managed to get caught up on a number of things that I’d been letting sit on the back burner.

Feeling nice and productive, I left the office at four. I had a stop to make on the way home, and I wanted to be home at my usual time.

I stopped off at a place in Hollywood that I’d passed many times- a specialty florist. Their claim to fame was roses, delivered. Walking in the shop, I was almost overcome by the heady scent of thousands of roses of every color imaginable.

I talked to the pretty girl at the counter, but my request was above her pay grade, so she got her manager on the phone, who then set up a three-way call with the owner.

“Seriously, you must have gotten requests like this before,” I said, a bit exasperated. “It can’t be all that uncommon.”

“You’re the first one,”the owner said. “But I’ll tell you what. Let me do the math, and I’ll have a number for you tomorrow.”

“That’s fine,” I agreed. “In the meanwhile, I’ll take a dozen roses right now. Red, of course.”

When I brought the roses in, instead of handing them to either Emmy or Angela, I put them in the vase Angela had bought the day before.

“They’re beautiful!” Angela said, breathing in their perfume. “Smell them, Em- they smell even better than they look.”

Pleased that my gesture was well received (even if it wasn’t a gift specifically for one or the other), I gave both women a kiss. Emmy was dressed in a pair of baggy jeans and a tank top, but Angela, as promised, was naked as a Jaybird. Of course, I had to act as if was not only normal, but expected, even as I was bouncing with glee inside, internally yelling ‘Yeah, Baby!’ In a terrible Austin Powers accent. Now, if I could just convince Emmy to get naked as a matter of daily routine…

Angela did put on an apron to fix dinner, and that whole ‘sexy bare-butt cook’ thing really worked for me. I really, really hoped that Angela had meant it and this was going to be a full-time deal, and not just one day of ‘let’s get Leah really spun up’.

After cooking, Angela ditched the apron again and had nothing on but her birthday suit as we ate at the kitchen table, which, I’m pleased to report was glass, so I could see through it to her lovely, muscular legs.

At one point, Angela got up to grab the chilled water from the fridge, and Emmy caught me staring at he butt as she walked away.

“Are you enjoying the view?” She asked, teasingly.

“Why yes, I am,” I replied, not taking my eyes off Angela’s backside.

“So am I,” laughed Emmy. “I do hope that she really does stay nude as much as possible.”

“I’ve been thinking exactly that all evening,” I said. “Well, that and one other thing.”

“What is that?” Emmy asked.

“I’ve been thinking that I really hope you follow her example,” I said, tearing my eyes away from Angela and looking Emmy up and down lasciviously.

“Would you like that?” Emmy asked.

“Oh heck yeah, I would!”

“Hmmm… Perhaps I will consider it,” Emmy said, chewing on her lower lip thoughtfully.

“What are you two smiling about?” Angela asked as she sat back down.

“We are admiring your beauty,” Emmy said.

“Thanks!” Angela said, giving us that adorable smile that made her look so young sometimes.

We made love again that night, but it was a lower-key, less vigorous event than the night before, with a lot more kissing and touching than anything else. It was sweet and loving, and very, very tender. I fell asleep thinking I really was the luckiest girl in the world.

The next day I told Emmy and Angela that I had to go in to the office for a few hours, but that was a terrible lie. What I really had to do was pick up and wrap the Christmas presents I’d ordered for them without the two being any wiser.

‘What do you get for the person who can buy anything they want?’ had been a recurring problem in my gift-giving to Emmy over the years, so I’d settled on the general course of buying her things that she wouldn’t necessarily buy for herself. In this case, I’d had a replacement made for the blue guitar pendant that she’d lost a while back. I’d talked to the same jeweler in San Francisco that had made the first one, and he’d crafted another that was virtually identical.

For Angela, I’d settled on the newest, nicest Nikon to replace the one she’d been using. Her existing camera seemed to be fine, but it was considered ‘enthusiast’ level (I’d looked it up) and not professional grade. Nikon’s pro-level DSLR had been awarded ‘Camera Of The Year’ titles on several web sites, so I figured it was time for an upgrade.

I picked up some Christmas wrapping paper on my way to the office, so I was all set.

Unfortunately, I did get roped into doing some actual work while I was at the office, so it was several hours before I could get out of there and back home.

We hadn’t gotten a Christmas tree yet, but at least I had a few presents to put underneath it when we did.

I was sorry to see that Angela wasn’t naked when I got home, but it was understandable since Jenna was visiting. The two were in the kitchen when I walked in, both in workout clothes.

“Hey, babe,” I said to Angela, giving her a kiss.

“What, don’t I get a kiss, too?” demanded Jenna, her hands on her hips.

“Hey, Jenna,” I said as I moved next to her. I leaned down, playing out the joke, but to my surprise she reached up and actually kissed me.

“There. That’s more like it,” she said, satisfied.

Jenna got up to help Angela dish up some of the fruit salad, and I took a moment to look her over. I’d never actually seen her in anything really revealing, but in those leggings and that sport top, her body was a lot nicer than I’d realized. Angela caught me looking at Jenna’s butt, but she just gave me a wink and a smile. After I smiled sheepishly back, Angela came over to where I was sitting and took my head in her hands and gave me a long, deep kiss. My hands needed something to do while that happened, so they somehow found their way to Angela’s extra firm rear end. I could never get enough of the feeling of cupping her buns in my hands…

“Hey! No fair!” Jenna protested when Angela and I broke our kiss, but my hands stayed glued to Angela’s butt. “I didn’t get a kiss like that!”

“I wouldn’t let that happen to poor Andy,” Angela said with a mischievous smirk. “If Leah kissed you like that, you would leave him and want to marry Leah instead.”