As I’ve mentioned before, Eric and Elena and Jess are all in a relationship together. In polyamory this is called a triad. In erotica terms you might call it MFF or FFM. But there are actually four relationships within the triad:
- Eric, Elena and Jess
- Eric and Elena
- Elena and Jess
- Eric and Jess
In We Three, a lot of the relationship development is focused on Elena and Jess, and Eric is helping the two work out time and emotions together. But he’s also forming his own emotional and sexual relationship with Jess. I spend time deepening that relationship in the sequel, We Fit.
For today’s writing, I wanted to showcase that separate development. The first part shared below includes one of the 100 ways to say ‘I love you’: “I’ve got this. I’m stronger than I look.”
“I think I’ll start with that,” Eric said, pointing to the large faux leather pirate chest. “Move it over there,” he continued, pointing to the harem mattress. “That will clear a lot of the corner just traffic-wise. I can store the light boxes and tripod along the wall.”
Said lightboxes and tripod were beside her where she and Eric had put them at the bottom of the basement stairs. Jess dusted her hands together and started toward the chest.
He asked, “What are you doing?”
“Helping you.”
“You don’t have to. I know you’ve got studying to do.”
“If we both work on this, you can be done faster too.” Jess lifted the chest with a soft grunt. “Have some down time on your day off.”
Eric moved quickly toward her. “Wait, let me help you with that.”
She shook her head at him, already walking, legs spread to more effectively center the weight. “You move the other stuff you need out of the way. I’ve got this. I’m stronger than I look, you know.”
When Jess set the trunk down it was with a bit heavier thunk than she’d planned. She covered her wince and turned around. Eric had his hands on his hips, just staring at her.
“Oh, I know,” he said. His smile, coupled with the warm light in his blue eyes, made heat rise in Jess’s cheeks.
She covered quickly with her own hands on her hips. “What’s next?”
“Really, I got this. You can go back upstairs. Get your studying done.”
“Do you really want to do this by yourself?” she asked suddenly. “I don’t mind helping.”
“You’re really determined to help me?”
“It’s something I can do. There’s not really a lot of chores for me to pitch in with around here. You and Elena have it pretty well ironed out.”
“Oh.”
Eric said nothing else about her going upstairs after that.
He had apparently already spent some time planning where each piece of equipment would be best placed, because Jess saw the X tapes on the floor where they first moved a backdrop canvas. There was another X where he asked her to position a strobe light stand. He had four reflectors, two light boxes, and she helped set up reversible backdrop canvases that blocked two sides of the swing, and another by the mattress.
When he declared all the equipment assembled and their positions properly set, Eric tugged Jess’s hand and threw himself onto the mattress. She toppled next to him and landed with a giggle. Both of them had become covered in a light sweat. Stretching away from her for the moment, he stripped his sleeveless cotton shirt off over his head.
Jess held her head up on a bent elbow and reached out toward Eric’s chest. Studying him as she breathed deeply, she traced a line through the sweat dripping down his shoulder and onto his chest. Out of the corner of her eye she spied a large box air conditioner. “We forgot to turn on the A/C.”
He rolled onto his side facing her, blocking the view of the air conditioner as he mirrored her pose. “Like you said though, we finished quickly because you helped.” She returned his smile.
“So we’ll just go upstairs now,” she said.
He rolled further toward her, his gaze searching hers while his fingers traced lines of sweat on her skin. “Is that what you want to do?”
“Not really.” She kissed him as his lips came within easy reach and the heat of his body intoxicated her. “Ready for another sort of work out?”
This is only about half the 1,500+ word scene I wrote today. For the rest, you’ll have to wait for me to finish the draft of We Fit.
~ Lara
Lara Zielinsky 
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