Fingers stroked Jack’s chest, rubbing at his nipple, which pebbled in automatic response. Jack’s brain was having an entirely different, much more surly reaction.

 

He reached up and gripped Mitchell’s wrist. Mitchell lifted his hand immediately, and Jack’s fingers opened to let him pull away.

 

“Sorry?” Mitchell sounded mildly surprised.

 

“Just…” Jack flapped his hand in dismissal, looking resolutely at the ceiling, “that’s not doing anything for me.”

 

There was a beat. “Because I’m not Jackson?”

 

“No,” Jack snapped. Yes. His skin itched where Mitchell had been touching.

 

Mitchell gave a shrug that somehow encompassed his entire body and rolled away onto his back, seemingly unperturbed. “Okay. I’m easy. Just thought we might kill some time while Jackson’s brewin’ up our first caffeine fix of the day.” He stretched languidly and made a contented noise.

 

Jack saw red. He turned his head to glare. “And that’s another thing… just where the hell do you get off being so goddamn relaxed about all of this? That’s a two-star’s nipple you were just fondling, for fuck’s sake!”

 

He felt a savage jolt of pleasure when he saw Mitchell’s fingers clench.

 

Mitchell slowly turned to Jack and gave him a direct stare. “With all due respect, sir, I assumed things were on a more democratic footing in the bedroom, sir. Like in: I touch you, you touch me, an’ everybody touches Jackson because he is just so darn pretty.”

 

And there, there, was the edge that Jack had wanted to hear in Mitchell’s voice. Because edge might not be the precise equivalent of edgy, but they were fucking etymologically related, and he really needed to stop listening to Daniel, because look where it’d gotten him this time, and why should he be the only one in this bed who was feeling weird and uncomfortable?

 

“Do we have a problem?” Mitchell asked flatly.

 

“Problem?” Daniel came into the bedroom carrying a tray of coffee. “Jack, what did you do?”

 

“What? Nothing,” Jack said sulkily.

 

Daniel set the tray down. “I can’t leave you alone for five minutes, can I?”

 

“Everything’s fine.”

 

“Tell me what happened.” Daniel planted his feet and put his hands on his hips. “Did you say something?”

 

“I didn’t say anything!”

 

“Yes, you did; now what was it?”

 

“Did not.”

 

“Did.”

 

Mitchell adjusted his pillow and scooted back to lean against the headboard. “Look at me,” he said, voice vibrating with satisfaction. “I’ve got a front row seat to the O’Neill and Jackson show.”

 

Jack wanted to hit him.

 

“You had a pretty good seat last night, too,” Daniel said, lips twitching.

 

Mitchell ran his gaze slowly down Daniel’s bare torso and lingered on the crotch of his sweatpants. “Thanks for the reminder,” he drawled.

 

Jack’s toes curled. Daniel and Mitchell were undeniably hot together, and the sight of Mitchell on his knees taking everything Daniel had to give him was going to stick in his head for a long time. Really, the guy wasn’t so bad, a good man to have on your six… in or out of the field….

 

“So, let’s get back to this problem, Jack.”

 

Jack dragged his attention back to Daniel with an effort. “There is no problem. Well, okay, you know, anytime you throw three alpha males together there’s bound to be a few….”

 

Daniel’s eyebrows rose.

 

And Mitchell gave Jack a sort of cautiously amused look which served to remind him that, yes, Mitchell had gotten a pretty good look at the behind-the-scenes dynamics of the O’Neill/Jackson show a few hours earlier.

 

Jack cleared his throat, feeling himself flush. “Two…?”

 

Mitchell crossed his ankles. “Oh, there’s only one top dog in this pack.” He grinned at Jack, eyes sparkling.

 

Okay, the guy really was smoking hot. It was distracting as hell and so not fair, but Jack could certainly see why Daniel had been attracted, why he’d arranged all of this, why he’d wanted to share the bounty….

 

“Hold on,” Daniel said. His lips parted. His smile was all teeth. “Did both of you just roll over and show me your bellies?”

 

Jack caught Mitchell’s eye.

 

“Woof.” “Woof.”

 

They never did get around to drinking the coffee.