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The media models shock, indignance and disappointment as appropriate reactions to the request to open a relationship. Very rarely is having multiple partners modeled as a sensible, fulfilling course of action, let alone a just or right one. (Those who read Terry Moore's otherwise excellent graphic serial Strangers in Paradise and dropped out after a few issues understand what I mean.) I think it's this lack of positive modeling that keeps a lot of people from functioning in or even considering any form of relationship but the one tried-and-true monogamous, all-encompassing, one-flesh fairy tale. The lack of positive modeling has any number of dubious explanations, not least that it invalidates the universal applicability of a cheap and easy subplot that resonates with insecurity. Done right, secondary partners augment, not replace.
Anyway, in the cases where I've had jealousy, it's usually because I've felt like I was unjustly left out of something that I (usually erroneously) believed was mine to have. Which is to say, not getting my needs met, which in turn is usually me not seeing to it that my own needs were met.
But as for the OP's question, I'd most likely respond, "Did you have anyone in mind? Bring 'em over and let's hang out and make sure they're real."
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