He takes my hand and holds it against his chest as he slowly draws more awake. “I heard everything, and I love you too. I never want to lose you either,” he whispers.
Woken by my voice, Ben, Joe, and Kaz hurry into the room to see what’s going on.
“He’s awake!” I say, tears of happiness streaming down my cheeks.
“Help me sit up,” Art tells Ben.
Ben lifts him and helps him shift higher up the bed.
“Dammit, my head hurts,” he chuckles.
I wrap my arms around him and hold him close, kissing his lips over and over again. “I love you. I love you so much.”
I turn to the other three men, grinning and watching us. “I love all of you. Not just…I mean…I really, truly love you. I fell in love with all of you,” I try to explain while I stumble over my words and my emotions.
Ben scoops me into his arms and holds me close. “I love you, too, baby bird. Truly, deeply, love you,” he says.
Joe takes me from him and kisses me. “I love you, too, baby bird. I’m so happy we found each other.”
Kaz pulls me from Joe and sits on the edge of the bed with me on his lap. “I love you, too, Maria. We all do. It’s impossible not to love you.”
Epilogue
Four months later
Artur
I flip the steak on the barbecue and take a long sip, draining the last of my beer as I watch the lake from the front lawn of the mansion.
Behind me, Kaz and Maria are laughing and wrestling in the pool. He’s being gentle with her, considering she’s heavily pregnant.
“If you drown her, I’ll have to come in there and sort you out,” I warn him, grinning.
“No, don’t stress, man, I’m giving her mouth-to-mouth,” Kaz shouts back. I hear another scream of laughter and watch Kaz grab Maria and kiss her, sloppy, wet, and disturbing.
“Gross,” I mutter, turning away, chuckling.
“Stop that,” Maria yelps, crying from laughter.
Misha arrives next to me, handing me a fresh beer and taking the empty bottle from my hand. “That steak smells great, man.” He lifts his bottle of beer, and I tap mine against his.
“Good to have you here staying for the weekend,” I smile at him. It’s been weird adjusting to everything, but at the end of the day, I made peace with Misha for Maria’s sake. I think he did the same with me. Maria is incredibly special to all of us, and the goal is for her to be happy. So we sacrificed our history and our tension, and we’ve made it right. Besides, the guy did save my life. He saved all of us from that fire.
Joe arrives too and sets a bowl of chips on the table near us.
Ben is lying on the sun lounger, eating a grilled cheese sandwich.
“Why is he eating? Isn’t lunch about to be served?” Misha asks.
“Ben will eat that, and lunch, and another lunch, and still be hungry after,” Joe snorts.
“I can hear you, you know,” Benedikt mutters, standing up and dusting crumbs off his chest. He smirks, then runs for the pool, leaping into the water and grabbing Kaz as he does to dunk him under the surface.
While Kaz splutters and recovers, Ben steals Maria’s attention.
“Can I show you how a real man kisses a beautiful woman?” he asks her.
She giggles and nods.
