“Good. Who’s going first?” he asks, his empty hand tracing the gift in his lap.
“You,” I nervously say, my fingers squeezing Chaney’s.
“Alright,” he states, leaning forward and setting his mug on the coffee table before he starts unraveling the wrapping paper. As soon as the framed photograph is exposed, he swipes his thumb over it and just sits there staring at it which has me shifting on my feet.
I’m still not good at reading people’s body language, so I’m not sure if he likes it or thinks it’s dumb. My hope is that he’s stunned speechless because he’s moved by the thoughtfulness and gesture of our gift.
When he does talk, my knees grow weak with relief. “Ladies. This is the best and most meaningful gift I’ve ever received. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” we simultaneously say in response.
Then Chaney clears her throat and I know that it’s go-time. Sweat beads on my forehead, traveling down my temples as my limbs begin to anxiously tic.
Mentally, I cross my fingers and chant in my head, “Please, say yes.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE
NOVA
I’m not sure why, but my back stiffens as Chaney ahems. There is a different tone about it than what’shernormal clearing of the throat. My eyes snap up to her and then travel to her sister who’s as white as a sheet.
“Something wrong?” I ask, clutching the photograph to my chest and leaning back so I have both of them within my line of sight.
“We wanted to discuss something with you, but now that it’s time, I’m not sure how to say it,” Chaney admits.
“You can talk to me about anything. You know that, right?” I probe, masking my face so they don’t see the worry on it. “Nothing you say to me is wrong or will be taken as a slight. We’re family, ladies. That means we have each other’s backs no matter what. Just say what’s on your mind, don’t sit and analyze it, that’ll mess with your head. Trust me, I know that from my experiences.”
“We want to be with you,” Chaney rushes out, declaring it as her—their truth.
My brows pinch together as I tell her, “You are with me.”
“No,” she says, shaking her head. “Not like that. Not in a platonic way.”
My head snaps up and my eyes laser in on her as the impact of what she just said seeps in. “You what now?”
“We love you, Nova. We’ve both fallen head over heels in love with you. Not in a brotherly way, in a way that means we want you to be ours forever,” Chaney clarifies.
“Both of you?” I question, swiveling my head on my neck and zeroing in on Freyja. She’s shifting on her feet but her eyes are steadily glued to mine as she bashfully nods her head. “Freyja?” She’s the one I’m most concerned about in this proposition. She tends to follow her sister’s lead whether it’s something she truly wants to do or not.
“We’ve discussed it at length, Nova. We admitted to each other that we both see a life with you. You’re not only our hero, but you’re our lifeline. Our hearts beat for you,” Freyja sheepishly says. “I know what you’re thinking, and you’re wrong.”
“What am I thinking, Freyja?” I ask, praying that she’s not a mindreader because I don’t want her to know everything I’m feeling. I don’t want my domineering thoughts and nature to send them running for the hills.
Secretly, I’ve been seething with the directions my thoughts have gone. Picturing the day when they’re ready to move out and start living their lives without me in it, dating, and finding their happily-ever-afters makes me positively murderous. These fictionalized, future men have had me up late at night, meticulously cleaning my guns and sharpening my knives—that’s how much I despise the thought of any man, that isn’t me, touching them.
“That we feel this way about you because we haven’t been around many other men other than you. And that isn’t true, Nova,” Freyja declares. “We’ve been around your brothers, too, and none of them have sparked any interest for us. They make us feel safe, but they don’t make our knees weak, our hearts don’t beat rapidly in our chest for them, and–”
“And,” I prompt.
Chaney glances over at her sister and sees how she’s struggling to spit out the words so she continues her sister’s train of thought, only putting her own spin on it. “They don’t make us want to bed them, Nova. We’re as dry down below as the Sahara Desert for anybody other than you. You’re the only man we want that way.”
The words escape my lips before I can call them back. “They better not,” I growl, my chest rumbling from the strength of my inner caveman as he contemplates my brothers coming anywhere near my girls in a sexual way. I’d rip all their heads off their necks and slingshot them into Neverland before burning their bodies into ashes.
“Do you want us, Nova?” Chaney asks, both of the girls staring at me, their eyes pleading for me to agree to their proposal.
I inhale deeply before releasing it. I don’t know how to express my concerns in a way that they’ll understand or won’t offend them. “That’s not what’s in question here. I want you in every way a man wants a woman. I want to make that clear.”
