"Always," I promised.
So Luke headed over and dropped onto the edge of the bed. "This. Cy, I mean. I..." He sighed. "Us?"
A laugh slipped out because I actually understood that. Taking the spot next to him, I reached over to clasp his leg. "I've realized that I'm not meant for monogamy. I love Violet more than life itself, and I still can't keep my hands off you and Cy. She can't choose, so none of us are going to make her. Cy? I think he loves her as much, if not more than me. She calls to something in him, and unlike me, she doesn't hurt him. Here's the thing you need to know, cowboy. Cyan Marshall doesn't love easily."
"Kinda got that impression," Luke admitted.
I nodded slowly. "But he likes you. He likes you enough to forgive you, and do you know how many times that's happened before?" I pointed at myself. "Once. Don't you dare break his heart again. He was all in before you walked away, so you're going to have to figure out how to make him forgive you, and it's going to take a while."
"He said he did this morning," Luke admitted. "Fuck, Ash, I'm a damned idiot about this shit. How the hell is this supposed to work if we can't be a 'we' right now?"
"You're going to become his friend. You'll flirt with him, smile with him, and let him in. Same way you do with Violet. Be proud, Luke. Be all you, but don't lock him out or he'll give up."
He looked over, those emerald eyes of his holding mine. "That's why you want me to take him riding?"
"Cy thought he'd raped you," I said softly. "That's basically what you threw in his face. Well, Violet's, which is pretty much the same thing."
Luke just nodded. "I fucked up bad, huh?"
"Real bad," I agreed. "You also came back. We're not mad anymore, but of all of us, Cy's the one who'll have the hardest time trusting you again."
"He caught me out in the barn. That day Faith was with her mom? I was pinned under Cy when she called." He pushed out a breath. "This is weird. I shouldn't be talking to you about him, right?"
"You should," I promised. "Violet too, although I swear I hear all about what happens there."
"Never had a threesome," Luke admitted. "Not even with two girls."
"You're so vanilla," I chuckled, rubbing his leg. "Don't worry, we already figured that out. Just take things at your own pace. I promise that none of us expect you to be some hot little sex kitten."
He shot me a dirty look. "Not liking the way your mind's going, Ash."
That made me laugh harder. "Well, here's a tip. Violet likes it intense. She's into kink, but she also loves intimate. You want to put your heart behind all those touches, and that woman will melt. You want to fuck her against the wall until dust falls from the rafters, and she'll make you work for it. She's not ashamed of what she likes, and she won't expect you to be either."
He leaned over his knees, rubbing his hands together slowly like he was thinking a little too hard. "That's why she's ok with this?"
"In all honesty, I think Violet's not made for monogamy either."
A smile curled his lips. "You two are a matched set, as Cy says."
I just nodded, knowing it was true. "Yeah, but she lost her self-consciousness somewhere in her life. She doesn't get jealous, Luke. She gets even. She also loves with all her heart, and if you break it again, you won't get a third chance."
"Trust me, I know. That's why I'm so worried about this. Me, you, Cy, and her. Shit, I've never even heard of anything like this, but it feels so fucking right. Just this..." And he gestured between us. "I wanted to hate you, and I think it's because I knew I could love you."
"Then stop worrying about it," I told him. "Take Cy riding. Smile at him too much. Ask him your stupid questions too, because that'll make him feel like you trust him. Take a risk, Luke. I promise that the three of us aren't going anywhere. This? It's our home, and we just have to be good for two more weeks. That's time where we can stop fucking and start loving, right?"
He glanced at me again. "Being in love with two out of three isn't bad, right?"
"Not bad at all," I assured him. "Now your dick is where it needs to be, and my boyfriend is going to want his room eventually."
Luke eased himself off the bed. "So you know, I want to kiss you again, but I'm not gonna make that mistake twice."
"Night, Luke," I told him.
"You still owe me church, Ash," he countered.
"So worth it," I breathed even as he slipped out of the room.
Then I flopped onto my back to release my jeans. The truth was that I hurt more than I wanted to admit. Pushing? Yeah, that sucked. I was inching my jeans down, doing my best not to use my abs in the process, when Cy walked in. His eyes raked over me before he even closed the door.
