He grinned back. “You don’t usually?”
“No.” I shrugged, relieved when I finally got the number right and the door buzzed open. My eyes were beginning to burn with lack of sleep.
He followed me through the glass-and-bronze front door up four flights of clean wooden stairs to my door. I still had a wooden rainbow heart hanging there from Pride Month that I hadn’t bothered to take down yet. I jiggled the key in the lock until it clicked and went inside with Fallon on my heels. Flipping the light switch on had me blinking against the lamplight. And then I stopped dead, and he ran into my back.
“Your name is Fallon! I didn’t forget! You don’t have to be Duke now.” I whirled and smiled up at him.
He chuckled and stepped back, but not far. “Nice, you a brainiac?” he asked as he toed off his shoes. I bent to unlace mine and laughed.
“Why? Because I finally remembered your name?”
“All the books.” He let out a whistle.
I tried to smile as I stood up, but I was disappointed to be home. I glanced around my living room. Every wall was lined with bookcases, and there were stacks of books on the floor near both of the green fabric couches. Newspapers were in dangerously high mountains on the coffee table.
“I teach history,” I muttered defensively, used to the criticism of my endless clutter.
“You’re down,” he said and chucked me under the chin.
“No, I’m being—”
“You aren’t happy, is what I mean.”
The night got stranger as he draped his arm over my shoulders. How had I gone from the world’s longest dry spell to three men touching me in one night? “I hoped I wouldn’t be alone tonight. I was happy when they came back. Especially when Cillian kissed me.” Fallon’s expression wilted and he nodded. “But....”
“But?” he asked, tone surprisingly serious.
“Why were they fighting?”
Fallon snorted and rolled his eyes. “They grew up together.” He let go of me and spread his hands wide, and when I only shrugged, he laughed. “Look, you clearly are an only child if you don’t get this. I think they do like you a lot, and I’m sure they’ll see you again, but they’ve been fighting together longer than most actual couples have been together. They love doing that, too.”
“Okay, it’s just... lonely, you know? I had two men in a bed with me tonight. I hoped that meant I wouldn’t be sleeping all by myself.” I crossed my arms over my stomach and tried not to look as miserable as I felt.
“You want someone to sleep with?” He waggled his eyebrows. “I volunteer as tribute.”
Heat boiled in my cheeks. His gaze dropped to my mouth. Maybe I’d said the wrong thing. “I think maybe... maybe two men is probably my limit. Probably....”
His smile softened and he clasped my fingers with his, tugging my arms away from me so they hung at my sides. “Maybe I’m lonely, too. What if I hold you? It doesn’t have to be about getting off.”
“What if I bump that hard thing?”
He blinked at me and his lips parted, but then I pulled up the hem of his shirt and pointed at the insulin cell phone thing. He laughed and wiped at the corners of his eyes. “You won’t hurt it. I’ll unhook it to sleep.” He huffed out a breath, and I swore I heard him mumble, “And you can’t hurt the other one, either.”
When he opened his arms, I felt weak, but I stepped into them and rested my head on his shoulder. “You’ll just hold me?”
“Swear,” he whispered into my ear. “I’ll be better than good.”
“Okay.” I took his hand and led him toward my room.
9
ROWEN
By the timewe’d realized Vail was gone, it was too late. Fallon had already taken him home, and it put Cillian in a foul mood. He was difficult enough to deal with already, but add in Fallon stealing Vail’s attention, and Cillian was unbearable. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to kill him or hide away in my room.
I did the latter.
But I still worried about Vail’s injuries. He’d taken a hard hit to the ground, and while Fallonshouldknow the signs of a concussion, given that he was a fighter, he was young and stupid and selfish. Brash—that was the only word for him. The few times he’d gotten hurt while in the ring, he’d refused to get treatment. We had to drag him to get medical care on Sloan’s orders because Sloan didn’t want to have to explain to Fallon’s da why his son was dead.
