I glance up, the words balancing behind my lips for a breath too long before I speak.
“I almost kissed Landon last night.”
Graham stills, then his fingers start threading through my hair again an instant later. “Yeah?” he asks almost cautiously.
“In the hot tub. It felt natural.” I sigh, squeezing his thigh as I think about it. “There’s a connection between us, and I don’t think I’m going to fight it anymore. I just wanted you to know. I know we talked about it and you three said you were okay?—”
“We are, Willow. No need to explain yourself.”
Relief fills my chest. This could have been messy. I know they want to protect me; that is what they were originally hired to do. My well intentioned father put them exactly where they needed to be…I don’t think he imagined that they would fall in love with me and welcome my stalker into our bed. I can’t help the smile that pulls at my lips at that thought. It’s crazy to even think about how life twists and turns and puts you exactly where you belong when you’re meant to be there.
Maybe everything really does happen for a reason.
“You’re kind of amazing, you know that, right?” His cheeks darken slightly, and I laugh. “Are you blushing?”
He wipes his hand down his face and looks away, a smile taking over his face as he denies it.
“Graham doesn’t blush,” Hunter says sleepily into my shoulder, before kissing me softly.
“He is definitely blushing.”
Hunter hums against my skin and tugs me fully against him, his leg wrapping around me. “Maybe he only blushes for you then.”
“Maybe.”
We’re still laughingwhen the door swings open.
Finn’s hair is a disaster—sticking up in every direction as if he wrestled a thunderstorm and lost. He groans and drags a hand through it, trying to tame the chaos, but Carson slaps it away with a grin.
“Don’t even try. You look like you just rolled out of a very questionable dream.”
“I did,” Finn mutters, shooting me a smirk. “Still dreaming, maybe.”
Hunter’s shirt is inside out. And he smooths his fingersover it, messing with the tag on the side. Graham steps into the hallway first, our silent protector with rumpled sweats and sleep-kissed eyes.
I follow him, still warm in the center of my chest from everything that just happened. Everything that’s changing. Carson and Finn are bickering behind me, Hunter yawning so wide it makes me laugh.
And then we see him.
Landon. And my heart skips a beat. He’s standing just a few feet down the hall, room key in hand, ready to enter his room.
He stops.
His gaze lands on Graham first—then Carson, then Hunter—each one clearly part of this. Part of me. And then it finds Finn, trailing behind them, hair messy, shirtless, a bruise blooming at the base of his throat that I definitely didn’t put there with my mouth, so it must have been one of the guys.
His eyes finally land on me.
I feel the air shift. Just slightly. But it’s enough. He doesn’t speak. Doesn’t frown. Doesn’t say anything.
But I see it. The flicker of disappointment. The knowledge that we almost kissed last night, and this morning, I’m leaving my hotel room with not only my pack but my stalker too. My chest hurts, like I’ve betrayed him, which doesn’t make any sense. Is this how he felt when he kissed someone else to push me away?
I did a hell of a lot more than kiss someone else. Under different circumstances, of course, but it still hurts.
His jaw ticks, just once, and he gives a small nod, accepting something he wasn’t quite ready to admit until now. Then he turns, sliding his keycard into the door to his room. He disappears before I can open my mouth and say anything.
Graham threads his fingers through mine and squeezes. “You okay?”
I swallow. Nod. But the words won’t come.
