He swallowed hard again. He shifted in his seat and reached down to adjust himself. “Yeah…that.”
“There are too many people here, so that’ll have to wait until tonight at your place,” I responded, my voice low and husky. I knew exactly what that tone did to Eric, and I chuckled when he groaned. I leaned in closer, nipping at his ear lobe. “And itwillhappen. You know that, right?”
“Uh-huh.” He threw his arms around my neck when I pulled back to stare into his eyes, rising with me as I stood. His lips crashed against mine as I squeezed his ass, devouring me, filling me with the blend of coffee and spearmint that was uniquely Eric.
There was a quick knock at the door and we flew apart before we lost complete control. Drew walked in, took one look at both of us, and shook his head. “I can’t leave you two alone for five minutes, can I?”
“We…uh…I just told Bryce about my idea to help him get the center back on its feet and he was thanking me for my generous offer,” Eric said in a rush. Drew glided across the room, his narrow eyes focused on Eric. “You’re not mad, are you?”
“Why would he be mad?” I asked at the same time Drew voiced the same question.
“Because he wasn’t here,” Eric stated softly.
My jaw might have hit the floor as I watched the two of them. We hadn’t talked about what happened while we weren’t all around, but I couldn’t believe they hadn’t doneanythingduring the days when I wasn’t able to make it out to Eric’s house. “You mean to tell me—”
“That I’ve been sleeping in my own bed with blue balls every fucking night?” Drew finished, a bit less eloquently than I would have posed the question. “Yeah, that’s exactly what he’s saying. We weren’t sure and since no one’s talked about it, we didn’t want to upset you.”
I moved beside Drew and wrapped an arm around his waist. “Is that why you keep your distance from me when you’re here?”
“Why I what?” Drew seemed truly oblivious to the fact that he gave me a wide berth whenever he came to the center to tutor Cody. At first I’d assumed it was to keep things professional, but now I wondered if he was worried about going too far without Eric’s consent.
“You barely acknowledge me when you’re in the lounge, and when you have to come in here, you stay as close to the door as possible,” I observed.
“Huh, I didn’t realize that.” Drew seemed to be scrolling through his memory to validate what I’d said. “Yeah, maybe.”
“Well, unless it would upset one of you, I think it’s ridiculous at this point to expect the others to act like monks if only two of us are present.”
“Fine by me,” Eric agreed quickly. Drew’s only response was the slightly boyish smile he flashed when he was truly happy.
“Yeah, me too.”
“Good, then now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s go shopping,” I suggested. “I promised Eric I’d thank him properly tonight at his house.”
Eric backed away and worried his bottom lip. “About that…if you get the transfer you’re working on, what would you say to moving out to my place. It only seems right that it could beourplace since you’re there most of the time as it is.”
“Are you sure you’re ready for that?” I asked. This was a huge deal for all of us. If he just meant somewhere to crash temporarily, then I’d graciously decline his offer. If and when the time came that the three of us and all of our belongings were under the same roof, that’d mean this was the real deal. Not necessarily a lifelong commitment, but a hell of a lot more than the casual fucking around we’d all agreed upon the first night we got together.
“We talked about it earlier, and I think we’d both like that,” Drew responded. “It sucks when you’re not around, and I’m not just saying so because that means we’re all sleeping alone. I don’t know about Eric, but things are just…better when we’re all together.”
Well hell, this was turning into some monumental moment I hadn’t expected. I held both of them, burying my face between their chests so they couldn’t see what it meant to me to know they both wanted to take the next massive step in our relationship. “Nothing would make me happier.”
“Uh, guys…” We looked up and saw Cody standing at the door with his winter coat on, gaping at the three of us sharing a moment.
I looked at Drew, who winced. “Surprise! We’re having company tonight.”
A happy Drew was something to savor, so I couldn’t get upset with him, even though it would have been nice to know ahead of time. There was no way Eric and I could disagree with him offering Cody a night away from the center, because then Cody would think we didn’t want him around.
“We are?” Eric asked, sounding dumbfounded.
Drew turned to him and lowered his voice so he wouldn’t be overheard. “Yes, we are. I was going to tell you guys, but you distracted me.”
“That’s not hard to do,” I scoffed. “I’m assuming you’ll go into details later?”
“Of course,” Drew agreed as he reached for his coat. “So, who’s ready to go shopping?”
By the groans filling the room, it seemed Drew was the only one looking forward to today’s excursion. I considered telling him to take the rest of us home and he could go on his own, but he’d been adamant that this needed to be a group trip. Each Maverick who’d agreed to sponsor the center’s Christmas extravaganza had been given the lists for three young adults.
Being the organizer, Drew had taken it upon himself to place Cody on his own list. I had the feeling our biggest problem was going to be convincing Drew that he shouldn’t go overboard buying gifts.
