“I can do a wall flip,” Gray remarked casually.
“A what?” How does a wall flip work?
“A wall flip. Where you run up the wall then flip down to the ground.”
“Oh, you cannot. That’s stuff they do on TV,” I said with a teasing grin.
“Only on TV, huh? I’ll show you one day. I love to show off my talents.” He laughed as he dished the gravy into a bowl. “With my luck, now I’ve bragged about it, I’ll fall on my head.”
I laughed along with him. “I hope you don’t. I want to be impressed by both your cooking and your smooth moves.” I put air quotes around “smooth moves,” to let him know I still didn’t believe he could do it.
A knock interrupted our mild flirtations. I started to get up and answer it.
“Freeze, lady,” said Gray. “I’ll get it.” I grinned wryly and sat down.
He jogged over to the door, and I noticed he wore plaid sleep pants and a tight white tee. He filled out the pants perfectly.
According to my monitor, Arch and Wes stood in the hall. Gray let them in.
“It smells amazing in here!” Wes exclaimed. He sauntered over to me, also wearing sleep pants and a tee, black with the name of a band on it. He leaned forward and embraced me. “When you’re feeling better, we’ll reschedule our date.” He kept his voice low as he released me. He didn’t want his friends to overhear.
I stared blankly into his blue eyes, completely forgetting we scheduled a date.
“Remember, Ellie? Coffee?” He kept glancing at my head, concerned.
“Of course. I remember.” I turned away and took a sip of juice to avoid blurting out the wrong thing. “I’d also like to reschedule for as soon as possible.”
“Reschedule what?” Arch walked over to us and caught the tail end of our conversation. He still wore his neck brace and seemed uncomfortable.
Wes saved me from answering. “Coffee,” he said casually. I averted my eyes. I didn’t want to cause any jealousy or arguments. My various dates overwhelmed me: a theater date with Arch—hopefully to be rescheduled as well—a coffee date with Wes, and now a cooking date with Gray. The sensible voice in the back of my mind repeatedly asked me if any of them knew the others were interested. They knew Arch and I went on one—failed—date. Why else would we have been together, dressed up, when we crashed?
My stomach rumbled, causing Gray to stare at me from his position in the kitchen. “It’s almost done, try not to starve to death.”
I rolled my eyes at his sassiness. “I’ll survive, thanks.” I blew him a raspberry to drive my point home.
“If you do that again, I’ll give your lips something to do.” Arch’s voice behind me made my spine stiffen. The erotic tone to his voice shot straight to my, um, heart, and my insides became uncomfortably warm.
“I’ll try to refrain,” I whispered. Gray placed a plate full of food in front of me.Saved by the gravy. I decided to pretend calories cooked by gorgeous guys didn’t count. I’d spend some time swimming soon to burn them off.
The plate in front of me overflowed with yumminess. I dug into my bacon, scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, hash browns, and grits. A traditional and delicious breakfast. “My mom used to cook breakfasts like this,” I mumbled around a mouth full of egg. It took a moment for the guys to respond to my sudden over sharing.
“How old were you when she died?” asked Wes.
“I was eight, so some of the memories are vague. This is awesome.” I smiled my thanks at Gray.
The guys made their own plates, and someone refilled my orange juice glass. I almost missed who it was because I tilted my head upward, moaning over the flavors invading my mouth with my first bite of gravy. I opened my eyes in time to watch Wes almost spill juice everywhere because he stared at me and not the juice pitcher in his hand. Gray’s and Arch’s attention was also on me. Arch scratched idly under his brace as he stared me down.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” said Wes. He stopped the flow of juice in time, and I slurped it down to keep it from spilling over the side.
“Why is everyone still staring at me?” I suspected their minds were in the gutter, but feigned innocence.
Gray replied for the group. “I guess we’re used to doing things together, no one else. It’s kind of a novelty to have a lady in our mix.”
“You don’t date?” They were successful and hot. They’d have women banging down their doors.
“We do.” Arch chimed in.
