Heat flooded my cheeks so fast it burned. Behind the safety of the fabric, I pressed my fingers against my closed eyes and tried to convince myself that hiding under a blanket was a mature and reasonable response to this situation.
“Last night...” I started, muffled. I peeked at him through the gap between my fingers.
Percy pulled the wired earphones from around his neck and sat on the edge of the bed. Close, but not crowding. Giving me room the way he always did. Except now the playfulness had left his face, and what replaced it was quieter. Serious, almost.
“Do you regret it?”
The question landed between us, and the vulnerability in it caught me off guard. He was braced for the answer. Preparing himself for the version where I said yes, and that realization made my chest ache.
I shook my head and lowered my hands. “No.”
Relief crossed his features before he could hide it, and my chest did a traitorous little squeeze because this man, this gorgeous, golden retriever of a man, had genuinely worried I’d take it back.
“But the situation,” I said, sitting up and tugging the jacket tighter around myself. “And, you know, what will...”
“Solomon and Lucian think?” He finished for me.
I nodded slowly, my stomach twisting into a pretzel.
Percy chuckled. Warm, genuine, entirely too relaxed for a conversation about the aftermath of an orgasm with one-third of a household. “Especially when you’re guilty that you’re attracted to them too.”
“Wha… How-” Horror must have hit my face because his grin stretched wider.
“Please.” He shrugged. “We both know it’s not just me.”
I blinked at him. “How can you be so casual about this?”
The laughter faded. His eyes held mine, and for one breathless second I caught a glint of gold bleeding into his hazel irises. There and gone before I could grab it.
“You have your suspicions already, Mira. I’m sure you understand that there is something more between the four of us.”
The words landed in my chest. He said it as if he had been waiting for me to catch up. And he was right. I’d been collecting evidence these days and it was why I was even in his room in the first place.
I opened my mouth but nothing came out.
Percy stood, and just that fast, the heaviness broke. His body language loosened, the grin crept back, and the laid-back energy slid into place.
“Lucian wants to talk. You should head down for breakfast.” He crossed to the bathroom and paused in the doorway, one hand on the frame. “I’m gonna take a quick shower. Don’t stay and watch the show this time.”
Oh, this bastard.
I grabbed the nearest pillow and launched it at his head.
He ducked, laughing, and the bathroom door clicked shut behind him. His muffled laughter leaked through the wood, and despite everything, despite the panic and confusion and the very real possibility that I’d lost my mind, my lips twitched.
Damn him.
I dragged myself out of his bed, finger-combed my hair into submission, splashed water on my face, and rolled my shoulders back until composure took hold. Then I stepped into the hallway before my brain could spiral further.
Morning light filtered through the windows at the far end of the hall. I started down the staircase, one hand on the banister, bare feet quiet on the wood. Every sense was running high, scanning for the other two presences I knew were in this house.
“What are you doing?”
The voice came from behind me.
I spun so hard my foot caught the edge of the step. A sound left my mouth that could generously be called a squeal and more accurately described as the noise a cat makes when you step onits tail. My hand slipped off the banister and gravity made its move.
Lucian’s fingers closed around my wrist.
