“You know that’s Romans, right? Not Greeks.”
“Shut up, let me keep going.” He was fully gone now, eyes bright with it. “I’d act all noble and bored, pretending none of it impressed me. But then you’d be there—sweaty and dangerous and not paying me any attention.” His smile turned wicked. “Maybe you’d hate me at first. Think I was just another rich idiot watching from the stands. And I’d keep coming back, every day, just to see if you’d look at me.”
“This is getting elaborate,” I said, grinning. “How long have you been thinking about this?”
“As if I’m the only one who ever got hot watching Spartacus.” He writhed in my lap. “Fuck, I’m not going to be able to walk out of here.”
My hand slid between us, over the evident bulge at his crotch. “No. Doesn’t look like it.” I leaned in, kissing his neck, nudging his necklace aside so I could trace my tongue over his skin.
“Fuck, Ash,” he breathed. “We need to do that one day. Now I can’t stop picturing you bent over for me.”
I slid my hand behind Ethan’s neck and pulled him down into a deep kiss, fully prepared to ignore Elena’s near-constant warnings about this exact scenario?—
A knock at the door broke us apart.
If I were a betting man, I’d put my fortune on who it was.
“Are you decent? Nessa told me Ethan was in here,” Henry called.
Ethan tipped his head back with a groan. “It’s like he has a radar.”
“He probably does,” I said. “Come in.”
Henry pushed the door open and leaned in first, gaze sweeping over us before one brow arched. “Wow. Zero shame. We’re not even pretending anymore?”
Ethan pressed his lips together, color rising in his cheeks. “Give us a minute.”
Henry grimaced. “Gross.” He stepped inside anyway, shutting the door behind him before dropping into a chair, completely unbothered. His eyes moved between us again, slower this time, a knowing grin spread across his face. “This,” he said, nodding toward us, “is exactly what I meant.”
“What?” Ethan asked.
But I remembered.
I rolled my eyes at my brother, because he wasn’t wrong. When he’d walked in on Luca and me, he’d said it looked like a business meeting. This—Ethan flushed and rumpled—this was what Henry had expected chemistry to look like.
“We had lunch plans,” Henry added. “Which you can’t cancel. I already have abandonment issues since you stole my roommate slash bestie.”
I shot Ethan an apologetic look. “We did have plans.”
He scrunched his face like he could will the situation away. “Nobody stole me. We still see each other basically every day.” It took him a minute—and one careful readjustment—before he finally settled into the chair beside Henry, still a little flustered, playing it off as best he could.
Henry glanced between the two of us, lips twitching. “So,” he said, “should I assume I walked in on something deeply traumatizing?”
“Very,” Ethan deadpanned. “Hopefully you’ll never recover and finally learn your lesson.” He shifted in his seat. “I should get going though—work.”
I cleared my throat. “Actually, I have something to tell you both.”
That got their attention.
“But I want Oli here too.”
Henry frowned. “Why does Oli need to be here?”
“Because this is the kind of thing he’ll be offended not to be included in.”
Ethan smiled, already catching on. “Is it good?”
I didn’t answer, just picked up my phone and tapped Oliver’s contact.
