“Just in case I had to bail because of all the ways it could go south.”
“Let me guess, this is the part in the story where you tell me you’re glad you took the chance to move in with them, and you can’t imagine your life without them, and you’ve never been happier.” He scoffed. “How cliché.”
“Actually, I was going to say that I threatened to pluck Tanner’s eyeballs out with a butter knife this morning if he tried to tell me how to get the cream cheese ratio on my bagel just right, one more time.” I admitted, “And then I told Goldie that if she bought one more pillow for the bed, she was going to be sleeping on a pile of them on the floor because there would be no more room for her.”
“Romantic.” He deadpanned.
“Practical.” I corrected. “Living with someone, let alone two people in my situation, isn’t always easy. But it is always worth it. If that helps you make the decision.”
“Thanks.” He nodded, thinking through it all as he grabbed his bag from his locker, following me out toward our cars in the parking lot. “Really,” He paused at his truck. “I appreciate your perspective. On a lot of things, Rhea. You’re really kicking ass as LT.”
“Thanks, dude.” I turned my Jeep on and rolled the window down. “Let me know if I can be of any other help. But now I’m going to go home, to my crazy lovers, and enjoy my evening.”
“Night,” he waved, and I drove off through town toward home.
Everything I said to him was the truth, especially the part about how even if it wasn’t easy every day, I wouldn’t trade it for a single second of life before I fell in love with Goldie and Tanner.
Because they made everything else worth it all.
“Areyou sure you can’t tell me what the surprise is?” I asked Rhea as she walked me through the house with a blindfold over my eyes.
“Nope.” She said, pushing me around something, and then I stubbed my toe.
“Damnit, Rhea.” I cursed, putting my hands out to avoid another mishap. “That hurt.”
“Ohh,” She whined mockingly, “Poor baby has an owie.”
“You’re really trying to get me to crack, aren’t you?” I said, mentioning the ongoing battle we’d been having for a few days. Rhea was anxious about something, Goldie thought it was work, I wasn’t so convinced. But regardless, she was on edge and looking to get herself tied down and tortured so she could escape it mentally.
But I refused because I knew it was what she wanted, though it wasn’t what she needed.
Which she hated.
“Where’s Goldie?” I asked, tripping on the stairs as she all but shoved me up them. “I swear to God, Rhea, I’m going to make you pay for this.”
“I hope you do, Tanner.” She said longingly against my ear, and I groaned, fighting the urge to pull her lush body against mine as I got to the top of the stairs.
Pushing my way through the door to our bedroom, I instantly sank into the atmosphere around me. I didn’t need my eyes tofeelthe room.
Light music played, and the air was warm, thickened by incense and perfume I recognized instantly.
Goldie and Rhea.
“What’s going on?” I asked, and Rhea pressed herself against my back, running her hands over my arms and my chest as Goldie leaned in against my stomach.
“Welcome home, baby.” Goldie purred with her warm, seductive voice, and my hands searched for her body, but she evaded them, grabbing my wrists and clicking her tongue. “Not yet, mister, you have to wait.”
“To touch you?” I growled, daring her to deny that.
She rose up against my lips and whispered, “To watch me.”
“Goldie.” The noise sounded as desperate as I felt as Rhea pushed me again, a little less aggressively but still with a whole lot of pain in my ass attached to it.
I felt something behind my knees and then I fell back into it, grunting when I landed on a plush velvet chair of some sort that definitely hadn’t been in our bedroom when I got ready to leave for work that morning.
“We’ve planned a little surprise for you,” Goldie purred, leaning over against my face, and I lunged out at her with my teeth nibbling her jaw and making her moan. “We wanted to surprise you for our anniversary.”
I grunted. “That’s not for a few more weeks.”
