Pretty sure there’s another snicker from nearby and, with great caution, I peek one eye open and find my room commandeered by four handsome men who look like they’ve just stepped out of a romance novel. Holy shit, am I still dreaming? Why the hell do they always look so good?
Baxter is crouched beside the bed, one hand reaching out to brush my wild hair from my face. Ryan is seated on the end of the bed, scanning me carefully as though he’s trying to make sure I’m okay. Caiden… I don’t know where Caiden is, his delectably muscled form nowhere in sight, but it was definitely him I heard snickering. And Rayne leans against the wall near the door, arms crossed and head tilted as he watches me just as closely as the others.
“You alive, Blue?” Caid’s voice floats around me, and it takes me far too long to find exactly where the cheeky bastard is.
Eyes popping open, I startle Baxter enough that he flinches, but that’s of no concern to me right now. There are more pressing issues to be had, because I’m pretty sure there’s a handsome devil lying in my fucking bed, and I need to check for myself. I need to ensure this isn’t a dream and that I’m actually living a fantasy come to life. I mean, hell, who doesn’t fantasize about having four sexy godlike creatures in her room?
It’s with that motivation that I turn in my bed, like a human version of a crocodile’s death roll, uncaring that I gettangled in my comforter in the process. I have things to see, more fantasies to conjure, spank-bank material to create for future use.
Sure enough, I find a ripped Adonis sprawled out on my bed, legs crossed in a pair of gym shorts that show off the beautifully sculpted muscle lining his thighs and calves. His shirt clings to him like a second skin, proudly displaying the line of abs I fight the urge to touch, and I snap my mouth shut just in time to stop the pool of drool pouring out onto my pillow.
“Rise and shine, Blue,” the cheeky shit quips, flashing me a straight-toothed grin, his light-green eyes sparkling as he lounges much too comfortably in my bed. I kind of hate how good he looks in it, too, because there’s no way I’m going to be able to go to sleep without thinking of his beautiful, taut body lounging next to mine. It’s worse knowing the other three are here, Ryan and Baxter close enough that I can smell them, leather and spice, cologne, and citrus all mingling together with only the faintest hint of ink and eucalyptus from Rayne’s hovering form.
Jesus, I need to get laid or something, because there’s no way I’m lying in my bedroom with my neighbors nearby and my mind isn’t conjuring all levels of filthy and crude scenarios I want to be planted right in the middle of. Like how easily Caid could pin me to my bed right now. How his body could trap mine, and how easily Bax could lean over and show me just how his beard feels when he’s kissing a girl, all while Rayne watched from the damned doorway with a look that begged to join in. Or maybe Ryan tearing my comforter away from my body and slowly running his hands up my legs until he reaches-
“You okay?” Caid asks suddenly, turning in my bed to face me, propping his head up with his closed knuckle. “You’re looking a little flushed.”
Oh, hell, of course I do. Because my mind is a filthy mess of sexual need, and having four gorgeous guys I’ve started thinking more and more about in my bedroom of all places is not helping the depravity.
I don’t say that, though. I’m crazy, but not that crazy. There are levels, and I’m pretty sure my elevator hasn’t reached that one just yet. Give it time, though, and I might find the top floor sooner than I would ever imagine.
My nod is a little jerky, but I answer anyway, my voice rasping from sleep, “Mhm, just fine. You okay?”
“Just fine,” he counters, those pale-green eyes turning amused, an almost knowing gleam in those pretty depths that I don’t understand. Or maybe I do, but I’m ignoring it, because I’m already flustered as hell and I have four guys in my bedroom, fueling sex thoughts I have no business thinking about. I certainly shouldn’t be starring each of them in their own little scenarios, because that would make me greedy, right? I mean… right?
Clearing my throat, I bottle those thoughts for a rainy day, instead asking, “To what do I owe this wake-up call?”
Caiden flashes me a cheeky grin, that knowing gleam building into a beaming light, but it’s Rayne who answers, forcing me to turn around to face him. “You passed out in the elevator, so I carried you in here. You’ve been out of it for hours. It’s almost midnight, and we wanted to make sure you were okay.”
Nodding slowly, my eyes gradually turning into a squint, I ask, “And that was a four-man task?”
Rayne’s lips twitch, but he looks away, and Ryan answers instead. “Rayne was already here, watching a movie while you slept. When Caiden found out, he came straight up and wouldn’t leave until you woke up. We were trying to drag him out of here,but then you started stirring and we figured we’d make sure everything was all right.”
Huh. That’s actually really sweet, even if it crosses the boundaries of normal neighbors. Pretty sure there’s nothing normal about us at this point. I mean, it’s certainly not normal to form such quick friendships with four random guys who move into the apartment below, it’s certainly not normal to be okay with them coming and going as though they live here, and I know for a fact that there’s nothing normal about me thirsting over all four without possessing the ability to choose which one I should shoot my shot with.
If I were to shoot my shot, that is.
The fact that there are four of them and only one of me poses an issue, for sure. There isn’t a world I know where a woman finds herself in a relationship with more than one man. I’ve only ever read about that stuff, my Kindle brimming with lucky ladies being chased after by multiple men. I know polyamory exists, but it’s still not normalized in the real world, no matter how much I vouch for the chicks who take on plenty of dicks. More power to them, the lucky bitches.
And if that wasn’t a concern, I don’t even know if any of them like me or if they’re just this friendly and close because of how we met. Not every day do you find a woman stuck in a tub after using the wrong lube and in need of help, and that kind of experience forms bonds straight from the depths of embarrassment where I’d have to kill each of them if they were to share what they witnessed. You don’t go through shit like that in life without forming close friendships, if for nothing but to keep a close eye on them.
In this case, it’s simply because I like being around them. I have fun when I’m with them, I always laugh and joke, and I don’t feel like I have to put on a facade for the world to see when I’m with them. I feel like me, not too much, but enough that theycan handle being close to me. It’s a nice change after dealing with Toby fucking Moore.
“Well,” I start, flopping onto my back and gesturing with my hands to my body. “As you can see, I’m alive and well. I appreciate you guys checking on me, though.”
“Anytime, Sunshine,” Bax assures, a nickname from Suit Day sticking and turning me into a puddle while a soft smile graces his face, his hands crossed on his knees where he still crouches beside my bed. “You need anything, or are you good?”
I ponder it for a long moment before shaking my head. “I think I’m good.”
Just as the words leave my mouth, my belly betrays me like the gurgling fuck it is, the sound resembling a starved grizzly bear in search of food. My eyes widen, and I slap my hands over my comforter-covered stomach, muttering, “Okay, well, that was terrible timing.”
The guys laugh, even Rayne gracing me with a short-lived snort before he disappears from the bedroom, leaving us behind. Bax stands at the same time Ryan does, and they flash a smile before they also leave, and I briefly wonder if my rumbling stomach has somehow managed to chase them off when my folded-up body wedged in my bathtub didn’t.
“Come on, Blue,” Caid says from beside me, reaching for the comforter and helping to untangle me from its tight clutches. “Out of bed.”
A part of me doesn’t even want to move, comfortable and at ease here, even with the hottie lying next to me. Hell, I’m about to protest and remain right here, but then my stomach makes another sound that could have crawled right from the pits of hell.
Laughing, Caiden finally drags the comforter away and rolls out of bed, walking around to my side before reaching a hand out for me to take. “Let’s go, Sleeping Beauty.”
