Body shaking, I lay limp atop Dane as Cole slides out of me slowly, carefully, before placing a kiss at the top of my ass, but not where Nico came. Nico leans down and places a kiss to the top of my head, and Dane kisses my cheek, my neck, everywhere he can reach.
There’s silence, and I realize they might be waiting for some signal from me that I’m okay. I’m bone-tired, wrecked from the pleasure, but I lift my head slightly, look up at Nico—and Cole, who stands at the side of the bed, watching me.
“We did it,” I rasp, and the tension breaks when Dane starts to laugh beneath me. It’s contagious, moving to the other two, and soon we’re all laughing, delirious with the fact of what we’ve just accomplished together.
“No,” Dane murmurs, the vibration of his words nice under my chest. “Youdid it, Lucy.”
There’s a hand trailed up my side, then a warm cloth. Then I’m lifted, carried to the shower, lavished with love and praise as they clean me up, wrap me in satin, carry me back to theotherbedroom, where we can sleep on fresh sheets.
Now, more than ever, I’m thinking those three words. I want to say them, want to let them out from where they itch at the back of my throat, but I’m fast asleep before I get the chance.
Chapter 43
Lucy
“Is that Cole?” Aunt Ruby asks, her voice a bit muffled through the line. I glance over my shoulder to find Nico pushing in through the front door, waving at me silently when he sees I’m on the phone. His blonde hair hangs in slightly longer waves, his face flushed from the cold outside. Even from here, I can feel the chill of it radiating from his coat, and don’t envy the guys for having to go out in this weather.
Technically, they don’t. They could work from home. But for Dane and Cole, going to the office is a necessity. A routine they couldn’t possibly break.
And Nico had a big meeting with a potential buyer for Ember today.
“No,” I say, turning back to the painting in front of me, the phone pinched between my ear and shoulder. “It’s Nico.”
Aunt Ruby grunts out a disappointed sound, and it makes me laugh. I can picture the expression on her face right now—the pinched brow, down-turned lips. The guys suggested that we all spend Christmas together, and despite the fact that I missed my siblings—and even my parents—it was a good time. It was uplifting, in a way, to see this new family forming in the cracks of where my old one was.
Cole fell in love with Pudding, who, miraculously, also fell in love with him. She spent the entire evening curled on his lap, which endeared Aunt Ruby to him even more.
“He’s a smart cookie,” she’d said, gesturing with her bourbon and eggnog. “I like that.”
After that night, she’d made it clear that while she’s still carrying some caution about the whole situation, she’s happy for me. This city is full of unconventional love, and she’s not going to get in the way of mine.
“We’re not…” I’d stammered, wrapping my arms around myself, flushing at the mention of that word.Love.
But, for the first time, I really do feel like I could love them. Like this could be a future for me.
“Well, I’ll let you go,” Aunt Ruby says now, pulling me from my recollections and bringing me back to the present. “SurelyNicowants to whisk you off to a beach somewhere…”
I laugh, and Nico glances at me, clearly curious what’s being said. He has a sixth sense when it comes to other people talking about him.
When I tell her I love her and end the call, Nico perks up, “Who was that?”
“Aunt Ruby.”
He glowers, “She was teasing me, wasn’t she?”
I open my mouth to answer, but at that moment, the door opens and both Dane and Cole come in through the door. Dane holds a bottle of what looks like expensive wine, and Cole is carrying a vase of red flowers.
How he knows they’re my favorite, I’m not sure. I don’t think I ever told him.
“What’s all this for?” I ask, laughing and moving to them. The cold rolls off them. Dane sets the bottle on the counter and pulls me into a kiss, his lips cold, his tongue hot.
Cole kisses me after, hooking his arm around my waist and sliding his cold fingers up under my t-shirt. I shiver and smile against his lips, the tips of the roses rustling against my chest.
“Seriously,” I say, pulling back and taking the vase, setting it on the counter and watching as the two men unwind their scarves and remove their coats. “What’s all this for?”
Nico appears, and I realize he’s holding a small, wrapped package. “Guess we all had the same idea.”
My stomach flips, and for a second, I think this might be aproposal. Then I come back down to earth, realizing the guys would go for something bigger than flowers at home.
