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“Fuck, you’re gonna kill me.”

“I think that’s my line,” I say back. “All that reading really has taught you a thing or two about what to do with a woman.”

He laughs, a breathless sound. “We haven’t even scratched the surface of what I’ve learned,” he says. “There’s so much more I could show you.”

My body gives an interested thrum at that, and I shiver at the thought that he could make me feel even better than he already has.

But this is not the time or the place for that.

Tate’s clearly thinking along the same lines because he pulls out of me with a wince and sets me back down on my feet. I sway a little, waiting for my knees to be able to hold me up before I push off from the door.

We’re quiet as we clean up as best we can and I get dressed again. It’s easy for Tate to just slip off the condom and tuck himself back into his pants, but he keeps his back to the door after tossing it in the trash, like he’s standing guard while I shimmy back into my panties and jeans.

Once my shoes are back on, he smiles at me and reaches up to smooth my hair down.

“One at a time, do you think?” he asks.

I press my ear to the door of the laundry room, but I don’t hear anything outside. “Should be safe,” I reply.

I slip out first, grateful that the hallway is empty—fuck.

I turn my head and nearly jump out of my skin when I see Callan standing right there. How long has he been there? Judging by the look on his face as his eyes skate over me, long enough that he has some idea what went on in that laundry room.

My cheeks immediately flare with embarrassment.

Tate follows me out and locks eyes with Callan. He doesn’t seem to care that his friend definitely heard us fucking though.

“Hey,” he says. “Looking for us?”

“Came down to talk to the desk clerk,” Callan says. “Heard some weird sounds.”

Tate just shrugs, grinning unrepentantly.

Callan’s eyes find me again, and there’s an intensity in his gaze that makes me shiver.

10

CALLAN

I came down to the front desk with the intention of asking about car rentals and the weather forecast, but I definitely didn’t expect to run into Tate and Brynn and their… activities. Maybe I should have, considering how Tate seems to enjoy flirting with her.

Either way, we all head back up to the room together, and Brynn makes it her mission in life to avoid looking at me. She keeps her eyes trained on her feet, and when we let ourselves back into the room, she immediately puts her back against the wall.

Ares is up and dressed now, shrugging into a jacket when he looks at us as we file in.

“What did they say?” he asks. There’s a spark of hope in his eyes, and it dies as soon as Tate relays what Brynn was told.

“They do have car rental places, but they’re likely all closed. The weather is making it so no one is getting in or out today.”

“Fuck,” Ares groans. “So there’s no chance?”

“Not unless you want to figure out a way into the city where maybe they’re renting cars and then take your chances with the snow. We’d maybe get lucky that the roads are being plowed this far out, if they’re used to this kind of weather, but we might just end up stranded.” Tate says it good-naturedly, like he’s not kicking Ares’ hope in the face with every word. “I’d rather be stranded here with access to heat and food, personally.”

“Yeah, I get it.” Ares sighs. “Fuck.”

Brynn doesn’t add to the conversation, but I’m aware of her even so. She’s just a foot or so away from me, the room isn’t big enough for her to put that much distance between all of us, and just feeling her there makes me tense. Like I can’t relax.

I take a breath and then immediately regret it. She smells like sex. Heat and musk and need. Even when she’s keeping her head down, it’s clear what she and Tate were doing. Her clothes are rumpled and her hair is all mussed up, and I can’t stop thinking about the sounds I heard coming from behind that door when I came down the stairs.