A Flighty Fake Boyfriend (Men of St. Nachos #2) - Z.A. Maxfield Page 0,39
in regard to my past with you. When he asked if he might meet you, I couldn’t refuse. He likes what he sees, Ryan.”
“And if Luis and I were to share a past with you,” said William, “I don’t think I’d feel so defenseless against his feelings for you.”
“Oh hell no.” Beside us, a wall of undulating hibiscus flowers expelled Epic into our path. “That is the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.”
Privately, I agreed, but I wanted the satisfaction of hearing them defend it. “No, no. Let’s hear them out.”
“Come on,” Luis cajoled. “One night. We’d love to spend one night, just the three of us, making memories that could last a lifetime.”
“I…uh…probably…” On the face of it, two of the most handsome men I’d ever met had just propositioned me for a three-way. That was probably the only reason I hadn’t immediately told Luis where he could shove his stupid idea. I wasn’t actually thinking about it. Not doing it, anyway, but imagining a threesome with those two took up a lot of my bandwidth.
“Okay, that’s it.” Epic took my hand. “Maybe you don’t understand what’s going on here, but I do. No way am I going to let you do anything this degrading.”
“Let me?” I said with a gasp. “You’re not going to let me?”
“No.” He suddenly seemed to tower over me, although there was little difference in our heights. “I am not.”
“Epic—”
“Because this is not okay. I get that on some level you seem to enjoy doing things that aren’t good for you, but this? This is dumbassery of the highest order, and you”—he pointed to Luis—“should be utterly ashamed of yourself.”
Luis narrowed his eyes. “Your waiter has pretensions, Ry—”
Epic took my hand. “I don’t even know why we’re having this conversation. You, come with me.”
“Wait—”
“Nope.” Epic yanked me away. “This man did enough to erode your confidence in the past. If you do this, it will destroy you. You are coming with me. Now move.”
This was a side of Epic I’d never seen. Sure, he’d taken charge a couple times and given me sass, but as for actually ordering me around? That was new.
And, oh God, I liked bossy, implacable Epic a lot.
I moved.
Chapter Fourteen
Epic hauled me along the path, muttering every so often about the scene with William and Luis.
“I can’t believe you. Why did you just stand there?”
“I was too shocked to move,” I admitted.
“Were you too shocked to tell them no?”
“No.”
“Oh, so you can say that word.” He glanced my way. “I was beginning to wonder.”
“I wouldn’t have gone along with their scheme, you know.”
“Could’ve fooled me.”
“Believe it or not, I was looking for a way to extricate myself when you burst through the flora to rescue me. You’re bleeding by the way.”
“I know.” He put a hand to one of the scrapes on his neck. “The bushes were denser than I thought.”
“And there you were without Excalibur to hack through them.”
“Shut up.” He softened his tone finally. “I thought maybe you were going to take them up on it.”
“Who knows? At another time and in another place, I might have. But not the night before their wedding. That makes things awkward.”
“I think William really wanted a shot at you. Maybe he didn’t think Luis would go for it after the wedding.”
“Whatever. It’s not like I’d go through with it at all.”
“Wouldn’t you?” Epic asked. “You sure the hell weren’t fighting them off.”
“One moment of hesitation—”
“I swear, you looked like an armadillo about to be hit by a semi.”
“Hush.” When we got to our suite, I opened the door and led Epic to the bathroom where I made him sit on the side of the tub. “Let me get my first aid kit.”
“I don’t need you to—”
“You saved my maidenly virtue. It’s the least I can do.”
He huffed unhappily but stripped off his shirt and let me clean him up.
He had a lot of scratches, mostly on his hands, neck, and chest, but there was one on his cheek and one on his forehead. As I dabbed healing ointment onto each, I wished I could kiss them better.
This boy.
This sweet, silly, loving boy was going to be the end of me.
I kissed his unscratched cheek. “Thank you for saving me from what probably would have been a very hot but ultimately degrading three-way with my ex and his uber sexy husband-to-be.”
He took my shoulders and held me back a bit. “Is that something you and Luis used to do?”