loved everything about this house. He smirked. “If I’m the one making that schedule, you should probably consider being nicer to me.”
Ian laughed. “Nope, not biting. The only one who makes that schedule is Frankie.”
My face heated, but at the same time, I let out a little sigh. “Maybe we should talk about that.” The weight of four stares settled on me, and I lifted my chin. At least Jake was mostly behind me so I only had to face three of them. That wasn’t fair, though. So I uncurled myself from Jake’s lap, despite his protests, and moved to sit on the hearth and cradled my coffee cup. Now I could see all of them.
“Okay,” Archie said, meeting my gaze. “What’s up?”
“We’re all okay talking about this with all of us at once? I can have this conversation individually, too.” Please don’t make me do that. Still, I stole a look at Ian. Of the four of them, he’d been the most reticent.
“I’m fine with it, Angel,” he told me almost gently. “I thought the fact that I didn’t protest after Jake made you scream for three minutes yesterday would have told you that.”
“They aren’t really quiet,” Archie admitted with a wry grin. “Then again, Frankie is a screamer, and that’s kind of nice.”
“Kind of?” Coop snorted. “It’s excellent.”
Oh. My. God. I rubbed a hand over my face. It was probably redder than Rudolph’s nose. Yes, I was a screamer. But these four all had ways of just turning me inside out. Just sitting here talking to them had me squirming a little and the tension coiling my belly. “Anyway…” I stressed the word as I balanced the coffee mug and glanced down at the charms on my bracelet. They steadied me. Every single one meant something.
“I’ve been meaning to have this conversation, and I think it needs to be a conversation. At the same time, it’s kind of embarrassing.” I made a face, but Coop just met my gaze steadily without a trace of teasing or humor. Archie and Ian wore similar expressions, and a glance at Jake said he was on board, too. Okay. I could do this. Licking my lips, I pressed on. “Ian knows this, but I talked to you guys about getting tested and stuff. I got tested, and I got an implant.” I motioned to my arm. “So…the whole condom thing is okay now since we’re all clean.”
The intensity in Coop’s eyes went up a notch. That shiver of anticipation tickled its way up my spine.
“And,” I hurried on, “we’re talking about a schedule, do you guys really want one? Like we were doing for homework and dates?”
“Can’t hurt,” Archie said after a minute when no one else said anything. “But sometimes, you want what you want—when you want it.”
I glanced over at him and grinned. Yeah, that was another part of this conversation.
“I think,” Ian said slowly, “whatever you’re most comfortable with is going to work for us. I mean, am I probably going to be envious if you disappear upstairs with one of the guys and spend a couple of hours screwing around? Not going to lie. Probably.”
My gut tightened.
“But it’s not going to chase me off. Because I know they will be too when it’s my turn.”
I almost dissolved into a puddle of relief. This sounded almost too good to be true.
“Coop’s not said anything,” Archie pointed out.
“Coop is fine,” Coop stated, stretching his arms over his head and letting a bit of his abdomen peek out as the hem of his shirt rose. “Coop wants Frankie. Coop has Frankie. Long as Frankie is happy, Coop is happy.”
“He’s also apparently talking about himself in the third person,” I murmured, eyebrows raised.
He winked at me. “That’s because Coop is happy right now. He’s got his girl, his friends, no parents, no responsibility, snow as far as the eye can see, and a chance to just be. I’m delirious.” The words squeezed my heart so tight, it pressed the air out of my chest. “My only request is that if you’re in your room, even if one of the others is there, I can come and sleep with you, too.”
“Fuck, dude, come sleep with us if we’re in my room,” Jake said. “I don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind,” Ian said slowly, but he did look thoughtful.
“Just be aware that you might get booted if a good morning wake-up call is involved,” Archie told him. “Coming