Four Letter Word (Love Logic #2) - K.M. Neuhold Page 0,19

suspiciously.

“Hey, I didn’t realize you were bringing someone home with you.”

“Would you have had a shirt on if I’d told you?” I tease.

Leo scoffs. “No, I’d have been naked,” he jokes back.

“Well, it’s never too late,” Riot flirts, shamelessly raking his eyes over my best friend. “And are those brownies? If so, can I have one?”

“We haven’t even been properly introduced yet, and you’ve already asked me to get naked and share my brownies with you? Someone is awfully forward.”

“Sorry, I have a sweet tooth,” he apologizes, flashing Leo a boyish grin. “I’m Riot, by the way.” He holds a hand out to Leo.

“I’m Bishop’s very best friend in the whole world.”

“Is that your Christian name?”

Leo throws his head back and laughs. “That would be Leonard, but my friends call me Leo.”

“Nice to meet you, Leo.”

I let out a relieved breath. At least things are starting off on the right foot.

“You stay here and negotiate for brownies. I’m going to grab my laundry and run it down to the laundry room in the basement.”

It only takes me a few minutes to get my laundry started, and when I get back upstairs, I find the two of them on the couch with a plate of brownies on the coffee table. Riot is in the middle of wolfing down one of his own while Leo starts up the PS4.

“No Madden,” I groan, plopping down on the couch between the two of them and reaching to swipe the controller from him. “All I want to do is lay on the couch like a potato and watch Kitchen Nightmares for like eight hours.”

“What is it with you and Gordon Ramsay?” Leo asks, obliging me by navigating away from Madden to open my Amazon Prime instead.

“I like the show,” I answer with a shrug.

“Uh, no, you like every show he’s on and you don’t even like to cook,” he argues.

My face heats. “Is that a blush?” Riot teases from my other side.

“No,” I lie.

“You’re totally blushing,” Leo argues.

“Fine, I may have a tiny crush on Gordon Ramsay,” I confess. “He seems like he would give a really good spanking, that’s all.”

“Didn’t know you were into that kind of thing,” Leo teases, eyeing me curiously.

“Only with Gordon Ramsay.” I flash him a smile and start the show.

I find myself sitting stiffly between the two of them for a few minutes, unsure how I’m supposed to act sitting between my best friend who I’m totally in love with and the guy I just agreed to date. Eventually, Riot puts his arm over the back of the couch. The move is casual, but it’s also a clear invitation to get closer if I want to.

I scoot toward him and lean into the side of his body. He smells nice, like old books and coffee. It’s a comforting scent.

It’s nice sitting on the couch between Leo and Riot and way too easy to let my mind wander to a fantasy world where they’re both mine...Hudson too. Riot said it wasn’t greedy to want them all, but it still feels a little like it is. Is a tiny bit of gluttony the absolute worst thing in the world? It’s not like they’ve given me a choice in wanting them all so much.

Between Riot and Leo, they demolish the plate of brownies before I’ve barely had a chance to grab one.

“Ugh, why did I do that?” Leo complains, patting his flat, toned belly. “I was on the fence about hitting the gym today, but now I definitely have to.”

“You’d better hurry. I can see a potbelly forming as we speak,” I rib him, poking him in his rock hard abs and immediately regretting it, because damn, his muscles are hard as hell.

“Feel me up all you want, B,” he says with a wink.

I pull my hand back quickly, crossing my arms to resist the urge to take him up on his invitation to grope him more.

He stands up and stretches his arms over his head, and then, sadly, grabs a shirt off the floor and pulls it on. He stuffs a few extra things into his tattered gym bag and then puts his shoes on.

“I’ll be gone for a few hours, I’ll um...text before I head back.” His gaze darts between Riot and me knowingly, and my cheeks heat again.

“Great.”

“It was nice meeting you,” Riot says. “Thanks for the brownies, and I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

“I’m sure you will,” Leo agrees.

“He’s totally into you,” Riot declares as soon as the