He had, hadn’t he? I glanced toward the blue again, ignoring the people who hopped off the ski lift and either took off down the blue or the green. I didn’t mind just standing here staring out at the view.
“Coop, what if I can’t ever choose?” The question had been right there in the back of my mind for weeks.
“Then you don’t choose,” Coop said slowly. “And we adjust.”
That simple. I glanced over to find him staring at me steadily.
“Is that what’s worrying you?”
“It’s a little unusual.” It was more than a little unusual. “Let’s be real here.”
“I thought we’ve been real from the beginning.” The reproach in his voice had me lifting my chin a little.
“We have been…I guess. I just… You guys all agreed to date me, even if I was seeing the others, and I knew I’d have to choose eventually.” And the idea of choosing between them? No. I didn’t even want to entertain the idea. Call me greedy and selfish, I didn’t care. I wanted all of them. Nearly losing Ian the way I had cemented it. I wouldn’t risk any of them now. “The last few weeks…”
“Have been good,” he said softly, then pressed a kiss to my temple. “Stop worrying. Talk to the guys about it. Talk to them individually, or talk to us as a group. But I can tell you my answer right here and right now.”
I lifted my gaze to meet his.
“I’m in this for the long haul, Frankie. Cradle to grave. That hasn’t changed.”
There had never been a point in my life that I could remember where Coop wasn’t a part of it.
“I can share you with them,” he continued in the same soft voice. “I know how much you love me, and I’m secure in that. I hope like hell you know how much I love you, too.”
The corners of my mouth curved, partially in disbelief and partially in delight. He just took the words right out of my mouth. Literally. “You really are my best friend.”
“And I always will be,” he said with a wink. “Now, no more worrying. Those assholes adore you, and no one is here under duress. Talk to us. We’ll sort it out.”
“Oh, I might need to get drunk for that conversation.” Especially if it was all of us.
Coop’s grin turned wicked. “Or something.”
I raised my brows.
“Later,” he said. “Let’s go before they think we got eaten by the mountain.”
I laughed, but followed him, and yeah, I left some of the worry I’d been carrying behind and I was a lot lighter on the way down. I hadn’t even admitted to myself how much I’d been worrying. But we were having a blast.
I really didn’t want anything to go wrong.
“Stop worrying!” he called to me over his shoulder as he cut back and forth in the snow and I followed him. As tired as I was, this had somehow gotten a lot easier, or maybe the motions just made sense now. I didn’t care. “Frankie, I can hear you thinking.”
“Yeah?” I yelled. “Can you hear what I’m thinking now?”
“Yes,” he said with a laugh. “And I’d rather play with your ass than mine, thanks.”
I damn near tripped as I laughed and blushed.
But I did stop fucking worrying.
Chapter Twenty
All Four One
Somewhere between leaving the slopes and riding in the car back to the lodge, my legs had begun to stiffen and my back protested. I refused to complain, even if I was exhausted. It was late enough the sun had already begun to edge down, and the temperatures promised to drop a few more degrees. The forecast called for more snow, and I couldn’t wait. All the way back to the lodge, I had my head tucked against Coop’s shoulder and my eyes half-closed. I didn’t even realize I’d fallen asleep until I roused to Jake carrying me in the house.
“I can walk.”
“Uh huh,” he said, slanting an amused look at me. “You still want to hot tub?”
Oh. That sounded amazing. “There’s the one out on the deck, right?”
“Yep.” He bumped the door open with his hip and then paused as we both stared at my bed. Not only had it been made—something I knew we hadn’t done that morning, but there was a fresh coverlet on it, this one a deep green, and there were roses on every single surface. Red roses. White roses. Yellow roses. Pink ones. There were blue and violet ones. Every color