“No, I’m infinitely possible,” he told me drily. “I’m just not built to let you get hurt.”
“But we have a compromise,” Coop interceded eyeing both of us. “Or do you two intend to keep this crap up?”
Jake and I both stared at Coop. I stuck my tongue at him at the same time Jake snorted. Then we all cracked up.
But the tension in the room dropped several notches, and I took another sip of my coffee. “Do over?” I suggested.
“Fuck yes,” Archie said. “Sold.”
Before Jake could open his mouth, Ian wrapped his arms around him and Coop clapped a hand over his mouth. “Yes,” they both said, and I grinned. Jake rolled his eyes and then winked at me.
Laughter bubbled up again, and the last of my unease floated away. “I reserve the right to go over rules again.”
“Done, babe,” Archie told me as he slung an arm over my shoulders. “Allow me to show you this place. Then we’ll grab some food, and you can get on the warm gear and we’ll build a snowman.”
Almost immediately, I hummed the song, and it was Ian groaning. The house was huge, but it was still cozy. Sure enough, there was a television in the living room, and it slid out from behind a panel. It was very James Bond, if he went rustic. In addition to the living room and kitchen, the downstairs boasted an office and a ‘den,’ but that was where all the games were set up. There was also an enclosed porch that was cold as hell, but you could be outside and dry.
The metal mesh around things confused me, but Archie just shrugged. “Bears wander by. Trash is stored out here and picked up periodically, so we don’t have to worry about them knocking it over.”
Wait.
Bears?
But he was already leading us back into the house and then up the stairs. Yes, there were indeed five bedrooms.
“You have the big master,” Archie told me. “There’s a smaller one down the hall. That’s mine. Coop’s in the room next to yours, Jake and Bubba are across the hall.”
I glanced from one door to the next, then back to him. “So…everyone has their own beds.”
“Yes,” he said slowly.
“Archie suggested it, but we all agreed that yes, we all like sleeping with you. But sometimes, we all want alone time. So your room is communal for sleeping if you don’t mind, but our rooms aren’t. You’re the only overnight guest in those rooms with us.”
“Or something like that,” Jake said, but I didn’t miss the look he threw Coop, and I was both thrilled and a little nervous.
“The point being,” Ian cut in. “We want everyone to be comfortable, but you most of all.”
Archie rubbed his cheek against my damp hair and murmured, “And we all want to get laid.”
Heat swept up my face, and I let out a little laugh before taking a quick swallow of coffee. You know, we were here…maybe we should just grab that bull by the horns. “Are we actually going to discuss the fact that I’m having sex with all of you?”
“We can,” Jake told me. “If you need to. We all know. No one here is in the dark.”
I pursed my lips and glanced from one to the other and then blew out a breath. “Okay, well…I’m starving. I need some fortifications if we want to get any uncomfortable parts out of the way.” Yep, totally chickening out.
They chuckled, but thankfully, none of them called me on the delay. In fact, I passed my empty coffee mug to Archie.
“Do you guys mind giving Jake and me a minute? We’ll be right down.”
“No problem,” Archie said, then gave me a gentle kiss before running his hand down my back and turning toward the stairs. From the corner of my eye, I caught him giving Jake a hard look. Then Coop swept into my view and gave me a kiss. Ian followed him. And they both cut a look at Jake, who just stared right back at them.
After they disappeared down the stairs, I focused on him. “Which one was your room?”
He backed up a couple of steps and nudged open the door across the hall.
“May I?”
With a gentle snort and a smile, he held out a hand. I took it wordlessly and let him pull me into the room. He nudged the door shut, and I wrapped my arms around him. Jake banded his arms around me and