guys, no reason to rub it in that you both are having sex when I’m not.” I don’t know what has provoked me to respond in this way. I never openly talk about sex. Even in the past, when I was involved with a guy, it wasn’t something I addressed outside the bedroom. Maybe this is why every sexual encounter I’ve had has been just meh.
“Oh, look at who’s opening up to us now, hon,” Knox teases. “No one special for a beautiful toy maker like you, Avery?”
Beautiful? I blush at his compliment. “Nah, I’m too busy raising a broody teenager.” But even before Whit became a part of my everyday life, nothing stuck.
“Seriously, what’s the story? If you were mine, I’d never let you go.” My eyes dart over to Rowan to gauge his reaction. Certainly, this should fill him with rage and jealousy. He’s nodding as if he agrees with his boyfriend.
“Yeah, same here,” Rowan chimes in.
“But you’re…I mean, you don’t like girls?”
Rowan continues to stare at me, but Knox’s laughter diverts my attention from Rowan’s deep azure eyes.
“Did I miss the memo, Ro? That we don’t like girls anymore?” His question still has laughter accompanying it.
“Yeah, I didn’t get it. Still find them pretty cute. One may say even beautiful.” Is there a flirt in Rowan’s serious demeanor?
“Oh, I’m sorry, I just assumed. I mean…”
“Avery, it’s fine. Our story is simple. We love one another. Nothing will come between us, but we’re bisexual. To me, it’s the person, not the gender. But…”
Rowan’s hand slams down on Knox’s. “I think that’s enough talk about our sex life for one night. We don’t want to overwhelm her.”
No, overwhelm me, I want to say.
“Yeah, I guess we’re neighbors. We shouldn’t expose every bit of our mystery in one night.” Knox agrees with his man, placing a sweet kiss on his cheek. When Rowan doesn’t stiffen, I wonder if he’s becoming more comfortable in my presence. Because I’m sure as hell too comfortable in both men’s space.
5
Knox
I wake with a smile on my face. I always do when I fall asleep next to the man of my dreams. But as I stir, I know where Ro is this early in the morning. I stretch, taking up a good portion of our king-sized bed, willing myself to start my day.
Ro has been up since the crack of dawn, running ten miles. The idea of ten miles makes my body ache. I swing my feet out of bed, not wanting to take part in my own exercise regimen. Closing the space between our bed and the windows with the plantation shades restricting all the morning light from streaming into the room, I search for Ro through the slats. But he’s nowhere to be seen. Instead, my attention is focused on the long legs of our neighbor. She has on the shortest booty shorts, and in Montana, it’s more than cold, considering it’s November 28th.
My eyes stay trained on her, and when my ass is slapped, I twist my body to the wind-whipped and sweaty version of my boyfriend. “It’s a pretty stunning view out there this morning, huh?” he teases.
“Yeah, can’t miss it, but I was looking for you at first.” He leans in for a kiss, but when his sweaty body embraces me, I stand back. “Shower first, affection later.”
Our room matches the rest of the house with dark antique furniture. He sits down on the bench I’d refurbished, untying his running shoes. “What are we doing today?” Mondays are our days off, and we don’t do much, making it our lazy day to hang out together.
I give him a boyish grin and take a seat near him without touching. “Funny you ask. I was thinking we could pop over to our new neighbor’s house and see if she needs some help.”
“I can read you like a book. You have a plan?” I ask Ro.
“Nah, not really, and I certainly wouldn’t if you were against it. But after the other night, using her as our muse, I just thought maybe we’d get to know her better.” I pause, remembering her words from last night. “If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought she was flirting with us.”
He scrapes his fingers through his black and the early gray sprinkles most may not notice in his wavy hair. “Yeah, I think so, too. And fuck if it wasn’t hot when we thought of her between us two nights ago.”
Ro is always so