special and different.”
His hand works on the other side of her cheek, stopping the waterworks. She moves her eyes to mine, looking at me for several seconds. When she swings her stare from me, only to spend several more seconds sharing the same connection with Ro, I know this is a chance to express what we want from her.
I stand, extending my arms around her neck. Ro doesn’t hesitate, pivoting her toward him, and he kneels in front of her.
“Ave, you’re special. I’ve never considered sharing Knox with anyone else. He’s my world, and all of mine, but with you, I can see the three of us as something good—something great.”
Leaning down, just near her ear, I place the smallest kiss on it. She shivers from my touch.
“Say the word, our little toy maker, and we stop this. But we know you’re just as turned on by us as we are by you. But sex isn’t all we want. We love spending time together. We love seeing your smile light up a room.” I’m a hella wordy tonight, but when she turns her head to mine, I push my lips to hers. It’s small, just enough to procure the tiniest hint of her taste mixed with mine.
Ro’s fingers move her chin, and his lips touch hers as gently as mine had. “We could be so good together.”
He holds her close to his body, and he doesn’t shake in her presence. “Ave, we could love you, and love you right,” I whisper in her ear. But I back up when she doesn’t reply, and so does Ro.
“We’ll give you time, sweet girl,” Ro begins. “And all the time you need. Just know, you’re someone special to us both.”
He leaves the room, not because he doesn’t know what to do, but because he’s honest to a fault. And when he says he’s going to do something, he does it.
“Is he mad?” She’s breathless in her question.
“No, not at all. But he said he’d give you time, and it’s what he meant.”
“Um, okay.” She’s quiet, touching her lips we both had kissed. “I guess I’ll get out of your hair for now.”
I grab her fingers before she can fully get out of my reach. “You’re never in our hair, sweet girl. And please don’t freeze us out—because if you do, you’ll certainly wake the alpha male in me.”
Her eyes swing to mine with a heat in them, but I don’t continue. I’ve made my point, and with a shake of her head, she’s through the back door, and I’m left to wonder if putting it all out there like Ro had was the right decision. I guess only time will tell.
9
Avery
Flirting. It’s what I always perceive when I’d been in the room with the adorable sexy nerd and the smoking hot artist. And I thought I had imagined it. Even the string of texts with Knox several nights ago. They’re committed to one another, and Knox hangs on every word of Rowan’s. It’s in the everyday anxiety I sense in Rowan that Knox is his constant, the calm in the storm.
It’s been three days. Only three days since I’ve seen them after Ro put it all out there. And I still feel their lips on mine. It’s hard to remember a time with them not in my life, and three weeks isn’t long at all. I’ve had longer relationships with a bottle of wine than I have with these men. I laugh at myself because I’ve never kept an unopened bottle of wine longer than three days—let alone three weeks.
I’m sitting in my favorite room of my house, staring at the same line in my book I’ve read a dozen times. My heart isn’t in it, and I’ve done exactly what Knox has asked me not to do. I’ve freezed them out. I’ve returned texts, but they’ve been very short and impersonal. Every time they invite me over, I’m “busy.” I don’t want to be this indecisive—without question, I crave them. I can imagine how my mother would react, if I gave into my desires, not putting Whitney first. I won’t disappoint my mom.
I’m a little depressed by it all, sitting in my huge house by myself on a Friday night. I’ve not opened a bottle of wine. I make it a rule never to drink in this state. Mad, yes. Depressed—no.
My phone is close to me because Whit is out tonight. At first look, all my anxiety washes away with one name