it a formal thing?”
“Meaning do I have to get all dressed up?” I smiled. “Yes. I have something all picked out.”
“That sounds fun,” Valerio smirked. “The undressing part, I mean. When you get home with all the ribbons and stuff.”
“There aren’t any ribbons!” I laughed.
“Medals?”
“No, silly,” I told him. “It’s just an exhibit. There’ll be art lovers, critics, other artists. But buyers will be there too.”
“So who are you bringing?”
“Hmm?”
“This sounds like the kind of thing where you’d get a plus-one,” he pointed out. “So which one of us gets to be your date?”
Brock’s question hung in the frozen air for a few moments. I stopped walking altogether.
“I— I guess I hadn’t thought of that.”
A flash of panic went through me. Brock was right, this was a black-tie affair. People brought guests, significant others. I couldn’t bring friends, though. The first night of the exhibit was an exclusive showing.
Suddenly I felt miserable.
“I think it’s obvious,” Valerio said casually. He spread his fingers across his chest. “It’s me.”
“You?” Kade scoffed.
“Sure!” he smiled. “Of the three of us, I’m obviously the most refined.”
“Obviously,” Brock sneered mockingly.
“No, seriously!” he went on. “I might not know sculptures or artwork, but I know beauty when I see it.”
His eyes drifted to me, but I was unwilling to accept the compliment. In my mind’s eye, whenever I envisioned the show I’d always pictured Drake hanging from my arm. But now…
Right now I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of this before.
“Look, it’s her big night so we let her pick,” Brock said decisively. “And whoever she chooses, the others will just have to suck it up.”
“But I can’t pick!” I cried. “I won’t. I don’t ever want to play favorites.”
“It’s not really playing favorites,” Brock pointed out.
“But it is,” I said, my mind moving quickly. “I love you all equally. It’s not like I could just—”
I stopped mid-sentence, realizing what I’d said. In doing so, I drew even more attention to it.
“What’d you just say?” Valerio squinted.
“That I couldn’t pick?”
“No,” said Kade shrewdly. “The other thing.”
All of a sudden my stomach was erupting with butterflies! My mind, totally locked on the magnitude of what I’d just said.
But my heart was strangely okay with it. In fact, it was soaring.
“I— I…” My mouth was the last obstacle. Eventually it gave in, allowing myself to speak straight from the heart. “I said I loved you.”
“Me?” Valerio said, spreading his hand even wider on his own chest.
“No, not you,” I blushed, punching him in the arm. Somehow though, his making light of the situation made it easier for me to speak truthfully. “All of you. I’m… I’m in love with all three of you. I think.”
“You think?” Kade chuckled gruffly.
“No,” I countered quickly. “I— I mean yes, but—”
It was Brock who took mercy on me, pulling me away from the crowd. The four of us wandered off to a little area where people were sitting down. A few steps later we stood beneath one of those propane-fired lampshade things. The ones that throw off a lot of heat.
“You can say it you know,” Brock told me plainly. “It’s okay.”
“I love you,” I mumbled, looking down for a moment. When I tilted my chin upward again, I smiled shyly. “I— I can’t really help loving the three of you. You’ve been so good to me. You mean so much to me, I—”
A pair of lips crashed against mine, and then I was kissing them all. Valerio. Kade. Brock. All three of these gorgeous, thoughtful men, holding me in their arms. They’d been more than roommates, or lovers, or de-facto boyfriends. They’d taken care of me in ways that made me feel like a princess, or even their queen.
“We love you too,” Kade said, his lips finally leaving mine. He’d kissed me the longest, as well as the hardest. “All three of us, Sloane.”
My heart sang. “Really?” I couldn’t believe it.
“Oh yeah,” smiled Valerio. He squeezed me around the waist. “Probably from the moment we saw you in that Christmas tree lot.”
“Technically I saw her first,” Kade countered, “back near the gravel and concrete. I was the one who brought her to you guys, remember?” Something occurred to him, and he smiled. “That must mean I get first dibs on the art show then,” he added. “Right?”
“It’s not an art show, it’s an exhibit,” Valerio corrected him. “And it’s not just art, but sculptures and ceramics and—”
“You’re all coming!”
The three of them stopped arguing, just as Brock was suggesting they draw straws.