Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 96112 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96112 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
I pinched my lips together as Lucas looked down on his own shirt and tie. His chagrined smirk was endearing.
“I suppose you’re correct,” he replied with a sigh. “I will be right back.”
“There’s a half bath under the stairs,” I offered.
“Thank you, dear.”
Lucas walked off again, but the second I turned my head to face Colt, he gripped my chin and held me in place.
“Look at that ass,” Colt murmured. Pardon? He wanted me to stare at Lucas’s butt? As if I hadn’t seen it already… He wore suits like he was born to do it. I watched as he bent down slightly to grab the duffel bag from the bottom of the stairs. “When he bottoms for me…there are no words.”
Oh. “He’s a switch?”
Colt shook his head. “Not at all. I’m the only one he bottoms for.” He chuckled under his breath and released my chin as Lucas disappeared into the bathroom. “Ain’t that a kick in the head? I fell for a stubborn paper pusher who gets off on setting up rules.”
“I like rules,” I mumbled unthinkingly.
“Of course you do.” Colt smiled at me. “I prefer to break them.”
I dared a small smirk. “Of course you do.”
He let out a carefree laugh and touched my cheek. “You’re fucking cute.” He stopped me when I ducked my head, and he inched closer. “No. Don’t hide from me.” He cupped my jaw, and he seemed to like what little scruff I had. A three-day-o’clock shadow. “You know we wanna play with you, right?”
I drew an unsteady breath and struggled to maintain eye contact while hope exploded within me. “I-I d-didn’t want to assume.”
He chuckled and leaned back once more. At the same time, I heard a door open, and Lucas was back.
They wanted to play with me! I had it confirmed!
* * *
I found a way to relax when the curtains were drawn and the living room was blanketed in mostly darkness.
With Colt sprawled out in the corner, me sitting next to him, and Lucas on my other side, the tension started to leave my body halfway into an action film. Okay, maybe it helped that Colt was dozing on and off. He was just so… I didn’t know how to put it, but it was like he never let down his guard. He could be perfectly at ease and still catch every movement around him. Not now, though. His light snores were music to my ears. They let me know he wasn’t observing me, and they provided a reminder that my home wasn’t empty. I was watching a movie with two men who weren’t on my family’s payroll. There was snoring, there were chuckles, there was a film running, there was motion.
There was life.
Lucas, I was discovering, exuded the kindest aura. He’d changed into a white tee and blue pajama bottoms, and everything about him screamed of comfort. Of course, I’d blushed when he placed his arm behind me, along the back of the couch, but that was all he did. He wasn’t like Colt. I could already tell Lucas had the patience of a saint.
I mean…you kind of had to if you were with Colt, right?
I snickered to myself at the thought.
They were so different. There was Colt to my left, sleeping, one arm thrown over his face, one leg hanging off the edge of the couch, the other pulled up slightly. And then Lucas to my right, unquestionably comfortable in his own way—or so I assumed. Leaning back, that arm so close to my shoulders, one leg folded over the other. Colt was the brute, the bull in the china shop.
It was Lucas’s china shop.
I snickered again, unable to help it.
“That’s the second time you’ve found humor in a building blowing up on the screen.”
Oops.
I met Lucas’s curious smile with a sheepish look, and I fumbled my way through my explanation about the china shop.
He found it funny, thank goodness.
“Does that make you the china?” His eyes glinted in the dim light, and I knew he was joking. It was humorous, but also thrilling. Anticipation kept growing inside of me. I had no idea what to expect from these two. “Funnily enough, when Colt and I met, I was the bull in the china shop. I’d had the worst week, and then I made a colossal fool of myself in front of him.”
That must’ve been a sight. Lucas struck me as so composed and graceful. And warm and kind and encouraging.
“Will you tell me about it?” I asked, hopeful. “Have you been together long?”
“I’d be happy to share the story.” He reached for the remote and lowered the volume a little. “A fair warning, I was in a bad place when he and I met, so karma had her way with me, and Colt got a good laugh.” Lucas angled himself a bit more my way, and I mirrored his position, intrigued. “It was about nine years ago, so I was…” He squinted at nothing. “No, wait—eight years ago. I was twenty-nine and angry.”