Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
After I put the order through, I ask, “Can I help?”
Brax says, “Actually, we need to move things around in here. Sorry to be rude, but could you maybe go into the kitchen for a few minutes?”
“Of course.” I consider using the time to change into actual clothes, but my pajamas, long shorts and a button-down top, are comfortable, and it feels daring to entertain my three … temporary boyfriends? dating partners? … in something so intimate, even though my nightwear is just basic cotton, nothing lacy or fancy. In the end, I decide not to change and go into my kitchen as Brax requested.
After a muttered consultation with each other, the men get started, working together as smoothly as if they were a long-established team. It’s fascinating to watch them, and the play of muscles under their clothing. My vantage point lets me ogle them all I want, and besides admiring their arms, which I’ve spent so much time touching lately, I notice their backsides. They’re all in jeans, and the fabric shapes that part of their anatomy in a very appealing way.
I bite my lip. I am really going to need some quality alone time after they’re gone.
In a short time, they completely rearrange my living room furniture in a way that leaves a gap along the wall next to my bedroom door. I never would have thought of the setup they’ve created, but I like it. Which is good, because I would hate to tell them I don’t and ask them to put everything back. Not when they’re clearly trying to do something nice for me.
With avid curiosity, I watch them start to open the boxes and put the contents together. The intercom buzzes. “That’ll be the food,” I tell them. “Be right back.”
I get grunts in response, and smile as I grab a sweater and go down to the lobby.
When I get back, they’ve all peeled off their shirts. My mouth goes dry. Oh. My. Goodness.
How did I get so lucky? How are these three incredible men all in my home at once, and now only half-dressed?
AVA
“Food’s here,” I manage to say, though my mouth has gone dry.
“Go ahead and have yours, hon,” Erik says without looking up from tapping a peg thingie into a hole in the side of a panel. “We’ll eat in a bit.”
I’m glad none of them are looking at me, because I blush at the endearment like the completely inexperienced woman I used to be not so long ago.
Hon. So sweet, so unassuming, so Erik.
Brax called me darling that night I was at his home, and it’s been giving me a warm fuzzy feeling everytime I think about it.
I wonder if Gray will come up with any special term for me? Knowing Gray, there’s a good chance it would be something he shouldn’t say in public.
Edging past them, and all the boards and tools and other bits and pieces scattered around, I go into the kitchen and spoon some of my meal into a bowl. Only a little, because I’m not that hungry, and they might want to share once they’re ready to eat.
Some considerable work seems to have gone into this already, if I’m seeing things correctly. The wood panels they’re moving around don’t look like the kind of particle board you normally get from a big box store. They look homemade, and they’re already stained.
There are so many pieces of wood, all different sizes, so it takes me a while to understand what they’re making. They’ve got whatever-it-is lying down on the carpet, and I don’t start to suspect until it’s nearly done.
Then they hang a huge shelving unit up, covering that blank spot on the wall, and I start to cry. I try not to, but I can’t help it.
“Ava,” Brax says softly.
“It’s so beautiful,” I all but blubber. It’s made up of diamond shapes, some smaller ones in the center, surrounded by larger ones.
I must look a sight, but they don’t care. Erik holds out a hand. “Come and see.”
I go over, and he explains. “We looked at some designs online based on what you’ve described, and we came up with this. You can put yarn in all these spots, sorted however you want, and hooks and needles and whatnot in the smaller ones. And you could put fabric in here, or anything else you wanted, but it seems to work best for yarn.”
“It’s perfect.” I go up on my tiptoes, take his face in my hands, and kiss him when he lowers his head to me. “It’s the best thing anyone’s ever given me.”
I go to Brax and kiss him. “Thank you.”
When I come to Gray, I can sense the storm from the other night in his kiss, and the way his fingers flex on my waist, I know he’s thinking of it too. But he lets me go, and I step back to admire the shelving structure.