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)
“Yes.” I take a reluctant step backward. “See you later.”
“Count on it.”
I wiggle my fingers goodbye and let myself into my apartment. Erik’s still standing there when I look back, watching me, and I blow him a kiss before I reluctantly shut my door. Then I check the time, gasp, and dash for the bathroom.
Despite needing badly to touch myself like I do in the shower, there’s no time. All I manage is brushing my teeth, the quickest sponge bath possible, and a change of clothes before I rush out the door for work. I’ve never been more thankful that my job is nearby.
Still, I’m five minutes late—the first time I’ve ever been late in my decade of working there. It gets me a narrow-eyed stare from Mrs. Todd. If you only knew, I think, but I’m too happy to feel guilty anymore.
As soon as I get a break, I text Lexy and Ember and ask if we can meet. They agree to come to the coffee shop near my work, and I go there on my lunch break. The two of them are waiting for me at a small table in the back corner.
“What’s up?” Lexy greets me as I sit down. “Not that anything has to be up, but I got the sense there might be some urgency.”
The urgency is all in my heart, but that’s enough. I don’t waste any time. “How did you persuade your men to make a relationship work with all four of you?” I ask.
Her eyebrows go up, and she smiles. “I take it things are going well.”
I smile, sure that there are hearts in my eyes. “Extremely well. I’ve fallen for all of them. But that’s the problem—I can’t stand the thought of cutting any of them out of my life, or trying to be ‘just friends.’”
“Damn,” Ember says. “I’m starting to think I might need some of this three-on-one action. Have you …” She wiggles her eyebrows meaningfully.
I blush, and both of them grin. “It is pretty amazing when it works,” Lexy says to Ember.
“So? Give us the tea,” Ember says, leaning forward.
“Sorry, no details,” I say, feeling hopelessly prudish compared to the two of them, even though I’m now a hardened sinner from my church’s perspective. “But yes, amazing is a good word for it.”
“But you don’t think they’re open to making it work with all four of you?” Lexy asks.
“I don’t know. The understanding has been that I’ll have to pick one of them eventually, but it will absolutely break my heart to do that.”
She nods sympathetically. “I didn’t have that problem, exactly, because all of us had known each other all our lives. I thought I was in the way of what they needed to be happy, but it turned out what they really wanted was me.”
“I see.” I chew my lip, happy for her, but disappointed for myself. I’d really hoped Lexy would somehow have some magical advice that would make it easy for me to convince all my men to stay with me. “So, no tips?”
“Do they get along pretty well, or are they in conflict a lot?” Ember asks.
“Around me, at least, they get along.” I pause and play back all the times the four of us have been together. “I haven’t seen any signs that they hate each other and are hiding it for my sake. They came over and built a big storage structure for my yarn, and that went well.”
“Oh my gosh, that’s so sweet,” Ember exclaims.
“That is a good sign,” Lexy agrees. “You may not need to do much persuading, Ava.”
“I hope not.” I wish I could be so confident. “Thanks for meeting me so quickly.”
Lexy gives me a sympathetic smile. “Of course. We’re here for you. Keep us posted, okay?”
“I will.” I sigh and check the time. “I need to get back. I’ll talk to you soon.”
There’s a lull at the counter, so I order tea and a muffin to take back with me. They’re ready in no time, and I wave to Ember and Lexy on my way out.
Time is strange the rest of that week. It passes quickly, but also too slowly. The men and I exchange lots of texts, but we don’t get together except for one night, when they all come over to watch a movie.
I get hugged and kissed hello and goodbye, but none of them try to initiate anything more. They’re affectionate, holding my hand, or putting an arm around me—lots of little touches that reassure me that their feelings haven’t changed—but that’s as far as it goes.
Since they’re all so uniform in their gentlemanly behavior—even Gray—I decide they must have agreed together to give me a break after our marathon weekend. I want to be annoyed with them, but how can I when they’re all being so thoughtful? And anyway, they obviously know more about sex than I do, so maybe they’re right that I should be taking things easy.