Happenstance(61)

Maybe I’ll burn the robe in my fireplace.

I’ve reached her now and she’s not putting on the brakes.

The overhead light brightens her face like a shaft of light from the heavens and it’s everything I can do not to start praying to her, like she’s some sort of deity.

How does one pray, exactly?

More importantly, how does she grow more beautiful by the day? Is it some kind of magical face cream, because I would like to borrow it. The wrinkles beneath my eyes continue to branch out. Crow’s feet, people call them. Horrific. She must notice them. I’m the oldest of the three men and my past profession makes me the least ideal candidate for a boyfriend, but I can’t stay away from her. I’d actually allow the crow’s feet to triple if she just lets me be a part of this weird four-way relationship. And I’ve been in some weird four-ways, but this one takes the bloody cake.

None of us have had a successful romantic commitment.

Most of us haven’t even participated in a successful orgy. Amateurs.

And none of us know what the fuck we’re doing, except we are in dire need of this girl.

Elise.

Now.

I plant my lips in the center of her forehead and make a miserable sound. “My brain is telling me not to fuck you yet.”

“Why?” she whispers, her head tilting back so I can see her smooth, tan neck and my cock is already starting to get extremely uncomfortable. Which is a problem, because I can’t get hard in public without making a scene. It’s quite obvious when I’m erect, thank you very much.

“I don’t know. Maybe…” A realization hits me like a lightning bolt. “My God, I think my conscience is reminding me to follow the rules.”

Her head tilts, sending her glorious hair cascading to the left. That neck.

This is pain.

If I don’t get the chance to grip her hips and give her the sweetest kind of hell soon, I’m going to forget the meaning of life.

Indulgence.

Although lately, that meaning has shifted to the indulgence of her.

“That’s right.” Heaven help me, she’s staring at my mouth, the color deepening in her cheeks. “We have rules.”

“I think I actually give a shite what Gabe and Banks think about me. In the escape room, we mutually decided that everyone needed to be okay with…”

“Two of us having sex,” she finishes. “Without the others.”

Just hearing the word “sex” in her husky tone of voice has me on the edge.

“Yes,” I say raggedly, pulling her close despite what I’ve just told her, our mouths open, panting against one another, my right hand reaching up between us to brush my fingertips over her nipple—and she moans, turning me inside out. “Fuck.”

“C-can we like…” She shakes her head, as if trying to break free of a daze. “Ask them?”

“Banks is in the middle of a match.” I’m already extricating the phone from my pocket and pulling up the rugby coach’s contact into. With my free thumb, I punch out a one-word text to the man—PLEASE—hoping the desperation comes through. Meanwhile, the goddess herself starts to text Gabe.

“Tell Gabe it’s a code red,” I say, drawing her up onto her toes so she can feel my dick getting stiffer for her. All for her.

“Uh…” Her eyelashes flutter, remaining at half-mast. “What’s a code red?”

“It means you need some action. Badly. Hopefully he’ll read between the lines.” I trace her jaw with my lips, adoring the way she leans into the treatment, a shiver passing through her.

She swallows. “Can’t argue with that.”

“Mmmm. You like me now, love?” I breathe against her mouth. “Don’t you?”

“At this moment I do,” she whispers, looking into my eyes. “But no accounting for tomorrow.”

I slant my mouth over hers and send my tongue on a thorough tour of her delicious mouth, the way I’ve been dying to do since she arrived outside. “I’ll take it.”

Our phones ding simultaneously.

I only need a split-second to acknowledge the thumbs up on both of our screens before I have her wrist locked in mine and I’m leading her toward the stairwell.





Elise





* * *



There’s a scene in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory where the children and their plus ones get a tour of the mysterious plant. Everyone is oohing and ahhing. I used to rewind the scene where they enter the indoor park where every single object is edible. Flowers, mushrooms, the river—all candy or chocolate. For a long time that edible park symbolized utopia to me. Nothing would ever get better.

I never expected a stairwell to prove me wrong.

This is Shangri-La.

And all we’ve done so far is kiss, but it’s the anticipation, knowing what comes next that has tingles sailing through my bloodstream like the Willy Wonka paddleboat, but instead of traumatizing children, they are spreading excitement wherever they go. Stirring up needs that I would normally attempt to suppress or temper, but not right now. I let them ripple and dance. I’m riding too high to do otherwise. I’m in this untouchable bubble high above the ground knowing something wonderful is happening for Banks. That I stuck to my guns long enough to feel truly, wildly drawn to Tobias, body and soul. The very thought of Gabe existing makes my chest lighter.