Page 89 of The Heat of Us

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go away.” Then I kissed him like an idiot. He was still grinning like a fool when he disappeared out my door.

Aleks was watching us when I turned around. “Something to say?” I asked him, feeling tetchy.

“Nope. I have nothing to say about you and your colleague.”

That wasn’t true. When Aleks realised that Remy and I were not in fact courting or even together together, he seemed quite bewildered and told us to our faces that he thought we were both stupid.

I pointed a finger at him. “You watch yourself or you’ll be back on the couch.” Aleks held his hands up in mock surrender.

It was an empty threat and we both knew it.

I wished him goodnight and made my nightly trip across the road and into Ben’s bed. His hand slid into my shorts, fingers lightly tracing along the ticklish crease of my inner thigh.

“Did Remy take care of this pussy today?” Ben asked, his tone completely mundane. It was unnerving how ok he seemed to be about everything. He would always ask about the others with genuine interest in these languorous moments before sleep.

“No. But if you’re concerned about that I can find a Chad or Thad from the gym to do it,” I lied blithely.

Ben had me on my back with a deft twist, palms sliding into mine as he pressed me down into the bed. The peppermint in his scent sharpened and I could feel the arctic chill seize my throat. “Let me be clear, Hazel,” he breathed, scenting one side of my neck and the other. I’d never been more aware of his new designation as he loomed over me. “Remy and Aleks are…different from every other fucker out there. Do not mistake me asking about them as a sign that I am not possessive of what we have. Quite the opposite, actually.”

I swallowed loudly. Letting me see him this way was far too illuminating. A glimmer of what it would be like if I belonged to him. My heart drummed against my ribcage, spurred by a cosmic kind of feeling that seemed too vast to name.

“Let’s just go to sleep, Ben,” I whispered.

If he was disappointed at my withdrawal he didn’t show it. He slid off me carefully, fitted me against his body like he did every night and stroked the bare slivers of skin between my clothes.

Would it really be so bad if he met the others?

All four of us together?

His fingers continued to gently sweep. Back and forth. Back and forth.

It was so easy to sink into oblivion.

I dreamt of dark chocolate eaten by a roaring fire, staring out at a pristine lake. Huddled in the embrace of three warm bodies.

32

HAZEL

“We need to get the ball rolling. Take a deep dive and really drill down.”

“I agree. All hands on deck.”

“Absolutely, the more parties we get involved, the better.”

“Thoughts on the entry-level position?”

“Whip up a description. I want you on my desk by 5. I mean, I want it on my desk by 5. That’s a hard deadline, got it?”

The man in front of us completed his coffee order, turned and gave us a look that said I know what you’re doing, asshats.

Maybe Remy and I shouldn’t have passed the time waiting in line at our coffee shop pretending to be corporate office minions. We were in activewear so there was really no effort put into this illusion.

Remy stepped forward and started to place our order. I got distracted by the display of baked goods and drifted over to take a look.

The muffin of the day was covered in a drizzle of chocolate and my mouth started watering. I rushed to let Remy know I wanted it but was jostled roughly as a solid form bumped into my hip. Ow.

“Oh, sorry about that, sweet thing. Are you ok?”

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