Page 47 of Double Booked

I should protest and tell her it wasn’t worth it but Justin squeezed my hand and I just nodded. “Thank you,” I whispered.

“Don’t thank me. You’re my best friend. Besides, you can just dedicate a book to me.” She winked at me and I laughed.

“Deal.”

“Come on, baby girl,” Colton kissed the side of my head. “Let’s get you into the house.”

Maggie and Rex crowded me as I stepped inside, both dogs clearly sensing my fragile mood. I gave them all the love as the guys guided me into the living room.

“I’m so sorry, baby girl.” Colton said, pulling me down onto the couch next to him.

“It’s not your fault. We weren’t going to hide forever.”

“No, of course not.” There was that flash of hurt again in his eyes. Colton hadn’t wanted to hide our relationship in the first place but he had been outvoted by Justin and I. He gave in because it made Justin and I more comfortable but he would have rather shouted it from the rooftops.

“It’s just…” I trailed off. Why was I so upset? We hadn’t planned on hiding it forever and yes the article made me look like a slut with no morals but that wasn’t it.

“It’s that our choice to tell people got taken away from us.” Justin said solemnly. “That’s why it hurts so much more.”

Colton and I stared at him with wide eyes but he hit the nail on the head. I nodded. Justin found the words when I couldn’t. Our choice had been taken from us.

“But it did happen,” he continued, ever the pragmatist. “So where do we want to go from here?”

“Wherever we go, I’m not denying it,” Colton said strongly. “I love you,” his hazel eyes burning with intensity as he looked at me. “And I love you,” he looked at Justin. “I’ll shout it from the rooftop of every business in this town before I let this tear us apart.”

My eyebrows flew upward. He loved me? I mean, I knew my feelings were unnaturally strong for them but I didn’t realize they had gotten to love that quickly. But actually I should have known. These were good men, nothing like my exes or even like my family. Even though we hadn’t known each other long, it felt like we had known each other for a lifetime. I must have been thinking too long as he smiled softly at me. “I love you,” he repeats softly. “You don’t have to say it back–”

I interrupted him. “I love you,” I looked at Justin. “Both of you. More than I ever thought possible actually,” I admitted. “The actions of some jealous petty person doesn’t change that.”

“You’re right,” Justin said. “And for the record, I love you both too. Colton, I’ve been in love with you for forever and Riley, I think I fell in love with you from the moment you sassed me when we met at the office.”

“I knew it,” I crowed dramatically. “I knew you liked my sass!”

Justin and Colton laughed and Justin tugged me into his arms. “I love your sass,” he corrected. “And we’re going to get through this together. We don’t owe anyone any part of our story, trashy article or not.”

His words sobered me again as I remembered the nasty remarks of the article. But also so what? Did this suck? Yes. Was I pissed? Also yes. But I wasn’t going to let Vicky ruin what we were building here. But this was a small town and reputations did matter. I hadn’t even read the comments yet. What would happen to their business? As nice as it would be to ignore those possible ramifications, it wouldn’t be possible.

“They’ll create one anyways,” I said somberly. “And we do need to talk about that. What if it affects your business?”

Colton shrugged. “I don’t care if it does. We can always move to Minneapolis and start over there.”

I stared at him, eyes wide. Move? Their entire lives were here. They couldn’t just move.

Justin laughed softly at my face. “That’s how serious we are about you.” He kissed me.

“But– you can’t just move,” I sputtered, my brain still processing. “”This is your home.”

“You’re our home,” Justin corrected.

“He’s right,” Colton said. “Wherever you two are, that’s where my home is. Whether that be here or in Minneapolis or even if we move to the island. You’re my home, both of you.” Who knew what started as a week long vacation fling would turn into this?

I never had anyone tell me that before. I couldn’t even remember the last time someone would have even offered that kind of sacrifice to me. My brain struggled to process what they were says but my heart practically sang with happiness. Tears unexpectedly burned the back of my eyes.

Justin watched my face closely. “Why don’t we shut everything off until tomorrow. A little avoidance never hurt anyone. We can put on a movie and make dinner and just enjoy the three of us. We can handle everything else tomorrow.”

I took a shaky breath and nodded. Colton studied both of us for a moment and nodded as well. “Sounds good. Tomorrow then. I’ll pop a frozen pizza in the oven. Riley, you pick the movie.”

Justin made no move to get up so I snuggled into his chest when he handed me the remote. I landed on a random action movie we had seen before but was a comfortable favorite. Soon we were eating pizza and the guys were drinking beer while I had a glass of wine. Anytime I got lost in my thoughts, they were right there with a brush of their hand on my arm, or a gentle squeeze of my leg. Small reminders that they were there and weren’t going anywhere. No matter what tomorrow brought, I knew we could face it together.

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