Page 111 of Choose the Bears

“Of course it's for you,” Lucas said, putting the tools down. “You don’t think Kyle would ever read for fun? Well, nothing more weighty thanMen’s Healthmagazine.”

“Oi!” Kyle’s response was automatic, but as he considered what Luc said, he shrugged. “Though I guess that’s true. I could put all my back issues…” My eyes jerked up to meet his, narrowing without thought, so he threw his hands up. “In the bin, obviously.”

“So…” Lucas’ cheeks flushed pink. “Do you like it? All the girls kept going on and on about the Billy bookcases on the videos I watched, and?—”

“It’s perfect.”

My hands slid over the painted, white wood, then the decorative trim they’d bought to link each bookcase together. It would look beautiful, elegant, and like a library of old by the time we were finished, but more than that.

It’d look like something I’d dreamed about my whole life.

They got it, I realised as I turned around. Maybe not the books and the desire to read, but they understood that I loved it, and as a result, spent all this time and money making sure I had the perfect place to do it. Tears filled my eyes as I moved closer, and this time I didn’t even try to hold them back. They spilled down my cheeks as Kyle and Lucas rushed towards me.

“Hey, if it’s not right—” Luc started to say.

“It’s right. It’s better than right.” I clung to each one of them, burying my face in their chests. “It’s everything I could’ve wanted.”

“See, I told you,” Kyle hissed over my head as his arm wrapped around me.

“OK, fine,” Lucas replied, hugging me close with his other arm.

They rubbed small circles on my back as I just experienced it. At first, there was a painful flush of pleasure that seemed to dismantle my carefully constructed defences so fast I was forced to suck in a breath. That transmuted into the sweetest of pains as I thought about the time and effort they’d put in. No one had ever done anything like this for me, and it felt like I was still struggling to get my head around the fact they had. But most of all was a certainty I shouldn’t have felt. That they’d do this kind of thing for me over and over, rising to meet whatever need I had, that’s what had my fingers clawing at their sides. It wasn’tthat they were doing nice things that made me feel like I loved them.

Just that they were willing to put my needs first at least some of the time.

“I need to make you dinner,” I babbled. “Your favourites every night. Just tell me what you like.”

“Imogen—” Lucas chided.

“Steak and blow job day? That’s every day for you guys. Every damn day. Steak with Diane sauce. Steak Kilpatrick. Surf and turf.”

“Imogen—”

“Don’t like steak? What about roast lamb and apple pie?”

The words were spilling out, because by saying them, I didn’t have to admit how they were making me feel. I felt like I needed to even the score, each act of kindness weighing the scales down further in their favour. I was accruing debts I could never pay for.

That I didn’t deserve.

I sat with that feeling for a moment, my eyes taking in the bookcases, the boxes, the bed, and then finally them, wishing that I’d claimed them too. Then they’d see it. How this made me feel.

How being cared for made me feel about them.

I needn’t have worried though. Each man searched my face and seemed satisfied by what he saw.

“So, I brought you up because I wasn’t sure how you wanted your books shelved,” Kyle said.

“Alphabetical or by series?” Lucas added. “I was thinking by series.”

“Series.” I was smiling so wide it felt like my face would crack. “Definitely by series.”

Sometime later,Asher appeared by the door with a bottle of wine tucked under his arm and four bowls of stew on a tray. The savoury smells drew me forward. Well, that and I felt strangely protective of the books. Luc had managed to find so many of my favourites and more besides. There were covers and titles I’d never seen before, begging to be cracked open and read. Instead, I took the tray from him as I felt something like a featherlight brush against my mind.

So they did good?I could hear the good humour in Asher’s voice.Then let's have some dinner and maybe… some more truth or dare?

Truth or dare?

He moved forward as the others rose to their feet, glad to leave the torture of tackling IKEA assembly behind for dinner.

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