Page 95 of Third Wheel

“Don’t fuck it up again!” Krista responded cheerfully, which was her very big sisterly way of saying ‘good luck.’ Strangely, it made him feel better.

“Thanks.” He shoved his phone in his pocket and headed to the door, wiping suddenly clammy hands on his pants as he approached. His chest tightened, and he took a deep breath, giving himself a little shake to try to release the tension from his muscles.

Punching in the code to the lock, he opened the door and stepped inside… and nearly tripped over himself when movement on the couch caught his eye, and he turned to look.

Amy had returned.

Her car must have been out front, but somehow he hadn’t noticed.

Amy had returned, and she was sitting on Kincaid’s lap.

Amy had returned, and she was sitting on Kincaid’s lap with his arms around her, and she’d just pulled away from him, and her cheeks were flushed and…

And they’d been kissing.

Without him.

Amy

What am I doing?

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to kiss Kincaid, but… it felt wrong. Zach wasn’t here.

Kincaid must have had the same thought, or something, because they both pulled back from the kiss at the same time. His arms remained locked around her, though, holding her securely. Though their lips had pulled away from each other, they leaned against each other, foreheads touching.

“We can’t do this before I talk to Zach,” Kincaid said before Amy could catch her breath, proving that he had been thinking the exact same thing as her. “I don’t even know what he wants yet.”

“I know… I…” Something beeped, and Amy frowned. What was that?

It wasn’t until the door opened that she realized she’d been hearing the keypad.

She jerked away from Kincaid, but when she turned her head, Zach was standing in the doorway, staring at her and Kincaid, white as a sheet.

“Zach!” She and Kincaid said his name at the same time, her trying to roll off his lap at the same time he stood up, which sent her tumbling to the floor. He stood beside her while she was on the ground.

“Shit.” He reached out his hand to help her up, though his eyes were still on Zach. “I didn’t know you were coming home.”

Zach looked between Kincaid and her as she got to her feet, releasing Kincaid’s hand as soon as she could.

“Clearly,” he said in a hollow voice.

She felt Kincaid stiffen beside her, and she looked up to see him scowling.

“Nothing happened. Well, we kissed, but we both immediately realized that we shouldn’t until we talked to you.”

“Well, that’s something at least.” Zach didn’t look at all reassured, and his words came out more sarcastic than sincere.

“It’s better than telling someone that she’s my girlfriend without talking to you about it first,” Kincaid shot back.

“Hey, hey!” Amy was not having any of this. Zach had come back. That was good. She did not want anyone storming out again. “You are not to use me as a weapon between you or a way to get back at each other.”

“I’m sorry,” Kincaid said immediately, shamefaced. “That’s not… If I did do that, it wasn’t my intention. That’s not why I kissed you, and it’s not why I said that, but I can see how it could come off that way.”

“I’m sorry, too.” Zach sighed, the fight visibly leaking out of him. He shut the front door, which helped Amy to relax. He’d gone from freeze to fight and, thankfully, had now shut down the avenue to flight. Hopefully, they could just talk now. The way they should have in the first place. “I really don’t have room to talk today. I just…” He took a deep breath and looked at Kincaid. “It hurt feeling left out. I know I did it to you, and in a much worse way, and I was blindsided. But so were you, and I’m sorry. I’m the one who was out of line.”

“No, like I said, Amy and I were both just saying that we couldn’t do anything without talking to you. If our relationship is going to change, that can’t happen if you aren’t part of the conversation.” Kincaid ran his fingers through his hair. “I do think we need to talk, though. Maybe just the two of us at first, then we can bring in Amy?”

Damn. Her heart sank a little, but it made sense. They were the original relationship. If they were going to bring her in, theyneeded to talk about it first. She wanted it. She knew Kincaid wanted it. She thought—hoped—Zach wanted it, too.

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