Page 86 of The Heart

“I knew they’d love you.” I smile and from the look on her face I can see she loves them too. I really couldn’t be happier that they got along, that Leena could be a real part of my family. And I know Sebastian is already a part of it, he has been since we were teenagers, but I understand now how it made him feel seeing them with Leena. I want him to be included in the same way someday, if he wants that. Which, after our conversation on the terrace, I think maybe he does.

I know I’m in love with Sebastian. I do, but I still can’t figure out how to say it out loud. All I could do was write him a fucking note, and I’m not even sure how he felt about that. He hasn’t said anything, and he certainly hasn’t said it back.

Colton’s right; I’m not embarrassed to share what we are with the world, but I am embarrassed to share it with my family, and that’s something I have to work on. That’s what I promised Sebastian out on the porch, that I would work on it. And he promised that he would seriously consider telling the team too.

In the end, we agreed that we both need time to let what we have play out. So that’s what we’ll do: give it, and each other, time.

“You sure you want to go to The Club?” Sebastian asks from the other side of the woman between us.

“I don’t know, what do you think?” I ask him in all seriousness, because as adventurous as Leena is in the bedroom, The Club is very different.

“Do you think she would like it?” he asks.

“I want to go!” Leena interjects, then squeals when Sebastian rolls on top of her, pinning her hands above her head.

“Were. We. Talking. To. You?” he growls against her lips without actually kissing her.

“I think we should go,” I say, and they both turn to look at me.

“But we have more work to do,” Leena says, a little sadly. I hate seeing her like this.

“Our flights are booked, we worked the entire drive home and we’ll be at it again in the morning. I think we could all use a night out before we leave the country tomorrow.”

“What about her little crush on Colton? Think it would be awkward?” Sebastian smirks at me, clearly trying to get a rise out of Leena.

It works.

“What?!” she shouts. “I do not have a crush on Colton!” She squirms under Sebastian, but he keeps her pinned.

“Sureyou don’t, sweetheart.” He kisses her mouth before she can mumble another word, then rolls off her so we can get her actual reaction to this.

She sits up, then turns to face us, horrified.

It’s adorable.

“I don’t…” She takes a breath. “Ican’thave a crush on him. I have two, wonderful, amazing men who deserve all my love. That’s all I need. I’m not about to fuck it up just because he’s gorgeous… I’ll admit that much,” she says.

“So if you fucked Colton, you would love us less?” Sebastian asks her.

“What?! No, of course not! But I don’t want–” She looks between us, absolutely panicked, and I chuckle.

“So youdon’twant to fuck him?” I smile at her, amused at how unraveled she is by this. She goes to reply, thinks better of it and shuts her mouth, then covers her face with her hands and groans. I lean toward her, pulling those hands away.

“Leena. We know you love us, we know you chose a life with us. None of us wantednormalanyway. What we do want is for you to have everything. Anything that makes you happy. We know how much you like your mornings with Colton, so we want to give you that. And if you have feelings for him, then we want you to have that too. You have so much love to give, Leena. You give us so much. I don’t think this will change that, do you?”

“No, of course not.” She looks at me with those big eyes, and I believe her. “But it feels like I would be stepping out on you, and that doesn’t feel right.”

“This isn’t some stranger, Leena. It’s Colton,” I remind her. “Ya know, the man who moved the fuck in and won’t leave?”

She chuckles.

Sebastian sits up, cupping her cheek with his large hand and speaks softly. “It’s not stepping out when we discuss it like this, sweetheart. Let anyone else touch you, and I’ll fucking slit their throat and bury them in the ground outside.”

He says it so casually, but I wouldn’t put it past him.

“You guys already talked about this before now, didn’t you?” She looks between us.

“Yup,” Sebastian replies.

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