Page 84 of The All-Inclusive

“That makes sense.” I’m dying to kiss her right now. To fold her in my arms, slide my fingers through her hair, and pull her lush little body tight against me.

Would that be breaking the Marshmallow Mandate? The one about two of us not hooking up without first discussing it with the other. I don’t want to disrespect Trent or fuck up this fresh new connection between us.

“Hey, guys.”

Trent’s voice rings out like I’ve conjured him up with my thoughts. I turn just in time to see him strolling up the beach toward us. Hands in his pockets, he’s kicking through sand with the sun in his eyes and his hair still damp from the shower or sea. As his eyes sweep mine, a surge of emotion rolls through me. It swells up my throat and bursts out my mouth like a goddamn explosion.

“I fucking love you guys.”

There was a more graceful way to say that.

But fuck it. I look down at Sara, who’s blinking at me with joy in her eyes. “I know you said it the other night and I kinda didn’t respond. Consorts are trained to brush aside declarations like that tactfully, but fuck me,I mean it.” Glancing at Trent, I’m met with an unreadable expression. “That a problem for you?”

His throat rolls as he swallows. “No.”

“No, what?” Anxiety wedges a fist in my throat. Is he rejecting my sentiment or?—

“No, it’s not a problem.” He takes a step closer, those odd golden eyes shining with something that isn’t just sunlight. The tiniest smile tugs the edge of his mouth as he opens his arms. “I fucking love you guys, too.” Dragging us into a spine-crushinghug, he fuses our trio together. “And notlovelike I say to my teammates, you know? Or my mother or cousin or anyone else.”

“I know.” Sara buries her face in his chest as her arms wrap around both our waists. She wiggles between us, finding the space that just fits.

With my nose in her hair and Trent’s steady heart thumping my arm, it’s the happiest I’ve felt in my whole fucking life.

This.

This is what I want. Forever. Both of them,all of us, building a life for our trio. I see children, and pets, and a big, happy home filled with love like I knew as a kid.

Is anyone else here feeling it? Is it just me being a sentimental sap?

Well, fuck it. That’s how I feel, and as my mother would say,they can just fucking deal with your heartfelt emotions.

It’s Trent who speaks first. “Come on.” His voice fills with gravel and the rush of the sea, and he doesn’t release his fierce hug. “Let’s go.”

Tipping her head back, Sara peers up at him. “Where are we going?”

He looks in her eyes for a heartbeat or two, then his gaze shifts to mine. Something significant passes between us. A breath, or a current that goes far beyond expression. It’s a spark, an explosion, an eruption that flows from my heart to the rest of my body.

Then Trent smiles at Sara, kissing the edge of her temple. “I believe the best term for it ismaking love.”

CHAPTER 17

TRENT

Everything’s different this time. What’s happens in Sara’s room this afternoon isn’t fucking.

It’s something much bigger and sweeter. It’s shared breath and touches so gentle they’re more like a whisper. It’s quiet caresses and eye contact held for a heartbeat too long, but that doesn’t scare me like it would have two weeks ago.

We’re here in this room, in this moment, this experience together. I’m present with Logan and Sara, Sara and Logan, the three of us stroking and tasting and murmuring words into ears we adore above all others.

That’s the point where I know this is new. Since when do I fuckingadorea guy’s ears?

But it doesn’t feel wrong and that’s the best part. When we finally collapse in a big, sweaty heap, I’m so fucking happy I say so.

“I fucking love you guys, too.”

“Yeah?” Logan lifts his head off my chest. “About time you said it first, Frogman.”

“Get fucked, Jarhead.”

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