Page 118 of Three Bossy Boyfriends
I can tell by Evan’s grin that he’s poking Tucker on purpose, but I’m not sure Tucker can tell. And I don’t think Tucker thinks it’s funny, anyway.
He doesn’t respond to Evan. He carries me into the bathroom and sets me on the counter, then goes about pulling out a big fluffy bath towel and telling me to help myself to shampoo, soap, toothpaste, and anything else. He also opens a drawer and pulls out a brand new toothbrush.
“Then what?” I ask.
I’m fishing for him to invite me to stay for the rest of the day. Or weekend.
“I figure we’ll head to the café for breakfast.” He sighs. “I don’t have enough food for four people, and I don’t often eat breakfast here, anyway. I go to the café most mornings.”
That makes sense. The café is a hub in Honeysuckle Harbor, and everyone who works around town stops in at some pointduring the day. There is a one hundred percent chance that Tucker will know almost every person in the building. Hell, I’ll probably know most of them too. Even Christopher will probably know many. We are definitely going to draw some attention.
Tucker steps into the hallway and pulls the door shut, and I call out, “You didn’t even stall until I undressed or try to ogle me. Not tempted to get in here with me at all?”
“That’s probably against the rules.”
Yeah, he doesn’t sound amused.
The sooner we have this conversation about ground rules, the better.
But it’s not the kind of conversation we should have around a table at the Honeysuckle Café.
By the time I’m finished in the shower and step out wrapped in a towel, Christopher is back. I can hear his voice from downstairs. I am surprised to find clean clothes for me lying on the bed. Did he stop by my house? Did he ask my sisters for clothes for me?
Very likely. I’m not even going to look at my phone. I can only imagine the text messages waiting.
But I smile as I pull on the jeans and light sweater. These messages will be happy and excited. My sisters just want me to be happy, and I’m so glad I finally filled them and my friends in on what’s going on with me and the guys. Or at least that there is something going on. I don’t have a definition for it and until last night didn’t realize that any of this was actually an option.
But what is really going to happen? Can this actually be something like what Caroline has with her men? Or what Ivy has with my brother and Harrison and Liam?
I’m not planning to stay. Not only because I’ve never seen myself settling down here at home, but because I have plans formy career and I need to be in a bigger city to do the kind of law I’ve dreamed of.
But ever since the girls’ night out, I have felt a weight off of my shoulders and a warmth in my chest that hasn’t been there in years. Maybe ever.
I have felt accepted and understood in a way I haven’t here in Honeysuckle Harbor before.
Ivy and Kyle are part of that. They don’t have past baggage and memories with me. They just know the woman I am now.
Additionally, Caroline and Ivy have definitely given me an acceptance with this strange new situation with Christopher, Evan, and Tucker I wouldn’t have had anywhere else. My friends in New York wouldn’t have judged me, but they wouldn’t have understood the way Ivy and Caroline do.
But I’ve felt closer to my sisters since being home this time, too. I know they love me, and they’re right when they say that I’ve been the one pushing them away a lot of the time.
And most of all, Christopher and Evan and Tucker are a part of me feeling more comfortable and accepted here. They do see me. And they’re not trying to change me into some perfect version of what they want me to be. They not only see me as I am, but they see the flaws that I try to cover up with bravado. And they want me anyway.
Feeling a strange bounce in my step that I think is what someone else would call giddy, I head downstairs.
All of the guys are sitting in the living room with cups of coffee in hand, chatting casually.
They all stop talking as I descend the stairs. It's like a crazy movie moment. Three hot men, all stopping what they’re doing and turning to look at me as if they’ve never seen anything more breathtaking in their lives.
I actually giggle.
It’s not like I have some gorgeous ball gown on or they’re waiting for me to head out to some amazing fancy party.
I’m in jeans and we’re going to the café for breakfast.
Still, they all look at me with affection and a hunger that makes my stomach flip.
Yeah, a girl could get used to this.
