Page 12 of Puck Daddies
The tequila warms the path down. It doesn’t blur anything. I chase it with water and breathe until my heartbeat stops auditioning for a drumline.
Hudson leans his hip against the counter and looks at me like I have the floor. “What’s the experiment? You don’t have to say it. You can say, ‘Never mind,’ and we’ll watch that dumb show about the tiny houses again.”
I shake my head. “I want to ask for what I want.”
“Okay,” Rocco says. “Ask.”
I knock another shot back and speak before I can stop myself. “I want all three of you. Tonight. In my bed. Three friends helping a friend become…un-boring. I’m donelettingthings happen tome. I amchoosing. And I wantyesesthat sound likeyeses. Because if they don’t, I don’t want it.”
Silence for a heartbeat. Then threeyesesat the same time, layered like a chord. Hudson’s is a rumble, Rocco’s is a hum, Oliver’s is sun through blinds.
“No debating? No discussion?” I ask.
Three shrugs.
“Rules,” Oliver says, because of course he does.
“Rules,” I agree. “I want to know which words mean slow down and which words mean stop now. I want to laugh if something is awkward and not make it weird. I like knowing I’m doing it right.”
“You always do it right,” Hudson says, too fast, then blinks at himself. “Yes to all of that. Stop means stop. Slow down means slow down. If anyone says they need a break, we break.”
“Water on the nightstand,” Oliver adds. “Condoms in the drawer if you want them.”
“And lights we can see by,” Rocco says softly. “Not bright. Just enough.”
I nod. “And kissing.”
“Kissing,” Oliver repeats.
The three of them wear smirks that weren’t there before, and my heart kicks up. “Yes. Follow me.”Before I lose my nerve.
In the bedroom, I pause and look at them. “Clothes,” I say, and then laugh because it’s such a vague command. “On the floor is fine.”
Hudson is the first to touch me. “You’re sure about this?” he asks, fingertips hovering at my jaw.
“Yes,” I say, and tilt my chin into his hand.
His mouth is warm and new. The kiss is not a crash. It’s a steady press that asks and answers. My heart trembles against my ribs. When he leans back, he searches my face, and whatever he finds there makes him smile like he didn’t mean to.
Rocco’s hand finds mine, palm to palm. He kisses my knuckles like he’s greeting a stage he missed, and then he finds my mouth. His kiss is a slow build that makes the back of my knees do something interesting. “Okay?”
“Okay,” I breathe and feel it all the way down.
Oliver crowds in last because he’s polite even when he shouldn’t be. He cups the back of my head with one broad palm and kisses me sweetly. “Still okay?”
“Yes,” I say, and it comes out steady. I feel absurdly proud of that.
We take our time with buttons and zippers. It’s weird how not-weird this is. Like we’ve been waiting to do this.
Hudson kisses my shoulder and says, “So pretty.”
Rocco’s fingers trace up my spine. “I like when you shiver from us touching you.”
I gulp. “Then keep touching me.”
“I won’t stop until you tell me.” His tongue traces a line up my neck that sends heat down low.
Oliver kneels before me, plants a kiss on my navel, as he ties his shoulder-length blond hair back. “I knew you’d be beautiful naked, Meg. Didn’t know it’d be like this.”
