Priest eyed Logan. “Because despite your tendency to be a pain in the ass, you’re one of the smartest people I know.”
Logan stopped slicing and looked at Robbie and Julien. “Did he just give me a compliment?” Julien smirked as Robbie nodded, and Logan continued, “Can someone please note that down somewhere? And for the record, Priest, I’m never a pain in the ass to the people I love. I’m careful to make it an enjoyable experience. Right, Tate?”
“Oh my God,” Robbie said. “How many drinks have you had?”
“One shot of tequila,” Logan said. “And a nice, long suck of Tate’s—”
“Lemons,” Tate said, and then shoved a bottle of raspberry and vanilla rum Logan’s way. “Here, two ounces of each of those, and I’ll grab the cranberry and pineapple juice. What can I get for you, Julien?”
“He’ll have a Tom Collins, and Priest will have an Old Fashioned,” Robbie said.
Priest smiled and slipped his hand down over Robbie’s ass, as Julien winked at him and said, “Merci de prendre soin de nous, princesse.”
Robbie’s face flushed, and Priest’s eyes shifted to Logan, who was laughing at him.
“You all right there, Robbie?” Logan said. “Or do you need a seat in case your knees give out on you?”
Robbie turned back to face Logan. “Shut it, Logan, or…I don’t know, go suck on Tate’s…lemon.”
“Is that what we’re calling it now? Good to know.” Tate laughed as he mixed Julien’s and Priest’s drinks and then slid them across the counter. “Why don’t you three come with me? We can get the fire pit going and settle in while Logan gets some food ready for us.”
“Would you like some help?” Julien asked Logan.
“You know what?” Logan said. “I think I might. It’s not every day one gets the opportunity to cook with one of the greats.”
“And let’s be real, any help you can get will improve the meal,” Tate joked.
Robbie followed Tate’s lead and headed outside, and Priest stopped to look back at Julien, who was walking around the counter to where Logan was holding out an apron to him. Deciding to give Logan a little bit of his own medicine, Priest crossed his arms and looked at the pair.
“Hey, Mitchell?” Priest called out from the back door, and once Julien had his apron on, Logan turned to face Priest. “Don’t even think about flirting with my husband while I’m not here.”
Logan smirked. “Worried we’re about to heat up the kitchen?”
Priest didn’t crack a smile as he eyed Logan’s smug face, then he looked at Julien. “And you, try to be a little less attractive or something, would you?”
Julien laughed at Priest’s stern expression.
“I’m serious,” Priest said. “The whole country knows that when you cook, you only get hotter. So, Mitchell, behave yourself.”
“Oh relax, Priest,” Logan said. “I’m a happily married man.”
“So are we, and look what happened to us.”
“Priest, you wound me,” Logan said. “You really think I’m going to hit on your husband? And here I thought we’d come so far.”
Priest shrugged, and when Logan finally started to bristle a little, he laughed. “I’m just fucking with you, Mitchell. Enjoy your cooking lesson. You’re learning from the best.”
Logan hurled a lemon in his direction, and when it missed, he muttered, “Fucker,” and shot the finger at Priest as he walked out the back door.
A COUPLE OF hours later, as Robbie finished off his latest Cock Tease, he felt the buzzed sense of relaxation wash over him.
He shifted back between the men flanking either side of him, and he knew that Julien and Priest were wondering when he was going to tell Logan and Tate their news. He was building to it, really, he was. But there just hadn’t been the right moment, or, you know, the right amount of alcohol.
It wasn’t that he was afraid to tell them. It was just that, after the way Logan had reacted to the three of them when they’d first gotten together, Robbie had started to second-guess the response he might get now.
Robbie had known Logan and Tate for a long time, and considered them family—and if he said this out loud and saw anything but the joy he felt about it all, he wasn’t quite sure how he’d deal with that.
Robbie’s eyes shifted to the man he’d once fancied himself in love with, and he let his gaze trail over Logan’s coal-colored hair, those laughing blue eyes, and the pressed polo shirt and shorts.
Logan would always be one of the most attractive men Robbie had ever seen. But he’d come to realize that the love he felt for Julien and Priest was so much more than the infatuation he’d had for Logan. These two men beside him owned him body and soul. Exactly the same way, Robbie supposed, that Tate owned Logan, and that was what it all came down to: that feeling of belonging.