Page 51 of Running For It

Keeping distracted and helping Lyn had won out.

When I got back to Hunter’s and stepped inside, he and Ramsey were on the couch, sitting close heads bowed together.

They both looked up at the same time.

I hated that I’d interrupted whatever they were doing. I hated even more than seeing Ramsey ached so much.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” I said quickly, before either of them could pick the direction of the conversation. “I’ll be in my room.”

“You don’t have to scurry away. It’s your house too.” Hunter was kind.

But it wasn’t really.

“Stay, Taffy.” Ramsey managed sweetness and command perfectly with those two words.

And I couldn’t do it. Not here. Not where I was should be able to let down my guard and relax for at least a little while. “Why? So Hunter and I can practice being the perfect couple for an audience? Do you want to make sure we’re cuddling and kissing properly?” The words fell with more exhaustion than venom.

A shadow passed over Ramsey’s face. “I really don’t. Not when I’m not a part of it.”

“Stay, please.” Hunter’s request stopped me from tumbling down the rabbit hole of examining Ramsey’s response. “Keep us company. You’re not intruding.”

The longer I lingered in this room, the harder it was to make my feet carry me away. I wanted to spend time with them. I’d been enjoying Hunter’s company, and I’d never been good at turning away from Ramsey. Even the fact that I’d ended things with him before we ever really restarted didn’t make it any easier to ignore how I felt.

“All right.” It was easier to say than I wanted it to be. I headed toward the chair next to them.

Hunter stood. “I’ll grab you a drink.” He approached me and planted his hands on my hips to make sure we didn’t collide. The assisted side-step put me closer to Ramsey, who wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me to sit on the couch next to him.

The entire thing happened so fast I barely caught every step. I let out an amused huff. “I’d be upset that the two of you just handed me off like a football, if that hadn’t been the smoothest thing ever.”

“That’s the point,” Ramsey said.

I rolled my eyes, but I wasn’t interested in relocating. It was comfortable next to him.

Hunter returned quickly, and handed me a glass with ice and orange juice.

I didn’t know anyone who drank juice this way, especially at night, but it was exactly what I was in the mood for. “Thank you.” I took a drink, and set the glass on the coaster Hunter had provided. “I really didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“You aren’t,” Ramsey assured me. “In fact, we were just talking about you.”

“That makes me nervous.”

Hunter shook his head. “Because Ramsey’s being an asshole with his phrasing. Remember the first time you and I met?”

There was no way I could forget that. “I thought I was going to die of embarrassment.” It was when I started dating Ramsey. Hunter was supposedly gone for the weekend, so Ramsey and I were fucking in the living room of their apartment. Hunter had canceled his plans, and walked in on us.

“Nothing to be embarrassed about.” Hunter settled on my other side, sitting sideways so his shin rested against my thigh and he faced us both.

“I’m not now.” Not with Hunter. I couldn’t even say when it became as easy for me to be nude—more—around Hunter as it was around Ramsey, but I had no issues with it now. “I was then. Why were you talking about me?”

“I was so happy to finally meet the elusiveTaffy. The instant I saw you, I knew I was right about you being good for Ramsey.”

Ramsey shifted forward, to perch on the edge of his seat. “You never told me that.”

“Was it my ass or tits that helped you draw that conclusion?” I was teasing, but given those were probably the first parts of me Hunter had seen, I was curious.

Hunter smiled. “It was the fact that you were in our apartment. You were the first partner he’d brought home in more than three years of living together.”

“Oh.” Realization sank in. When I’d met Ramsey, he hadn’t even given me his real name the first night. It didn’t take me long to figure it out it was becauseRamsey Millerwas as much a brand as a name, and he planned to be a much bigger one going forward, and the last thing he needed was to earn a reputation as a guy who had a propensity toward orgies. “But you said… you’d already drawn conclusions about me. What first made you think I’d be good for him?”