Page 115 of Puck Yes

He swings his legs from the bed but so does Roxy, scurrying out from under the covers, checking us out like the policewoman she is. “Shh,” I whisper and then scoop her up and carry her, shutting the door and setting her on my lap in the living room.

I point to the bedroom. “Ivy thinks this is going to end at the awards ceremony,” I say.

Which is fucking ridiculous.

“Yeah, that’s kind of a problem,” Stefan says dryly as he sinks onto the couch.

“It’s a big problem,” I second.

With some amusement in his eyes, he asks, “And why do you say that?”

I flash back to that night in Chicago when Stefan took me out for a drink and asked me hard questions. I didn’t know what I wanted then. At the time, he did. He knew he wanted her. He wanted more.

I flash him a grin and admit another truth. “Seems I’ve caught up to you.”

With a grateful sigh, he says, “Yes, and now that you’re an official member of the club, we have one rule.”

“What’s that?”

Stefan leans forward on the couch, eyes sparkling with a plan. Always a plan. “You don’t want this to end, do you?”

I scoff like that’s the craziest thing ever. “No fucking way.”

“That’s what I thought. So here’s what we’ll do,” he says, practically rubbing his palms together. “Let’s make her fall in love with both of us.”

“I’m all in.” I offer a fist for knocking.

Operation Win Our Woman begins tomorrow. First, though, Stefan writes back to Xander and asks him to meet us in the morning. And bring several loaves of bread.

* * *

In the morning, Stefan takes me to the duck pond in the park. He’s carrying a grocery bag. The name Henry is written on the side. The mallards quack plaintively as we near them. “Don’t worry. I’m sure Henry will be here soon,” he says to the waterfowl.

“Who’s Henry? The duck whisperer? Or is that you?”

He tells me about a guy named Henry who lives in the park, then adds, “So I’m not really a duck whisperer. I’d say I’m more of a…throuple engineer. I got you to come on board, didn’t I?”

“You’re such a puppeteer.”

“And you love it because now you’re in love with her too.”

He’s not wrong. “What’s it going to be next? You going to convince the team to sign me?”

“That’s up to you, my friend. But I’d really like you to work hard on it,” he says sincerely.

“We’re on the same page,” I say, then shut up as footsteps crunch across the fallen leaves.

I turn to see the fuckface who tried to mess with my captain and my wife. No one does that.

Xander’s carrying a bag, with a few loaves of bread sticking out, and wearing a smile, like we’ve delivered him the bike he’s always wanted on Christmas morning. “You brought along another investor?” he asks Stefan, sounding delighted.

“Oh, he’s definitely invested,” Stefan says.

Fuckface turns to me, adjusting his bow tie, then offering a hand. I don’t take it, so he stuffs it awkwardly in his pocket. “You’re Ivy’s husband. How fantastic. I hope you’ll reconsider coming to our wedding. We’d love to have you two as guests,” he says, trying to recover from the slight.

Like I care about niceties or his clout chasing. “Actually, I’d like to introduce you to Ivy’s boyfriend.”

Xander jerks his head to the side. “Wait. What?” He points at me. “I thought you were married to Ivy?”

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