“Gooseberry,” Camden answered immediately. “Either that or Hazards.”
“Cool,” I grinned, squeezing Roderick’s hand one last time before letting go. “Any one but those.”
Forty-Seven
KARISSA
It was one of those legendary days you knew would always live in your memory, even before they were over. It was a jewel among afternoons. A diamond among evenings.
And it wasn’t nearly over yet.
Bryce jumped straight from his shower into a pair of board shorts, and I took the stall before he’d even turned the water off. It seemed sort of counterproductive, getting clean only so I could jump into the ocean, but my sweaty run home had left me little choice.
There was total solidarity in that we needed a beach day, and we enjoyed it to the fullest. We swam in the rough Rhode Island surf, splashing each other and fighting the undertow. We played frisbee. We built a sandcastle. We ate hot dogs and chased them down with snow cones, running across hot sand to reach the ice cream man parked on the other side of the boardwalk.
Between all those activities we stretched out on our blankets, soaking up the sun. Staring up through our sunglasses at the flawless blue sky, talking about everything and nothing, alternating between deep conversation and occasionally dozing off into well-deserved naps.
By the time the sun kissed the horizon we were packed up and ready to go, as well as starving for some actual food. Roderick knew a seafood shack a few blocks away, and after a few drinks at the bar we were breaking into crab legs and cracking open rich, buttery lobster. We devoured the craziest appetizers. Shared the most decadent desserts. We took our sweet time huddled around our little table, toasting the day with cold beer and laughing away the last of our worries until they practically closed the shack down around us.
“Home?” asked Camden, jumping behind the wheel.
“And showers,” I chimed in.
“We showered outside,” Bryce nodded, alongside Roderick. “You should’ve done the same.”
“I did do the same,” I said smugly. “But I’m a girl, and a girl gets sand in places that guys most certainly do not.”
“Oh.”
My laugher was so pure and natural I wondered if I’d ever laughed like this in my life. I’d certainly never felt this happy. This totally connected to someone, much less three someones.
“You shower up then,” said Camden. “Use that weird-looking sponge thing and—”
“My loofah?”
“—and those fruity-smelling body washes.”
“You love those fruity-smelling body washes,” I teased. Then, as his brows crossed: “Well… one of you does, anyway,” I shrugged innocently. “It’s not always easy to keep track.”
“I’ll bet,” Bryce grinned.
I sighed happily from the back seat, throwing an arm around Bryce while absently twirling a lock of Roderick’s hair. “All a girl can do is try.”
The ride home was a heady mix of kissing and touching, of lazy caresses and skin on skin. I was fully in heat before it was finished. Revved up and ready to go, especially since the guys had touched me everywhere except the places I really wanted them to.
“Meet us in the garden,” Roderick said as I headed up to shower. “I know we’ve been outside all day, but it’s too beautiful a night to be inside.”
I showered for a good long while, washing the salt from my skin. Trading the scent of the sea in my hair for citrus, and scrubbing myself delectably clean. It had been a special day, and it was bound to be an even more special night. The guys were amped up already. I could feel the building charge of their sexual energy in the air.
So you love Bryce…
June’s words echoed in my mind. The question had been unexpected. But I’d answered it so quickly, so easily.
I love all of them.
The truth shouldn’t have been surprising, especially since I’d known long before now. I’d loved these men for some time now. As employers. As friends. But also… as so much more.
And now? Now they weren’t just my lovers, they were my mates as well. They were protective of me. Caring and attentive. Self-sacrificing, and connected in ways that were just as emotionally intimate as we were physical. Maybe even more so.
I thought they felt the same way, but I had to know. It needed to be said, it needed to be declared out loud.
I needed them all on the same page as me.
Twisting the spigot closed, I wrung the water from my hair and stepped from the shower stall. The mirror was a wall of steam. I swiped it clean with one hand and stared back at myself blankly.
Do you really want this?
Yes. Of course I did! In fact, I wanted it with all my heart.
Then take it.
A warmth washed over me, even after the hot shower. I dropped the towel and stared at the curves of my starkly naked body. It was a soft, womanly body. One the guys had held, had ravished, had made love to.
God…
It was a body I wanted nothing more than to give over to them, fully and completely. The men I loved.
“Damn right you love them,” I murmured, before spinning off to do exactly that.
Forty-Eight
RODERICK
We were in the center of the garden, standing around the newly-restored fountain when she arrived. The clink of our wine glasses being set down on the polished granite split the silence.
“Damn.”
Bryce said it like a swear word, drawing it out slowly. And that’s because Karissa looked utterly gorgeous.
“Got one of those for me, I hope?”
Camden handed her the fourth glass, already poured. He held it out a little clumsily, because like the rest of us our eyes were glued to her body.
“Thank you.”
She sauntered over in a flowing silk robe that glowed red in the moonlight. The shimmering material was split up the side to show off her long, beautiful legs.
“Are we toasting anything?” she asked.
There was a hint of black down there too, as she walked. A garter belt maybe, or some stockings. Or both.
“Should we toast
