“It’s not like we have anywhere else to go.” She shrugged. “I already told Kate I would accept her job offer, and the Powertools will be using this place as a showroom for their tiny home offerings starting next month.”
“But that’s not the only reason, right?” Nolan hated the doubt he couldn’t fully erase. He wanted Laurel and Jace in his life, permanently. But he couldn’t be on the outside looking in forever or he’d never survive.
“Of course not.” Laurel grinned as she shoved him lightly. “I’m teasing about that last part. Didn’t you know, being an agent for the Shields is a good gig if you can get it? I’m pretty sure I don’t need to work for the next five years, if I don’t feel like it. And I might actually take some time off once Kate is back from maternity leave if I end up going to school. Ms. Rodriguez, the director at Tom’s shelter, said she’d be happy to write a reference letter for me if I want to apply to the social work program at the community college here. With the experience I’m getting during my volunteering there, and her backing, she thinks I have a good shot at getting accepted. No matter what, we’re not going far. And I could hire James’s husband and wife to build me a whole village of tiny homes without putting a dent in our bank account.”
“Good point.” Jace smirked. “And that’s even before we count the advance Kason is giving me since he signed me as a permanent member of his studio band.”
“He did?” Nolan hugged them. “That’s great news. Both of you. You deserve it. Laurel, you can change the world. Jace, you make Kason sound even better.”
“Thanks.” He smiled, and for the first time since Nolan had met him, it felt like it reached all the way to his soul. The man was content, some of the anxious edge fading away. Though he was still plenty sexy in his bad-boy rocker sort of way. “I believe this is where we were meant to end up, what we’re meant to be doing. But none of it matters without you. As awesome as a custom tiny home from the Powertools would be, none of those places would come with a smoking, bisexual assassin with a big dick and perfect hair like you.”
Nolan laughed at that, or started to until his body told him it wasn’t the greatest of ideas. Despite the stiffness in his torso, he was glad Jace and Laurel hugged him to keep him next to them in bed when he felt like he could float away at any moment. Could this really be true? Could he have what he’d been too afraid to dream of?
“There was one other thing that happened while you were out of it that you should probably know about.” Laurel rolled up the sleeve of her pajama shirt, which he realized was one of his button-downs. It swallowed her, but it touched him that she’d wanted to be wrapped in his scent when he’d been out of it.
Jace didn’t bother with subtlety. Instead he whipped his long-sleeve T-shirt over his head, making Nolan very aware that they were cuddled up in their bed and that the aftereffects of the buckets of adrenaline his body had produced during the raid hadn’t quite worn off.
Jace and Laurel lined their arms up so he could see the tattoos they’d gotten of each other’s names. And there, above each of theirs, was his own. A heart with a dagger through it replaced the o in Nolan, making him sure they fully accepted both his profession along with their relationship being something real and lasting.
“Holy shit.” He licked his finger and scrubbed it across the bright blue fading to navy on Jace’s skin, but it didn’t come off. It was the real deal. He was part of them and they had claimed him, right there for everyone to see.
Laurel cracked up. “It’s not temporary, Nolan. Blakely made a quick house call for us.”
Whether she was talking about the artwork or their relationship, he figured it was true for both.
He reached for them, dragging them to his chest and crushing them with his shaking arms, aches and pains be damned. “I love you too. Both of you.”
Nolan would have said more, but Jace’s mouth was there, kissing him with less urgency and more finesse than usual, as if he knew they had eternity and didn’t have to rush anymore. His gaze was steady when it met Nolan’s before he broke the kiss so Laurel could have a turn. She was sweet and gentle, though no less determined than Jace.
Nolan had never been surer of anything. He’d found his home. Here, between them.
“When I thought we’d lost you…” Laurel’s whisper cracked, shredding Nolan’s heart along with it.
“Shh. You didn’t. Not this time. I can’t promise you won’t ever though. Are you sure you want to sign up for that?” Nolan knew this could be the part of him they couldn’t accept. And he wouldn’t blame them. Was he willing to give it all up to stay with them?
Yeah, he would if that’s what it took to have his soulmates.
Jace took Nolan’s chin in his hand and angled his face so he couldn’t ignore the truth blazing in the other man’s eyes. “We love you for who you are. For your heart and your sense of what’s right.”
“For fighting for those who can’t do it for themselves,” Laurel added, touching her hand to his chest over his heart. “We would never ask you to change for us.”
“Oh. Okay then.” Nolan was sure he should have come up with something better than that to say when they eased every doubt he’d ever had about finding not only one but two incredible people to share his bed and his life with. He knew in that moment that they were a set, never to be broken apart.
“So to celebrate, I think you should let us love you,” Laurel murmured, already flicking the buttons on her top open one by one.
“I’m not going to argue.” Nolan sighed. “Except…I hope you don’t mind if I’m kind of lazy about it.”
Jace snorted. “I’m surprised you can get hard at all.”
“That’s not a problem.” Nolan looked at his two lovers then down at his steely cock. With them touching him, telling him everything he’d ever wished for was within reach, it had refused to lie dormant.
“Then lie there and let us take care of you for once.” Laurel kissed him languidly as Jace carefully removed Nolan’s sweats.
Finally, there was only skin on skin on skin.
Slow movements and lots of long, sensual kisses. Caresses and sighs.
No sense of urgency. They had an entire lifetime to love each other. Again and again.
Nolan had no idea how many hours they spent like that, locked together, simply soaking up the positive energy and endless pleasure they could bring each other. But eventually he needed more.
From where he rested on his side, Laurel in front of him and Jace spooning him, he shifted and his cock tipped upward. Instead of sliding between Laurel’s thighs, where she’d been cradling him, he pressed the barest bit inside.
“Mmm. Yes.” Laurel adjusted the angle of her hips to fit him more completely within her.
Distracted by her tight heat, Nolan didn’t realize Jace had retrieved the lube from somewhere and slathered his fingers with it until they began to search around his ass.
Nolan groaned.
“Is this okay?” Jace asked.
“Dying for you to fuck me,” Nolan admitted. “I want to be between you two. Buried in her and impaled on your cock.”