“I love you,” I murmur against his skin, feeling the way his heart speeds up, the pulse in his throat fluttering faster.
“You don’t think it’s too fast?” he asks, a slight tremble in his voice.
“Too fast for who?” I brush my nose against his jaw. “Is it too fast for you? Because I can pump the brakes if it is. But if you mean that it’s too fast for some arbitrary societal standard, sorry, but I couldn’t give less of a fuck about that if I tried.”
Hawthorne barks out a laugh. “He’s right. Fuck what anyone else thinks.”
Bowen nods and turns his face toward me. I can see a million things dancing in his eyes—worries and hopes, lust and everything deeper and more real, a past he’s shared with Hawthorne and the future the three of us might be able to build together.
“I love you too,” he finally whispers before pressing his lips to mine in a slow, heady kiss.
When we part, I rest my forehead against his and squeeze Hawthorne’s hand, still clutched in mine.
“I love Thorne too,” I tell him, holding my breath in case that’s a step too far. He’s loved the man for most of his life. It might be too much to realize that things are real between us too.
Bowen smiles slowly and bumps his nose against mine, brushing one more kiss to my lips before turning to kiss Hawthorne as well.
“So we’re really doing this?” Thorne asks. “The three of us, in love, building a life together?”
Bowen nods and then looks at me again. “We really are going to need a bigger shower though. Probably a bigger house altogether.”
“Seconded,” I agree.
“Okay, but first, let’s finish watching this movie,” Thorne says.
The two of us laugh and settle in again to enjoy the ridiculous movie, but mainly just enjoy each other’s company.
* * *
HAWTHORNE
On our way home, we stop for late-night burgers. By the time we get back to the house, it’s late, and we’re all full and sleepy. It’s not even a question anymore of whether I’ll crawl into bed with them.
I strip out of my clothes while the two of them share the sink in the bathroom to brush their teeth. Just like always, they seem incapable of occupying the same space without sharing casual touches and sweet looks. I wait for the niggle of jealousy to return as Aldis rinses his mouth and then presses a smacking kiss against Bowen’s cheek, but it doesn’t come. All I feel is content and right, straight down to my core.
There’s no competition between us—well, other than at the gym or while climbing because dude needs to be taken down a few notches. But when it comes to this, to us, there’s enough of Bowen’s heart to go around, and enough of our hearts too.
Aldis looks over at me, that same sweet, heated look full of affection and promises of the future trained on me now. He shoots me a wink, and I smile back.
“I think it’s Thorne’s turn to be the middle spoon tonight,” Aldis says as the three of us start climbing into bed.
I don’t argue, even though I’m sure I’ll be overheating in a matter of minutes. They wrap themselves around me from either side, and I sigh with contentment. This is what I was missing with Jess and everyone who came before her, this feeling right here.
“Did you guys mean it about the bigger house?” Aldis asks once we’re all settled, their limbs draped over me, all of us tangled together in a messy, perfect heap.
“Yeah. We talked about it a little already. Maybe not right away, but it’s something worth figuring out, right?” I ask.
“Something with an extra room that we can make your office,” Bowen adds.
“And a big shower, of course.” I yawn.
“That sounds perfect. I want you both to know that I’m all in. I love you both, and I’m excited to see what kind of life the three of us can build together.”
“We’ll pack your shit up in our trucks this weekend and get you all moved in,” I say.
“Okay,” he agrees, and I can hear the smile in his voice.
“I love you,” Bowen whispers. To Aldis? To me? Maybe to both of us. Either way, we both say it back before the three of us slowly drift to sleep. I don’t know about them, but I dream of the future and sleep through the night like a baby.
Chapter Nineteen
Bowen
As I bring another box into the house, I pause and look at the mess. A mess of boxes has only brought a smile to my face one other time, when Hawthorne and I were moving in together. Now Aldis is here.
It’s happened so fast, but just like with Thorne, I knew early on the connection was different and worth pursuing. Now we’re about to make a household of three work. For now. We’ll definitely need to upgrade our house because fuck knows I need a shower all three of us can easily fit in.
Aldis hauls in another box before digging into it and producing a laptop. He carries it over to the small desk we put in the living room for him, kissing my cheek as he passes, and plugs it in.
“Gotta get it charged up for the inevitable onslaught of emails I’ll get tonight.”
“All work and no play…” I tease.
“Oh, I’ll be playing later. Don’t worry about that. In fact, I see some hot tub time in our future.”
“We’ll need a good soak after this,” Hawthorne says, depositing another stack of boxes. “How many books do you have again?”
Aldis barks out a laugh, putting his hands on his hips. “I tried to warn you guys, but you didn’t take it seriously.”
“Clearly, we fucked up,” Thorne says with a grin. “Worth the back-breaking effort though.”
Aldis gifts us with a warm smile. “I’m very happy.”
“So are we,” I add.
A few hours pass before we’ve got all his things moved in and the necessities unpacked. I found room in my closet for his clothes since I have the bigger one and most of my clothes go in the dresser, given the work I do.
We collapse on the couch with beer and pizza ready to go, but I almost can’t eat. The excitement and happiness buzzing through me right now are overwhelming to the point I could probably cry. I won’t, but I totally could.
Thorne seems to understand what I feel as he reaches out to rub my back. “I know, babe. It’s exciting, isn’t it?”
Nodding, I blink rapidly to dry my eyes. “I just didn’t know I could be this happy.”
Aldis leans to his side, bumping our arms together. “Same. I’m so thankful I hunted you down in the gym that day.”
I snort a laugh. “Even though I swiped right?”
“Ha, that’s right,” Thorne says.
“Oh yeah,” Aldis says. “I’m making my move on you just as you swipe right on my picture on Grindr. I never did press you to tell me why I wasn’t appealing to you that day.”
I shrug, feeling my cheeks burn hot. “Honestly, I was just fucking around and scrolling. It made me feel like I was at least trying to get over Thorne. Little did I know what would come of a hookup with a hot guy at the gym.”
“We were meant for this,” Thorne says, a suddenly serious tone to his voice. “I believe that. Bowen and I would’ve just danced around each other for years. I would’ve kept forcing relationships with women, and he would’ve kept pretending not to have feelings for me. We needed you to step in and bring all of this to the surface. We needed you to see what we could have together.” He smiles, his eyes locked on Aldis. “Now we have more than we ever could’ve hoped for.”