Jace’s teeth clenched, but he forced himself to look unaffected. None of this was Andre’s fault. The guy had only done what the two of them always did—shared a woman without concerns about jealousy. Jace kept his tone relaxed. “Yeah, well, tough to sleep when you’re too busy screwing.”
Andre turned around and sipped his coffee. “No kidding, she’s got some stamina, that one. Man, so fucking hot. The way she—”
Red clouded Jace’s vision as fuming heat flooded his system. He slammed his cup down on the counter. “I don’t need a goddamned play-by-play, asshole.”
Andre smirked. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
The smug tone made Jace’s fists curl. He’d never punched a friend, but there was a first time for everything.
Andre nodded in his direction. “You can stop plotting my murder. I’m just proving a point.”
Jace barely heard him over the angry buzzing in his brain. “What the hell are you talking about?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t do anything with Evan—well, besides kissing her. She was reluctant to go further without talking to you first, and I wasn’t going to go down that road if she didn’t feel ready.”
“Oh.”
Oh. Jace’s chest shouldn’t have puffed up, shouldn’t have filled with a rush of relief and . . . satisfaction. He couldn’t stop the idiotic smile that crept to his lips, so he tried to cover it by picking up his mug again and taking a swig of scalding coffee.
“Un-fucking-believable,” Andre said, shaking his head. “Don’t do this, man. Not with her.”
Jace opened his mouth to ask him what that was supposed to mean, but Andre raised a hand to halt him.
“Look, I’m not blind, okay? You’re broadcasting ‘mine’ vibes with a damn bullhorn. This girl means something to you. I get it. And it’s good to see you still have that in you. But this is not the girl to do that with. No matter what happens this weekend, you need to remember she’s not yours, mine, or ours.”
Jace made a dismissive snort, even though Andre’s words dug right beneath his skin. “I’m well aware of who she belongs to.”
“Uh-huh.” Andre gave him a narrow look and then walked around the island to slide onto a barstool on the other side. “That’s why you’re all of a sudden looking at me like I’m the enemy?”
Jace blew out a long breath, realizing that trying to bullshit Andre was like trying to punk the CIA. “Look, I’ll be fine, all right. I just need to get back to what we do best. No more one-on-one.”
“That’s the smartest thing you’ve said since we got here. Now just don’t try to tackle me the first time I touch her. Because I am going to touch her, Jace. She may have developed some sense of loyalty to you, but you’re not the only one she’s attracted to.”
The smooth assurance in Andre’s voice had Jace’s jaw tightening again, but he gave him a quick nod. “I’m—”
“Please tell me that’s coffee I smell,” said a hoarse voice, halting further conversation.
Both of them turned to see Evan pad barefoot into the kitchen, looking rumpled and oh so tempting in Jace’s shirt.
Jace handed her a mug, determined to prove to Andre—and himself—that he could move past whatever had come over him and make this simply another fun, relaxing weekend with a hot woman. “Good morning, sunshine. Sounds like you swallowed a mouthful of gravel.”
She took the cup from him and pushed up on her tiptoes, surprising him with a soft kiss, then a saucy smile. “I swallowed something for sure.”
Andre chuckled. “Ten seconds.”
Both Jace and Evan turned toward him. She lifted a brow. “What’s that?”
“The amount of time you need to be in the room before all my blood rushes south.”
She laughed, an open and unashamed sound that did indeed make Jace’s cock begin to stiffen. Yesterday, Evan had been unsure, cautious, but now the vixen he’d gotten a glimpse of in his room last night was emerging. They were making her feel safe—free to be herself. The transformation gave Jace some weird twinge of pride.
She looked up at him, those blue eyes and her palm against his bare chest making him forget his train of thought. “I want to kiss Andre, too. You okay with that?”
Choking back the fuck no that first jumped to his lips was like swallowing broken glass, but he covered it with a casual shrug. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Some unreadable expression flickered over her features, but then she mirrored his shrug. “No reason. I guess I’m still figuring out the protocol of this whole thing.”
He smirked. “I appreciate your diligence, babe, but I already told you I don’t care what you do with Andre—kiss, fuck. Him. Me. Both of us at the same time. That’s the beauty of ménage. We’re all just here to have a good time.”r: Roni Loren