“Ethan told you that you didn’t have to choose with us.”
Adrianne’s eyes went round. “How did you know that?”
“Unlike Callan, who hooked up with you after being told to leave you alone, which is what they’re fighting over, Ethan texted us.”
Adrianne turned beet red. “He did?”
“It’s nothing to be ashamed about,” I said. “It’s the kind of communication that it takes to make this all work.”
She let go of my hand, turning so that she could look at me straight on. “What does that mean? Exactly?”
So Ethan didn’t actually explain anything, I thought.Typical.
“This wouldn’t be the first time we shared a woman,” I said.It wouldn’t even be the fourth time, I added in my head, but she didn’t quite need to know about every woman we took to bed for a weekend. The only one who ever mattered was Laura. “There was a woman, Laura Townsend, who we... fell in love with, I suppose.”
Adrianne tried to digest that. “Are the three of you—”
“No,” I said. “We’re not romantic with each other.”
“So, why do this?” she asked. At the very least, she wasn’t disgusted by the idea, so that was a positive. Mostly, she just seemed confused. “You’re all devastatingly good-looking.” I couldn’tnotsmirk at that, and she swatted my arm. “You know you are,” she said with a dainty sniff. “You could have anyone you wanted, all to yourself.”
She wasn’t wrong. “We’ve all had girlfriends in the past,” I said, trying to explain in a way that would make sense. “They’ve always ended badly, for one reason or another.”
“So, that’s why you date as a pack?”
I chuckled, but pack wasn’t the most inaccurate term I’d ever heard. “Not exactly,” I said. “We met Laura while we were serving in the Middle East. She was a field nurse, and we liked hanging out with her. One night, everything just... changed. Friendly conversation became flirtatious, and everything sort of fell into place with her. Together, we were better partners for her than we could have ever hoped to be on our own. It just made sense.”And it had been hot sharing her, I thought. Just like it had been hot watching Callan play with Adrianne on the way home tonight.
Adrianne was quiet for a moment while she processed what I’d said. “What happened to her? Why aren’t you with her now?” she asked after a while.
I knew she would ask that particular question, but it was still hard to hear.
“Laura died in an airstrike.” I said the words quickly, hoping that it would be like ripping off a bandage, but as soon as the words were out, my stomach twisted itself into a knot that refused to go away. “Ethan was with her at the end, but Cal and I had been sent on a different assignment. We didn’t even know until a few days later.”
“Oh, God.” Adrianne looked horrified. “I am so sorry.”
I nodded at her words, but they rang hollow in my ears. “When we found it was a friendly fire incident, we all finished out our contracts and didn’t re-up. We all kind of... fell apart. It took six months for Ethan to come to us about starting Mercado Security.”
She reached across and took hold of my hand again. “No one should lose a love like that,” she said. “I hate that you went through it.”
While her words were sincere, the ones she didn’t say are what struck me. Adrianne didn’t try to center herself in what I’d said. She didn’t ask me how she was meant to live up to Laura or any such trivial question that I would have expected a woman in her position to ask. How could a possible new lady love live up to a ghost?
But she didn’t ask. She simply offered comfort.
My heart thudded against my ribs as if to remind me that it was still there. I leaned into her and kissed her. Her lips were as soft as I imagined they would be, and the hitch in her breath was a melody to my ears. When Adrianne parted her lips, however, I pulled back. Her eyebrows knitted in confusion.
“What—”
I kissed the place where her eyebrows were pulled together. “If I kiss you the way I want to,” I explained, “I won’t want to stop, and the first time I take you isn’t going to be to the sound of Ethan and Cal fighting.”
As if to emphasize my point, their voices pitched all the higher.
“Should we go in there?” Adrianne asked. “Before they start throwing punches and breaking my furniture?”
“Unfortunately,” I said, “that’s probably a good idea.” Cal and Ethanprobablywouldn’t hit each other, but I also couldn’t guarantee that they wouldn’t. I held out my hand for her. She took it, and we went into the house.
“Should have fired your ass!”
I let go of Adrianne’s hand for a moment, motioning for her to stay put. I walked into the kitchen. “Are you two done yet?” I asked flatly. Ethan wheeled on me, all blazing eyes and flaring nostrils, and I held up a calming hand. “If you were going to fire Cal, you would have twenty minutes ago, so you can continue to scream at each other, or we could get some dinner.”