“I vote to get dinner.” We all turned to see Adrianne in the doorway between the living room and kitchen. “I didn’t really get a lunch break today.”
I looked at Ethan. “She didn’teat?”
Our fearless leader had the decency to look ashamed. “We got a little distracted during her break,” he said.
Callan scoffed. “Fucking hypocrite.”
“Enough!” Adrianne’s voice rang out across the kitchen, and we all jerked. “I won’t have you fighting like this.” She stormed into the room and didn’t stop until she stood between all of us. “Ethan, if you’re mad that Callan and I slept together, you’re going to have to be as mad at me as you are at him, okay?” She whirled on Callan. “And you have no reason to be upset that he’s mad at you for disobeying an order. You were in the Navy. You know how it’s supposed to go.” She smiled at him. “Not that I’m exactly upset that you broke ranks.”
I sidled up beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist. “Well said,” I told her, and she leaned into me. Ethan and Callan stared at us, and I could practically hear their thoughts. Was she okay with all of this? “We need to talk,” I said.
* * *
We settledon Chinese takeout and ate it in Adrianne’s cozy living room. She was curled into my side, eating beef and broccoli straight out of the takeout box. On her far side, Callan was digging into his own dinner. His hand absently played up and down her calf as he ate. I offered her a bite of shrimp, and she took it off my fork with her teeth. She smiled around the bite. “Thank you.”
Anything for you to look at me like that, I thought. I glanced up and caught the slightly forlorn look on Ethan’s face. He had sat himself on the other side of the room in her recliner. He hadn’t said much since Adrianne’s dressing down earlier. I leaned in and said directly into her ear, “Why don’t you go offer Ethan a bite?” She glanced at me, eyebrow raised, and I nodded.
Adrianne climbed off the couch and crossed the room. Ethan watched her with an equal mix of wariness and want on his face. She didn’t stop to ask permission but simply climbed into his lap. She scooped out a mixture of rice and steak and held it out to him. He took the offered bite, eyes never leaving her face. “It’s good, right?” she asked.
He nodded. “Delicious,” he agreed, but I knew that he wasn’t talking about the food. Ethan plucked the carton from her hand and deposited on the coffee table, careful not to displace her in the slightest. One of his massive hands slid up her back and cupped the back of her neck, pulling her down for a kiss.
Although Ethan, Callan, and I had been in this situation before, I waited to feel jealous. I waited to get upset that the woman I find so intriguing and so goddamn beautiful was in the arms of one of my best friends.
But it didn’t happen.
Instead, seeing Ethan take control of the kiss and dominate her mouth was just... hot. Especially when Adrianne so obviously enjoyed it. She melted into him.
After a moment, Adrianne pulled back, a smile curving her mouth. She readjusted herself on Ethan’s lap so that her back was pressed against his chest.
“You said we needed to talk," Callan pointed out, glancing my way. “Let's talk.”
“I told Adrianne about Laura.” The silence that followed was deafening. Ethan didn't look like he was breathing, and I saw Adrianne pet his arm in a soothing way. “She needed to know.”
“Why?” Callan asked.
“Because I needed to understand,” Adrianne said gently. “I needed to know that this was possible.” She gestured at all of us. “Ethan told me that I didn't have to choose, but I truly didn’t believe it.” She patted Ethan again. “I hate what happened to her, and what happened to you all. I can’t and won’t replace her, but...” She took a breath.Come on, baby, you're doing so well,I thought. “But I find myself insanely attracted to you all, and I want to see where it goes. If you all do too.”
We all sat motionless for a moment, and then Callan was up and across the room. Without removing her from Ethan’s lap, he bent and slanted his mouth over hers. The kiss went on and on until he all but wrenched himself away.
Callan looked back at me. “Foster?”
I stood and crossed the room as well. Adrianne turned her face upward in offering to mine, and there wasn’t any way that I could reject such a request. I kissed her just as softly and chastely as I had on the porch. She was frowning when I pulled back.
“Soon,” I told her with a wink. “I think someone has an apology to make for being an ass. Right, Ethan?”
He flipped me off but turned her to him again and tugged her into a kiss that had soft sounds leaking from her throat. “Let’s go upstairs,” he suggested, and she nodded eagerly.
I nudged Callan. “Clean-up duty tonight,” I told him. Normally, Cal would bitch about having to do dishes, but tonight, he smiled. I felt lighter than I had in a long while. Life wasn’t always fair to any of us, but this felt like the beginning of something really good.
8
ADRIANNE
The sunshine filtering through the curtains woke me before the alarm, and a smile curled my lips before I even opened my eyes. I was tucked against a mountain of warm muscle. I cracked an eyelid and looked at the sleeping man in my bed.
Ethan looked younger in his sleep. I reached out and ran a finger down the bridge of his nose. There was the slightest scar there. I’d found it a few days ago, and I’d been obsessed ever since.
“Woman, I swear to God.” He opened his eyes and tried to glare at me, but the smirk killed it.