Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Amy
I was up before the sun on Monday morning.
That wasn’t surprising since I'd gone to bed at eight o’clock last night. I'd spent my entire Sunday alternating between reading and watching movies. Oh, and I'd spent about two hours total texting back and forth with Wolfe and Rhys.
Although I had hoped to see them, I knew that it was for the best that I hadn’t.
We’d already been moving too fast, and I wanted time to let it all sink in.
To really sink in. The whole thing was surreal, and I still wasn’t sure how I felt about it.
Not only because there were three of us in this erotic triangle, either.
No, that wasn’t too difficult to handle. It felt right, for whatever reason.
My reluctance had more to do with the fact that I'd spent five years of my life under the thumb of a man who wanted to own me. Before him, I'd lived by my parents’ rules, as well as my aunt and uncle’s.
Making decisions for myself wasn’t something I'd had to do, and the truth was, despite my fear of coming face-to-face with a monster, I did like being on my own. I wasn’t sure I was ready to be at someone’s beck and call ever again.
But it was Monday and I had a job to do. No time to think about any of that.
When I arrived at the shop, Wolfe was already there, but no one else was.
“Mornin’,” he greeted from his position near a long, narrow table that looked to be almost completed. He appeared to be setting up the stain and varnish nearby.
“Morning,” I replied. “Do you always get here first?”
“Most of the time, yeah. Lynx doesn’t like to get out of bed. He says I’m lucky that he’s usually here by eight.”
“Should I make coffee yet? Do you drink it?”
“Most days, no. However, I slept for shit last night. I could use some, but you don’t have to make it. I can handle it.”
“I don’t mind.” I went to the coffee machine and got it all set up and brewing.
As I wiped down the counter, I turned to look at him.
I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to respond to him at work.
I didn’t think waltzing up to him and kissing him would be appropriate; however, I didn’t want to appear as though I was brushing him off, either.
Truth was, I wanted to kiss him. In fact, I wanted to spend all day and night kissing him and Rhys.
Maybe it made me a hussy to want two men, but there it was.
The situation was beyond confusing, but it felt right.
I wasn’t sure how I'd come to a point in my life when having two men want me and each other at the same time was even a thing, but that did seem to be the case, strange as it was.
Tucking my cell phone into my back pocket, I decided I would address the work situation now. That way I wouldn’t spend the rest of the day trying to figure it out.
Wolfe’s eyes trailed me as I moved toward him. It was almost as though I made him nervous. Big, badass Wolfe Caine. If that wasn’t an empowering feeling, I didn’t know what was.
“Is … uh … everything okay?” God, I hated the way my voice wobbled and my brain couldn’t connect the words together.
His dark eyebrows lowered. “What do you mean?”
“I … uh…” I tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear before slipping my hands into my pockets. Suck it up and spit it out. “I’m … uh … not sure how I’m supposed to react around you. You know … here. At work. I mean, you are my boss.” I looked up at him. “But you also kissed me.”
He smiled, his green eyes glittering. Clearly he remembered the kiss as well as I did.
“So, I just don’t want you to think I’m being weird. I don’t know how to act, and I’m here to do a job, so…”
Wolfe took a step closer. Then another.
I didn’t look away, craning my neck to look up at him the closer he got.
His palm grazed my cheek, his eyes scanning my face briefly. “I don’t know how to act, either, but I do know that I wanna kiss you again.”
“You do?” I wasn’t sure why I sounded so surprised.
Wolfe chuckled, the deep rumble of his voice making my insides vibrate.
“I definitely do.”
“Okay.” I continued to stare at him, waiting.
When his mouth met mine, I sighed. My hands instantly came out of my pockets, sliding to his hips as the kiss heated a degree or two, his tongue swiping into my mouth.
He tasted like toothpaste, smelled like sin.
Considering I wasn’t much of a morning person, I realized if I woke up to this every day, I'd start looking forward to dawn.
Unfortunately, the kiss didn’t last nearly long enough, but probably twice as long as it should have considering where we were.
Wolfe pressed his forehead to mine, his hand still cupping my neck, his thumb grazing my jaw. “I slept for shit because I couldn’t stop thinkin’ about you.” He sighed. “I missed you.”
Hearing those words coming from such a rough, tough …
well, for lack of a better word … badass nearly melted me.
I was pretty sure my heart did a triple Lutz in my chest from those three words.
It had been so long since I'd been around someone who showed any sort of affection for me.
Not since my aunt and uncle had anyone made me feel as though I mattered, as though I was worth caring about. As though I was wanted.
“I missed you, too,” I admitted.
The rough sound of someone clearing their throat resonated from behind me.
I jerked back from Wolfe, spinning to find Lynx standing just inside the doorway, a giant black-and-tan German shepherd sitting at his feet, tail thumping on the floor.
Unlike Saturday night, Lynx didn’t look grumpy.
Which was interesting considering Wolfe basically said Lynx wasn’t a morning person.
“Mornin’,” Wolfe greeted. “Don’t say a damn word.”
Lynx’s grin widened as though he were holding the words back with his smile alone.
“Come here, Copenhagen,” Wolfe called out.
I assumed he was talking to the dog, and sure enough, the beautiful animal peered up at Lynx, obviously for permission. Lynx used a finger to signal, and the dog trotted over to Wolfe, tail going ninety miles an hour.
“Amy, meet Cope. Cope, this is Amy.”
“He’s beautiful,” I mumbled, not meaning to say the words out loud.
“He’s too sweet for the likes of Lynx.”
I leaned down and stroked the dog’s big head. Copenhagen’s tongue darted out, but he didn’t lick me. He just looked like he wanted to.
“I’d say I’m the luckiest bastard on the face of the planet,” Lynx said from across the room. “But I’m thinkin’ Wolfe’s got me beat in that department.”
“Shut it,” Wolfe growled, standing to his full height once again.
Lynx’s shit-eating grin said more than any words could have. My face flamed from embarrassment, but I did my best not to acknowledge it.
“I smell coffee,” Lynx said, his eyes darting over to the coffeepot. It had just finished. “Hot damn. Amy, if I haven’t said it before, I fuckin’ love you, girl.”
“Okay, then,” I squeaked out. “I’ll … uh … just go upstairs and … uh … get to work.”
It took everything I had not to run.
Wolfe
By the time I had finished the table for one of our out-of-town customers and I was cleaning up, Lynx was already showing signs of unraveling for the day.
After he had waltzed in, downed two cups of coffee, and spewed a random bunch of nonsense, he and Copenhagen had started pacing the floor, which wasn’t uncommon.
The man’s restless energy was unprecedented.
My stomach rumbled, as though reminding me it was time to eat.
“We headin’ to the diner?” Lynx asked, his eyes straying up to the second floor, where Amy was tucked away in one of the offices.
“Yeah.” I wiped my hands on a rag. “Lemme get Amy and we’ll meet you over there.”
Lynx’s expression didn’t change, but there was something akin to understanding in his gaze. I hadn’t made a public claim on the woman yet, but I would if it came down to it. No matter what happened, she was off-limits to every damn person in this town. Except for me. And Rhys.
And okay, fine, maybe I couldn’t decide that for her, but if I had anything to say about it, she was ours.
It was a decision I'd come to on Sunday, when I'd spent the entire day wishing like hell I was with the two of them. I would’ve been content to sit on my ass at my house if they’d been there.
With that acknowledgment, I had come to the decision that I was playing for keeps with these two. No holds barred.
After a brief detour to wash my hands, I ventured upstairs and found Amy in our office, still slipping papers into file folders inside the cabinets that we’d bought for that reason.
Not a single thing had been filed since our previous office manager left, but now I could actually see the top of the oak desk. Huh. So that was how that worked.
I rapped my knuckles on the open door, then leaned my shoulder against the jamb. “You hungry? We’re headin’ over to the diner if you wanna join us.”
“Oh … uh…” She sat up straight. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“Lynx doesn’t bite,” I assured her. When she frowned, I continued, “And if he does, it’s not hard enough to leave a mark.”
That made her laugh, something I fucking loved to hear.
“Come on. Take a break. We’ll grab a bite, then come right back. All that shit’ll be here waitin’ for you.”
Amy seemed to contemplate her decision, then nodded. I immediately moved toward her to help her to her feet. Once she was standing, I found I couldn’t release her. Didn’t want to.
I slid one hand over her hair, which was pulled back in a ponytail—her signature style, obviously—then grazed the side of her face, still looking into her eyes.
“Why do you look at me like that?” she asked, her voice soft.
“Like what?”
“Like I mean something to you.”
I frowned. “Because you do.”
“You don’t even know me.”
No, I didn’t. “But I want to.”
And I would know her. Eventually. When she was ready.
I wasn’t known for my patience, but I could wait as long as this woman needed me to. I wasn’t going anywhere.