5. Goldyn
Did I fall asleep and wake up in the Twilight Zone?
That question was the only one in my head as I looked around the dining room table at the family-style feast the guys had whipped up in less than an hour.
It made me believe they’d done it often and I was just witnessing their daily coexistence.
After talking me into staying for breakfast, Romeo disappeared upstairs to shower while Lorenzo and Sincere guided me back to the living room, gave me a remote and told me to watch whatever I wanted while they made a “quick” breakfast.
When Rome reappeared, he surprised me by walking right over to where I sat and kneeling in front of me. “How did you sleep?”
His quiet voice was so deep, it sent chills scattering over my skin.
“Good,” I answered as his eyes swept over my face, clueing me in to the fact that he was physically examining me to make sure the tea didn’t have any dramatic lasting effects.
“Did you wake up after your shower during the night?”
“No, I slept straight through to morning.”
Romeo nodded.
“I’m just checking your pupils,” he said by way of explanation as he moved in closer.
I didn’t exhale until he backed up.
“Dreams?”
“Yes. Very vivid dreams actually,” I said.
“And how do you feel now? Sluggish? Confused?”
“I feel great.” It was the truth. I’d gotten the best sleep of my life and my mind was as clear as it’d been in a while.
“Good,” he responded curtly before standing to vacate my personal space.
Just as abrupt as it started, the exchange was over, and Romeo walked into the kitchen without another word.
Now, I stared wide-eyed at my full plate after Sincere passed me yet another dish. This one was laden with muffins.
“Here you go, love. Have a muffin,” he offered gently, moving to put one on my plate when I didn’t reach for it quick enough.
My plate was already full and now I had a comically large muffin hanging off the side of it. I was going to be bursting at the seams whenever I pushed away from this table. But Sincere’s soft-spoken nature wouldn’t allow me to tell him no. Especially when I knew he’d made them.
“Take as many as you want,” he offered, his kind eyes shining.
Something dawned on me then.
Oh, God.
Were they feeding me because they thought I didn’t have food? That I’d broken in and eaten because I didn’t have food at home?
“It’s lemon blueberry,” Sincere added, oblivious to my spiraling thoughts.
Those words triggered another thought and my mind detoured from its embarrassing track to the dessert I inhaled last night.
“Did you make the blueberry cookies on the counter too?”
He paused and looked at me with a subtle lift of his lips. “Yes. Why?”
“No reason.” I cleared my throat. “I tried them yesterday. That’s all.”
He set the plate of muffins down and his smile bloomed. “Did you like them?”
“Yes. They were amazing. I’ve never had a blueberry cookie before.” My mouth watered just thinking about them, but then the heat of embarrassment flushed my cheeks when I remembered what I did after eating them.
“I’m happy you liked them, love,” Sincere said quietly, his expression unreadable as he picked up his fork to eat again.
“Sin is the best baker I know,” Lorenzo chimed in, casting a loving glance at his husband. “But Rome and I are the only ones who ever get to try his stuff because he won’t put himself out there.”
It was clear there was more to it, but I wouldn’t be the one to pry.
A companionable silence fell on the dining room as we went back to stuffing our faces. The only sounds were of forks clattering against porcelain and the occasional thump of a plate being returned to the center of the table after someone took more of what they wanted.
Sincere and Lorenzo sat opposite me and Romeo, giving me a front row view of all their sweet touches and soft murmurs. Even if Sincere hadn’t told me they were married last night, there’d be no doubt in my mind after sharing this meal with them.
Which led my musings to wander in a different direction. Where did Romeo fit into all of this?
Was he just their best friend or had I broken in to the home of a tr?—
“What’s on your mind, mamas?” Lorenzo’s cool voice snapped me out of my thoughts. “Looks like you have questions.”
When I glimpsed his face, I found nothing but an inviting smile.
I bit my lip, thought of how to phrase my curiosity and then just went with the straightforward approach. “So, what is your dynamic? Are all three of you in a relationship?”
Romeo cleared his throat.
Lorenzo raised an amused brow.
And Sincere, who was quickly becoming my favorite, actually answered, “Something like that. It’s…unconventional. Technically, only Enzo and I are married. But we’re nothing without Rome. We’ve been inseparable since college and just because we’re not together in that way doesn’t mean I love him any less. I still consider him my partner, one of my soulmates, and so does Enzo. We go where he goes. Which is why we’re currently living up here in the mountains. He wanted to live here while he got his herbal apothecary off the ground. We were out celebrating the two-year anniversary last night.” A fond smile touched his lips when he looked over at Rome and then back at me.
“I see.” I didn’t. Not really. But like he said, it was unconventional and therefore, really none of my business. They didn’t even owe me an answer to that question, but my curiosity thanked them anyway.
“Most people don’t get it. Think we’re some sick codependent freaks, but…” he trailed and I dropped my fork to cut in.
“Fuck what other people think. It doesn’t matter if they understand it as long as the three of you do. What you have sounds…special.” My voice dipped and I ignored the longing trying to form a catch in my throat. I couldn’t imagine going through life having one—let alone, two —partners I knew would be beside me through thick and thin. By design, my life had been a solo one for the past three years. I was tired of it. Hence, why I’d been in Bliss Peak for so long. It was time for me to put down roots, but I doubted they’d ever be as strong and interwoven as the ones these three had grown. I toyed with the end of my fork, the gold blurring as my eyes grew misty.
A sad smile lifted my lips and I reached for my orange juice. I didn’t make eye contact with any of them again until I knew the annoying moisture in my eyes had subsided. “I hope you cherish that.”
“We do,” Enzo and Sincere said in unison. Romeo just gave me a sidelong look before lifting another piece of bacon to his lips.
“So what do you do if you’re not a baker?” I asked conversationally.
“I take care of them,” Sincere answered without missing a beat. There wasn’t a hint of resentment or regret in his tone and the genuine smile that followed made me smile.
“Oh.”
“Rome stays busy creating and testing products. And Lorenzo is always in the middle of ten meetings at once. They work hard as fuck and I like knowing they’re good, even when they forget to be good to themselves.”
“You’re their center.”
His brilliant smile brightened even more and I couldn’t help but notice how straight his white teeth were. The man was criminally easy on the eyes with the most soothing energy to match. “I’ve never thought of it that way, but yea, I guess I am.”
The rest of breakfast was pretty quiet. I didn’t eat anything else, but I couldn’t pull myself away from the table. I was too enraptured by their familiar dynamic. The way they finished each other’s sentences. The way they refilled each other’s drinks. The way Romeo got up and cleared everyone’s plates without a word, and the way Enzo thanked Sincere for making breakfast with the most tender kiss I’d ever seen before he got up to answer a call.
My mind was so caught up in everything they were that I forgot everything I wasn’t. Well, almost.
Until Sincere cleared his throat and I came to the realization that it was just the two of us in the dining room now. I’d been zoned out and he was watching me with a playful smile. “You aight, love?”
Honestly ? No, I wasn’t okay when he called me love and looked at me like that.
And that was how I knew I needed to get the hell out of dodge. This man was very happily married and I was sitting here all giddy and flustered from a friendly smile. He was not flirting, yet my synapses weren’t firing the way I needed them to, so that message got lost in translation. “Yep, perfect. I should be going.”
Sincere nodded, his gaze still locked on mine. “Enzo has a meeting and I need to call our supplier to get the window fixed, so Rome is going to drive you back into town before he heads to his shop. Is that okay?”
Call our supplier to get the window fixed . I gulped as guilt speared through me. Those words were the exact reminder I needed about my place in all…this. I was an intruder. I didn’t belong here. And the sooner I got that through my head, the better.
It didn’t matter how nice they’d been to me or how good it had felt to feel like I was a part of something. This wasn’t real and I needed to go .
Patiently, Sincere waited for my approval, genuine interest shining in his brown eyes as he waited for my response.
“Sounds good,” I managed tightly, hating the lump in my throat. “Thanks again…for everything. You really didn’t have to.”
“It was my pleasure, Goldyn.” He hesitated like he wanted to say something else, but thought better of it at the last minute. Then he stood, rapped his knuckles against the solid wood table and disappeared.
A sense of loss washed over me the second he was gone. I looked around the dining room like someone who’d just been left at a party where they knew no-one. I needed to leave…if for no other reason than to get away from this feeling invading my senses.
The feeling of being alone in a space where everyone else felt welcomed. Of being the spare. Of being here because I was tolerated and not actually wanted.
Everything in me told me to run. So that’s what I did.
I pushed my chair away from the table, grabbed my purse from the arm of the couch and tried to walk out of the front door for the second time that morning.
This time I didn’t even make it to the door before Romeo’s presence at my back stopped me in my tracks. He hadn’t said a word and his energy alone had made me freeze in place.
“Trying to escape again, thief?”
“Not escaping, just getting out of the way.”
Something in my tone must have been cold enough for him to drop it because all he did was grab a set of keys from the brass hook on the wall.
“Let’s go,” he said gruffly, and left me with no choice but to follow him out the front door, down the stairs and to a violet BMW M4 I hadn’t seen last night.
Romeo opened the passenger door for me, waited for me to get inside and then closed it before walking over to the driver’s side. I observed his confident gait as he walked and gulped when he sat in the car beside me.
His earthy, masculine scent clung to everything inside the vehicle and made me feel surrounded by him on all sides.
How did that simultaneously rile me up and calm me down? It didn’t make sense.
God, his jawline was sharp enough to chip ice. I was sure of it as I watched the muscle at the base tick. Unlike Sincere and Enzo’s low-cut Caesars, Romeo’s hair was long on top and tapered short on the sides. And he was so fine, it broke my brain a little bit.
Forcing my eyes away from his profile, I took in the pristine interior of his car. Nothing was out of place and there was even an oil diffuser in the center console, emitting mist as he expertly found his way through the woods and back to a main road.
When we did reach the road, I squinted, realizing we were on a completely different side of the mountain than where I started yesterday.
“Where am I taking you?” he finally asked.
“The library across from the farmer’s market is fine.”
He didn’t bother responding and we rode in silence for fifteen minutes until…
“I’m sorry for what I said about your parents. I didn’t know?—”
“It’s all good,” I said, waving him off.
“No, it’s not. I shouldn’t have been rude to you. I’m just a creature of habit and I don’t?—”
“Like disruptions to your routine.”
He cut me a glance, his jaw flexing as he nodded. “Yea. That.”
“I get it.”
More silence loomed and I occupied myself with staring out the window at the jagged rocks jutting out from the mountain, closest to the street. Rome handled the curves on the road with ease I was still trying to learn. It was nerve-racking getting adjusted to the narrow lanes and ever-winding roads. Especially when you drove a van as old as mine with questionable power steering.
“Congrats on your two year anniversary.” I didn’t know why, but I wanted to talk to him, hear his voice a few more times, before we said goodbye.
“Thanks,” was all he said. But his jaw wasn’t clenched anymore and I took that as a sign to continue the conversation.
“What’s the name of your shop?”
“Soulstice Apothecary.”
A gasp left my throat. “ Oh , I’ve been there! You make my favorite hibiscus tea blend.”
I tried to contain some of the excitement in my voice, but it was impossible. I loved that place. I bought all my incense, teas and body balms there. It was my little monthly treat to myself.
“How come I’ve never seen you at the shop or farmer’s market?”
“I like being behind the scenes.”
“Hmm. I get that.”
The shop was always quiet with a single attendant near the front whenever I stopped by. But I knew they had an impressive online shop that brought in most of their revenue. They made everything in-house and shipped their tinctures, teas and herbal supplement capsules all over the state.
It was strange that he didn’t even man his weekly booth at the farmer’s market though. At least he wasn’t there whenever I popped by.
Still, I couldn’t believe I’d unknowingly come in such close contact with him so much over the past year.
It was a good thing though. If I knew the owner looked like Romeo, I probably would have found my way in that cute little shop way too often to spend unnecessary money just to get a glimpse of him. I still couldn’t get over how beautiful he was. I hadn’t met many people with a complexion as dark and mesmerizing as his in my life. I was so enamored I kept catching myself staring without knowing it. The muscles pulling his skin taut didn’t help, either.
Before I knew it, we were in the library parking lot. I smiled when my Volkswagen bus came into view.
Just as I suspected, it hadn’t been towed or booted overnight. The public library was one of the few places I could count on in any city not to be a stickler for extended parking.
“This is me,” I said, pointing to the blue and white van.
Romeo frowned and pulled into the parking spot beside it.
“This is your car?”
“This is my home . But yes, I drive it too,” I told him, digging around in my purse to find my keyring. “Thanks for everything. Tell Sincere and Lorenzo the same.”
He didn’t say anything as I climbed out of his luxury car and headed straight for the side door of my van.
Pulling them open to air out the stuffiness of the past twenty-four hours, I didn’t notice when Romeo drove away. But he was gone when I finished opening all the doors and something about that was a relief.
It was back to the real world now.
As reckless as my little stunt was, the most comforting part was that I’d never seen them around town in the year that I’d lived here. And that gave me solace because it meant that I would never—ever—see those three fine ass men again.