4
P aetyn watched Erin as she yawned and stretched. He couldn’t say he blamed her. He wasn’t sure when she’d gone to bed the night before, but he and Cruz met her at her apartment at six that morning to start loading everything into the moving truck after changing the reservation she had from a cargo trailer. Once they’d finished, they’d gone through the apartment, ensuring nothing was out of place and things were clean.
A little after eight, they turned her key into the office and headed to the airport to load her things into the plane’s cargo. They were scheduled to take off at eleven, giving them ample time to load everything, drop off the U-Haul, and return to the plane.
Everything seemed to happen extremely quickly, and Paetyn could understand how she’d be tired as the pilot announced they could now take their seatbelts off.
“Why don’t you nap,” Paetyn suggested when Erin yawned again.
Erin shook her head. “I have a hard time falling asleep in chairs.”
“You can lie down in the bedroom,”Cruz told her.
“There’s a bedroom on the plane?”she asked, shaking her head with a small smile. “Of course there is,”she added.
“I’ll show it to you,”Paetyn volunteered. He wasn’t sure if he could trust Cruz to show her and be able to keep his hands to himself.
He led the way to the bedroom, opened the door, stepped aside, and allowed her to step in first. She paused and looked around the room. It was a standard bedroom, and in Paetyn’s opinion, the design was much better than Cruz had initially wanted, though Paetyn could be biased since he was the one who redesigned it.
The bed was large enough to fit two people. The room housed a small desk, closet, and dresser. Paetyn had to admit those things weren’t essential; however, they brought the room together and made it feel homier during long flights. A door on the opposite wall led to a private bathroom. It was big enough to fit a toilet, shower, and sink, which had taken a bit of creativity to make fit since it had to be big enough for Cruz.
They’d balanced the plane by having a bedroom with two college twins between the common area and cockpit in case the pilots wanted to sleep on rotation when flying long distances.
The room had been white, but Paetyn felt it looked too sterile, so he added splashes of wood.
He watched as Erin walked over and sat on the bed. She ran her hands over the bedding before looking at him.
“Do you want to lie down with me?”she questioned with a playful smirk.
Paetyn did, but he knew that he couldn’t. While he had excessive patience, he’d been using it over the last year, and it was beginning to be tested when he was in her presence.
“Maybe next time,”he decided to say. He did not want to tell Erin no and have her take it as a rejection. “Try to take a nap. The plan is to finish everything today so you can settle in and relax over the weekend.”
Erin smiled at him. “I’m not going to know how to repay you and Cruz for helping.”
“You don’t have to. But I know you won’t listen,”Paetyn said, pulling a laugh from Erin. “So, I’m sure you’ll think of something,”he finished smiling at her, and he watched as those brown eyes sparked momentarily with mischief.
Paetyn wondered what flashed through her mind then, but he wouldn’t ask. If things went his and Cruz’s way, they’d find out soon.
“I’ll come get you when we’re about to land if you’re sleeping. There’s a bathroom through that door,”he told her, gesturing.
“Thank you,”Erin responded, taking her shoes off. Paetyn turned, closed the door behind him, and returned to where they’d left Cruz.
He retook his seat, and the other man looked up at him with a smirk.
“What?” Paetyn questioned.
“I’m just wondering how hard it was for you to leave that bedroom.”
Paetyn decided not to respond and instead picked up the book he’d been reading as they’d taken off. He was aware that Cruz more than likely knew the answer and just wanted him to say it.
It wasn’t long before he put the book aside to take out his laptop. He figured he’d do some work for the bistro he wanted to open. He could still nail down a menu even though he had not decided on a new location. He wanted it to be precise and short. Long menus made it too hard on the patrons, and it was also an unneeded expense when you purchased ingredients for something that wasn’t ordered. It was how most restaurants lost money or failed.
He was so focused on work that he hadn’t noticed Cruz getting up to make them a drink until the glass was held out to him. Paetyn took it with a thank you and returned to what he was doing. One drink wouldn’t hurt them or keep them from being able to move Erin’s belongings, speaking of which.
“You did ensure that a moving truck would meet us when we arrived, correct?”Paetyn questioned, looking up from his screen.
“I did. It should be in the hangar when we land.”
Paetyn nodded before turning his attention back to his screen. He supposed having a private hangar did make it easier, especially since he knew that in any other case, a moving truck more than likely wouldn’t be allowed on the commercial tarmac.
When the announcement came over the speaker system that they needed to put on their seatbelts, Paetyn saved what he’d worked on and closed his laptop, standing to wake up Erin.
He knocked on the door lightly, and when he didn’t receive an answer, he opened it, looking in to find her curled up on the bed. He couldn’t help but smile to himself.
“She looks so tiny,”Cruz said behind him.
Paetyn admitted that she looked tiny compared to them. However, most women looked small next to Cruz’s six-foot-six-inch frame. Erin was tall. Paetyn would guess she stood at about five feet ten or eleven. However, they were both still several inches taller than she was.
Paetyn approached the bed, sitting beside Erin. Bringing his hand up, he slowly rubbed the knuckle of his index finger up and down her cheek.
“Erin,”he called softly, and she stirred slightly. “Erin, you have to get up. We’re about to land in a bit.”
Erin stretched slightly, and Paetyn removed his knuckle. “Do I have to?”
Paetyn smiled as Cruz chuckled from the door. “I’d prefer if you did, for safety,”Paetyn told her.
“Fine.”Erin sat up. “I’m going to go to the bathroom and be right there.”
Paetyn nodded as he stood, made his way back to his seat, and buckled his seatbelt. Only a few minutes later, Erin emerged from the bedroom, sat in the seat she’d been in before, and put on her seatbelt.
Paetyn decided they’d stop and get something to eat on the way to her apartment. She hadn’t eaten anything that morning, and he would make sure she did before they started moving everything.
E rin looked around the empty apartment. Like all apartments, it looked different without Chayse’s furniture. It was bigger than her last apartment, so Erin knew she would enjoy the extra space.
When they’d arrived, she went to the office to drop the lease in the drop slot with a copy of her license. Chayse had added her and emailed the forms for her to sign. Erin had kept the spare key from her previous visit.
Looking around the living room now, she tried to envision how she would set her furniture up. A part of her had expected Paetyn and Cruz to have some of her furniture waiting in the hallway. However, they hadn’t. When she checked her phone, she saw she had a text from Paetyn saying they’d be back in a few minutes.
She went down the hall and looked into the primary bedroom. Because of where the cable line was, there was only one way to set up the bedroom if she wanted cable. However, Erin was okay with just having streaming subscriptions, so it didn’t limit her.
The closet was also larger than her last one, which meant she wouldn’t have much trouble fitting all her clothes, though she was sure her shoes wouldn’t fit. On the plus side, she could use the closet in the second bedroom.
She went to the hall bathroom and smiled when she saw that Chayse or Taila had left the décor there. Erin was grateful for that. It meant she didn’t have to go out and find decorations for it.
“Erin.”
Turning, she returned to the living room at the sound of Cruz’s voice. She found both men. Cruz held a drink carrier while Paetyn closed the door.
“You left the door open,”Cruz stated.
“Yeah, but there isn’t anything in here to steal.”
Erin watched as Cruz’s eyebrow twitched, but he said nothing. Instead, Paetyn stepped around him, holding a bag of food.
“They could take you; we don’t need that to happen,”Paetyn told her. “Now, let’s eat.”
“Sure,”Erin responded, sitting on the floor in the middle of the living room.
They joined her, and Paetyn passed Erin the bag while Cruz sat the drink carrier down. Erin looked in the bag before looking between the two men.
“Which one’s mine?”she questioned.
“Whichever one you want,”Cruz responded.
Erin wasn’t picky about food and was always willing to try something new, so she pulled out the first thing her hand touched and passed the bag back to Paetyn. She took the drink Cruz held out to her, thanking him before placing it beside her.
For the next twenty minutes, Erin enjoyed her wrap while Cruz and Paetyn talked. She wasn’t sure exactly what they were talking about, chiming in with what she thought was appropriate when they paused in conversation and looked at her.
However, she didn’t know what the topic was. She wasn’t ashamed to admit that she was getting distracted by the deep timbre of both of their voices or the way Paetyn’s tongue would come out and lick at his bottom lip after taking a bite. It made Erin wonder what he could do with it. The way Cruz’s fingers wrapped around the cup when he picked it up. Erin didn’t have to imagine what he could do with those fingers; she’d already witnessed it.
Groaning internally, Erin took the last bite of her wrap. This wasn’t the first time she’d noticed how attractive they were, but she’d been with them for the past forty-eight hours, and it was the longest amount of time she’d spent with them alone. It had been far too long since she’d gotten some if she was fantasizing about them. She really couldn’t be blamed, though; they were both attractive.
“Erin?”
“Hm, what?”she responded to Cruz, not hearing what they’d said.
He smirked at her. “I asked if you were finished?”
“Oh, yeah. I’m done,”she responded, balling up the wrapper and placing it in the bag. She took another drink as she stood up. Erin put her cup on the bar and turned to the men as they stood. “Can I have the key to the moving truck? I’m going to start unloading it.”
“We’re coming with you,”Paetyn responded, leading the way out of the apartment.
“Don’t try to pick up anything heavy. We don’t want you getting sick,”Cruz spoke from behind her, and Erin nodded, as her eyes trailed over Paetyn’s back. The muscles pronounced the way the t-shirt clung to him.
When they reached the truck, Paetyn unlocked the back and pulled the ramp down. Erin followed him up it, feeling heat against her back and a hand against her waist.
“You can move the things on the right,”Cruz stated, and Erin would have sworn she could feel the vibration of his words against her back.
“I’m perfectly capable of moving things on the left,”she replied. Erin had never liked being told what to do or underestimated.
She deliberately went to the left side of the moving truck. She was just about to pick up one of the large boxes when an arm wrapped around her waist, and pulled her back into a hard chest. A finger tilted her chin up. She met Paetyn’s green eyes, and she’d never known that green could have such an intensity.
“The right,”he told her, and something in his tone of voice made Erin want to protest and comply at the same time.
Erin didn’t reply because that would mean that she was doing it because he’d told her to, and though that was the case, she wouldn’t admit it. Instead, she removed her chin from his finger and moved to the right side of the moving truck as Cruz let her go. Her body wanted to be back in the position they were just in.
C ruz watched as Erin unpacked one of the boxes and placed clothes in her dresser. They’d moved everything into the house and worked their way from the front back. They’d rearranged the living room and dining room. While he and Paetyn did that, getting directions from Erin now and then, she unpacked the dishes and put them away.
Now, they were putting her bed together as she began to put away her clothes. They’d been moving and unpacking things for the last couple of hours. It helped that Erin had been so organized when packing. Every box was labeled with what was in it and by room.
Cruz knew she’d be unpacking and putting up clothes longer than it had taken them to move everything in. He would volunteer to help once they got everything put together and positioned. However, he got the distinct feeling that she would decline.
Once he and Paetyn assembled the bed, they placed the box spring and mattress on it before Cruz walked out into the hallway, looking for the boxes he knew contained the linens.
“Is there a particular set you want on the bed?”he questioned.
“Purple set, black comforter,”Erin responded.
Cruz found the items and returned to the bedroom. He made the bed while Paetyn placed the lamps on the bedside tables.
Once done, he leaned against the wall, watching Erin as she leaned down to place clothes into her bottom drawer. When she stood up, she turned to look at the bed before looking at him.
“Thank you,”she smiled at him.
“No need for that. You want the rest of the linen in the closet in the hallway, correct?”he asked.
When she nodded at him, Cruz left the bedroom, unpacked the boxes, and placed the items in the hall closet.
He took the empty boxes into the living room, putting them by the door with the others.
He didn’t want her to have to do anything more than necessary when he and Paetyn left later. Now that all the furniture was together and placed, the only things left to unpack were her clothes and decorations.
Cruz figured he could at least hang the pictures on the wall and put up a few of the other things. He didn’t mind moving them around for her if she didn’t like the way he placed them.
When he had all the art laid out, he looked at the different paintings, trying to envision what pieces would go into the living room. She’d already had them down and packed when they arrived and didn’t know where she had them originally. He chose the four that he would put up between the living room and dining room if it were his apartment.
He studied them but decided to get Paetyn’s opinion since he’d decorated their house. Cruz wouldn’t yell in someone else’s space, so he took out his phone and texted him. He didn’t have to wait long before Paetyn entered the living room.
“What do you think about these four pictures for the living room and dining room?”Cruz questioned, pointing.
He watched as Paetyn looked them over for a minute before looking at the different walls.
“I like these three for the living room, but I’d put the wall plant holder in the dining room,”Paetyn stated as he grabbed the item he was talking about. The middle of it said, Bloom in rain or shine ,set against a pale yellow and purple background.
Cruz nodded, agreeing, remembering the fake plants he’d seen Erin take out of one of the boxes labeled kitchen.
He and Paetyn put up the pictures and the planter, placing the false plants in them. Since Cruz assumed that Erin was still putting her clothes away, and now that Paetyn was there, he decided they could put up some of the other decorations. They opened the boxes that said decor and placed things that fit well.
When they’d finished, Paetyn carried two pictures into the hallway, and they put them up diagonally. The hammering beside the bedroom door brought Erin out of it. She looked at the two pictures they had put up.
“I like those there. I had them in the living room at the other apartment.”
“We put up some other things in the living and dining room,”Cruz responded.
Erin nodded and went into the living room. They followed behind her, and Cruz watched as she looked over everything they’d done. She made her way over to the three pictures that were left and picked one up.
“I like this, but could you switch this picture and that painting?”she questioned, pointing. “That’s the first painting Alijah ever did for me, and I’ve always just kept it in my bedroom.”
Cruz took the painting down while Paetyn took the picture from Erin, and they switched them out.
“Everything else goes into your bedroom?”Paetyn questioned about the decorations left.
“My bedroom and bathroom, yes.”
Cruz grabbed the other two pictures while Paetyn grabbed the box they’d placed the decorations they hadn’t put up into, along with the hammer and nails, and followed Erin to her bedroom.
“Any particular place you want the pictures and painting?”Cruz questioned.
“The painting on this wall, please,”Erin said, pointing. “The two of you can choose the other one. You did a good job in the living room. I trust you,”she finished with a smile.
Cruz watched her momentarily as she went back to putting away clothes. She was now in front of the closet hanging clothing up, and Cruz noticed she was hanging them by color.
“Once you have those hung, I can handle the rest,”she told them.
“Are you sure?”Paetyn asked.
“I am. Once I put away the clothes, I will probably crash. The rest of the decorations won’t take me too long.”
“Before we go, we need to load your fingerprint into the security system and set it up on your phone,”Cruz told her.
“How long is that going to take? Can we do it some other time?”Erin questioned.
“Just a few minutes, and no,”Cruz responded.
He would not leave without ensuring the entire security system was up; she could access it and was safe. He heard Erin sigh, and he smirked.
“Come on, Ma?y. It won’t take long, and we can get it out of the way,”Cruz told her.
She turned to look at him as she walked towards the door. “What does that mean?”
“It depends on how it’s said. In this case, it’s little one,”Cruz responded, approaching her.
“I’m not little.”
He stopped in front of her, looking down into those brown eyes. “If you say so,” he responded.
Erin pursed her lips as she glared at him, and Cruz was tempted to see what they tasted like. Instead, he waited for her. Waiting to see which one of them gave in first, and he knew it wouldn’t be him. Huffing, she turned on her heels and headed towards the living room. He followed her.
Cruz had already gone through the basics of setting her profile up. He had packed everything he needed to add her to the system and brought it inside while they were moving things in. He’d get everything else set up, and then they’d leave her to herself. Cruz knew that she was probably exhausted; moving could do that to anyone, and he wanted her to get as much rest as she could before they made their move.