28. Cara
twenty-eight
Cara
M y conversation with Mum had lit a fuse under me. I didn’t want to wait. I didn’t want the pain of Alec leaving to scab over before we started making plans. I knew what I wanted, and I was not going to sit around and wait for him—them—to get away.
If only Monroe would answer his phone.
I knocked on his hotel room door. It was a stretch, but I figured checking there was the best place to start. If I didn’t see him today, I’d find him when we got home.
There was no answer. “Monroe,” I called, but the room beyond the door was silent. Nothing stirred.
My shoulders fell, and I tucked my hands in my cardigan pockets. Then I stopped. I pulled my shoulders back. I lifted my gaze. It wasn’t over. We weren’t done. Monroe was running. I understood it. If he needed space, I’d give it to him. But I wouldn’t just let him walk away. We’d promised each other that we were all in. That might have had an expiry date on it, but I couldn’t just turn off my heart.
Monroe had been hurt before on a level that I just couldn’t comprehend. His heart had been shattered, and a decade later, those wounds had been opened up again. The truth had almost destroyed him.
But I wasn’t going to hurt him. I’d rather cut off my own arm than do that.
Alec had been hurt too. He’d been cast aside by the people who were supposed to love him—his parents and even Minns and his wife. I loved that the Seals had stuck with him. They’d given him so much more than a job. They’d given him family and friends. They’d given him a sense of belonging.
Now Monroe and I needed to show him he belonged with us too.
I rode the lift to my floor, got off, and rounded the corner.
I stopped dead in my tracks.
Monroe was there, his forehead resting against my door. He knocked. He closed his eyes and exhaled heavily. “Fuck,” he muttered.
Alec paced. He carded his fingers through his hair and tugged on the ends. He growled, and I squeaked.
Alec spun around and looked up. He stopped. He blinked. Alec opened his mouth, but no words came out. He reached for Monroe and tapped him with the back of his hand.
“Cara?” Alec asked.
“What? How? Oh my… Jiminy Cricket,” I babbled, racing for him.
Tears sprang to my eyes, and I choked out a half laugh half sob as I collided with him. He wrapped me up and I breathed him in. His spicy scent I’d grown to love so much hit me, and I tightened my grip on him. I reached blindly for Monroe and snagged his shirt, squeezing it tight.
“I’m not going anywhere, beautiful girl,” Monroe promised and moved closer.
He brushed the loose pieces of my hair behind my ear and kissed my temple. I sucked in a breath and held it, wanting them, needing them as close to me as I could get them.
I let go of Monroe, and he shifted, slipping his arms around me. He held me as tightly as I held Alec.
“Your flight was leaving. How are you here?” I asked. “I said goodbye to you.” I pulled back and tweaked his nipple through his dress shirt. “And it was a shitty goodbye too. Sure, you were upset because Monroe had left, but saying, ‘Thanks and I’ll catch you later’ is not on. Not with me.”
Alec smirked, his eyes dancing with wicked delight. “What would you rather I’d done?”
I narrowed my eyes and poked him. “I’d rather you’d said, ‘I love you, Cara, and I’m never going to leave you. We’ll find Monroe and make him believe it too.’”
Alec tilted my chin up. He ran his thumb over my bottom lip, and his eyes darkened, his inhale short and sharp as he stared at my lips. Then he lifted his gaze to meet mine, and the naked adoration in his eyes stole my breath.
“I love you, Cara,” he whispered. “I don’t want us to ever be apart. I’ll make Monroe believe I love him too.” Alec leaned down and brushed his lips over mine, kissing the corner of my mouth, my cheek, my nose, then my lips. His heated breath washed over me, and I moaned, needing to taste him. But he held back, tantalizingly out of reach.
“I love you both too,” I confessed, my lips hovering a hair’s breadth away from his.
Alec deepened our kiss, touching his tongue to mine. I was dizzy with want, crazy with a need to get closer to him. This wasn’t about sex. I needed to reconnect with them. I needed to know they were here and weren’t leaving.
Monroe kissed a line up my throat to my ear and nipped my lobe. “Should we take this inside?” he murmured.
Alec broke our kiss and nodded. “Yeah, let’s figure out how we’re going to make this work, because we have to make it work.”
I swiped my card with shaking hands, grateful that Alec hadn’t let me leave the sanctuary of his arms. Monroe pushed the door open, and we stumbled through. Just seeing them, just knowing they were here and we could work things out had me flying. I was riding a high that I never wanted to come down from.
I bit down on my lip to stifle my giddy giggle, but it was no use. I couldn’t help it. They were here. They’d come to me. They’d chosen me. They’d chosen us .
Alec kissed my smiling lips and fingered the soft material of my cardigan. “I love you in these, but I love seeing you in my jersey more.” He nuzzled my cheek and nipped my jaw before flicking the button that sat at my chest open. He pressed a line of delicate kisses down my throat to my collarbone, then scraped his teeth over it. I shivered, and he chuckled and palmed my butt, drawing me closer to him. “I love seeing Roe in my jersey too. It’s like you’re both mine.”
“We are,” I breathed. “We totally are.”
“Good.” He hummed, flicking open the buttons on the front of my dress. My breasts spilled out, and Alec groaned. “Jesus Christ, you’re so fucking sexy without a bra.”
He gripped the bodice of my dress and tore it apart. The thin material was no match to his strength, and it parted like a hot knife through butter. He shoved it off my shoulders and I stood before him, naked from the waist up. My nipples hardened in the cool air and under his watchful stare.
Alec licked his lips and ran his finger between my breasts. Gooseflesh broke out over my skin. “I want what’s mine.”
Monroe groaned, and the thud coming from near the door startled me. I pulled back and watched as he kicked off his other shoe, then tugged his belt free of the loops of his jeans. “Get naked, Cara,” he ordered.
My kitty throbbed, and I squeezed my legs together.
Alec walked around me and tugged me against him. He interlaced our fingers and brought my arm up until I gripped his nape. My breasts jutted forward, and he reached to palm them and pinch my nipples gently. I cried out as Monroe gripped his thick shaft through his jeans and then tugged his polo shirt off. His jeans, boxer briefs, and socks followed within seconds, leaving him gloriously naked and hard in front of me.
He stalked toward us, his hand never leaving his erection as he ran his fist up and down his length, smearing the precum wetting the tip over his mushroom head. Without a word, he bent in front of me, and Alec presented my breast to him, squeezing and lifting it to his lips. Monroe flicked his tongue over my erect nipple and slid his hand between my legs.
My clit throbbed, and I groaned as he massaged me with the heel of his hand and his deft fingers. “You’re so hot, Cara. I can’t wait to get inside your tight little pussy.”
“Please,” I begged.
“Strip,” Alec instructed me, his voice a hoarse whisper. “Show us what’s ours.”
Monroe walked into the bedroom and reclined on the unmade bed like a king. His shaft pointed up, begging me to suck him to the back of my throat. I licked my lips, and Alec chuckled from behind me. “He looks delicious, doesn’t he? I promise you’ll get a taste, but first, stand on the bed.”
I climbed up and stood between Monroe’s spread legs.
“Good girl. Now strip off those leggings. Get naked, Cara, and show us that pretty pussy.”
I palmed my breasts, and my nipples perked up more. Monroe moaned and squeezed his shaft. His gaze was riveted on my chest. The unrestrained desire I saw ramped up my confidence. He made me feel sexy. I pinched my nipples, squeezing my breasts together, and rubbed my thighs.
“You make me wet,” I gasped. “I want you inside me.”
I trailed my fingers down over my rounded belly and licked my lips again. Monroe’s gaze followed the movement down, and his breath caught as I teased the waistline of my leggings, letting him glimpse my bellybutton.
“Fuck,” he hissed. “Show me your pretty pussy, beautiful girl.”
I hooked my thumbs under my leggings, leaving my underwear in place, and shuffled them down my legs. He squeezed harder, more drops leaking from his slit with every inch of skin I revealed.
Alec had his hands on my hips, steadying me as I bent at the waist and pushed them down. He pressed his nose to my kitty and breathed deep, licking me through my panties. “She’s so wet, Roe.”
“Taste her and share it with me,” he ordered.
Alec slipped his finger under my panties, sliding them along the curve of my butt.
“Wait,” I said, the urgency in my voice halting his movements. I straightened and ran my hands over my thighs, then to the waistband of my panties. I flicked it, letting the elastic snap back against my skin.
“Rip them to shreds,” I gasped, reaching into my panties to press my finger against my throbbing clit. “Go caveman on me.”
Alec growled, and Monroe shot forward. They grasped my panties and ripped them away from my body in one smooth move. The soft cotton shredded in their sure fingers.
I moved my finger, but Monroe clamped his hand around my wrist.
“Fuck yourself with your fingers. Show us how you want us to fuck you.”
I moaned and wobbled as Alec kneeled behind me, licking the back of my thigh and running his hands up my legs. I worked my clit exactly the way they’d done to me, then slid two fingers through my folds and into my core. My walls tightened around the intrusion, and my breath caught. Golly gosh, it felt good, but it wasn’t enough.
I pushed deeper, stretched myself wider, and undulated my hips.
“Fuuuck,” Alec moaned. Monroe spat on his hand and reached between my feet, gripping Alec’s erection.
The illicit sounds of us touching ourselves and each other reverberated through the room, the cacophony of our moans growing more ragged as I added a third finger and used my other hand to roll my clit between my fingers. I swivelled my hips again and worked my fingers deeper.
Monroe moaned. “You’re so fucking sexy. Want to bury my dick inside you and never leave. The only time I’ll pull out is when I fuck Alec’s tight little hole. Want you both wrapped around me forever.”
His words sent me straight to the edge, and I gasped as a sheen of sweat broke out over my skin.
“That’s it, beautiful, make yourself come,” Monroe murmured with his lips against my kitty.
His tongue joined my probing fingers, and I pulled back, needing his mouth to send me over the edge. I gripped his hair and held him close. Monroe didn’t hesitate, scraping his teeth over my clit before sucking it between his lips.
Alec shifted, spreading my cheeks with his hands and lashing his tongue over my hole. It sent a shockwave through me, and I clenched tight, shattering in their arms. I cried out as my orgasm crested hard and fast, sending me tumbling around like I was in a clothes dryer. Waves of ecstasy hit me, and I was suddenly ravenous for more. I wanted them inside me.
Together.
“Lube,” I breathed, dizzy from the overwhelming sensations pulsing through me. Alec moaned and brushed his finger over my hole, and I gasped. “Need you.”
Monroe tugged me forward. I fell to my knees, straddling his waist. My breasts crashed into his face, and he growled, a low purr that set me on fire, and pressed further between them. He licked and bit me. My kitty clenched. I hated being so empty.
But Alec was behind me in a flash. “Oh yeah, this is what I want,” he groaned before licking a stripe from my clit to my pucker.
He added his fingers, cool from the lube, and swivelled them around my butt as he probed my kitty, lapping up my juices. He drew his fingers up and over my hole, softening the muscle there and pressing his tongue inside me. Monroe reached up, taking over fingering my kitty, stretching me for him.
They had me writhing as I sprawled out on all fours between them. I didn’t recognize the noises coming out of me, but the climb toward another orgasm was familiar. A finger in my butt turned into two. The burn gave way to mind-numbing want as my body relaxed enough to take Alec’s fingers deeper.
“More,” I breathed when Alec twisted his fingers, and Monroe hummed against my skin. The vibration ratcheted my body up, and I canted my hips, pushing back against them and chasing their touch.
“That’s it, baby. Fuck yourself on us,” Alec demanded as he prodded my hole with another finger.
“Want both of you inside me,” I whispered. My voice sounded like I’d swallowed gravel, husky and wanting. “Please.”
“Come again for us first,” Monroe demanded and slid his fingers in deeper.
Alec twisted his hand, pumping me full, and both of them lashed their tongues over me, sucking marks onto my skin and pressing every hot button they’d learned. The rushing began low in my belly. Gooseflesh broke out over my sweat-slicked skin.
Monroe moaned. “That’s it, gorgeous. Show us how pretty you are when you come on our fingers.”
My body locked up tight, and I shouted out, my voice echoing around the room as I rode their fingers. My kitty throbbed, clenching hard to keep them inside me. Ecstasy washed over me, sending me higher with each pulse of my body.
They pulled free of me, and I almost wept from the emptiness. I tried to move, tried to get them to give themselves to me again, but my arms were like jelly. I fell forward, landing on Monroe’s chest. My legs shook. I was breathless, completely boneless. But I didn’t need to stir. Monroe shifted me, working with Alec to lift me into place.
Monroe’s thick shaft prodded my kitty, and I moaned, widening my legs so I could sink onto him.
“That’s it, beautiful. Take my cock like a good little girl.” He punched his hips forward, sinking into me to the hilt in one deep thrust.
I cried out, and my kitty clenched hard again.
“Oh yeah,” he groaned. “Come on my cock.” He went rigid underneath me and ground his hips forward, his shaft going impossibly deeper.
Then Alec was ready to fill me up at the other end. He pushed his thickness forward, stretching my hole open until I gasped and reared back. He pulled out, and I cried out. “No,” I sobbed. “Give it to me.”
“Easy, beautiful girl,” Monroe cooed.
“No, please. Get your cock in my ass. Fuck me. Now,” I ground out.
Monroe punched his hips up into me and hit my G-spot dead on. I moaned and blindly reached around for Alec, who’d gone still.
“Alec, fuck me already,” I ordered loudly enough that our neighbours three doors up would have heard.
“You’ve shocked him, sweet girl.” Monroe chuckled and moaned as his cock pulsed inside me. Through gritted teeth, he added, “He’s wondering where you’ve been hiding that filthy mouth of yours.”
I groaned. Frustrated at the delay, I took things into my own hands. I reached behind me and pushed my fingers against my hole, ready to stuff myself full. But Alec was there, moving my hand. I whimpered, and he leaned over me, pressing his front to my back. His heat made my mind go fuzzy. His shaft between my cheeks was the worst kind of tease.
Then he planted my hands on Monroe’s chest. I arched back, so full of Monroe. I slid forward, pulling off him almost to his crown. Then I pressed down again, filling myself with him. Desperation washed over me, and Monroe sucked in an unsteady breath. His body was vibrating with the restraint he was exercising.
Alec gripped my hips hard, stopping my movements. He swivelled his, notching his rigid shaft against my hole, and I cried out.
He growled, the noise a deep purr-rumble. “This is our hole, pretty girl. Ours to fuck and ours to own.”
He pushed forward, breaching me. His words lit me up, setting me on fire. The burn from the stretch was intense, but it quickly faded into a desperate chant for more. I tried to take what I needed by bucking my hips into him. But Alec wasn’t done. He nuzzled my nape and rumbled, “Ours to pump full of cum. You don’t need to fuck yourself unless we tell you to. Got it?”
I shoved back, trying to get closer at exactly the same time Alec punched his hips forward. He bottomed out.
I screamed.
He stilled.
My butt and kitty clenched tight, never wanting them to move. I was stuffed full, stretched beyond anything I’d ever experienced before.
I was addicted.
No, I was addickted.
My moan was choppy. I could hear the need, the begging that the fever dream I’d woken up in was true. It pulsed through me, making my core throb and an orgasm ratchet up to Dickcon 5 levels. Alec sucked in a deep breath. He rested his forehead on my nape and squeezed my hips before sliding his hands lower to land on my butt.
He slapped my cheek. My whole bottom jiggled, and I instinctively tightened around them. Sweet jelly babies. Sensation shot through me, and my breath caught.
Monroe and Alec moaned.
Alec did it again, spanking my other cheek.
I cried out, and my core pulsed, tightening around them.
“Tell us we can move, beautiful,” Monroe begged.
“Yes,” I moaned. “Move. Please.” I was beyond coherent sentences, down to singular words. I was sensation only. Charged electrons that zapped around my body, leaving me breathless.
“Fuck,” Alec ground out through gritted teeth. Then he moved, withdrawing to his crown and gliding his hips forward. Smooth, deep strokes inside me. With every inch he fed me, he caressed Monroe through my thin walls. We all cried out.
My toes curled. My brain went numb. Every nerve ending was set alight, my concentration focussed on the way they made love to me and each other.
My body was rippling around them, undulating as they owned me body and soul.
“Come, baby,” Monroe whispered, his fingers closing around my tight nipples. Sensation shot through me like he had a direct line to my clit.
I was right there. Just a hair’s breadth away from where I needed to be.
“Milk our cocks,” Alec ordered and slammed forward.
I crested. I floated weightless at the peak, like that split second on a rollercoaster before the ride gets out of control.
My orgasm hit. I screamed a silent curse.
I shattered in their arms, their cocks buried to the hilt in me.
That thought—the knowledge that my orgasm would set them off—was the final push I’d needed.
I sucked in a ragged breath as my core clenched tight, pulsing rhythmically. My system flooded with heat. It was an electric buzz that whited out my vision and fried my brain cells.
My limbs turned to jelly, and I slumped forward, begging them not to stop. I never wanted this high to end. Monroe and Alec were still moving inside me, still chasing their own highs. They shuttled their shafts in and out of me in sync, giving as much as taking their ecstasy.
My voice was wrecked, a raw rasp when I whispered, “Unload inside me. Mark me up. Paint me. Show me who owns me.”
Monroe’s hips stuttered first, and his erection throbbed inside me. Heat flooded me, and my kitty clenched tight again, my orgasm renewing itself. Monroe shouted out through gritted teeth, and Alec choked out a cry. His shaft grew impossibly harder, and my hole clamped down on him, wanting everything he could give me. He ground his hips forward and stilled, pumping me full of his cum.
I floated there in that glorious realm of half-consciousness. My entire body tingled, aftershocks wracking through me as they stayed deep inside me. Somehow, they knew that this was exactly what I needed—being close to them, connected in the most primal of ways after they’d marked me. It was everything in that moment. The way they held me—gentle and loving—even though neither one of them had treated me with kid gloves while they were making love to me, was a love language in and of itself.
Alec withdrew slowly, and I whimpered. But he held me tight as he kissed my nape and shoulders. Monroe’s softening shaft slid from me next, and I hissed at the emptiness. He rolled us to the side, and both he and Alec shifted closer to me, eliminating the distance between us. Alec’s softened penis rested in my crease, and I fed Monroe’s monster between my legs, letting it rest in the wetness seeping from me.
We were quiet for a long time, just touching and kissing each other—reconnecting now that the urgency had passed.
“I thought I’d lost both of you,” I confessed quietly. “But I was ready to fight for you. Both of you. I was going to get us on a flight to the US as soon as we could. I would have rung every doorbell in San Diego until I found you.”
“Or you could have just answered my call,” Alec murmured, kissing my shoulder. “I was sitting there in that airport lounge, wishing I’d never left this bed. You make me happy.” He paused and inhaled slowly, shifting onto his elbow. I turned to him and drew him down, bringing his lips to mine. When we broke apart, he gave me a small smile. His eyes swam with emotion.
“My contract with the Seals isn’t signed yet. It’s huge. It’s everything I ever wanted. Except it’s worthless without the two of you. You’ve made me feel more alive, more loved, in the last two weeks than I’ve ever felt before.”
“You have to sign that contract,” Monroe said. He propped himself up on his elbow and looked away as he played with my hair. “There’s no better than the NHL, and you deserve to be there.”
“I deserve to be with you.”
“Not at the expense of a career you’ve worked all your life to build up.” Monroe shook his head, still refusing to look at Alec.
Alec stilled, and he ground his teeth together. “So all that talk in the airport was just talk? Hollow words?” He swallowed hard, and his muscles tensed, readying for a fight. “You got off, so, what, now what we’d just promised each other is impossible?”
Monroe lifted his gaze to Alec’s. His eyes were filled with turmoil. Worry and disappointment clouded his normally vibrant blue eyes. “No, Alec. Not that at all. I want you. I love you.” He turned to me. “I love both of you. I want this—us—to last, which means that you can’t give up your career for us. I won’t let you make that kind of sacrifice—”
“We can commute,” I cut in and pulled myself up until I was sitting. This wasn’t a conversation to be had lightly, and I couldn’t do it lying down as my guys were hovering above me. “Monroe and I can visit you during the season when you’ve got stretches at home. Then for part of the off season, you can come to us. We can make it work. Heck, we could even move to the US.”
My heart was hammering in my chest, my palms sweating. We were in love. That’s all that mattered. We could work everything else out. It was all minor details.
Monroe stilled. “You’d do that? You’d leave home?”
“Yes,” I answered without hesitation. “If it meant being with you, I’d leave Australia in a heartbeat.”
Monroe sat up slowly, then rested his elbows on his knees. He hung his head low and closed his eyes. “I’d be leaving Zali. I want… but….”
I slid my fingers through his and squeezed his hand tight. With my other hand, I turned his face, cupping his cheek. I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his in a soft, lingering kiss. “We’ll work it out, Monroe. If Alec giving up the NHL is too big a sacrifice, so is you leaving Zali. She’s your family. This doesn’t have to be all or nothing.”
He nodded and flicked his gaze to Alec. Our guy had shifted to his knees and now crawled over to Monroe, stopping only when he was between Monroe’s legs. He brushed back a piece of Monroe’s hair that had fallen forward and murmured, “I promise, we’ll make this work without any of us giving up what’s important.”
Monroe leaned forward and rested his forehead against Alec’s. My heart warmed at the sight. They were so obviously in love that it made me fall for them even more. Alec tugged me closer, and I wrapped my arms around my guys, holding them tight. Everything up to this moment had happened for a reason, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that we would work this out. I had faith because I had them.
***
I was curled up on the outdoor lounge overlooking the river that Monroe’s townhouse backed onto. Boats putted by, and in the backyard of the townhouse next door, a boy was throwing a stick into the water. His pup kept eagerly swimming for it and dropping it at the boy’s feet.
“Spence, that’s enough, mate,” Monroe warned. I turned to him, brows furrowed. The boy wasn’t doing anything wrong. Was he?
“Okay, Roe,” he said with a smile. “Can I throw the stick into your yard?”
“Absolutely, mate. No need to ever ask that.”
“What…?” I asked, my gaze bouncing between Zali and Monroe.
Monroe laughed and kissed my head. “There are bull sharks in the river. The dog splashing around will attract them, and he’ll end up shark bait.”
The long-haired red pup came bounding up the stairs onto the patio, stick in his mouth, and Monroe bent to give him a pet with his free hand. With the other, he was turning snags on the barbecue. “And you’re too good a boy to get eaten, aren’t you, Blue?”
The dog smiled—actually smiled—at Monroe, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth and tail wagging furiously.
Alec was sitting with Zali and Monroe’s friend, Kristie, around the table, and Zali’s guys were spread out. Some down near the water, and Flynn was next to me on the couch. Ezra was leaning up against the barbecue, talking to Monroe. There were smiles and laughter all around, playful ribbing and love everywhere you looked. Monroe went to stand behind Alec, running his fingers through his hair. Every time he did it, Alec practically purred.
Zali came to sit by me on the sofa and whispered, “Your boyfriend is hot.” She grinned at me conspiratorially.
“Both of them are,” I shot back.
“That’s my dad. Ew.” She gave an exaggerated shudder, but her laughter gave her away. “I’m happy you’ve worked it out.” She paused, her tone serious but her eyes dancing with humour as she asked, “As an athlete, does he have incredible stamina?”
“Oh yeah,” I breathed. My cheeks heated and I giggled. “He really does.”
“You’re going to have to up the cardio to keep up with him. Heck, I know I’ve had to.”
“Your dad is my cardio.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I stilled. That sounded a whole lot ruder than it did in my head. I flicked my hesitant gaze to Zali.
Her mouth was open, and she blinked slowly before she pressed her lips together and clamped her hand over her mouth. Her shoulders shook and tears sprang to her eyes as she giggled. It was contagious. I leaned into her, and with our heads pressed together, we laughed until we both had tears streaming down our faces. My side was hurting from the stitch, and my cheeks were sore too.
“You’re addickted.” She laughed again, and I struggled to breathe. “I love you,” she said to me after our giggles subsided. “You’re the best friend I could ever have asked for.”
“I love you too,” I said, reaching for her hand and interlacing our fingers. She was the first true friend I’d ever had. We’d bonded over a true crime podcast about her mother, and we’d been the very best of friends ever since.
I looked around. Seeing everyone together and happy was incredible.
I sighed. It couldn’t last. Monroe needed to be close to Zali. She was his only family. I couldn’t take that away from him. But Alec needed to be in the US for the NHL. Two places on the opposite sides of the world and me stuck in the middle. It was going to be tough to make it work, but I knew we could.
“What’s on your mind?” Zali asked quietly, nudging my arm with hers when my smile turned sad.
“I wish we could be together all the time like you and your guys are,” I admitted. “But we’ll only see Alec for a few weeks every year. It’s going to suck when he leaves.”
“Why aren’t you going with him?” she asked. She sat up and turned on the seat so she faced me instead of the water.
“Monroe,” I said. I thought it would have been obvious.
“Does Dad not want to move? Why?” Zali’s brows dipped, and her lips turned down in confusion.
“Because of you,” I explained.
Zali shook her head. “Absolutely not. No.” She stood up and stalked over to Monroe.
He looked at her, smiling instantly as she approached him.
“You can’t do this.” She shook her head, and his face fell. She grasped his arms and squeezed them. “I won’t let you stay here because of me. I’ve never seen you happier. I won’t let you walk away from Alec and Cara or put yourselves through the torture of a long-distance relationship because of me.”
“Zali—”
“If you aren’t ready to be together full time, fine. But don’t stay here for me. We can talk every day. We can come and see you in the States as often as you like. Hell, I’ll buy a bigger plane so we can fly there without pit stops and get the place next door to Alec’s if it means seeing you more often. You can all come and stay in the guest house whenever you want to—it’s just sitting there empty—but Dad, please. Please, don’t throw this away because of me. Seeing you happy with Alec and—” She looked at me with a soft smile and tears in her eyes. “—with someone who I love as much as Cara means everything to me.”
“I….” Under his hesitation was a spark of hope that flickered to life. Monroe had been torn, desperate to keep Zali geographically close so he could protect their relationship, but I knew how much he wanted to be with Alec too—he wanted it as much as I did.
“Say you’ll go, Dad.”
He nodded and wrapped his arms around Zali, squeezing her tight. “I’ll go.”
Tears sprang to my eyes, and I raced over to them, engulfing them in a hug. Alec was there too. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and Monroe’s waist before he pressed a kiss to Monroe’s temple, then nuzzled mine.
“Group hug,” Flynn called out, and more bodies joined in our embrace—all of Zali’s guys and Monroe’s friend too.
“Looks like this afternoon has turned into a going away party,” Ezra said as we broke apart. He reached for his bottle of beer sitting on the table and held it aloft in a toast. “To the three of you—you’re sweet as—”
“Puck,” I blurted as Spencer came bounding up the steps, his dog in tow.
Ezra laughed. “Sweet as puck, I like that.”
“Hey, Roe, can I have a sausage? You’re making them like Bunnings, right?” Spencer asked, completely unaware of Ezra having very nearly dropped the F-bomb.
“Sure, mate.” He smiled at me and lowered his voice. “Definitely sweet as puck.”