Chapter Twenty-Three
T he only problem with middle-of-the-night orgasm sandwiches was that, eventually, morning came.
Max had fallen asleep face down on the pillows, his face slightly less disgruntled in sleep after the late-night activities. Landon stayed on his side facing me. He held me long after he fell asleep, and when I woke once in the middle of the night, I quickly settled back to sleep.
Waking before both of them, I carefully climbed out of bed and did what any reasonable young woman in my position would do.
Ogled them for a minute.
Then, ran from the room.
I closed the doors and left them sleeping in bed, maybe a little bit hoping they’d wake up together while I grabbed food.
My stomach rumbled as I dialed Gia’s number, and I pulled leftovers out of the fridge while the call connected.
When Gia’s face appeared, the room was mostly dark, and she squinted at me through puffy eyes, her sleep mask pushed haphazardly up on her forehead. “If you’re waking me up this early, it better be because you scaled that brick wall of a man last night.”
I snorted. “I’ll do you one better.”
“What?” she shrieked. Her video feed jolted, scanning all over the place as she flailed and tried to sit up. “Tell me everything! Also, are you in a Homes and Gardens magazine right now?”
She eyed the kitchen behind me, squinting and turning her camera as if trying to see around me.
“Nope.” Laughing, I flipped the camera. “And this is just the cabin kitchen.”
“Those rich bastards. Tell that Kingston fellow of yours I’ll be moving in with you when The Quest is over.”
“Obviously.” I snorted.
“Okay, but seriously. Tell me what happened. When did it happen? Who did it happen with?”
I blushed. “Landon and Max.”
And then I proceeded to give her all the gory details.
The ones that could only be shared with a best friend, because others might gasp and clutch their pearls when they heard I rode both their hands to oblivion. Or close to it.
Gia reacted perfectly. Her pride and outlandish response drove out any concerns I had over whether letting them do that for me last night had been too much too fast, or in general.
“Have I ever told you you’re my hero?” She clutched her heart, summoning her best Bette Midler voice and singing, “You’re everything, everything, I wish I could be!”
As we both picked up the next few lines, I had a feeling my singing voice might wake the dead or a pair of Knights, so I dropped my volume and pitch for the last line.
I drew it out while Gia’s mezzo-falsetto rendition rang through the phone. “You are the wind beneath my wiiings.”
We dissolved into a fit of giggles.
“Man, I’ve missed you.” She wiped tears of laughter from her eyes. “Maybe Kingston will let me move in early.”
“Never hurts to ask.” I shrugged.
“What are you going to do until you talk to him?”
“Um…talk to you?”
Gia narrowed her eyes. “What are you avoiding, Quinn Everly? From what you told me, it sounded like you could crawl back into bed and wake them up for a repeat performance. Maybe with an encore!”
I had a sneaking suspicion encore was code for group sex, but I didn’t want to burst her bubble on the likelihood of us crossing that bridge any time soon.
Baby steps.
Also, avoidance.
“What if they want to talk about it? What if Landon still won’t tell me what I need to hear? What if Max flips his switch and reverts back to his cold cycle settings? What if they both freak out and hold onto this whole mortal enemies thing they have between them?” I twisted my hands in my lap. “I mean, they participated last night, but…six days without sex is guaranteed to cause blue balls. Maybe it wasn’t so much about being cool with each other’s involvement as it was purely sexual?”
“If so, joke’s on them because my girl got some and their balls are still blue.” Gia snickered. “Maybe that’s a conversation you need to have with them, though?”
“Yeah…”
“What is it?”
I chewed on my lower lip. “Am I crazy to even think about this? My history with both of them aside, since that’s an entire day’s worth of conversation we can’t sort through right now. Even if we got past all that, there’s no way they’d share, right? And…I’m not supposed to want that, am I?”
Gia pinned me with a look. “Says who?”
“Society?” I arched my brow. “Probably my therapist, if I make it out of here alive so I can have a session with him?”
“That quack has no idea what he’s talking about.”
She scoffed, and I shot her an exasperated look.
“Okay, okay. But! Hear me out…”
I rolled my eyes, laughing after the way our last call had gone. “Oh boy, here we go again…”
She smirked. “Your therapist might understand why the idea appeals to you. Given what happened…you know. It makes sense not wanting that for yourself after watching your dad go through what he did alone.”
“You mean, you think it’s only because of my trauma?”
“Um. No.” She shook her head emphatically. “I’ve seen one of them and heard the way you talk about the others. I think…you connected with them. All three of them right around the same time. Even if that wasn’t the plan. Even if it hasn’t gone perfectly.” She shrugged. “And obviously, I raised you on why-choose romance, so I think it’s natural to find yourself drawn to all of them and not want to choose.”
“I’m sensing a but…”
“But…I think it’s even more understandable that you don’t want to choose, given your past.”
I thought it over as I picked at the food I’d pulled out of the fridge. “Maybe…” I conceded. “Still doesn’t mean they’ll be open to it, though.”
Gia raised her eyebrows. “You never know unless you put those big girl panties on and ask.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “One thing at a time. I need answers to about nine hundred other things before I start asking those questions.”
“If you say so.” She winked.
I suppressed a smile, and when she stifled a yawn, I glanced at the clock and realized what time it was. Quickly letting her off the phone to go back to bed, I sat on the couch eating my food while I waited for the guys to wake up.
It took a minute, but it was so worth it.
The cacophony of curses and insults mixed with my barely repressed laughter was like a symphony to my ears.