Chapter 8 - Maren
Maren
The kids were finally tucked in. Well, mostly.
Emma had put up a good fight, insisting she wasn’t tired and that she needed water, a story, a stuffed animal, three extra blankets, and some kind of elaborate ritual that may have involved chanting.
By the time she finally surrendered, I was out of patience but somehow still smiling.
I tiptoed down the stairs to the living room, where the soft glow of the lamps and the low hum of jazz from the sound system made the space feel warmer than usual.
Ethan was stretched out on the couch, half-hidden under a throw, while Miles and Adrian had claimed the other chairs.
Miles nursed a beer and Adrian clutched a mug of hot chocolate in both hands.
“Finally,” Ethan said, raising his eyebrows. “You survived bedtime without anyone spontaneously combusting?”
I plopped onto the couch beside him, stretching my legs. “Barely. I think I need a stiff drink.”
Miles grinned. “Are you a beer or wine kind of woman?”
“Don’t bother with a bottle if you’re not going to help me.”
“That sounds like a dare,” Adrian chuckled.
“You’re the one sipping hot chocolate like you’re at your grandma’s house.” Miles made his way to the kitchen and reappeared soon after with a bottle of red wine in one hand, and four stemmed glasses in the other.
Adrian leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “So, what exactly happened with Emma tonight? A rebellion, I assume?”
I rolled my eyes. “A full-scale revolt. I think she was planning a coup. She definitely had allies among the stuffed animals.”
Miles laughed softly, pouring large glasses for each of us. “She’s ambitious. I like that.”
I snorted. “Ambitious or terrifying. The line’s thin.”
Ethan shook his head, smirking. “You get used to it. Eventually. Or not. Depends on your tolerance for things being upside down a lot of the time.”
There was a comfortable pause, just the four of us listening to the jazz and the faint call of the city outside. I found myself relaxing more than I had in months. For some reason, talking to them felt effortless. No judgment, no pretense, just easy conversation.
“How’d this happen, by the way?” I motioned to the three of them with a finger drowsy with wine.
“College.” Miles finished his beer with a drawn-out sip. There was nothing about him that said he had any other details to share.
I nodded along thoughtfully, then turned to Ethan. “So, when did you know Miles had a hidden talent for storytelling?”
Their laughter rippled through the quiet, and it was the first time I started feeling like part of whatever they had going on here. Some accidental family dynamic rooted in friendship. The warmth blooming inside me had little to do with the wine.
“Smartass.” Miles launched a throw pillow at me. I ducked left, and it whizzed past my head and onto the floor.
“I like this one,” Adrian said with a crooked smile. “She bites back.”
“We met in college,” Ethan said, his laughter simmering.
He pulled up to sit, and I passed him the as-yet untouched glass of wine on the coffee table.
“I was a senior, headed for an illustrious career in accounting. This one—” He gestured at Miles.
“—was a journalism freshman, if you can believe it.”
Miles topped up my glass even though I was only halfway through. “Ethan had a habit of locking his keys in his car. I was on my way home from a party one night and saw him walking up to his driver’s side window with a rock.”
“He ended up saving me over three hundred dollars that night,” Ethan said.
“My lockpicking skills in exchange for his lifelong friendship.”
“Sounds like a win-win.” I snorted. “What about you, Adrian? How did you become ensnared in their friendship trap?”
“He’s the one who ensnared us,” Ethan cut in with a laugh. The wine had gone to his cheeks, flushing them pink, and his eyes held a mischievous spark I hadn’t seen before.
“What does that mean?”
Adrian slid to the edge of his chair, elbows on his knees. “I never had the attention span for school, let alone college. I had a thriving business selling, uh, supplements from the trunk of my Honda.”
“Supplements?”
“Don’t ask what you’re not ready to know,” he said simply. “Anyway, these two delinquents were regulars.”
“Okay, wait.” I held up my hands to stop the story time. “I’m hearing accounting, journalism, and… questionable side hustle. How the hell does that become Lumen Events?”
“So you did absolutely no research before applying for this job?” Miles asked, a playful lilt in his voice. He was on his third beer, and it showed. “You moved in with a virtual stranger without so much as a glance at the About page on our website?”
He got me there.
I cleared my throat and focused back on the remaining wine in my glass. I was warm all over, and almost giddy with it.
“I didn’t look, because it didn’t matter at the time.” It was the most honest response I could’ve given, but I still kept my gaze trained on my glass the whole time.
Things had been so busy, I hadn’t really had time to obsess over the state of my life since taking this job. Now it all came crashing down on me with extra force. As if it had been building up momentum while on hold.
“That bad, huh?” But Adrian wasn’t joking around this time. He seemed sincere.
And that was how, in a room of virtual strangers, I felt safe enough to tell the story of my world falling apart.
Something I hadn’t even told my parents yet.
They listened without interruption. No stupid jokes or random topic-changes.
They just let me pour my heart out, while Miles kept pouring the wine.
“If it weren’t our busiest season,” Ethan said when I’d exhausted my voice, “I’d have gone to Bora Bora to kick his ass myself.”
“I would’ve held him down for you,” Adrian added.
I waited for Miles to give his two cents, but he just shrugged and said, “I’m a lover, not a fighter.”
And it got me laughing again.
A couple of days ago, I didn’t think that was possible. Not with how things looked for me.
“So this is your nightly ritual?” I was already looking forward to it. The perfect debrief after a busy day with the kids.
“Pretty much,” Ethan said, and got comfortable on the couch again. “Except I kick them out eventually, or they end up overstaying their welcome.”
Which reminded me of how late it was. I finished my drink and slowly pushed up from the couch, stretching the creeping tiredness from my bones. “Honestly, with the way things are going, you should just join the two houses and get it over with.”
“Hey, don’t go giving them any ideas,” Ethan called after me as I made my way to the staircase.
I waved at them over my shoulder. “Goodnight, gentlemen. I gotta replenish my stores for tomorrow’s chaos.”
Their muted conversation followed me all the way upstairs, until I closed the door to my bedroom and was enveloped by the peaceful hush that came with a good end to a good day.
I kicked off my shoes and sank into my bed, letting the weight of the day press against my shoulders. My phone buzzed almost immediately.
“Hello, Miss ‘I’m Totally Fine,’” Liv said, voice sharp with amusement. “How’s the new job?”
Hearing her voice tugged at my heart in a way I wasn’t ready for. “I’m exhausted, but it’s good. I think.”
“You think?”
“I mean, the kids are adorable.” I hesitated a beat. It had only been a day and I was bursting with everything I had to say about the men. Something made me hold back, though.
“Three of ‘em, right? I hope you negotiated a higher rate,” she said. “They didn’t disclose that in the ad.”
The current rate already put me in a tax bracket I would never have reached on my own. I would’ve been fine if Ethan added a hundred more kids to my day.
I didn’t tell her that either. In fact, the more Liv probed with questions, the more I found myself clamming up. It was all too new, I told myself. I was still figuring things out, was the excuse that followed.
“If you’ve fallen asleep on me…”
I snapped back to the moment. “I’m here. Just tired, that’s all.”
“You know, since you’ve been so cagey about your new job, I went ahead and Googled your boss.”
This landed, and I sat bolt upright on my bed. “What? Why?”
“Because you either ignore my texts or change the subject when it comes up,” she said. “Did he tell you to do that? Blink once if you’re being held captive by a gorgeous business owner who once made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list.”
I chuckled softly. “What’s the point of blinking if you can’t see me?”
“More importantly, how dare you not tell me he’s so goddamn good-looking?”
I groaned under my breath, that close brush with Ethan in the linen closet sneaking up on me again. Getting me all hot without warning. “You’re ridiculous. I don’t care what my boss looks like. That’s not why I’m here.”
“Uh-huh. Famous last words.”
“Look,” I said, flopping back onto my pillows. “Everyone here has been nothing but professional, including me.”
She sniggered, and her voice was light and more forgiving when she said, “After everything you’ve been through, you’re allowed to loosen up a little. Have some fun.”
“Gee, thanks for the permission, I guess.”
“You’re welcome,” she said without hesitation. “Now get some sleep. I’ll call tomorrow, okay?”
“Deal.”
Silence folded in on me when the call ended.
No more voices, or to-do lists. Just me, and that piercing blue-gray gaze pouring into mine whenever I closed my eyes.
His grip on my waist, and how heat instantly gathered at his fingertips, spreading through me like a wildfire.
I let out a slow breath, helping my mind to slip further into the memory of what he smelled like up close.
The low tenor of his voice in my ear. There’d been something there.
I was sure of it. I felt it all over when we were crammed together in that closet.
And now, alone, it was impossible not to feel it still.
I bit the inside of my lip. Somewhere in the back of my mind I was aware they were downstairs, talking. Aware that I probably shouldn’t. Any one of them could come up here. Need something. Wrench open my door to find me in the most compromising position.
But the idea only turned me on more, and my hand floated between my breasts, drawing a feathery line down my abdomen. Until I reached the waistband of my jeans.
I indulged in the ‘what if?’ of it all. Because what if the kids hadn’t started screaming? What if Ethan and I had a few more minutes of absolute privacy in that small closet in the hall? Our bodies pressed so close I could feel the heat of him rushing into me.
What then?
Would it have been so wrong to lean in when he gripped me that way? To wrap my arms around his neck and lose myself in those stormy pools of not-quite-blue?
I was soaked all the way through my underwear, and sucked in a breath the moment my finger slipped over my mound and down the length of my folds. My clit was hard, swollen with lust for him. Only him?
I bit back a moan, my hips dipping as I applied more pressure. Fuck me, I had no idea what the fuck was going on, but all three of them had me in a vice-like grip. From being days away from settling down with one man for the rest of my life, there were now three who had me all hot and bothered.
A particularly forceful shudder raked through me, and I couldn’t take it anymore.
The layers between me and what I wanted most was infuriating, and I pulled back just enough to slip my hand inside my underwear.
I was so wet, my finger slid easily between my folds, teasing my clit as I rolled my hips to increase the friction.
The bed squeaked under me, but I don’t slow down.
Because Ethan in my head isn’t slowing down.
The taste of salt and cologne set my senses ablaze as I dragged my tongue along his collarbone.
That low groan of his coming out all ragged and desperate when I closed my hand around his hard cock.
I moved faster and with more pressure as I circled my clit, a surge of arousal spilling out of me all over again.
Except it wasn’t my finger working the magic.
It was Ethan. He was the one with his hand between my legs, encouraging me with barely-there whispers to come for him while I held him close.
And then his voice changed, and it wasn’t him anymore.
Miles now. Flicking the tip of his finger over my pulsing clit, and using two fingers to hold me open.
I pursed my lips tightly together to stop the trembling moan that wanted to break out of me. No noise. Only heat.
The muscles in my thighs tensed up, and I twisted my hips to change the angle for Adrian. Sweet, chaotic Adrian. So attentive with how he pleasured me. Faster. I dipped a finger inside, then brought it back over my clit, quaking with how fucking good that felt.
Soon, it all melded together. All three of them. All stroking me to climax. Building momentum until there could be only one outcome.
I turned my head to bury my face in my pillow just as a cry of pleasure tore from deep in my throat.
My orgasm hit hard, raking through me until I was nothing but a wet, trembling mess on my bed.
I clamped a hand over my mouth to muffle my ragged, shallow breaths as I slowly eased through it, my body growing heavy and limp where I lay.
The room went quiet again, but I was anything but calm. Every breath carried the echo of hands that hadn’t even touched me. And the only thing louder than my heartbeat was the one thought I couldn’t shake—
This job was supposed to save my life, not complicate it even further.