by C. M. Albert
“Wow,” I said eloquently, not sure where to start. “This is amazing!”
“Well, take all the time you need and enjoy your lunch. Ryan’s going to be a while. You have the place to yourself, but we’re just a phone call away if you need anything at all.”
“Thanks, man. I really appreciate everything,” Brighton said, shaking Skip’s hand as they said their goodbyes.
When the door finally closed, I turned to Brighton. A big grin spread across my face as I looked up into his beautiful green eyes. “What in the world has come over you with all this?”
A dangerous glimmer filled his gaze as he stared back at me, hungry for something other than lunch. My breath hitched and I knew what was coming before he cupped my face and kissed me, walking me back to the closest wall. I’d wanted to feel his mouth on mine all morning, so I took greedily. It wasn’t long before our kisses became deeper and more urgent. His hair was soft under my fingertips, and my breathing hitched when his mouth moved to my neck, then to the open skin just above the swell of my breasts.
“Making up for lost time,” he growled as his hands cupped my now-generous breasts. “This is what I’d do if I were wooing you guys. We kind of skipped over that part. Now, get your clothes off, hot momma.”
“What? You expect me to get naked here?” I asked, looking toward the extremely large viewing window.
“We have time, Liv. No one’s coming in until we’re ready. And no one can see up here into the suite. Trust me.”
He locked the door to prove it, then stalked back over to me and began removing layers of my clothes one at a time, kissing every inch of my body in the process. By the end of the day, I wasn’t sure who had the better driving experience—me or Ryan.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Ryan
“HOLY SHIT THAT was amazing!” I said for about the hundredth time since we’d left Watkins Glen. I still couldn’t believe Brighton set up such a thoughtful and extravagant experience for me. Olivia seemed more relaxed, too. It was nice to see her at ease for the first time since visiting Laelynn’s grave on Christmas Day. The excitement of the afternoon caught up with her though, and the moment her head hit the pillow on our over-sized bed at the Hilton Garden Inn, she fell fast asleep. The look the receptionist gave us when we asked for their king-bed suite was priceless.
Brighton and I ordered appetizers and beer from room service because our quick dinner of subs on the way to the hotel wasn’t cutting it. Plus, beer. We closed the door to the bedroom and sat in the suite’s living room to eat and chat about the day, careful to keep our voices low so we didn’t wake Olivia.
“I really appreciate what you did for me today.”
“It was nothing. I know people, so I was able to pull a few strings.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know. I just didn’t want to embarrass you by letting on that you were getting all mushy and shit.”
I took a long pull of my beer and really looked at Kerrington. He was so different than the man I met that first day at his uncle’s house. Or maybe I’d just finally gotten to know the real him. The one Olivia saw all along. The one she was able to fall in love with, even though she had me. We were different, I got that. We each gave her something special in our relationships with her. I knew she never intended to fall in love with the man. But after spending the last six months with him, I was starting to see how it could happen. I may not have fallen in love with him the way she had, but I loved him, nonetheless. I couldn’t remember the last time I told a guy friend I loved them. Had I ever?
But I was lying to myself. Kerrington was more than just a friend now. That was the part that confused me the most. Luckily, no one was asking me to figure it out—including him.
“So, what do we have planned for tomorrow?”
“It’s another surprise.”
“You’re just full of ’em.”
Brighton snorted.
“Seriously though. What is all of this?”
“You really don’t get it, do you?” he asked, leaning forward to place his elbows on his knees.
“Guess I’m slow.”
Brighton stood and slowly walked over to me. He ran a hand through my hair, then down the side of my face. He traced my beard with his thumb till it found my mouth, swiping over my lower lip. I stood, putting us toe-to-toe, facing one another. The air in the room felt heavy—like it does just before a storm drops.
“Let me catch you up to speed.”
I swallowed, unable to stop my eyes from falling to Brighton’s mouth. I’d gotten familiar with it lately. I knew he could be rough, biting and taking, just as easily as he could be soothing, as if each languid kiss would make me forget that it was with a man. It confused me because I wasn’t attracted to men.
But I was attracted to him.
“What the hell is it about you that makes you so fucking irresistible?”
“You think I’m irresistible?” he postured.
“I’m standing here, aren’t I?”
“I did all this because I love you, okay? When I say I love you, it’s not because I also happen to love Olivia. It’s because I love you—Ryan Marshall Wells. I don’t want this to just be about Olivia and me, or you and Olivia. I want our life to be about all of us. When I say I want both of you, it’s because you fucking matter to me.”
His mouth was so close I could smell the stout on his breath.
“So, you’re wooing me, then?” I joked, the corner of my mouth rising just a smidge.
“I guess I am.”
“I hope you don’t expect me to put out after our first date.”
“I’m able to wait,” he said.
Fuck.
I swallowed. This was unchartered territory. Something we agreed would never happen.
But how do you love at arm’s length? I couldn’t help where my heart was leading me anymore than I could control my breathing. It somehow veered me onto a path I never expected, never wanted for myself. It had always been about Olivia. I didn’t know what to do now if it wasn’t.
The truth about love is—you don’t choose it. It chooses you.
Who knows? Maybe I really had fallen in love with Brighton just as hard as Olivia had. There was only one way to find out. I leaned in, our faces touching with the tenderest ache of what stood between us.
His hand lashed out, gripping the back of my head. I could feel his chest rising and falling against mine, his warm breath on my lips.
In that moment, I made a choice.
I surrendered to whatever this thing was that was pulsing between us. I needed more.
I needed Brighton.
“I’m not,” I said.
His mouth crashed down on mine, fierce and unrestrained with the permission I’d just given. He pushed his hands into my hair, yanking my head back as he pressed his tongue in deeper, making me open for him as he explored the terrain of my mouth. I dropped my empty beer bottle to the floor and reached for his hips, tugging him closer.
We had moments during our shared time with Olivia when we’d let our hands explore each other’s bodies—but it was always a safe caress here or there. A firm hand gripping an ass as we kissed. A slow exploration of each other’s chests during a shower. But then, inevitably, we’d redirect the surging arousal I knew we both felt back onto Olivia.
It was safer there.
Tonight, there was no Olivia. She was sleeping soundly in the other room. And now, our touches became a little bolder. Brighton walked me backward until my shoulders met the hotel room door with a soft thud. He pulled back and our eyes met in the heated tension that hung thick between us—the air clouded with feelings we’d been fighting for too long because we simply didn’t understand them before now.
Now, I understood exactly what this was. It was love. And for the first time, I stopped questioning and surrendered. Brighton wanted to woo me? Game on.
I grabbed the back of my T-shirt and yanked it over my head, tossing it to the floor whe
n I was done. Brighton’s eyes dragged over my chest, which had a light covering of dark hair leading in a thin line down my flat stomach to the V below. He thumbed his lip as his eyes slowly dragged their way back up to mine. He leaned in again, slower this time. A promise crackled in the air around us. When I leaned my head forward and sucked his lower lip in between my teeth, he hissed, pressing his hips forward and grinding them against me on instinct. A spear of lust unlike anything I’d ever experienced shot through my body, making my dick ache. This was new terrain, and I had no idea how to explore it. But I let my hands slide over Brighton’s ass, finding the back hem of his jeans. I slipped my palms inside, cupping his bare skin as he pressed his body even closer to mine.
“Fuck,” he growled, his fingers gripping my beard just as tightly as my hands gripped his backside. Our chests heaved between us as we tried to catch our breath. “We really doing this, Wells?”
I pulled him even closer so our hips were pressed together, leaving no doubt where this was headed and how turned on I was. He chuckled, dropping his mouth and tracing his tongue along my lower lip slowly, sensually.
When his palm slid down the front of my stomach, my abs tightened under his touch. I closed my eyes when it passed under the top of my jeans, his rough grip meeting the smooth skin of my shaft. There was no going back, and I knew I never wanted us to.
That night, our relationship changed, melting even deeper into a range of feelings that defied everything we thought we knew about our capacity to love one another. There were no barriers left between us anymore—and we knew it would deepen not only our connection, but our relationship with Liv.
To say this trip changed our lives was an understatement.
That night, Brighton made me realize this “thing” between all of us was truly a forever thing. A commitment not just between Olivia and Brighton, or me and Olivia, but all of us. He took his time with me, to make sure I knew that. That I felt that. That I felt loved.
That’s what this trip was all about.
And it worked.
That night, I fell even deeper in love with Brighton Kerrington.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Ryan
WE SPENT THE next three days in New York City—including New Year’s Eve. Brighton surprised us with a cooking lesson with a renowned chef who taught us how to make organic baby food from scratch. She also taught Brighton and me recipes for a few go-to meals we could easily make after the baby was born so it didn’t all fall on Olivia’s shoulders. Since we didn’t know many people in the city, and it was like a separate world unto itself, it was easier to be openly ourselves there. That felt unusually freeing and brought out the playful side in all of us as we explored how our relationship could work—both in and out of the bedroom.
We did all the things tourists in love do together and Liv somehow managed to sweet talk some last-minute tickets from a scalper to see Hamilton. The cherry on the cake was when we went to the infamous Studio 54 for a New Year’s Eve concert with Michael Bublé. It was technically owned by the Roundabout Theatre Company now, but it was still cool knowing we were gracing the same space as so many legendary artists, actors, singers, and models who partied hard there in the seventies.
Brighton and I were already tipsy from our dinner at Feinstein’s/54 Below, and high on hearing Bublé sing in person, when we stumbled from the club, laughing. We were eager to get back to the hotel and away from Times Square. We had no interest in watching the ball drop with a million of our closest friends.
Olivia was holding onto Brighton’s hand while I tried to hail a taxi. When it sped by me, he doubled over laughing, draping his arm loosely over my shoulder and pulling me in for a kiss. He dropped his mouth down on mine and claimed it. It was over before it started, but my lips burned for more.
“You think it’s so easy, you do it,” I said, laughing.
That’s when I thought I heard someone call my name. There was still a crowd outside the theater, but as I glanced around, I didn’t see a single familiar face. Maybe I’d had too much to drink.
But no, a hand reached out and tapped my upper arm. I turned to shrug it off when my eyes landed on the cold, calculating stare of Kimber Shanahan. Her husband was nowhere to be seen, but an older woman stood next to her.
“Kimber! What in the world are you doing here?” I spun back to get Brighton and Olivia’s attention before it was too late. It was too late. Brighton was enthusiastically kissing Olivia’s neck, and she was swatting at him, telling him to hail a cab already.
Fuck.
“Guys, look who I just ran into,” I said louder, tugging the back of Brighton’s tuxedo jacket. They parted, confused. That’s when Olivia saw Kimber, the blood draining from her face.
Kimber looked confused as she gazed between me and Brighton, then Brighton and Olivia. Then her eyes dropped to Olivia’s stomach, which protruded under the gold-and-teal swingy cocktail dress she was wearing. Kimber already knew we were pregnant from our run-in after the ultrasound. But it was poor timing to be reminded of the fact after she’d just seen an obviously sensual kiss between my wife and my best friend.
“Kimber!” she said, trying to recover. She unconsciously wiped at her bottom lip, which only made it worse. “Happy New Year!”
“Uh, yes. Happy New Year to you three, as well.”
“Thanks, Mrs. S!” Brighton said, trying to lighten the mood. “And who’s this pretty little lady with you tonight?”
Kimber waved to the woman behind her. “This is my sister, Maxine. She lives here, and I thought I would visit for New Year’s Eve. We just don’t have anywhere nearly as fun to celebrate back home. Maxine, this is Ryan Wells, my colleague, and his wife, Olivia.”
Her sister didn’t seem as interested as Kimber did.
“And this is my best friend, Brighton. He’s a little drunk,” I whispered loudly. “Don’t mind him. He gets a little touchy when he’s had too much to drink.”
“I’m right here you know,” he said, laughing too loud and playing it up. “I was just trying to show Ryan here how to hail a taxi in the city. You can tell he’s not from around here.”
“Yes, I saw. You have an . . . interesting technique.”
“Why thank you,” he said and bowed a little at the waist. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, Olivia’s a little tired and we’re a little drunk. It was good to see you as always. Maxine, nice to meet you.”
“Yes, well . . .” Kimber glanced back at Olivia’s stomach, then acted surprised. “Olivia! I’d almost forgotten you were pregnant. I didn’t realize you were so far along. No wonder you look so tired. You must be ready to pop! When are you due?”
I could tell Olivia was about to pop something all right. I wrapped my arm around her, drawing her closer to me and farther from Brighton as subtly as I could. Poor Maxine looked uncomfortable and bored at the same time.
“Early April,” I answered for Olivia since she was quietly seething next to me.
I heard Brighton whistle from behind us, then call out my name. “Let’s go, Wells.”
“Sorry to be rude and leave so fast, but it looks like we got lucky.”
“Indeed,” Kimber said, raising a brow. “Have a good evening, Ryan. I can’t wait to catch up back home.”
I’m sure she couldn’t.
The cab ride back to the hotel was quiet, though Olivia held my hand tightly. It wasn’t until we closed the door of our hotel that she finally brought up what happened.
“How bad was it?” Olivia asked. She kicked off her heels and moaned, rubbing her aching soles before changing into her pajamas. Brighton jumped onto the bed, still in his tuxedo, and leaned against the headboard. He patted the bed for Olivia to join him and grabbed her feet, putting them onto his lap when she did. She lay stretched out across the bed with an arm flung over her eyes.
I shrugged off my dress shoes and lay down next to her, turning on my side so I could face her. I ran my fingers down the front of Olivia’s body from her chest to her stoma
ch, where I slid my hand beneath her soft cotton T-shirt to rub her rounded stomach. It was so damn cute.
I ran my hand gently back and forth, unable to get enough knowing our baby girl was in there. “It wasn’t our finest moment,” I answered truthfully.
She moved her arm just a tad to peek out of the corner of her eye at me. “Did she see Brighton kiss me?”
“Uh, yeah. Everyone at the theater saw that kiss. It was kinda hard not to notice.”
Olivia groaned.
“Hon?”
“Yeah?”
“She saw Brighton and me kiss, too. I just thought you should know.”
She sat up on her elbows and looked at me. “What in the hell are we going to do, Ryan? This seriously isn’t good.”
She plopped back down onto the bed. “Why? Of all places in all the world, how did we end up in the same city, and the same place, at the same time as that woman? For god’s sake! There are like eight million people in New York City!”
“A lot of people come here for New Year’s, Livy. It’s just shitty coincidence that we both did this year. Don’t worry about it, though. There’s nothing we can do about it now. We’ll worry about it another day.”
Right then, I felt a little thump under the palm of my hand.
Olivia’s eyes lit up as she looked at me. “Did you feel that?”
I nodded, grinning from ear to ear.
“I forgot to tell you at Christmastime! We got sidetracked like we always do,” she said, rolling her eyes. It was true. The three of us got distracted by each other in the best way possible quite a bit.
