by Heather Long
The metal mesh around things confused me, but Archie just shrugged. “Bears wander by. Trash is stored out here and picked up periodically, so we don’t have to worry about them knocking it over.”
Wait.
Bears?
But he was already leading us back into the house and then up the stairs. Yes, there were indeed five bedrooms.
“You have the big master,” Archie told me. “There’s a smaller one down the hall. That’s mine. Coop’s in the room next to yours, Jake and Bubba are across the hall.”
I glanced from one door to the next, then back to him. “So…everyone has their own beds.”
“Yes,” he said slowly.
“Archie suggested it, but we all agreed that yes, we all like sleeping with you. But sometimes, we all want alone time. So your room is communal for sleeping if you don’t mind, but our rooms aren’t. You’re the only overnight guest in those rooms with us.”
“Or something like that,” Jake said, but I didn’t miss the look he threw Coop, and I was both thrilled and a little nervous.
“The point being,” Ian cut in. “We want everyone to be comfortable, but you most of all.”
Archie rubbed his cheek against my damp hair and murmured, “And we all want to get laid.”
Heat swept up my face, and I let out a little laugh before taking a quick swallow of coffee. You know, we were here…maybe we should just grab that bull by the horns. “Are we actually going to discuss the fact that I’m having sex with all of you?”
“We can,” Jake told me. “If you need to. We all know. No one here is in the dark.”
I pursed my lips and glanced from one to the other and then blew out a breath. “Okay, well…I’m starving. I need some fortifications if we want to get any uncomfortable parts out of the way.” Yep, totally chickening out.
They chuckled, but thankfully, none of them called me on the delay. In fact, I passed my empty coffee mug to Archie.
“Do you guys mind giving Jake and me a minute? We’ll be right down.”
“No problem,” Archie said, then gave me a gentle kiss before running his hand down my back and turning toward the stairs. From the corner of my eye, I caught him giving Jake a hard look. Then Coop swept into my view and gave me a kiss. Ian followed him. And they both cut a look at Jake, who just stared right back at them.
After they disappeared down the stairs, I focused on him. “Which one was your room?”
He backed up a couple of steps and nudged open the door across the hall.
“May I?”
With a gentle snort and a smile, he held out a hand. I took it wordlessly and let him pull me into the room. He nudged the door shut, and I wrapped my arms around him. Jake banded his arms around me and picked me up, but I just hugged him tight and ignored the fact my feet were off the ground.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I don’t like pissing you off.”
“Won’t stop you from doing it though,” I answered him in an equally soft voice, even as I pressed my nose against his neck and inhaled his scent.
“Nope,” he admitted. Rubbing my back gently, he lifted his head and then pressed his lips to mine. It was a simple kiss, a gentle apology, and offer of truce all in one. “I love you, Baby Girl,” he reminded me, and I smiled.
“Even when I’m a brat?”
“Do you still love me when I’m a jackass?” he teased.
I grinned. “Most of the time.”
He pressed his lips to mine and then paused again before he jerked his head back. “Most of the time?”
Chapter Seventeen
Four to Tango
After we made it back downstairs, Jake had grumbled a bit more but settled after I curled up in his lap. The temptation to stay in his room and keep making up had been overwhelming. But the others were waiting, and I wasn’t ready to test how willing they were to wait if making up turned to sex. I just wasn’t. Not yet.
The heady feeling accompanying the unspoken but natural follow up thought that I would test it eventually made me dizzy. Heat rolled through me, and I forced my mind away from Speculation Avenue. With fresh coffee in hand and the fire burning merrily, it was hard to believe it wasn’t even lunchtime. Still, the snow fell outside, and I had a hard time tearing my gaze away from the windows.
“You know, I never thought I’d have competition from the weather,” Coop drawled, but I just shot him my middle finger.
“Like you’re not staring at it, too,” I huffed, but Jake just chuckled and pressed a kiss to my shoulder. While I still wasn’t thrilled with the caveman tactics from earlier, I’d forgiven him. I probably overreacted. Maybe.
Firm maybe.
“True,” Coop said, then fixed his gaze on me. “But I’d rather stare at you.”
Ian laughed as he leaned back on the sofa he’d claimed. They’d all gotten one really, except for me and Jake. He’d sat down not far from the fire and I wanted to be next to it, too, ergo, his lap was now my chair. I also wasn’t too proud to admit I needed the comfort. Arguing with them wasn’t new. But fighting like we had earlier had a way of catapulting me back to the previous spring and that gut-wrenching feeling of betrayal that they’d warned all the guys off of me and had for years.
It just… Ugh. I shook my head. Better not to think about that. Feelings, as Erin had admonished me during that last session, were complicated. Fuck, I needed to email her and let her know I wouldn’t be at my sessions the following week.
Putting my coffee on the hearth, I wiggled forward to grab my phone from the coffee table. Yoga pants did not have pockets.
Really, the only problem with them.
Jake gripped my hips, whether to steady me or keep me from grinding on him, I wasn’t sure. I also didn’t ask. When I leaned back against him and stretched my legs out, he slid one arm around my middle and tucked his head against my shoulder.
“I didn’t really book us plans for today,” Archie said. “So when you’re ready, we’ll totally head back outside to play.”
I grinned, even as I opened the email on my phone. There was a Wi-Fi available.
“Password for the Wi-Fi?” Jake asked.
Archie rattled it off, and I typed it in. Man, it wasn’t until I had both thumbs flying as I logged in to the Wi-Fi, then opened my mail and wrote a note to Erin, that I realized how much I missed having both thumbs. If Jake read what I wrote over my shoulder, he didn’t comment. Instead, he just asked, “When are we going skiing?”
“Day after tomorrow,” Archie said. “Then I have a few ideas for the weekend. We can go skiing again after that.”
“Wait, so you don’t have us all scheduled and time-clocked booked right down to who gets Frankie when?” the teasing note in Coop’s voice kept the question from being harsh, but it was a little on the nose.
I cut a glance toward Archie, who sprawled back on the sofa, feet up on the fat, square coffee table that looked like it had been carved out of some huge tree trunk. Seriously, I loved everything about this house. He smirked. “If I’m the one making that schedule, you should probably consider being nicer to me.”
Ian laughed. “Nope, not biting. The only one who makes that schedule is Frankie.”
My face heated, but at the same time, I let out a little sigh. “Maybe we should talk about that.” The weight of four stares settled on me, and I lifted my chin. At least Jake was mostly behind me so I only had to face three of them. That wasn’t fair, though. So I uncurled myself from Jake’s lap, despite his protests, and moved to sit on the hearth and cradled my coffee cup. Now I could see all of them.
“Okay,” Archie said, meeting my gaze. “What’s up?”
“We’re all okay talking about this with all of us at once? I can have this conversation individually, too.” Please don’t make me do that. Still, I stole a look at Ian. Of the four of them, he’d been the most reticent.
“I’m fine with it, Angel,” he told me almost gently. “I thought the fact that I didn’t protest after Jake made you sc
ream for three minutes yesterday would have told you that.”
“They aren’t really quiet,” Archie admitted with a wry grin. “Then again, Frankie is a screamer, and that’s kind of nice.”
“Kind of?” Coop snorted. “It’s excellent.”
Oh. My. God. I rubbed a hand over my face. It was probably redder than Rudolph’s nose. Yes, I was a screamer. But these four all had ways of just turning me inside out. Just sitting here talking to them had me squirming a little and the tension coiling my belly. “Anyway…” I stressed the word as I balanced the coffee mug and glanced down at the charms on my bracelet. They steadied me. Every single one meant something.
“I’ve been meaning to have this conversation, and I think it needs to be a conversation. At the same time, it’s kind of embarrassing.” I made a face, but Coop just met my gaze steadily without a trace of teasing or humor. Archie and Ian wore similar expressions, and a glance at Jake said he was on board, too. Okay. I could do this. Licking my lips, I pressed on. “Ian knows this, but I talked to you guys about getting tested and stuff. I got tested, and I got an implant.” I motioned to my arm. “So…the whole condom thing is okay now since we’re all clean.”
The intensity in Coop’s eyes went up a notch. That shiver of anticipation tickled its way up my spine.
“And,” I hurried on, “we’re talking about a schedule, do you guys really want one? Like we were doing for homework and dates?”
“Can’t hurt,” Archie said after a minute when no one else said anything. “But sometimes, you want what you want—when you want it.”
“And sometimes, we’re feeling creative,” Jake suggested. “Or adventurous.”
I glanced over at him and grinned. Yeah, that was another part of this conversation.
“I think,” Ian said slowly, “whatever you’re most comfortable with is going to work for us. I mean, am I probably going to be envious if you disappear upstairs with one of the guys and spend a couple of hours screwing around? Not going to lie. Probably.”
My gut tightened.
“But it’s not going to chase me off. Because I know they will be too when it’s my turn.”
I almost dissolved into a puddle of relief. This sounded almost too good to be true.
“Coop’s not said anything,” Archie pointed out.
“Coop is fine,” Coop stated, stretching his arms over his head and letting a bit of his abdomen peek out as the hem of his shirt rose. “Coop wants Frankie. Coop has Frankie. Long as Frankie is happy, Coop is happy.”
“He’s also apparently talking about himself in the third person,” I murmured, eyebrows raised.
He winked at me. “That’s because Coop is happy right now. He’s got his girl, his friends, no parents, no responsibility, snow as far as the eye can see, and a chance to just be. I’m delirious.” The words squeezed my heart so tight, it pressed the air out of my chest. “My only request is that if you’re in your room, even if one of the others is there, I can come and sleep with you, too.”
“Fuck, dude, come sleep with us if we’re in my room,” Jake said. “I don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind,” Ian said slowly, but he did look thoughtful.
“Just be aware that you might get booted if a good morning wake-up call is involved,” Archie told him. “Coming back to the smell of sex all over the room after a run is one thing. I don’t necessarily want to share the fun that early.”
“But you’re not opposed to later in the day?” Coop asked, a faint smirk on his lips.
Archie shot me a considering look. I gave up on pretending I wasn’t blushing. It wasn’t so much that this whole conversation was embarrassing—I mean, it was—but it was more that we were talking about this so openly and they were all be so relaxed about it.
Rubbing his thumb against his lower lip, Archie said, “If Frankie isn’t opposed—I’ll try anything once.”
All the breath whooshed out of me at that admission. Coop’s grin just grew. He’d made his desires more than clear. He and Jake both for that matter. I had a feeling it was only a matter of time before we dove into the next step, and as nerve-racking as it might be, I grew more curious with each subsequent day.
“I’m open to it,” Ian said slowly, and I tracked my gaze over to him. The intensity in his eyes was like a pair of candles burning hot. They scorched me as he swept me from head to toe. We’d only had a handful of times alone together, but he’d easily become the most demanding of the four of them in very specific ways. I hadn’t realized how much I’d like being tied up or spanked.
Though the latter was something both Jake and Archie liked to do, but not the way Ian did it.
Or maybe they just hadn’t worked their way up there.
Fuck. A delicious shiver raced over me, and Ian’s smile turning knowing. “But I want the caveat that if anyone is uncomfortable, we shift the plan,” Ian continued.
“Agreed.” The swiftness of the word spilling from the others left me as the last one.
“Absolutely,” I said.
“Then we just figure out what we all like,” Archie mused, then he grinned. “Any more tough topics, babe?”
I groaned. “I don’t know if I could survive any more at the moment.” All the blood was in my face, but at least there was no fear of my cheeks getting cold. Probably not any time in this century.
They chuckled.
“Cool,” Coop said, bouncing to his feet and holding a hand out to me. “Let’s get changed and go play in the snow.”
I clasped his hand and let him pull me to my feet, but he picked me right up and kissed me. His tongue delved against mine, twisting, twining, tasting, and stroking until I was shaking.
“You think he’s going to remember she wanted to go play in the snow?” Jake’s dry question made Archie and Ian both laugh.
Lifting his head, Coop winked at me and thankfully didn’t put me back down on my rubbery legs. “I just wanted to have my first kiss on the mountain,” he said. “You know, a real one.”
A laugh escaped, especially when he quirked a brow as he set me on my feet. I gripped his arms for balance as I got my wobbly legs under me.
“Anyway…last one outside has to sleep in their own room tonight.” Coop bolted for the stairs before the last word left his lips.
“Fuck,” Jake swore and tore after him with Ian right behind him. Archie stared at me with a bemused expression, and I had to wonder if I wore the same one.
“Do you think he knows I’ll be the last one?” I had to ask, and Archie threw his head back and laughed before he offered me his arm. Threading my arm through his, I bumped his hip with mine as we headed for the stairs.
“I don’t know,” he said as we ascended the steps. It wasn’t hard to hear the guys laughing and shit talking each other across the halls as they changed. “I could take my time and then all I have to do is lure you to my room tonight.”
He paused at my door and pressed me right up against it.
“Thoughts?”
“Um…” I said, flattening my hand against his chest. Fuck, I really did like having my wrist out of the cast. “I win?”
His laughter echoed up the hall and carried just enough wickedness that Jake stuck his head out the door. “What are you two plotting?”
“Nothing,” Archie denied before brushing a kiss to my lips and opening my door to nudge me inside. I bit my lip, but I couldn’t stop the laughter from bubbling up. He made a shooing motion, and I blew him a kiss. Closing his fist over it, he carried to his heart. “See you in a minute, don’t forget the waterproof boots.”
“I won’t.”
The door closed, and I let out a little laugh and danced in a circle. Pressing a hand to my stomach, I took a deep breath, but the smile on my face wouldn’t go away. I had no idea how I got lucky with all of them. For that matter, I wasn’t sure how crazy we were to try and do this. “But so far, so good,” I whispered to myself, then crossed my fingers. Closing my eyes, I gave myself a moment to get it togeth
er.
Laughter and thumps echoed from beyond my closed door, and I swore my smile widened. My cheeks hurt from the force of it.
“Okay,” I told myself. “Let’s do this.”
It took me ten minutes to change, because I had to make sure I shimmied into the right pieces. I’d tried these on in the store, but it was still different to slide into the black ski pants with their suspenders and high waist that did great things for my ass and my boobs—thank you, Rachel. Next came the moisture wicking socks, then the heavy boots. I joked they felt like moon boots when I first put them on, but they added a scant inch to my height. I was in no way at risk of catching up to any of them.
Pausing, I checked myself in the mirror. The red top cut nicely with the black. It was a Henley, warm enough but also breathable. Layers, Rachel assured me, were the key. Also the best part of the ski pants, I decided, was how they hugged my ass but showed zero panty lines.
Score.
I put my hair up and pulled the earmuffs on. They looked adorable. The jacket was last, and it was red and black with gold piping. I paused long enough to take a picture of myself to send to Rachel, then I shoved my phone in the pocket and zipped it closed. The opportunity for pics was too great, I wasn’t going to miss them because I left the phone up here.
Gloves in hand, I opened my door to find Archie leaning against the wall, looking devastating in his own pair of ski pants, boots, and open jacket. Instead of earmuffs, he had a knit cap pulled over his head, and he looked both adorable and hot in equal measures.
“Wow,” he exhaled as he gave me a once over, and I did a little pirouette so he could get the full effect. His eyes were full of heat and approval. “I owe Rachel.”
“So do I,” I teased. “Your turn.”
