I stare at him, unblinking, in shock. None of this is making sense. “Wouldn’t… wouldn’t that be something you should have done before making the offer?”
“We didn’t have the same information on hand then as we do now,” Jax says, his eyes steady on me, his voice calm and even as though he’s talking about what he had for breakfast instead of delivering devesting news. “And that’s changed things.”
My mouth runs dry. “What information?”
“That this thing would happen between us all,” Gunner says, making a circle with his hand to indicate everyone at the table.
I lean back in my chair, dumbfounded. “I don’t understand. Is this because we have a relationship outside of work? If that’s the case, I don’t have to work here. I’m sure you have plenty of brilliant minds who can take the program through beta testing and launch without me.”
“I’m afraid that’s not an acceptable solution to the problem,” Daniel sighs.
I glance at the door, wondering if I somehow walked into an alternate reality. I turn up my palms, totally lost. “What is the problem? I still don’t understand.”
No one replies right away, and I look around the table in utter confusion. That’s when I see it — Gunner biting into his lips to resist a smile. Beside him, Trigg looks down, his hand over his mouth, pretending to be fascinated with the table. But as I watch, a silent laugh makes his shoulders twitch.
I don’t know whether to be angry, relieved, or amused. I smack the table with an open palm, causing them all to jump. “What the fuck are you guys pulling?”
He can’t take it anymore, and Gunner breaks out in a wide grin. “The bad news is, I ate the last piece of apple pie you left in the fridge for Trigg. But, in my defense, I didn’t even get a slice of the cherry pie — these animals devoured it before I could get near it.”
Trigg thwaps him on the back of the head. “Dude. You promised to let Jude do the talking.”
Gunner holds up his hands. “Right. Sorry. It was just getting a little tense there. We should have led with the good news.”
“So… you were just joking about not buying the program?” I ask hopefully, still unsure of what’s going on.
Jax shakes his head firmly. “No, we weren’t joking. We aren’t buying it.”
“What?” I put my elbows on the table and steeple my fingers against my temple, feeling like I’m back at square one again. “I’m so confused right now.”
Jude clears his throat, and I glance at him from under my hands. He’s sporting this half-cocked smile as he looks at me. “Well, if I do recall, last time we had a business meeting, you were the one drawing things out and letting us suffer before dropping the good news.”
I straighten up. “So… that means there is good news? Are you guys just playing with me?”
“Payback is a bitch, isn’t it?” Jude asks, that cocky grin of his growing wider.
“Oh my God, you’re killing me,” I say. “Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”
Jude sits down finally, leaning his forearms on the table and interlacing his fingers. “We’re not purchasing your software because we aim to acquire it, free of charge.”
I twist to take him in fully, my curiosity peaked. “And how exactly do you plan to do that?”
Jude remains leaned toward me. “When the five of us formed this company, we agreed that all intellectual property any of us had rights to or developed in the future would be shared — a communal offering, to benefit everyone. We’ve kept nothing from each other, Emma.”
I’m not sure where this is headed, so I speak cautiously. “You’ve been very successful by working together so closely,” I affirm. “It’s obviously a strength of the firm.”
“Absolutely,” Daniel says with an enthusiastic nod.
“And it’s the same thing we’d expect of any new partner Pentabyte brings on.” Jude says, fixing on me steadfastly.
A shiver of surprise runs up my spine like a bolt of lightning, and with it my heartrate accelerates. He’s hinting at a thing I had never expected. “What?”
“We want you to join us as a full partner at Pentabyte. Not as an employee, but as an equal. We want to be equals in all things, Emma. If you’ll have us.”
If I’ll have them? I don’t know how they manage to stay seated. I spring from my chair, flinging my arms around Jude with a squeal. It doesn’t bother me in the least that I’m completely failing at being professional, though I’m glad they had the foresight of closing the blinds. I was concerned this meeting would be about warning not to cross boundaries and to keep things purely employee-employer status at work, but they’ve completely thrown me for a loop.
Their show of ultimate commitment is staggering, to invite me into their company. And I know it’s a symbolic show of trust higher than anything I can think of — they want us to be one solid partnership, in as many ways as possible. Through the business, we’ll be tied to one another legally.
Jude pulls me into his lap and cups my face in his hands. “Hey now, don’t go jumping right into accepting this offer before you’ve looked through the paperwork.”
I shake my head vehemently. “I don’t care what’s in the paperwork.”
“We insist,” Jude says, gesturing at Daniel, who extends a packet to me.
“Make sure you’re happy with the financial package. This is your career, after all. You’ll also be receiving the partnership bonus for the year. And, we’re disclosing our personal finances as well. Everything is summarized in these pages,” Daniel says, tapping on several sheets of paper which have been stapled together.
With one arm still wrapped around Jude, I run a finger down each page, flipping quickly to the next one. My heart thuds even faster. I knew the guys were loaded, but I’ve never seen the figures before. The numbers are staggering. Then there’s the partnership perks — the salary alone is gasp-worthy, but there’s the stock and the medical benefits and a long list of perks… it’s all mind-blowing. Forget a yacht that could block out Jackass’s sun, this might make me the richest female entrepreneur in the tech industry. I’m absolutely floored.
I stop perusing the figures and turn into Jude, laying a palm on his jaw. I let my lips give a wordless answer as I draw him in for a kiss. His expression mirrors mine when I pull away, a joyous grin on both our faces.
Trigg leans forward in his seat. “That also means equal say in all Pentabyte operations. Your software will move us in new and exciting directions, and we want you to have actual ownership of this process, babe.”
Moving from one of my men to the next is not only something I’m getting accustomed to, it’s becoming an addictive allure. I rise from Jude’s lap only to fall into Trigg’s. His arms wrap around my waist, and he tilts his chin up for a kiss.
“Thank you,” I tell him after our lips part. I turn to the other guys, who I plan to smother in kisses soon, but for now I say, “Thank you all. This is amazing. I’m just blown away.”
“Don’t thank us,” Jax says, cocking his head, his eyes on me with that intense fixation that makes my pulse quicken. “This is an entirely selfish move on our part.” He shrugs. “But I’m not even fucking sorry about it.”
I squint at him curiously. “What do you mean?”
“You deserve it — don’t get me wrong,” he explains, “but also, we don’t want anyone to ever have a chance of claiming you. You’re ours.”
Damn, why does it set me on fire to hear him talk like that? And I love the words, too. Because they’re true. I look around at my men, my heart singing with elation. “I am,” I say. “I’m yours in every way.”
Jax’s lips twitch to the side behind his full, black beard, and he shakes his head. “Almost, but not quite in every way, yet,” he says.
“But we’d like to fix that, right now,” Gunner says, his tone adamant as he stands up from the table.
I watch as the rest of the guys join him, rising from their seats. Trigg pats my leg, signaling for me to
scoot off him so he can get to his feet as well.
They all come around to where I stand, banding together, facing me as a united front. Jude retrieves an object from his pocket, nestling it in the palm of his hand, but my eyes spy a glimpse of it. If my heart was thundering before, it pulls a one-eighty and stops dead now. I take a sharp breath and hold it in.
“There’s one more thing we want, babe,” Trigg says, a nervous smile on the corner of his lips.
Jude clears his throat. “The guys and I, we’ve been talking.” He uncurls his hand and displays a little, velvet-covered box to me.
“Holy fucking shit!” It rushes out before I can stop it, so I clap my hand over my lips to keep the gleeful laughter from escaping as well.
Jude’s eyes sparkle with amusement at my vulgarity before his expression grows serious. “Now, we have some things to say, but, eh, some of us aren’t the best with words, so you’re going to have to be patient and let us get through it, okay?”
I nod solemnly, tears filling my eyes. “Okay.”
“When I was younger I’d have never thought my heart had room to love so many people this intensely,” Jude tells me, “but with these guys, it’s easy — it’s an honor and privilege. And then we were blessed with the greatest gift any of us could hope for — the love of an amazing woman. We have our shortcomings and our faults, but you accept us as we are. And we are better men because of it. Because of you.”
He looks to Trigg, who speaks next. “We’ve had a strong brotherhood, the five of us. But we’ve been missing something. We’ve all felt it, this missing piece in our lives. We didn’t know what that was, until we met you.”
Jax nods. “We’ve all been through hell, in our own ways. But you’re the light in our lives, Emma. The way you soothe those wounds and fill the cracks with love, you’ve become a part of us. All this time, some piece of me has always been looking for you.”
“You balance me in a way I didn’t know was possible. And somehow, you do that for all of us,” Gunner says, his tone earnest. “I’ve pushed through life at a hundred miles an hour and distracted myself with a thousand wild adventures. But you’re the only adventure I need now, and I want to be on this crazy journey with you for the rest of my life.”
Daniel steps forward. “We love you, Emma. All of us. We know what the expectations are in society and the limits of what’s legally possible right now. But we want to be with you forever, and we don’t care what the world calls it. What matters is you and us. We can make our own way, together.”
A long, quiet pause passes after Daniel finishes speaking, and all eyes turn to Jude expectantly, who takes a deep breath, the little box shaking ever so slightly in his hand.
“Need some help over there, Chief?” Gunner asks impatiently.
“I can say it,” Jude growls before lowering himself to one knee. Jax, Gunner, Trigg, and Daniel all flank him, sinking to a knee as well. He opens the lid to the velvet box, displaying a beautifully crafted ring — five small gemstones of various colors surrounding a large, brilliant diamond in the center.
My legs can’t take it any longer, nor can my nerves. All five of the men I adore, down on one knee, looking up at me with such love and hope in their eyes. I fall to my knees, my hands steepled over my mouth and nose, tears coming to my eyes. “Jude?”
He licks his lips, holding the ring out to me. “Others can call it what they will, but we know what this means to us. We’re no longer complete as a group of five, not without you. Will you do us the honor of being our wife? Will you marry us, Emma Collins?”
I can barely breathe, and tears are streaming down my face as I reach a hand out to the little box. I need to touch it. I need to know this is all real and not a dream.
My whole body shakes as my fingers brush across the velvet. The world be damned. They’re right. This is what matters — the six of us. I can’t imagine my life without any one of them.
“Yes,” I choke out. “Yes, I will.”
All of them smile with delight at my words, and there is a collective sigh of relief as well as some sniffles and wiping tears away from their eyes.
Jax picks the ring out of the box, and his strong hand encases my trembling one as he slides it onto my finger. “We’ve found our missing piece.”
12
Emma
“You need to rethink this habit of yours,” I tell Daniel, giving him a raised eyebrow.
“What do you mean?” he asks innocently.
I sigh and shake my head with a laugh. “You’re terrible at hiding things behind your back. For starters, you can’t keep a straight face. And secondly—” I reach behind him and quickly snatch the large, cardboard tube “—you can’t hide stuff back there if it’s bigger than you are.”
Daniel chuckles as he watches me inspect the tube. “In my defense, I haven’t been trying all that hard to be devious.”
“What is this?” I heft the long tube in my hands and give it a shake. No sound, but it’s surprisingly heavy. “A new cloth canvas for Jax?”
“It’s going to be a masterpiece, alright, but it’s not for Jax. Well, I should say it’s not only for Jax.”
I tap my fingers on the plastic cap at one end. “You really know how to make a girl curious. Can I open it?”
“Absolutely. But you might want to do it over here,” Daniel says, walking to the dining room table.
“Okay.” I follow him over and pry the cap out of the end of the tube. He helps me carefully extract a bundle of thick, rolled papers. My eyes go wide as he spreads them on the table.
Blueprints. I can’t make heads or tails of all the lines and symbols spread across the grid paper, but I have a guess at what all the drawings represent, and it makes my heart pound. I thought the guys were just joking when they first mentioned it.
“Is this what I think it is?” I ask him incredulously. The rest of the guys have made their way over to the table, and I don’t even need an answer to know it’s true — I can tell by their excited and proud expressions as they circle around the table.
“If you think it’s the plans for our new home, then yes,” Trigg says with a big grin.
I can hardly believe it. “Really?” I stare down at the paper, trying my best to tell what’s what, but it’s all just a blur of lines and measurements to me. “I thought you all were just kidding.”
Daniel tilts his head and smiles at me, drinking in the look of incredulity on my face. “Well, they vetoed my island plan, so this is the next best thing.”
“Wow, I don’t even know what to say. This is amazing.” I lift the top sheet and then the next. “I can’t really read these, but it looks humongous.”
“Three stories,” Jude confirms.
“On ten acres,” Trigg adds.
“Plenty of privacy for nude sunbathing… and other things,” Gunner pipes up with a sly grin.
I give him a gentle nudge in the side as Trigg’s words register properly in my head. “Ten acres? That has to be outside the city. Where is it?”
The guys all exchange a look, the sweetest smiles on their faces. Daniel’s the one who finally asks, “Remember the story you told us about what your family would always do for your birthday?”
I nod slowly. “Yeah. Every year since I could remember until I went off to college. We’d rent a boat for the weekend and go out to the lake. We’d camp and swim and kayak, and I’d drag them all out on these nature hikes… and…” I trail off as the realization sinks in. “Wait, are you saying…?”
“No, not quite,” Daniel says, shaking his head. “This is at Bellonti Lake. And the back of the property line adjoins the Ashton nature preserve.”
Jax speaks up. “We know it’s not the same place your parents took you, but even God’s money couldn’t buy land in that National Forest. So, we found something as close as we could.”
My mouth is hanging open as I look at each of them. I shut it and take a big swallow. “Bellonti is beautiful. People say it’s prettier than Lake Como in
Italy, and I believe them. I’m stunned, guys. This is amazing. I keep saying that, but it really is.”
Their smiles get even bigger. I wave a hand at the blueprints. “Could someone maybe explain what this all means? Like, what rooms are what?”
“Here, flip to the back of the papers,” Daniel says, reaching out to help me. “There are drawings of the house and each floor.”
The guys crowd around me, each of them pointing out different things excitedly — the sprawling living room on the top floor to take advantage of the gorgeous views, the massive chef’s kitchen next to it, the multi-level deck leading out to the lake, and on and on. I follow their fingers as they point to things on the drawings, feeling like they’re showing me Santa’s workshop, just filled to the brim with wonderful surprises. They’ve thought of everything, and then some.
“Are you sure you’re comfortable?” I ask Jude.
“Don’t you dare move,” he responds.
Good enough for me. I wiggle just a little, trying to make sure I’m not crushing him. I was planning to just sit on his lap for a little while before getting up. He looked like he needed it as much as me. But then he slipped his arm around my waist, and I didn’t want to get up anymore.
I snuggle against Jude’s chest and look around the great room, my eyes flicking between the gorgeous ring on my left hand and my five men. They explained the gemstones surrounding the diamond represent each of their birthstones. Lucky me to have been born in April, the diamond in the middle.
Luck doesn’t even begin to describe how fortunate I am. My gaze lingers on each of the guys as they talk and move around the room. My men. I still can’t quite believe it.
My partners, my lovers, my heart.
And now, my housemates. All of us, living together. No more separate apartments. No more shuffling from penthouse to penthouse. Just one big home, for the six of us. Just when I think I can’t be any happier, these guys find a way to up the ante.
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