Page 36 of Breathless

“But you both know about Jake.”

He knew they did. Jake had only been a few years old, on the street with his mother, when Seamus gave them a place to sleep for the night. After Jake’s mother died trying to get them out of a bad situation, Seamus adopted him as his own. Their relationship was one of the purest Wyatt had ever witnessed. Absolute and unconditional love. They couldn’t be any closer if they were related by blood.

“I’m just saying, I think sometimes maybe the people we choose,” he said, trying to find the way to express what he was feeling. “The people who find us when we’re lost or drifting or invisible can become their own kind of family. Your librarian. Jeremy and Owen. Jake and Seamus. The three of us.”

Fiona leaned back to look up into Wyatt’s face, and then behind him at Thoreau. “The three of us?”

Heat flooded Wyatt’s face. “I just meant… Fuck, I’m just saying—”

“We got you, Finn,” Thoreau said with a broad smile, which was tinged with both relief and humor. “You like us.”

“You make good beer. That’s all you’re getting right now.”

Fiona’s smile was softer, but still uncertain.

“This sharing experiment took a wrong turn,” she joked weakly. “And here I was hoping you were trying to take advantage.”

“You know how I love to experiment,” Thoreau said, humor more evident in his voice. “And take advantage. But I suppose we could always go back to talking about Wyatt’s favorite sock.”

Wyatt growled against her and she laughed. “I really want to hear about that sock now.”

“Sock puppet,” he said, lifting his head to glare at Thoreau as he admitted his deepest shame. “It was a damn doll some girl from school made me in second grade, and I slept with it for a while, okay? Noah doesn’t even know about it, so you both need to take that to the grave.”

Fiona ran her hands through his hair. “A little sock doll? That is the cutest thing I ever heard, firecracker. And it explains why you’re so good at cuddling. You had practice.”

Thoreau covered his mouth and hooted with laughter. “I thought you were talking about something else, man.”

“I know you did.” Wyatt tried not to smile but it wasn’t working. “I had another sock for that and it lived under the bed. It might still be there. Full of…memories.”

“That is nasty.” Thoreau grimaced. “We’re all glad you graduated to showers.”

Fiona shook her head as they laughed, and he could see her dark mood had disappeared. “Men and masturbation. The great equalizer.”

Wyatt pulled her closer, needing to touch her. “Everybody does it, Fi. A little release is good for the soul. I already know how much you like it. I know you like to watch it, too.”

“Does she?” Thoreau’s smooth voice had deepened. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

Fiona looked wary again. “What’s going on right now?”

Wyatt caressed the curve of her hip suggestively. “Hopefully, exactly what you’re thinking. This is what you wanted, isn’t it? For us to share?”

Her eyes went wide as saucers.

“Are you sure, Wyatt? The last time we talked about it, you said something like ‘never in a million years.’”

“I’m learning that things change.” Whether he was ready or not. “We’ll need to go slow, but I want to do this. For you. With you.”

“Agreed.” The desire in Thoreau’s voice added fuel to the fire of Wyatt’s own need. “Now all Fiona has to do is say yes.”

She stared at them for a long moment, obviously wrestling with some conflicting emotions. What was holding her back? What couldn’t she tell them?

He wanted to ask, but then she sighed and her expression cleared.

“Yes.”

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