Sand fell to the floor, and my skin felt sticky and gross.
The tub was too small to fit all three of us, but that didn’t deter them from their mission. Maddox undressed and got in first and held me from behind while Briar sat on the edge. They washed me and pecked kisses on my skin, caressing every inch of me before meeting each other for a kiss.
I relaxed against Maddox, my heart full as I watched their lips press together.
It was still too early for dinner, so after we bathed, Briar and I read together in the parlor while Maddox laid his head on my lap and napped. As he slept, I glided my fingers through his silky black hair and dropped a kiss to his forehead.
Briar softly smiled at us.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course,” Briar said, marking the page in his book.
“Do you love him too?”
That smile softened even more. “He’s sleeping, right? I don’t want to inflate his ego.”
Happiness stirred in my heart. That was all the answer I needed. “He loves you too, you know. I can tell.”
The smile at the corner of his lips faded. “Does it bother you?”
“What?”
“Me loving him.”
“Not at all,” I answered. “I prefer it that way actually. I want all of us to be happy.”
“I am,” he said. “More than I can express.”
“Even with Lake now in the picture?”
“Even with the wolf.” Briar smoothed his hand over the cover of his book. Did he take comfort in books in the same way I did? “His energy is different now.”
“What do you mean?”
“His aura is lighter,” Briar responded. “Still unpredictable. Wild. But when you were with him earlier on the beach; light radiated from him. Like you took away some of that chaotic darkness.”
I continued playing with our captain’s hair and looked out the window. Rays of golden light streamed through the dark tree branches as the sun began to set.
Clomps coming up to the front porch stirred Maddox, and he woke with a deep groan. Poor guy had been sleeping hard. The sun had drained all of us. I shifted out from under him and got up to answer the door.
A cinnamon roll greeted me on the other side.
“Evening,” Callum said. Heads bobbed behind him. Quincy, Baden, and Duke.
“Hey.” I opened the door wider to let them in, then closed it. “Y’all somehow sensed I was about to cook dinner, didn’t you?”
Duke grinned. “Music to my ears.”
“What are we having?” Callum asked.
“You aren’t having anything.” Maddox sat up on the small couch. He was so big that half his body hung off it. “You can starve.”
“He just woke up from a nap,” I told the knights. “So he’s cranky.”
Baden laughed, then snapped his mouth closed as Maddox shot him a glare.
“Y’all behave while I start dinner,” I said before going into the kitchen, smiling as their voices sounded from behind me. The cottage was so warm and lively with all of them in it.
