Page 21 of The Final Deal

I shake out the scaries and replace it with a smile. “Hope you’re hungry.”

Confusion laces through his smirk. “What’s all this for?”

I shrug as I stir the salsa. “Thought we could use a family dinner.”

“Family?”

“Mhmm.” I tap the wooden spoon against the rim of the pot and set it aside. “You, me, and Z. Family dinner.”

“Uh huh,” he responds flatly. “How’d you sleep in the studio?”

“Fine. Woulda been better if I had one of my personal in-bed furnaces beside me, but I survived, I think.”

Hands rest on my hips and a chest presses against my back. “You shoulda told me.” He kisses my shoulder. “Maybe I could’ve used your cold ass feet on me during the night.”

I snort. “Wait till winter when I turn into a perpetual ice cube and can’t get warm by myself.”

“Mm, yeah, I remember that.”

I wonder if he’s thinking about that fateful night that turned everything upside down—when we were in his Suburban and I was freezing cold and he wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close.

I don’t know if I have to feel guilty about that anymore, but it’s still there beneath the surface, waiting for me to remember how big of a piece of shit I’ve been. Zak and I might have made up, but now I’m asking him to share me with his brother, who I cheated on him with…

Even if Zak and Adrian had some weird agreement that neither of them were supposed to ask me out and Zak did anyway, that doesn’t make any of this right.

“Does it bother you to share a girlfriend with your brother?” I blurt.

“Honestly?”

Oh boy. “Yeah.”

“A little.”

I blink and swallow the regret forming in my throat. The salsa sputters; I recoil when a hot droplet lands on my arm. I quickly stir it around and turn down the heat.

“Babe, I don’t know what you expected,” Adrian starts. “You don’t have to choose, but you can’t expect us to instantly be cool with it, either.”

My teeth sink into my lip, and I distract myself by focusing on stirring, hypnotized by the small bits of vegetables and peppers swirling in the hot pot. Makes me wonder what their mother would think if she was alive and I came into her kitchen announcing, “Hey, FYI: I’m dating both of your sons.”

Adrian kisses my temple and murmurs, “You’re asking a lot from us, you know. Especially since we’ve always fought over you.”

“Y’all fight over everything.”

“Yeah, so does it really surprise you that it’s gonna bother us to share you?”

My shoulders slump. “No. I just… I don’t want y’all to hate me for not choosing. Or… or leave me.”

I set the ladle aside, turn around, and slip my arms around his neck. My fingers run through his dark hair that probably needs a cut soon, and I stare into golden-brown eyes that watch me cautiously.

“Maybe I’ve only dated your brother until now,” I murmur, “but even back then, it’s always been the three of us. I’ve never just been Zak’s princesa—I’ve always been yours, too.”

Adrian cups my cheek. “Don’t you forget it, either, princesa.”

I close the distance between us and kiss him softly, savoring his warmth and arms surrounding me. I part from him slightly to ask, “Sure you don’t miss all the groupie pussy you could ever want?”

He chuckles uncomfortably and nips my nose. “Yeah, I’m sure. Need me to do anything?”

I peck his lips once more. “Mind starting the grill?”

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