Aiden’s shoulders sink. “Ah…And here I was hoping you were looking for me.”
“No. I…uh. I’ll leave you to it.” My cheeks are flushed, but so is the rest of me. I stumble back a step, but Aiden catches me and shakes his head.
“You don’t have to. I’m almost done anyway, and it’s lovely and warm in here. You stay. I’ll go.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah, me too,” Aiden mumbles as he steps out of the shower. The disappointment in his voice is so visceral it hurts us both.
“Aiden! Wait.” He stops. I turn off the shower, and the stillness of the room surrounds me, allowing me to focus solely on him. “I’m embarrassed,” I admit. “I don’t know how to do this. How do I go from one man’s bed to another man’s shower?”
“Technically, it’s Dax’s shower,” he teases, “but it has those jets that I love, and it beats washing with the rest of the guys.” His tone is light, but I can tell he’s just trying to ease the tension between us. He sighs. I hear a towel drop before he taps on the shower door. “Can I come in?”
I consider his question. My mind throws logic at me.
We’re both naked.
We’ve now seen each other naked.
Nakedness doesn’t have to mean sex.
Though even if it became more, I’ve already accepted that I want both men.
But having discussed it with Aiden as a possibility doesn’t mean it is a given.
I need to talk to Dax.
So…do I let him come in?
“Yeah.”
Aiden steps inside and spins me to face the shower unit. He stands behind me and turns on the water again. “It’ll get cold quickly. This will keep us both warm as we talk,” he explains.
Swallowing hard, I keep my hands pinned to my side. I think I’m more nervous now than I was last night. “I’m sorry if it seemed like I was rejecting you.”
Aiden sucks in a deep breath and reaches for the shampoo. “Rejection is always a possibility. There’s always a chance you’ll pick one of us and stick. It’s the norm; it’s easy to do. So, I’m prepared to accept it if that’s the path you’d rather choose, though I got the impression you wanted us both last night?” he asks. The soft way heposes the question reveals his vulnerability. He stills while he waits for my response.
“Yes. I did. I expected you to stay,” I admit.
He starts to move again. There’s a snap of the lid on the shampoo bottle and the hiss of air leaving the container. So normal and human and yet I’m too nervous to even smile.
“I left because you needed Dax and he needed you,” he tells me. “You’ve already bonded. Your attraction to one another is part of the reason you bang heads all the time, but you were both too afraid to push through the crap.”
I wholeheartedly agree. Something between Dax and me just devolves. Like we’re both so desperate to flee our Vale shit, we don’t see we’re just dragging it around with us.
“And me and you? Have we bonded?” I ask in a cowardly, roundabout way. It’d be easier to ask, ‘Do you want me?’but those words are for a much braver woman than I.
“Yeah, Tiger, but maybe our bond isn’t as obvious yet. We need our own time together.”
I like the sound of that. The small moments I’ve had with just Aiden and me are always so full of comfort and care. Not to mention the panty-melting way he wrangles the kids. Sexy, kind, and perfect. He’d probably be husband material if I were a little older or ever planned to marry. Then again, I’m discussing a threesome? Three-way? Throuple? Whatever.
Aiden massages the shampoo into my scalp, combing it through the length with his fingers. I’m distracted for a second before I remember what I need to ask.
What were the boundaries? Who is with whom?
I screw up a little more courage and dig in. “And you and Dax…how does that work? You’re close, I can see that, and you seem to read his needs better than he can most of the time. Are you two…umm…together too?”
Aiden chuckles at the stupid, immature way I handle thatquestion, but he doesn’t ridicule me for it, for which I’m thankful. I need guidance, not mockery, or I’ll never be comfortable enough to figure this stuff out.
