“It’s been great spending the day with you,” I add quickly. I don’t want them to feel like I’m trying to leave because I don’t like them or I’m tired of them. Quite the opposite, in fact—normally I’d be itching to get back to my own routine, but I really have enjoyed spending the day with them, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sort of want to see what other checklist items we could take care of tonight if I stayed. I just don’t want them to feel like they have to honor their earlier suggestion if they wouldrather get back to normal. “I just … you know, if you’re ready to have your house to yourselves again. My feelings won’t be hurt.”
“Not really,” says Lukas, his frown clearing a little. “We like having you here.”
“We want you to stay,” adds Sebastian, “but only if you want to.” He sounds like he means it.
“I just don’t want to overstay my welcome,” I tell him. “I know you said I could stay another night, but I don’t want you to feel like you have to stick to an offer from hours ago, if you’re ready to just get back to your normal routine.”
Sebastian’s brow is furrowed, as though he’s trying to work through a complex math problem. “So … you don’t want to go, but you’re willing to if we want you to leave?” he asks.
“We’d like you to stay for another night,” Elliot tells me.
“We wouldn’t have asked if we didn’t want you to,” Felix says, reminding me of what I already know but haven’t quite been able to convince myself of despite all evidence pointing to it being the truth. “We wouldn’t have asked if we didn’t want you to.”
“You don’t have to be anywhere until your internship tomorrow, right?” asks Lukas. “Let us prove to you that we want you to stay.”
Men proving themselves is, in my experience, usually bullshit. My dad has “proven” to Mom so many times that he’s sorry for being a terrible husband and human, but it never means anything. He’s still the same piece of shit as always, just with a shinier coat for a week or two until things blow over and he can go back to his old ways.
And the guys Ronnie has dated in the past wouldn’t even try to prove themselves to her. If they did something shitty and she called them on it, they’d just break up with her after gaslighting her into thinking she was unreasonable for being upset that they cheated on her, or whatever.
However … I may not know these guys well, but I do know that unlike my dad and all of Ronnie’s exes, they don’t say things they don’t mean. What I see is what I get with them. So I should give them the benefit of the doubt. “You don’t have to prove anything. You’re right, if you didn’t mean it, you wouldn’t say it. I shouldn’t have even questioned it.”
“Still,” says Sebastian, wrapping his hands around my waist and lifting me up to sit on the dining room table. “We’ll show you, if you’ll let us.” He steps closer, wrapping my legs around his hips so we’re pressed together.
It clicks into place then exactly how they plan to show me they want me to stay. Flashes of last night ping through my head, and I arch closer to him, that nervous-excited thrum kicking up in my bloodstream again.
“Okay,” I whisper, tilting my face up to his.
“Can I kiss you?” asks Sebastian, biting his lip. His pupils are dilated, making his hazel eyes appear dark, and I yearn to pull him closer, to feel the bulge forming behind his fly against the ache beginning behind my own, but I can tell that he wants to be in charge here, so I resist the urge.
“Okay,” I repeat, my voice husky with want. It’s sweet of him to ask in spite of the fact that we’ve kissed before, but right now the need building inside me at the thought of what’s to come has me wishing he’d stop being a gentleman.
Who evenamI right now? I don’t recognize this version of myself. I’m not a person who throws herself at boys, but right now I think I might die if he doesn’t make his move.
But he just stands there, looking down at me like we’ve got all the time in the world and he’s in no hurry to get started. Finally, I can’t take it anymore. My entire body is electric with anticipation, and even though I know he’s supposed to be driving this encounter, I’m done waiting. Gripping the edge of the dining table, I let my gaze fall to each of the other three guys,all watching this play out from a few feet away, before gathering my courage and leaning forward to kiss Sebastian.
Who leans back, just out of my reach.
“Not here,” he says, tapping my lips. His hand moves to my inner thigh, just above my knee. “Here.”
It’s a weird place to kiss me and not at all what I want right now, but I’m sure he’s got a plan. These guys don’t do anything without intention.
“Okay?” It comes out as a question, and a slow smile spreads across his face. It’s not his normal sweet, shy smile, nor the one that lights up his face like a kid in a toy store, but one of a man who has just been granted his greatest wish and who is going to savor the experience.
His fingers slides along my hips to the top button of my jeans, but pause as he stares down at me, silently asking for permission to continue. I nod, and he deftly flicks the button open and slides the zipper down. He tugs at the waistband, and I lift my hips as best I can so he can slide my jeans down over my hips and down my thighs, dropping them to the floor of the dining room.
I’m now sitting in my underwear and a T-shirt on a cute guy’s dining room table, with his three roommates watching, and his fingers are skimming along the edge of my panties as he sinks slowly to his knees without taking his eyes off me. I’ve imagined a lot of things for my future and my life, but never once did I imagine this.
“Just relax and enjoy this,” says Sebastian, wrapping his hands around the backs of my calves. “If you feel uncomfortable or want to stop, just say so and I will, okay?”
I nod, my breath catching in my throat. I’ve never had a guy on his knees before me. Is he going to beg for me to stay the night? Or …
Sebastian’s lips graze the spot he had tapped a moment ago, and I feel my face heat.Oh.
Lukas clears his throat, moving towards the table. “May I also prove to you that I’d like you to stay tonight?”
Before I can respond, Elliot comes closer on my other side. “Me too?”
“I think you should let them,” says Felix, stepping between me and Elliot so that the fabric of his jeans almost-but-not-quite brushes against my bare thigh.
