Page 103 of Three Hockey Hotties

Abby is looking at me with soft eyes, her fingers entwining with mine. “I love you too, Kane.” She turns to Benjamin and leans in to brush her lips over his. “And I love you, Benjamin.” With her free hand she reaches out for Dash. He meets her there, immediately, enclosing her hand with his. “I love you, Dash.”

My heart is so damn full right now.

“Then what are we doing? Let’s make this official.”

“These last three weeks have been the best weeks of my life,” Dash admits. “I don’t want to spend even one day without you, Abby. You’re everything to me.”

“Benjamin?” she asks, softly.

“I can’t live without you,” Benjamin says gruffly. “Don’t make me live without you.”

“Kane,” she says, and there is a touch of censure in her voice, but it’s laced with indulgent amusement. “Patience is a virtue.”

Fuck that.

“Then there is nothing virtuous about me because I want you, Lollipop. I want you with us, always. We all need to move into Benjamin’s house and spend every free minute we have just loving each other.”

“Our house,” Benjamin corrects. “It’s our house now.”

Abby doesn’t respond.

“I know you’re scared,” Dash says quietly. “I know you’re worried about moving too fast, about any of us getting hurt. You can keep your apartment if that makes you feel more secure.”

I get what he’s saying. I understand where Abby is coming from emotionally.

But I don’t get how holding our relationship at arm’s length is supposed to prevent anyone from getting hurt. It feels like just the opposite will happen.

“I do worry about that,” Abby agrees. “But I’ve decided I don’t care. I love each of you so much already. I can’t even imagine how this love can grow if we truly, fully commit to it.”

There are tears in her eyes and my heart swells.

She’s in. Abby is fully in.

“I want to find out,” she adds. “These last few weeks I have felt so safe, so cherished, so loved. I want to know what it’s like to wake up every morning cuddled up next to you and fall asleep each night in your arms. I want to spend my days pleasing each of you in every way that I can because you give so much to me.”

My throat feels tight. “I had a great life before. One some people would be envious of. But now I have the perfect life. I get to build a future with my two best friends and the woman we all love.”

Benjamin kisses the side of Abby’s head. “Never knew what I needed until the second I saw you. Then everything made sense, Abby girl.”

Dash is grinning from ear to ear. “This is fucking awesome,” he says. “You’re never going to that apartment ever again.”

She gives a watery laugh. “But it’s such a nice apartment,” she teases. “Maybe just on weekends?”

“No,” we all groan.

The server enters the dining car right at that moment and comes over to take our order. I can tell he doesn’t quite understand our dynamic, but Benjamin takes charge and the server seems grateful to have only one person to focus on.

My brother orders everything he already mentioned plus an expensive bottle of champagne and a pavlova for dessert before dinner.

“Ooh, I love dessert before dinner,” Abby says.

“I know you do,” he says gruffly, wrapping his arm around her lower back. “And I love you.”

Convinced he’s figured out that Abby and Benjamin are the couple at the table, the server gives us a knowing smile and retreats back out of the car.

I know it’s going to be like this. But I want more tonight now that we’ve decided we’re all taking our relationship to the next level.

“Come here, Lollipop,” I tell, standing up and going around to her side of the table. “I want a kiss to seal the deal.”