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Beau and Hunter exchange a look that I can’t read, and I’m too tired to try. I take my glass into the kitchen and stop in at the bathroom to brush my teeth. Then I head upstairs, slowly, gingerly, taking care not to strain any of my sore muscles any further.

I change into the t-shirt that I’ve been wearing to bed. Emmett’s t-shirt. It still smells vaguely like him, although my own scent is beginning to wash it out. I should have him wear it again for a day.

That thought makes me grin as I climb onto the mattress. As I’m getting settled under the blanket, there’s a knock at my door.

“Come in,” I say through a yawn.

Beau comes in with Hunter right behind him. “Can we sleep with you?” Hunter asks.

“No sex, just sleep,” Beau clarifies quickly.

My heart flutters, and I don’t even bother trying to hide my smile as I turn down the covers to make room. “Be my guests.”

They climb in with me, one on either side. Hunter lies on his side and drapes his arm over me. Beau cradles me against his shoulder. They pull the blanket over us, making sure it’s tucked in tight around me.

Warm and safe, pressed between two solid bodies, I close my eyes and think about the woman in that engagement photo, the one with the glossy hair and the vacant eyes and the cream sweater she didn’t pick out. I wonder what she would think if she could see me now, sandwiched between two mountain men in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, wearing a stolen t-shirt and smelling like woodsmoke and honey tea. I think she’d be terrified. I think she’d be jealous. I think, if she was being really honest with herself, she’d want to trade places.

I fall asleep before I can decide which feeling wins.

30

JOSIE

I wake up in a cocoon of warmth, snuggled between Beau and Hunter. I stretch, feeling positively delicious, even if I am a little sore still. The two of them don’t stir as I move, both of them completely dead to the world. I wouldn’t risk waking them if I could possibly avoid it, but I desperately have to pee. Carefully, gingerly, I climb out from between them and down over the bed like a stealthy goblin.

I pad quickly and quietly across the room, open the door silently, and spare one glance over my shoulder before heading into the hallway. They look almost angelic in their sleep. Not like cherubs, but like those ripped, muscular, sexy angels that ninteenth-century artists painted. I want to take a picture. My bladder isn’t giving me the chance.

I hurry down the hall, to the stairs, still wearing nothing but Emmett’s t-shirt and my panties. I’m comfortable being this undressed around here, even if it is a little cold, simply because everybody has already seen everything there is to see. Modesty at this point would be laughable… which is a little weird. I always felt the need to perform modesty for Preston, even after we were intimate, simply because playing coy was expected of Preston’s partner. I’m much happier without the performance.

I can smell coffee brewing as soon as I’m downstairs. Hunter usually makes the first pot of coffee, but he obviously didn’t today. Either Emmett is up earlier than usual, or Hunter has slept in, in my bed. Beau’s bed. Our bed? Whatever, whoever’s bed. I do what I need to do in the bathroom, then follow the smell of coffee to the kitchen.

I find Emmett back to his old self. His thick brows are slung low over his steely eyes and his jaw is set at an angle that suggests displeasure. The bristling of his beard is what tips me off first, but his posture is a close second. He’s curled around his coffee cup, closed off. He barely glances at me when I come into the room, and doesn’t offer so much as a grunt of greeting. I suddenly feel self-conscious.

“Good morning,” I say tentatively.

“Mm.”

Well, that’s something, I guess. Frowning, I reach up to grab a mug out of the cupboard, feeling the shirt ride up enough to show the bottom of my ass. I don’t know if he’s looking or not, but my face flushes anyway. I just got comfortable with immodesty, now his mood is ruining it for me. I pour my coffee as quietly and unobtrusively as possible, walking on eggshells, feeling out of place all over again.

I don’t know whether to sit at the table or stand at the counter or slink off into the living room. Emmett is a stone, sipping his coffee mechanically, all the warmth from yesterday drained out of him. I stir my coffee to give myself an excuse to stay where I am and avoid a decision for a little bit longer.

Just as my anxiety is starting to feel more like panic, Hunter bursts into the room like a loud sunbeam, stretching and yawning. His hair is tousled and his glasses are off-center, but he’s grinning at me and giving me something other than Emmett to focus on. I give him a small smile back, then flick a glance at Emmett to see if that made things better or worse. I can’t tell. He’s still just… stone.

Hunter picks up on the vibe instantly. He claps Emmett on the back, making me wince. The gesture is like shattering glass in my head, like pulling the pin from a grenade, like calling someone out on an embarrassing moment at dinner. It’s dangerous and reckless and what the hell is he doing?

“Who pissed in your Cheerios, big guy?” Hunter asks.

He called him out. Just like that. I’m frozen, my fingertips burning as they press hard into my mug like I’m holding on for dear life. My eyes go wide. Beau walks in, glances around, and heads in my direction. At first I think he’s avoiding the confrontation like I am, but then he grabs a cup for coffee and shoots a glance over his shoulder.

“What’s your problem?” he asks Emmett.

Three shattered glasses. Three grenade pins. Three reckless beats. What are they trying to do, start a war? My heart pounds wildly in my chest and my mouth goes dry. My eyes are locked on Emmett, although I’d rather be looking anywhere else. I’m waiting for the explosion or the freeze, the aggression or passive-aggression or sudden absence, and I don’t know which it will be and that makes the waiting so much worse. I try to swallow and only succeed in making my throat stick to itself.

“You’re my problem,” Emmett growls.

Here it comes. The explosion.

Hunter raises his eyebrows. Beau frowns and pours his coffee.