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At first, Gio was left figuratively on the edge of his seat, waiting for one of them to bring it up. His anxiety eased as they put more miles between them and Savannah, and he relaxed next to Calder. Baer was driving, to Lucien’s great distress, and Gio had to agree after the first few minutes. Baer drove like a maniac and his mate didn’t seem to notice, as Wiley happily chatted from the front passenger seat.
Calder was seated in the center of the back seat. He was quiet, but Gio was quickly learning that Calder was a quiet guy. It was a little disturbing to realize that he felt he knew Calder and Lucien so well in bed, but out of it, they were both technically strangers to him.
Then why did he feel so comfortable around them? Why did he feel like he simply belonged and fit with them?
Lust.
Simple, stupid, mindless lust. That was all it had to be.
It was kind of adorable that Lucien and Calder held hands most of the trip to Charleston, though. From the corner of his eye, Gio saw Calder start to reach for him, like he wanted to take Gio’s hand too, but he pulled back as though catching himself at the last second. In the end, he placed his free hand on Lucien’s forearm as if to keep himself from reaching for Gio.
Something inside of him ached to see Calder retreating. They’d broken down Calder’s hesitancy and barriers when they were alone together for sex, and now Gio found himself longing to have Calder hold his hand too. He’d done this. He’d made Calder uncertain and nervous. He’d made Calder feel unwelcome.
Except he had to be. Sex was fine. Relationships were bad.
Right?
Gio nearly wept for joy when Baer parked the SUV in front of the hotel lobby. Wiley had booked them a pair of rooms from his phone while they were on the road. Gio had tried to argue that a third room might be wise, which only made things tenser and more uncomfortable in the car, but Gio really didn’t trust his self-control when it came to Calder and Lucien. He was going to break.
Of course he was going to break! Any sane person would break. Calder was so impossibly sweet and thoughtful and sexy. And then Lucien was funny and brilliant and sexy. The combination was steadily melting his willpower.
But it was okay. They were in Charleston, tracking down the kidnapped Weaver, and facing deadly pestilents. Everyone was going to be all business and on their best behavior.
“I still don’t understand why I can’t have my own room,” Gio muttered under his breath as he followed behind Baer and Wiley while Lucien and Calder brought up the rear.
“We have to keep you safe,” Wiley easily said. He looked over his shoulder and flashed him a wide grin. “The pestilents are good at finding us, and we promised to keep you safe.”
“Besides, it should be for only a couple of nights at most,” Baer added. He paused in front of one door while Wiley dug out the plastic keycard from the paper folder the front desk clerk had given him. “You guys can control yourselves for a couple of nights, right?”
Gio opened his mouth to tell Baer where he could shove his control comments, but Lucien cut him off.
“We’re right next door,” Lucien said, stepping up to the neighboring door with the keycard.
“Yeah, the rooms are connected by a communicating door. I thought it would make it easier to go between the rooms,” Wiley replied.
Lucien got the door open and led the way in. Gio took a deep breath and followed Calder inside. It was a nice, though typical, hotel room with pale dove gray walls and dark-gray carpet. There was a big mirror and sink outside the bathroom as well as one inside the bathroom along with a massive tub and shower. Almost room for all three of them if—
Nope! Not thinking about that.
There was a small sitting area with a bright-blue love seat and a low coffee table. And two beds. The room had two queen-sized beds.
He didn’t know how to feel about that.
No, he was disappointed. He had to be honest with himself. He’d been secretly hoping that the hotel had screwed up and they’d be presented with the old one-bed problem. His stupid brain had worked it all out. They’d go through the old song-and-dance of someone offering to sleep on the floor, arguing about who’d sleep on the floor, and then they’d just agree that they could all be adults about it. In the end, Gio would be sleeping cuddled against Calder or Lucien or even better, smashed between them both.
But no. There were two beds. He’d be all alone in a bed while Lucien and Calder spooned each other.
