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Rafael glowered at her before letting his gaze sweep across the apartment in one more wary evaluation. “We’ll be back as soon as we can. Call me if you need anything—anything.”
“Of course.”
Rafael hesitated for just a second longer and then strode out into the hall. I caught Niko’s friendly chatter starting up just before the door thumped shut, and my mouth twitched with a smirk.
I trusted Rafael to keep my boyfriend safe, but I wasn’t sure how well the bodyguard would survive Niko’s irrepressible good cheer.
Lou got up, shaking out her limbs, and let out a satisfied sigh. “I think I’m about ready for a nice, hot shower.”
Quentin hooked his arm over the top of the sofa and raised his eyebrows at me. “I don’t know about you, but I think that sounded like an invitation. We could heat things up plenty.”
He grinned, his eyes gleaming slyly, and I found myself momentarily lost for words.
Part of me balked instinctively at the idea of going to Lou with this guy by my side. He’d been athornin that side for so long.
But he wasn’t anymore. He’d shown how much Lou meant to him over and over. He followed her halfway around the world just to look out for her, for fuck’s sake.
And there was no missing the fact that he was making the comment as a peace offering of sorts. He could have followed her without saying a word to me and made it a private interlude, just the two of them. Instead, he was holding out his hand and inviting me to come along. Showing that he was both willing to share and willing to see me as an equal partner in the relationship.
I rolled the idea over in my head, my initial reluctance gradually fading. I’d gotten it on with Lou while Niko and Rafael were involved before. Why not Quentin? It wasn’t as if I still felt any animosity toward him anyway.
Hell, there were brief instants now and then when I almost liked having the guy around.
I folded the draped cloth over the table and stood up, meeting Lou’s gaze where she was waiting for my reaction. “I wouldn’t mind offering a little… assistance.”
Lou shook her head in amusement. “Well, come on then. If you’re going to make yourselves useful, you’d better get on with it.”
We’d given her the one bedroom that had an en-suite bathroom attached, us guys sharing the one off the hall—other than at times like this. Lou sauntered into her room with a sway of her hips I couldn’t help tracking with my gaze, and Quentin and I trailed right behind her.
She stripped as she rounded her bed and made her way into the bathroom, tossing her shirt and bra aside and then wriggling out of her leggings without a hint of self-consciousness. Quentin followed her lead and tugged his own shirt off. I yanked at mine, not wanting to be left out.
By the time I’d chucked off my boxers, Lou had the water running, steam already billowing into the air. She glanced back at us, her gaze sliding over both of us with an appreciative gleam, but when her attention fell to her own body, her smile slanted on one side.
“That new transition has really been giving me a beating,” she said, grazing her fingers over the purple-and-brown blotches that dappled the tan planes of her arms and legs. “I’m more bruise than regular skin.”
When I caught the hint of uncertainty in her tone, the last of my self-consciousness fled. I stepped right up to her and skimmed my fingers down her sides, careful of the bruises that spread up over her hips.
“I think they’re gorgeous,” I told her honestly. “They’re a beautiful map of the art you’re working on creating.”
Quentin let out a low laugh and approached Lou from behind. He set his hands on her waist just above where mine had stilled. “And they make you look like a total badass. Of course St. Pierre would leave out that part.”
The trace of doubt had been slight—maybe she hadn’t been insecure at all—but I saw her light up at the compliments regardless. With a mischievous smile, she grasped our hands and yanked us with her under the spray.
I had to say that despite the tight quarters, the Tokyo apartment made for easier shower-sharing than the locker room back at our old arena in Boston. Instead of a single stall, the movable shower head pointed its deluge over the entire—if smallish—bathtub. Which meant there was plenty of room for me to start soaping up Lou’s shoulders and chest while Quentin got to work on her back.
As I cupped my hands around her breasts, she hummed happily, swaying between us. She trailed her hands down my chest, and my cock sprang to immediate attention.
I couldn’t resist leaning in to kiss her. Her lips melded with mine, damp and warm from the water.
I wanted to sink right into her, but Lou had other ideas. She tilted her head to nip my earlobe, and shivered as Quentin nibbled a path along her shoulder. Apparently he’d found just the right spot to spark her desire.
Carried by a competitive impulse, I massaged her breasts and stroked my thumbs over the soap-slick nipples. Lou arched toward me with a needy sound, and I claimed her mouth again with a sense of victory.
Quentin tsked his tongue behind her. “I’m going to need some of that sweetness too, Upstart.” He grasped her thighs and tugged her back against him. From the pleased hitch of Lou’s breath, he was hard enough to get her juices flowing too.
As she turned to face him so she could offer him a kiss, something twisted in my chest. But Quentin only let the embrace linger for a few seconds before cutting his gaze to me over Lou’s shoulder.
“I’ve only got two hands here. I hope you’re keeping yours busy—this woman deserves everything we can give her.”
