AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I wind my way down the spiral stairs, the living room empty below. At the base of the stairs, a shirtless Travis comes into view. Barefoot in gray sweatpants, he stands at the stove, turning sausage in a frying pan. A box of pancake mix and carton of eggs sit next to an empty bowl and a stack of plates on the counter.
Watching Travis cook has been one of the highlights of this unplanned non-vacation. A chef, he is not. But everything he cooks would get five stars on Yelp from me, simply because he cooks shirtless.
Setting Trixie down, I step up to Travis, press my front to his back, slip an arm around his middle, and kiss his shoulder. “Starving,” I mumble against his skin.
The corner of his mouth kicks up in a cheeky smile as he looks over his shoulder and kisses my forehead. “Late-night rendezvous will do that.”
Leaning back, I peer around the cabin in search of Ben. Beyond the front wall of windows, I spot him near the fire pit. Beanie on his head and heavy coat warming his torso, he sits inches from a roaring fire, snapping twigs and tossing them into the flames.
Since yesterday morning, Ben refuses to meet my gaze.
At first, I assumed he was trying to put distance between us with Travis here. When he volunteered to come along, he undoubtedly pictured our time in this cabin with one idea front and center. That it would bring us closer. And it has, just not in the way he anticipated.
But as the three of us hiked to a nearby lake yesterday, reality slapped me hard and fast.
Halfway through our trek, Travis laced my fingers with his. As I tightened my hold on him, Ben sighed. Had I asked him if he was okay, he would have waved his audible unhappiness off as heavy breathing. So I kept my mouth shut and put one foot in front of the other.
When we reached the lake, Travis had taken me by surprise, hoisted me up off the ground, and swung me in circles. Laughter echoed across the water as he dug into my ribs. I begged him to stop, to put me down and knock it off. I shrieked, my stomach cramping as his relentless fingers kept at it.
Over his shoulder, several feet back, Ben dropped his chin to his chest. Brow creased, lips twisted in pain, hands shoved deep in his pockets, his knee bounced over and over.
Seeing him so withdrawn sobered me in the moment. I pressed my hands to Travis’s chest and pushed back as my laughter died. He apologized with a boyish grin on his handsome face, set me on my feet, then dropped his lips to mine in a chaste kiss.
I tried to smile when Travis inched back and leveled me with a heated stare. I tried to not feel self-conscious. But it was impossible. Because it wasn’t me holding hands with Travis that made Ben look away. Nor was it the way Travis and I coexisted with such ease that made Ben uncomfortable.
Ben had heard us. Last night in the loft, when Travis and I had sex, Ben heard us.
Though it’d been the middle of the night and I tried like hell to be quiet, we either woke him up or he’d never gone to sleep. It was the only valid explanation.
And now, Ben’s discomfort is probably closer to mortification.
Around three in the morning, I woke Travis with slow, gentle strokes of his cock. After a vivid dream of the night before, I stared at his sleeping face for several minutes and tried to fall back asleep. My body wasn’t having it. Cock thick against my belly, he’d rolled me onto my back, pinned my hands above my head, and worshipped my body for hours.
Days ago, when Ben kissed me, I told him Travis and I were together. Maybe he thought by tagging along, my mind would change. By spending time with him, maybe Ben thought I’d choose him.
Is it wrong that part of mewantshim too? That I want to keep both Travis and Ben? No, it’s not wrong. But it isn’t who I am.
As I stare at Ben, alone by the fire, surrounded by a heavy blanket of snow, my heart wrings beneath my breastbone. It begs me to keep Ben close but also let him go.
I brought this hurt on. Letting him come to the middle of nowhere with me and Travis, what had I been thinking? When he inserted himself into the situation, I should have pushed back. I should have let him down gently. Should have done anything other than let him tag along. Instead, the selfish piece of my heart gave in.
It is my careless indecision, my inability to let him go, that will ultimately drive us apart.
I press a kiss to Travis’s shoulder and hum. “How much longer?”
Setting down the spatula, he spins and bands his arms around my waist. “Help me with the pancakes?” He kisses the tip of my nose. “It’ll cut the time in half.”
My fingers toy with the elastic of his sweatpants. “How?” I chuckle. “There’s barely enough space for you at the stove.”
Warm fingers trail up my spine, my back arching and breasts firm against his chest. “If you mix…” Hand at the back of my neck, he dips me back and drops his lips to my skin, peppering kisses up the column of my throat. Breath hot on my ear, he continues. “I won’t stop…” He nips the sensitive skin over my turbulent pulse. “Cooking.”
Cool air hits my fevered skin as Travis straightens to his full height and pulls me upright. Molten ambers lock onto my stormy blues for one, two, three breathless beats before he winks and turns back to the stove. I narrow my eyes on his profile and he snickers.
“You’re trouble, Travis Emerson.”
He points the spatula at his chest. “Me?”
I nod, lean in, and kiss his cheek. “But I like your brand of trouble.”
