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“I’m always going to protect you,” I promised her. Even if she didn’t believe me today, I’d do my best to keep showing up for her. She deserved nothing less. “I meant every word I said.”
She gave me a soft, unsure smile before we fell into silence.
Thankfully, we were in Lancaster now so another ten minutes and I was pulling up to the valet in front ofThe Villa.
“This place is new,” she said as she stepped out. “Pretty.”
“An old friend owns it,” I admitted as I held an arm out for her. She didn’t even hesitate to touch me this time and my chest warmed.
It was a small step and far more than I deserved.
Chapter
Twenty-Five
A Week Later
Tori
Soft touches feathered across my forehead, tucking my hair behind my ear and waking me up from a dead sleep. My mouth opened to scream, but it stopped at the sight of Theo and Jordan looking down at me, both amused.
I clutched a hand to my chest, trying to regulate my breathing. Then, understanding dawned on their faces, and they both winced.
“Shit, I forgot about that asshole. I didn’t mean to scare you, princess,” Jordan offered. For once, his dark hair was down, hanging loosely around his shoulders. When he leaned down to brush a kiss across my forehead, it curtained us off from the world.
“It’s okay.” Especially when he was being open and candid like this. They’d changed over the last week as much as I had.
“In our defense,” Theo said with a deep chuckle. “We tried to wake you up first.”
A small smile played across my lips. “You know, my siblings always did say I was horrible to wake up.”
“At least you don’t snore,” he teased, giving me a wink with those warm eyes I was always captivated by. I never knew brown eyes could be so warm, swirling with so many emotions and flecks of gold that I could barely look away.
“What are you guys doing here?” I finally asked, blinking away the daze he left me in. Jordan chuckled knowingly.
“Actually, we wanted you to show Felix and Warren the inn today. Felix packed a lunch, and I have coffee,” Theo offered, holding up a travel mug ready to go. He shifted it back and forth in offering, but coffee had to wait.
“I’ve got to brush my teeth first,” I said as I threw the covers off my body, then froze.
“Who is we?”
They shared a look and I narrowed my eyes at them.
“Warren, Felix, and us,” Theo said carefully. My chest tightened. Things with Easton have been strange. When he was around, he wasn’t as hostile, in fact, I caught the looks of longing he’d shot my way.
“Easton is out. Again,” Jordan tacked on. The strain in his voice said Easton had also been weird around them. Yet he hadn’t done anything to fix the tension between us, so what was he doing?
Refusing to dwell on it, I started toward the bathroom, all too aware of their eyes tracking my movements.
“We’ll meet you out in the living room.” Jordan’s voice was rough and I shook my head. That was the last thing I wanted. It seemed I was going to have to be the one to take the reins on all of our relationships.
“Or one of you could join me in the shower,” I offered. I wasn’t sure what had gotten into me, but having all of my matesso close, their scents wrapped around me, had my libido at an all-time high.
Theo and Jordan shared a look, something unspoken passing between them before Theo gave me a wink and backed out of the door.
Jordan closed it behind him, his hand resting on the wooden frame as he turned to look at me. His gray eyes were stormier than ever, and the molten silver heat of them had fire running through my veins.
“Are you sure about this, princess? I can still walk away.”
