The Arrangement - A Reverse Harem Romance, page 21
“Are we… eating first…” I murmured. “Or…”
Nathan slid my bottoms down and off, then crawled between my legs. In just seconds he had his face buried between my thighs, lapping hungrily away at my panty-covered pussy.
“Oh we’re definitely eating,” he mumbled happily.
I realized at once how eager they were. Burke and Nathan had been away for a while. They were backed up, so to speak. Chase and I on the other hand, had been screwing our socks off.
“Ohhhh…” I sighed, my eyelids fluttering. “O—Okay…”
My massages were apparently over, but the ravaging had just begun. My shirt was being lifted, my pants were already off. I was being kissed on the mouth, kissed on the neck. Kissed between the legs, where Nathan was devouring me to the point where my eyelids were drooping and my irises were getting ready to cross…
“Bedroom?” I suggested, just managing to get the word out.
A few seconds later I was being lifted by several strong arms, then carried out into the hall. I saw that my wine glass had spilled. It was knocked completely over, creating a blood-red pool on the floor beside it.
Oops, my mind registered with an internal giggle.
I honestly didn’t have a single care in the world.
Fifty-Six
KAYLEEN
”You ready?”
My fingers curled into claws. They dug hard, but I was careful not to break the beautiful, unblemished skin of Nathan’s chest.
“I guess so?” It was the best that I could muster.
“Lean forward a little more,” Burke breathed into my ear. Already I could feel the very tip, gliding its way forward. Sliding its way through a whole sea warm lube… slowly parting the tight, outer walls…
Pushing its way into my ass.
“There. Just like that.”
I felt myself stretching back there, ever so slowly expanding to accommodate him. It was so damned tight! There was hardly any room. Especially with Nathan already buried to the hilt in my pussy…
“Oh!”
I half-yelped, half sucked in a quick gulp of air at an abrupt wet snap. I felt a welcome relief from some of the pressure. Everything felt a little bit smaller all of a sudden.
“There,” said Burke. “Hard part’s over.”
“It’s in?” I asked hopefully.
“The head is, yeah.”
I heard Nathan chuckle from somewhere beneath me. Considering the intimacy of our position, his laughter rocked my whole body.
“Just the head?”
Burke shifted again, and I felt something thick pushing its way inside me. Filling me hard from behind. Warmly from within.
“A couple more inches…”
“Jesus…”
“Hey, come on,” Burke said resignedly. “A deal’s a deal.”
It was almost insane, trying to take the two of them at once. And this time in both my holes — a true double-penetration. “It’ll be great,” they said. “It’ll feel amazing,” they told me.
Yeah right, I laughed to myself. They’re not the ones getting fucked up the ass.
I’d promised it anyway. Something special for them to look forward to, when they finally got home. And yes, something special for me, too. Just one more fantasy the guys could fulfill for me. One more boundary we could cross.
Besides, they had some catching up to do. Over the past few weeks, Chase and I were having way too much fun wearing each other out.
“Slow honey, slow…” I pleaded over my shoulder, although Burke was doing a pretty good job back there. My ass felt pleasantly full and tight. There was pressure, but no pain.
Holy fuck…
And I had to admit… the pressure was starting to feel pretty good.
Nathan was holding himself steady inside me. Taking a short break, while I adjusted to having them both. A few minutes ago he’d been screwing me absolutely delirious. I’d come so hard all over his cock, my juices had literally showered his balls.
“Annnnd… there we are.”
Burke’s warm abdomen crashed gently into my naked ass. Our bodies curved into each other, completing the spoon.
He was all the way inside me now.
“Told you it wouldn’t be bad,” Nathan winked from beneath me.
“No… you said it would be good.” My body was still tight. My jaw still clenched. “Actually, I believe you used the words ‘great’ and ‘amazing’.”
He bucked downward, then squeezed his ass on the way back up. The pulse sent a shockwave of forbidden pleasure through my pussy.
“Okay,” I breathed. “That actually wasn’t bad.”
Nathan did it again, rocking his body. Sliding himself in and out of me for a few strokes, while this time it was Burke who remained still.
GOD…
“Are we still on ‘wasn’t bad’?” he asked slyly. “Or are we—”
“Just shut up and keep doing that.”
My voice was a hiss now. An inhale of oxygen followed by an exhale of pure pleasure. Having Burke buried so deep in my ass, while Nathan was fucking me… it was driving me absolutely crazy.
“There’s our girl,” Burke whispered hotly into my ear. “Just relax and enjoy it.”
Somehow his advice worked wonders. I relaxed my body, my tired muscles, even my mind. In letting myself go, it left room in my brain for even more pleasure. And without the tension of worry about being hurt…
“Oh, yes…” I choked, scrambling for leverage. “Just like that.”
“Just like what?” Nathan teased.
I scratched my nails down his chest, eliciting a loud “OW!”
“You know what…” I said breathlessly. “Goddammit, no more talking. The two of you… just keep fucking me like this…”
Thankfully I didn’t have to ask twice. Nathan seized me by the waist, flexing his strong arms to control the speed and depth of his thrusts. Burke did the same thing from behind, his big hands sliding up to my shoulders. He guided me in an almost see-saw motion, sliding me forward and backward against him.
Ohhhhhhh…
It must’ve been some sight back there, watching himself disappear and reappear from my tight little ass. But I could certainly feel it. And it felt absolutely wonderful.
We picked up speed, and when the momentum was right I began grinding my hips as well. The extra movement changed Nathan’s expression. He went from having a good time to scrunching his face in a look of exquisite, almost painful pleasure.
It was even more intense for me. The feeling of being so full, so absolutely fucking filled by them… it brought me to all new levels of arousal. I was layered between two warm bodies. Their hard cocks, thrusting rhythmically inside me. Piercing me deep. Stirring me from within…
“You… guys…” I gasped. As difficult as it was to talk, I decided to give credit where credit was due. “Oh… oh fuck…”
Nathan’s hands slid down to my ass. He squeezed it so hard, I knew he’d leave marks.
“You guys were so… fucking… right…”
Fifty-Seven
KAYLEEN
We were three as one. A writhing, churning mass of arms and legs, of lust and sex and dripping sweat. It felt incredibly powerful to have these two gorgeous men all the way inside me, the both of them, so deeply connected by me. Connected through me… through my body.
Through my soul.
I sat up a bit and opened my eyes, not even realizing they’d been closed. Chase stood nearby, smirking like a demon. He’d been hanging back a little. Allowing the others to have their fun.
“Come here…”
I motioned him over with a smile. Balancing one hand in the center of Nathan’s chest, I reached out and closed the other around Chase’s throbbing cock…
A thrill shot through me as I brought him closer to my mouth. I opened hungrily. Eagerly…
His hand sifted my hair as I took him deep into my throat.
Just… wow.
It was a pretty crazy moment. A ‘holy fuck’ moment, if ever there was one.
You’re taking all three of them inside you, Kayleen.
It felt so right. It felt so much like being home.
All three of them at once…
I noticed Nathan speeding up a little, before releasing a grunt-growl. I’d been fucking him long enough to recognize what it meant.
I took Chase from my mouth just long enough to lock eyes with him.
“You gonna shoot it, baby?”
His expression was one of struggle. He could barely hold back.
“Not yet,” I whispered, pressing my tits against his chest. “Wait for him.”
I grinned wickedly, and jerked my head over my shoulder. Nathan’s pained gaze went to Burke.
“Come inside me at the same time,” I sighed. At my own words, a new rush of heat bolted through me. “It’ll be soo fucking sexy…”
I was still fucking them hard. Still bucking and grinding and screwing downward. I was even stroking Chase, although only half-heartedly. All I wanted was to bring the others off. Together. Deep inside of me, all at once.
Pain flared as Burke’s fingers clamped down. He gripped me possessively, ramming me so hard he was arching my back. I flailed wildly through ten hard strokes. Twenty. It felt like the whole world was going to end. Like he was going to shake me apart, or split me in half.
GOD…
And then suddenly, just like that, he was finished.
“UNNNNGGGHHH!”
Burke shoved himself all the way up my ass, causing my mouth to fly open in a silent scream. At the same time, deep in my pussy, I felt another rumble. Another surge.
“FUCK!”
The pulsations began almost simultaneously. One after another, over and over, I could feel them both shooting, both emptying themselves into my body. I clenched down, screaming in ecstasy as I took them deep in my two hot channels. It was powerful. Savage. Their swollen cocks kept twitching and thumping inside me, like a pair of pistols being fired again and again.
Fuuuuuck!
I climaxed in a strange, ascending way… like I was already in the throes of an orgasm, yet somehow began coming again. Every convulsion squeezed them harder and tighter inside me. Every electric surge was like a glorious injection of morphine, directly into my brain.
And through it all, they kept on fucking me. Kept pushing and pulling their cocks through my body, draining every last drop from their full, swollen balls. They needed this as much as I did. Maybe more…
“Jesus, Kayleen…”
My body rose and fell in time with their breathing now. I felt twenty fingers relaxing their vice-like grip, but their strong hands still felt magnificent on my skin. Like they possessed me. Like they owned me.
“Holy shit…” I purred, smashing my sweaty face against Nathan’s hot chest. As hot as I was, for some reason I just couldn’t get close enough.
“We waited way too fucking long to try that…”
Epilogue
KAYLEEN
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?”
I practically squealed I was so gleeful, my voice dripping with excitement. I squeezed Chase’s hand hard on my right side. Nathan’s on the other.
“The place is bigger than I thought,” said Chase. “Much bigger.”
“Good.” I wriggled past him. “All the room for bigger crowds.”
My hand trembled as I took the key from my jacket pocket. The lock was big. Clunky. Burke stepped forward, reaching out to help me. I cut him off with the swing of my hip.
“No,” I declared firmly. “I’m doing this all on my own.”
The lock clicked, and the hasp fell open. The chain rattled as I slid it clear.
Here we go…
A moment later, we were stepping into my restaurant for the very first time.
Or rather, my would-be restaurant.
“Hoooooly shit,” Nathan declared. Chase whistled. Burke just looked around in every direction.
“What?”
“We’re not going to see you anymore, are we?”
I let out a nervous laugh. “That much work, eh?”
“You ain’t kidding.”
Okay, so the place was a wreck. A big, wide, sweeping mess of dust, dirt, debris, and half-demolished building materials. But it was my mess. My wreck.
“When do the contractors get here?”
“Tomorrow, eight AM sharp.”
“Sharp?” Nathan asked skeptically. “You don’t know contractors.”
“On the first day?” I answered. “They’d better be sharp.” I stepped over a broken chair. “Or the whole crew is gone… and I hire someone else.”
It was the thirty-fourth property I’d looked at. The third one I’d actually made an offer on. I’d seen places that were turnkey immaculate. Other places that were empty lots, and hadn’t even been built yet. I could’ve gone with a greasy little establishment already bustling with its own customers, its own clientele. It would’ve been lucrative right off the bat. I could’ve slipped right in.
But no. I wanted to build something.
Something from scratch.
“The kitchen’s going over there,” I said, pointing. “The bar on this side. That’s going to be an open stairway to the loft, and—”
“We’ve seen the blueprints,” Nathan said. “We know the layou—”
He coughed mid-sentence as Burke slapped him in the chest. “Let the girl talk about her restaurant already,” he chided, and Nathan fell silent. He looked back at me and smiled. “Please. Go on.”
I continued, sweeping my arm left and right. Showing off every aspect of my plan, my dream, my future. Our future, actually. The one we were building together.
“This is gonna be fun,” said Chase. “You’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of you, but it’ll get done.”
“And of course we’ll help,” Nathan added. His smile was apologetic now.
“You think I want three novelists working on my restaurant?” I teased.
“Probably not.”
I laughed out loud. “Of course you can help.” Nathan grinned as I slipped my hand back into his. “I’ll take every hand I can get.”
It was a blank canvas. A clean slate. Or at least it would be, once everything had been cleared out, scrubbed down, and dusted off. Finishing culinary school had been only the first of many steps. This was the next.
“The location rocks,” said Burke. “Literally.”
The building sat across from a concert hall, although a small one. It was close enough to the beach to be considered part of the strip, but far enough away that it wouldn’t be lost in a sea of strip malls and fast food chains. The streets were clean, and especially bright at night. And I knew they teemed with people, because I’d walked them several times, on both weekends and weekdays, before putting in my offer.
Even so, I had a lot more to decide upon still. I had only a few suppliers so far, and my menu wasn’t nearly refined enough yet. There was room for a small stage, but I wasn’t sure whether or not I’d offer live entertainment. And I was still making little tweaks to the layout.
“Our adorable little personal chef,” Burke said, slipping an arm over my shoulder. “All grown up.”
I blushed. I didn’t even know why.
“Two years ago, when you first moved in… who would’ve thought this is where we’d be?”
I looked up at him, my heart swelling with joy. Or love. Or both.
Yes, definitely both.
“So with you busy here all the time… does this mean we’re in charge of decorating the new place?”
“Hell no,” I told Nathan.
“Why’s that?”
“Because you’ll turn it into a man-cave with surfboards on every wall.”
He looked almost offended. “And what’s wrong with surfboards?”
“For the beach?” I laughed. “Nothing. For the walls… well…”
Chase took a misstep and accidentally kicked a broken bottle. Shards of glass skidded across the floor.
“Maybe we should find our new place first?” he offered.
Burke nodded grimly. “The man’s got a point.”
“I mean, if we’re going to move out to the coast just so Nathan and Kayleen have a shorter surf commute…” Chase teased.
“You mean to be close to the restaurant,” I corrected him.
“Whatever you’re calling it,” he shrugged. “I’m just thinking Burke and I should be the ones who get first pick.”
Moving to the coast had been an easy decision, made even easier by the fact we were still keeping the villa. It would a great place to retreat to when we needed some quiet time, or whenever the guys wanted a little more solitude with their writing. Secretly though, I think we were keeping it for another reason. One that had everything to do with reminiscing about all the wonderful memories we’d already made there.
An arm went around me, then another, and I melted into them. It was always this way. I was getting good at it.
Shit, I was getting good at a lot of things.
“Ready to blow this place?”
“For now,” I said. I couldn’t remember feeling this happy, this excited. This content. “Yes.”
“You know, you’re gonna be sick of this place one day,” Chase grinned.
“Uh-uh,” I breathed. “No way.”
“You might even be sick of us,” Burke offered.
I laughed evilly. “If only you could be rid of me that easily.”
We turned and marched together, back through the elaborate double doors. The doors that would open into the next chapter of my life. The doors I’d walk through, side by side by side, with the most perfect partners a girl could ever ask for.
You’ve always been very lucky, haven’t you?
Yes, I had. And I sure as hell wasn’t complaining.
“You might as well leave it open,” Chase joked, as I fumbled with the lock again. “You’re gonna be right back here again in twelve hours anyway.”
The lock was frustrating — I kept messing it up. Then, abruptly, Burke’s hands closed over mine. He helped me finish clasping it, his touch soft yet strong.
Nathan slid my bottoms down and off, then crawled between my legs. In just seconds he had his face buried between my thighs, lapping hungrily away at my panty-covered pussy.
“Oh we’re definitely eating,” he mumbled happily.
I realized at once how eager they were. Burke and Nathan had been away for a while. They were backed up, so to speak. Chase and I on the other hand, had been screwing our socks off.
“Ohhhh…” I sighed, my eyelids fluttering. “O—Okay…”
My massages were apparently over, but the ravaging had just begun. My shirt was being lifted, my pants were already off. I was being kissed on the mouth, kissed on the neck. Kissed between the legs, where Nathan was devouring me to the point where my eyelids were drooping and my irises were getting ready to cross…
“Bedroom?” I suggested, just managing to get the word out.
A few seconds later I was being lifted by several strong arms, then carried out into the hall. I saw that my wine glass had spilled. It was knocked completely over, creating a blood-red pool on the floor beside it.
Oops, my mind registered with an internal giggle.
I honestly didn’t have a single care in the world.
Fifty-Six
KAYLEEN
”You ready?”
My fingers curled into claws. They dug hard, but I was careful not to break the beautiful, unblemished skin of Nathan’s chest.
“I guess so?” It was the best that I could muster.
“Lean forward a little more,” Burke breathed into my ear. Already I could feel the very tip, gliding its way forward. Sliding its way through a whole sea warm lube… slowly parting the tight, outer walls…
Pushing its way into my ass.
“There. Just like that.”
I felt myself stretching back there, ever so slowly expanding to accommodate him. It was so damned tight! There was hardly any room. Especially with Nathan already buried to the hilt in my pussy…
“Oh!”
I half-yelped, half sucked in a quick gulp of air at an abrupt wet snap. I felt a welcome relief from some of the pressure. Everything felt a little bit smaller all of a sudden.
“There,” said Burke. “Hard part’s over.”
“It’s in?” I asked hopefully.
“The head is, yeah.”
I heard Nathan chuckle from somewhere beneath me. Considering the intimacy of our position, his laughter rocked my whole body.
“Just the head?”
Burke shifted again, and I felt something thick pushing its way inside me. Filling me hard from behind. Warmly from within.
“A couple more inches…”
“Jesus…”
“Hey, come on,” Burke said resignedly. “A deal’s a deal.”
It was almost insane, trying to take the two of them at once. And this time in both my holes — a true double-penetration. “It’ll be great,” they said. “It’ll feel amazing,” they told me.
Yeah right, I laughed to myself. They’re not the ones getting fucked up the ass.
I’d promised it anyway. Something special for them to look forward to, when they finally got home. And yes, something special for me, too. Just one more fantasy the guys could fulfill for me. One more boundary we could cross.
Besides, they had some catching up to do. Over the past few weeks, Chase and I were having way too much fun wearing each other out.
“Slow honey, slow…” I pleaded over my shoulder, although Burke was doing a pretty good job back there. My ass felt pleasantly full and tight. There was pressure, but no pain.
Holy fuck…
And I had to admit… the pressure was starting to feel pretty good.
Nathan was holding himself steady inside me. Taking a short break, while I adjusted to having them both. A few minutes ago he’d been screwing me absolutely delirious. I’d come so hard all over his cock, my juices had literally showered his balls.
“Annnnd… there we are.”
Burke’s warm abdomen crashed gently into my naked ass. Our bodies curved into each other, completing the spoon.
He was all the way inside me now.
“Told you it wouldn’t be bad,” Nathan winked from beneath me.
“No… you said it would be good.” My body was still tight. My jaw still clenched. “Actually, I believe you used the words ‘great’ and ‘amazing’.”
He bucked downward, then squeezed his ass on the way back up. The pulse sent a shockwave of forbidden pleasure through my pussy.
“Okay,” I breathed. “That actually wasn’t bad.”
Nathan did it again, rocking his body. Sliding himself in and out of me for a few strokes, while this time it was Burke who remained still.
GOD…
“Are we still on ‘wasn’t bad’?” he asked slyly. “Or are we—”
“Just shut up and keep doing that.”
My voice was a hiss now. An inhale of oxygen followed by an exhale of pure pleasure. Having Burke buried so deep in my ass, while Nathan was fucking me… it was driving me absolutely crazy.
“There’s our girl,” Burke whispered hotly into my ear. “Just relax and enjoy it.”
Somehow his advice worked wonders. I relaxed my body, my tired muscles, even my mind. In letting myself go, it left room in my brain for even more pleasure. And without the tension of worry about being hurt…
“Oh, yes…” I choked, scrambling for leverage. “Just like that.”
“Just like what?” Nathan teased.
I scratched my nails down his chest, eliciting a loud “OW!”
“You know what…” I said breathlessly. “Goddammit, no more talking. The two of you… just keep fucking me like this…”
Thankfully I didn’t have to ask twice. Nathan seized me by the waist, flexing his strong arms to control the speed and depth of his thrusts. Burke did the same thing from behind, his big hands sliding up to my shoulders. He guided me in an almost see-saw motion, sliding me forward and backward against him.
Ohhhhhhh…
It must’ve been some sight back there, watching himself disappear and reappear from my tight little ass. But I could certainly feel it. And it felt absolutely wonderful.
We picked up speed, and when the momentum was right I began grinding my hips as well. The extra movement changed Nathan’s expression. He went from having a good time to scrunching his face in a look of exquisite, almost painful pleasure.
It was even more intense for me. The feeling of being so full, so absolutely fucking filled by them… it brought me to all new levels of arousal. I was layered between two warm bodies. Their hard cocks, thrusting rhythmically inside me. Piercing me deep. Stirring me from within…
“You… guys…” I gasped. As difficult as it was to talk, I decided to give credit where credit was due. “Oh… oh fuck…”
Nathan’s hands slid down to my ass. He squeezed it so hard, I knew he’d leave marks.
“You guys were so… fucking… right…”
Fifty-Seven
KAYLEEN
We were three as one. A writhing, churning mass of arms and legs, of lust and sex and dripping sweat. It felt incredibly powerful to have these two gorgeous men all the way inside me, the both of them, so deeply connected by me. Connected through me… through my body.
Through my soul.
I sat up a bit and opened my eyes, not even realizing they’d been closed. Chase stood nearby, smirking like a demon. He’d been hanging back a little. Allowing the others to have their fun.
“Come here…”
I motioned him over with a smile. Balancing one hand in the center of Nathan’s chest, I reached out and closed the other around Chase’s throbbing cock…
A thrill shot through me as I brought him closer to my mouth. I opened hungrily. Eagerly…
His hand sifted my hair as I took him deep into my throat.
Just… wow.
It was a pretty crazy moment. A ‘holy fuck’ moment, if ever there was one.
You’re taking all three of them inside you, Kayleen.
It felt so right. It felt so much like being home.
All three of them at once…
I noticed Nathan speeding up a little, before releasing a grunt-growl. I’d been fucking him long enough to recognize what it meant.
I took Chase from my mouth just long enough to lock eyes with him.
“You gonna shoot it, baby?”
His expression was one of struggle. He could barely hold back.
“Not yet,” I whispered, pressing my tits against his chest. “Wait for him.”
I grinned wickedly, and jerked my head over my shoulder. Nathan’s pained gaze went to Burke.
“Come inside me at the same time,” I sighed. At my own words, a new rush of heat bolted through me. “It’ll be soo fucking sexy…”
I was still fucking them hard. Still bucking and grinding and screwing downward. I was even stroking Chase, although only half-heartedly. All I wanted was to bring the others off. Together. Deep inside of me, all at once.
Pain flared as Burke’s fingers clamped down. He gripped me possessively, ramming me so hard he was arching my back. I flailed wildly through ten hard strokes. Twenty. It felt like the whole world was going to end. Like he was going to shake me apart, or split me in half.
GOD…
And then suddenly, just like that, he was finished.
“UNNNNGGGHHH!”
Burke shoved himself all the way up my ass, causing my mouth to fly open in a silent scream. At the same time, deep in my pussy, I felt another rumble. Another surge.
“FUCK!”
The pulsations began almost simultaneously. One after another, over and over, I could feel them both shooting, both emptying themselves into my body. I clenched down, screaming in ecstasy as I took them deep in my two hot channels. It was powerful. Savage. Their swollen cocks kept twitching and thumping inside me, like a pair of pistols being fired again and again.
Fuuuuuck!
I climaxed in a strange, ascending way… like I was already in the throes of an orgasm, yet somehow began coming again. Every convulsion squeezed them harder and tighter inside me. Every electric surge was like a glorious injection of morphine, directly into my brain.
And through it all, they kept on fucking me. Kept pushing and pulling their cocks through my body, draining every last drop from their full, swollen balls. They needed this as much as I did. Maybe more…
“Jesus, Kayleen…”
My body rose and fell in time with their breathing now. I felt twenty fingers relaxing their vice-like grip, but their strong hands still felt magnificent on my skin. Like they possessed me. Like they owned me.
“Holy shit…” I purred, smashing my sweaty face against Nathan’s hot chest. As hot as I was, for some reason I just couldn’t get close enough.
“We waited way too fucking long to try that…”
Epilogue
KAYLEEN
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?”
I practically squealed I was so gleeful, my voice dripping with excitement. I squeezed Chase’s hand hard on my right side. Nathan’s on the other.
“The place is bigger than I thought,” said Chase. “Much bigger.”
“Good.” I wriggled past him. “All the room for bigger crowds.”
My hand trembled as I took the key from my jacket pocket. The lock was big. Clunky. Burke stepped forward, reaching out to help me. I cut him off with the swing of my hip.
“No,” I declared firmly. “I’m doing this all on my own.”
The lock clicked, and the hasp fell open. The chain rattled as I slid it clear.
Here we go…
A moment later, we were stepping into my restaurant for the very first time.
Or rather, my would-be restaurant.
“Hoooooly shit,” Nathan declared. Chase whistled. Burke just looked around in every direction.
“What?”
“We’re not going to see you anymore, are we?”
I let out a nervous laugh. “That much work, eh?”
“You ain’t kidding.”
Okay, so the place was a wreck. A big, wide, sweeping mess of dust, dirt, debris, and half-demolished building materials. But it was my mess. My wreck.
“When do the contractors get here?”
“Tomorrow, eight AM sharp.”
“Sharp?” Nathan asked skeptically. “You don’t know contractors.”
“On the first day?” I answered. “They’d better be sharp.” I stepped over a broken chair. “Or the whole crew is gone… and I hire someone else.”
It was the thirty-fourth property I’d looked at. The third one I’d actually made an offer on. I’d seen places that were turnkey immaculate. Other places that were empty lots, and hadn’t even been built yet. I could’ve gone with a greasy little establishment already bustling with its own customers, its own clientele. It would’ve been lucrative right off the bat. I could’ve slipped right in.
But no. I wanted to build something.
Something from scratch.
“The kitchen’s going over there,” I said, pointing. “The bar on this side. That’s going to be an open stairway to the loft, and—”
“We’ve seen the blueprints,” Nathan said. “We know the layou—”
He coughed mid-sentence as Burke slapped him in the chest. “Let the girl talk about her restaurant already,” he chided, and Nathan fell silent. He looked back at me and smiled. “Please. Go on.”
I continued, sweeping my arm left and right. Showing off every aspect of my plan, my dream, my future. Our future, actually. The one we were building together.
“This is gonna be fun,” said Chase. “You’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of you, but it’ll get done.”
“And of course we’ll help,” Nathan added. His smile was apologetic now.
“You think I want three novelists working on my restaurant?” I teased.
“Probably not.”
I laughed out loud. “Of course you can help.” Nathan grinned as I slipped my hand back into his. “I’ll take every hand I can get.”
It was a blank canvas. A clean slate. Or at least it would be, once everything had been cleared out, scrubbed down, and dusted off. Finishing culinary school had been only the first of many steps. This was the next.
“The location rocks,” said Burke. “Literally.”
The building sat across from a concert hall, although a small one. It was close enough to the beach to be considered part of the strip, but far enough away that it wouldn’t be lost in a sea of strip malls and fast food chains. The streets were clean, and especially bright at night. And I knew they teemed with people, because I’d walked them several times, on both weekends and weekdays, before putting in my offer.
Even so, I had a lot more to decide upon still. I had only a few suppliers so far, and my menu wasn’t nearly refined enough yet. There was room for a small stage, but I wasn’t sure whether or not I’d offer live entertainment. And I was still making little tweaks to the layout.
“Our adorable little personal chef,” Burke said, slipping an arm over my shoulder. “All grown up.”
I blushed. I didn’t even know why.
“Two years ago, when you first moved in… who would’ve thought this is where we’d be?”
I looked up at him, my heart swelling with joy. Or love. Or both.
Yes, definitely both.
“So with you busy here all the time… does this mean we’re in charge of decorating the new place?”
“Hell no,” I told Nathan.
“Why’s that?”
“Because you’ll turn it into a man-cave with surfboards on every wall.”
He looked almost offended. “And what’s wrong with surfboards?”
“For the beach?” I laughed. “Nothing. For the walls… well…”
Chase took a misstep and accidentally kicked a broken bottle. Shards of glass skidded across the floor.
“Maybe we should find our new place first?” he offered.
Burke nodded grimly. “The man’s got a point.”
“I mean, if we’re going to move out to the coast just so Nathan and Kayleen have a shorter surf commute…” Chase teased.
“You mean to be close to the restaurant,” I corrected him.
“Whatever you’re calling it,” he shrugged. “I’m just thinking Burke and I should be the ones who get first pick.”
Moving to the coast had been an easy decision, made even easier by the fact we were still keeping the villa. It would a great place to retreat to when we needed some quiet time, or whenever the guys wanted a little more solitude with their writing. Secretly though, I think we were keeping it for another reason. One that had everything to do with reminiscing about all the wonderful memories we’d already made there.
An arm went around me, then another, and I melted into them. It was always this way. I was getting good at it.
Shit, I was getting good at a lot of things.
“Ready to blow this place?”
“For now,” I said. I couldn’t remember feeling this happy, this excited. This content. “Yes.”
“You know, you’re gonna be sick of this place one day,” Chase grinned.
“Uh-uh,” I breathed. “No way.”
“You might even be sick of us,” Burke offered.
I laughed evilly. “If only you could be rid of me that easily.”
We turned and marched together, back through the elaborate double doors. The doors that would open into the next chapter of my life. The doors I’d walk through, side by side by side, with the most perfect partners a girl could ever ask for.
You’ve always been very lucky, haven’t you?
Yes, I had. And I sure as hell wasn’t complaining.
“You might as well leave it open,” Chase joked, as I fumbled with the lock again. “You’re gonna be right back here again in twelve hours anyway.”
The lock was frustrating — I kept messing it up. Then, abruptly, Burke’s hands closed over mine. He helped me finish clasping it, his touch soft yet strong.
