“My turn.” Tanner interrupted, and Goldie slid to my side, holding my hand as the big, powerful man I’d once thought couldn’t stand me engulfed me in his arms, tipping my head back to kiss me harder than I’d just kissed Goldie. I instantly melted into him, bodies pressed flush, Goldie’s hands gripping my hand tight. A weak, pathetic whimper left my lips as Tanner kissed me like a starving man, desperate for everything I had to give him, and he ate it right up. “We missed you.” He finally said, pulling his lips away far enough to speak, but not moving any further than that. “More than you will ever understand.”
“I don’t deserve it.” I whispered and then turned and kissed Goldie again, sandwiched between them both. “I don’t deserve either of you.”
“Shut it, right now.” Goldie said, her perfect blonde eyebrows pinching in the center as she gave her best angry bunny impersonation. “Or I’ll take you over my knee and let Tanner spank you.”
I cackled, a loud, genuine burst of mirth ripping from my lips, and my head fell back at the absurdity of her statement.
And then there was silence.
While it was hilarious, and her attempt at dominance was adorable, the weight of the world was too heavy on my shoulders to escape it for long.
“Let’s go.” Tanner replied knowingly, kissing my temple and turning toward the truck waiting on the curb. “Wherever you want to go, any place in this world. Name it.”
I smiled sadly, jumping up into the cab of his truck and sitting in the center seat, as both of them touched me as much as they could. “I would say a Caribbean island sounds perfect right now, but I’m not allowed to leave the county, so…”
Goldie huffed, lifting my hand to her face and kissed my fingertips endearingly. “Come home to me?” She asked, looking at me. “Unless you want to go to your place, honestly, I don’t care. I just thought maybe?—”
“Your place.” I cut her off, kissing her slightly swollen lips. “It kind of feels like home at this point. My apartment is just a landing spot, but I sleep at your place if I’m not working, and it’s far more comfy and cozy. Is that okay?”
“Yes!” She smiled, nodding quickly. “Home.” She leaned around me to look at Tanner, who put the truck in drive and got us away from the prison I’d somehow avoided after just one day. “What do you say, baby?” she asked him. “Home?”
“Home.” He repeated, sliding his hand between my thighs, nestling it tightly there, and I leaned my head on his shoulder. I was grateful that they were even there to pick me up after what I put them through, let alone acting as though they were still as desperate to be near me as I was them.
I didn’t understand it. But I couldn’t be the bigger person and turn away from the tenderness they were offering.
Not yet.
An hour later,I walked out of Goldie’s bedroom, running a towel through my hair, a pair of her cute little pajamas on, feeling like maybe, just maybe, I was going to be okay.
It was a wonder what a hot shower and clean clothes could do for the soul after spending the night in jail.
Goldie and Tanner had both refused to join me in the shower.
Well, Tanner enforced the no shower buddy method, pulling Goldie out of the bedroom when she told him to fuck off and threw her over his shoulder to make her follow his rules.
As much as I would have willingly and lovingly accepted either of their company in the shower, secretly, I was glad for the minute to just…
Breathe.
The noise in a jail, the chaos, the fear, the uncertainty of it all, had been overwhelming. And I needed the twenty minutes alone in the shower to just recenter and find my footing again.
Leave it to Tanner to know exactly what I needed and deliver it perfectly for me.
But now I was clean, refreshed, and I needed something else.
Something only they could give to me.
“Hi,” Tanner said from the couch, tossing a packet of paperwork to the side as I came down the stairs. “Feel any better?”
“A lot, actually.” I admitted, hanging the towel on the banister and pausing in the living room. “Where’s Goldie?”
“Cooking.” He grinned, nodding toward the kitchen at the back of the house. “She thinks she’s going to fill your belly andthen take you to bed for the next three days straight. Figured she’d fuel you up now.”
I chuckled to myself, knowing our girl had a big sexual appetite, and she was always happy to fuel the soul with love and calories.
Love.
Which brought me to my first plan.