There were a few dishes left after we loaded the dishwasher. I washed them and Emma dried them and put them away. The last thing to clean was a little pot, a butter heater that Tonio had left out for us to melt butter for the waffles.
Emma looked at it curiously. “I’m afraid I don’t know where this goes,” she said.
Suddenly, the right words came to me. I took the pot from her and set it on the counter, taking her small hand in mine. “You don’t have to be afraid of anything. Or ashamed of anything.”
Her lip trembled, but her hazel eyes met mine for the first time all morning. “So… you’re not mad at me?”
“Of course not.”
“Really?”
I mustered up a smile. I wanted her—I couldn’t imagine any man not wanting her. She was sweet and kind. She was perpetually upbeat, even after her whole world had turned upside down. And despite doing God knows what with the twins, she still seemed rather innocent.
Yes, I wanted her, but more importantly, I wanted her to be happy and free to live the life she wanted. And she deserved so much more than the woman who raised her or the fiancé who abandoned her had given her. “Really,” I said, and it was true. I bent down to give her a quick kiss on the forehead.
“Then… can I maybe have a hug? If you still want to do that.”
In answer, I held out my arms, and she went into them.
15
Emma
It was a few days before I was able to walk around the house without blushing. I’d spent the last two nights in Tonio’s bed. I would’ve felt awkward sleeping next to either of the twins right after our encounter. Would they expect to do things like that every night? Or would we just go back to sleeping side by side? It was probably cowardly to sleep in Knox’s bed tonight. I did want to share a bed with the twins again, but I just felt a bit awkward.
During the day, I spent more time on my writing. Since Austin and Denver had shown me just how amazing an orgasm could feel, I revised some of the steamier parts of my novel. Partly to try to reflect what I’d felt when the waves of pleasure hit, and partly to increase the sexual tension leading up to those scenes.
On Tuesday, two days before the deadline to send my story to Tonio’s sister, panic started to set in. I was writing in that sweet little room the guys set up for me from morning until late afternoon. I only emerged when Tonio came up to do homework for an hour and then told me that it was time for a break. Since my back hurt and my vision was blurry, I agreed.
We headed down for a snack only to find that Austin and Denver had just returned from the gym. That meant they had an hour or two before they had to get ready to go to the club.
“Where’s Knox?” I asked, proud of myself that I was able to look Austin and Denver in the eye again—mostly.
“He said he was meeting someone,” Austin said, not all that helpfully.
“A guy in town who runs a local magazine,” Denver elaborated. “Knox is going to take some photos for him.”
Tonio turned away from the fridge to look at the twins at the table. “I thought he only did nature scenes.”
Austin took a big swig of the protein drink he pretty much always had by his side. “I think he takes pictures of people, doesn’t he?”
Tonio and Denver shrugged and suddenly, something that had been bothering me lately fought its way to the surface. “You don’t know all that much about him, do you?”
Denver looked at me with mild surprise. “He’s a pretty secretive man, Emma. Keeps to himself.”
“Yeah, but you live with him.”
“So do you,” Tonio pointed out.
“For just a few weeks. But what about you guys—do you know where he grew up? Or how long he’s lived in Tennessee? Do you even know when his birthday is?”
The guys all looked at me and shook their heads or shrugged their shoulders.
“That last one wasn’t rhetorical,” I said. “Do you know his birthday?”
“I know Tonio’s,” Austin said.
“Because you’ve known him since high school. How long has Knox lived here?”
“Maybe two, two and a half years?” Denver looked uncomfortable.
“And you’ve never asked about his birthday? Did you think he maybe just didn’t have one?”
“I think I liked it better when she was too embarrassed to speak to us,” Austin mumbled, but I ignored him.
“He told me once that he’s a Libra. I think that’s next month or something. We should find out,” I insisted.
Tonio pulled out his phone and looked it up. “Libras were born between September 23 and October 22.”