Any Closer

“I wanna talk to you.”

“About what?”

“About what? About us.”

“Us how? You’re getting married.” I indicated Aidan. Maybe I was drunk. Maybe I was still asleep in the shower and I only thought I woke up. I hoped I hadn’t passed out and cracked my head open.

“He is getting married,” Aidan informed me, “but as long as we’re both honest about what we want, Leo, the three of us can talk about the things he wants.”

Oh, hell no. I had never learned to share anything, least of all men in my bed. Screw that. I had some really good friends, Tyler, Sean, and Wade, who were a threesome, and it worked well for them. They had been in it for the last five years, and the relationship was thriving. I had asked Wade, whom I had known in college, how it worked, and he had said that it was all about respect and boundaries, patience and love. I was all for it, but I had enough trouble finding one person to like me enough to stay. God knew how I would ever find two.

“Hey!”

I looked back at Charlie as he walked into the room and found myself suddenly unable to breathe. The man had ditched his T-shirt and unbuttoned his jeans, and they were hanging off his hips, inviting and sexy and showing off my favorite patch of skin in the world, the flat plane above a man’s groin. I had no idea until that moment that all of him was smooth golden perfection. He looked good enough to eat. The man had flawless skin, hard pecs, a flat washboard stomach, narrow hips, and a tight little ass that I wanted to feel in my hands. He was trying to kill me, standing there like a fantasy come to life. I licked my lips without thinking.

He caught me checking him out, and I could almost hear the purr from across the room. The dimples that I had always found cute and adorable somehow looked very, very wicked.

“What is going on with you?” I managed to get out, which was hard with my tongue sticking to the roof of my mouth.

“I wanna talk to you,” he murmured, gliding forward.

“You’re gonna freeze to death.”

“Not if I get in your bed.”

“Charlie!” I was indignant. “Are you high?”

“No.”

I cleared my throat. “Remember that time you drank too much NyQuil?”

He laughed, and it was a deep, sexy sound, and his eyes glinted in the low light. The man just glowed. Even in my homey but not fabulous loft, in the chilled air, in front of my ex and my ex’s new man, Charlie Ryerson was luminous.

“I, we, need to talk to Leo,” Ethan said severely, pointing at my friend. “Get the hell out of here.”

“You get out,” Charlie told him. “And take your boyfriend with you.”

His comment was funny on so many levels and sounded a little like the Wicked Witch threatening Dorothy. I couldn’t control my snickering.

“Listen, you little shit,” Ethan snarled at him, and I registered the anger, but I had no idea why. “I—”

“You left him; he doesn’t belong to you anymore. You don’t need him. I do. And if you look at me and look at you, who would you wanna fuck?”

It was dazzlingly cold, and there was a part of me that liked it, but being mean wasn’t me, no matter what. I turned and rushed across the space that separated us, grabbed Ethan, and crushed him to me, face down in his shoulder. I would not let him get torn down; there was no reason for it.

“I love you, Eth. I always will. You will hold a little piece of my heart for the rest of my life,” I promised, leaning back to look at him. “But the time when we were gonna be in bed together is long past.”

His head tipped up to mine. “Leo—”

“And you know me well enough to know that it was never gonna be you and me with Aidan either watching or there too. That ain’t me.”

He nodded.

“So.” I smiled at him, moving before he could hug me back, reaching for the door, opening it, and holding it open. “I wish you guys the best, okay?”

“Leo.” My name sounded strange, desperate.

“Fuck, get out already,” Charlie snarled at them.

“Will you sit down, please?” I ordered firmly.

He walked to the couch and flopped down hard, arms crossed, scowling, waves of irritation flowing off him.

“Disgruntled is not hot,” I informed him.

“Oh my God, get them the fuck out!” he yelled at me.

To his credit, Aidan took hold of Ethan’s arm and led him from my loft. I closed the door behind them.

“Lock it,” Charlie snapped at me.

“No, ’cause you’re leaving in a second too.”

“The hell I am!”

I crossed the room to stand over him. “Charlie, I’m gonna frickin’ pass out, and—”