“No particular occasion,” Shane says, though there’s a mysterious edge to his tone.
Khalil leads me to my usual seat and holds out the chair for me. “Are you hungry?”
“Absolutely.”
Marcos puts a steak on my plate and we pass the other dishes, which contain macaroni and cheese and broccoli. The noodles remind me of the first night I came here, except tonight there are chunks of lobster and crumbled bits of bacon in Marcos’s signature comfort food dish.
“I am extremely impressed,” I say, once I’ve sampled my food. “You’ve completely outdone yourselves.”
“We thought about taking you to a restaurant,” Devin says, “but we’re an unconventional group for a romantic dinner out.”
“It wouldn’t have bothered me,” I say. We do get a lot of weird looks when we’re out together, especially since the guys don’t hold back on the PDA. They don’t make out with me in public, or anything like that, but there are enough kisses and touching to make it clear that we’re more than friends. I don’t mind at all.
The five of us go out together a lot, but I’ve also been going on dates with the men in smaller groups and one-on-one. Marcos recently took me on an overnight trip to a planetarium, and last weekend I had a cutthroat game of mini golf with Khalil and Devin on Four Points. My latest date with Shane was dancing at a country and western bar. I am a lucky, lucky girl.
As much fun as we have on dates, it’s nothing compared to the fun we have behind closed doors, or rather, out in the open all around the house. Marcos is the only one who ever really closes his door, and that’s because we still regularly play his domination games.
Despite his desire for control, he was also a willing participant when I switched things up and bossed all of the men around one night. I had a great time being the one administering the spankings, and though there was a lot of laughter, the men got off on it, especially, interestingly enough, Shane.
Shane has revealed so many layers in these months that I’ve known him. He can still be bossy — not just to me, but to all of us — but he’s also caring and sometimes sensitive, and he’d do anything for any of us.
Devin tells me that I’ve smoothed Shane’s rough edges to a degree he’d have never thought possible.
Sometimes I wonder if I could have chosen one of the men, if they hadn’t been willing to share me, and the answer is always easy: no, I could never choose. While they have a lot in common, they also bring a lot of unique qualities and different aspects of themselves, and together, they’re everything I need. I hope that I give all of them what they need from a relationship.
It’s amazing how comfortable I’ve become with that word in such a short period of time. I’m more grateful for my relationship with the four of them than anything else in my life.
Marcos asks me to pass the bread, bringing me back to the present moment. They’ve all been fairly quiet as they dig into their food, giving me time for reflection.
I ask a few questions about their current projects — the expansion at Rusty’s is finished, and they’ve been involved in new developments nearby — but they seem reluctant to talk about work tonight.
They’re all caught up on news from my work. Things at Rusty’s are finally slowing down after the busiest summer yet. With more space, we have more customers, though of course, the Stone brothers hired enough new staff to meet their growing needs.
When we’ve finished our meal and Shane has returned from carrying the dishes into the kitchen, there’s still a buzz of unspoken excitement in the air. “So really, what’s the reason for this fancy dinner?” I ask. “Have I missed some sort of anniversary?”
Devin shakes his head. “No, nothing like that.”
“We do have something to tell you, though,” Shane says.
Nerves flutter in my belly, and I remind myself that it can’t be anything bad since they’ve gone to all the trouble to make the evening so romantic. Still, I find that I can’t speak, and instead wait for them to continue.
“We’ve been holding back on something for a while,” Devin says. “We’ve all been feeling it, but we wanted to take things slow and make sure you were one hundred percent comfortable.”
I think I know what’s coming, but that doesn’t make it any less spectacular when they say it.
“We love you, Becca,” Shane says.
“We’re in love with you,” Marcos adds.
Khalil grins. “We’ve been keeping it inside for a long time, and it’s nearly slipped out a few times.”
I’d known it. I’d felt it, and been absolutely sure of it, but hearing them say it means everything.