Who Falls Hardest (Clearwater University)

I’ll tell you what though, I will never fucking forget it now. If a day goes by when I don’t acknowledge that I’m one of the luckiest three men on earth to be with a woman like Emma… well, I’ll kick my own ass for that.

“What are you thinking about?”

Emma’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts, and I wrap an arm around her waist as we follow West and Trent toward Louie’s Steak House. I’ve never been here before, but apparently it’s one of the best joints in town. And it’s got special meaning for Trent and Ems and their parents, so it seemed fitting that we all come here for a celebration dinner.

And we’ve got a lot to celebrate tonight.

The guys and I just finished out our semester, and Emma will be starting summer classes soon, officially becoming a student at Clearwater once again. Plus, Paul and Claire set a date for the wedding, so they’ll be getting hitched in July.

Glancing down at Emma, I pull her a little closer and nuzzle her hair with my nose. “I was thinking about you. How fucking amazing you are.”

She blushes in response. I don’t even have to see her face to know that. I can feel it in her body, in the way she leans closer to me, tilting her head down a little. I’ve made it my mission in life to know her completely, inside and out, and I’ve dedicated a lot of very pleasurable hours to that study.

I still love how responsive she is. Not just during sex, but in life. She cares deeply about shit, and when she sets her mind to something, she becomes an unstoppable force of nature.

After everything that happened over the past year and all the effort she put into getting readmitted to Clearwater, she spent a lot of time figuring out what she wanted to study. She wanted to make it all worthwhile, and she eventually decided on law. She’s been loving her job at the law firm, and she’s decided that’s what she wants to do for the rest of her life.

Personally, I’m all for it. There’s nothing in the world hotter than watching Emma argue. She might be one of the sweetest people I know, but there’s a fire in her that burns like the fucking sun.

“I lost you again. Now what are you thinking about?” Emma presses, but by the way her hands are roaming over my stomach and back as she leans against me, I have a pretty good idea she knows exactly what.

“Still how amazing you are,” I murmur, stopping in my tracks so I can wrap my arms around her fully and press a kiss to her lips. I smile against her mouth as we break apart. “Just… the context has changed.”

“Oh?” She shifts closer to me, her breasts pressing against my chest as her hips roll against my hardening cock. “What context is it now?”

“Come on, you two!” Trent calls. “Stop making out in the street and hurry up. We’re gonna be late! My mom and Paul are waiting!”

“Kiss-ass!” I call back, lifting my head to roll my eyes at him.

I like to give him shit for it, but honestly, I think it’s pretty cool how hard he’s been working to bury the hatchet with Paul. There was a lot of bad blood between them—more than Emma’s dad has with either me or West—and even though Paul gave his approval in theory that day Emma got readmitted to school, it wasn’t like things automatically became all sunshine and roses after that.

There’ve been some hard conversations, but I think Paul is finally starting to see that we’re all serious about this. That all we want is Emma’s happiness, and that by some incredible and insane luck, the three of us make her happy.

“Come on. Let’s go.” I grin down at Ems, taking her hand as we hustle to catch up with the other two.

The four of us enter the restaurant as a group, and Trent leads us confidently into the back room where Claire and Paul are waiting for us.

“God, please tell me we’re not that gross,” Emma whispers to me with a giggle as we catch her dad and Trent’s mom kissing like lovestruck teenagers.

“Hate to break it to you, Ems, but I think we’re worse.” I slide my hand down her back to rest it briefly on her ass, grinning at the flare of heat in her eyes even as her blush deepens. “With you, me, West, and Trent, it’s like that, but times three.”

“Times three and a half,” West grunts, nudging me with his elbow. “Your PDA is out of control.”

“Hey, I’m an affectionate person,” I joke as we near the table. “I can’t help that. And I haven’t heard Emma complain.”

I wink at her as I hold her chair out, and she laughs out loud at that. “Nope, I have no complaints.”

“No complaints about what?” Claire asks, finally dragging her attention away from her soon-to-be-husband and smiling at all of us.

Emma grins, her expression so bright and carefree that it hits me like a punch to the chest. I swear my fucking heart stops for a moment, unable to continue beating under the wave of happiness that crashes over me.

“No complaints about anything,” Ems says softly, her smile widening. “About anything at all.”

We all settle in around the table and the waiter comes by to take our order a few minutes later.

Emma gets absorbed in a conversation with Claire about wedding planning—talking dresses and venues and other shit I can barely comprehend. Trent and Paul get into a debate about sports,

which has become a point of common interest they’ve been able to bond over. West, always the quietest one of our group, surveys the table with the intensity of an alpha wolf keeping watch over his pack.