CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Bee
When the alarm on my phone went off, I had no idea where I was.
The surroundings looked the same. My tiny bedroom in my tiny, rented house, with the weak, pre-dawn light filtering through the curtains on the two windows that faced the street in the Ass End of Reckless Falls.
But there was someone in my bed. Someone warm and heavy and snoring gently.
And there was also someone in my kitchen, opening cabinets, and running water.
I lived alone. How were there so many sounds?
The memory of last night swam up as if it were a dream, half remembered, and half drifting away. But all the evidence I needed to know that it was real lay in the face of the man sleeping next to me. And the sounds of the man moving downstairs.
Them.
Finn and Jackson.
The two guys who had completely upended my world.
I wiggled, trying to extricate myself from Finn's embrace to go downstairs and work on breakfast, but he snuffled something in his sleep, and slid his arm around me tighter.
"Finn," I whispered.
"Hmm?" he mumbled sleepily, and rolled over onto his back. His heavy arm flopped over the side of my bed, and his knuckles grazed the floor. At that, his eyelids fluttered open. "Well good morning," he said with a sleepy smile.
The sight of his smiling face, rested and peaceful, sent all of the apprehension about whether this was really real out of my head. If this really was a dream world, I'd like to stay in it a little bit longer. "Good morning," I whispered back.
He stretched. "Where's Jacky-boy?" he asked.
I inhaled sharply. Jackson. The two of them. Both of them. Here.
Both of them in my house.
With me.
"I think he's downstairs," I said, turning to the side to hide my blush. "I should go help him."
"Don't worry about it. He knows his way around a kitchen," Finn chuckled.
But I was already climbing out of bed, yanking on my clothes. I padded downstairs and turned the corner into the kitchen and stopped short.
Jackson was moving through my tiny kitchen, confidently breaking eggs into bowls and sifting flour. His dark hair was flapping into his eyes, and last night's kisses must have bruised his lips because they were the most appealing shade of pink I'd ever seen, full and delicious. I shook my head and looked away. "Good morning," I mumbled.
"You have a nice kitchen here," he observed, turning around and whisking in the bowl. "I mean it's compact and everything, but everything is within easy reach."
"Thanks," I said. "But I can make breakfast for you guys."
Jackson paused, turning to look me in the eye. "I know you can," he said gently. "But let me anyway."
I swallowed hard. "Okay," I said in a small voice.
Slowly I padded over to the adjoining living room and flopped on the couch, tucking my feet up under me to make myself as small as possible.
Finn appeared in the doorway, taking up almost all the space in my tiny living room. "Hey there," he said with an inquisitive smile. "Jacky-boy made coffee. I brought you a cup."
"That's my favorite mug," I noted nonsensically, pointing at the chipped navy blue mug in his hand. The silver letters had worn completely off, but at one time it had spelled out my hatred of mornings. Which was the wrong thing for a baker to be advertising.
I cupped the mug in two hands and leaned over to inhale. "Is this my coffee?" I asked.
"Found it in your cupboard," Jackson called. "You should keep it in the freezer."
I took a sip of it. He'd brewed it ferociously strong, just the way I liked it. "How did you know I liked my coffee this way?" I called out, bewildered.
He appeared in the doorway, raising a playful eyebrow. "I just had a feeling," he said, grinning.
I found myself smiling back. "You know, by the laws of hospitality, I should be serving you," I reminded him.
He waved his hand. "Fuck the rules. Things don't always work out the way they're supposed to."
As he said that, he and Finn both fell silent. And I was about to ask if they were okay. After all, us doing... what we did... Well, one time could have been called an accident, but this? Sleeping together and then having breakfast the next morning as a threesome? That was deliberate. All of us sleeping in one bed was definitely on purpose.
I was about to ask them just how they felt about that when I heard my phone ringing somewhere distant.
"Oh, here," Finn said, setting his mug down on a coaster. "I've got that." He went rushing up the stairs two at a time, then reappeared at the top holding my phone in his hand, staring down at the display with a quizzical look on his face. "Hey," he said carefully. "So... it says Mom?"