The guys are sitting in the booth chatting as I fly by them. From the corner of my eye, I see Grant do a double-take. Head down, I keep walking, hoping they’ll get the hint and let me go.

No such luck.

A strong hand wraps around my wrist, pulling me to a stop.

“Where are you going?” Grant asks.

“Back to the room to get my stuff. I want to go home,” I choke out, my voice sounding weak and shaky.

His eyes widen. “Why? Did something happen in the bathroom?”

“No.”

“Then what? You were fine a minute ago. Did we do or say something to upset you?”

“No. It’s me. I thought I could do this but I can’t, and I really just want to get out of here.”

“You’re not going anywhere until we talk.” Ryan guides me back to the table. I want to put up a fight, but that would only draw attention, and I’m not one to make a scene—and Ryan and Grant know that.

“I don’t want to talk.” Because if I talk, then I’m going to beg them to love me the way I love them, and that’ll just make things even more awkward.

“Tough shit,” Grant growls. “You can’t go to the bathroom and then come out and blow past us without saying a word.”

Lips pinched together, I find the courage to look him in the eye. “You want to know why I’m upset?”

“Yes, I do.” His eyes are hard, and Ryan’s are pretty much the same.

“Because you lied to me. More than once.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

Tilting my head, I glare at Ryan and then Grant. “You told me you’ve only been here a few times. Well, I ran into Alex in the bathroom, and according to her, you come here a couple of times a week.”

“Emma…” Grant reaches for my arm, but I pull it away. I don’t want him touching me right now.

“She also says you spend all of your time with Elena and Louisa,” I say, cutting him off.

The hard look on Ryan’s face softens, and for some reason, that just sets me off. “Emma—”

“In the presidential suite,” I add, cutting him off. “How cozy. And here I thought that what we shared here was special.”

“This is special. You are special.” Ryan grins and looks at Grant. “She’s jealous.”

“This isn’t funny, and I am not jealous.”

Grant lays a placating hand on my arm and tries to fight a grin of his own, but I pull away and try to stand up. I’m not sure where I’ll go with them caging me in, but I’m not opposed to crawling under the table if that’s what it takes.

“Emma, sit.” Grant’s voice is low and hard, and I glare at him but plop back down.

“I was foolish to believe that what we shared was special. You made it clear in the shower that I’m just your best friend. I’ll never be more than that. I’ll never be good enough for the two of you because you’re already a package deal—a team. I thought I could handle that. That’s how badly I wanted to be with you two. But I can’t. I can’t do it. That’s not the type of girl I am.”

Grant shakes his head. “Emma—”

“Let me out.” I try to shove him out of the booth, not caring anymore if I’m making a scene, but he doesn’t budge.

“Not until you let us explain.”

“Fine.” I cross my arms over my chest and sit back. “You want to explain? Go ahead. Explain.”

“Jesus Christ, you’re stubborn,” Grant growls. He runs a hand through his golden blond hair, messing it up. “Let’s start with you not being good enough. That’s bullshit, and you know it. You’re the best damn thing that’s ever happened to us.”

“Really? Then why did you wait so long to make your move? To share me?”

“Because we aren’t good enough for you. But we’re working on it. That’s what all of this is about,” Ryan says, waving in a motion to indicate the restaurant.

“All of what? I don’t understand.”

Ryan shakes his head and looks at Grant, who scoots closer to me in the booth. When he sees that I’m not going to bite his head off, he tries again to put a hand on my arm. This time, I let him.

“We’re going to explain everything,” Grant says. “But first, you need to know that you are so much more than just our best friend. And, yes, Ryan and I are a package deal, but you are part of that package—at least we’re hoping you’ll be.”

My eyes widen, and the vice around my heart loosens just a tiny bit. “I thought that’s what you wanted when we were sitting in bed, and you said that I was yours and you weren’t letting me go, and again in the shower when you said that what we shared was a first for the two of you.”

“And we meant it.” Ryan grabs my hand, linking his fingers with mine on top of the table.

“But then you said…” I look at Grant and try to remember his exact words.

“I said what?”

“’Of course, I love you. I’ve loved you for years, you’re one of my best friends.’”

“You dumbass.” Ryan reaches behind me to smack Grant upside the head. But Grant doesn’t flinch. His eyes bounce between mine. “This is all your fault.”

“Emma, sweetheart, I’m confused. I do love you. I don’t understand why you’re upset over what I said.”

“It’s the way you said it.” I drop my head and bury my face in my hands. “You made it sound like you love me because I’m your best friend, but you two are so much more than that to me.”

Grant pulls my hands from my face. “Look at us, Emma.”

They both have an arm propped on the table, and they’re leaning toward me, making it easy to see both of them. And both men are looking at me with hope and love. So much of each emotion, it’s pouring out of them. If Daisy was right and they’ve looked at me like this before, I don’t know how I missed it.

“I’ve loved you both for so long, and I always hoped something like this would happen between us. But the thing is…I want you for more than a weekend. I’m looking for more than a fling. And I won’t share either of you.”

“We want that, too,” Grant blurts.

“And we would never ask you to share us with another woman,” Ryan says, resting his hand on my thigh under the table.

“What about Louisa and Elena? Alex made it sound like you two were shacking up with them in the presidential suite.”

Grant brushes a strand of hair from my face. “I’m guessing it sounded like that because you don’t know what we’ve been doing here the last several months.”

“Then explain it to me.”

Ryan looks at Grant. Grant nods, and then Ryan takes a deep breath. When he lets it out, he says, “We’ve been building a future. Here.”

“What Ryan is trying—and failing miserably—to say is that we bought this place.”

“You bought the lodge?”

Both men nod, and Ryan continues. “It started about four years ago when we invested in a friends’ company. He needed money to get his business off the ground. He paid back the loan with interest, and we invested that money in the stock market. Those investments paid off ten-fold. Earlier in the year, we saw this lodge go up on the market. I remember my parents bringing me here when I was little, and I used to love it. Grant and I talked it over and—”

“We bought it,” Grant finishes. “We did our research first, of course, and then decided to go for it. It was important to Ryan, so it was important to me.” Grant’s hand finds Ryan’s under the table, and I look down at their linked fingers resting on my thigh.

When I look up, Ryan’s eyes are shining, and Grant is smiling, and I’ve never been so happy.

“What are you planning to do with it?” I ask.

Ryan looks around as though he’s visualizing all the changes he wants to make. “We’ll get it looking beautiful and running like a dream, and then…who knows. Maybe we’ll sell it for a profit or, if it’s doing well, maybe we’ll keep it.”

“When are you starting renovations?”

“We’ve already started. The presidential suite was our first project. Grant and I put the finishing touches on it about a week ago. That’s also where Louisa and Elena come in.”

“Louisa is the general manager of the lodge, and Elena is the interior decorator we hired,” Grant says.

“Oh.” Well, don’t I feel stupid. “I told Alex we’d been friends since we were little. I bet she thought I knew you bought the lodge, and about the renovations.”

“Probably,” Grant says. “Alex is great. So is the rest of the staff. They’re dedicated to getting the lodge exactly where it needs to be.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about it sooner? I could’ve been out here helping you with it.”

Ryan reaches for his water and takes a drink. “Because you’ve been busy with school, and we didn’t want to interfere with that.”

“Well, school is over now.”

Grant grins. “We know.”

“So, where does this leave us?”

“Who’s hungry?” Alex sings, walking toward our table. She balances our plates on her arms and passes them out.

“Let’s eat,” Grant says, sliding my salad in front of me. “We’ll talk when we get back to the room.”

“Okay.”

“Does everything look all right?”

“It looks perfect, Alex, thank you,” I answer.

“Careful with that red sauce.” She winks.

I laugh. “From your lips to my unsteady hand.”

“Enjoy your dinner, and let me know if you need anything.”

“We will,” Grant says as Ryan and I dig into our delicious meals.