Ethan

“It’s late, go back to sleep,” Emily whispered.

I was only half-aware of reaching for her, but I must have been insistent, since she was pushing my arm down and pulling the covers up over me.

“I’ll be right back. I need to check the stove.” She leaned over and brushed her lips over mine. “Don’t steal my spot.”

Too late. As soon as she turned away, I shifted, spreading out until I could touch both edges of the bed. It was incredibly comfortable, Emily’s bed. And so warm where she’d just been.

Taking long breaths into her pillow, smiling at the scent of her that lingered there, I drifted off again.

I was awakened sometime later as she tried to crawl back into bed without disturbing me. My sprawled limbs were making that difficult, of course, and I purposely held my position to see what she’d do.

After a few gentle nudges that got her nowhere, she huffed under her breath and poked my side with two fingers, tickling me until my whole body balled up and I cringed away.

It was all I could do not to laugh, since I was supposed to be asleep.

She was smart; I had to give her that. I never would have thought to tickle my way back into bed.

A moment later, she was sighing and wrapping herself around me, gently pulling me onto my back so she could lie on my chest. She tugged the covers up over us and draped her arm across my belly, relaxing into me almost instantly.

Off in the distance, I could hear the click-click-click of Dammit’s paws on the wood flooring in the hallway. It got progressively closer, and a moment later, he hopped onto the foot of the bed.

Emily didn’t move or utter a word, so either she was asleep or she didn’t mind him crashing with us.

As long as he kept his teeth out of my ass, I was good with it, too.

I’d had a canine bedmate for a while myself, after Ryan…after the accident.

His dog Midnight—who was fiercely loyal to Ry and had never really warmed up to me—started sleeping in my bed right after the funeral.

I guess I was his consolation prize.

Not as good as Ryan but better than nothing.

Too bad my parents didn’t see it the way Midnight had. They preferred nothing.

After Ryan, they shut me out so thoroughly it was as if they didn’t realize they even had another son. Their grief consumed them so completely that there wasn’t room for anything else.

Not even me.

Not even as a consolation prize.

Not even when TotC hit the big time.

Not one word of praise.

Not one hug or slap on the back.

When we dedicated our first Grammy to Ryan’s memory, they weren’t there—though I’d tried to give them tickets to sit with the band.

They probably didn’t even watch the awards on TV.

Dammit had been curled up watching me, but when I started feeling that familiar burn in my chest, he must have picked up on it. He got up and quietly snuggled into my side, licking my arm when I draped it over him.

It was exactly what I needed.

All of it.

Emily on one side, Dammit on the other, and me in the middle, smiling even as I drifted back to sleep.

* * *

“What the hell is that?” Emily sat up in bed, the room around us still dark as Dammit jumped to attention and chuffed, looking toward the door.

“Hey, fucknut! Answer your phone!”

Was that Lennox’s voice?

I sat up and frowned, listening.

“Hey, fucknut! Answer your phone!”

“Son of a bitch! Lennox! I’ll kill him!” I threw the covers back and scrambled off the bed.

Emily was an equal mix of amused and annoyed. “That is his ringtone?”

“Hey, fucknut! Answer your phone!”

I tugged my boxers on, fuming. “It wasn’t, but clearly he got his hands on my phone and fuckery ensued.”

She groaned, dropping back onto the pillows. “How can you use words like ‘ensued’ this early in the morning?”

“Hey, fucknut! Answer your phone!”

I was halfway out the bedroom door when I said, “No idea. It just came to me, kind of like the murder plot that just popped into my head.”

Dammit was right on my heels, growling low in his little throat, ready to spring into action.

I looked down at him as I rounded the corner and headed into the living room.

“If ever there was an ass in need of biting, it’s Lennox’s. Remember that.”

“Hey, fucknut! Answer your—”

I snatched the phone up. “Goddammit, Lenn! What’s wrong with you? Do you know what time it is?”

“Yes, I know what time it is,” he slurred. “And I’m sleepy. Let me in.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

He blew out a breath, like he was exasperated. “I’ve been trying to get past your security for like fifteen minutes. They say you’re not answering your bell, and they won’t let me up. I have a headache, and I need to take a piss, and I really want to lay down.”

“Why the hell are you at my loft?”

“Because Kane, the fucking asshole, kicked me out of the suite, and I don’t even have my wallet. Kade and Aubrey are still out fucking in the park or whatever, so they’re no help. All I had on me was a twenty, so I couldn’t get my own roon—room. But it was enough to get a cab to your place. Now let me in.”

I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Lennox, go back to the hotel and make Kane let you in. Apologize for whatever you did to piss him off, keep knocking until he has to let you in.”

“He barred the door, turned off his phone, and has fucking ear plugs in because he says even from the other room, my snoring keeps him up.”

“He kicked you out for snoring?”

“No, he kicked me out because he’s a prude. Apparently, me bringing home three girls was more than his delicate sensibilities could tolerate. He chased them off and then yelled at me for a solid hour before shoving me out the door.”

“First, it’s a two-bedroom suite, not The Playboy Mansion. Close quarters, dumbass. Orgies require your own room. And second, if you don’t pace yourself, you’re gonna whittle your dick down to a nub. Seriously, dude. Damn.”

“Lecture later, please. I need to piss and Gigantor here won’t let me into the building. Buzz. Me. In.”

“I’m. Not. Home.” I dropped down onto the couch and laid my head back. Dammit leaped into my lap and curled up, apparently deciding whatever was going on didn’t warrant his attention.

“So, you humped the art chick?”

“You’re such an ass, Lenn.”

“Does the guard have a spare key or something?”

“Nope.”

“Fuck.”

I blew out a breath, picking Dammit up off my lap and holding him as I stood. “Go back to the hotel. Bug Kane until he opens the door. Grovel for being such an inconsiderate prick, whatever you have to do to get back in. And worst-case scenario, sleep in the fucking hall until Kade and Aubrey show up.”

“Fine,” he grumbled. “You should tell your security guy to lay off the ‘roids. He’s gonna shrink his nads.”

“You tell him, smartass.”

“Pass.”

“And Lenn?”

“What?”

“If you fuck with my phone again, I’m gonna cram your favorite bass up your ass.”

“Don’t you threaten Betsy that way. She’s a lady.”

“Touch my shit again and she’ll be a suppository.” I ended the call and turned off my phone until I had enough mental focus to fix the damn ringtone. I left it on the table and carried Dammit back to the bedroom, plopping him down on the end of the bed as I made my way around it.

“Did I hear the word ‘orgy’ just now?”

I climbed under the covers and chuckled as she nestled in beside me. “Lennox is…well…”

“Trying to whittle his dick down to a nub?”

“Basically.”

“Do you need to go help him out?”

“Nope. He got himself into this, he can get himself out. I have no sympathy for him these days. Does the shit to himself.”

“Is he really that…active?”

“Active? Yeah, he’s the Tasmanian Devil of screwing.”

“Interesting,” she muttered, kissing my chest.

“More like annoying.”

She propped up on one elbow to look down at me. “Most guys who jump around like that do it for one of two reasons. Either they’ve never been in love, or they were in love and got their hearts broken. Which is Lennox?”

I considered for a minute. “The second one, though he’d swear it was the first.”

“What about you? Ever been in love?” she wasn’t asking in a leading kind of way, just curiosity.

“No.”

She blinked, taken aback. “You answered fast. You could have taken a second to think about it.”

I shrugged. “Nothing to think about. I’m pretty sure if I’d ever been in love before, I would have answered just as quickly with a yes. Either there is this instant image of a specific person in your mind when you hear that word, or there isn’t.”

I wasn’t telling her that her face flashed in my mind as soon as she asked the question, and my instant ‘no’ had been a knee-jerk reaction because I knew I couldn’t be in love with her this fast.

No matter what my instincts were telling me.

“You have a point. Certain words trigger specific images to pop into your head. Like with me, whenever I hear the word ‘distant’ I think of my mom.”

“Me too.” Shit, I didn’t intend to say that.

I could feel her eyes on me, but she didn’t ask any probing questions. Instead, she snuggled in closer and patted Dammit’s head. “You know he’s supposed to sleep in the living room, right?”

“Um, no. I did not know that.”

“Yep. He snores something fierce.”

I laughed and scratched behind his ears. “He and Lennox definitely need to be introduced. They have a lot in common. Both kind of crazy, both snore like lumberjacks, and I’m pretty sure given the right circumstances, Lennox could also be a biter.”

She giggled. “Yeah, but at least Dammit doesn’t hump everything he sees.”

“Speaking of humping…” I trailed my hand up and cupped her breast.

“Not in front of the pup. Unless you want another set of teeth marks on your butt.”

“We have an understanding.” Dammit stood and tried to climb across my chest to get to Emily, his nails digging into my abs. “But why don’t we make him wait outside, just in case.”