When we first arrived home from our honeymoon, I envisioned waking up each morning cuddled up to one, or two, of my three husbands, with feet touching under the blankets. Slow and desperate kisses. Showering together. Calls throughout the day just to say ‘hi.’ We’d eat dinner at the table every night and maybe watch TV or play board games together. It was my perfect idea of how my home would work. My wonderful family life.

Let me tell you... even though it’s snowing outside, three men in the bed is a furnace. Feet touching is not as sexy as it seems. It’s hilarious.  Especially when one husband realizes he’s doing it to his older brother and not his wife. Morning kisses are sweet... when teeth have been brushed and mouthwash used. Apparently, I have a sensitivity to morning breath with my pregnancy. Showering together? Well, that dream came true the first night sleeping in our new home, but shower sex is not as sexy as they make it out to be in books. It’s... slippery.

And that’s all I’m going to say on that subject.

Calls throughout the day are nice, but we always had that. Coming home at the same time? Not going to happen. So that means dinner is often picked up at a drive-thru, wherever one of us are at, and almost never are we all watching a movie together.

It’s been three days since we came home from our wonderful honeymoon. Three. Days. And my perfect life was not going as planned.

Were things always like this and I’d never noticed?

***

It was Tuesday morning and Tyler was the first to roll out of bed. He was followed by Lincoln, and then an hour later, me. I left Kayden still sleeping in bed as I yawned and padded to the luxurious bathroom both our parents designed for us while we were away.

Granny Manto let me off the hook for working at the shop yesterday, and I didn’t have to be into SSK until today. Secretly, I wished all of us could stay in honeymoon bliss forever, but reality waited for no one.

The socks on my feet kept them warm from the chill of the bathroom tiles as I stepped into the space and flipped on the light. A small pile of clothes sat against the wall due to not having a laundry basket yet—we should have put that on the wish list—and I scrunched my nose up as I hurried past it in order to get to the toilet that I so desperately needed. Once there, I rolled my eyes at the toilet lid still up. “Geez, seriously?” I mumbled as I flipped it down, turned, and did my business. 

From there, I shuffled to the bathroom sink to wash my hands and found beard shavings in the first one. Twisting my lips at that, I washed my hands, which effectively pushed the unwanted hair down the drain, then grabbed my toothbrush and paste and started to brush.

In the mirror I saw Kayden shuffle in. He scratched his overnight scruff along his chin while stretching, showing off the slight ripple along his taut washboard abs. “Mornin’ sweetcheeks,” he rumbled, kissing the crown of my head as he passed on his way to the very place I just came from. I paused as I heard the undeniable “clink” of the toilet seat hitting the tank once again.

“He better put it down when he’s done,” I mumbled as I finished up and got out of there.

It was cold today. Snow had once again fallen during the night, causing all of us to scoot together as we slept. That had been interesting.

Hurrying into the closet where most of our clothes were still in bags from moving, I dug into one, pulling out a pair of jeans, a tank top and under things, as well as a long-sleeve shirt. I had to hurry to get to SSK, where I worked with orphans in need of a home. My uncle was one of the people in charge, but at the time when I started, I hadn’t known he was my uncle.

The shower stopped, signaling that Kayden was done, and then the hair dryer started up.

I yelped as an arm caught me around my waist as I was putting on boots, bringing me back to rest against a toned chest. “You going in today?” Lincoln murmured against the back of my head. Rolling my eyes at that, I turned in his hold, seeking out his light blue eyes filled with uncertainty. His blonde hair was combed to the side, unlike the messy hair he usually sported, and his square jaw shaved smooth. Typical of his work wear, he was in dark jeans and a thermal t-shirt with the leather jacket I gave him for Christmas last year.  

“Yes. He needs me there whether he likes it or not.” I lifted onto my toes to kiss his warm lips. “And if he doesn't need me, Perry does.”

He grunted, bending down to kiss my lips again. “Fine, but if there are any mishaps, like the one with that crazy teen, you’re done. And the three of us agreed, Faith. You don’t have to work, but we understand you wanting to contribute. But when you hit the six month mark, you’re staying home.”

I almost snorted in disbelief that my husbands went and talked about this without me, but the three of them were always overprotective. I lifted up and nipped his lip affectionately. “Got it.”

When I went to pull away, he gripped the back of my head, keeping my lips to his own. My body came alive as my hands slid up the grey thermal tee he wore, curling around his neck.

After a minute, he broke off, both of us breathing heavily. “Damn,” he groaned. “Three days isn’t enough time off.” His forehead leaned against mine, his light blue eyes twinkling. “How about we both call in today?”

I chuckled, pushing him away and walking back into the bedroom. “I have too much to do.” Kayden stepped into the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his hips, and I took a moment to appreciate him. He had darker hair than Lincoln’s that he styled in a messy ‘I just woke up, but look good’ kind of way and wore a panty-dropping grin directed my way.

With a wiggle of his eyebrows, he nodded toward the bed, his deep blue eyes suggesting something wicked. “We might have a few extra minutes this morning.” 

Lincoln groaned. I wasn’t sure if it was in disappointment or in annoyance at Kayden for even suggesting it. “We don’t have time.”

I laughed and shook my head.  “I’m heading downstairs to grab food,” I notified both husbands in the room before I gave Kayden a quick peck, barely escaping his lustful clutches.

The scent of cooked bacon filtered to me from downstairs. Tyler had started breakfast already. I found him in front of the electric grill we’d received as a wedding gift cooking it up. He was already dressed for work but was cooking?

The past few days we had been home, we’d used it since the stove wasn’t working, and it was a miracle that the ugly refrigerator and heat still were. I’d say thanks for small favors, but the dishwasher wasn’t working at the moment either. I’d have to wash all our dirty dishes by hand. At least I knew how to do that.

“Hey,” Tyler greeted me when I came up beside him. He wore a suit, minus the jacket at the moment, and smelled of aftershave and spice. He turned for a kiss then went back to making eggs.

“Didn’t expect you to still be here.” I went over to the counter and grabbed a solo cup—we hadn’t unpacked yet—and then headed to the fridge for the milk.

“I didn’t like how I rushed out yesterday, so today I’m making breakfast for my wife and going in late.”

Tossing him a grin over my shoulder, I turned to the ugly, light-yellow laminate countertop island and leaned against it. “So, you came to that conclusion today, hmm?” I lifted my cup to my lips as I watched him transfer the eggs to a paper plate.

He shrugged. “It may have been after your snide comment yesterday about ‘if the devil was at my heels or was I just really excited to do numbers all day’ that lead me to the conclusion that you were unhappy.”

He set the paper plate in front of me with a plastic fork and gave me puppy dog eyes. Dang. I couldn’t resist the puppy eyes. “Forgive me?”

I raised an eyebrow and picked up the fork to taste. It was good. “Mmhm, you’re forgiven.”

He grinned, taking my hand that held the fork loaded with my second helping of eggs and aimed it for his mouth to take a bite. “Good.”

The rumbling of feet on the stairs let us know that one of the others was coming down.

Lincoln entered the kitchen, ignoring the cozy scene Tyler and I were in, and curved his hand around my head to bring my lips to his. “Got to go,” he whispered when he lifted his head. “Kayden said he’d help you scrape off your windshield and dig you out. Tyler was only able to do his and mine this morning.” He smiled, his aqua gaze staring into mine, before he kissed my lips again and moved away.

Tyler was still there holding my wrist while his thumb drew circles on the inside. When Lincoln moved away, he tugged me into his arms and kissed me deeply. “Eat, don’t work hard, and we’ll see you tonight.”

Happy about how this morning was going, I smiled. “Okay.”

The two of them grabbed their briefcases and waved before heading out the door.

I took another bite of my eggs as I waited for Kayden. When he finally came down, I’d just finished my eggs and was placing the paper plate in the trash. I eyed the skillet that’d been left by Tyler, knowing that I should probably clean that off before we left, and grabbed it.

Kayden went to the fridge as he spoke to someone on his cell phone and pulled out an energy drink along with some string cheese. We didn’t have much in our fridge or pantry due to being gone, but our parents gave us a gift card to spend at the grocery store. It was for five hundred dollars. I figured it could feed us for more than a month.

I set the drainage well from the skillet off to the side on a hand towel, which came in one of our towel sets, to let it dry as Kayden kissed my forehead and whispered to meet him outside.

I cleaned off the skillet next, thinking about what I had to do today. Work, unpack, dinner. It all seemed overwhelming even though Kayden had promised to help.

All the pots and pans were still in boxes in the living room along with the dishes and silverware. In fact, that whole pile of boxes needed to be gone through, but we hadn’t had time since we’d been back. We hadn’t had time for much of anything.

Done in the kitchen, I ran upstairs and grabbed my phone off the charger and found my bag. Just out of curiosity, I peeked into the bathroom to see if the toilet lid was still down. A smile crept up when I noticed it was indeed down. Flipping off the bathroom light, I made my way out of the bedroom and downstairs to see if Kayden was ready to go. I’d get my husbands in tip-top shape about their habits. There was a woman in the house now.