I’m on my way to my place. Client canceled and I need clothes.
Jake smiled as he texted back. You don’t need clothes with me and Border around.
Chafing, Jake. Chafing. I need pants at least. And maybe a top.
Jake laughed as he got into his SUV. No underwear at least. You going to be there for a bit? Can I come by?
Maya responded quickly. You’re always welcome here, Jake. And I may or may not be wearing panties when you get here.
Jake groaned. On my way. Don’t come without me.
Bully.
He smiled again and pulled out onto the road so he could make it to Maya’s. He hadn’t been there in a while since Maya had been spending so much time at his house. It was easier since the three of them could fit into his bed and space much easier than in Maya’s apartment. Plus, Border was living with him, making it two against one in terms of location.
He blinked at that. He was living with another man, and Maya was well on her way to being there full-time, as well. How the hell had that happened? They honestly hadn’t talked about Border moving out to find his own place since that first night. The other man had sort of just fit in right away, and now Jake wasn’t sure what he’d do if Border wanted to leave. For all their talk of keeping things as casual as possible, they’d sure started off as serious as hell.
Jake took a shaky breath, his hands tightening on the steering wheel. He didn’t think there would be any going back. Not now. If things went to hell…he’d break. He knew it. He couldn’t look at Maya as just his best friend anymore. He fucking loved her.
And Border couldn’t leave him again. Jake couldn’t be left behind if Border found himself in too deep with his job and frankly, his emotions. There isn’t any going back, he repeated to himself. He loved Border just as much as he loved Maya. He might have done his damndest not to think those words before this, but he knew he couldn’t hide it any longer.
He needed Maya and Border in his life for now and always.
He just prayed they were on the same page as him.
When he pulled into Maya’s parking lot and turned off his engine, he took a deep breath, knowing he couldn’t share what he was feeling right then. It wouldn’t be right to do it with Maya without Border there and vice versa. This was something he had to do with both of them. He wanted them both. Wanted a future with both Maya and Border. It would be complicated as all hell, but they’d work it out. They had to.
Maya opened the door before he could knock, and he smiled down at her. “I saw you park.” She studied his face. “You doing okay?” She moved back to let him in, and he stalked toward her, cupping her face in his hands.
All thoughts of Holly and what he’d almost done if he hadn’t found Maya and Border fled his mind at the sight of her.
“I’m doing fucking amazing,” he growled before slamming his mouth to hers.
She kissed him back just as hard, their tongues clashing as their hands roamed each other’s bodies. “I’m not wearing panties,” she whispered, and he groaned.
“Fuck, yeah,” he said with a feral grin. “I can’t wait to eat you up, Maya Montgomery.”
She fluttered her eyelashes. “You know how I love oral. Though I still don’t know who does it better, you or Border. I’m going to need a lot of data to make sure.”
He chuckled roughly. “I think that can be arranged.” He studied her face. “I’m so fucking lucky to have you in my life. You and Border. We weren’t ready before, you know. We weren’t ready until he was here. I can’t explain it. Yeah, you and I were tiptoeing around each other for a while, headed down a path that might have been so much different than it is now, but we would have fucked it up. It took Border for us to change what we thought we wanted, to see what we actually needed.”
He didn’t know why he’d blurted that out just then, but he knew from the look in her eyes that he’d said the right thing.
“We’d have done okay,” she whispered. “We’re hot as fuck, after all.” They both chuckled. “We’re everything, Jake. We wasted time, but who we are now? That’s who we needed to be in order to be together. The two of us? We could have made it without Border, but it wouldn’t be this. You’re right, we’d have fucked it up.”
He kissed her temple. “And that wouldn’t have been enough.”
She kissed his chin. “To misquote that horrible movie, Border completes us.”
Jake smiled then, bringing Maya to him. “Yeah, he does. But you complete me, too.” She grinned at him, and he slid his hand beneath the waistband of her leggings, finding her ass bare. When he kept going to cup her between her legs, she gasped. “You’re bare for me, baby. Perfect.”
“Don’t call me baby,” she muttered against his lips.
“I’ll call you mine.” He kissed her then, knowing they were on the same page, their bodies tightly wound, in sync, and their thoughts and emotions on the future.
We can do this, Jake thought. They could make this work.
And for the first time in a long time, he had hope.
Chapter Sixteen