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“This is where you tell me how great my dick is.”
I snap my mouth shut. I wasn’t going to say it like that but in so many words? Yes. “Is this too much for you?”
He shrugs. “It’s not how I pictured things. I don’t think anyone goes into a relationship thinking how cool it would be if more dudes were added to vie for their girl’s attention.” He looks past me. “What do you think, James?”
I look up to find James peering into the back seat via the rearview mirror. “Sir, I think I should stay out of this.”
I needle Oliver in the side. His employees should definitely stay out of this.
Oliver gives me a small smile as an apology, then leans over, his lips grazing my ear. “I’ll get over it.”
But what if he doesn’t? He basically steamrolled his way into my love life, making me see what was right in front of me. I can’t imagine him backing out but maybe that’s me taking him for granted. “Do. Or don’t,” I grind out. “Just don’t stop talking to me about it, even when it gets hard. Even when you want to give up. Even—”
“Even when Leo makes me think of actually castrating another man?”
I grimace. That’s…a lot.
“I only thought about it once.”
“For what it’s worth, I think he actually is sorry about your teapot. He said he’d call the queen.”
“And say what? That we’re in love with the same girl and he broke my teapot?”
He shakes his head, and I grin wide. “That’s what I said! Well, kind of. I said fucking. And honestly, I think that’s exactly what he would say.”
“Let’s not ever give him my grandmother’s number.” He pauses, lifting his brow at me. “You know we’re doing much more than fucking you. Even him.” He sighs. “It’s hard to admit, but I can see how much that ape cares for you. It’s the only reason why I’m even remotely okay with this. You deserve to be loved, Eden. If it’s three guys’ love that you desire, who am I to stand in the way? Just don’t ask me to accept another. Please.”
His words are so sincere that even though I think adding another guy into this relationship is preposterous, I don’t voice it. I just lean into him, enjoying his warmth.
He tangles his fingers in my hair, filtering them through to the ends. “By the way, I have an idea.”
“Hmm?” Oliver has me lulled into a state of calm that I don’t want to break.
“Devon Forbes.”
My eyes fly open, immediately jumping out of my peaceful state.
“You and Devon have always gotten along, haven’t you?”
I lean away from Oliver, my gaze tracking toward his face. “Yeah, and I’m pretty sure he was in love with Dee when we were kids. He was always the better choice for her over Keegan. What’s your idea?”
“I was thinking that he might know where Keegan is…or he might be able to tell you about Leon… There’s no love lost there, right?”
“Number Five, you are a genius!” My excitement is contagious, and Oliver grins with his mouthful of perfect, white teeth. In the next instant, I come back down to earth, though. “We don’t know where Devon is. He stopped going to Carnegie last semester.”
“You meanyoudon’t know where Devon is.We”—he inclines his head toward James—“know exactly where he is. Where do you think we’re headed right now?” As if on cue, James presses down on the gas a little harder. Oliver leans over. “I’m pretty sure he is loving all of this. Makes him feel like James Bond.”
“Actually, sir,” James says, “I dislike this most assuredly. Do you know how much blood I’ve had to clean lately? The carpet, the settee, the bed…”
He starts listing all the house furnishings we’ve ruined, and I can’t help but cringe and wither into the back seat.
Before Oliver can call him out, though, he stops. “That said, I am a feminist, Miss Astor, and I think if you want to have relations with three men with whatever bodily fluids that entails, you are entitled to do so, and I will endeavor to remain an impartial observer to the clean-up efforts, whether from sexual encounters or from other… physical instances.”
A smirk pulls my lips apart, and I press them back together. Sounds like it’s only Oliver who thinks he’s James Bond in all of this. James is just doing his duty.
Oliver narrows his gaze at James, and I pinch his forearm so he doesn’t say anything. We’ve put Oliver’s entire staff into a predicament. I should tell him to let them all go while we figure things out. “Thank you, James.”
Swallowing, Oliver peers down at me. Without missing a beat, he says, “He’s lying.”