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They’d crawled into bed last night after confessing their feelings for each other, kissing and touching until exhaustion overtook them and they fell asleep, wrapped up in each other’s arms.

Xavier was no stranger to the power of words, but nothing he’d ever read or written had moved him as strongly as hearing Annie and Colum say they loved him.

“Save some for me,” Colum demanded, his voice husky from sleep.

Annie giggled against Xavier’s lips, and he released her.She twisted toward Colum, their lips brushing softly at first before passion stepped in and took over.Xavier made no move to join in, spellbound by the beauty of these two souls.Watching Annie and Colum together had rocketed up his list, becoming his second-favorite pastime, right after his new number one.

Making love to them.

When they finally parted, Annie nestled back down between them, he and Colum turning toward each other, clasping their hands together on her stomach.Xavier placed a soft kiss on her shoulder while Colum grinned at him, his thick mass of brown curls a chaotic bedhead mess that Xavier longed to run his fingers through.

“What should we do today?”Annie asked.“Since we’ve been commanded to remain at the archive.”

The fleet admiral had insisted the three of them stay at the archive, which was even more well protected than before.Xavier had been moved by the depth of Eric’s love for Colum, the lengths he went to in order to ensure his brother was safe.Given what Colum had told them about Eric’s reaction to Josephine’s death, he understood the fleet admiral’s fear over losing Colum as well.

It was one Xavier now shared, so he was grateful for Eric’s diligence.

“I have an idea,” Colum said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

It had been on the tip of Xavier’s tongue to suggest the same thing, perfectly content to remain with them in bed all day—or forever—but there was something he needed to do first.Something that couldn’t wait any longer.

Xavier released Colum’s hand and sat up.“I need to call someone.”

“Who?”Annie asked.

“My admiral.”

Colum frowned.“Why?”

“Because I want to spend the rest of my life fucking you two, which means going from hopeless to impossible.”

Annie sighed.“Xavier, those are the same thing.”

He tsked.“No, no, no.Hopeless, that is giving up.Impossible is only impossible until it is possible.”

Annie made a sound that was almost a growl, and Colum chuckled.

“I cannot take down every mountain between us and happiness,” Xavier said softly.“But I can climb this one for us.”

Colum was shaking his head.“Xavier, your admiral doesn’t have the authority to place the three of us in a marriage.I’m technically already married, and Annie isn’t a member.It’s not possible for Admiral Dubois to override Eric on any matter, and definitely not this one.”

“She’s not placing us in a marriage,” Xavier said.“She’s placing me in a leadership position.”

Colum blinked a few times, then reached for his glasses, slapping them on.“You’re going to call the admiral of France and ask her to give you one of the highest-ranking positions in your territory?”

“She’ll jump at the chance.”Xavier reached for his phone, intent on dialing, but Annie slapped it and his hand down.

“Maybe you should put a shirt on first, hotshot,” she said.“And get out of bed.”

Xavier chuckled.“I’m fine like this.”

Colum rose from the bed as Annie arm-wrestled with him, holding his hand against the mattress so that he couldn’t dial.

Xavier laughed when Colum lobbed a T-shirt he’d grabbed from his suitcase at his head.

“Fine,” he relented, tugging on the shirt.Before Annie could stop him again, he grabbed his phone and dialed.

The admiral answered after the second ring.“Xavier.I just heard the archive was attacked again.Are you okay?”The admiral leaned toward the screen.“Is that a cut on your forehead?”