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His answering smile warmed my heart.

As we walked up the circular driveway surrounded by trees and bushes, the house emerged in all its spectacular form. I wasn’t quite used to the odd, spaceship-like glass and steelstructure. More-so when Ollie observed the house, but didn’t comment on it. Instead, he swallowed before he turned to me.

“Is what I’m wearing okay for the night? It’s not like a party or anything?”

I shook my head. “Nah, just a small get together for dinner. No need to be nervous.”

He mumbled something as I rang the doorbell, and I caught the tail end. “… easy for you to say, Mr. Hollywood.”

The doorknob turned, and the door opened an inch before there was a slight struggle on the other side, and it clicked shut again. Ollie and I turned to each other, confused. In the next second, the door swung open and standing there in the foyer was Spencer, who draped himself over Lee’s back while his gorgeous husband had an exasperated look on his face. Kaid stood off to the side with his arms crossed, shaking his head.

“Hey, Con,” Spencer said.

He wiggled his eyebrows as he kept moving his gaze from me to Ollie, who blushed under his scrutiny. Long seconds ticked by as they continued to stare until Lee huffed.

“Sorry, man, we have better manners than this. I’m Lee Atreus, Spencer’s husband. He’s the man on my back because he sprained his ankle, tripping on nothing in the garden earlier today and can’t walk by himself.”

Spencer waved as though Ollie wasn’t standing a short distance from them. Ollie gave them his genuine and happy smile and wiggled his fingers at them.

“Nice to meet you both. I’m sorry to hear about your ankle. I hope it’ll heal soon, Spencer.”

“Awww, you’re so sweet.” Spencer hopped down and pulled Ollie in for a hug.

“And this is Kaid,” I said as I pulled Ollie away from Spencer.

He glanced over at Kaid and reached out to shake the man’s hand. “Nice to meet you as well. Thank you for having me over tonight. You have a phenomenal home.”

Before Kaid spoke, a gigantic muscular man in a chef’s coat and tattoos peeking out of the skin along his neck and hands walked up and snagged Kaid’s attention. I’d seen the man grumpy at the best of times, but something about this giant of a man melted my friend into a puddle of goo, and it seemed I wasn’t the only one affected by a new man in their lives.

With a gruff voice that matched his stature, the man faced Kaid and said, “Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes.”

“And you’re joining us,” Kaid said, not leaving any room for argument. “Everyone, this is Lewis Gallagher. He’s my new personal chef and friend.”

Another round of hellos and I noticed Ollie’s eyes trace over the man’s tattoos, looking interested. Of course, with Ollie being his inquisitive self, he said, “It’s nice to meet you, Lewis. Do you mind if I ask you an intrusive question?”

“I think I’d be okay with that.”

“Do you have tattoos… everywhere?”

He boomed out a laugh, and there was a distinct twinkle in his eye that made me uncomfortable. I recognized it because it happened every time Ollie met someone new and charmed them.

Lewis leaned closer and said, “Most of my body, yes. Maybe I’ll let you see them sometime.”

“Nope,” I declared, and once again pulled Ollie away and settled him against my side.

Kaid stepped closer to Lewis and instead of tensing, the bigger man leaned toward Kaid until their shoulders pressed together, giving him reassurances without speaking. At least my friend kept his objections silent, unlike me.

Not paying one bit of attention to my possessive nature, Ollie leaned forward and said, “I think you would make a perfect character in one of my romance novels.”

“I could see that,” Kaid said as he smiled up at his chef.

That opened the floodgates and when Spencer learned Ollie was a romance writer, he led him off toward the living room and they got into an animated discussion about story lines and why all of them lack what they tout the most, any amount of romance. Lee moved close to me, but instead of instigating the conversation, I waited for Lee to voice whatever he had on his mind.

“It’s weird, seeing you like this.”

I blinked, moving my gaze from Ollie’s face, lit up and animated as he spoke about his favorite topic in the world, over to Lee, who stood there with a smirk on his face. All knowing was Lee. Or, most likely, just observant as fuck.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”