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God, that mouth. It made me a little frightened of her, really. Even so, I found my mind wandering. It would be insane to kiss her…

“Walk with me,” I said, leading our cute little chef down the hallway.

Kayleen followed, and I could tell she was confused. The way Chase had spoken to her, it was easy to understand why. I’d been listening in the whole time, trying to guess how he’d explain things to her. Just as I expected, he hadn’t.

Should you, though?

It was a dilemma, really. I could leave her in the dark, but eventually she’d find out. Especially if we happened to be successful. At that point she’d be more pissed than anything, and I didn’t want to lose Kayleen. She was a good person as well as a great chef.

Yet if I told her, that could scare her away as well. The whole thing was a catch-22. A big, unorthodox, clusterfuck of a problem — all because Chase had kissed her.

“Look, the kitchen’s that way,” she said, a little exasperated. “I have a shit-ton of prep-work, so maybe we could talk in there?”

I stopped at the end of the hall. Our shared computer was set up there in a little alcove, networked to the other three in our bedrooms.

“So he kissed you.”

Kayleen’s pouty mouth got a little more pouty. It was cute.

“How do you know I didn’t kiss him?”

“Well you did,” I smiled. “But that’s beside the point. The issue here is what happened afterward. Chase acted like a complete idiot, and left you in the dark about something. I’m about to enlighten you.”

She stopped right in the middle of folding her arms. I saw her expression soften. “Go on.”

“So yeah,” I said. “He likes you. Don’t get that part wrong. He’d snatch you up in a heartbeat if he could snatch you up, only it would be a distraction, and we’re trying to work on eliminating all distractions from our lives.”

One corner of the chef’s mouth curled into a smirk. “Ah yes,” she said. “Your little trilogy.”

“Our big trilogy,” I corrected her. “But yeah. We’re all working hard on it. Trying to meet specific deadlines. Trying to get three giant novels out in the next few months, all written in tandem.” I scratched at my chin. “Or rather, we’re tag-teaming the books chapter by chapter.”

“So like a boxer in training,” Kayleen smirked. “No sex before a big fight.”

“Not

at all,” I corrected her. “Actually, just the opposite.”

I paused here, for the sheer joy of watching her wheels turn. Kayleen’s eyes grew even more narrow as she tried figuring out what I meant.

“Sex is an amazing outlet,” I said, “especially for creativity. So while we’re trying to eliminate all distractions, we’re also not crazy. We know we’ll need female companionship. The intimacy of…”

“Sex,” she said, matter-of-factly.

I shrugged. “Three guys, all in our mid-twenties? What do you think?”

“I think you need a couple of hookers,” she laughed.

I frowned and shook my head. “I said companionship. Intimacy. The kind of stuff that a girlfriend brings to the table. And yes, of course sex too.”

“So then what’s Chase’s problem?” she jumped in. “Not that I’m putting the cart before the horse or anything, but I happen to make a kickass girlfriend.” Now she did fold her arms. “And hey — newsflash — sex was definitely on the menu.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, he told us.”

“So I still don’t get—”

I turned away mid-sentence, cutting her short. A few short clicks of the mouse later, I pulled up the ad and expanded it to fit the screen.

“Read this,” I said, stepping back.