Page 49 of Right Side of Paradise

Inevitable

“Nice lipstick,” Soul teased, swiping his thumb over my bottom lip and the corner of my mouth to clean up Harlow’s signature ruby red. “Our girl taste good?”

Our girl.

Didn’t think I’d ever get tired of hearing that.

As I bit the inside of my cheek to suppress a grin, he winked at me and stepped around me to get to Harlow in my kitchen.

That left me standing in my doorway in front of Rico. The moment our eyes met, he held up a plant, his gaze earnest and smile shy.

“It’s a snake plant.” He placed it at our feet and closed the insignificant distance between us.

Hand braced at the back of my head, he said softly, “I asked my granny, and she said it’s a good housewarming gift.

” He started running through the pros. “It’s easy to keep alive and purifies the air. Looks nice with a?—”

“Rico?”

“Hmm?”

“I love your grandma, but I don’t wanna talk about her, or that damn plant when your lips are this close to me.”

His laugh was just a huff of air that cooled my warm cheeks while his eyes roved over me. “My bad.”

I didn’t say anything else before I was welcoming his tongue in my mouth and fisting the front of his shirt like my life depended on it.

Until he hugged me and my hands fell away, down to his waist. I held him steady in front of me, my head tilted to grant him the access he wanted.

“You have a good day?” He kissed me again before I could answer, and I smiled against his mouth. “What’s funny?”

“ You .”

“Mmm.” He licked the seam of my lips before taking a reluctant step back. For the first time since he walked in, my empty condo gained his attention. “I can’t believe this is the same place.”

When I bought a unit in the oldest building on the island last year, he came with me to the closing.

He saw how much work was needed before I moved in and told me he couldn’t wait to see it finished.

When the lease on my apartment was up and the condo still wasn’t ready, he didn’t blink an eye before he told me I’d be staying with him and Soul.

That was just how he was.

Always steady. Always in my corner.

If I thought about it long enough, nothing about us was unexpected. We were always inevitable. I just had to get out of my head and open my eyes.

Rico was always going to be mine.

He closed the door behind him. “You gon’ show me around?”

“Yeah, follow me.” I bent to retrieve the plant from the floor and carried it to the only other flat surface in the house: my kitchen island.

Harlow was on top of it, Soul standing between her legs while they talked in low voices.

My lips slanted at how natural they looked in my space.

It’d only been an hour since Harlow showed up after checking on her grandma. And because I was only a five-minute walk from Ms. Edith’s house, she told me she’d just wait for Rico and Soul to meet her here.

Neither of them broke the flow of their conversation to acknowledge us before I led Rico to the back of the condo, starting with my bedroom.

His voice echoed off the walls when he asked me about the furniture I wanted to fill the space.

I’d spent my whole day trying to figure that out.

Because the stuff I had split between my parent’s house and my storage unit would look like dollhouse furniture in here.

I needed to start from scratch.

“This view is insane.” Rico walked over my ceramic tiles to the wall of windows overlooking the busiest street on the island and the beach across from it.

I was close to everything. The aquarium, the farmer’s market, and the amphitheater were all less than five minutes away.

Joining him at the window, I took in the view that sold me on the place.

So much had changed since then. I remembered how excited I was to have my bachelor pad. Now all I wanted was a house full of the people I loved.

Rico moved behind me, wrapping me in his arms and resting his chin on my shoulder. “I haven’t figured out why yet, but I get the feeling you don’t wanna be here.”

My conversation with Harlow came rushing back.

“You know none of us are leaving you alone. It doesn’t matter where you go.”

“Nothing’s changed but the address, Chris,” he said as if he read my mind, “Stay at our place as long as you want. None of us will complain about that,” he assured me, kissing the side of my head. He added in a playful tone, “You ain’t getting rid of us. You still owe us about ten dates.”

One forearm was slung across my chest, the other loosely hanging around my shoulder and neck. Exhaling, I relaxed in the safe haven of his arms.

“Not ten,” I rebutted. “We went on four already.”

And we had photographic proof of all of them. Harlow wanted them for her scrapbook, but right now they were decorating Rico’s fridge.

So far, there was the picture on the boardwalk at the nature preserve.

The picture the yoga instructor at the aquarium took for us.

The picture we took after parasailing a few days ago.

The candid Soul’s brother took before we got on our jet skis for Rico’s birthday.

And the selfie from the movie date we went on yesterday because it was the only thing I wanted to do for my birthday.

It was the only thing we could do after fucking the day away.

And the more group dates we went on, the more we planned together. Our original agreement that the dates could be one on one was useless. None of us wanted to go anywhere without it being the four of us.

“Can we take you to dinner?”

A groan colored the air when he punctuated his invitation by burying his face in my neck.

He inhaled. Once. Twice. Greedily breathing me in while his arms tightened around me.

“Yeah, right after I show you the rest of the place.” Smoothly, I spun out of his hold and headed to the door.

If I didn’t, somebody would have to restrain me to keep me from laying on this hard ass floor with this man and letting him do whatever to me.

“Come on, the balcony in the living room is my favorite part.”

The elevator ride down to the lobby was a quiet one.

I stood in the front, closest to the panel with Soul beside me, his fingers locked with mine.

He was doing that more lately. Holding my hand as if it was second nature. It was weird if he wasn’t touching me in some way these days.

I’d never even kissed this man, but we’d seen each other in our rawest forms too many times to count in the last month.

Could a line be crossed if it didn’t really exist?

I knew what his face looked like when he was coming.

Knew how he sounded when Harlow flicked her tongue over his piercing just right.

And the way his face contorted when Rico entered him was forever seared into my mind.

Last night, he rode Rico while Harlow rode me. They came together, grinding on our dicks side by side, fingers entwined.

And I was still convinced I blacked out when my orgasm hit me.

Shit, now I was hard.

It didn’t help that I could hear Harlow and Rico kissing behind us.

Arousal spiked in my veins.

Skipping dinner was sounding better and better.

Thank God the elevator doors opened, dousing those thoughts. I was just about to step off and find Rico’s Jeep when a familiar voice froze all of us in place.

“Son…Harlow. What the hell are you doing?”

Brock Donovan looked right past me and Soul to zero in on his son and ex-stepdaughter in the back of the elevator.

His jaw slackened and disbelief colored his dark eyes.

Fuck .