Page 47 of Three Bossy Boyfriends (Honeysuckle Harbor #3)

Finley

I should text Ivy or Caroline. Or Ivy and Caroline. But when I type in Help! Are you up for giving me some relationship advice? It’s my brother I send it to.

Ford responds only one minute later.

Sure. Want to come over? I have the house to myself for a change.

I’m relieved. I love my new relationship with my sisters, but they’re both madly in love with one person each.

No contracts needed. Ivy and Caroline are in exactly my situation, but…

not really. They are living with all three of their men, and the three guys are all fine with that.

My guys aren’t. At least, one of them isn’t.

And as the straight guy in his foursome, I’m hoping my brother can give me some perspective into what Tucker might be feeling.

Ford is seemingly very happy in his relationship even though he is in love with a woman who is in love with two other men.

Maybe he can help me figure out how to make this work for Tucker.

Because the truth is, I cannot choose Christopher and Evan over Tucker.

But I can’t choose Tucker over them either. I need all three of them.

And maybe I can take a look at Ford’s contract with Ivy, Liam, and Harrison.

God. A contract. It’s not like I’m leasing a car from them.

I pull up at Ford’s house fifteen minutes later.

It’s actually Harrison‘s house. Well, he built it and lived there alone until they all got together. Even though they’ve been best friends since grade school, Harrison and Ford didn’t live together until Liam and Ivy came along.

But maybe they’re now all on the mortgage.

I don’t know. Maybe that’s part of their contract.

I roll my eyes on my way up to the front door.

Obviously, I’m still pissed about that piece of paper.

Ford clearly saw me pull in and opens the door before I even knock.

“Hey. It’s good to see you.” He pulls me into a hug, and I let him. I’m not the huggiest of Ford’s sisters, but that has never stopped him from trying.

“So what’s going on?” he asks.

“Foursomes run in our family, I guess,” I say against his shirt. “Unfortunately.”

He laughs and lets me go, then steers me toward the kitchen.

He gestures to one of the stools at their breakfast bar and heads to the fridge.

Without asking, he grabs me a bottle of water and one for himself.

He twists both caps off and slides one across the counter to me, then leans onto his forearms on the marble across from me.

“Well, I think you and I are the lucky ones. Frannie and Fiona have only one person. We each have three.”

“Well, I have two and one.” I take a long drink of water. “Tucker doesn’t want to be a foursome.”

“Ah.” He doesn’t seem surprised by this.

“Yeah. He’s not weird about sharing, or even me dating Evan.

He just wants to date me separately. He doesn’t want to live with Evan and Christopher, or to call ourselves a foursome, or refer to it as a polycule.

” It’s still weird and cool that my family not only accepts this situation for what it is, but knows the terminology.

“And Christopher and Evan?” Ford asks.

“They’re fine with whatever,” I say. “The three of us, I guess. Just the two of them. Or the four of us.”

Ford pauses to drink and thinks about that. “Well, at least you’re not fighting with all three of them.”

I nod. “But I want all three of them. I feel like they all give me something different. Like I wouldn’t be fully happy if any one of them was missing. Does that make sense?”

“Completely,” he assures me. “Ivy is my wife. I love her with everything I have. I’d do anything for her.

We have friendship and trust and passion.

But Liam is her best friend. He gets her in a way, on a level, I don’t.

He can just read her sometimes, knows what she needs even before she knows.

And Harrison can always make her laugh. Always.

Even when she’s pissed at me or Liam, or sick of us, Harrison can break through.

We all have a different… function. It makes sense to me. ”

I’m nodding by the time he’s done. “Exactly. Evan is like Liam for me. He’s so easy to be with.

He’s my happy place. He makes me feel warm and comfortable and safe.

Tucker pushes me. He doesn’t let me bullshit him…

or myself. He fights with me, but only when he thinks I need it.

He’ll always believe I can do more, be more.

And I admire Christopher. His passion for the law is addictive.

I feel energized when I’m with him. I could talk to him for hours.

I feel differently about each of them, but it’s like with all three of them, I feel… whole.”

“That makes sense to me. Ivy’s said similar things.”

“So, I need to figure out what to do with Tucker.”

“You’re completely against having a V relationship?”

“A what?”

Ford grins. “You’re going to need to do some reading.

A V relationship. It’s different from a polycule like what we have.

We’re all in the relationship together. We live together, spend time as a foursome, identify as a family.

A V means there’s one person who’s the hinge and two people, or I guess in your case, two people and then one person who are not romantically or sexually involved with each other.

You’re the hinge, and Tucker is one side of the V and Christopher and Evan are the other. ”

He’s right about me needing to do some reading. I try to visualize that. “Oh. But not a W?”

“Well, would you and Christopher be together without Evan?”

I don’t have to think about that for long. “No, I don’t think so. I mean, we are together,” I say, feeling my cheeks get pink. This is my big brother after all. “But I don’t really see it happening without Evan involved. Maybe down the line? But Evan is the one I actually feel really in love with.”

“But they are together without you?”

I nod. “Yes. They’re in love. They spend time together and sleep together without me. They will definitely stay together, even if the four of us break up.”

“So they’re one of your branches. Together.”

“Okay.” I take another long drink of water.

“And you don’t want that?” Ford asks.

“I just…” I sigh. “It’s complicated.” I slump, leaning onto the counter.

“Why do I always do things the hard way? I fall in love, but it’s with two men.

Three really. I decide to start a relationship that is actually real and deep for the first time, but I do it as a V instead of just a straight line.

And then instead of easy like you all, we need a fucking contract to explain ours. ”

Ford laughs.

I frown at him. “This is funny to you?”

“No. It’s just…Well first, ours isn’t easy.”

“But you’re all obviously very happy. You’re living here together. Making decisions together.”

“Seriously?” His brows arch. “I live with three other adults who are all very different people and who all get a say in everything that happens in my life, from what we’re having for dinner to how I structure my will.”

I study him. “So it’s not great?”

He shakes his head and straightens, bracing his hands on the counter. “It is. I wouldn’t change a thing about it. I have three people to love, who love me, and two guys who make my wife incredibly happy.”

“And you’re not jealous of that?”

“Oh, maybe sometimes when Liam and Ivy have a private joke that makes no fucking sense to the rest of us, or when Harrison gets her the perfect gift just because and she gives him that you’re amazing smile that I love to get, but it’s never serious because they help make her happy and make her—and my—world even fuller, and better and that’s worth the fact I almost never get a minute alone, and Liam never rinses his cereal bowls, and Harrison will just never, ever remember to call a repairman on anything as long as we all shall live. ”

By the time he’s done, I’m grinning. Seeing my big brother obviously so happy is amazing. “Okay, but what about us ? Tucker doesn’t want any of that. And none of us have even left dirty cereal bowls in the sink yet.”

“Well, neither of those guys have been Tucker‘s best friend forever. He’s not close with them. How well does he even know them? I get where he’s coming from.”

“You do? Would you have just dated Ivy and let Liam date her separately if you didn’t already know Harrison?”

“Yeah. Maybe. If it was that or not have her at all. But can I just say, you wanting to live with three men surprises me. You are independent and love your own space too. You’ve done your own thing for a long time. You want to have three guys in your business and personal space all the time?”

Without meaning to, I wrinkle my nose.

He points at me and laughs. “Exactly.” He shakes his head.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all that you would be attracted to and pick men who are also independent.

Who maybe don’t want to have other guys in their lives like that.

Tucker is willing to compromise. I think that says a lot about how much he loves you. ”

“So, we’re going to be in love and serious and committed, but not live together and see each other all the time?”

“You don’t have to live with someone to date them or to love them, Finley,” Ford says.

“You can keep your own place, and they keep theirs. Or you can live with Tucker and Christopher and Evan can live together. Or you can go back and forth. A day here and a day there. Or a week here and a week there. Whatever works. There are no rules here other than being happy.”

I frown again and cross my arms. “The guys drew up a contract.”

He chuckles. “They’re lawyers. And it does ensure everyone’s on the same page.”

“A contract though? And I just sign on the bottom line like a good girl?”

“Listen, if I could get a contract that said Liam had to open and discard his junk mail every day rather than it piling up on the counter for weeks at a time, or that Harrison could only be naked in certain rooms at certain times instead of making me look at his dick randomly throughout the day, I absolutely would.”

I roll my eyes, but grin.

Then Ford frowns. “Wait, do you mean that the guys drew it up without you?”

“Yeah.”

Understanding dawns on his face. “ That’s what you’re mad about. Not the contract, and not that Tucker has his own ideas about how he wants his relationship to go. Just that they left you out of it.”

“Well, yeah.”

“Was there stuff in it that you didn’t like?”

“I didn’t exactly read it all the way through. I read a couple of lines and got pissed off at the very concept.”

“Okay. Then you have two choices. Either add to the contract things you want. Like the fact that they won’t make rules without you. Or rip it up. The point is being happy, Finley. And I think you found the three people to make sure that happens for you.”

I think about that and uncross my arms, reaching for my water again.

“That sounds…not complicated.” I finally say.

My brother nods. “Because it’s not.”

“You’re sure it’s okay that Tucker doesn’t want to live with Christopher and Evan?”

Just then the back door bangs open, and we hear heavy footsteps.

By the time Harrison gets to the kitchen, he’s stripped down to his boxers.

He pulls up short. “Oh, hey Finley. I was hoping that sweet female voice was Ivy.” He grins at Ford as he tosses a handful of mail on the counter, on top of the stack that’s already there. “That’s all for Liam.”

Ford looks at me, sighs heavily, and says, “Yes, it is very okay that Tucker doesn’t want to live with the two other guys.”