“Okay, I don’t see,” Matt blurted out, retracting his previous remark. “I mean, I get it in the sexual sense—you know how much I love a little variety in the bedroom. But romantically? I don’t get it.”
Aidan moved away from the railing and swiped his beer bottle from the small table before sinking into one of the plastic chairs. Matt flopped down in the other chair, his green eyes mystified.
“Seriously, dude, you’ve gotta explain it to me.”
“It’s just like any other relationship, except there’s another person in the mix. I care about Claire, and so does Dylan. And she cares about both of us.” He sighed. “I still feel guilty as hell, though.”
Matt furrowed his dark eyebrows. “Why?”
“She lost her job because of us, and her parents aren’t speaking to her.”
His throat clogged at the memory of Claire in tears. That had been three days ago, but just as she’d promised, Claire hadn’t gone anywhere. She was as committed to this unconventional arrangement as he and Dylan were, a fact that continued to floor him.
Claire McKinley was so f**king incredible. So smart, and so sweet, and so passionate she blew his mind. He couldn’t believe a woman like her actually existed. A woman who was willing to welcome two men into her bed, into her heart. A woman who was willing to accept that those two men also desired each other.
“That’s rough,” Matt said sympathetically. “Is she looking for a new job in San Diego?”
“She’s actually thinking of starting her own business. She’s doing some research to see what it’ll take, and hopefully that works out for her. She’s damn good at what she does. The last thing I want is for her to settle for a job she’s not passionate about.”
“What about her parents? You think they’ll come around?”
“I hope so. It would be a damn shame if they don’t.”
“So you’re really in this for the long haul?” Matt asked.
“Yes,” he said quietly. “I know it doesn’t make sense to you, but I’m happy, man. This…this thing we have, it’s exactly what I need.”
Matt went silent for a moment, then threw out a curveball that made Aidan’s mouth go dry.
“You’re screwing Dylan, too, huh?”
His hand froze before he could bring his bottle to his lips. “What makes you say that?”
“Oh, come on, man, I may be from the south but I ain’t slow,” Matt drawled. “And for someone who works in intelligence, you’re mighty transparent sometimes. You and Wade were dancing around each other all summer. Whenever you were in the same room together? I’d get a f**king hard-on. I’m serious—major sexual tension, Aid.”
He had to laugh. So much for thinking he’d been stealthy about hiding his attraction to Dylan.
“Am I right?”
“Yeah, you’re right,” he confessed.
“So this is, like, a true three-way, huh?” Matt sounded intrigued. “You’re dating both of them.”
“Yes.”
“And it’s actually working out? No jealousy or arguments or one of you feeling left out?”
“Nope.” Aidan grinned. “Claire and Dylan bicker like children, but I’m there to turn them over my knee if need be.”
Matt laughed. “You were always damn good at spanking. Remember that night you got Savannah’s ass nice and pink?” Those green eyes smoldered. “Fuck, that was hot.”
As the SEAL took a long swig of his beer, Aidan noticed the man looking a wee bit flustered. His grin widened as realization dawned.
“You miss me,” he said in delight.
Matt set his bottle on the table and ran a hand over his shaved head. “Sometimes.”
“Sometimes? Nuh-uh. I think you and Savannah are totally jonesing for some Aidan.”
He got a middle finger in response, but then O’Connor let out a breath and flashed a sheepish grin. “Fine, we miss you. That’s why my girl got all bitchy when she saw you kissing Claire on Christmas Eve. We were planning on inviting you over that night.”
Aidan raised his eyebrows. “What happened to the whole, We’re engaged now—it wouldn’t be proper to f**k you anymore?”
“We realized that being engaged doesn’t mean we’ve gotta turn into a boring married couple who only f**ks in the missionary position every night.”
“Every night?” He snorted. “Do boring married couples even have sex that often?”
“Ask Carson and Holly. Those two f**k like every five minutes. I’m pretty sure they ducked into the bathroom on Christmas Eve to get it on.”
“Oh, they did,” came Seth’s voice.
Matt and Aidan glanced at the open sliding door, where Seth’s big frame had appeared. Beyond Seth’s broad shoulders, Aidan glimpsed Cash shrugging out of a brown leather jacket.
“You’re back early,” Matt remarked. “I thought you were catching the eight o’clock screening.”
“Sold out,” Seth grumbled. “Everyone and their f**king mother decided to buy tickets for the movie, so we figured we’d come back here and watch Die Hard. You guys in?”
“Hell yeah,” Aidan said. “I was trying to convince Claire to watch it the other night, but she’s all about the shitty rom coms.”
Seth flashed that cocky grin of his. “Miranda hates rom coms. She says they’re too unrealistic.”