“Yep, I thought we sorted this out a couple of months ago,” Hudson says with awink.
“Bear with me, thereisa point to thisdiscussion.”
“Sorry, carryon.”
“I’ve had boyfriends before, but I’ve never had three all at once and I’m kind of guessing you’ve never had to share before,” I say, feeling my cheeks redden when I suddenly realise that I’ve never asked whether they’ve had a relationship like ours with another girl. “Or am I being a fool, and you’ve all done this before. In which case I’ll shut upnow.”
Bryce laughs. “I can safely say that we’ve not done this before,no.”
“Okay, good. Well, it seems to me of late there has been a little tension between you three. Nothing major, just a few sideways looks, or remarks when it comes to who is spending time with me.” None of them say anything to the contrary so I know my intuition is correct. “The last thing I want is to get between you all. You were a family way before I came along and messed up the statusquo.”
“You might have rocked our world, but you haven’t messed up the status quo, Icy,” Max says with a bemusedlook.
Hudson’s face darkens, panic pulling his eyebrows together. “Where are you going with this,Louisa?”
“Hey, nothing like that, okay,” I say, reassuring him. Reassuring them all. “What I’m trying to say is that as much as I love being with you all, all of the time, I know that each of you at some point has said you need time alone with me without the others around. I get that. I completely understand. I absolutely adore being with you all together. It’s wonderful, but that’s me being selfish because I get all of your attention, and at any given moment you only get a piece ofmine.”
“I’ll take what I can get,” Bryce sayswarmly.
“I know that too, Bryce. But I don’t want any of you to feel resentment or jealousy. I’m not suggesting you do and, so far, we’ve muddled along okay. This feeling I’m getting is a recent development. You guys know each other well and are thoughtful to each other’s wishes most of the time. But you can’t deny there has been a shift recently. If I can feel that, then I’m pretty sure you can too. So, let’s just lay our cards on the table. Would each of you like a fixed time alone with me, like a designated day, for example? I could draw up a rota?” I say, pulling a face. All three consider me. Max is the first to speakup.
“You’ve got a point. I must admit, being able to spend the last few days with you has been incredible. I felt kind of gutted this morning that it would come to an end,” he says, serious for once. “Don’t get me wrong, I love what we have. But every now and then, I want you all to myself without these two buttheads muscling in.” He makes a tightlaugh.
“Buttheads? What are you, like four?” Bryce gives Max a gentle shove and they grin stupidly at eachother.
“Okay, so Max thinks it’s a good idea. What about youBryce?”
“I have no issues, sweetheart. If you hadn’t brought this conversation up, I would have. I think it’s a great idea. Like you said, we’ve never done this before and we need to work out how to move forward as our relationship does. Ironing out these niggles before they become an issue is better than leaving them to fester. So, if a rota is what’s needed, then I’m all up forthat.”
“Hudson?” I ask, turning to facehim.
He regards me for a moment. “I’m not one for strict rules. This might be a little tricky for me. I mean, what about spontaneity? I don’t want to feel like I need an appointment to see my owngirlfriend.”
“That’s not what I am getting at, at all. Look, we can all still be spontaneous. If in the moment we all want to spend the night together, that’s fine. All I’m saying is that it would be good to try and come to an agreement we can all work with. Say, we could have three nights a week where I spend time alone with each of you. Then two nights where we are all together. Then maybe you can all have a weekend each, and one where we spend it together. We can try it out. If it doesn’t work, then we’ll re-evaluate. There’s no harm in trying,” Isay.
Hudson sighs. “Okay, fine. I’ll give it atry.”
“Do you think that sounds alright?” I ask Bryce andMax.
“Sure thing, sweetheart,” Brycesays.
“Yup. I’m all for giving it a try,” Maxsays.
“Good. That’s settled then. Now, do you want to start this before or after our getaway toThailand?”
“After,” the three of them saysimultaneously.
“After it is, then. Any particular reason why?” Itease.
“We’re on holiday, that’s why,” Max says with a naughty glint in hiseye.
“I thought you said it was a businesstrip?”
“There will be a couple of meetings, yes, but most of the time we’ll be ogling you in your bikini,” Bryce says, his gaze dropping to the gap in my dressinggown.
“I’m not even sure we’ll make it out of the bedroom,” Hudson says, biting down on his knuckles. If I am not mistaken, he looks as though he’s about to jumpme.
I look downwards and can see that my dressing gown has parted, showing off an ample amount of cleavage. No wonder they are getting a little hot under the collar, I’m giving them a peep show. Feeling decidedly naughty, I slide my fingers down the centre of my chest, parting the dressing gown even more. The action causes it to slide off my shoulders, freeing my breasts entirely, the cooler air pebbling mynipples.
As I run a hand over my breast, my tongue snakes over my bottom lip. I look at each of them in turn, feeling inordinately powerful. “Who’s up for some spontaneity,then?”