SWNOVELS STRIPTEASED: Chapter 15
It was a few days before I was able to walk around the house without blushing. I’d spent the last two nights in Tonio’s bed. I would’ve felt awkward sleeping next to either of the twins right after our encounter. Would they expect to do things like that every night? Or would we just go back to sleeping side by side? It was probably cowardly to sleep in Knox’s bed tonight. I did want to share a bed with the twins again, but I just felt a bit awkward.
During the day, I spent more time on my writing. Since Austin and Denver had shown me just how amazing an orgasm could feel, I revised some of the steamier parts of my novel. Partly to try to reflect what I’d felt when the waves of pleasure hit, and partly to increase the sexual tension leading up to those scenes.
On Tuesday, two days before the deadline to send my story to Tonio’s sister, panic started to set in. I was writing in that sweet little room the guys set up for me from morning until late afternoon. I only emerged when Tonio came up to do homework for an hour and then told me that it was time for a break. Since my back hurt and my vision was blurry, I agreed.
We headed down for a snack only to find that Austin and Denver had just returned from the gym. That meant they had an hour or two before they had to get ready to go to the club.
“Where’s Knox?” I asked, proud of myself that I was able to look Austin and Denver in the eye again—mostly.
“He said he was meeting someone,” Austin said, not all that helpfully.
“A guy in town who runs a local magazine,” Denver elaborated. “Knox is going to take some photos for him.”
Tonio turned away from the fridge to look at the twins at the table. “I thought he only did nature scenes.”
Austin took a big swig of the protein drink he pretty much always had by his side. “I think he takes pictures of people, doesn’t he?”
Tonio and Denver shrugged and suddenly, something that had been bothering me lately fought its way to the surface. “You don’t know all that much about him, do you?”
Denver looked at me with mild surprise. “He’s a pretty secretive man, Emma. Keeps to himself.”
“Yeah, but you live with him.”
“So do you,” Tonio pointed out.
“For just a few weeks. But what about you guys—do you know where he grew up? Or how long he’s lived in Tennessee? Do you even know when his birthday is?”
The guys all looked at me and shook their heads or shrugged their shoulders.
“That last one wasn’t rhetorical,” I said. “Do you know his birthday?”
“I know Tonio’s,” Austin said.
“Because you’ve known him since high school. How long has Knox lived here?”
“Maybe two, two and a half years?” Denver looked uncomfortable.
“And you’ve never asked about his birthday? Did you think he maybe just didn’t have one?”
“I think I liked it better when she was too embarrassed to speak to us,” Austin mumbled, but I ignored him.
“He told me once that he’s a Libra. I think that’s next month or something. We should find out,” I insisted.
Tonio pulled out his phone and looked it up. “Libras were born between September 23 and October 22.”
“So we might have missed it.” I felt deflated. It was already the second week of October.
“We can check at work,” Denver said.
“How?” Tonio asked.
“Old man Fergusson’s office doesn’t lock properly. I can check the personnel files,” Denver said.
“I’ll do it. He’s always out on the floor salivating when you guys are on stage,” Tonio said. At Austin and Denver’s look, he clarified. “Salivating over the money you two bring in, not your precious bodies.”
Austin nodded, getting to his feet. “We’ll do it tonight.”
“Thanks,” I said, my righteous energy deflating.
I wished them a good evening and then went back upstairs to work on my story.
The next morning, Tonio joined me in the small study. He just nodded when he came in, which I was grateful for, because I was in the zone. That didn’t always happen when I tried to write, but when it did, any distractions could kill my momentum.
We worked in companionable silence, me writing, him studying from a thick-looking business textbook, until I realized something. “Oh my God,” I said, staring at my screen.
Tonio looked up from his book and stretched his arms over his head. “What?”
“I only have one more chapter to write.”
“You do? That’s great!”
I blinked my eyes until his handsome face came into focus. All this extra time spent staring at my laptop was really killing my vision. “I just kept working at full speed, and it finally dawned on me that there wasn’t much of the story left to go.”
“That’s awesome! And that means you’ll meet your deadline and be able to send it to Veronica tomorrow.”
“Ronnie,” I corrected with a smile. I thought it was cute how he insisted on calling his little sister by her full name. But then I got more serious. “It’ll be done by then, but I won’t have time to revise the ending.” I’d already been through the first three-quarters of the book many times, but the last few chapters were probably pretty rough.
“Don’t worry about it.” Tonio got to his feet and, out of habit, I saved my document and lowered the top of my laptop. I’d spent many years feeling like I had to hide my interest in writing romance, so doing things like that was still ingrained.
Tonio rolled his eyes and then moved behind me, his strong hands coming to rest on my shoulders. He started rubbing, kneading my muscles, and my eyes closed as I released a long breath. “That feels amazing.”
“Good. Your shoulders are really tense.” He pressed his thumbs against the tightest spots.
“Could you do that for about a year?” I moaned.
“Probably not that long, but hearing you moan is a good incentive to keep going.”
I was pretty sure that my cheeks pinked up at that comment, but I didn’t care. It felt incredible.
Tonio’s rich baritone floated down to me. “You told me some good news about your book—I’ve got some good news for you, too.”
“What?” I asked dreamily from about a million miles away.
“We found out Knox’s birthday last night. We haven’t missed it, but it’s coming up soon.”
I sat up a little straighter. “That’s great!”
“Yeah, but now we’ve got to figure out what to do for him.”
“Between the four of us, we’ll think of something.”
“I think it had better be the two of us,” Tonio said, his fingers digging deeper into my aching muscles. “If Austin and Denver are in on the planning, it’ll probably involve strippers.”
I giggled. “Okay, it’ll be just us on the party-planning committee.”
Tonio leaned down and nuzzled my hair with his nose before giving me a kiss on the top of my head. “I like that.”
“Party planning?”
“No. Well, yes. I just mean… I like having a thing that’s just ours. You and Knox have your daily hugs and, well, you and the twins have something between you.” He was nice enough not to say what that was, although he must’ve suspected. “So maybe this can be our thing. Shoulder rubs. Sound good?”
“Sounds wonderful. Is it my turn to rub yours?”
“Not just yet. I still want to work out a few of these knots. But then I’d love it if you’d rub mine.”
“It’s a deal.” For some reason I’d worried about Knox’s reaction to my night spent with the twins, but not Tonio’s. Possibly that was just because he hadn’t been there the next morning. I cared about each man, even though my bond with each of them felt so different. I was glad that Tonio and I now had something we could call our own—and the fact that it felt so damn good was a definite bonus.
Thursday afternoon I was a wreck. My story was done. The email to Ronnie had been composed. My story was properly attached—and yet I couldn’t press send. It just seemed so final. What if Ronnie hated it? What if she thought it had horrible, amateur writing? I hadn’t shown any of my writing to anyone since high school English class. Well, except reports for college, but those didn’t count. This was fiction. It came entirely from my mind. What if it was awful?
Still, I’d promised the guys I’d do it. Hell, I’d promised myself I’d do it. And really, if my writing was awful, wouldn’t it be better to find that out? To know that it was destined to be a hobby that I kept to myself?
But God, if she said it was awful, I’d be so disappointed. Or worse… if she said it was good in a patronizing way.
Damn it, it was stupid to agonize about what she’d do. I didn’t even know her. But I did know I’d worked hard on this story, and if there was even a chance it might one day be worthy of publishing, I had to find out, didn’t I?
Before my mind could offer up a rebuttal to that, I pressed send. My heart raced as I watched the email disappear. What had I done? Had I set myself up for disappointment? Or had I possibly just changed my life for the better?
I might’ve sat there staring at my screen for the rest of the day if Tonio hadn’t called my name. “Come on down, Emma.”
I closed my laptop and got to my feet. Wow, my body was stiff. Too bad Tonio couldn’t come up here and give me another shoulder rub. Moving gingerly, I made my way down the stairs to find all four of the guys standing in the living room. Standing, not sitting.
“What’s up?”
Tonio looked very solemn. “I just got a text from my sister saying she received a certain email. Congratulations!” His face broke into a broad smile.
That was fast. I’d just sent the email a few minutes ago. Tonio pulled me into a tight hug. My mind reeled as I clung to him. “Did she… did she say anything about it?” I asked as he released me.
He laughed. “She’s going to need a little longer than that to read a full-length novel. I just asked her to let me know that you sent it. And you did.”
“We knew you would,” Denver said, stepping up for his turn to hug me.
“Of course we did. It’s not like we placed bets on it or anything,” Austin added. His hands strayed a bit during his hug, and he sent me off in Knox’s direction with a quick smack on my ass.
“Who bet against me?”
“My lips are sealed,” he said.
“No one with any sense would bet against you,” Knox said in a growly voice that sent shivers down my spine. Of course, I usually got shivers—the good kind—when his arms went around me.
Tonio grinned. “Would we have gotten champagne if we had ever really doubted you?”
My heart filled. Despite their teasing, these men had my back in a way no one ever had before. “There’s champagne?”
“And chocolate-covered strawberries, too,” Denver said.
“You guys are amazing.”
“We are,” Austin said with a wink. “But before we pop the cork, we have a game to play.”
“More Truth or Dare?” I said.
“Don’t knock it—that’s what got you to finish your book in the first place.”
My book.
That was a phrase I’d never even dared to think. Sure, my story was still just a large Word document at the moment, but maybe someday, it would be a book.
“Today’s game is different,” Tonio said, exchanging grins with the other guys. “Knox, perhaps you could help her understand the rules?”
I smiled as the big man moved to my side. But what he did next took me completely by surprise. He reached over and picked me up, one arm under my knees and the other under my back. I shrieked in surprise. “What are you doing?”
He smiled down at me and kissed me on the nose. “Saving you.”
“Because,” Tonio said dramatically, “the floor is lava.”
Knox set me down on the sofa and gave me a wink. “You’ll be safe there.”
“But if you touch the floor, you’ll die,” Denver said.
I stood on the sofa, confused, but grinning nonetheless. Was there anything more fun than four gorgeous guys in a playful mood? “What about you guys? You’re touching the floor.”
“It’s okay. We’re immune,” Tonio said.
“Because we’re already hot,” Austin added, and I laughed.
Denver explained the rules. “We’ll assist you, because you’ve got to collect some things from around the room without touching the floor. And the first thing is the champagne—it’s in that ice bucket over by the window.” He pointed to a little table in the far corner of the room.
Their good moods rubbed off on me, and I laughed as I walked across the sofa. I put one foot on the arm of the sofa and suddenly Tonio was there. He took my hand to help me balance as I put both feet on the arm of the sofa. The nearest recliner was too far away to jump, but Tonio looked up at me and mouthed “trust me.”
I leaned forward and Tonio’s strong arms wrapped around my waist, supporting me as I leaped through the air, one leg out in front like a ballerina until I was safely on the recliner.
The bench just inside the front door was the next closest piece of furniture, and Austin was right there to help me out. He turned his back toward me and I climbed on, piggyback style. It felt deliciously decadent to smash my breasts against his back and to hug him. After he set me down, Denver was there to help me get the rest of the way to the champagne. Once I was balanced carefully on the little end table, I handed the champagne off to Denver, and he pointed out the chocolate-covered strawberries clear on the other side of the room, of course.
But Knox was there, and he eased me over his shoulder. I giggled like a madwoman as my head dangled down across his broad back, his arm wrapped firmly around my calves. He carried me directly across the room, and more than one of the other guys gave me a smack on my ass as we passed.
It took quite a while to gather all the treats they’d prepared to celebrate, and by the time we finally got to enjoy them, we were all grinning like kids.
It didn’t even occur to me to worry about my story until much later in the evening.
My guys were the absolute best.