As he walked away, Calder could only roll his eyes. Longest fucking night of his life.
Wiley patted his hand, drawing Calder’s gaze to him. “Don’t give up. You’ve got to keep trying.”
At least the artist could see how close he was to strangling the man. But he was right. They had to keep trying if they all wanted to live in the house together. He didn’t want his fighting with Lucien to be the reason any of them got hurt.
Calder looked up, his eyes naturally following Lucien’s progress up to the bar…and him standing right next to the hot guy with the beautiful hair and amazing smile. A smile that was now directed at Lucien.
Rage bubbled in Calder’s gut. Possessive, angry need had him wanting to march right up to the bar and insert himself between Lucien and the stranger. He wanted to stake his claim.
But he had zero claim.
Lucien was well within his rights to sleep with everyone in that bar, and Calder couldn’t say one word about it.
“I think I’ll go up and help Lucien carry all the drinks,” Baer offered as he started to rise.
“No! I’ll help.” Calder was out of his chair and heading toward the bar before Baer or Wiley could say anything to the contrary. Didn’t matter. Nothing was going to stop him.
Now that he was weaving through the crowd, though, his eyes unwaveringly locked on Lucien’s broad back and the sexy man at the bar, he had no idea what he was doing or what he was going to say.
Yeah, maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe he should have let Baer help Lucien.
But it was too late. He was already at the bar, standing right next to Lucien. It wasn’t as if he could sidle between Lucien and Sexy. That would have been way too obvious. The two men were both standing with their hips leaning on the bar as they faced each other. There wasn’t enough room for Calder to slip between them unless he was determined to grind against both men.
A soft whimper escaped him as an electric shock went straight to his dick at the thought of being sandwiched between them, hands and mouths everywhere on all that naked skin.
Bad brain!
No hot, sweaty threesomes.
Of course, now that he was standing there, he felt like a fucking idiot. He looked like Lucien’s annoying kid brother. Ten inches separated him and Lucien in height. And, of course, it seemed like a good three or four inches separated him and Sexy. God, it sucked being short.
“What do you want? I already put the orders in,” Lucien snapped when he spotted him.
Calder desperately held on to his smile and tried to keep his voice friendly. “I thought I’d help you carry the drinks.”
“Well, isn’t that nice of him,” a new voice said before Lucien could reply.
Calder’s gaze snapped to Sexy, and part of his brain melted. The man was even hotter up close, and the smile he was directing at Calder was making him hard. How did he even do that? At least he was sure Sexy was smiling at him this time, not Lucien.
“What’s your friend’s name?” he continued.
“Calder. This is my friend, Calder,” Lucien introduced, needlessly emphasizing that they were just friends.
Calder couldn’t tear his eyes away as Lucien placed one finger under the guy’s chin and turned his head back to face Lucien. The taller man leaned down so their lips were barely inches apart. “Now where were we? I think we were discussing getting out of here and having a little fun in private.”
Some small part of his brain that was still working was boggled at how fast Lucien worked. He couldn’t have been more than two minutes behind him, and yet he’d already propositioned him? What the ever-loving fuck?
The rest of his brain couldn’t get over the hotness of it all. There was no tearing his eyes away, no thought to giving Lucien privacy in which to work. And for once, there was no burning jealousy. He wanted to see it all. Wanted to see Lucien kiss this guy. Wanted to see this man melt into Lucien. None of it made sense, but he was way beyond caring.
The stranger smiled broadly and pulled away just enough so that Lucien’s finger slipped from under his chin, but he caught it between his full lips. Lucien’s eyes flared, and Calder swore he could feel the man’s tongue caressing the tip like he was licking Calder’s dick. Fuck. Could he come from simply watching them?
“Don’t worry. We’ll get back to that,” the man promised in a low voice before turning his hot gaze on Calder. He stuck out his hand, and for a moment Calder couldn’t figure out what to do with it. Could he suck on one of his fingers? Belatedly he took it, not caring that he could hear laughter in the man’s tone when he said, “I’m Gio. Good to meet you, Calder.”
“Nice to meet you,” Calder replied out of habit because his brain was still trying to catch up.
And Gio clearly wasn’t interested in giving it a chance to start working again. Instead of releasing his hand after shaking it, his fingers tightened and he tugged Calder closer. His shoulders slid across Lucien’s chest while his hip bumped Gio’s thigh. He couldn’t see what Lucien’s reaction was, but he felt his hand land on his waist as if to steady him. Those strong fingers burned through his shirt, and there was no catching the sound that squeaked from his throat.
“Shots!” Gio suddenly proclaimed. “I think we could use a round of shots. What do you say?” He looked up at Lucien and smiled. “Join me in a round of shots. Break the ice.”
“Nothing feels icy to me,” Lucien murmured, while the fingers on Calder’s waist tightened.
He suddenly felt bad. He was intruding like an annoying little brother. Yes, his intention had been to stop Lucien from hitting on this guy, but now that he was standing there, he felt how wrong it was. What Lucien did and who he slept with was none of his business. He was supposed to be working on getting rid of the bad blood between him and Lucien, not making matters worse.
“None for me,” Calder said softly. “I’ll grab the drinks and get out of your way.”
Gio surprised him by cupping the side of his face with a warm calloused hand. “Oh no, sweetness. We don’t want you going anywhere. You’ve got to stay.” Gio looked over Calder’s shoulder at Lucien. “We want him to stay, right?”
Calder tensed, waiting for the rejection, but Lucien shocked him even more by pulling him in tighter so that he could feel Lucien’s groin against the small of his back. Those long fingers slipped down from his waist to caress his hip bone, sending the most delicious tingles all over his body. “Stay. Have a shot with us,” Lucian pressed. His voice was warm and so very tempting. Calder couldn’t remember ever hearing Lucien talk to him like that. He wanted to live in that voice. Just curl up in it like a warm, handmade quilt.
Releasing him, Gio turned to the bartender as she delivered Lucien’s and Calder’s mix of drinks and ordered a round of shots. Calder didn’t hear what he’d ordered exactly because Gio had also slotted himself better against Calder, causing his brain to short out. He was now in the one place he’d never thought he’d be—a Gio-Lucien sammich. Even with all their clothes on, it was now his favorite kind of sandwich. He would happily eat it every day for the rest of his life.
“You’re looking to have some fun tonight, right?” Gio asked.
Calder was too tongue-tied to manage words. He nodded. At least he thought he nodded. He must have done something, because Gio’s smile grew wider. A second hand landed on his hip right where Lucien’s was. Were they both touching him? Had he died on his way to the bar and this was his form of heaven?