“You, baby doll.”
“I don’t understand.”
West smiles. “We changed the company name and drew up a new contract. The business is yours now too. We all have an equal share.”
I shake my head. “No. I can’t do that. I … You three worked so hard for all this. I don’t want it.”
“We know, shorty, and that’s exactly why we want you to have it. You’re one of us.”
“But … this is too much.”
Zeke turns my face to his. “Baby doll, we might not be able to legally marry you, but we found a way to tie you to us forever. This is purely selfish on our part.”
“It was either this or knock you up,” Xander says, chuckling.
“And we did consider swapping out your birth control,” Zeke adds. His nonchalant shrug makes me believe he’s serious, but before I can voice my outrage, West chimes in.
“But we figured you wanted to work on your career for a few years first.”
I let out a quick laugh. “You boys don’t do anything halfway, do you?”
Zeke smirks. “Never have. Never will.”
“So, what do you say, princess? Will you be our business partner?” West takes a folded brown envelope from his jacket pocket and holds it out.
Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I glance at the building, then back at them.
Zeke tilts his head to the side. “You need us to get down on our knees, baby doll?”
Despite the cold weather, heat blooms beneath my skin. An image of the three of them on their knees for me makes me lightheaded. “Not out here in the street. But maybe when we get home.”
West rustles the pages and Zeke produces a pen. “Not unless you sign.”
“Come on, shorty. I’m freezing my nuts off here.”
With trembling hands, I take the pen from Zeke and glance over the papers. “I promise you it’s all completely above board,” West assures me. “It makes you a quarter owner in everything. It makes you officially one of us.”
I smile at the three men who’ve brought me more joy than I ever thought possible. “Forever?”
Their voices join together like a chorus. “And ever.”
Epilogue
WEST—TWELVE MONTHS LATER
“Samson, no!” I shout as the runaway mutt charges into the den with one of my shoes clamped between his slobbering jaws.
“Are you being naughty again, baby boy?” I follow Lily’s infectious laughter and find her with my shoe in one hand. The other hand scratches Samson’s wiggling belly. His tongue lolls out of his mouth as he glances over, and I swear the little fucker is laughing at me.
I glance at Stella and Snowflake, who are curled up on the rug in front of the roaring fire. “Shouldn’t you two be teaching the new guy some manners?”
Snowflake wags his tail and gives a soft woof. Stella, being Stella, closes her eyes, ignoring me completely.
“Aw, he’s just learning.” Lily gives him one final belly scratch, then orders him to go lie down beside his better-behaved canine siblings. I fight the urge to snarl when he does so without hesitation. Damn dog only listens to her and Zeke. It’s like he’s deaf to all voices that aren’t theirs, especially Xander’s and mine. “I got your shoe back.” She holds it out to me, a devious grin on her beautiful face.
Disgusted, I scowl at the slobber dripping from the sole. “I’ll buy a new pair.”
That makes her laugh harder, and she places the offending item on the floor. “I’ll clean it off later. It’ll be fine.” She wipes her hands on her red flannel pants.
My eyes roam her perfect body, hardly any of which I can currently see thanks to the aforementioned red flannel. “The fuck are you wearing, princess?”
“My Christmas pajamas.” She smiles brighter than the Christmas lights surrounding her.
I brush her dark curls back from her forehead. “You’re fucking adorable, you know that?”
A sweet pink flush stains her cheeks. Despite how she’s turned into an even bigger brat than Xander and all the filthy ways we fuck her, she still blushes so innocently when I compliment her. “You’re not really mad at Samson, are you?” She flutters her eyelashes.
I glance over my shoulder at the snoring Saint Bernard mix she brought home six weeks ago after someone left him tied up outside her building for an entire day. He wasn’t chipped, but I was convinced someone would claim him. Now I know why nobody did. He’s a menace.
But he’s our menace now. “No.” I sigh. “Who can be mad at that giant ball of slobber and fur?”