Page 103 of Rising Heat

“Mhm.”

I look toward Mack, hoping for literally anything resembling support.

He glances over.

“You’ve been sitting like that since we left the bar.”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re afraid to touch either of us.”

My cheeks immediately fill with heat.

“I’m just trying to keep things…” I gesture vaguely between the three of us.

Mack looks at me for a beat.

“Bit late for that, don’t you think?”

Tyler huffs out a laugh.

“I think we passed that somewhere around the bunny conversation.”

He gives my shoulder a light squeeze, which does nothing to help my current situation.

When we pull up to the brownstone, I climb out of the Corolla with the dignity of someone who has absolutely not spent the entire ride wondering if prolonged thigh contact can result in immaculate conception.

The cold air is a relief against my face.

The three of us move up the salt-covered stoop in easy silence that’s starting to feel like its own language. I fish my keys out of my bag out of habit before remembering I don’t need them.

Tyler holds the door as Mack’s hand finds the small of my back for the two seconds it takes me to step inside to the moonlit foyer. Two seconds that my body is determined to remember.

The door clicks shut behind us.

I stop at the bottom of the stairs, halfway out of my coat, and turn to find both of them still stopped in the middle of the foyer looking at me.

I make the mistake of meeting Tyler’s eyes first. His smile is already there, easy and knowing, like he’s waiting to see how long it takes me to say whatever’s been sitting between the three of us all night.

Then I look at Mack.

He doesn’t smile. Not really.

The corner of his mouth barely moves, but his eyes never leave mine, calm enough that it almost feels like the decision’s already been made and I’m the last one to hear about it.

Looking at one of them is distracting enough. Trying to decide where to put my eyes while they’re both looking at me feels wildly unfair.

“Sooo…” I say.

Tyler’s smile deepens.

“Sooo…?”

I motion vaguely between the three of us.

“Today.”

Mack tips his chin.