And I’m guessing, hoping, that I know what it is.

I catch sight of myself in the glass of my building door, shocked to find that I’m smiling ear to ear. I can’t remember the last time I felt free and buoyant enough to smile this broadly. Unforced. One third of the reason stands behind me while I unlock the main entrance, his hands molding shamelessly to my butt.

“You’re not allowed inside, Tobias.”

“Your bum?” he asks, sounding hilariously dejected.

“My apartment.”

“Oh, thank God.” A beat passes. “Hang on. Why not?”

“I’m renting a room from Shayna and those are her rules. No men allowed.”

Tobias is pensive. Then, “I like this rule until it applies to me.”

“That is the very hallmark of being a man.”

He’s very still for a moment. “My God, that’s eye-opening.”

I have the fierce urge to giggle, so I turn the key extra hard in the door to combat the sound. “You can walk me to the hallway, then it’s bye-bye. You have to return to your awful penthouse overlooking the city.”

“Pack a bag and come with me,” he says, following me up the stairs. “We can order sashimi and play naked Twister.”

“That is weirdly specific. I’m more of a trivia and nachos girl.”

“We can do that, too. I’ve never had nachos.”

I come to a halt at the top of the stairs, slowly turning around. “You’ve never had nachos?”

“Show me what I’m missing, Elise.” He stops on the stair below me, making us almost eye level, his attention dipping to my mouth and heating. “I’ll even let you bring the other two wankers, as long as they promise not to touch my Jean Louis David volumizer.”

“What is that? By the way, I already regret asking.”

“It’s the styling mousse I have shipped from France. Banks will use it just to fuck with me and Gabe will probably mistake it for whipped cream.”

My lips wobble with the need to smile, but I do my best to keep a stern expression. “Stop pretending like you don’t like Gabe and Banks.”

“We share a common obsession.” He reaches out and frames my jaw, brushing his thumb right to left across the seam of my mouth. “Hard not to feel a sense of camaraderie when there is one girl wrapping herself around our collective throats.”

A tingle swims through me, all the way to the ends of my hair follicles. “Maybe I’m just waiting for the right moment to squeeze the life out of you.”

“You did exactly that back on the roof, love.” He climbs the remaining stair and backs me across the landing, his hard body coming up against mine in a slow, firm press that has every nerve ending inside of me shooting sparks. “More, please,” he growls into my neck.

I push him off before I get taken under, surprised by the…authority I’m feeling. And the welcome sense of obligation. “No. Next time, everyone will be there. Together.” I shake my head, trying to come up with the words to explain the shift that has been taking place inside of me since meeting these three. “We were together today—alone—and…I loved it. Really loved it. But there is a balance that has to be restored now. That’s up to me, I think.” I study Tobias’s face for a reaction. “I don’t know if I’m making any sense.”