I crook my finger at all three of them, gesturing for them to come closer. In seconds, they are breathing hard, shedding their tuxedo jackets onto the concrete floor. They embody head-spinning lust to the power of three and I’m their target.

Unfortunately, if we’re actually doing this, if they have seriously convinced me to give up my bachelorettehood, then this needs to be a teachable moment.

“We have forty minutes left,” I murmur, scrubbing my palm up Banks’s chest, my opposite hand tugging lightly on Gabe’s beard and making him moan. “I can’t think of any way to spend it, can you?”

“I can think of a few,” Gabe says on a gust of breath, his gaze zeroed in on my breasts.

Tobias appears to be doing mental math. “I can think of one hundred and six. Give or take.”

“Just tell us what you want,” Banks rasps against my ear.

“Oh, I will.”

I allow myself to accept a kiss from each of them, though it’s risky in the extreme. Afterward, I only want more. Still…

Garnering my will—and my indignation—I elbow Banks in the stomach, yank hard on Gabe’s beard and ram my knee into Tobias’s thigh, giving him a dead leg. “Did you think you were going to get away with locking me in an escape room? Against my will? To discuss my feelings? Uh-uh. No.” I turn and begin to pound on the door while the three of them attempt to recover behind me. “Don’t you ever do something like this again. Next time, I aim for the crotch.”

“She did something to my leg,” Tobias says, panicked. “I can’t move it. I think I’m paralyzed.”

“You got off lightly,” I inform him.

“At least she said there would be a next time,” Gabe mutters, rubbing his chin.

Finally, the receptionist opens the door, her attention traveling between the three of us. “You need a clue?” she asks with a yawn.

“Nope. They do,” I say, skirting past her.

Don’t ask me why I’m smiling as I storm out onto the sidewalk. It makes absolutely no sense at all. Maybe it’s because I stood up for myself. Maybe it’s because I feel lighter after unburdening myself to Tobias, Gabe and Banks. It could be that they just…make me happy, even when they’re behaving without any semblance of ethics. And I’m excited to see them again. I’m…relieved. Even a little hopeful. It’s been a while since I felt either of those things.

“Elise, wait up,” calls Banks from behind me.

I keep walking. “I don’t think so, evil mastermind.”

“I deserve your punishment. And believe me, there is no worse punishment than having you walk away like this, even if it’s not permanent.” He catches my elbow and slows me to a stop, slowly wrapping his arms around me. “Then again, I saw you smiling,” he growls into my hair.

My mouth continues to betray me, the corners edging higher. “State your business.”

He kisses the side of my neck and reluctantly steps back, his mood visibly shifting. Turning more serious. Briefly, he checks over his shoulder to make sure we’re separated from the group. “Look, I didn’t want to say anything in front of the others, but…” He watches me closely, a vein ticking in his temple. “Elise. That day we showed up at the Times, you told us you’d followed the deputy mayor out to Roosevelt Island. That’s why you were there that night. We’ve all seen the story that broke this morning about the mayor’s leaked comments about the governor and…that’s reaching pretty damn high. I don’t know if that information came from the deputy mayor or what, but I know it’s unsafe for you to be involved. You’ve dropped the story, right?”