I didn’t really know what to say to that. I hadn’t thought they’d get there so fast. They hadn’t even spent much time together. If I was being honest with myself, I’d thought I would be the one to make love to her first. She felt the most comfortable with me—or at least I’d thought so. Obviously, I’d been wrong. They must have bonded more than I’d realized while he was packing her up to move from Tucson.

Devan: You okay?

Well, yeah, I’d better be, considering this was meant to be my idea. If I got jealous because they’d fucked, my polyamory solution was going to go down the shitter real quick.

Me: I’m fine. You were good to her? Do I have to give you a Powerpoint presentation on how to fuck a woman like she means something and not like she’s a toy?

That was probably a little snarky, but whatever. I pressed the button to go back up to my floor and sucked in some deep, centering breaths through my nose. This wasn’t the Middle Ages. It was the twenty-first century, and a woman was worth more than the sum total of men who’d been in her vagina and when. Having sex with Nova was a bonus, but it wasn’t the reason I wanted to be with her.

Being a professional athlete came with many boons. The pay was good, the prestige was otherworldly, and the amount of women you could have sex with was limited only by your imagination and stamina. So no, what I wanted with Nova wasn’t about sex. It was about so much more.

But I was a big enough man to admit that I was jealous as fuck. My message alert sounded again.

Devan: The day I ask you for advice on how to pleasure a woman will be a cold day in Hell, Engman.

I huffed a laugh, because I could imagine his face as he’d texted that. River would probably still be sitting through press questions, and I wondered what would happen when he heard what Nova and Dev had done. I had to get my own shit together because I wanted this to work, but more than that, I wanted the guys to be happy. This was the first real test.

Me: Well, just remember, you’re not trying to stuff the Thanksgiving turkey. Tell Nova I miss her.

He sent me a picture of Nova in his bed, looking over her naked shoulder at him, a soft, contented smile on her face. Her hair was mussed and her lips were swollen—she looked so damn happy. Screw my jealousy. This was what I wanted for all of us.

I closed the group text with the guys and opened my text thread with Nova.