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Dahlia toyed with the stem of her wine glass for a moment. Montana could almost see her trying to shrug off the rejection they’d both just received from their husband.
“Vadisk is right,” she said, clearing her throat. “We should probably turn in early, otherwise jet lag might make us too groggy to think clearly.”
He and Dahlia had taken the primary bedroom, which was the largest and separated from the other three. Since they were acting as a couple, they knew separate rooms weren’t possible. However, they’d also decided that given the danger surrounding them, and the fact Vadisk couldn’t share the bed with them, it would be a platonic sleeping situation until this mission was over and the three of them could move forward as a throuple.
Montana had thought sitting down and talking through things might pull the three of them closer, but it felt like tonight had only made things more uncomfortable.
“Are you still okay with the two of us sharing a bed?” he asked quietly.
She gave him a weak attempt at a smile. “Of course, I am. You’re my husband.” Then her gaze drifted to the door Vadisk had just entered.
Montana hated the sudden sadness in her eyes, but it was painfully clear nothing more was happening tonight, so he tried to tell himself that a good night’s sleep might improve the situation. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as good as Dahlia when it came to putting a positive spin on things.
“Okay then, wife,” he agreed, trying to lighten the mood, as he helped Dahlia gather the wine glasses and empty wine bottle. They placed the dishes in the kitchen sink and headed upstairs.
They took turns in the en suite bathroom. She donned a pair of sleep shorts and a T-shirt, the navy-blue color matching that of her dark blue eyes.
Dahlia crawled into the bed, climbing beneath the lightweight duvet. He followed suit on his side of the bed, a good two feet remaining between them.Once they were both settled, she turned and quietly said good night before rolling to her side, her back turned to him.
He lay on his back and stared at the ceiling, awash in too many emotions to settle his thoughts.
Between his frustration and anger toward Vadisk, his attraction and admiration for Dahlia, his apprehension and, yes, fear, about where they were and the danger surrounding their mission, he was on system overload.
He tried to convince himself that he’d done the best he could considering some fairly insurmountable odds. After all, he, Vadisk, and Dahlia had been dropped down in the middle of Crimea, in the midst of a war, to investigate a blackmailer.
And if that wasn’t stressful enough, they’d also been introduced to their life partners and charged with the additional task of figuring out where they were going to live once their dangerous mission was complete.
Where to settle was a common decision for newly formed trinities, so it wasn’t like Montana had been blindsided by that. Until he realized they weren’t just faced with hopping from the East Coast to the West Coast.
Nope.
They were looking at potentially moving halfway across the world and possibly changing allegiances as far as their secret society was concerned. While the Grand Master hadn’t mentioned their future within the Trinity Masters, Montana couldn’t help but wonder if by choosing to move to Europe, he and Dahlia would be forced to switch societies. Given how little Montana knew about the Masters’ Admiralty, that uncertainty added yet another item to the list of shit stressing him out at the moment.
He sighed, forcing himself to put it all away. None of this crap was going to be solved tonight. So, he shoved everything into boxes, compartmentalizing it all by assigning it a rank, aware that he needed to take this all one day at a time.
Right now, the most important thing had to be the mission.
Montana mentally went through everything that needed to happen tomorrow, and once he felt comfortable in his role and tasks, he closed his eyes and willed sleep to come.
ChapterFour
Vadisk pounded his fist into his pillow, trying to beat it into a comfortable shape. Sleep had been alluding him for the better part of an hour as he tossed and turned, wishing for a do-over of the day.
He’d royally fucked things up with Dahlia and Montana, coming off like a grade-A dick, right out of the gate.
Despite the way he’d acted toward them, Vadisk had been incredibly impressed by his spouses. They were intelligent and interesting, and under different circumstances, he imagined they were probably quite fun.
Dahlia had a smile that put people at ease and a sharp intelligence that promised she wouldn’t suffer fools lightly. Montana was easygoing yet meticulous, with a quick wit. Several times throughout the day, the two of them had engaged in brief but funny banter that had helped cut through some of the never-ending tension they all felt.
As angry as he was over this uneven trinity—with him the odd man out—Vadisk couldn’t deny his attraction to…both of them. He’d known from a pretty young age that he was bisexual, his tastes not tied to a specific gender, but rather to personality traits and physical attraction instead. He was drawn to people who were bright, kind, mentally strong, and entertaining, and he’d been pleased to discover Dahlia and Montana checked all those boxes.
His spouses were also exceptionally good-looking. So much so, he’d been hard-pressed to keep his desires under control. Especially whenever one of them got too close. Half of the arguments he’d waged with Montana this afternoon had been his attempt at dampening his arousal, rather than genuine annoyance. Not that the spats had helped much.
He’d hesitated joining them on the patio this evening, thinking it best to keep his distance if he was going to be able to keep his wits about him. However, that plan had failed when—against all common sense—he found himself sliding open the door and stepping outside. It was as if he’d been drawn to them much like opposing magnets. He’d had to continue looking around at their surroundings to keep himself from staring at Dahlia’s full pink lips as she took a sip of her wine or admiring the auburn scruff on Montana’s chiseled jaw.
Fuck.
Crimea sure as shit wasn’t the time or place for him to indulge in this attraction. His spouses were a distraction he could not afford. Not when so much was on the line.
