Outside the Lines Read online

  I did too. Everything was going to be fine. I cupped Ian’s face and kissed him again, and again until he was the one breathless and groaning. “We’re supposed to be getting your guests ice cream.” He spoke against my lips.

  I smiled and nipped his neck. “We’re giving our guests time to talk to Lydia.”

  Ian didn’t argue. We necked until I was about ready to drag him upstairs, but then pulled away from each other and put together three bowls of ice cream, which gave us time to look less like two guys ready to fuck. When we returned to the living room, Lydia had a sober gleam in her eyes, but importantly, now radiated happiness. She seemed a little shell-shocked, but in a good way.

  “So that’s settled,” Hunter said. “I’ll talk to my lawyer and get the whole thing straightened out.”

  “But what if they don’t agree?” Lydia breathed the words out.

  Kevin snorted and took a bowl from me. “Oh, they will.”

  Hunter took the other from Ian. “My reputation for being a bit of a diva author is somewhat earned.”

  “Somewhat?” I knew the glint in Kevin’s eyes. All love and snark.

  Hunter’s lips twitched upward. “And those on the opposite side of my lawyer think he’s a psychopathic demon.”

  Kevin picked a chip off his ice cream and popped it into his mouth. “He’s actually a really nice dude.”

  I was glad we bought a huge couch for the living room. Plenty of room for all. I planted myself next to Lydia, and Ian took a seat next to me.

  My two loves. When I glanced up, I found Kevin smiling at me. I gave him a sheepish shrug before digging into my ice cream.

  Lydia fiddled with the edge of the throw pillow she was still clutching. “About that print you bought . . . you said the people you gave it to were big fans of Wolf’s Landing?”

  Hunter licked his spoon. “It was one of my wedding presents to Carter and Levi.”

  “Oh fuck.” She buried her face into the pillow and muffled words came out. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

  “He’s not. He did. But they loved it, so it’s all good.” Kevin elbowed Hunter. “Even if you were trying to embarrass them.”

  Hunter snorted, and cocked his head, suddenly very serious. “Lydia, your artwork is fantastic. StarVixen is legend in fandom circles and I get asked all the damn time if I know who you are. Things will change when this comes out, but I think you’ll find life just as interesting and fulfilling after it does.”

  She lowered the pillow. “We have a rule about not shitting where you live.”

  “Honey, your work is so far from shit, it isn’t funny.” Hunter sank his spoon into his ice cream.

  “But—”

  “Lyds,” Ian said. “Something I’ve learned on set is that even Anna doesn’t argue with Hunter Easton when he’s on a tear.”

  “Oh, she does. But I usually win.”

  “Usually.” Kevin’s eyes glittered with amusement. “It’s fun to watch when he doesn’t.”

  Hunter grunted. “Don’t push your luck, kid.”

  Kevin laughed. “Too late.”

  I smiled down into my bowl of ice cream. Lydia was right. This night couldn’t get any weirder, but that was fine. My attention strayed to the frozen image of Bruce Willis on the screen. “Hey, why don’t we finish watching the movie?”

  It was a plan everyone agreed to, so Ian grabbed the remote and hit Play.

  By the credits, Lydia was curled up in my lap, and Ian had his head on my shoulder. My heart couldn’t be more full of joy.

  From the other section of the sofa, Hunter gave me a thumbs-up.

  “Welcome to the Wolf’s Landing family,” Ian murmured.

  I tousled Ian’s hair, but it was Lydia who said what I thought. “Welcome to ours.”

  Yup. Life was weird, but absolutely perfect.

  Seven months later

  Moving in winter in the Pacific Northwest was a crapshoot, but nature was kind and gave us one non-rainy day to transfer all my belongings from my old place into Simon and Lydia’s house. Our house now. Took another couple weeks to integrate my stuff into theirs and pick what we wanted to keep, what would go into storage, and what we’d sell or give away, but in the end, the house had become the three of ours. My items nestled next to Simon and Lydia’s, my movies and books shelved in with theirs. I made dinners and picked up items at the store for both of them. They brought me soup in bed when I got wretchedly ill with bronchitis.

  We’d become a family I’d never expected or known I could have, and I loved it. Simon was as much mine as he was Lydia’s and his own, and between the two of us, we constantly reminded him that he was damn lucky to have us both.

  Not that he ever forgot.

  After that wacky movie night, Lydia and I ended up instituting regular date nights for us—a way to bond and have a relationship separate from Simon—and I found myself inexplicably head over heels for her too. Still had no desire to fall into bed with her, but I loved her, down to feeling giddy to my toes when she smiled at me. The internet told me this was actually a thing—that romance and sexual attraction weren’t the same. And yeah, that was me: in a romantic relationship with both my partners, but only interested in banging one of them.

  I did that in spades, and so did Lydia. Simon was insatiable and delighted and well and truly fucked. A week after I moved in, over dinner, he blurted out, “I don’t want anyone else.”

  Warmth from my head to my toes. Good. Yes. We hadn’t talked about the openness of our relationship, but I’d already decided I’d found perfection. “That’s fine with me.” I’d made curried chicken for dinner. I pushed some rice into the sauce. “I got more than I bargained for with the two of you. I don’t think I could handle another person.”

  Lydia patted my arm and grinned. “You poor man.” She studied her wine glass. “I love you both. You’re both my everything.”

  “But . . .” Nothing but adoration in Simon’s voice.

  “I’m still figuring things out,” she said.

  “We have time.” Maybe it was because I’d worried so much about being the third wheel in the beginning, but I kind of understood the hesitation to change up what had worked for her. I was a huge difference in their lives.

  “All the time in the world.” Simon reached over and took Lydia’s hand. “Let us know if or when that changes.”

  “Always.”

  So that was that. We all had each other. Simon and I were both fine with our little trio—and fine with Lydia potentially wanting someone else besides, as long as we all knew what was going on. I waited for the pang of jealousy, but none came. None had ever with these two.

  I was happy. Incredibly so.

  We were also all incredibly busy. When the news broke about the art theft, not only did Lydia eventually end up with a tidy pile of money—payment for her stolen work—she ended up with the recognition she so rightly deserved. Because of that—and her newfound friendship with Hunter and Kevin—she was invited to be the artist for a new Wolf’s Landing graphic novel they were writing.

  It was Kevin who’d finally uncovered the identity of the thief. Just as we’d thought, it was one of the users on the Fandom Landing site—a woman who’d ended up meeting a Wolf’s Landing merchandizing guy at a bar during WolfCon the previous year, gotten into him, and lied about being an artist to keep the dude interested in her. When he wanted to see her art, she followed up by sending him Lydia’s work and of course he’d gone nuts over it. The whole situation was stupid, yeah, but lust made you do weird shit.

  Unsurprisingly, End o’ Earth had become a happening place to be—as crowded as Howling Moon—especially when Carter and Levi swung by for their comics.

  With Lydia’s schedule changing and the extra customers, Simon had scrambled to hire and train new employees to fill in the gaps. Jesse had taken over as assistant manager and ran the shop with glitter and pink and a no-nonsense attitude that had everything working smoothly. Dexy had as many hours as she wanted. Even I
worked a few shifts on weekends.

  In return, sometimes Simon came with me to the set and helped out when we needed an extra hand in props. That was all before Lydia had gotten the invite to be a guest artist at WolfCon. Now? God, we were in a hurricane of activity.

  So, I’d no idea how Simon had managed to do what he’d done without me knowing, but there it was, on the kitchen island when I walked in, a month to the day after we’d unloaded my life into theirs.

  The dragon. The one I’d given him to paint.

  What had been so dark and horrible all those months ago had been transformed into something so beautiful it made my skin ache. My work, yes, but Simon’s too. He’d taken anger and sorrow and hope and crafted it all into love on top of love.

  Our dragon was now a brilliantly painted masterpiece, complete with intricate lines of gold between the scales. It launched itself into the sky on iridescent wings that shimmered in the light and seemed to move as I did. Scales rippled. Eyes gleamed. Every inch was incredible.

  Every bit of the detail I’d sculpted was there—and more. So much more.

  I was so damn grateful no one else was home, because I dropped the grocery bag, cracking half the eggs I’d bought, and I’d broke down and cried like a baby. Tears down my face and everything. I was still misty-eyed when Simon had come home.

  He circled me in his arms, pulling me back against his very solid body. “You like it?”

  “Of course I do.” I leaned into his heat.

  “Lydia painted the base.” Warm words spoken into my hair.

  Even better. “It’s perfection,” I said. “Utterly.”

  He kissed the side of my neck. “It’s us.”

  I closed my eyes and in that moment, I was the one soaring into the air. “It sure is.”

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  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for reading Anna Zabo’s Outside the Lines!

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  One of the things I truly believe is that everyone deserves a happy ever after. Sometimes those HEAs may be a little different than others. This is a book for those for whom the concept of family doesn’t just mean one other partner. Thank you to the poly people in my life.

  I also have to thank L.A. Witt for her unwavering support while writing this, and for letting me borrow some of her characters so I could play in the sandbox she helped build. I’m also very grateful for the editing skills of Caz Galloway and Sarah Lyons.

  And much thanks to my agent, Jennifer Udden.

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  Anna Zabo writes contemporary and paranormal romance for all colors of the rainbow and lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which isn’t nearly as boring as most people think.

  Anna has an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, where they fell in with a roving band of romance writers and never looked back. They also have a BA in Creative Writing from Carnegie Mellon University.

  You can find Anna online at annazabo.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/annazabo, or on twitter as @amergina.

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