tabby

it from view and ushered me through.
I stopped dead. Before me was the most beautiful waterfall I’d ever seen. It landed in a pool of water so crystal clear that even I, who didn’t have a special love for water, wanted to strip down and dive in. But it was the blanket on the grass, the lit lanterns, the heavenly smell of food, and best of all the two men standing there with smiles on their faces that captured my full attention.
“Surprise.” Kasim brushed a kiss along the side of my neck.
Surprises weren’t my thing, but a surprise like this... they could give them to me all the time. “Thank you.” I followed him over to the blanket.
After sitting down at their insistence, they surrounded me, sitting in a semi-circle facing me. Bae pulled out containers of food from a basket, which Arin and Kasim used to make four plates. When the food was all dished out, we began to eat and talk, sharing stories about our day. It was times like this that I never wanted to end. The four of us together, sharing our lives, joking, and having fun. If I didn’t know any better, if I’d been here with just a man, I would have sworn that this was where he’d make a declaration of love and maybe even a wedding proposal. The knowledge that this was something I’d probably never experience saddened me. After being with these three, all other men would fall short in comparison.
“What’s wrong, blueberry?”
I plastered a smile back on my face. “Nothing. Why?”
He didn’t say, but I didn’t think he believed me either. Thankfully, the stars chose that moment to reveal themselves in the night sky, drawing a gasp from me.
“Tabby?”
“Huh?” I dropped my gaze back to them, shocked to see their serious expressions. My stomach tightened. and the delicious supper roiled a little. What is going on?
“I was in town today and heard that Ed left rather suddenly. He put the Gentlemen’s Club up for sale.” I nodded. We knew he was leaving. The information they’d found in his files was a gold mine, and Arin managed to trace another two lawyers to the financing arm of the Henchman’s organization. But I was sad to hear the club was being sold. I wasn’t a stripper at heart, but the changes in my life, brought about from my time there, were important and meaningful. And I didn’t want to see the place change. To do so would be like wiping away a precious memory.
“I’m sorry to say it was sold, blueberry. I know what the place meant to you.” Arin squeezed my fingers.
“It’s okay. It was just a silly emotional thing.”
Kasim lifted my face with two fingers under my jaw. While I stared into his eyes, he rubbed his thumb in small circles on my chin. “It wasn’t a silly emotional thing. It was something precious to you. A place where you learned more about yourself.”
I nodded. I didn’t want to know, but at the same time, I needed to know. It would help me to deal with the loss of it. “Do-do you know who purchased it?”
“We do. It was a company called TJ4 Entertainment.”
I shrugged. The name didn’t mean anything to me.
“I did a little research on the company and found out some interesting things,” Arin told me, knowing I couldn’t resist a mystery. “The owners of the company are one Bae Jones, Arin Kane, Kasim Jones, and Tabitha Blue.”
My mouth dropped open. What? Did he say my name? “TJ4, TJ... Team Jones...” They smiled as each of their eyes softened. “Does the four mean what I think it does?” I was too scared to say it out loud.
“It does. We don’t want to lose you.” Bae knee-walked closer.
“From our lives or from our team.” Arin followed him, coming to a stop inches from my knees.
“So we’re hoping that you will agree to be our teammate. To be ours? I love you, my sweet pussy.” Kasim slid forward, placing a kiss on my lips, which I returned.
“I love you, too, my dark knight.”
“To be shared by us? Because I love you, blueberry.” Arin cradled my cheek as he kissed my nose before kissing my chin and then finally kissing my lips.
“I love you, too, my cuddly bear.” Arin’s eyes lit up when I finally gave him a nickname, and he leaned in for another kiss as the guys laughed.
When he pulled back—a result of Bae’s tugging on the back of his shirt—he wore the biggest, happiest smile I’d ever seen on his face.
“And last, but certainly not least, to stay with us forever? I love you, tabby.”
And as much as I didn’t like being called tabby, he’d won me over. Who could resist the smouldering look in his eye when he said it or the kiss that followed it when it was said in private? A kiss like this. One where his lips covered mine, stroking them, teasing them until I yielded and allowed his tongue to tangle with mine. When he pulled back, I stared dazedly into his eyes until I could get all my neurons to fire appropriately.
“And I love you, too, my Batman.”
The End
Not quite!
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About the Author
Twilah, also known as TB Mann, is the wife to the most amazing husband and the mother to three extremely smart young adults. After nearly becoming a member of the 27 Club, she left her job as a nurse in the Canadian military to be a stay-at-home mom. As the children grew, further studies in nursing, infectious diseases, and theology were not enough to keep her brain active. After a few years of pushing by her husband,