After a lot of debate and advice from board members, weighing the pros and cons of bringing in another partner, it was mutually decided by unanimous vote that we would not offer to bring Fabron into the company so we could have access to his cytometer. It will take us a bit longer in the development phase, but we felt the wait was worth the autonomy we’d keep.
Dane told me Fabron took it graciously, but I expected nothing more of him. He’s a gracious man and a professional. I would never in a million years tell Dane that Fabron emailed me not long after to let me know that nothing changed on his end. I still had a job with his company if I ever wanted to make Paris my home.
Of course, I politely declined again. I couldn’t imagine in a million years ever walking away from Dane. The company… potentially, but never Dane.
“Want to go out and drink a few beers to celebrate?” Andrew asks.
“Sure,” I say with a smile. “Dane’s got a dinner meeting so that works perfectly.”
“And if he didn’t have a dinner meeting?” Andrew asks with a sly grin.
I give him a tiny glare, but there’s no real heat in it. I can take Andrew’s teasing. “Then he’d join us for beer.”
“What if I just wanted a bestie night with you?” he continues. “Get in our jammies, cuddle on the couch, and watch old movies?”
I give a wave of my hand. “He’d be totally fine with that.”
“No, he wouldn’t,” I hear from the doorway and turn over my shoulder to see Dane walking in. “He’s fine with everything but the cuddles. You have a cuddle partner already.”
Andrew snickers, and I can tell he saw Dane in the door the entire time and was baiting him. Dane doesn’t give him a look, though, just marches straight for me. My heart trips a little as I take in the pure intensity of his stare. We haven’t seen each other all day at work, and he looks starved.
He proves, however, that just a soft kiss is all that’s needed when he bends over the back of my chair as my face tilts up so my lips can meet his.
“You two are fucking adorable.” Andrew chuckles, but neither of us look at him. Instead, Dane gives me another kiss before straightening.
“What’s up?” I ask as I turn in my chair to take in all of his yumminess. I always used to be so amused when I’d watch women react to Dane whenever they were in his presence or when he walked by. I figured over the years, I’d gotten use to how gorgeous he was so it didn’t affect me, but now I know that’s not true. I had no reason to look at him that way, but I do now, and it affects me deeply every time I even look at him for a moment.
“Saw you two sitting in here and just thought I’d stop by to give you a kiss,” he says with a smile.
I swear I have to grip the armrests of the chair so I don’t swoon into a dead faint. Dane has said a lot of dirty, erotic things to me that cause my body to react, but something sweet like that from a man who’s not used to being romantic could be the death of me.
“So, it’s beer for you two tonight?” he asks as he puts his hands in his pockets.
“Just a few,” Andrew clarifies. “I’ve got an early meeting tomorrow.”
Dane turns his gaze to me. “Can I come over tonight after my dinner meeting?”
“Of course, you can,” I say as my face turns warm just thinking about it, and with a tiny bit of embarrassment that Andrew is privy to us planning an evening together. He hasn’t shown the slightest indication that he’s missing the relationship the three of us had, and in every way seems tickled pink that Dane and I are making a go of this.
Dane jingles some keys in his pocket before pulling them out. I watch as he works a key off the ring and hands it to me.
“What’s this?” I ask as he places the warm metal in my palm.
“My house key,” he says casually, but my head actually swims a little from the implication. “You can give me one of yours tonight.”
“That’s kind of bossy,” I say tartly, but he just grins back at me.
“You two have fun and don’t get into any trouble,” Dane says as he turns for the door. He stops for a moment, turning back to point a warning finger at Andrew. “And no cuddling with my girl.”
Another wave of dizziness hits me as the words are light and teasing, but they’re also pointed. He’s laying down a boundary that any true physical intimacy between Andrew and me is done for good.
This is fine as Andrew and I are not cuddlers. We most certainly don’t do PJ parties. While we have the bond to share emotional stuff with each other, we’ve never been overly affectionate outside of hugs when needed.
“Noted, dude,” Andrew says with a snappy salute.
When Dane leaves, Andrew turns to me with eyebrows raised and awe in his voice. “What have you done to him?”
I shake my head from the mystery of it all. “I have no clue, but God, I love it. I never could have imagined he had this in him.”
“I saw this coming,” Andrew says sagely. “Saw it clearly for the first time in Paris… that first night we were there.”
My face turns beet red because since Andrew’s exited the relationship, there’s been no talk or reference to our intimate times together. He doesn’t notice or he doesn’t care, but lays it out straight to me. “When we were both inside you at the same time… he was only feeling you and you were only feeling him.”
“No,” I say quickly as that makes me feel terrible, like we’d purposely excluded Andrew.
“Avril,” he chastises me with a pointed look. “Let’s not be afraid of those times. They were beautiful to me, but they are over and in the past. I’m grateful I had those times with you two, but I’m not looking back other than maybe with some fondness because I’ve watched my two best friends start to fall in love with me having a front-row seat.”
The force of his words knocks the breath out of me, and I can feel tears filling my eyes.
“No crying,” Andrew says sternly.
I wipe at my eyes and laugh with a quavering voice. “I can’t help it. These past few months have been surreal. So much emotion and feeling. The risks we took, and thank God we came out stronger for it. Do you realize how lucky the three of us are that we did something like that, and came out not only with our friendship intact, but probably bonded tighter than ever?”
“We’re lucky,” Andrew murmurs. “This could have turned really bad. But it didn’t, and it makes me happy to see you so happy.”
My smile turns brighter. “I really am. I just never in a million years pictured me with Dane. I still have a hard time believing how things have progressed.”
“He’s crazy about you. That little demonstration he just put on proves it because that was so anti-Dane.”
“I know.”
We grow quiet a moment, and then Andrew ventures forth with a question that scares the hell out of me. “Do you love him?”
The smile slides from my face, and my heart pounds so hard I press my knuckles into the center of my chest. “How could I not? I mean, I love and care for him so deeply as a friend that it was nothing but a tiny fall for me to love him the rest of the way.”
Andrew’s expression softens and his eyes shine with happiness for me. “It’s kind of obvious. I’m glad.”