Page 24 of The Princess

Taylor whipped his head up, tearing his gaze away from the water to look at Damon.

“Jonah has shown me pictures.”

“There’s not many.” Taylor looked back out at the lake. Warmth curled through him when Damon reached out and took his hand and Taylor gave it a squeeze, like a silent thank you. “It’s not exactly good date conversation. Sorry.”

“It’s not awful, either. Did I ever tell you that my grandfather had a short career in Hollywood?”

“You did, but you never told me what he was in or what he did after. Is he in anything we can watch?”

Damon laughed softly. “He was a hit for a few years, but then he left. Just stepped out of the spotlight one day and never looked back.”

“Did he ever say why? To his family, I mean.”

“I think he would’ve liked you for standing up for what you wanted, despite your peers telling you that you were missing out on.”

For the first time in his life, Taylor felt like someone understood him. The distance between them made it awkward to go in for the kiss, but Taylor did anyway. To keep himself from falling all over the picnic, he had to keep his eyes open and that’s why he was able to see the shock and panic in Damon’s face a moment before Taylor received the most wooden kiss ever.

He sat back in his chair and stared at Damon, who at least had the decency to look ashamed of himself.

“Are you into me at all, Damon? Or is this some sort of elaborate prank?”

“No! I am. I really, really am.” Damon squeezed Taylor’s hand and despite the fumbled kiss, Taylor squeezed his back.

“Then what’s the deal? You kissed me goodnight on our last date. And I’m not a virgin or anything, so you don’t need to protect my virtue. I can assure you that ship sailed a long, long time ago.”

“It’s just…weird, okay?”

Taylor yanked his hand out of Damon’s. “You have about ten seconds to explain that.”

Damon’s eyes went round like saucers and he flinched like he had to physically stop himself from flinging his body at Taylor’s feet.

“I’ve never been in a polyamorous relationship before. I always dated one person at a time. But now I’m seeing Nash and you. And I’m okay with it, but it’s like this ball of anxiety about it comes out of nowhere sometimes because I want this to work so badly.”

Taylor narrowed his gaze. “Are you like this with Nash? Or just me?”

Damon looked at his feet. “I’m like this with him too.”

Taylor stood up and carefully folded the blanket. Damon looked upset, almost to the point of tears, as he packed up their picnic.

“I’ll take you home. I’m sorry, Taylor.”

“Like hell you will,” Taylor said.

Damon’s head snapped up and he looked at Taylor with concern, and hope, and sadness, and a bunch of other things Taylor couldn’t name. Clearly Damon had tangled himself up in knots about this, and he was trying to untangle it all by himself.

“You’re going to call Nash and ask where he is, and then the three of us are going to talk about this like adults.”

Damon gave Taylor a tentative smile. “Thanks.”

“Well, call Nash.”

“I don’t have to. He has a pretty set schedule. He’ll be at home working.”

Once they were in the car and on the road, Taylor pulled out his phone and sent Nash a text warning him of their impending arrival. He didn’t say anything else to him in spite of his subsequent flurry of questions. He might have if he had answers for them, but the only thing he knew was that Damon needed to get over this if he was serious about giving Taylor a real shot.

And if not, Taylor would call a cab, go home, and lick his wounds—and for the sake of Damon’s friendship with Jonah, he’d pretend that nothing had ever happened between them. It wasn’t far off the truth anyway.

They arrived at Nash’s as silent as strangers. Instead of buzzing in, Damon used a set of keys and Taylor’s eyebrows shot up so fast they hit his hairline. Damon had keys to Nash’s building. Which meant things between them were obvious more than a casual hookup that never stopped.

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