“I get that, but can you handle that?”
Someone scoffed and then said, “I can keep my fucking hands to myself. But I think the rule should only apply to initiating. If she kisses me, you’ve gotta be kidding if you think I’m not going to let it happen.”
And with that lovely sentiment, I hopped off of the counter and turned the corner. “Who am I kissing?”
Never had I seen such genuine “deer in headlights” looks. Both men whipped their heads toward me, eyes wide with the realization that I was within hearing distance. For a long second, they both stared at me like they couldn’t believe it.
“No one,” Reed finally said, scrubbing a hand down his face while Josh shook his head.
“Yeah, that’s not going to cut it for me. Obviously, you were talking about me, so you might as well fess up now.”
Josh sighed as the two guys glanced at each other again, having a silent conversation with only the slight movement of their eyelids and minute changes in facial expressions. They were so close that they didn’t even need words to communicate. They did it often, and part of me thought they didn’t even notice it.
“This is a talk that we should probably have at your apartment,” Reed offered, and I immediately shook my head.
“I’m not getting in the car with either of you until I know what the hell is going on and why you’re talking about me in hushed voices. You’ve both been acting extra weird since…”
“Since you had sex with both of us within twenty-four hours,” Reed muttered.
I narrowed my eyes at him but conceded. “Yes, since then. So, tell me, so I can also be in the loop.”
With one final glance in each other’s direction, they both nodded. “Let’s sit,” Josh said, leading the way into the living room.
Cautiously, I followed, and with each step closer to the couch, I began to dread the conversation to follow. Based on their attitudes and what they had said after our hookups, I could only imagine where their thoughts were. They had both been fairly vocal about wanting more than casual sex, but I had hoped their words were only said in the heat of an orgasm high. Or in an attempt to get in my pants.
The way they were eyeing me, though, as I sat on the far end of the sectional across from them, I knew it was only wishful thinking. I was immediately thankful for the glass coffee table between us. I needed space from them to think clearly.
“I guess…” Reed stuttered.
“We just…” Josh said with no confidence in his voice.
“I don’t care who says what, someone just tell me what the hell is going on.”
And without another second of hesitation, Reed blurted out, “We want more. With you, I mean.”
“What?” I asked, gobsmacked by the sincerity in his voice and the seriousness I saw in both of their expressions.
“We want more than friendship. It’s been something we’ve both been thinking about for a while now,” Josh chimed in.
Before I could wrap my head around the words coming from their mouths, Reed continued, “We understand this puts you in a hard spot.”
“A hard spot…” I muttered, lost in the maze in my own head.
“But we have a plan,” Josh said.
“A plan…”
“And we think it’ll work,” Reed finished.
“A plan…” I said again.
They both watched me expectantly, but I couldn’t tell what they wanted from me. I could barely make out the thoughts in my head, let alone say them out loud in full, coherent sentences. I felt scattered and ambushed.
My mind ran down the list—the verylonglist—of all the reasons the entire situation was doomed and why I had to immediately undo all of the thinking they’d done. Because if they had a plan, they’d actually thought about it.
But among the list of reasons why that couldn’t happen, the most glaringly important ones to me were the fact that more than ten years of friendship was not something to just gawk at in the face of a possible relationship with one of the men sitting in front of me. And two, I didn’t know if I saw a future like that with either of them. Sure, the sexual chemistry was unbelievable, but I had lived enough to know that a relationship would take more than that to work. And finally, the idea of choosing between the two.
“Okay, I can see the wheels turning, and before you think too hard on it, I want you to hear our proposal,” Reed said, the nervousness I’d heard in his voice earlier long gone.