Page 104 of It's Complicated

“We don’t have to tell anyone if you don’t want. I know I made a big deal about not wanting to hide it, but I’d never force you to come out before you're ready. I?—”

I cut him off with a quick kiss. “I want to tell everyone.”

“Yeah?” His voice was soft, almost seeking.

Isaac might be the most confident and secure person I knew, but he still needed assurances and to know that he was just as important to me as I was to him.

“Yes. I love you, Z. I don’t even know when it happened or if I’ve been in love with you all along and just didn’t realize it. But I do, and that’s all that matters to me.”

His smile warmed my chest and made my heart beat faster.

“I wasn’t looking for this, didn’t think I wanted it, but now that I’ve had a taste of you, I’m never letting go.”

“Never?” He arched his eyebrow teasingly.

“Nope. You’re stuck with me. No backsies.”

Chuckling softly, he ran his hands over my back in slow, lazy circles. “I have a confession. Well, actually, two confessions.”

“What?”

“Everyone at work knows about us.”

“They do?” I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. It made it easier because we wouldn’t have to tell them, but it also showed just how much we sucked at keeping things secret.

“Yeah. Asa figured it out first.”

I already knew that. Asa was incredibly observant and smart. It was damn hard to get anything over on him.

“But everyone else figured it out too. Apparently I suck at hiding things.”

“Are you okay with that?” I asked.

“Yeah. But that’s not the only thing. I kinda told my dad about us.”

I froze. That was the last thing I would have expected him to confess. “You did?”

“Yeah. I didn’t plan it or anything, but it slipped out when I was doing my big fuck you speech.”

“Did you freak out after?”

“No.” He grinned crookedly. “I spent the entire drive home waiting for the panic to set in, but it never did. It felt good to tell him, and not just because it shocked the hell out of him.”

I pressed closer to him and splayed my hands over his back.

His smile fell. “I’ve spent my entire life trying to be what my parents want me to be, and it’s gotten me nothing. My mother only had me because she was looking for a payday, and now she pretends like I don’t exist. My father will never accept that I’m not him, and I don’t want to live the life he thinks I should. I’ve hidden so much of myself from them over the years, but I don’t want to hide you. I’m proud to be with you, and if I’m never going to talk to my dad again, then I want him to know that I’ll be fine because I have you.”

“You do, Z. Always.”

He pressed our foreheads together. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“But we really need to work on your date-panning skills,” I teased when he pulled away.

He let out a bark of laughter. “You have no idea.”

“What do you mean?”

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