Page 42 of Sharing Shane

A dimple winked in his cheek when he grinned at her. “I asked you first.”

“Three times,” she admitted with a sheepish grin, and he hooted with laughter.

“Go, V,” he said with a chuckle. “I only managed one, but I did jump Seth when he got back from his team-building workshop this afternoon. He says thanks, by the way.”

Veronica stared at him. “I think this is the weirdest conversation I’ve ever had.”

“Yeah, I can see how it might be.” He tiled his head, regarding her thoughtfully. “You don’t have any experience with non-monogamy, do you?”

“No.”

“Want me to tell you how it works for us?”

She shifted on the sand, intrigue outweighing discomfort. “I’m dying of curiosity, but you don’t have to tell me. It’s none of my business.”

“You don’t think so?” He shot her a considering look, then shrugged and looked back out to sea. “I don’t mind talking about it. I’ve always known I was poly.”

“Poly?” she asked.

“Polyamorous,” he explained. “It basically means I can, and do, have more than one romantic relationship at a time.”

“How is that different from non-monogamous?”

“It’s mostly semantics. I go with poly because my relationship with Shane isn’t just about sex. I love him, he loves me, we’re committed to each other as partners even though our relationship isn’t primary for either of us. But Seth doesn’t conduct his outside relationships the same way, and he feels like non-monogamous fits him better.”

“Delia said she didn’t think he was seeing anyone else right now.”

“He’s not. He usually doesn’t, actually.” He shifted around on the sand so they faced each other. “Seth likes to have sex with other men—he is gay, by the way—but he doesn’t want another relationship.”

“Oh.”

“He says he doesn’t have time for one, which is true,” Wyatt went on. “But even if he did, he’d still prefer to keep his other partners casual.”

“And that’s okay with you?” Veronica asked. “You don’t get jealous?”

“Sure, I do.” He said it so easily, so casually, Veronica blinked in surprise. “He used to come home from a date and tell me all about it, and let me tell you, there’s nothing worse than hearing my man gush about the firm young thing that just blew his mind.”

Veronica winced. “Oh, ouch.”

“It wasn’t pretty,” Wyatt agreed. “Some poly couples like to share details about their dates and other partners, but it just makes me anxious. I start comparing myself, and that way lies madness, you know?”

She nodded. “That would make me nuts. How’d you work it out?”

“He stopped gushing about the firm young things, which helped me stop comparing myself to them. That’s our first rule. And if he has plans with someone, I try to make sure I’m not just waiting around the house with nothing to do. Even if I just take myself to the movies, it helps to be busy, or have something else to focus on.”

Veronica nodded slowly. “That makes sense.”

“We make sure to carve out time for each other, and we make sure to communicate.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, if anything is bothering me—about the scheduling, someone he’s seeing, how he’s acting about it—I make sure to tell him, and he does the same. Expecting your partner to read your mind is a disaster when you’re not seeing other people. With non-monogamy, it’s an atom bomb.”

“Do you get jealous of Shane, too?”

“With Shane, it’s a little different,” he began.

She shook her head when he hesitated. “You don’t have to tell me.”

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