Page 22 of The Billionaire's Bride
"Just that I’ll be taking turns dating each of them."
"Dating?" She makes air quotes with her fingers. "Is that what you kids are calling it nowadays?”
"It really is strictly dating." My face heats, but I don’t allow myself to acknowledge the blush. "This is supposed to be a fact-finding mission."
"Fact-finding?"
I nod. "Yeah, that’s what they wanted and that’s what I agreed to."
"And what is this fact-finding going to be about?" She presses a finger into her cheek.
"Finding out more about them, their backgrounds, their preferences; giving them a chance to get to know me better."
"And why would you do that?" She frowns.
"Why wouldn’t I?" I scowl at her. "It’s the simplest way of figuring out who I am most compatible with."
"Thought you already knew that?" She waggles her eyebrows. "After all, you did sleep with both of them."
"It just happened, okay?" I mutter. "If I had known it would land me in this situation—"
"You wouldn’t have shagged either of them?"
I purse my lips. "No, that’s not true. The way things happened—" The way I’d lost my virginity to Edward…when he’d walked in and stared at me and I had known then I wanted him, that I wasn’t letting him leave without losing my virginity to him... Then, being so fiercely attracted to Baron. "I couldn’t have stopped any of it," I say firmly.
"So, now you are going to try both of them out…for size?"
Heat sears my cheeks. "Not like that," I object.
"Then how?"
"There’s not going to be any sex."
She chokes on her drink, places her wine glass on the counter, then snatches up a paper napkin to wipe her mouth. "No sex?"
"Absolutely not." I shake my hair back from my shoulders. "I already know both of them that way."
My flush deepens, and I square my shoulders.What the hell? Why am I embarrassed?Face it, I did shag them both. And I enjoyed it. And they were both hot and amazing and I felt wonderful at the end of it. Don’t men sleep around all the time? Though this is not the same. When I was with Edward, I’d been convinced he was the only one. Then Baron had crashed into my life, and after how Edward had left me… Okay, so maybe I had been emotionally fragile…but I’d known what I was doing when I’d slept with Baron.
Edward had left me, and a part of me had been sure that he’d be back, I can’t refute that. Yet, I had been so strongly attracted to Baron… And he’d been there while Edward wasn’t. And it hadn’t felt wrong… I had followed my instincts. Which is how I had ended up in this situation, right?
Maybe my instincts aren’t so reliable, after all. All the more reason to stick to the plan; approach this in a more practical manner, as Baron has suggested. Try things out and see what works… If something feels wrong, I can ditch it, try something else. All along the way, I’ll be gathering feedback on what works. It’s the only way forward, right? It has to be.
The alternative is to be stuck with both guys angry and snarling at each other, and gosh, how I hate that. If there is even a chance for the three of us moving on from this, to live somewhat normal lives, then I have to give this a shot. "Besides, this is about figuring out whom I am most compatible with on an emotional level… And sex only muddies the waters… So yeah, no sex."
"Hmm." She purses her lips, "Which brings me to another question, do the guys know about it?"
"About what?"
"That sex isn’t part of the bargain?"
"I may have, uh, forgotten to mention it."
Her jaw drops. "Wow," she blinks, "so you are just walking into this hoping to withhold from them?"
"Don’t be crude," I mutter, "but yeah, that’s exactly what I am going to do. I mean, not overtly, but I am going to make sure we don’t get there."
"You’re going to make sure that two hot blooded alpha males spend time with you and you don’t end up in bed with either of them?"
