“I’m hungry,” he admitted. “Let’s go have some pizza.”

We returned to the dining room, where the candles were still burning. Most of them were halfway gone, their mighty sticks a mess of wax. Donovan lifted the pizza box from the table and brought it to the couch.

I realized that I was hungry too. After the workout in the bedroom, I was more than prepped for several hefty slices of pizza pie. We sat and chewed in silence until we were both satiated.

Donovan stood up and grabbed two bottles of water from the kitchen. Passing one to me, he uncapped his own and drank deeply. Food and drink were the order of the day. I was just as thirsty as he was and took my time devouring as much of the cold liquid as I could. When I finally came up for air, I grinned.

“Thanks,” I said.

“Don’t mention it,” he replied.

After satisfying my hunger, both for sex and for food, I relaxed. A thought occurred to me, and though I didn’t want to discourage him from being with me, I needed clarification. “How are you going to run for office if you’ve got a girlfriend you’re sharing with two other men?”

He shrugged as if the thought hadn’t occurred to him. “I’ll figure it out,” he said. I was reminded that he was the first to announce his intent to date me, and that it hadn’t bothered him that I was also interested in Cory and Gavin.

“But won’t people be upset?”

“Let them,” he replied. “I just want to be with you in the moment. We can figure everything else out later.”

They were the most perfect words that had ever been uttered. That he was willing to go so far and to put me and my needs ahead of his political ambitions was breathtaking. I would follow him to the ends of the earth and back just for one more compliment of that magnitude. But I didn’t have to go so far. The bedroom was right around the corner, and the night was young. It turned out that our appetite for pizza couldn’t compete with our appetite for each other.

Donovan stood up, offering me his hand again. I took it, and together, we raced back to the adult playground that was his bedroom, kissing each other all the way.