Page 82 of Insatiable Park Avenue Prince

“Because he needs to eat—”

“Again, there’s an obvious pun, but…” East waved his hand in the air.

“Food,” I stressed. “He needs to eat and live. I can’t just expect him to give that up because I fell for him.”

“Maybe he wouldn’t see it as giving something up if he knew how you felt,” Gavin replied.

“He did say he wasn’t exactly thrilled by the idea.”

“See?” Preston pointed at me. “That tells you he’s feeling a bit uncomfortable too. It sounds like he—”

“Doesn’t wanna fuck anyone but you.” Daire gave me an exasperated look. “This isn’t rocket science, for fuck’s sake. Tell him how you feel and that you only want him putting his pole in your hole. End of story.”

Well, that was to the point. “You don’t think he’ll resent me?”

“Why?” Daire’s lip curled. “’Cause you want him to fuck only you?”

“Well, more that I’m asking him to change careers.”

“You aren’t gonna ask him shit. You’re gonna tell him how you feel and what you want. What he does with it after that is on him. You can only control you.”

Damn.It was a rare day when Daire handed out the best advice in the van, but he was spot-on. Maybe a little blunter than everyone else, but he was saying exactly what I was thinking, and that was what I’d needed to hear.

West scanned the vehicle, a flabbergasted look on his face. “Is anyone else still trying to work out when Daire learned to string more than three words together?”

Daire flipped him off and went back to looking out the window.

“Maybe you should be more concerned with the fact he has more brain cells than any one of you,” I pointed out. “I thought you were supposed to take point on this Van Talk, since you had a hot boyfriend and all.”

“Seriously?” East snorted. “He onlygotthat boyfriend because you told him how. If you’re counting on him to secure a man, you, my friend, might as well sign up for a lifetime membership with Xes, because that’s the only way you’ll ever see Sin again.”

Like hell it would be.

“Hey, aren’t you two going away this weekend?”

I looked at West eyeing me with a mischievous grin. “We are.”

“Well, don’t you think that would be the perfect time to talk about all of this?”

“Yeah, I mean, we already said we had to talk—”

“And you toldmethat grand gestures are what wins over hearts.” He pointed at himself. “I listened, and I got the guy. So what grand gesture can you do at this place you’re going that will wow his socks off?”

“Pretty sure Van’s already worked out how to wow his socks off,” Travis chimed in. “But that’s not a bad idea. Can you do something, I don’t know, special?”

Now they were talking. Where we were going was pretty impressive on its own, but I had a feeling if I called up, I’d be able to swing something more special than the usual stay.

“Maybe I could plan a romantic dinner or picnic or something?”

East rolled his eyes. “I suppose you could do that. Personally, I think you should pick him up in that fancy car you polish once a week down in the garages.”

“Oh yeah.” Preston nodded. “I bet he’d die over that, and the weather’s meant to be good.”

I tapped my fingers on the arm of my seat, thinking it over. I could pick Kelly up after my last class, drive us out of the city, and have a romantic picnic set up for the two of us. That way we’d be alone, we could talk, and maybe, just maybe, we could come to some kind of decision on where we went from here.

I liked that idea. No, Ilovedthat idea. Hard to believe, considering it had come from this cynical lot.

“That’s perfect. That’s exactly what I’m going to do.” I chuckled as I looked around at my friends, never more grateful to have them in my life than I was right now. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but this was actually a really helpful talk.”

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