Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 82034 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82034 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Dane shakes his head. “Avril… he wants us to cut him loose. You know it’s true.”
I shake my head, but Dane’s hands to my face catch my attention as he moves even closer into me. “He gave this a try, and he kept his distance. But what’s happening to you and me is something different, and we didn’t plan on this. I know Andrew… he’s not here right now because he’s sending us a message.”
“A message?”
Dane nods. “He sees what’s going on between us, and yes… there is something happening between you and me that neither of us thought would happen. I think he’s telling us that we need to pay attention to it.”
My heart plummets even as a small dose of relief sweeps through me. I think he’s right, but there’s still some doubt. “How do we know that for sure?”
“We don’t,” Dane says grimly as he brushes his lips across my forehead. “But I’m going to talk to him and find out exactly what he wants and needs.”
I jolt in surprise. “Right now?”
“Yeah,” he says softly. “I need to know I’m calling this right.”
“And if you are?” I ask hesitantly. “What does that mean for us?”
Dane presses his mouth to mine briefly. When he pulls back, I’m torn over the mixed emotions on his face.
Fear, excitement, vulnerability, hope.
“I have no clue what it means for us,” he says. “But we’ll figure it out.”
CHAPTER 23
Dane
“What are you doing here?” Andrew asks with surprise after he opens the door to his apartment. “You should be at Avril’s.”
“I was there. But you weren’t so I figured we needed to talk.”
Andrew smiles and there’s nostalgia within it, so without him ever saying a word, I know coming here was the right thing.
“Come on in,” he says as he steps back.
I’ve been in Andrew’s apartment countless times, usually to watch sports on a weekend or to attend some impromptu dinner party he threw together. Andrew’s a social creature and has a ton of friends.
It’s small by my standards and way too confining for me. But it’s quintessential Andrew with pop art decorating the walls and bright-colored furniture.
I follow him into the living room and see he’d been working. He’s got his laptop on the coffee table and papers spread out all over the table, floor, and couch.
“What are you working on?” I ask as I take a seat in a navy-blue club chair.
“Just some beta reports,” he says with a resigned sigh as he takes the couch.
“And you chose that over having a threesome with Avril and me?” I ask him.
His smile doesn’t falter, but there’s no humor in his voice. “I just can’t.”
“Can’t get it up?” I push at him crudely so we don’t waste time beating around the bush.
Andrew rolls his eyes. “I can’t complicate things anymore.”
“You’re complicating things?”
Sitting forward on the couch, Andrew looks at me with such seriousness I feel like he’s getting ready to give me his resignation from the company or something. “I don’t know if you and Avril are even aware of it, but there’s something deeper going on with you two. I know Avril enjoys me in her bed with you, but she also wouldn’t miss me there either.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” I tell him carefully. Because Avril would most definitely miss him. She cares for him, and the sex is stellar. Hell, I’m going to miss him there.
“Regardless,” he says dismissively with a wave of his hand. “Whatever is happening between the two of you, it can’t be taken lightly. It’s one thing to be casual about what we’ve been doing, but it’s turned into something different with the two of you. Am I right?”
With a sigh, I sink back down into the chair and press my fingers to my nose. When I look back to him, I admit, “I’ve never felt this way about a woman.”
“What way?” Andrew asks, now the one pushing back at me.
A feeling of panic rises within me, because my feelings have been all over the place the last few weeks. Everything is so new and unchartered.
“I think about her all the time,” I tell my best friend, hoping that by releasing the words out into the open, I can at the very least try to make sense of things. “And not just sex. I wonder what she’s fucking watching on TV before she goes to bed, or if she sings in the shower.”
An amused smile slowly creeps onto Andrew’s face, but I ignore it.
“I’m jealous as fuck that douche Jamie sent her flowers. I want to knock the crap out of him again.”
Andrew nods. “Wouldn’t argue with you there.”
“I was jealous of you,” I admit in a low voice, my eyes dropping down to where my hands rest on my knees.
“I know,” Andrew says, and my eyes snap up to him.