Page 39 of Come As You Are
It was still early, and none of us needed to get up for a few more hours, so we dozed off again before waking for the day.
Work had definitely gottena bit more complicated since Sebastian, Olivia, and I got together. While everyone seemed to know the instant Sebastian and I hooked up—or at least assumed we had given his reputation—Olivia insisted on keeping everything under wraps for as long as we could. This meant, while I was free to kiss Sebastian—and we sometimes took a moment in a quiet “employees only” corner of the club totease each other to distraction—similar activities with Olivia at work were discouraged.
Shit stirrer that I was, I’ll admit to sneaking up to her office when I was sure no one was looking except Sebastian, who showed up a couple of times with the excuse of needing to talk to Liv. And while Olivia pretended to be pissed off with us, it didn’t take much for her to show us how much she appreciated our attention. I may also have put some extra-seductive moves into my dance routines and persuaded Sebastian to join me again, knowing Olivia would be watching us from her window. I doubted we were truly fooling anyone, but as long as no one talked about it or made it an issue, our secret seemed safe.
We put the idea of planting different rumors for Festus and Andrew to the test, but so far as we could tell, neither had made their way back to Orsino. After a week, the three of us were perplexed because the pageant idea had gotten an immediate response from the Grotto while only crickets greeted the fake events we’d made sure got overheard by our two suspects and no one else.
“Maybe we need to try something different,” Olivia suggested, and while we agreed, neither Sebastian nor I could come up with something we thought Orsino would jump on.
The other interesting development at work was Mal. Maria had continued to leave memos for him, but I noticed something odd: most of her suggestions revolved around his appearance rather than his management style. When I brought it up to Sebastian, he told me Maria was just playing games and to let her have her fun. Since Mal also seemed happy, I figured Sebastian was right.
We kept a tight lid on our prom idea. Conversations and organization happened at Olivia’s house, and while she had to make phone calls at work, she kept any documents in a Google folder that only we three had access to. Given the way I’d startedat Illyria, the trust Olivia put in me was gratifying, and I found I enjoyed event planning a great deal.
The day of the Grotto’s pageant passed with little fanfare, and we barely saw an effect on the crowd that night, much to Olivia’s relief. Maria reported back to us that the whole thing had been rigged with the Grotto’s dancers winning every category.
“The attendance was pretty abysmal,” she said. “And I heard the show itself sucked.”
“Maybe that’s why they didn’t jump on the second idea,” I suggested to Sebastian after Maria headed off to take care of an issue in the dressing room.
“Could be,” Bast said. “They could have been waiting to see how the pageant went before they committed to another event.”
All in all, it was a mystery, but there wasn’t anything we could do about it at the moment. So, just like Maria and her game with Mal, I put it out of my mind as best I could and concentrated on making Illyria’s prom the best thing the Castro had ever seen.
Olivia
As relieved as Iwas that the Grotto’s pageant was a flop, it didn’t take away my anxiety about Illyria’s financial position. Even the preparations for Vee’s prom didn’t help with the lead ball of dread in my guts every time I looked at the club’s spreadsheets.
If it hadn’t been for Sebastian and Vee, I might have raised the white flag and walked away from the whole thing. They were my rocks and cheerleaders whenever I got depressed about Illyria, not to mention how cherished and adored they made me feel when we were together. Until I had a steady supply of hugs and kisses and caresses as well as orgasms, I hadn’t known how desperately I needed them, and I couldn’t imagine only being with one or the other. Vee and Sebastian were so different, and yet so perfectly complementary, and the three of us fit together seamlessly.
We spent most nights together at my house since my bed accommodated the three of us easier than either Sebastian’s or Vee’s. Lying awake between them, I sometimes wondered if I had been waiting for them, or they for me. It certainly seemed as if Vee’s arrival at Illyria had caused something to shift in both Sebastian and me. I was well aware that Bast and I wouldn’t have been possible without Vee because Vee had brought out a side of Sebastian I hadn’t seen before.
I was also beginning to wonder if my reluctance about making our relationship public was unnecessary. It was obvious from the looks the three of us got that most of my senior staff—with the exception of Mal, who seemed oblivious to anything but what was on his tablet—knew something was up between us.
Contemplating that on a Tuesday afternoon as I watched Sebastian getting the bar ready for the evening while Vee practiced a new dance routine Andrew had choreographed for the go-go boys, I decided it might be time to bite the bullet. I left my office and descended to the club.
As usual, Sebastian was focused on the stairs as I emerged. It amazed me to remember how many times he had done that in the past, and how oblivious I had been to the feelings behind his expression. I’d sold Sebastian short by believing his reputation rather than the man my brother insisted he was underneath the playboy image. Now that I knew the truth, I was thankful I got to call him mine.
I crossed the dance floor, Sebastian’s gaze tracking me the whole way, and I shivered at the desire I saw in his eyes. None of us had made any declarations, but I knew that moment was coming. I could feel it welling in my heart as I went to him, drawn by emotions as surely as a carrier pigeon finds home.
“Can I get you anything, Liv?” Sebastian asked as I put my hands on the bar top.
“Yes,” I said, then cleared my throat against the sudden constriction that had rendered my voice small.
“What would you like?” he asked, already grinning at me.
I put my feet on the bar rail and leaned over until I could take hold of Sebastian’s shirt. “You,” I said, then I pulled him toward me and kissed him deeply.
A sigh at my shoulder told me Vee had joined us. Sebastian broke the kiss, and I turned my head to Vee to include him in this moment. Vee laughed as our lips met, a huff of air that brought the taste of him into my mouth as I opened to him, wrapping my arms around his strong shoulders so I could remain balanced on the rail. Vee continued to kiss me as he bent his knees and lifted me onto the bar.
It was my turn to laugh as Sebastian leaned forward, grabbed Vee by the neck and pulled him in. They were beautiful together, and my breath caught as their mouths met. Then they both turned to me. I had not thought it possible to kiss two people at once, but we made it work, the taste of them both combining in my mouth to make a flavor that was uniquely ours. Cinnamon, vanilla, and a rich, earthiness that warmed me and made me feel safe, protected, loved.
I sighed as we broke apart and rested our foreheads together, then cringed at the sound of applause and catcalls.
“About damn time,” Maria called.
“More like blessed time than damned time,” Toby said. “But since when does the heart run on a man’s clock?”
“Especially since one of us isn’t a man,” I called back to them, but I was laughing.
