Page 79 of The Freeuse Proposal

When I pull back, his expression is soft. This is his expression reserved just for me.

“You’re back for good,” I say. It’s not a question.

“For good,” he repeats, and a burst of happiness deep in my stomach makes me giggle.

We spend the afternoon unpacking. Which mostly means Leo gives unsolicited opinions about where everything should go, Dane ignores him with the patience of a man who’s been dealingwith Leo for twenty-five years, and I sit on Dane’s new office floor surrounded by books.

“You own more books than furniture,” I say, pulling a worn book from a box.

“Furniture is temporary.” Dane takes the book from my hands. His fingers brush mine, and the contact zips straight through me. “Books are the only things I kept from every apartment.”

Leo chuckles. “He showed up at college with two duffel bags and a box of paperbacks. Some things don’t change.”

“And you showed up with a kilt and an ego the size of Edinburgh Castle.” Dane doesn’t look up from the box he’s sorting. “Some things really don’t change.”

I laugh, finally relaxed for the first time in weeks.

After dinner—Leo made paella, belting out some ridiculous sea shanty the whole time while Dane chopped vegetables—we end up on the couch. I’m tucked between them. Leo on my left, arm slung across my shoulders. Dane on my right, his hand resting on my thigh.

I’m sandwiched between two stupidly attractive men. I’ve got paint in my hair and a studio upstairs and a life that doesn’t make any kind of sense.

I’ve never been happier.

I’m also not on the pill anymore.

Now that Dane is here, it’s time to start trying for real.

I give them both a long look. They’re watching me the way they always do, like I’m the center of their universe.

I grin. “Now, Sirs, it’s time to take your freeuse slut to bed and breed her for real.”

Leo’s laugh is a rumble I feel deep in my core, while Dane’s mouth curves into that slow, devastating smile.

They don’t have to be told twice.

The End