Now she let out a growl. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I slid my hands into my pockets and shrugged. “I didn’t have any other choice.”
“Yes, you did,” she snapped. “You could have just not said anything.”
“Titan, you were the one taking the hit to your reputation. It would have affected your working relationship with her.”
“Which never would have happened in the first place if you hadn’t started fucking her.” Now the fire couldn’t be put out, and she was livid. She’d kept her calmness for the first part of the conversation, but all civility was out the window. “Thorn, you can have any other woman in this damn city.”
“Well, I don’t want anyone else.”
As if a bucket of water had been dumped over her head, the blazing fire was immediately snuffed out.
“I understand why you’re upset, and it was a stupid decision on my part. But you accepted my engagement and made me look like a damn idiot to the entire world. I still get strange looks when I go out.”
Her eyes immediately fell in guilt.
“So this makes us even. You fucked up, and now I fucked up. Truce?”
She lowered her hands to her sides, her sigh accompanying the disappearance of anger. “Truce.”
Never thought I’d be happy that she screwed me over in front of the entire world, but now it had paid off. I just cashed in my get-out-of-jail-free card. But that was my one lifeline. It couldn’t have been better sent.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounds like you actually like this woman.”
“I do like her.”
She stepped closer to me, treating me with the softness she showed earlier that day when we designed her wedding dress. “You know what I mean? I’ve never heard you say you like someone. You usually just like her ass or something.”
“I do like Autumn’s ass…but I like everything else too.”
Titan stared at me with that knowing gaze, looking right through me like an X-ray machine. “Is she the real deal?”
“I don’t know, Titan. Right now, all I know is I like being with her, and I want to keep seeing her.”
“Monogamously?” She cocked an eyebrow.
“Yes.”
Her eyebrow relaxed, but her smile widened. “This is a first.”
“I’ll probably get bored with her like I do with everyone else. But for now, I’m happy where I am.”
She returned to her seat on the couch and grabbed her water. “If I could, I’d be having a long drink with you. The water will have to do. So tell me all the details.”
“Come on, I don’t kiss and tell.”
She almost choked on her water when she laughed. “No, all you ever do is kiss and tell.”
“But not in a situation like this. You work with her. It’s inappropriate.”
“Thorn, I’m your best friend. You tell me about all the others.”
“The others are different.”
“Because?”
“I don’t care about them.”
As if she’d just discovered a piece of gold no one else noticed just yet, she smiled. “I guess that’s everything I need to know…”
“Don’t get your hopes up.”
“Too late.”
“Because nothing has changed.”
“Everything has changed. The second you stopped wearing a condom, the second you didn’t confide the details to your best friend, and the second you told me about her was the moment it became different. But different isn’t a bad thing, Thorn. I always hoped you would find someone just like I have. There’s no greater feeling in the world.”
I saw the way they looked at each other almost every day. I saw the unflinching loyalty they had for each other. I saw their love grow as the year passed, their love deepening and never shaking despite the obstacles in their way. Anyone who found that kind of love was very lucky.
But would I be one of them?
“I’m going to give you some advice, and you better take it.”
“I didn’t ask for any,” I countered.
“Too bad, you’re going to listen to me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Advice from a woman who’s been in one relationship her entire life…”
“One phenomenal relationship,” she said. “And this is my advice. Be honest with her.”
“Titan, when am I not honest? I give it so straight it makes people dislike me.”
“Not honest in that way.”
“Then what way?” I finished the rest of my whiskey before I wiped my mouth.
“Be honest about what the way you feel.” She placed her hand over her heart. “Don’t downplay your feelings. Don’t tell her you want to see other people if you don’t. Don’t tell her you aren’t into it just because you’re scared. Put it all out there.”
I looked away and didn’t respond to her statement. Titan wanted the best for me, so she turned optimistic. She didn’t want me to be alone for the rest of my life, not that I wanted to either. “I was actually thinking about asking her something else…”
“What?” Titan asked.
“I was thinking about asking her if she wanted to have the same arrangement you and I had…”
“Why would she agree to that?”
“Because she wants the good stuff that goes with it, but not all the bad.”
“Or you could just try to have something real…”
“And maybe we will…but maybe we could do it in a different way. She’s afraid to get hurt, and I want some security. I’m getting older, and I want to have a partner. What better partner than a woman you’re doing business with. She has a lot to offer, and she would be a great person to join my holdings with. And with kids…she’d make some beautiful ones.”
“I guess I see what you mean.”
“And maybe we’ll fall in love on the way…maybe we won’t. But no matter what, we’ll be left with a relationship based on friendship, trust, and loyalty. And those are things that always last longer than love.”
Chapter Nine
Vincent
The elevator doors opened,
