“Are you sure?” I’d casually mentionedseveral of the guys I’d dated in the past to my parents and to my friends, sonot mentioning Dare and Scott seemed off.
“There’s nothing wrong with waiting untilwe’re comfortable to tell people. My job is a little bit unconventional, soit’s not really the same as it is for you guys.”
There was probably some truth to what hewas saying. I had no idea what my work would think about me dating two guys,but I had a pretty good idea that Scott’s company would not be pleased. “Maybewe just don’t mention anything at work for a while, but we’ll tell our familyand friends when we’re ready?”
Dare squeezed my thigh again. “That makessense. I don’t need you or Scott to drag me through the halls of your officetelling everyone about me to know that I’m important to you.”
“Scott’s always made it very clear to hiscoworkers that he doesn’t talk about his personal life. I think there are ahandful of his clients that he is a little bit more open with, but for the mostpart, he just says he’s single and leaves it at that. I don’t know what he’sgoing to say now.”
I wasn’t the type of boyfriend who neededto hang all over him to mark my territory, so to speak. “It’s not like peopleare coming on to him left and right at work, so it probably doesn’t matter.”
Dare started to slow the car as we gotready to turn into the parking lot of the movie theater. “I know I need to havethis conversation with Scott too, but I’m not worried. I don’t need him toshout from the rooftops that he belongs to me to be happy. I’m confident in ourrelationship, and that’s the only thing that matters to me.”
As he pulled into a parking space andturned off the car, he unbuckled his seat belt and leaned over to give me ahug. “I just want to make sure that if you start getting upset by something orfrustrated, you’ll tell us. Whether it’s my family or us not being open enoughor even my being too open, if there’s something that’s upsetting you, we needto know before it causes bigger problems.”
Communication.
Dare kept reinforcing that it was the onlyway a relationship like ours would work. From the BDSM dynamics to the factthat there were three of us, he was right. There were too many ways thingscould go wrong if we didn’t talk to one another. “Agreed.”
I wrapped my arms around him and hugged himback. “And we’ll talk about it tonight with Scott so we’re all on the samepage.”
Dare gave me a smile and nodded. “Are youready for the movie? I can’t wait to see if it’s as good as the trailers.”
“Absolutely.” What made everything even betterwas his excitement. There was no guilt that I was dragging him along because Iknew he wanted to see it as much as I did.
I got another quick kiss from Dare beforehe pulled back. “Great. Then let’s go.”
He bounced excitedly out of the car and washalfway around to my side before I’d even gotten one leg out. Laughing, he grabbedmy hand and started pulling me. “If you keep dawdling, we’re going to getterrible seats.”
I shrugged and gave him what I hoped was avery serious expression. “I don’t see what you’re worried about. Nobody everpicks the first row.”
Dare groaned dramatically. “You’ve got tobe kidding, right? The very front row?”
He looked at me like I was an alien.Finally, I burst out laughing. “I should have made you bribe me into sitting inthe back.”
Dare looked relieved. “Thank god, I thoughtI was going to be tortured for the next couple of hours.”
“I wouldn’t call sitting in the fronttorture.” Scott had flat-out refused to sit that close to the screen, but Ididn’t really mind it.
Dare groaned and shook his head.“Absolutely not; I can’t tease you and play with you in the front row.”
The parking lot was full of cars but veryfew people, so I knew no one else could have heard him, but I still looked aroundanyway. Dare just giggled. “Come on, worrywart, it’s time to go have fun.”
I’d have felt more at ease if I’d thoughthe was talking about the movie.
Chapter 9
Dare
“It was great, but Scott would’ve hatedit.” I saw the moment Ryan started to worry about bringing Scott up during ourdate. His mouth tightened, and he glanced down at his food.
“That’s why this works out great from apurely practical standpoint.” I smiled and nudged his foot with mine under thetable. “If someone hates action movies and the other two like them, then theydo it together. I’m sure there will be things you’ll like doing with Scott thatI’d rather stay home than do, or that Scott and I will want to do together andyou don’t.”
Ryan’s posture relaxed, and he leaned backin the seat again. “And hopefully someone likes doing dishes more than theother two so the house is never a disaster.”
That made me chuckle. “The first time Itold my mom I was thinking about dating a couple, that’s exactly what she said.She said she really wasn’t interested in a third, but if they wanted to do the dishes,then she might renegotiate that.”
Ryan laughed. “Your mom sounds awesome.”
