She presses her lips together. “I forgave you a long time ago. I think there was more than enough of us being assholes to go around on all sides.” Isabelle tugs on my hands and I let her guide me to my feet. She gives a tentative smile. “Do you think he’s right and we can really make this work?”
I look at the door. “I wouldn’t bet against anything Beast puts his mind to. If he’s decided we can work, there’s a damn good chance he’s right.”
“I really want him to be right.”
“I do, too.” I squeeze her hands and start for the door. “Let’s go home.”
It’s not until we’re in the car driving back to my apartment that it dawns on me. This won’t be home for much longer. We’re headed back to the proper territory, sooner rather than later if we’re all in agreement in the morning. I had braced for another week and change of uncertainty, so the realization leaves the ground feeling a bit unsteady beneath my feet.
I glance at Beast as he parks. “You didn’t just come up with this plan a few hours ago.”
“No, I didn’t.”
Thought so. I frown harder. “When did you decide that this was what you wanted?”
He gives me a strangely soft smile. It will take some getting used to the man beneath the hard edges. Beast reaches out and drags his thumb over my bottom lip. “Somewhere around the time you had your mouth all over my balls. Or at least that’s when I finally admitted it to myself.”
I grin. I can’t help it. “Liked that, did you?”
“You know I did.” He gifts me with a wider smile. “I like everything the three of us do together when we’re too caught up in fucking to get in our own way. So I decided that none of us needed to choose.”
“Just like that.” I should probably be irritated, but I’m mostly amazed by his audacity. This fucker sees something he wants and goes after it with a single-minded intensity that blows me away. I never thought I’d be one of the things he set his sights on.
“Just like that.” He kisses me, quick and possessive. “I used to hate you, but that saying that hate and love are two sides to the same coin?” He shrugs without moving away. “There’s some truth to it.”
I can barely believe what I’m hearing. My heart is beating too hard, nearly drowning out the rushing in my ears that his words bring. “What the fuck are you saying?”
He grins against my mouth. “I’m saying I love you and your big cock, Gaeton Thibault. It’s not the same as what I feel for Isabelle, but it’s all tied up together the way we are. I love you and I’m keeping you.”
“It’s too fast to feel that shit.”
He finally moves back and gives me a long look. “Take your time with your own feelings, but you don’t get to tell me what I feel.”
Anyone else would seem vulnerable or nervous to start spouting talk of love after less than a week of fucking, but Beast is just … Beast. I stare at him. This isn’t anyone else, and this situation is hardly what someone would consider normal. I’ve known this man nearly a decade, and he’s infuriatingly right in this just like he has been about other things. Now that my anger and hate is gone, there’s a warm feeling in my chest that might be something akin to love. It’s not the same as what I feel for Isabelle, as it is more thorns than roses, but I hold the sensation close all the same. “There’s going to be no living with you if I tell you that I love you, too.”
He kisses me again. “I fuck harder when I’m smug. You’ll learn to enjoy it.”
“You’re infuriating.” I huff out a laugh. “I must have a masochistic streak, because I enjoy the hell out of it.”
He runs his fingers through my hair. “Let’s go up and go to sleep, Gaeton. I figure we can have another couple days before we have to start figuring out the finer details, and I have plans for that big cock of yours in the morning.”
“Not yet.”
He goes still, but it’s Isabelle who answers. “What do you mean?”
“Let’s get upstairs and then Beast has a confession to make.”
She’s frowning as we walk to the elevator, but she holds her peace until the door shuts between us and the rest of the world. Isabelle moves to the couch and perches on it. “Okay, I’m listening. What do you need to confess?”
“Tell Isabelle your fantasy.”
She looks at him sharply. “He did.”
“Not the truthful one.” I can’t stop my smug grin. “You didn’t think his wanting to fuck you on your father’s desk felt a little mundane?”