He gives me a soft kiss on the lips. “So what do you say?”
I don’t even have to think about it. The arrangement sounds perfect. “I’m all in,” I say.
We finish our showers and kiss goodnight before heading to our separate rooms. I crawl into bed, exhausted and elated at the same time. I play back the details of my amazing night over and over in my head until I finally fall asleep.
Five
The next morning everyone is up early and waiting for me downstairs. Winston has a donut for me from the bakery down the street. The others give him shit for not getting them one, too.
“If you had an ass like Anya, I’d get you one too,” he says, goading the others.
“What are you talking about?” Jason says. “I have an incredible ass, look at this thing.” He pulls his pants down, mooning us as he runs to the car.
Trey puts his arm around my shoulder and says, “How does it feel to date five giant children?”
I laugh. “Creepy when you put it like that, but there’s never a dull moment.”
Everyone piles into the SUV. I have a permanent spot in the front seat. There are perks to being the only girl. But before I can open my door and get in, Beck takes me by the hand pulls me to the side away from the others. “How are you feeling this morning?” He keeps asking me that. Is he worried about me?
I face him, stand up on my tip-toes and give him a soft peck on the lip. “I feel wonderful.”
His smile glows from within. “Good. I’m glad we didn’t scare you off. I love having you around.”
“Not a chance. I don’t scare that easily.”
He lets out a quiet chuckle and says, “I noticed.”
“You don’t have to worry about me, Beck. I love being with you guys.”
He seems to relax and looks as if a two-hundred-pound we
ight has just been lifted off his shoulders.
Beck and I get into the car and head to the office.
Once we’re there, it’s business as usual, but things have definitely changed. Each of my new boyfriends will sneak into my office from time to time to steal a kiss or just to say hi. They have completely given up on pretenses. I love it, but it does make it difficult to focus on my job sometimes. I still haven’t come up with the logo for the app yet. All of my ideas feel lackluster. This app will be huge and it needs a special graphic. That’s why these men chose me. They saw my portfolio and decided I was the right person for the job. Even Winston, who was skeptical about having an outsider on his team at first, has put all his confidence in me. Now I need to prove I’m worth the hire.
On my lunch break, I decide to go for a walk to clear my head instead of eating with the others like I normally do. They sit in the break room at the table. I come in to grab my purse off the hook where I keep my things.
“You’re not eating with us today?” Derrick asks.
They give me an odd, almost worried look, and glance at each other. We always eat together.
“Not today, guys. I’m going to take a walk and clear my head.” I hope they don’t think that my wanting to be alone has anything to do with what happened between us last night. To make them feel better I add, “This tech expo we’re supposed to show the app at is coming up quick and I’m just a little nervous. The pressure is making me kind of jumpy. I’m going to go walk off some of this energy.”
They nod, but they don’t look all that convinced. “Be safe,” Trey says.
I nod and leave.
There’s not much of a breeze today. Smog blurs everything with its yellow-grey cast. Traffic is hectic as usual in the city at this time of day, but I like all the noise. It blends into a hum and I’m able to tune out my racing thoughts—the ones that get in the way when I’m trying to concentrate. As I stroll down the street, racking my brain for ideas that just aren’t coming to me, I see a dog park. It’s a good-sized area, fenced off from the sidewalk with signs that say Dog X-ing. Inside the fence there are benches all around and fountains for the dogs to drink. One side of the park is designated for little and old dogs, while the other is wide open for the bigger breeds.
I’ve always been a fan of bigger dogs myself. When I was young, my family had a border collie. His name was Turbo and he was the smartest dog ever. But because he was a herding dog, whenever I had friends over, he would chase us. When I asked my dad why Turbo did that, he said it was because that breed was born to herd. It’s part of his DNA. After that it became a game with me and my friends. We’d clump into a tight group at first, then we would try to scatter, screaming and laughing as my dog would gather us back together again …
An idea hits me suddenly and I say, “Oh my god, that’s it!” so loudly the people sitting on the benches look in my direction. I ignore them, my brain abuzz with how I can turn this new idea into a graphic for the app. Then my mind flashes me the perfect logo for the company. A border collie. That’s exactly what this app is built for, to herd all the apps people use regularly into one space. It’s so perfect I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before now. It’s cute and fun and I’ll design it with bold, eye-catching colors. Like I told the guys, the big tech expo is coming up soon and the new app will be debut there. This idea couldn’t have come at a better time.
I sit on a bench and sketch my idea on a note pad I pull out of my purse. I watch the dogs play for a while longer for inspiration as I compile a full mental preview of all the thing I have in mind for the app.
It starts to hit me that once this app comes together and is sold, that means Derrick, Trey, Jason, Winston, Beck and I will all part ways. Maybe not completely. I’m sure we’ll still get together after this, but my job will be over and I’ll have to get a new one. Depending on where that is, I’ll probably have to move out of the apartment. What they pay me for my part of the app might be enough to buy that house I’ve always dreamed of, but I won’t have the five men in my life who have made me so happy these past few weeks. The thought of leaving them brings a physical pain to my stomach.