“Oh yeah. And it turns out the partners at my firm are living the poly life, too.” Cooper grinned, loving their shocked reactions. He set Andi carefully on the ground and explained exactly what had happened.
“I so want to meet them.” Andi smiled at him. “Can we please go sailing with them?”
The rest of the guys nodded or shrugged. Cooper agreed, “Sounds good to me.”
“In that case…” Reed met each of their gazes, relief shining from his eyes. “Let’s fucking celebrate.”
Key word…fucking.
Andi was down for that. After spending the entire day in a ball of coiled nerves, she needed an outlet for all that energy. As one, they headed for her room, the one with the gigantic bed.
When they’d gotten there, Cooper paused, his hands hovering over the buttons of his dress shirt. “I guess I want to say one more thing first, before we erase how we all felt this morning from our memories.”
Uh oh.He had his serious face on again.
“What’s that?” Andi asked.
“There isn’t a way to express how I feel about you. I mean, I love you. Of course I do. But that doesn’t seem like enough. If we were in a traditional relationship, I’d have popped the question by now. You know that, right?” He grimaced.
Wow, she’d never really thought of it like that. She imagined how he might propose, and for a moment felt a twinge of sadness that they’d never have that experience to share with their kids or grandkids. Aw, hell, would she even ever have kids?
She was still young enough, involved in pursuing first her degree and now her career, that she hadn’t thought much about it. Maybe she should, before they finished this discussion and while they were still actively planning their future together.
“It’s funny you say that.” Reed turned to Cooper and put his hand on the other guy’s shoulder. “Hang on.”
Reed jogged from Andi’s room to the one he sometimes used when he needed his own space. She heard him sprinting down the hall and back in a matter of seconds.
“What is he doing?” she asked Simon and Cooper, who looked every bit as baffled as she felt.
They didn’t have to wait long to find out. He came back in a rush, holding something.
Reed cracked open a worn leather box. It wasn’t something fresh from a jewelry store, new and perfect. It was something older and more…well loved…than that. He sank to the floor on one knee as he held it out toward her.
Cooper and Simon came closer for a better look.
“Well, are you going to kneel, too, or leave me hanging down here?” Reed asked the other guys even as he used his free arm to elbow the back of Simon’s knee. “This is what we want, right?”
“Hell yes.” Simon dropped to the ground hard enough he’d probably have to treat himself for a sprain later.
Cooper was more graceful, as always. Fluid and somber as he joined the other guys.
Andi covered her mouth with her fingers as her vision wobbled. A sheen of tears distorted their handsome faces for a moment before she blinked them away. After all, she didn’t want to miss a moment of what came next.
“I’ve been meaning to talk to the guys about this for a while, but I don’t need to anymore. I know how we all feel and I’m ready to make it official. I mean, as official as we can. This is my grandmother’s engagement ring. I know it’s not big or flashy—”
“It’s gorgeous.” Andi leaned in for a closer look. The darkened gold was delicate, a filigree surrounding a just-right-sized diamond. She’d never given a thought to what a wedding ring might look like on her finger. But the moment she saw the antique nestled in that jewelry box, she knew that if she had her pick of any one in the world, this would be the one she chose.
“It’s also yours.” He plucked it from the velvet cushion and held it out toward her. “If you want to wear it, I hope you know that it’s a gift not only from me, but from all three of us.”
Cooper and Simon nodded as Reed spoke.
“Today showed me a lot of things,” Reed said. “One of them is that we’re already fucked.”
“That’s the worst proposal I’ve ever heard.” Simon shoved Reed, knocking him into Cooper. “What the hell are you saying?”
Cooper steadied Reed and glared at him, though he gave him a chance to finish his thought.
“We’re already madly in love. That means somehow, sometime, we’re going to get hurt by loss. But I want to make sure that it’s when we’re old as shit and dusty rather than anytime soon. And hopefully I’ll go first.” He looked between Cooper and Simon, then up at Andi. “Will you spend the rest of your life with us?”