“You ready for this?” he asks, tucking my wet hair behind my ear. “Because the second we leave this apartment, there’s no end to the shit we’ll get from our friends.”
I scrunch up my nose. “On second thought, maybe we should just go back to bed.”
“To be fair, I have said that several times now.”
“Come on, I’m sure they’re dying to know who you’ve been up here with all this time,” I say, and steel my nerves.We are never going to live this down.
My cheeks burn as we walk down the stairs, and the second we step onto the parlor floor a round of slow clapping begins. I turn and face the guys, who all seem to be giving us a standing ovation at their stations. I shake my head and then take a bow.
“’Bout fuckin’ time, darlin’,” Santa says as Logan lets off the loudest wolf whistle known to man. I’m sure he just deafened his client, who sits impatiently in his chair, glaring at him.
“About damn time,” Tommy agrees, winking at me.
I roll my eyes and address the room. “Thank you, thank you. We’re pleased to announce we finally had sex, and it blew our minds.”
“I bet that wasn’t the only thing getting blown,” Logan says, and Santa slaps him upside the head.
“Ow!”
“Moron,” Santa mutters.
“Jesus.” Gabe scrubs a hand over his face.
“I gotta go, but I’ll see you later?” I stand on tiptoes to kiss his cheek, but Gabe captures my face between his palms and plants one on my lips. I go all spaghetti-legged and his hand leaves my face and wraps tightly around my middle, pulling me close. Another round of applause breaks out, and Tommy shouts, “Get a goddamn room. This is a place of business.”
I smile against Gabe’s lips, but I don’t pull away because I’m finally kissing my best friend, and I don’t ever want to stop.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Lo
“Does your boss always look at you like he wants to bend you over the counter and screw you right there?” Clem asks. I frown at her over the bar and wrinkle my nose. I didn’t have time for the third degree she wanted to give me when I walked into the apartment earlier, so she followed me to work and has been sitting at the bar ever since.
“He does not look at me like that.”
“Ah, girlfriend, you may need to get your eyes checked.”
I shrug it off. “Never gonna happen. Now, can we please focus on the fact that I just slept with my best friend?”
“What is there to focus on? You two finally got over your bullshit and fucked, like we all knew you would.”
“Can you not be the least bit happy for me? I’ve never experienced anything like sex with Gabe.”
“Ah-huh. Not even with Mace’s Jacob’s ladder?”
“This was different.”
“Yeah, because you actually love Gabe.”
“Hey, I loved Mace too.”
“Just not enough to ask him to stay.”
I sigh impatiently and sip her margarita before handing it to her. “I really did love Mace.”
“But you loved Gabe more.” Clem looks about the room, zeroing in on Art as he talks to Chef. “Well, if you don’t want him, can I have him?”
“Mace?”