Chapter 317

We got up, but Cassidy just told me to put on a pair of briefs while she tossed on a loose shirt and a pair of her own shorts then wrapped her hair up in a messy ponytail.

“You, love of my life, stay here,” she said. “Zenya is procrastinating because she’s nervous, and she’s finding excuses. I’m going to go take over whatever she’s doing and send her back here.”

“That’s not really fair, Cass,” I said. “She is allowed to take her time.”

“She’s not taking her time, she’s procrastinating,” Cass insisted. “Seriously. Her mind is made up.”

“OK,” I relented. “I’ll talk with her.”

Cassidy gave me a kiss on the cheek and then slipped out of our cabin.

I had a moment to myself, and after a breath, I had to chuckle and shake my head. ‘Our cabin’ wasn’t going to be ours much longer, and the number of people in ‘our’ had grown significantly over the week. Cattie’s stuff was crammed in with ours, and I could see at least four different pieces of clothing around that were Wanda’s.

Seven women, and Zenya would make eight.

I shook my head and wondered again at how unrealistic all of this felt, and yet how real it was with each of them.

“You OK?” Zenya asked from the doorway, a concerned look on her face.

“Yes, and no,” I said, standing and going to her, wrapping my arms around her waist and kissing her. “Has anyone ever told you that you might be extremely beautiful, and very sexy, and delightfully funny, but you also have an annoying emotional maturity?”

Her expression relaxed into a warm look and a wry smile. “Annoying, huh?”

“Because it’s so admirable,” I said. “Come on.”

I led her back to the bed and I ended up sitting up at the head as she sat between my legs, leaning back against my chest as I hugged her. She took a breath and sighed it out, relaxing. “Cassidy said we should talk now,” she said.

“Mhmm,” I nodded, then kissed the back of her head. Her vibrantly dyed red hair was all I knew her as having, but I could see her with a deep chestnut brown as well and wondered if that was her natural colour. “She demanded that I press you for an answer,” I said. “So here’s what I’m thinking. You have every right to take your time, and I believe that with everything that I am, OK? But I also know that all those compliments I just gave you are things that make me want to just jump off the cliff and take a leap of faith. I haven’t said it because I respect your process, but you know how I’m feeling, and that I feel guilty about the fact that I’m feeling it so much for multiple people. So I’m going to say this one more time, and then you need to give me an answer. It doesn’t need to be Yes, or No. It could be something in the middle. But we need to put a period on this sentence before we start the next one, OK?”

“OK,” she said, placing her hands on mine as I hugged her from behind.

“I think you are absolutely stunning, utterly ravishing, totally funny, extremely cute and so lovable I think I could float on air,” I told her. “I want you in my life, freckles. I want to love you, and hold you, and be your man. And I’ll never hold it against you if everything else is too much for you, but you need to know that if we can’t be romantic partners I’ll still dedicate myself to being your friend because I think your spirit is good for me, and for Cassidy, and for the other women I’m in a relationship with. I want you to be mine, whatever way we can figure that out.”