Page 60 of Gym With Benefits

“Right.” Hunter cleared his throat. “Well. You learn something every day, I guess.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, elbowing David hard enough to make him groan. “He’s on meds but took the wrong dose again.”

Hunter looked uncertainly from me to David, not sure whether I was kidding or not, and way too polite to take a guess. “I need the restroom. Excuse me.”

The second he left our orbit, I spun round and smacked David on the arm. “Are you kidding me?”

“What’s with the violence, Seymore?”

“You grabbed his boob,” I hissed, glancing around to make sure nobody was listening. When I looked at him again, his lips were tightly pursed, holding back his laughter. Which only made it worse. “This is technically our first date, and you grabbed. his. Boob.”

“Wasn’t the whole point of this to see how he holds up?” His expression was plain and simple innocence. I was the unreasonable one in this scenario. “If the man can withstand me, then he’ll be deemed worthy.”

“You need to worry about withstanding me.”

“Okay, okay, but seriously…” David’s hand clamped onto my wrist, and he dragged me across the floor past a decorative column, out onto the stone balcony.

The cold night air hit my bare back, a welcome shock to my system after the suffocating humidity of the atrium. David looked out over the illuminated expanse of the National Mall before turning to face me.

“What are we doing out here?”

“You’re about to tell me how you landed that man,” he said with a hint of scandal in his tone. “The tux, the hair, the height. And that chest? The man has the muscle density of a solid marble statue. I almost passed out when I grabbed him. It would’ve been so humiliating.”

“Sure, that would’ve been the humiliating part.”

“I know the night’s young,” he said, ignoring me, “but so far he’s passed with flying colors."

“Not your call to make.” I rubbed my arms to fight off the chill, although his gushing warmed me up on the inside. It was fun not being the only one.

“He's gorgeous.”

“They both are,” I clarified. “That’s what makes this so hard.”

He sighed and looked back out into the night, as if contemplating one of the universe’s most baffling questions. “Honestly, it's a pity you can't take them both. No, not a pity, a tragedy.”

I looked at the dark silhouette of the Washington Monument, the cheap champagne souring in my stomach as the secret burned a hole through my resolve. “I slept with Dane.”

David’s perfect posture collapsed into a slouch as his jaw hit the ground. “You what?”

“In his truck. A Ford Bronco. It changed my life.” The admission tumbled out of me like loose change. “So it’s not two of them, David. It’s three.”

He stared at me, truly speechless for the first time in his life, probably.

“Say something,” I pleaded. “Or slap me. Just… do something.”

“I’m not slapping you,” he laughed softly. “But I am gonna tell you not to overthink this. There’s nothing wrong with being attached to three men at the same time. It’ll take some finesse, but I believe in you.”

“Finesse, huh? Is that what they’re calling it these days?”

He put his arm around my shoulders to help stave off the goosebumps. “Much to learn, you have, young padawan. Teach you, I will.”

“That scares me more than this whole thing blowing up in my face.”

But the guilt evaporated, replaced by an exhilarating confidence. I was going to date all three of them, and they were just going to have to deal with it.

22

Jess