She gets pink on her cheeks, and I’m feeling a round two coming on. And then it hits me how much has changed in the last couple of months. “You guys, are we really doing this?”

“It’s going to be weird sometimes. We have to really want to make this work or public opinion is going to get to us,” Penelope says.

Fletch cups my jaw. “We start by not pretending at parties or in public that Penelope and I are dating and you’re just our friend. I’m not excluding you like that anymore. It fucking hurt me to do it—I’m sure it felt worse for you.”

“You guys are going to be patient with me though, right? Never having a relationship before makes it tough—but realizing I’m bisexual too—I might backslide once in a while. Don’t let me slide too far.”

“I’ve never had a relationship before either,” Penelope says. “Finding out my two boyfriends are bisexual is actually the best thing that ever happened to me, I think.”

Fletch sees the nagging doubts in my eyes. “We’ll take it slow, man. We don’t have to rush into anything. We have time to get used to all the changes, let them happen naturally.”

“Yeah, okay. Slow, natural. We don’t need to add any new tricks to our sex life until we’re ready.”

“Agreed.”

“But you guys can kiss though, right? I really want to see you kissing.”

Fletch still has his hand on my jaw, so it doesn’t take much for him to capture my mouth under his and just fucking take my breath away.

“Open to me, baby,” he demands.

And so I do and he dives in, sucking my tongue like he’s been hungry for me forever. I lose myself in the kiss. I also start losing the parts of me that I’m better off without. I lose the doubt, and the fear, and the angst, and the drama. What he takes away, he replaces with more than I ever thought I’d have. Security, love, faith, hope. And a hard dick from making out with a dude.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Two weeks later

“What’s all this?” Fletch asks taking in the entire Christmas decoration section from Target now spread across our living room.

“This is Christmas,” I answer.

“We’re leaving tomorrow. Why are you decorating today?”

“I’m glad you asked me that.” I nudge a box with my foot in his direction. “I need you to put this together.”

I love the way his forehead wrinkles when he thinks I’m being ridiculous. I love the way he shakes his head like “whatever” and then starts opening the box and doing what I ask even if he doesn’t understand why.