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I shrugged. “An intake valve is still an intake valve. Sure, it opens earlier in a race car and is open longer, but the functionality is the same.”
“Stop being sensible,” he grumbled.
“You’re looking for a reason to find fault, just like everyone who has been walking through this door. The reality is, unless JJ comes here and tries to kill someone, or royally fucks up, there isn’t any. The contract was ironclad. Jordan has nothing to do with the business. Plus, JJ hates his dad.”
“Why are you suddenly on his side?”
“I’m not. I hate the whole thing, but it’s done. You can either make the best of it and stand behind your decision, or let everyone else get under your skin.”
Perry groaned. “I want to bury my head and pretend everything is perfect.”
“Perfect doesn’t exist,” Dominic stated. “I know from personal experience.”
“Dom,” Perry whispered.
“Sorry.” Dominic sighed. “My sister is moving out and shit feels a bit out of control. Not just with her but…” He waved his hand between the three of us. “I’m unbalanced. Things are changing. It’s not bad, just taking some getting used to.”
I turned in my chair, leaning toward him. “Hey, nothing has to change with us. We can stay as we were.”
“I couldn’t give up what we have unless it’s what either or both of you want.”
“I don’t want to go back.”
We both glanced over at Perry to get a read on him.
“I don’t have the answers.” He leaned into his chair, rocking it slightly. “Not only is this shit with JJ screwing with everything, but we’re an HR issue for the company. How am I supposed to explain it once it gets out?”
“We don’t tell anyone,” I offered.
“Seriously?” Dominic asked incredulously. “That’s your answer? And how long does that last before one of us slips up? If you think it’s easy for me to keep my hands to myself while you’re literally across the aisle from me, you’re not feeling what I am. Not that I’m about to sit on your lap and grind against you at work, but you get what I mean. We don’t even know what we are.”
Perry braced his arms on the desk. “I brought you two in here to talk about JJ and now we’re on this.”
The two of them were pissing me off. “This?That’s what we’re calling it? First,” I looked at Dominic. “If you think you’re alone in how you feel, then you aren’t paying attention to me because I can barely handle seeing you all day while knowing what you taste like and not being able to sate my need for you. Second.” I swung my gaze to Perry. “I’ve known you a long time and you don’t jump into anything without thinking it through.”
“My dick did a lot of thinking when I was with you two.”
I caught Dominic tense in my peripheral.
“Off the clock, Perry,” I bit out, letting him know we weren’t in work mode right now. “We can’t avoid the fact that we’re combining work and pleasure. It’s a horrible idea, but the line’s already been crossed. I can sit at my desk, walk with you to meetings, travel with you wherever, but I will not let you talk to me and Dom like we’re just here for your pleasure. Yeah, we fucked around. It was amazing. But I need to know right now if that’s all you want from us.”
If Perry decided it was just for sex I… well, I didn’t know what the fuck I’d do. My heart couldn’t handle it. Touching Perry, loving him, only for him to walk away once he got off would tear me to shreds. I knew it would do the same to Dominic. He put on a hell of a front, but my vixen felt deeply.
Perry got up and walked to where his liquor was kept. He didn’t drink excessively. Lately it seemed he needed it to take the edge off. Too much was happening in his life.
He downed a quick gulp of amber liquid then faced us. “I’ve never had a serious relationship. It’d always been work for me. Before that it was college, before that high school. In college, sure, I slept with women, but they didn’t mean anything to me, and I didn’t to them. I’m thirty-nine. I’m fucking old. Pey, you’ve been my best friend forever. And Dom, fuck, I’d be lost without you here. To do what we did again, to make more of it, my head is warning me it’s a bad idea. That it will screw with our work life. But my heart… to even think of you two being in my life now without kissing you, touching you…” He shook his head.
“You didn’t provide any clarity,” I told him.
The night everything went down between us, we all went back to the fortress but to different rooms. I wanted them both in my bed, in my arms. Perry went to his room and closed himself inside. Dominic looked torn and, in the end, I offered him the guest room where he’d slept a few times before when we had late nights working.
The next morning, we slid back into our usual roles. Our encounter was put aside and had been until now. This conversation was overdue.
“I don’t know, okay?” Perry yelled. I was surprised he didn’t throw the empty glass across the room. “I don’t have an answer. I’m dealing with the shit here with JJ. My ET is either scared or ready to walk. Everything is in flux, including us. I can’t process it all.”
Dominic stood. “I’m going to go back to my desk to type the formal letter, but consider this my two-week notice.”
“What?” I asked, standing quickly.
