the couch and drops on the cushion near Sienna’s feet. “You two are terrible for my blood pressure.”
“The role of younger sisters worldwide.” Sienna sits up a little, her dark eyes alight. “Want to know the results of my algorithm? I was going to email you, but Cordelia had you brought in so this is so much simpler. It’s fascinating really.”
If I let her get going, we won’t be leaving this office for hours. I hold up my hand. “I don’t need the algorithm. I—”
“Choose them both,” Sienna finishes for me. She grins like a kid on Christmas morning at my dumbfounded look. “That’s what you’re going to say, isn’t it? That you’re going to be a delicious little throuple?”
“I …” I motion vaguely at her. “How …”
“I told you.” She looks so smug, I want to hit her in the face with a pillow. “Science and math and a little bit of finesse.”
I shouldn’t ask. I truly shouldn’t. “Your algorithm said I would choose them both?”
“No, don’t be absurd. That wasn’t a possible outcome.” She waves that away. “But every time I ran the information, it came out a little differently, and no matter what tweaks I put into place, the percentages were startlingly close. Either there’s something wrong with my work—highly unlikely, but I can’t ignore the possibility—or the best decision is both.” She stares off into the middle distance. “I do need more information for the components to allow for multiple partners in an accurate way.”
“You terrify me.”
She grins. “Thank you.”
Cordelia narrows her eyes. “You’re choosing them both.”
“Yes.” I take a slow breath. “Things didn’t work how we had them before, and there’s a reason for that. I think they can work now.”
“If you’re wrong, you’re putting the entire territory at risk.”
I know that. The entire territory and my whole heart. I swallow hard. “I’m not wrong.”
She considers me for a long moment and then sighs. “Well, this is going to make things awkward after this morning.” Cordelia lifts her chin. “I’m not apologizing.”
“I doubt anyone expects you to,” Sienna says as she picks up her book. “We all know better.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Hmmm?” She turns a page.
Cordelia looks at Muriel, but her wife is studying the ceiling as if it holds the mysteries of the universe. “You’re all assholes.”
I clear my throat. “They’re coming for dinner tonight, and then they’re staying.” Actually, I don’t know what the plan is for living arrangements, but I have a permanent suite here in the main house, so as Beast said last night, we’ll likely spend half our time here. Or I suppose I’ll talk to the men and see what they think. Because we’re communicating now, and that means we all get an opinion and will work through each complication. The thought makes me giddy. We can actually make this work.
Cordelia looks like she wants to argue, but finally sighs. “I’m not going to say good job at getting them back here, because I think the cost was too high.”
“The cost of my happiness?”
“You don’t know if you’re going to be happy. It’s too new.”
I have to fight not to roll my eyes. “The three of us have known each other for nearly a decade. I dated them separately for two years. We have plenty of foundation, and none of it is new.”
“Fine,” she snaps. “Forgive me for giving a fuck.”
“Consider yourself forgiven,” I snap back. I open my mouth and then burst out laughing. “This is the most ridiculous fight.”
“Only because you’re ridiculous,” she grumbles. Cordelia waves a hand. “If they’re coming to dinner, we’re making a thing of it. A statement.”
I have to fight down a blush thinking about the statement we made last night. “I’ll leave that to you.”
“Go take a nap and get your head on straight. I need you on your A game tonight, Izzy.”
“Consider it done.”
It’s only when I get up to my room and strip out of my borrowed clothes that I have a chance to wonder if this short time of forced distance will be enough for cold logic to set in with the men. It’s easy to agree to a throuple when we’re all naked and fucking. Will it hold up to the cold light of day?
I turn on my shower and walk back into my room. It’s only then that I realize I left my phone at Gaeton’s. I have no way to call them, no way to reassure myself that they still want this, still want me.
If