it. But here's something for you to think about. So long as Gabby doesn't know, what harm is there?"
"I'm not going to lie to my daughter!"
"So you told her about Pax?" I tilted my head, making it clear that I knew she hadn't.
Right on cue, she shook her head. "No, I said he'd been over to fix the washer."
"Exactly. And there's no reason Seth can't ask for you to help him with a recipe, or Trent with something else. Lane could show you around. I could very easily take you to a business dinner - and even make sure there's a little business talk included."
"I am not about to date all of you," she told me, sounding horrified.
But that was a little too easy to get around. "Why not?"
"What?"
"Why not?" I asked again. "See, that's what I'm trying to tell you. You're newly single. We're fine with this. Now, I completely understand if you said you weren't going to sleep with all of us - and I'd still try to change your mind - but we're not talking about something so shallow. I'm talking about a woman that myself and every last one of my roommates is very interested in getting to know. To do that, we want to spend just a little bit of time with you."
Once again, her hand came up to rub across her face. It was a cute little habit. "Why are you ok with this?"
The problem was that I couldn't exactly answer that. I couldn't tell her that it was how things were done with my kind. That my betas had given up their lives to gain rank and prestige by helping me, so it was typical for me to share all that I had with them. I couldn't tell her that my mate was just one of the many things that came with that deal, or that Lane was fated to be with her and only her. Right now, she wouldn't understand any of that, but I had to say something. Hopefully, something she could accept.
"Because women like you aren't common. Because I love those guys like my brothers. Because being jealous helps none of us." I lifted my hands, showing I was at a loss. "Because I'd rather you rebounded with a man I know won't take advantage of you, and then fall for me in the end? Might be more than you wanted to hear, but you did ask."
"Ian," she breathed. "Look, I know you're young and successful, and you can't imagine a woman not liking that, but here's the thing. I'm not looking for excitement. I'm looking for commitment. If I date, it's because I'm hoping to find someone willing to settle down."
"Me too." I let those words hang between us for a moment. "I want to get married, have a family, and not lose the one I already have. I want to put everything I have into this place and make a life for all these people, then go home to something comfortable when I'm done. Believe it or not, I want the kind of relationship I remember my parents having when I was little. The kind that was filled with laughter, and I don't have a clue how to make that happen, but I know that doing nothing isn't going to let me meet the woman of my dreams."
"And passing me around your roommates will?" She scoffed at that. "I'm not a party favor."
"Maybe that decade between us is a bigger difference than I thought, because you keep coming back to these ideas of what you're allowed and not allowed to do, and it's bullshit, ok? Pass you around? I'm pretty sure no one tied you up and threw you over his shoulder yesterday. And here's the big shocker. There's nothing wrong with it. I'm sorry, but you need to change that way of thinking before Gabby's the one paying for it."
"Don't you bring my daughter into this," she shot back.
Well, it seemed I just found her weakness, and I was more than willing to use it if that was what she needed. "Elena, I don't know how to break this to you, but if you act like there's a difference between what women are allowed to do in bed and what men are? She'll notice. She probably already has, and I personally don't agree with those sexist notions. And that, my dear, is why I think it's none of my business what you do, or with whom, while