“I don’t think we can count painting rooms as a date,” River said.
“Sure we can. First, I took you out for breakfast, and then we kissed.”
We exchanged a look and smiled.
“Fuck me, this is serious,” Noah said.
I stared at him. “What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “Look, I can’t profess to say I know what it’s like to be a late bloomer because we all know I so wasn’t.”
Lior snorted.
Noah hit his chest lightly before continuing, “But you guys have always been super close. Like more than best friends are. It was only a matter of time until all the parts of your body caught up. And for once, I don’t mean your dick.”
“I really didn’t know, you know?” I said, and they all gave me understanding smiles. “It was like one day we were friends, and the next, I was checking out his ass and having all these other thoughts.”
“Aww, baby, you’re so romantic,” River joked.
“Wait up, when did it happen? Because…you know…the wedding,” Lex said.
My hand paused on the way to adding a couple of pancakes to my plate.
Even though my non-wedding day turned out to be a blessing, I still couldn’t shake off everything that had happened. Having to tell everyone I knew, and then the radio silence from Victoria. It was still a sore point.
“The honeymoon,” I muttered.
Lex gasped. “So, all the jokes we made…”
I shook my head. “Nothing happened for a few weeks. That was just when I started paying attention.”
“Anyway,” River said, changing the subject. “What did you come here for? I know it wasn’t to catch us in bed, and it can’t be all about our dinner with David Lima and his husband.”
“We pulled some strings, so Drew and West’s fundraiser auction is in two weeks. We have a lot of work to do, so we’re skipping Sunday lunch and going to the office. We’ll get takeout later. We were coming to pick you up.”
I laughed. “All those things could have been conveyed via text.”
“Yeah, but we wanted to ask you about David Lima.”
We shared all the gossip until River had to go to work and I had to leave with my brothers, Emery, and Lior to go to the office where West would meet us since Drew was also working.
“See you later, boyfriend,” I said, tasting the word in my mouth, and fuck if it didn’t feel right.
River stared at me in shock. “Adam…”
“It doesn’t have to be that now, River, but I’d like it to be at some point.”
He pulled me into his arms and kissed me hard. “See you later, boyfriend.”
The catcalls from my brothers as we kissed were totally unnecessary, but I wouldn’t deny it felt good to have approval from the people who mattered the most to me.
It felt damn good. Now, all I needed was to convince them to not put me up for auction at the fundraiser because there was no way I wanted to give up any of my future free time to anyone who wasn’t River.
29
RIVER
Iadjusted the platters of hors d’oeuvres, more to keep busy than the need to ensure each display was perfect. They already were, thanks to my team. While Fir and the chef kept Lusitana open tonight, the sous chef and a team of agency servers were with me at the Star Finders Foundation Charity Auction and Gala.
