“Yeah, I guess all I can say is good luck.”
“Thanks. I think I’m going to need it.”
Chapter Fourteen
Reese watched, bemused, as David hopped up off the couch and busied himself with putting away his laptop, pretending he hadn’t just taken a leave of absence from his job.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Mati said.
“I did, actually.”
“Why?” she asked.
David stopped fussing with his computer and faced them. “Because I slept with you.”
“That’s entirely separate,” Reese said.
“No, it’s not.”
Mati cocked her head. “Would you have sex with us if you weren’t also protecting us? If we’d met some other way?”
“In a heartbeat,” David said, a hint of his cocky smile hovering. “But that’s not what I mean.”
“Whatdoyou mean, then?” Reese asked.
“I mean sex is sex. That’s just…it’s sex.”
Reese would have been stung to have what they’d done dismissed so easily, but he got the sense that was the opposite of what David was trying to say. “I still don’t understand.”
“Isleptwith you. Not the sex, the actual sleeping. That’s…different.” David looked pained by the confession.
Reese and Mati shared a long look, then stood and skirted the couch to get to David.
“We liked sleeping with you,” Reese said, for lack of anything better to offer, because he still didn’t understand why this meant David had to quit his job.
“I liked sleeping with you, too, though I know I woke you up.”
“We don’t mind,” Mati said, taking his hand.
“Because you’re weird.”
Reese poked David’s hip. “Because we’re your friends.”
David nodded. “I guess that’s why I had to quit.”
“Because we’re your friends?” Reese asked.
“Yes. When this is over, you two will go back home and, obviously, the sex will stop. But friendship is different.”
Reese smiled, pleased, and kissed David’s cheek. He still didn’t totally understand why he had to stop being paid, but he could accept it. “Okay.”
Mati touched David’s cheek, and he bent so she could kiss him, too. “Okay,” she reiterated. “What do we do now?”
“We’re going to move to my place, if that’s all right with you two.”
“Yes, of course. If you’re sure,” Reese said.
David stroked his hand down Reese’s back. “I’m sure.” His palm wandered farther south, cupping Reese’s left butt cheek and giving it a squeeze. “I have a few things there that we might need, anyway. This will save me another supply run.”
