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“I’m proud of you, Nat.”
“Oh, please.”
“I’m serious, woman.” Moira bumps her speed down and lays a hand on my arm. “Look, I know you don’t like to talk about it, but Nic?—”
“Nope.”
“Natalie.”
“Moira.”
“Hey, I have held my tongue about this, and after this conversation, I will hold it again,” says Moira, pointing right at me. “But you have had feelings for that man for months.”
I try to protest, but she keeps right on talking over me.
“Months. I know I tease you about him sometimes, but I really do understand why you keep that shit to yourself. But you can’t lie to me, and it is my sacred duty as your best friend to make sure you’re not lying to yourself.”
I frown. “I’m not lying to you.”
“No, you just shut me down as soon as I try to bring it up. And I get it! That’s what I’m trying to say here. I understand why you do it. This date with the new guy is such a big deal. So don’t roll your eyes when I tell you I’m proud of you because I mean it. And I will smack you if I have to.”
Moira can be a bit bloodthirsty. We walk in relative silence for a bit, gym noises at a minimum today because we’re the only ones in here right now. It’s my favorite time to be here—nobody’s around to see me sweat.
“I shouldn’t want them both.”
“There’s no should or shouldn’t here,” says Moira. “You’ve found two guys who flip your switch, and high time, too, as far as I’m concerned. You deserve it. There’s no should when it comes to attraction, so don’t beat yourself up about it. Just enjoy it. Hell, I’m jealous.” She laughs.
“Isn’t it… I don’t know, disrespectful or something?”
“To be attracted to multiple men? No. That’s biology at work, my sweet summer child. Why should that bother you?”
I fiddle with the controls on the treadmill display. “I don’t know.”
“Look, focus on facts. Finn asked you out, yes?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re into him?”
I remember the rush of heat I’d felt just looking at the man’s hands. Hands, for God’s sake.
“I’ll take the blushing as a yes,” she says, glee in her eyes. “And we’ve covered the Nic issue, but even so. Honestly, girl, if I were you, I’d be dating them both.”
Only the handrails keep me from riding the belt right off the machine.
“Moira.”
“What? I said date.” She gives me the side-eye, the glee in her expression lighting up all over again. “You thought I meant sleep with them. Natalie Ann Casteel, I am shocked. Shocked, I tell you.”
“I did not?—”
“You absolutely did, and I am here for it. Date them both, sure, but a threesome would be even better.”
My face has to be flaming red. “That is not what I meant!”
“Maybe not,” she concedes, backing off. She pats my arm and turns her gaze back to the windows in front of us. “But it’s fun to dream.”
I bump up the machine’s speed to a jog, then to a run. Anything to stave off any more conversation in that direction, even cardio.
