Page 16 of The Arrangement (Executive Suite Secrets #3)

ROME ASHbrIDGE

“Rome, you didn’t have to bring a gift!” Parker exclaimed with a laugh as I strolled through his and Declan’s home.

“This isn’t so much a gift as a duty. As a librarian, it’s my job to supply books to readers, especially the littlest ones.”

Parker accepted the colorful book with the pair of penguins on the front wearing rainbow bow ties. It didn’t hurt to introduce Joy to books that featured two daddies, because that was her reality.

“Holy crap, this is precious!” Parker paged through the book, cooing at the adorable illustrations. He lifted his head and smirked. “Declan told you he’s started reading to Joy every night before bed?”

“He mentioned he was reading the Wall Street Journal to her to put her to sleep,” I replied, following him through the foyer to the lounge where Sebastian, Byron, Declan, and Simon were seated. Pierce was still missing.

Declan and Parker had invited everyone over for dinner since we hadn’t gotten together as a big group in almost three months.

I also hadn’t seen Joy in three months, and she was so big now.

She sat on Declan’s lap, chewing on some colorful toy and watching all the people around her as if they were the most fascinating things in the entire world.

“Look, babe!” Parker said as he crossed the room, holding up the book. Declan’s eyes widened, but the quiet man didn’t give any other indication that he was excited. “Rome brought Joy a gift. You can read it to her tonight.”

“Do you think she’ll like it? I promised to read her an article about convertible bonds tonight.

” I almost thought he was serious, but a brief twitch in the corner of his mouth gave him away.

Parker cackled and bent to give him a loud, smacking kiss, which made Joy shout, as if indignant that her father would hand out kisses and not include her.

Parker grinned and kissed the top of her head full of dark hair.

“Thank you, Rome,” Declan murmured. “I plan to turn one of the bedrooms into a library for Joy. This will help us build the collection.”

I dropped onto the sofa, near Simon, and sighed. “No problem. How old is she now? She looks…bigger to me.”

Sebastian snorted, his arm tightening on Byron’s shoulders as they cuddled together on the love seat. “I’m pretty sure she’s supposed to be getting bigger. It’s how babies work.”

“She’s almost nine months, and getting much faster at crawling,” Parker chimed in.

Declan grunted in agreement. “And reaching things on tables.”

“Franks has been a savior in terms of babyproofing the house and getting all the random things off the tables.” Parker beamed at the tall, slender man in a neat suit as he silently glided into the room. A slight blush touched his cheeks, and it looked as though he were fighting a smile.

“I wish to make sure the Little Princess is safe at all times,” Declan’s home assistant and butler murmured. He paused next to Declan. “Chef Donovan has prepared Miss Joy’s dinner. I thought I would take her for a diaper change first.”

Declan glared at Franks, making Parker laugh. The artist dropped on the arm of the chair where Declan sat and nudged his knee. “Don’t give him that look. We agreed Franks would feed Joy tonight so you can pay attention to your guests. It’s just one night.”

Regardless of what Declan wanted, Joy was already stretching out her arms toward Franks, as if she understood that the tall, lanky man was her gateway to a clean diaper and food. Declan kissed Joy’s cheek and handed her to Franks.

“Thank you, Franks,” Declan mumbled, even though it sounded so grudging.

Parker chuckled, but it turned into a surprised gasp when Declan wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled his new fiancé into his lap. “You’re ridiculous!”

“ Ugh . New couples. You all make me sick,” I grumbled, scrubbing a hand across my face. It wasn’t bad enough that Sebastian had won over the man he’d been pining and whining about for three years, but grumpy, silent Declan had to find the perfect man too? This sucked.

“I think they’re adorable,” Simon offered.

I shifted my glare to him. “You’re young. You haven’t been trying to find that special someone who can stick out a long-term relationship. You—wait, are you seeing someone?”

Simon grinned. “No, I’m in the single club with you, but I’m fine with that.”

A groan escaped me as I rolled my eyes. “Kids. Us old-timers need someone to take care of us.”

Byron snickered. “How old are you, Rome? You can’t be that old.”

“Thirty-four.”

Simon huffed. “Only eight years older than me. You’re not that much of an old man.”

“And he’s not a kid,” Byron pressed.

I waved my hands at them, trying to stop their assault. “Yeah, yeah. I think it’s just seeing you guys all cuddly and disgusting that has me annoyed. I am a pansexual, dedicated dater. You’d think I would have found someone by now. But I keep striking out.”

“Maybe you’d be better served narrowing your field a bit,” Simon advised.

“Eh, I’ve decided to pursue another project.” With a smirk, I nodded toward Sebastian. “I’ve taken a page out of Sebastian’s book and come up with an interesting arrangement, I think.”

“Why does that entire sentence send chills through me?” Byron shuddered against his lover.

Sebastian’s brow furrowed. “A page out of my book? What do you mean?”

I shifted to the edge of my seat, leaned forward, and rested my elbows on my knees as I told them about my interesting encounters with Liam and some highlights from my past with the asshole before launching into my wicked plan of tormenting him over a series of dates.

“That is not like my plan at all. My goal was never to torment Byron,” Sebastian growled. He turned his head and kissed the top of Byron’s head.

“I can’t say I’m a fan of this plan,” Byron murmured. “Pierce had mentioned something about you running into an old childhood friend when we saw him last week. I think you should have taken his advice and stayed away.”

“Screw that!” Parker laughed. My gaze snapped to him to find him grinning.

He placed a kiss on one of Declan’s hands and returned to his perch on the arm of the chair.

“I say if Rome is going to make a donation to the museum, which will inevitably save this dick’s job, he should get something out of it. ”

“You mean other than the knowledge that he’s helping to save and support an institution that serves to educate both children and adults in the area?” Declan chimed in.

Parker groaned. “Yes, yes. Other than that. I’ve got a few exes I wouldn’t piss on if they were on fire. If I felt compelled to do something they would end up benefitting from—even indirectly—I’d need something to wash the bitter taste out of my mouth.”

“Besides, it’s not like Rome is saying he’s going to make this guy do anything illegal,” Simon added. The younger man narrowed his eyes at me and lifted one eyebrow. “You’re not, right?”

“No! Of course not. I won’t ask him to do anything illegal or anything that could jeopardize his job. It’s just pissing him off. Forcing him to do something he finds distasteful—namely, ‘dating’ a man. Especially ‘dating’ me.”

“But are you sure he’s homophobic? Couldn’t it be a misunderstanding?” Byron inquired.

“Not to mention, it’s been twenty years,” Sebastian added. “People do change, particularly from their childhood.”

“Yeah, I know. I mean, he’s not said anything specifically to make me think he is homophobic now, but he also hasn’t said a single word of apology for what happened. Not even tried to explain why he stabbed me in the back and never talked to me again.”

Declan grunted. “Did you ask him?”

I reclined on the sofa, frowning. “Not…really.”

Okay, so maybe I wanted an apology and an explanation, but I was also scared to go poking around for one because I was afraid to discover that he wouldn’t give me one and he was as horrible as I thought he was.

There was some safety in existing in this gray area of ignorance that I wasn’t entirely ready to give up.

In this gray zone, I could still hope that this was all a misunderstanding, and somewhere under all his geeky awkwardness, he was the friend I’d adored for years.

“We’ve had one date and have four more to go. It wasn’t painful for either of us,” I pointed out.

“What did you do for your date?” Simon shifted on the sofa, putting one leg on the cushion as he turned toward me, leaning against the arm.

He was dressed in a slouchy dark blue sweater and a pair of tan slacks, still appearing so much like a college student and not what I’d expect of a professional and celebrated concert violinist. Not that I had even the faintest clue what one of them would look like.

“Liam took me to this place that has vintage pinball machines and other classic video games. Even Skee-ball. We ate pizza and played video games. Talked a lot of trash.”

Parker snorted. “Sounds like you had a great time. How about your date? He have fun?”

“I think he did. He laughed and seemed to loosen up.” A slow, wicked smirk twisted across my lips. “At least he did until I pretended I was going to kiss him good night. He almost fell out of his car trying to get away from me.”

Parker cackled like a loon while Sebastian and Byron groaned.

“I think maybe you should trade in one of your dates for some answers about what happened all those years ago,” Simon suggested.

“You think?”

He nodded. “Torture can be nice, but I think you might be more fulfilled if you can walk away with some answers about what happened that day when you were kids. Good news or bad news, at least you’ll have that knowledge. And if it’s bad news, you know you’ll never have to see him again.”

Simon made a pretty good point. Maybe I could argue for that to be our last date. Just sit down and talk about what happened. Try to keep an open mind. Not walk in full of anger. At least, I’d try not to. That was easier said than done.