Wes eyed him intently. “I had an interesting talk with Calder recently,” he said.
“Did you?”
“Mm-hmm. He had a lot of questions about Valentin coming into my relationship with Assa. About what it’s like to have two partners.”
“What did you tell him?”
“The truth. That once we met Valentin, I couldn’t imagine it any other way. Before him, we were two people who were poly but not committed to anyone long-term. That worked too, but it wasn’t as good as it is now.”
“I think you just answered the question you didn’t ask.”
“What question?”
“Whether my loving Assa means there’s less room for me to love you.” Zinn didn’t hesitate to use the L-word. Wes really needed to hear him.
“Doesn’t it? You guys have been so close from the first.”
“No. A fire that is slow to start can burn just as hot as one that lights up instantaneously.”
Zinn kept his hold on Wes’s palm, ensuring the other man couldn’t step away.
“You think Assa and I are close because we both had shit childhoods. But shared circumstances will only get you so far. What truly bonded us was that we had both reached a place where we could let our guards down. Timing matters, Wes. When I met Valentin, I was so sheltered. He was my entry point into the real world, into love. When I met Calder, he was the exact right person to be there for me. Because of his own past, he had the patience to wait for me to trust again. When I met Assa, he understood everything I’d been through, and he knew immediately that I wasn’t a threat to your family. That instant acceptance meant everything. Now, getting to know you better, being able to finally just relax and enjoy the process of slowly learning about someone—you—has been a gift.”
Zinn loved Valentin and Calder. He had for a long time. And his love for Assa had been immediate. With Wes, Zinn loved him, but in many ways, they were still falling for each other. Unhurriedly and solidly. And he planned to enjoy every moment.
“What does this have to do with me telling Calder about being with Valentin?”
“Because you understand that being with the right person at the right time makes all the difference… Before you met Assa, did you know you were poly?”
“I’d suspected since I was a teenager, but it wasn’t until we’d been dating about a year that I brought it up with him.”
“That’s my point,” Zinn said. “You didn’t speak your truth until you met the person who made you feel safe. And I’m betting the reason you never added a permanent partner to your relationship before Valentin is because nothing felt right.”
“No. Not until him.”
“Exactly. Right person. Right time. He was the one who made you believe you could take that next step. And I understand. Valentin’s pretty irresistible,” Zinn teased.
Wes cracked a smile. “You’re pretty irresistible, too. Not many omegas would have this conversation with their former lover’s partner.”
Zinn scoffed. “We are all exactly where we are meant to be. We give each other something we need to move forward—together.” Dropping Wes’s hand, he reached out and touched his hair. “Assa and I might be best friends, but you and I are something too.Something just the two of us. And if you’d come into the den earlier, we would have beensomething just the three of us. Understand?”
Wes sucked in his lips. “I think so.” He stepped closer.
Zinn held his ground, squaring his shoulders.
Wes inched forward until their chests touched. The refrigerator buzzed, steady and low, but Zinn barely heard it above the whooshing in his ears.
“So, you and I are that slow-to-start fire?” Wes rasped.
Zinn’s breath caught in his throat. He nodded tightly.
Wes nosed into Zinn’s neck, above his scent gland. “It’s sugar maple, you said?”
Blood thrummed in Zinn’s veins.Fuck! Wes’s voice was as husky as an alpha’s.
“Yes,” he whispered, his body vibrating.
Wes angled his head up to fix their gazes together. His pupils were blown. “I knew it would be something sweet.”