Page 110 of Better When Shared
Marco sat in one of the leather chairs facing my desk. Juniper had claimed the sofa, her wild curls catching light from the tall windows while she sketched something in the notebook that seemed permanently attached to her hand. They lookedcompletely at home in my sanctuary, like they belonged in this space I'd never shared with anyone outside of business necessity.
The relief that crashed over me was so intense it nearly buckled my knees. They were here. They were waiting for me. Whatever the interview meant, whatever consequences waited in the aftermath, I wouldn't face them alone.
"I thought you'd left." My voice sounded choked, panicked, unhinged.
Marco was out of his chair before I finished speaking, crossing the distance between us with quick strides that spoke of his own urgent need for connection. Juniper abandoned her sketching to launch herself at me with the kind of enthusiasm that made my chest tight with emotion I couldn't name.
"We came straight to you. Are you okay?" Marco murmured, cupping my face in his palms. "You did so well, sweetheart, but we were worried about your panic attacks."
Juniper was already untying my tie, unbuttoning my suit jacket, coaxing me to breathe.
"I'm okay now," I said.
Their arms wrapped around me from both sides, solid warmth that anchored me to the present moment instead of the spiral of anxiety that had been consuming my thoughts.
"We saw," Juniper said against my shoulder, her voice muffled but warm with approval. "And heard every word." "I said too much."
"You were perfect," she insisted.
Perfect. The word hit like absolution, like permission to stop apologizing for choices that had brought me more happiness in the past week than I'd experienced in years. They'd seen my public declaration and come to find me, not to retreat but to move forward together.
"But why didn't you tell us what was happening?" she admonished. "I can't imagine having to face that alone, having to deal with reporters and questions… with your anxiety."
"You both said you had to work today."
Juniper rolled her eyes. "Marco was panicking about whether you wanted to be our boyfriend, and I was sketching ideas for the Bancroft Inn. No actual work got done."
"Hey!" Marco said. "I answered four emails."
"Four emails! All day," she said, winking at me.
I swallowed, my brain replaying one word over and over. "Your boyfriend?"
"Obviously," Juniper said. "And if you do want to be our boyfriend, you need to communicate better. You're used to dealing with everything yourself, but you have us now. You should have told us right away that something was wrong. We're in this too."
"How can you both be so calm about everything?"
Marco grinned. "Juni and I haven't always been the chill, laid-back, awesome couple you see today."
I snorted. "Hard to imagine."
"Okay, we were always kind of chill. But we had a rough patch when we bought the Palm Springs property. Before that, it had been all Portland and Seattle, and things went pretty smoothly." Juniper nodded. "It was easy enough to travel between the two properties, and we still had plenty of time for each other. But the Palm Springs property nearly ripped things apart. One of us had to be managing the renovation, while the other managed two hotels, and it was just too much."
"We never saw each other, never had a free moment," Marco said.
"And we realized our work-life balance sucked," Juniper said, grinning up at me. "You're familiar with that, huh?" I snorted and shook my head, a smile creeping across my lips.
"Anyway, we knew we wanted to save our relationship, so we learned how to balance things, how to communicate what weneed. To hire people who can take on some of the load, and allow us to focus on the things that matter to us."
Juniper stood on her tiptoes and kissed my cheek. "That's you, Tristan. You matter to us. Okay?"
"Okay," I murmured as I held them both tighter, finally understanding that some risks were worth taking, regardless of consequences. "You really want me to be your boyfriend?"
Marco laughed. "Of course! I mean, this is all new, and who knows… It may blow up in our faces in two weeks."
"That happens to us a lot, too," Juniper said. "But I don't think it will this time. I think this will last. And your public statement made me sure of that. The way you refused to apologize, the way you protected our privacy while still claiming us publicly. We both knew right then—this man is ours, and we've got to figure out how to make sure he knows that."
The possessiveness in her voice sent heat racing through my nervous system, made my hands tighten against their backs as I processed what she was really saying.
