Double Dealing(59)

"Charani said you've done a lot to try and make things more equitable between you and Francois. Why?"

Felix shrugged. "Despite the differences between us, he's my brother. It's not his fault that he was born a few minutes after me, and he certainly didn't rate the dismissal that my grandfather gave him. He's just as capable as I am, and could have done my job just as well as I have. In some ways better, perhaps."

"How so?" I asked. "He didn't seem nearly as controlled as you last night, and I take it that self control is essential for your line of work."

"It is, but Francois's passion is also his strength. He wants to continue, to prove he’s the best. Me, I'm ready to move on from being a thief, to settle down and find a new chapter to my life."

"Such as?" I asked. Felix fixed me with a meaningful look until I blushed. "Really?"

Felix nodded. "Really. I know, it's only been a few months, but to me, you’re as vital to my life as the very air I breathe, and I could see myself spending the rest of my life with you.”

"Me too," I said without thinking, then stopped, startled. "Wait, did you just ask me to marry you?"

Felix shook his head. "Yes and no. After all, like my father and my mother and her sister, it can’t be done with all three of us. And I won’t do to Francois what was done to his mother. So I guess I have to ask, would you be willing to just live with us, even though we won’t be legally married?”

I didn't even have to think about it. I didn't need a ceremony with a white dress or somebody else to verify the relationship between the three of us. "Yes. Of course I will. But what will Francois think?"

Just then, a loud rumble of a snore, followed by two snorts and a blowing out of air gave us Francois's answer. "I think he likes the idea, but we should double check when he wakes up."



* * *



The bed in the barge wasn't quite large enough, but I didn't care. I was lying under the covers, waiting for Francois and Felix to get cleaned up.

To keep myself warm, I was wearing a large, fluffy cotton bathrobe, wrapped up and my hair brushed out. I hadn't put on any makeup, but I wanted to look beautiful for my men.

My men. I was still getting used to the sound of it, especially after the car conversation Felix and I, and later Francois, had. When he woke up, it took Francois a bit of time to get his head wrapped around the situation, but once he did, he was all for it. The first thing we'd done upon arriving in Paris was stop at a boutique, the boys buying me a bath set while they let me get them some soaps.

"You’ll have a ceremony if you want,” Francois promised me. "Not in a church, like you say, but among our people, among our family."

"All I want is the love of you both," I said, "now let me go freshen up."

After washing and getting ready, Felix and Francois had also gone to clean up, which was why I was lying in the bed waiting for them to come back wrapped in the robe. I heard movement in the other room, and Francois came in, naked as the day he was born, his feet beating a staccato on the floor. "Damn it's cold!"

"You're the one who insisted that wearing slippers would be unsexy," Felix countered behind him. He too was naked, but I had to smile at his practical streak as he was wearing thick slippers on his feet. It was a bit incongruous to see a sexy, muscular man with fuzzy black slippers on his feet wanting to give it to you like no other man could, but that was Felix. They were practical, and he wasn't the one hopping around looking like a wounded puppy. "Who looks unsexy now?"

"How about both of you get on this bed and we won't have to answer that question," I laughed, pulling the blankets on each side of me down to invite them in. "Come on, and if the blankets get kicked off, we can pull them up later. But Francois I swear if you touch me with the soles of your feet before they warm up again, you're not getting inside this bathrobe for a long damn time."

Francois immediately jumped on the bed, keeping his feet discreetly hanging off the edge of the bed and tucking them into the pocket left by the blankets at the foot of the bed. Felix, for his part, walked around to the other side and sat down smoothly, each muscle in his hips and back flexing as he bent over to remove his slippers before spinning and joining me on the other side of me. "Now this I can enjoy for the rest of my life," I said, feeling the warmth from their bodies on each side of me even through the terry cotton. "And I get to, don't I?"

"As long as you want, my love," Felix replied, turning to his side. He cradled his head in one hand while with his other he reached for one of the ties on my bathrobe.