Cassian

After exiting the conference room, I straighten my tie and smooth my dress shirt. Then I adjust my man-bun. Pen always loves to mess it up.

She's lucky my hair grew back. Not that the haircut was her fault. We were both drunk that night. 

After Penelope and I's little side-show, I feel energized and refreshed. Ready to take on the world. Risk makes everything better. Sex, adrenaline, achievements.

Sex with Penelope.

A smile curves across my lips. I was expecting her to leave me with a severe case of blue balls. Pen doesn't enjoy being inappropriate at work. She wants to uphold a professional reputation. She should know better. Jake and I are far from professional when the women we're in love with are around. And we seem to have that affect on our ladies, too. Yeah, I'm talking about when Jake and Gemma fucked during our camping trip.

Speaking of Jake...

I bump into him.

He stumbles back, catching himself against the wall. He stares at me. Our gazes stay locked until Jake's eyes home in on my wrinkled dress shirt.

A little heat fills my cheeks. My gaze flicks to the ground. There's evidence I just had sex with Pen in the conference room. My lips are swollen. My hair is a mess. I'm sure I smell like her perfume. My outfit is wrinkled. Plus, I can't wipe away my smug grin.

Jake's confused expression dissipates quickly. A crease forms between his brows. He runs a hand through his hair as he groans. "The conference room, really? Cassian. We discussed this."

My smug grin broadens. "Don't speak unless you want to start a war, Jake."

"No more sex during work." His voice is gruff and definite. He crosses his arms, trying to make himself look stronger. "I'm serious, Cassian. What if we'd had a meeting today?" He glances down the hallway. "Did you at least light a candle?"

I suppress a snort. "Then we would've done it earlier. And no, we didn't light a candle. It smells like cleaning supplies in there anyway. Pen was cleaning before we got busy."

"Cassian," he warns.

I make a clucking noise with my tongue. "Don't start a war you can't win, Jakey," I reply in a singsong voice. "Remember the camping trip?"

Jake snorts. "You couldn't hear us."

It's my turn to snort. "Yes, we could. Penelope and I had to hold Olive back. She was about to throttle you and Gemma. Good thing Hanna was already asleep. Otherwise, you would've scarred your sister."

His skin turns pale. Clearing his throat, Jake adjusts the positioning of his tie. "Knock it off, Russell. We have work to do. Is Penelope in the conference room still? The three of us need to have a chat. T-this isn't how a workspace runs."

I raise my eyebrows, biting back a grin. Watching Jake act mature is comical. He's stuttering because he knows I'm telling the truth. Although his hand is loaded, so is mine. I have plenty of stories about Jake that will cause him to cringe with embarrassment. We could spend hours firing stories back and forth.

However, I'm sure Jake wants to avoid that topic. Almost as much as he wants to avoid a review on workspace etiquette. Besides, the last thing Pen wants is for us to have a conversation about workspace etiquette. She'll be mortified. I see no shame in it. We didn't do any damage. Aside from giving in to our emotions, what we did was consensual and passionate.

Raising my hands, I make a "stop" gesture. "Let me get this straight. You want to discuss sex with Penelope and I?" When he nods, I snort. "What will the topics be, Jakey? Who's dick is bigger?"

Jake rolls his eyes. "Point taken, Cassie."

I press my lips together. That goddamned nickname needs to be eliminated from everyone's vocabulary.

Expelling a deep sigh, I say, "We don't need an etiquette review, Jake. It was a onetime thing. There's a red line through it on the bucket list. Let's just pretend this didn't happen, okay?"

Relief saturates his posture. "Fine. But no more sex at work. Swear."

I raise my right hand. "Swearsies."

He rolls his eyes again. "You're so childish."

"Says the one who fucked Gemma during the camping trip," I snort.

Jake throws his hands up in the hair. "Can we please top talking about that?! It was a onetime thing!"

A grin encapsulates my face. The longer I stare at Jake, the more aware he becomes about how much of a hypocrite he is. Jake and Gemma basically announced they were having sex. I'm surprised the cabin wasn't shaking.

"Fuck," he curses. He runs a hand through his hair. "Fine. I'm a hypocrite. We're both done with work sex, right?"

"Right." I give him the thumbs-up. Clapping my buddy on the back, I guide him to our office down the hall. Once we're out of range, I continue with: "Do me a favour and don't say a word to Pen. She'll be mortified if she finds out. I mean, I joked around about it, but yeah..."

"Fine." His voice is gruff, but I detect a hint of sympathy. "Did you lead her on?"

"Maybe a little," I admit. "But I didn't force her into anything. Consent is important. Besides, Pen's explorative with sex. There was this one time..."

Jake snakes his arm around my shoulders and clamps a hand over my mouth. "Nope. I don't want any details. You give way too many in-depth details."

"C'mon, man," I grin. My voice is muffled beneath his hand.

He shakes his head. "Cassian, just stop."

"Fine."

Jake releases his hand from my mouth. When we exchange a glance, we both grin.

"Who would've thought?" Jake asks. "You and me finding someone."

I snort, clapping him on the back. "Please. You fell in love with Gemma the moment you met her." My tone sobers. "You fucked up pretty bad, though."

Jake sighs. "I did, and I'll always regret it, Cassian. What I did was wrong. I'm amazed Gemma gave me another chance."

"Hey. Accountability is the answer to most problems. You went and made things right. Promised the world to Gemma. Not that I can blame you, she certainly is a gem."

"Jesus," Jake mutters. "Your dad jokes are excruciating."

"Says the one who will be a dad soon."

The smile on Jake's face almost makes me cry. He learned the hard way about the consequences of decisions. It was a difficult situation to endure. What he did to Gemma was unexplainable. Unthinkable. I never once justified his actions. Supporting him was difficult sometimes, too. Part of me wanted to leave him behind and tell him to sort his shit out. However, that would've resulted in Hanna suffering from Jake's actions, too. Plus, Jake's saving grace was his regret. Until Gemma stepped back into his life, he regretted his actions, but didn't know how to resolve the lingering issues.

Watching him do that made me proud. Every day, I admire my brother for redeeming himself.

Now, Jake deserves all this happiness. So does Gemma. I'm happy for both of them. And, although I'm not sure where our relationship will go, I hope Pen and I get a taste of the same level of happiness.

Jake pauses at the door of our office. "Could you really hear Gemma and I during the camping trip?"

I snort. "Are you kidding me? Yeah, we could, man. Why do you think I call you two horny teenagers?"

His face blanches. "Dude. I'm being serious."

I cock an eyebrow. "So am I."

His face goes from white to pink, which makes me laugh. I pat him on the shoulder. "You uphold your reputation well, Jakey. Oh, the nicknames Gemma must call you."

He mutters incoherent curse words as I step past him.