by C. M. Albert
Brighton
“PLEASE TELL ME you aren’t serious.” Paige gaped at me from across the table at the Crown and Feather tavern. It was the same bar where Ryan first dropped the bomb on me that he wanted me to join him and Olivia in bed. I supposed to my sister, the news I just dropped on her felt just as heavy, but she had no idea.
“Brighton, I think you need to think this through a little while longer. This is crazy.”
“Is it though?”
Her phone rang, interrupting us. She rolled her eyes. “Yes, it is,” she hissed before answering in her sweeter, more professional tone reserved for clients.
The food arrived while she was talking, the savory scent of beef and gravy making my stomach rumble. I didn’t wait for Paige to finish her call to dig in. If it were anyone else, I would have. I liked the steady noises that created the atmosphere in here. I’d been several times since working on my uncle’s place and left full and content every time. The owner, Alan, often stopped by our table to shoot the breeze and ask how the house was coming along. He’d raised his family on West Liberty Street once upon a time, so it was fun hearing how much things had changed, or not, over the years.
My sister finally hung up and immediately shot daggers at me. “That was another potential buyer, Brighton. For Uncle Isaiah’s house. The woman and her husband want to make an all-cash offer today—even though I told her it wasn’t back on the market quite yet. They have three small children. It would be a family home again. I can’t think of anything better than that, can you?”
“Why didn’t you just tell them it was no longer for sale? I literally just told you I was buying it myself. I wasn’t kidding, Paige.”
“Why would I do that, Brighton? You’re all over the place. You only asked me to put it on hold a few days ago. And even though you think you want to buy it for yourself, it’s a bad idea. We can’t afford to turn away an offer like this while you play house with the neighbor’s wife. What happens when she grows bored of you and you’re stuck living next door? Are you really willing to uproot your entire life for someone you’ve known for only a few short months? I’m sorry, but you need to get your shit together.”
I set my fork down slowly and wiped my mouth with the cloth napkin that was on my lap. “Paige, you’re my sister, which is why I’m not going to go off on you right now. You may think you’re wiser, simply because you’re older, but you have no idea what my life has been like, or why I’m making the decisions I am right now.”
“Then tell me!”
“That’s what I was trying to do before you interrupted our lunch with a business call.”
She sighed, picking up her fork to poke at her tavern salad. “You don’t get what it’s like to work in this business at all. I can’t just ignore a phone call. It’s how you lose customers.”
“Are you happy though? I mean, really happy? Every time I see you, you’re glued to your phone, at your clients’ beck and call 24–7. Have you ever asked yourself what you’re doing it all for?”
“What it’s for is to pay the bills, Brighton. It’s so the boys can take the ice hockey lessons they want. It’s so Vic can retire from the force before he’s sixty-two. Some of us didn’t luck out and become millionaires before they were thirty.”
I sat back and folded my arms over my chest. I simply was not doing this today with Paige. I loved her dearly, but I had more important things to do, and I wanted to get home to Olivia.
“For the record, it wasn’t luck. I worked my ass off to get where I am. But you know what? I’d rather be happy than have all the money in the goddamn world. And guess what? I’ve never been happier than I am when I’m with her. Ryan, too, for that matter. It would be nice if you could be excited for me and be on my side.”
“I just don’t get it. You’re my brother, and I will always love you and be on your side, but I feel like there’s something I’m missing. And it’s hard to support you when I have no idea what’s really going on.”
I took a deep breath. She was family. I was about to have a baby. It was about so much more than just a house. I knew if I wanted my family’s support, I’d need to come clean about everything sooner or later. I’d chosen an unconventional path for myself over the last few months. And what started out as a fluke request from a new friend quickly grew into a life I never saw coming. But now, there was no way I could walk away from it.
And thanks to Ryan’s change of heart, I wouldn’t have to.
“I’m gonna tell you straight up—you are not going to like this, and you’re not going to understand any of it. But I need you to reserve your criticism and judgment because this is my life we’re talking about, and I’m happier than I’ve ever been. Okay?”
Paige narrowed her gaze, searching my eyes. When she realized I wasn’t playing around, she nodded for me to continue. So, I told her everything—well, almost everything. I told her the important pieces she needed to know for her to understand why selling Uncle Isaiah’s house to anyone other than me was nonnegotiable.
“It may not be the family home you were envisioning it could be again, but there will be love in it. There is already,” I said, thinking of the way Olivia looked as she helped me install the wallpaper in the dining room as we danced to “Here Comes the Sun.” Or the care she’d put into hand selecting every drawer pull, every light fixture, and every doorknob to restore its former glory. Even the antler chandelier was growing on me.
It was where she first told me she loved me, without being able to say those exact words out loud. But, tulips.
Paige reached across the table for my hand. “I didn’t know you were going through all this, Brighton. Or how much you were still grieving for Sam.”
“How could you? We hardly see each other anymore.”
“I’m sorry about that. I’ll try to get better. Vic’s on my ass all the time, telling me I’m a workaholic.”
“I miss you, too. And the boys. I haven’t seen them play in forever. And I want them to get to know my child.”
“Oh, Brighton. What if it ends up not being yours?”
“It’s already mine, Paige. That’s what you’re not getting. The three of us—we’re a unit now. We’ll figure out a way to make this work, one way or another. We already tried walking away from it once—and it damn near destroyed us all.”
“Are you sure it’s really about more than just the sex? I can see how that could become alluring and addictive.”
“It may’ve started out that way. I’m not going to deny that. I was falling for Olivia before anything ever happened—even though I wouldn’t have acted on it because of Ryan. So, yeah. When he goes and offers her up on a silver platter, do you think I could really say no? I’m a nice guy, but I’m not a saint. I thought maybe we would have that one night together, and that maybe it would help purge her from my system.”
“Why didn’t you walk away then, Brighton? Before it got so complicated?”
“It was already complicated the minute I opened my front door and came face-to-face with her, Paige. You may not get it—being with Vic all these years. But there was always a connection between us, even from that first moment. I couldn’t help but fall head over heels for the woman.”
I shook my head. Maybe my sister was right. Maybe I was being selfish and should’ve walked away after that first night we were all intimate together. I’d already known by then that I’d caught feelings for her. But the truth was, I didn’t want to. It wasn’t just Olivia who had already worked her way into my heart. They both had. And together, they created a soft place for me to land. The first place that had felt like home since losing Sam.
So, yeah. It was about way more than just sex.
“You think she’s your soul mate, then?” Paige asked.
“No. I think they are.”
Chapter Fifteen
Ryan
OLIVIA WAS NAPPING when the back door opened. “In here,” I called out to Brighton. I knew it was him by the sound of his boots hitting the floor as
he shook them off and the soft padding of his socks across the hardwoods as he made his way to the guestroom. He found me sitting on the bed, going through Laelynn’s things that Olivia kept in the trunk at the end of the bed. The one Brighton made for us.
“Hey,” he said, jamming his hands in his pockets. “Where’s Liv?”
“Napping. She had a busy morning working with a new client.”
A grin slid across his handsome face easily, his green eyes bright with happiness for her. He reclined on the other side of the bed from me, making himself comfortable.
“A new client, huh?”
“Yeah. She’s really excited about it. Your renovation lit a fire under her. And when people saw what she’d done at your open house, the calls started coming in. She has a waiting list now.”
“That’s wonderful!” Brighton said before frowning. “She’s not pushing it too hard, though, is she? She’s taking the Diclegis like she’s supposed to, right?”
I chuckled. “I’m not sure who’s going to be the worst Nervous Nellie during this pregnancy out of the three of us.”
“Truth.”
Brighton glanced down at everything sprawled out over the duvet. My heart constricted as his eyes swept over the fetal death certificate. I knew it would trigger his own painful memories and wished I’d scooped everything back into the memory box sooner. But I needed to feel close to Laelynn. Have a word with her about the new baby.
“The night of the open house, Olivia panicked after seeing a dad there with a baby strapped to his chest in a carrier. It made her think of Sam, because of his tiny blue socks. Then she worried that we’d forgotten to put socks on Laelynn before we buried her. Her mind always circles back to our babies, no matter how much time passes.”
I ran my fingers over the soft lock of baby hair that was nestled in a tiny ceramic container with a field of bunnies and wildflowers painted along its sides.
“I wish Laelynn was here with us so she could meet her new brother or sister. Olivia tried to explain it to me once—how she ached for all the things we would be missing out on after Laelynn died. I didn’t really get it, though. I thought we could just build memories someday with a new baby—that we wouldn’t really be missing out on anything we hadn’t experienced yet anyway. We just weren’t getting it in the timeframe we originally wanted. But I get it now. The feelings of loss because we’ll never get to have them with her.”
I ran a hand over the side of my face, scratching my beard. “I’m terrified about Liv’s pregnancy. But the first thing I thought of was, I bet Laelynn would’ve been a good big sister.”
I didn’t mean to get emotional but seeing all her things splayed out like this brought everything I’d shoved deep down inside back to the surface. Tears threatened to spill over, and I didn’t even notice when Brighton stood and came around to my side of the bed. He gripped my arms and pulled me up, yanking me to his chest for one of the fiercest, most protective hugs I’d ever received.
I clenched my eyes shut, the pain threatening to break me if I let it out.
“It’s okay,” Brighton said as he tightened his hold on my upper back. “Dude, you have to let it out. It will never go away if you don’t.”
The memory of Laelynn’s impossibly tiny body nestled inside a coffin not much bigger than a shoe box knifed at my heart, begging me to grieve for it the way I should’ve the first time. The lining was white silk, matching the tiny white socks and gown she was laid to rest in. My sister, Carly, had been at the funeral to help with all the things Olivia was unable to face, immobilized in her grief. Thank god she was there. It allowed me to focus all my attention on Olivia, who was inconsolable. Maybe that’s where it all went wrong. Would things have been different if I’d let myself grieve more, too?
I didn’t realize the strangled cry had come from me until Brighton’s hand went to the back of my head, holding me as my body spasmed from years of unchecked grief. I felt like I was outside my own body as anguish ripped through me. I could hear him offering quiet words of comfort somewhere in the distance, whispering as he kept me safe. My arms curled around him, holding myself up while leaning into his strength. I’d feel my way through this pain if it fucking killed me. I cried for the two miscarriages we’d had, and for the baby we buried.
I don’t know how long I stood like that, my body breaking against Brighton’s as I purged every bottled-up emotion I’d carried around for the last few years. He let me ride it out, though, until my body no longer shook in his arms. When he finally pulled back to check on me, I noticed it had grown dark outside. I was embarrassed for letting everything collapse on me like that, but I had to admit, I felt better.
Brighton swiped the pad of his thumb across my cheek to pull away the last of my tears. I couldn’t remember the last time I cried, let alone in front of anyone other than Liv. But if anyone knew where I was coming from and wouldn’t see it as a weakness, it was Brighton. When I finally had the nerve to look up, to meet his gaze with the unchecked vulnerability that was flooding through me, I was shocked by the depth and knowing in his returned stare. His eyes were a deep, rich green. They were a marriage of strength and compassion. The unspoken thing that often passed between us did again, leaving me breathless and confused as I searched his eyes.
I wasn’t sure who leaned in first, but our lips met softly somewhere in the middle, startling me. I gasped, pulling my head back. What in the hell just happened?
Kerrington’s eyes were still trained on mine when his forearm came up against the back of my head and he pulled me toward his mouth with an intensity I don’t think either of us saw coming. His other arm hooked under my arm and held my shoulder in place as I surrendered to the kiss.
I’m not sure what I was expecting because I’d never kissed a dude before. But it was fireworks, sandstorms, and skydiving all rolled into one. A torrent of emotions flooded through me as his tongue darted out to part my lips, tentatively tasting me for the first time. It didn’t feel like I was kissing another man as we cautiously explored this new terrain. It felt like a kiss that brought me home.
Our teeth clattered as we fought for control. If I was going to do this once, I was going to do it right. I fisted his hair and deepened the kiss, surprising the hell out of us both. A deep rumble came from somewhere inside Brighton, making me chuckle against his mouth.
We pulled apart, nipping at each other’s lips and pushing off one other, our chests heaving.
We stared each other down.
“What the fuck was that?” I said, running a thumb over my swollen bottom lip.
“It was love, dickhead,” Brighton said.
I tried to wrap my head around what just happened, but no words were adequate. I felt scared and confused. But I was also aroused and felt loved.
Most of all, I felt healed.
“Are we telling Liv?” I asked.
Brighton arched a single brow and I laughed. “Right, right. Our truth pact.”
He hooked his arm over my shoulder and pulled me in close again. “I love you,” he said simply, his green eyes holding mine hostage. Then he playfully bit my nose and headed toward the door.
“Where are you going?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest as I watched Kerrington walk away.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m horny as hell now. I’m going to find Oliva.” When he got to the door, he turned back to look at me. “You coming?”
Never in a million years did I think another man would be asking me if I wanted to join him and my wife in bed. Yet, somehow, it was starting to all make sense.
Brighton had become our ohana.
Chapter Sixteen
Olivia
I WOKE TO Ryan and Brighton acting like two horny schoolboys as they jumped on the bed I’d been napping on. A giggle escaped my lips as arms wrapped around my body and pulled me in close, so I was the middle spoon. Ryan brushed my hair back from my face and brought his lips to mine, searing my insides like he did when we first met. Brighton’s hand
s went to my hips as his mouth crashed over my neck. Ever since I started taking my medicine, my nausea had disappeared. And I was finally reaping some of the pregnancy benefits some women brag about, but I’d never experienced before.
I was hella frisky. All. The. Time.
Luckily, I had two men to lavish attention on me, and they were more intense and passionate than ever. It was as if they were truly moving as one, with some hidden language that was created solely for the purpose of pleasing me. Any doubts I had about whether this could really work vanished quickly in their arms.
Brighton was holding me from behind, my back flat against his chest as he slowly rolled his hips against me. Ryan was busy exploring the front of my body and stroking himself when he leaned in and made a little growly noise.
“Get over here,” he said. I opened my eyes, thinking he was talking to me. Then I saw him reach for Brighton’s head. He pulled him closer for a slow, sensual kiss over my shoulder that left me reeling as I watched the scene play out before me.
I’m not gonna lie. The sight of their slow, sure strokes as their angular jaws opened wider for one another drove me over the edge fast. I clamped my eyes closed and gripped Ryan’s bare chest, screaming as my pleasure spilled over.
“Oh god,” I panted as my body shook between them.
Brighton groaned, gripping my hips tighter as he thrust deeply inside me a few lasts times and bellowed out his release, too. Slow, sensual kisses were shared by all as we rode down the high. Then we fell back against the sheets, our chests heaving and spent from the exertion.
“What in the name of all that’s holy just happened?” I asked, glancing back and forth between them. They rested on their elbows and looked at me with a playful sexiness in their eyes. Brighton ran his fingers along my face and my hairline, brushing runaway tendrils from my damp forehead while Ryan drew lazy circles on my stomach.