Theirs to Keep - A Reverse Harem Romance

by Krista Wolf

  And then I saw the photo.

  In a silver frame on the dresser stood a beautiful pic of a blonde-haired woman and three men. Squinting, I immediately made out the faces standing behind her.

  The guys.

  Bryce stood on one side, Camden on the other. Roderick was in the middle, directly behind her. He was even smiling.

  But the woman…

  The woman was someone I recognized. Not right away, but after three or four seconds her identity came to me in a flash of sudden insight.

  “It’s her!”

  Roderick looked up slowly, like he was recovering from a trance. “Who?”

  “The girl from the painting. In the music room.”

  I saw him swallow, and it obviously took some effort. Dipping his chin again, he nodded solemnly.

  “Yes.”

  “W—Who is she?”

  “Was she.”

  Goosebumps erupted all over my body. Somehow I knew, even before I’d asked.

  “Okay then,” I said, trying to remain calm and respectful. “Who was she?”

  The expression on Roderick’s face turned from one of somber remembrance to deep-seeded pain. Unlike most guys, he didn’t try to hide it. I gave him credit for that.

  “Her name was Madison,” he said, doing his best to keep his voice from breaking. It wasn’t working out though.

  “She was our wife.”

  Thirty-Six

  KARISSA

  The word struck me instantly, but still took a full ten seconds to sink in. During the interim I stood there in silence, unblinking. The visual of the photograph — and the three men smiling back at me from it — seared itself into my mind.

  “Your… wife?”

  “Yes,” said Roderick.

  “Not just yours either,” I clarified. “Bryce’s wife. Camden’s too.”

  “All of us, yes.”

  I took a half step backward, then stabled myself. It was the last thing I expected.

  “This was her own personal bedroom,” Roderick continued. “The one she chose when we first moved in. She was the reason we bought this place. Renovating it, turning it into a venue that would someday make us money… all of it was Maddy’s idea.”

  “Maddy,” I repeated. The name didn’t sound right when I said it, though.

  “Yes.”

  “You all… married her.”

  “Look, I know it’s strange,” said Roderick. “But we tried to tell you. We wanted to tell you.”

  I took a long, deep breath. They had, actually. It was all my fault for not wanting to see.

  “It’s not that it’s strange,” I countered. “It’s just… well, I don’t know. I mean, I do know in some ways. I can obviously see how she could fall for the three of you. Just like I did.”

  Roderick stood in silence for a moment. He was staring at the photograph intently, as if remembering the day it was taken.

  “I just never thought…”

  “About marriage?”

  I hesitated, then shrugged. “Yeah. I guess so.”

  “It was the next inevitable step,” he replied. “We dated, we fell in love, we looked for a place we could all be together. For a while we were in three different apartments, running around like crazy. Carrying clothes with us everywhere. Jumping from bed to bed.”

  He stopped short, checking me for some sort of reaction. When he realized I had none he continued.

  “This manor was a ruined mess when Maddy first found it. But she wanted it so badly. She sat down with us, and helped us work the price down. It would take a long time to renovate, but in the end—”

  “In the end it would all pay off,” I finished for him.

  “Yes.”

  I gulped again, and this time I was able to swallow the lump in my throat. My pulse was returning to normal. The heat I’d felt upon learning the guys had actually been married was finally leaving my body.

  That, of course, left only one question unanswered.

  “Roderick?”

  Still standing there in his workout shirt, he crossed his bare arms and raised an eyebrow my way.

  “How did she die?”

  It occurred to me immediately he’d never told me their wife was actually dead. But to me it was obvious. It was in the way he talked about her. It was in the heaviness of his voice.

  “Car accident,” he said and turned away. “Bad one.”

  Roderick’s back was to me now, so I couldn’t read his face. I thought I saw his shoulders slump. Not just slump, but bounce a little afterward. Almost like… well, like…

  Is he crying?

  I honestly didn’t know. I couldn’t ask. I could barely even look at him.

  “Is there anything else you need?” he choked. “Or are we done in here, or—”

  “Oh yes,” I said quickly. “We’re done.”

  He held the door for me on the way out. I caught him taking one last look as he closed it.

  “You go in there a lot, don’t you?”

  Roderick nodded. He wasn’t crying, but his eyes were glassy.

  “I’m so sorry,” I told him. “I’m a snooping asshole. I never would’ve tried to go in there, if I knew—”

  “I know.”

  I flung my arms around him and hugged him, more for myself than him. Now my eyes were glassy. My heart felt like a bowling ball, weighing heavy in my chest.

  “It just hurts, you know?” he said. “Seeing her stuff. Looking at how it all used to be.”

  My heart was ready to explode. My mind was reeling. “I understand.”

  He pulled back and looked at me. “Do you really?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then I’m sorry too.”

  We hugged again, our bodies so tight we became one. It was pure love, pure comfort. Two people clinging to each other in a storm of memories, both good and bad.

  “I go in there because I have to,” Roderick said. “I go in there because remembering is more important than forgetting.”

  I nodded into his shoulder. The tears were flowing freely now. We stayed like that for a minute or two. It wasn’t nearly long enough.

  “We all go in there, you know,” he said as he pulled away. “All three of us. But I… I go in there the most.”

  It was the last thing he said as he walked away. I let him go, watching him pad down the hallway. My hand was on my own door’s knob when Roderick looked back to mutter one more thing.

  “I go in there the most, because it was all my fault.”

  Thirty-Seven

  BRYCE

  Monday brought work, and with it, time away from the manor. For the first time since I could remember, I was loathe to go. What we had with Karissa made me want to stay at the manor forever. She made us happy. She made us laugh. She brought new joy to an old place, and an exciting new vibe to our stagnant routine.

  She’s not a puppy, man.

  She wasn’t, but it was like that in a way. She was something to look forward to seeing at the end of the day. Something pure and beautiful, with a razor-sharp wit and a radiant smile and a whole bunch of other great things. Something… ours.

  Again.

  More than all of that, I wanted to hold her in my arms and make her feel safe. I wanted to wrap my body around her and protect her from whatever she was running from and could never talk about. Or even from the outside forces that seemed to be hellbent and breaking and burning the place down before we could fix it up.

  I was still working my jobsite in Jamestown when the sun went down. Roderick shot us a text-message, saying he’d be spending the night away. He was quoting a job near Boston when he got hung up drinking with potential clients, and ended up grabbing a hotel for the night. He had another job to check out in the morning anyway.

  That left Karissa all to myself, or maybe to me and Camden. We could figure something out — a late dinner, maybe. Or we could just curl up on the couch with her together. Walk the halls again in the dead of night, exploring things and places I’d never reall
y stopped to look at in much detail before.

  Karissa made everything more interesting, somehow. Even the little things.

  I packed up my tools and raced home, to find the two of them laughing and playing in the kitchen. Camden had an arm wrapped around Karissa from behind, feeding her a taste of his ‘infamous’ tomato sauce that he’d been simmering all day. Apparently he’s stuck close to home.

  I certainly couldn’t blame him. Even better though, I wasn’t in the least bit jealous.

  “Hey baby,” she smiled as I walked in. “How was your day?”

  Pulling away from Camden, she slid her hips sexily against mine. Leaning forward she gave me the most wonderful of all welcome home kisses, complete with the familiar taste of Camden’s overly-sweet pasta sauce.

  “It was work,” I smiled wearily.

  Instead of her work clothes, she was wearing an adorable little sundress. It bounced tantalizingly around the tops of her creamy thighs, flaring daringly outward as she spun to face the stove again.

  “Nothing wrong with that,” she said, dipping and licking her own finger. “Kick off your boots and relax for a while. Linguine should be ready in about five.”

  “Gimmie ten and I’ll shower.”

  Karissa grinned at me through the steam rising up over the boiling water. “Deal.”

  I ran through my nightly routine in record time, shedding my work clothes and scrubbing away the sweat and grime of a hard day of framing. I wasn’t like most bosses, content to sit in my air-conditioned truck and shout orders at the crew. I always did love getting my hands dirty. Putting myself into whatever we were repairing or creating, even if it meant a little sweat and strain.

  By the time I returned to the kitchen a plate had been set for me. No sooner had I slid into my seat than the forks Karissa and Camden were graciously holding out on fell into their respective piles of sauce-laden pasta.

  “Soo…” Karissa said, after her second mouthful. “When were you guys gonna tell me you used to be married?”

  She said it so casually and with such indifference that Camden nearly dropped his fork. I was halfway through my first pull of my beer, and I had to stop to keep from choking.

  “Roderick…” Camden started feebly. “He told you?”

  “Sort of,” she replied with a half shrug. “I’m a girl. Girls are curious.”

  I nodded in understanding. “You found her room.”

  “Well it is directly across from mine,” she replied. “And it was the only room Roderick told me not to go into, so naturally… well, you know the rest.”

  Conflicting thoughts and feelings flooded me all at once. Gratefulness, that I hadn’t been the one to tell her. Relief, that she finally knew.

  “We would’ve told you,” Camden said defensively. “Eventually, anyway. It’s just, well, it’s not exactly the kind of thing you bring up right away. Especially since there were three of us and only one of her.”

  “Look, I get it,” said Karissa. “But remember, there’s still three of you and one of me. If anyone’s going to understand, I will. And I do.”

  The pasta was perfectly al dente — supple and tasty, with just enough bite to it. Camden’s sauce was even sweeter than normal.

  “Tell me about her,” our girlfriend said, looking up at us. She twirled another forkful, spinning the utensil between her slender fingers. “I want to know everything.”

  “Everything?” Camden flinched.

  “Sure. How you met her, how you fell in love with her. How the three of you… you know, broached the idea of sharing her together.” She paused and raised one eyebrow. “Or did she bring it up to you?”

  I glanced Camden’s way and he shrugged. It didn’t make sense to hide anything. Especially when there weren’t any secrets to keep.

  “Madison was a client of ours,” I told Karissa. “She lost just about everything in hurricane Sandy, including her boyfriend.”

  Karissa’s pretty mouth dropped open in shock. “Oh my God, that’s terrible!”

  “No, not like that,” Camden snickered. “He means her boyfriend abandoned her. After the storm he took off rather than stick around.”

  “Oh.”

  “Her house was all but destroyed, and she’d already sunk everything she owned into it,” I went on. “The insurance only covered half of what she needed to make it livable. When she hired us, she was living in a trailer.”

  “And you rebuilt her house?” Karissa asked.

  “Bigger and better than before, yes.”

  Karissa chuckled and tipped back her own beer. “I can only imagine how she paid you.”

  “It wasn’t like that,” I smirked back. “Madison was… well…”

  “She was a very special woman,” Camden went on. “One with a sharp eye for things, and talents that really helped our business.” He pointed his fork at Karissa. “Sort of like you.”

  “Actually exactly like you,” I countered. “Only with more planning and less hands-on experience. Over time we fell for her. She fell for us. It was crazy the way it happened, because it wasn’t like any one of us had the advantage or upper hand. She wanted us all equally, and over time it just seemed… natural.”

  Karissa stayed silent for a moment, sipping her beer. Slowly twirling the next bite of pasta while keeping her thoughts to herself.

  “She ultimately lived with us too, just like you,” said Camden. “Shit, there are a lot of similarities, now that I think about it. A lot more than I ever realized.”

  “And you dated her,” said Karissa flatly. “Together.”

  “Yes.”

  “And then married her.”

  “In a private ceremony, down in Mexico,” I nodded. “We took our honeymoon right there on the beach.”

  She let out a low whistle. “That must’ve been some honeymoon.”

  “You sure you want to talk about this?” asked Camden.

  Karissa’s wry grin was all the answer we needed. She dragged another forkful of pasta through her sauce and looked thoughtful.

  “So how’d you end up with this place?” she asked, twirling a finger. “Roderick told me Madison found it.”

  “Yes.”

  “And she convinced you to buy it?”

  Camden nodded. “She dragged us over here, totally in love. The building was a complete wreck — almost a tear-down — but she had a vision for what this place could be. How we could all eventually retire here, taking care of it. Letting it take care of us.”

  “All this after she’d sold her own place of course,” I laughed, “so we really couldn’t say no. But that was Madison for you. She was impulsive as hell, and when she did something she never looked back.”

  “Again,” pointed Camden shrewdly. “Just like—”

  “Me,” said Karissa. She set her empty bottle down and stretched back in her chair. “Got it.”

  She looked flush from cooking, or drinking, or maybe listening to what we’d been telling her. But I could tell she was taking it all in. It was a lot to process. Even for us.

  Maddy.

  She’d been our first real love, all three of us, even though each of us had serious girlfriends before. The important part was we’d taken her on together. Just like our company. Our projects. Southhold.

  We took on everything together.

  Maybe that’s why it all worked out for us. Why there was no jealousy, no competition. The three of us were a team, always had been. And in dating Madison, we learned that nothing beat this particular lifestyle — at least for us — no matter how strange or unorthodox it might’ve looked to the outside world.

  “So now you know pretty much everything about us,” I told her with a sigh. “So when exactly do we get to learn about you?”

  Karissa looked back at me, all blue eyes and long lashes. I thought I saw something shift in the light behind her eyes.

  “Eventually,” she said coyly.

  “Not right now?”

  She crossed her legs at the knees, a move that caus
ed her sundress to ride a little higher. There was so much skin exposed it was wholly distracting. Which of course was exactly what she wanted.

  “Maybe later,” she said. “Right now Camden and I planned to hit the couch and watch half a movie.”

  “Half a movie?”

  “Give or take,” she smiled wickedly. “You’re invited of course, if you care to join us.”

  My gaze shifted and I saw the look in Camden’s eye. It was more than familiar.

  “Why only half a movie?” I had to ask.

  Karissa giggled and stood up. Bouncing her way toward the exit, she extended one hand back toward each of us.

  “Because for the other half you’ll be inside me.”

  Thirty-Eight

  KARISSA

  Sweet Home Alabama was my all-time favorite movie. Reese Witherspoon, one of my favorite rom-com actresses. The chemistry between she and Josh Lucas, the dreamy-eyed male lead, was nothing short of amazing. Whenever I happened across it, I stopped flipping channels immediately.

  Tonight however, the three of us didn’t make it even a quarter of the way through.

  MMMmmmmm…

  My lips parted as Bryce kissed me again, forcing his tongue deep into my mouth. I’d been kissing Camden, only seconds earlier. The back and forth trading of my mouth to theirs was making me sopping wet, each of them equally sexy and sensual, but also so radically different.

  Bryce was forceful and frenzied — a byproduct of his own unbridled excitement. When he held me he possessed me, and I found myself whimpering into his mouth whenever he drew me in.

  On the other side of the coin was Camden, whose kisses were tortuously slow and sweet. His touch was electric, and his hands always seemed to settle over the most shiver-inducing places on my body. Making out with him was like falling into something warm and leisurely and wonderful…

  “Feel how wet she is.”

  We were still on the couch, and I was nestled between them. Bryce lifted one of my legs over his massive thigh, and Camden did the same on the other side. This spread me even further open. It stretched my panties, which they’d rolled down my legs ten minutes earlier, even tighter around my ankles.