by Maya Banks
“Kind of like you’ve always taken care of us,” he murmured. He leaned into her touch, and her fingers slid across his cheek and to the slight stubble at his jaw.
“You need a shave.”
He grinned. “And I’ll get one, along with a shower, just as soon as you settle down and get comfortable. Unless you want to come help me?”
Her lips twitched as she battled the smile. “In your dreams.”
Sawyer walked into the living room carrying two pillows and a down comforter. Cam rocked back and then stood so that Sawyer could arrange the pillows for Regina.
When he finished placing the pillows, he patted one of them and looked pointedly at Regina.
“Assume the position,” Sawyer said.
Regina carefully reclined, settling against the plush cushions of the couch. Her head sank into the feather pillows, and she groaned in pleasure. They did know her. Too well. Her likes and dislikes. The things she loved. No one else knew her so well. Certainly not her parents. She almost laughed. No, she was a mystery to her parents. A puzzle they’d never tried to unravel.
But Cam, Sawyer and Hutch? They got her. And while it should have comforted her that she had people who cared about her, all she could focus on was the thought of losing one or all of them through her own stupidity.
Sleeping with them, making love with them . . . that had been stupid.
She closed her eyes, unwilling to let the memory of that night intrude on her thoughts. Not now.
The down comforter surrounded her, embracing her in a cloud of softness as Sawyer arranged it around her body. She felt his lips on her forehead, heard him whisper next to her ear.
Hutch’s hand tangled in her hair as he stroked the unruly curls. Then Cam touched her arm, above the brace, light and comforting. Even with her eyes closed, she knew each one, the differences.
And then lips against hers, loving and gentle. Cam.
“We’ll talk later, Reggie darling. That I promise. But for now, get some sleep.”
“Stay with me,” she whispered. Had she said that? Was she forever contradicting herself? Her mind was a muddled mass of confusion. She thought one thing and another came out of her mouth.
“I’ll stay, Reggie. Now sleep.”
His hand crept around hers, laced her fingers with his. She gripped his hand tight and surrendered to the shadows.
CHAPTER 7
The three men sat at the breakfast table just a few feet away from the couch where Reggie slept. Cam stole a glance every once in a while, but she hadn’t moved since she’d gone to sleep an hour earlier.
There was a fragility to her that bothered him. Reggie? She was usually tough as nails, full of sass and an attitude to rival a pit bull. Her brush with death had scared her. Hell, it had scared the shit out of him. But he knew that wasn’t the only thing that had put that vulnerability in her eyes.
With a resigned sigh, he faced Sawyer and Hutch.
“All things considered, I think she took it well,” Sawyer said with a shrug.
Hutch laughed. “She took it well because we drugged her ass and she was in shock. We won’t get off so lightly when she wakes up and the drugs wear off.”
“No one said it would be easy,” Cam offered.
Hutch put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. There was frustration and an edge of fear reflected in his expression. Cam could understand that. He felt the two conflicting emotions, had felt them for a damn long time.
“Are we kidding ourselves?” Hutch asked. “I mean really? Who the hell has the kind of relationship we’re proposing? I wake some mornings and wonder if I haven’t lost my damn mind.”
Sawyer leaned forward, his beefy arms resting on the table. His fists were clenched tight. “We’ve been over this, Hutch. How much more do you want to rehash it? What do you want to hear? That in a perfect world, you and Cam would disappear from the picture, and Reggie would only be with me?”
Hutch looked away, his jaw tight.
“This isn’t helping,” Cam said.
“Oh shut up,” Hutch muttered. “You can’t tell me you haven’t had those thoughts.”
Cam raised an eyebrow. “No, Hutch, I can’t tell you that. But what good does it do me? We’ve had this conversation. We agreed that we all love her and that we wouldn’t make her choose.”
“No, we agreed that she wouldn’t choose,” Sawyer said quietly. “Our solution is our only way to have a part of her. Are you having second thoughts, Hutch?”
Hutch pressed his lips together and finally shook his head. “No. But I’m not going to bullshit you either. Standing back while you and Cam touch her, comfort her, is hard. I’ve loved Reggie since we were children. I’ve always felt as though she were mine. That’s a hard notion to let go of.”
“No one’s trying to take her away,” Cam said.
Hutch rubbed his hand over his face. “I know that, Cam. I do. But I can’t help the way I feel watching another man touch her. Don’t you think I realize that jealousy is the quickest way to make this fail? And that as fucked up and twisted as this is, the three of us sharing her, it represents my only shot at having a life with her?”
“I hear you,” Sawyer muttered.
Cam nodded. “I understand, man. It’s going to take a lot of sacrifice from all three of us. Not to mention patience. Because Reggie . . . she’s going to fight this. Not because she doesn’t love us. I believe she does, and that’s the problem.”
“She’s stubborn and ornery as hell,” Sawyer said wryly. “But she would also cut off her right arm before ever hurting any of us. And in her eyes, this can only lead to inevitable hurt, and so she avoids us, which hurts her.”
“Stubborn is right,” Hutch grumbled.
“In her mind, she’s protecting us,” Cam spoke up. “She’s been protecting us since we were kids. It’s time for that shit to stop. She’s going to balk at any notion that we’re taking care of or protecting her, but after what happened, I’m no longer willing to sit back and wait for the right time.”
Hutch and Sawyer both nodded.
“And look, this probably doesn’t need saying, but I’m going to say it anyway,” Cam added.
Sawyer rolled his eyes. “Is this the big brother lecture?”
Cam ignored him. “I understand we all have our reservations. We have concerns and fears and maybe even resentment. But we’ve got to be careful to present a united front to Reggie, otherwise this will never work. If we have a problem, then we’re going to have to hash it out privately. We don’t want to give her yet another reason to keep running.”
“You’re right. It doesn’t need saying,” Hutch said.
“Yeah, it does,” Sawyer said. “We can’t afford to screw this up with stupid bullshit. We’re not a bunch of girls. Reggie means a lot to us all. I’m having to put my trust in the two of you not to screw up my chances with her. That’s pretty messed up. So yeah, I’d say we need that reminder often.”
Cam studied the other two men and saw a calmness to their demeanor he hadn’t seen since Birdie had called them about Reggie. Yeah, they’d needed this talk, and maybe they needed it more often just to reinforce what was at stake.
“Okay, now that all that’s out of the way, we have other arrangements to make,” Cam said.
“Yeah? Like what?” Hutch asked.
“We need to drive back to Houston to get your vehicle and Sawyer’s, plus we need to transfer our office here for now, which means moving everything.”
“Did you get with the Robertsons about their project?” Sawyer asked.
Cam nodded. “Yeah, they were okay with the delay when I explained the circumstances. Even so, I need to finish up those drawings so we can go ahead with the building.”
“What about Reggie?” Hutch asked. “One of us needs to stay here with her.”
“I can call Birdie and ask her to come over and stay with Reggie. You two can ride back to Houston with me, and one of you can head right back in your truck. The o
ther can help me get everything together from the office to take back here.”
“Hutch can come back in his truck,” Sawyer said. “I’ll hang out and help you clean out the office. Hutch can arrange to have our calls forwarded to the number here. He needs to grocery shop anyway.”
A soft moan from the couch silenced the men. Cam swiveled in his chair to see Reggie stir.
Hutch stood and pushed his chair back. “I’ll go see about making some supper,” he said in a low voice. “She’s going to be hungry.”
“Chicken,” Sawyer muttered.
Hutch grinned and sauntered toward the kitchen, leaving Cam and Sawyer at the table.
Regina opened her eyes and blinked to try and clear the cobwebs. She felt like someone’s personal punching bag. And then she remembered that for all practical purposes she had been someone’s punching bag.
She tried to sit up, but every muscle in her body protested the movement. With a groan, she sank back against the pillows. Cam and Sawyer appeared in front of her and looked down, concern in their eyes.
“How are you feeling?” Sawyer asked.
“Like someone beat the hell out of me?”
Cam’s lips came together in a thin line.
“Bad choice of words,” she mumbled.
She tried to sit up again, and this time, Sawyer reached down and helped her. Her stomach rolled, and a hot flash of nausea made her momentarily weak.
“I’m starving,” she said. “I don’t think taking that painkiller on an empty stomach was the smartest idea.”
“Hutch is making supper now,” Cam said.
She stared up at the two men towering over her. “What am I doing here?” she asked. “What are you doing here? And where is here exactly?”
Cam and Sawyer exchanged glances. One of those looks that told her they were ganging up on her. She glared up at them, silently daring one of them to pull that touching stunt. They kept their distance, so maybe the subtle threat worked.
Or not.
Cam sat down on one side while Sawyer took the other. Their body heat reached out and enveloped her, wrapped her in a comforting blanket. Forgotten was the down comforter bunched in her lap.
“This is our house,” Cam said simply. “We just finished construction a few weeks ago.”
She shook her head in confusion. “I don’t understand. You live in Houston. Your business is in Houston. We didn’t drive that far from the hospital, did we? I wasn’t that out of it, surely.”
“We bought a hundred acres about twenty minutes out of Cypress,” Sawyer said.
“But why? What about your business?”
“You know why,” Cam said evenly. “You’re here. This is where we grew up. We’ve always had plans to come back once our business was established.”
She raised a shaky hand and ran it through her hair. “I didn’t even know you were building.”
Sawyer stared levelly at her. “You’d know it if you weren’t so intent on avoiding us.”
She flushed guiltily.
“Dinner’s ready,” Hutch called from across the room.
“Hutch to the rescue,” Cam said in an amused voice. “It’s coming, though, Reggie darling. We’re going to have a long overdue conversation. You can’t avoid it forever.”
She sucked in a deep breath through her nose and locked gazes with him. “I know,” she said quietly.
Surprise flickered in his eyes at her acceptance. Sawyer lifted one eyebrow but didn’t respond. Instead, he stood and bent to help her from the couch.
She reached up with her good hand to grab Cam’s as Sawyer grasped her shoulders and lifted.
“Take it slow,” Cam cautioned. “Don’t try to move too fast.”
Though she still ached from head to toe, she moved with more steadiness than she had before. Her legs seemed to be cooperating better, and her knees didn’t feel so shaky.
Sawyer guided her toward a table in front of the French doors and settled her into a chair. He took the seat across from her, and Cam pulled out the chair beside her. A few moments later, Hutch walked in carrying two bowls. He set one in front of her and another in front of Cam.
“Figured this would feel good on your throat,” Hutch said as he handed her a spoon.
She looked up at him and went soft. She smiled gratefully and took the spoon, her fingers brushing across his. “Thank you,” she said huskily.
He winked at her and returned to the kitchen. She ladled some of the steaming liquid into the spoon and gently blew on it as she raised it to her lips.
She sipped cautiously and made a sound of contentment when the warm broth slid down her throat.
“Good?” Hutch asked as he returned with bowls for himself and Sawyer.
“Excellent,” she said. “I was starving.”
Hutch took the seat next to her. His knee bumped her leg, and he muttered an apology as he repositioned himself.
She continued to spoon the soup into her mouth, savoring the rich taste. She glanced cautiously up at the others, but they were concentrating on their own food. Sawyer looked up and caught her gaze. Amusement flickered in his eyes.
“Eat, Reggie. We’re not staging an ambush.”
She dropped her gaze to her soup, her cheeks warm. An ambush was exactly what she’d expected. She frowned unhappily as she stirred the contents of her bowl in slow circles. She hated the loss of their closeness. She missed it. Craved it.
It used to be enough that she could just be around them. Enjoy their company and the friendship between the four of them. Now she viewed their every action with fear and suspicion. Oh, they wouldn’t hurt her, and the awkwardness wasn’t their fault. It was hers. Her weakness was to blame. She’d ruined everything.
“It’s not going to eat itself,” Cam said dryly.
She looked up to see all three of them looking at her. She put her spoon down, knowing she wasn’t going to be able to eat until they got the elephant out of the room.
“What happened a year ago . . . shouldn’t have happened,” she said in a low voice.
CHAPTER 8
Cam, Sawyer and Hutch all stopped eating and stared at her. Hard. The intensity of their gazes unnerved her. Made her feel as though she’d committed some unpardonable sin.
“Why?” Sawyer asked bluntly. “Why shouldn’t it have happened, Reggie?”
She blinked in surprise and shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She hadn’t expected to be asked why. And it was apparent in Cam and Hutch’s expressions that they too wanted an answer.
God. Why should she have to explain it? Shouldn’t it be obvious? What sort of person had sex with three men? At the same time! Three men who were her best friends. People she trusted. These weren’t people to trifle with—to play with their emotions or make promises with her body she couldn’t keep.
“It shouldn’t have happened,” she said stubbornly.
“And we want to know why,” Hutch said calmly.
She made a sound of frustration. She scooted her seat back, ready to escape. Cam reached over and wrapped his fingers around her wrist to prevent her flight.
“No more running,” he said. “We’re going to talk about this, Reggie.”
She closed her eyes. “What do you want from me? Do you want me to admit what a twisted, screwed up person I am to have had sex with three men? My God, it equated to a gang bang. You’re my friends—”
She was interrupted as Sawyer stood so forcefully that he