Billings, Rachel - Three Men and a Woman: Felicity (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Rachel Billings

  Said housemate had spent too long watching the show from the hallway, and Reinen leaned around the counter to give him a look. Or maybe a command, since the man outranked him by a bit.

  He stepped into the kitchen, and Ri introduced them. Felicity, not Red. She reached to gather up her clothing but Ri belayed her escape. “Hold on a minute, Fee. I need to find out why Andy’s here with Junie when we both have to be on the ship in an hour.” Like it happened every day, he handed Juniper over to the woman, and she automatically took the baby to her hip.

  Ri got out a couple of mugs and filled them from the pot. He handed one to Andy black and lifted the other to Felicity with a question on his face.

  “Black is fine,” she said.

  Ri set the coffee on the counter in front of one of the high stools and ushered the two females there. Then he went to the fridge for a snap pea for Junie to gnaw on. He took the baby back—she hadn’t objected to Red, but she did love Ri—and plopped her diapered butt up on the counter. He secured Junie with one hand and put another, possessive one at Red’s back.

  “So, what’s up, man?”

  Andy pulled a stool around the other side of the counter to face him. “Ellen’s mom is in the hospital. She had a stroke. I was planning to bring Junie home and spend Monday getting her into day care on base or somewhere. I thought I could take some leave time to get her settled.”

  Ri spoke to Felicity. “Andy’s wife Ellen died when Juniper was a few months old. Her mother, Jean, has been helping Andy out, keeping Junie when Andy’s at work or out to sea.”

  Andy nodded. “I’m screwed, Ri. If I don’t show up on the ship today, Hanson will have my ass. I’ll be lucky to keep my rank.”

  Ri gave the woman more backstory. “Andy’s had a rough year with a new baby and his wife’s death. His chief is an ass, dicking him around for all the leave he’s needed to take.”

  Ri turned his attention back across the counter. But he grabbed Felicity’s hand and took it to his lips. Then he spoke slowly, like he was considering his words as he went along. “Felicity is a nurse. She had a little crisis at work yesterday. Last night she told her work pals she wasn’t going back.”

  Andy looked at Ri, who looked steadily back, and then at the woman, who also had her attention on Reinen. “What are you thinking?”

  Reinen turned his gaze to Felicity. “You need a place to live, and there’s no reason you couldn’t stay here. You could take a few days from work and get Juniper into day care, or you could just keep her here. Whichever you wanted.”

  Whatever objection Felicity was coming up with, Andy spoke over it. “Do you even know her?”

  Reinen lifted his brow in that imperial way he had. “Yeah, I do. I know her and I met a couple of her friends. And, like I said, she’s a nurse. We can trust her, and I’m sure she’s competent to handle the job.”

  Andy was about to ask if the man expected him to put his daughter in a stranger’s care just so he could keep his pussy at hand, but the challenge in Reinen’s eyes stopped him. He reconsidered all that he knew about Red so far, and wondered if this was about more than pussy. Wouldn’t that be a hell of a thing?

  Anyway, the pause let Felicity have her say. “I do have to go to work, Reinen. I can’t just not show up on Monday.”

  She could call in sick. Andy kept himself from saying that out loud, because he wasn’t sure he wanted to jump on this crazy train. Though he had to admit to himself it had some appeal. He’d probably end up in front of the captain getting busted down if he didn’t make it to the ship on time.

  “You could take leave. FMLA covers childcare emergencies.” Reinen spoke to Felicity, not pressing exactly but just making a case.

  “For family. That’s what the ‘F’ stands for.”

  “You can get it for domestic partners. You pack up your stuff from the asshole’s today, and we can say you’re living here. Your friends know you met a Navy man last night. It would all be close to the truth. If you want, you can tell them I brought you home, and you fell for my housemate. And his baby.”

  “Reinen.”

  The woman had enough sense to know it was a crazy scheme.

  “It could work. In a case like this, we’re likely to be away for a couple weeks or a month, but we can’t make any promises about when we’d be back. It has to be your call, Red. But it would mean a lot to Andy.” He moved his hand to the girl’s chin and touched her lips.

  Andy was surprised that Juniper didn’t kick up a fuss about that, but she must have gotten that her future was at stake, too. He and his daughter both watched as Ri applied his famous charm.

  “And I have to say, I’d enjoy picturing you here, in my home. Sleeping in my bed.”

  Jesus. Andy didn’t think a woman in the world could resist words like that and those bedroom blue eyes. But he knew Ri, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t a scam. The man had a real hard-on for this chick.

  His buddy may have had her hooked, but he hadn’t reeled her in. She looked across to Andy. “I’m an RN. I work on a peds surgical unit, so I know something about kids of all ages.” She looked at the baby. “Medically speaking, anyway. I grew up babysitting my little sister, and I have a good friend who’s the mother of two girls. I could go to her if I needed help. I can promise to take good care of Juniper.

  “But you don’t know me. You shouldn’t leave her with me out of desperation. Your daughter is more important than your rank. And the Navy must be required to give you leave to take care of your child, no matter that your chief is—”

  “A dick,” Reinen put in.

  She nodded. Reinen did, too, and then tapped his watch.

  Yeah. He had to decide now. He walked over to Junie and used his finger to hook the remainder of the pea out of her mouth. She’d got it down to just the last stringy bits.

  Felicity was right. His daughter was the most important thing in the world to him. But this could work. It wasn’t her list of experience that convinced him, but Ri’s confidence in her. His buddy was in love with Juniper, and he’d never leave her in untrustworthy hands.

  “All right. Thanks. What do you need to know?”

  She stood and put her hands out to take the baby. She was gentle with her, competent. “Does she have any allergies?”

  He shook his head.

  “Is she on any meds?”

  “No.”

  “Does she have any medical conditions?”

  “No.”

  “What’s her favorite cuddly or blankie?”

  “It’s a little plush poodle.” He gave Junie a look for making him say this. The damn thing was white with pink ribbons in its hair and fake patent leather spiked boots. His mother-in-law had given it to her, and Junie had gotten attached while he was out to sea. “Its name is Gaga. It’s stuffed on top in the diaper bag.”

  Red grinned. “You mean ‘she’?”

  Andy liked this woman. He met her gaze squarely. “No. I fucking mean ‘it.’”

  She gave a throaty laugh then, raising her appeal, and Andy became slightly uncomfortably sensitive that Reinen was watching them.

  “Go on, then,” Felicity said. “We’ll figure the rest out ourselves, won’t we Juniper?”

  “I’ll write some stuff down. My name and Navy credentials. My mother-in-law’s name and hospital room. I’d appreciate it, if she does okay, if you’d take Junie to see her. They’re real close.”

  “I can do that.”

  He nodded, grateful that Ri was now picking up and neatly folding Felicity’s clothes. He wanted to stop right now thinking of the woman he was leaving his daughter with as a hot babe.

  “I’ll leave the keys for my car and my credit card for gas. Junie’s car seat is in it.”

  “Don’t leave your card. I’ll keep receipts and you can pay me back later.”

  Maybe she guessed he was already thinking about putting limits on the card, but she was being truly decent about it anyway. Man, he really liked her. “Thanks. I’m good for it. I’ll o
we you, Felicity.”

  “Go pack, dude,” Ri put in. “I’ll move your gear to my truck.”

  * * * *

  Felicity was very conscious of Reinen’s gaze from over the top of his travel mug. After a long sip, he set it down. He leaned with his hands onto the counter and looked at her. “I should ask you if you’re okay with this, but if you’re not, Andy could lose his job. So I don’t want to ask.”

  “I’m okay with it, Reinen.” She was, though she had to consider whether she’d gone off the deep end. In way less than twenty-four hours, she’d broken off a longstanding relationship, moved out of her home, decided to take leave from a job she loved, and agreed to act as nanny for a child who was adorably cute but nonetheless belonged to a stranger. A couple of those things had only happened in her head so far, but she was committed.

  All for…a motherless child, a desperate single father, and an extremely attractive sailor whom she’d known for less than a day.

  Reinen. From his first words, she’d understood and accepted that he was a sexual aggressor. Way out of character, she’d put herself in his hands without the least care for her safety. Somehow, she’d known that he was trustworthy. That, in addition to his intense sexuality, he was also honorable and dependable. She’d been exactly right.

  Sex with him had been like nothing she’d ever experienced. He was dominant and gentle at the same time. Determined to have his satisfaction and yet generously attentive to her needs as well. Uncivilized and masterful and wild, but also sweet and intimate and caring.

  He’d treated her and spoken to her as though she mattered, as though it wasn’t a hot one-night stand he wanted from her, but something a lot more. He was careful when he told her he had to go, reassuring in the way he kind of asked for a commitment. His vulnerability as he picked his way through that cactus garden had been its own kind of comfort.

  Then she’d gone downstairs in search of her clothing and seen him standing there in uniform, with a baby in his arms. Her heart had literally stuttered. He’d been strikingly handsome and incredibly appealing in the sweet, natural way he’d engaged with Juniper. She’d felt herself falling so helplessly then that it had taken her a long moment to gather her senses. Very belatedly, she had to wonder if Junie wasn’t his daughter, and what other secrets he’d held back.

  She’d had to lock her knees to keep from swaying in relief when Andy had appeared and Reinen had introduced them. And then he’d spun his web, proposing Felicity as the solution to Andy’s dilemma. Offering Juniper as a kind of solution, too, for Felicity.

  Despite her rash anger- and alcohol-driven words in the bar, she certainly would have gone to work on Monday. As Reinen had reminded her, she’d have had to show, if only to prove that Brian hadn’t won, hadn’t beaten her. But it would have been painfully hard to be there, to interact with Brian as she would be required to do, as though there had been nothing between them.

  Equally as hard, she’d have had to return to his place—no longer her place—today, like a homeless waif, and pack her belongings into her car. She’d fallen asleep last night, held so securely and intimately by Reinen, thinking about which of her friends she could impose on while she found herself an apartment.

  It was a stretch, but taking on the care of Juniper gave her a legit reason to request a leave from work. She’d have time then to lick her wounds and gather her strength. It gave her purpose and a place to stay. It was, indeed, a solution.

  As she thought about it, she knew she wouldn’t lie to her nurse leader. She’d ask for unpaid leave, requesting only that Judy hold her job for her. Judy was a reasonable woman and a good manager, and Felicity had worked well with and for her over the course of four years. If she couldn’t offer Felicity any guarantees, well, this was a time of change, and maybe Felicity should consider her options.

  She was certain Reinen would have taken these issues into account when he’d made his proposal. What he couldn’t have guessed was the way holding Juniper for even just a few minutes had touched her heart. Felicity was twenty-six, not so old that her fertility clock was ticking ominously. But she’d become increasingly aware, over these years she’d worked with children, that she wanted her own. She thought she’d been on the right track—that there would be marriage soon, with Brian, and then two or three little ones.

  She’d have liked the whole deal—the commitment to her lover, her pregnancies, and then shared, devoted parenting. Damn Brian had stolen her dream.

  Certainly, she knew that Juniper would never be her child. But she held her now, taking in her sweet baby scent, loving the feel of that compact little body in her arms, and lost a piece of her heart. Whatever else it meant, she wanted to take care of this little girl.

  She looked up from nuzzling her and caught Reinen’s watchful gaze. Maybe he wasn’t as oblivious to her inner thoughts as she’d assumed. Hoped.

  He nodded. “You look good with her.” His eyes slid down her body. “And in my shirt.”

  He sighed out a little dissatisfaction and Felicity didn’t have trouble guessing his inner thoughts. But they both knew he didn’t have much time. “C’mon,” he said. “Quick tour of the house.”

  Walking with his arm around her shoulder, he explained the security system and found her a spare house key. He showed her the laundry downstairs and the exercise room with its own baby play area. The man cave was down there—deep leather furniture, man-sized, and a huge-screen TV. Then, up the stairs, they wandered through the nursery with its crib and changing table and rocker. As they went, he told her about Juniper’s sleep routines and favorite foods.

  “Are you okay to buy groceries for the two of you while we’re gone?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  They ended back in the kitchen, where Andy was just coming in from the garage. He gave Reinen a nod, letting him know he was ready, and took Juniper into his arms for a sweet good-bye. It included instructions about being a good girl, and refraining from learning to walk while her father was gone.

  Reinen turned her into his arms. “Where is your car? Is it down at the bar?”

  She shook her head. “No. I rode to work with Brian yesterday. My car is still in his garage.”

  “Do you have someone to help you get it here? And to help you move out? If you need my truck—”

  “No. Thanks, though. I don’t have any furniture.” Brian hadn’t wanted to upset his décor with any “elements” not approved by his designer.

  In that way he had, Reinen read the subtext. “You’re so better off without that ass.”

  She hardly wanted to reward his imperiousness, but she had to admit—silently—that the man was right.

  “I don’t want you to go there alone. Take Cassie or Angela with you. Or, better, Cassie’s husband.”

  Inside her head, she was smiling and rolling her eyes. His domineering tendencies were showing. And his freakish powers of observation. “I can handle it.”

  “I know you can. But I don’t want you to.”

  If she had to face Brian, she would do it alone. “I’m a big girl.”

  He frowned, and she was pretty sure they were at one of those points that would shape whatever future relationship they had. For better or worse, it was interrupted by the realities of the moment. Andy nosed in. He looked at Reinen. “She’s right. She’s a big girl.”

  Then at Felicity. “He always thinks he knows what’s best for everyone, and he likes to get his way. Speaking as the father of a future woman, I’d say you’re right to stand up to him and make your own decisions. But he’s usually right, and you should think about taking someone with you.”

  To her surprise, he bent—he was a couple inches shorter than Ri, but still tall—and kissed her cheek. “Thanks for doing this. It means a lot to me. I’m not leaving my daughter with you lightly.”

  Felicity smiled as she took Junie into her arms. “Understood.”

  Reinen had been left stewing while Andy’s attention was on her. He cupped her face. “I’m al
ways right,” he corrected. Then he kissed her, a mix of sweetness and possession. When he was done, put his big hand around Junie’s head and kissed her, too. “You be good.” His attention came back to Felicity. “Both of you.”

  She ignored that. “Good luck. Be careful.”

  His eyes lingered on hers. “You say, ‘fair winds and following seas.’”

  Felicity nodded. “Fair winds and following seas, then. And, be careful.”

  He gave her a look that had her biting back a grin. “I’ll leave the extra garage door opener on the shelf out there. You can use it for your car.” There was more in his eyes, but he didn’t give it words. With a touch of his lips to two foreheads, he was gone.

  * * * *

  In Reinen’s truck, both men were quiet for several minutes. Andy broke first.

  “You think we know what we’re doing?”

  Good question. Reinen knew the answer to half of it. “I’m a hundred percent certain she’s okay with Juniper. She’s competent and capable, and she’ll be sweet with her. Didn’t you see it? She’s already halfway in love.”

  “With you, or Juniper?”

  He drew a stern breath. “With Juniper.”

  Andy wasn’t so easy to divert. “With you, too, man. And to me, it looked pretty mutual.”

  Reinen wanted to growl, but knew he’d only be digging himself deeper. “We just met last night.”

  “Must have been a hell of a night.”

  Fuck. “Yeah. It was. It really fucking was.”

  They kept to their own thoughts for a while before Andy spoke again. “I like her, too.”

  Ri held his tongue but shot his buddy a quick look while he dodged Saturday morning traffic composed of shoppers and tourists who didn’t know where the fuck they were going. The commute process was much more efficient on weekdays.

  Andy wouldn’t leave it alone. “She sure looked good holding Junie.”

  “Yeah,” he conceded. “And shut the fuck up.”

  The son of a bitch just grinned.

  Chapter Four