A Place in Their Hearts [Riverbend, Texas Heat 7] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Marla Monroe

  Jay lay down next to them so that his chest was against Rayna’s side. “I already know that I love you. I usually back away first, but with you, there’s no backing away. I want more. I want it all.”

  “I…I don’t know what to say. I really like both of you. If I’m going to be honest, I’d say I’m falling for you, too, but I’m scared. This is so different.” Rayna looked up into his eyes then over at Jay.

  “We know it’s too soon for more, but we needed to tell you what you mean to us.”

  “I don’t understand where things go from here. I wasn’t expecting this”—she used her hand to encompass what they’d done—“so soon.”

  “I know. But I don’t regret one second of it. I wish we could stay just like this for the rest of the day, but we might better go ahead and get dressed.”

  Rayna giggled. “I’m surprised someone hasn’t come up this way and caught us off guard.”

  “Could still happen. Get dressing, honey.” Jay tickled her side then jumped up and grabbed her clothes.

  Kenny couldn’t stop the wide grin that stole over his face at the sight of the two most important people in his life playing around. Life was good and on the way to being perfect.

  * * * *

  Rayna couldn’t stop thinking about what they’d done up on the trail earlier that day. Hell, she could still feel the effects, and a tremor would ripple over her sex at the mere thought of it. She’d never been so turned on in her life, and it hadn’t been so much the slightly naughty, risqué location of their tryst but just that she’d had sex with two men again, and absolutely loved it.

  Am I crazy or what? How can I love both of them? I do, though. I love them both so freaking much it scares me. What if one of them changes their mind?

  She didn’t want to have to think about that. She really didn’t want to worry about it. Things were going so well. She was asking for trouble, that was all. Just because she was finally having a great time in her life and had two men who seemed to adore her just the way she was, extra pounds and all.

  Everything felt so perfect, maybe too perfect. There had to be a big “but” somewhere in all of it. She just couldn’t find it. Still, she could enjoy it while it lasted and prayed she didn’t get hurt.

  “You’ve got a pretty serious look there, babe. What’s wrong?” Kenny helped her out of her pack when they’d returned to the truck.

  “Nothing really. Just thinking.”

  “That’s a lot of heavy nothing on your face. Don’t keep anything from us. Honesty is the key to a relationship, especially one like we have,” Jay told her.

  “I’m just worried that it’s too good. That something is going to jump out and ruin it all for me. For us. I really, really like you guys. I’m falling in love, and it scares me that I’m going to end up getting hurt.”

  “It’s always a fear when you start thinking seriously about someone. Believe it or not, we feel the same way.” Kenny started the truck. “That’s why we have to keep communication open and not hold anything inside that can fester and get too large to overcome. Okay?”

  “Okay. So you’ve been in a relationship like this before,” she said.

  Jay looked over at Kenny then back to her. “Yeah, we have. A few times, but they never progressed very far because one of us wasn’t as into it like now. We knew pretty soon that she wasn’t the woman for us.”

  “How did you know?” Rayna asked.

  “Well, either Jay wouldn’t be as excited to spend time with her as I was or the other way around. If you aren’t thinking about the other person even when you’re not together, then they’re probably not the right one. Jay and I both can’t stop thinking about you. When I think about something that happens at the clinic, the first thing I think about is telling you when I get off work.”

  Jay nodded. “I’m the same way. I’m working on a piece of furniture and thinking it would be great if you were there with me so I could show you how I lathe or ask you which color of chestnut you like best. I cook just so that I can bring it over to see you.”

  “I’m the same way, guys.” She ran her hands over their thighs. “I have trouble concentrating at work and have to ask my customers to repeat what they said because I wasn’t listening.”

  “See, we’re all three into each other. It’s right. We just need time to get to know each other better,” Kenny said.

  “How do you keep from feeling jealous? I still don’t get that.”

  “We do get jealous, but not that kind of jealous. We’ll always want to spend time alone with you, and that helps with any jealous feelings. I don’t want to take you away from Kenny. I just can’t wait until my turn to hold you,” Jay told her.

  “I love seeing you in Jay’s arms. I like watching your face when he makes you happy, when he makes you come. I want to be able to watch you fall apart when he fucks that sweet pussy of yours. I’ll get my time, and he’ll get to watch you like I did. It’s a huge turn-on for me.” Kenny glanced over at her so that she could see the seriousness in his eyes.

  “I guess it’s just going to take time for me to feel completely comfortable that this will work. I know it’s worked for other couples, but I need to feel it myself to believe it.”

  “We get that, and we’ve got time, Rayna. We’ve got lots of time for you to become comfortable with it.” Kenny smiled. “I’m not saying we don’t want you as ours right this minute, but we can wait for you to be ready.”

  “I can’t believe we actually had sex outside on a mountain!” She dissolved into a fit of giggles. “Talk about crazy.”

  “Listen to her. She’s more excited about that than she is about dating two men at one time.” Kenny reached over and pulled her head closer so that he could kiss her on the nose.

  Rayna felt the happiest she’d felt in as long as she could remember. Yeah, life was good.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Rayna hated grocery shopping. She just didn’t like dealing with the crowds and normally did hers at night. Today, however, she was completely out of Diet Coke, milk, and eggs, so she didn’t want to wait until later to go. She grabbed a cart and headed for the Diet Coke first.

  “I guess you’re trying to lose some weight now that you’re dating Kenny and Jay. I’d be, too, if I were you. They don’t stick long with any particular woman.” The blond with shoulder-length hair stared at her with one hand on her cart and the other on her hip.

  “I beg your pardon? I don’t think I know you, so how would you know me?” Rayna felt the first stirrings of unease.

  “Oh, everyone in town knows you’re dating those two. It’s a running joke on how long it takes for Jay to get tired of a woman so that Kenny has to call it off. I figure you’ve another two weeks, and then they’ll be saying bye to you, as well. Bet Jay is already backing away, right?”

  “You don’t know anything about us. I’d appreciate it if you’d keep your thoughts to yourself.” Rayna pushed her cart in the opposite direction.

  “I’m Tanya, by the way. They lasted the longest with me. You’ll see.”

  Rayna headed across the store to where the eggs and milk were. She wanted out of there as soon as possible. The woman’s words had unnerved her. She was so pretty, so perfect with a perfect body. Why would they have stopped seeing her when she was that pretty? What did that say for Rayna? She was a few pounds overweight and lacked hair that would always look nice no matter how you styled it. What did the guys see in her anyway?

  Stop it. I can’t go second-guessing anything. They’re with me now, and they haven’t shown any hints that they’re tired of me. I have to trust them.

  Could she trust them?

  Yes. She could. They’d shown no hint that they were growing tired of their relationship. If anything, they’d acted like they wanted it to last forever. She wasn’t going to let the bitchy blond ruin her happiness.

  She was taking her kittens to see Kenny that afternoon. She couldn’t wait to see him again. It would go a long way to making her feel bet
ter, she was sure.

  At two p.m., Rayna carried momma and the kittens in their carrier inside the veterinarian clinic and signed in. The girl at the desk looked harried but smiled and cooed over the playful kittens chewing and jumping on their patient momma.

  “Her name is Patches. We have a two-fifteen appointment,” she told the woman.

  “It might be a little longer. We’ve had a very busy morning, and Doc Kenny hasn’t even stopped for lunch.”

  “Goodness. Should I come back?”

  “No, no. He’ll see you as soon as he can.”

  Rayna took a seat on an old church bench and set the carrier next to her so that she could watch the kittens’ antics. Patches was such a good momma. She was going to hate separating them from her. The momma cat had come a long way and had put on a good bit of weight after her ordeal.

  It was close to two thirty before she was called to the back. The vet tech gave her a strained smile. “Sorry it took so long.”

  “No problem. I hear you had a busy morning.”

  “Yeah. We’re catching back up though. The doc will be with you in a few minutes.”

  Rayna stood at the table where the carrier was siting, waiting for Kenny. She heard some soft murmurs outside the door of the vet’s office. At first she didn’t understand them. Then they got a little louder.

  “Casey, I’m sorry, but I’m really busy right now.” Kenny’s voice sounded harried.

  “You always have time for me, Kenny. I haven’t talked to you in a while and wanted to see if you wanted to come by tonight for dinner.”

  “Thanks for the offer, but I’m too busy. I need to go.”

  “You always have time for me. Just stop by for drinks then.” Casey wasn’t taking no for an answer the way Rayna heard it.

  “Look, maybe another day. I’ve got to go.” With that, her door opened and Kenny walked through.

  Rayner saw just a hint of the other woman, who had a svelte body and long brown hair. Then the door closed behind Kenny.

  “Hey, Rayna. I’m so sorry for the wait. We’ve been swamped, and I had an emergency early on.” He washed his hands and dried them then turned to look in the cage. “They look great. You’ve taken good care of them.”

  “Patches did all the work.” She felt uncomfortable at having overheard the outside conversation.

  “Let’s take a look at them.” He pulled out each kitten and weighed them all before giving them their injections. “They all look healthy and are a good weight for six weeks.”

  “They’re so playful, and Patches lets them walk all over her and chew on her tail and ears without batting an eye.”

  “I’m going to weigh her and see where we stand on getting her fixed.” Kenny set Patches on the scales then whistled. “She’s up to six and a half pounds. That’s pretty good for her size. We can look at fixing her in the next two to three weeks. You can make an appointment for that on the way out.”

  “Great. Thanks so much. I took pictures of the kittens. Can I post them on your bulletin board with my number?”

  “Yeah, that will be fine. I hate to run, but I need to keep moving. I’ll talk to you later, Rayna.”

  His briskness bothered her a bit, but then she told herself that he was behind and had had an emergency that morning. She couldn’t expect him to spend extra time with her just because they were seeing each other. It bothered her though.

  After making an appointment for Patches to be spayed in three weeks, Rayna put up the pictures and descriptions of her kittens along with her number in order to find good homes for them. Just as she was leaving, she heard the voice of that woman from earlier asking to speak to Kenny again. Rayna refused to let jealous feelings eat at her and hurried through the door.

  After she’d resettled Patches and her kittens at home, Rayna logged back into work. She couldn’t help thinking about everything that had happened that day, and doubts began to creep into her head. Were they growing tired of her? Why hadn’t Kenny told the other woman that he wasn’t interested or that he was seeing someone? That should have put an end to her harassing him if he had. Rayna had to work at concentrating on work and knew she hadn’t given her best that day by the time she logged out for the night. That wasn’t like her. She needed to put her fears to rest.

  She decided to surprise Jay and run by to say hi and find out what he was working on. He liked it when she stopped by to see his latest piece.

  Twenty minutes later, she knocked at the door to his shop and waited for him to answer. When he did, he looked just as harried as Kenny had earlier.

  “Rayna. Um, I wasn’t expecting you.” He just stood there then opened the door wider. “Come on in.”

  “I’m sorry. Did I catch you at a bad time?” Those niggling doubts began to fester like an open wound deep inside of her.

  “No. I’m just having some trouble with one of the shelves I’m building for someone. She came by and wanted some changes made to it that are giving me fits.”

  Rayna walked over to the bookcase and thought it looked amazing with all the scrollwork at the top. How could someone possibly have a problem with it? That was when she saw the two glasses of wine, along with an empty bottle, sitting on his desk. She looked from that to him, and his face turned a light red until even the tips of his ears were red.

  “She brought the wine to celebrate the bookshelf and desk I’m building for her,” he quickly explained. Jay quickly tossed the empty wine bottle in the trash and moved the glasses to the sink across the room.

  “I took Patches and the kittens to Kenny today for their six-week checkup and shots. Patches is getting fixed in about three weeks.”

  “That’s great. I know you’ve loved having them, but they need their own homes. Did you put up their pictures on the board there?” he asked as he picked up a chisel.

  “I did. It’s going to be hard to say good-bye, but it’s for the best. I’m still thinking of keeping one of the kittens so Patches has a companion, but I’m not sure yet.”

  She watched as Jay started working on the shelf again. He didn’t seem to be interested in hearing about Patches or her kittens. She wasn’t used to him focusing on something other than her when she was around him.

  “Maybe I should go. You look really busy.”

  He stopped to look back at her. “Yeah, I’m sorry. This piece really has me determined to get it right.”

  “Sure. I’ll see myself out. Bye, Jay.” She turned back to the door and walked over then looked over her shoulder to say bye again when he didn’t say anything, only to find him already working on the shelf not paying any attention to her.

  Rayna opened the door and walked back to her car. The blond woman’s words came back to haunt her. Jay seemed to be pulling back. Maybe they had just wanted to have sex with her, and then, when it was over, they weren’t as interested. Maybe she hadn’t been as good as they expected, and now they were looking elsewhere.

  Those thoughts plagued her all the way home. The idea that she’d given herself to them believing that they were serious about her started an ache deep in her gut. It twisted and rolled until she wasn’t surely she’d make it back home before she got sick.

  The moment she walked through the door, Rayna headed for the bathroom and threw up. She was making herself sick thinking about all of it. Why would they treat her that way unless they were growing tired of her? She wouldn’t allow them to break her heart any more than it already was. Rayna would keep to herself and stop chasing after them. It was obvious they didn’t want to be caught.

  * * * *

  “Have you talked to Rayna today?” Kenny asked several days later.

  “No. What about you?” Jay asked.

  “No. I haven’t seen or heard from her since she brought the kittens by for their checkup. I figured she’d at least call and talk to you. Something’s up.”

  “She’s probably just busy since she took off from work to bring Patches and the kittens to you the other day. She’s probably working extra to ca
tch up.”

  “Yeah, and I was completely behind after having spent the morning working on the dog that was brought in with his collar embedded in his skin. That took up a lot of my time, so she was there a lot longer than she should have been. You’re probably right.” Kenny thought back to that day. He’d been kind of brisk with her now that he thought about it. The entire fiasco with the dog had pissed him off. Surely he hadn’t taken it out on all of his customers, especially Rayna.

  “Didn’t you say she stopped by that night before I made it home?” he asked Jay.

  “Yeah. I was really busy trying to get Marsha’s bookcase right. She’d wanted a lighter scrollwork than what I’d put on it, so I had to rework it.”

  “So we were both a little brisk with her. Do you think that’s why we haven’t heard from her? I mean just because we’re a little busy sometimes she shouldn’t get her feelings hurt over that.” Kenny couldn’t believe it was that simple.

  “If she gets upset over every little thing, it won’t be a smooth relationship. I get testy sometimes when I have a problem with a piece, but I didn’t bite her head off or anything, but I guess she doesn’t know us that well yet.”

  Kenny nodded but still wasn’t sure that was the problem. He thought about calling her and asking her out for coffee the next day but remembered he had a long morning of surgeries and wouldn’t be free until well after lunch. He needed to make sure she was okay. They hadn’t talked about doing anything that weekend. Now was a good time to make plans.

  “Want to go hiking again on Saturday?” he asked his friend.

  “I don’t think I can Saturday. I’ve got to finish the desk and get it out of my shop before I burn it. I’ve never had so much trouble with a piece before.” Jay ran a hand over his face.

  “How about Saturday night we grill out and watch a movie,” Kenny suggested.