by Marie Harte
James rolled his eyes. “Keegan, stop being an ass for two seconds.” He turned to Rory. “You happy, honey?”
She smiled. “Oh yeah. I talked to Owen for hours.”
“You were supposed to be back at two,” Keegan grumbled, but he looked pleased.
“He’s a very nice man. He has a sister a few years younger than him, around my age. I think she does some kind of business that involves travel. But Owen was very interested to learn more about me, and he wanted to meet you two.”
“Oh?” James said quietly. “I told him about you both, about how much I love you.” Keegan blinked. “Come again? Sunshine, you still won’t commit to livin’ with us or settling here. But you told some rich ass—ah, some rich guy you’re doing the both of us with no problem?”
She blushed and scowled at him. “Well, I admit part of it was a test. I expected him to look at me like I was crazy, but he just smiled and offered congratulations.
Then he mentioned he owns a few of the commercial properties on Wall, and that relatives get a big discount.”
She finally came to the important part. “So, I was thinking.” She hoped they’d agree to this. “Instead of us living in your house,” she said to Keegan, “or yours,” she said to James, “why don’t we look into the house I just bought? It’s big enough for all of us, and it’s closer to the mountains. I know it’d be a longer drive to work, but—”
Keegan lifted her out of her chair with his whisper hands, startling a squeak of shock out of her.
James beamed. “Honey, that’s the best news I’ve had all day. I don’t even want to know how much you paid for it.”
She laughed as she settled between them. “That stash I mentioned I’d collected over the years? Guys, I know rocks and stones. The diamonds and rubies I sold Owen are worth a lot. A lot, lot. But I gave him a family discount because he traded me a really cool house.”
Keegan groaned. “Does this mean we owe him now? Or you? I don’t know about leechin’ off you. We make money, but it ain’t that great. Maybe we—” A ball of fire suddenly danced in front of his face.
James glared. “Shut up, right now. No macho displays of testosterone. No beating your chest and being the man. We’re in this together, Keegan. Rory likes the house, and I like Rory. She wants us. You want to screw with that right now?” Keegan looked shamefaced. “No, but Rory, we don’t want you for your money. I don’t like you bein’ loaded.”
“I’m not.” Well, she kind of was, but only because Owen could legitimately get her top dollar for the stones she’d gathered. Then again, she couldn’t afford to give up work altogether. “Look, I have enough to put us into a great house with a bit of land. The rest will go into my business.” And some nice furniture, a car, maybe a new hat for Keegan, and a new suit for James…
Keegan breathed out a sigh of relief. “Good. I want you to need us, Sunshine.”
“I do.” She relaxed into the hug he gave her, then pulled back. “And I want you to think about something. If we do this marriage thing, like you two are bugging me to, then there has to be a long engagement. We just met, remember?” But she had a hard time reminding herself of that. The love she felt when she was with them overwhelmed her fears. Life wouldn’t be perfect, and she knew there would ups and downs, but without them, she didn’t know what she’d do.
“You’re mine, Rory. And so is he.” James drew her close for a kiss. “I’m perfectly content to be yours and his in name only. I’m less of a traditionalist than the cowboy is.”
She knew he meant it. With James, Rory had never gotten anything but the truth. With Keegan too, she admitted, just in a much more straightforward way.
Keegan’s eyes gleamed. He leaned closer to kiss both of them. “I have the rings back at my place, but I was hopin’ you’d help me if you wanted stones set in them.
That’s your deal, anyways, Sunshine.”
James started. “Rings?”
Keegan grinned. “Yeah, smart-ass, rings. You don’t know everything, do you? I bought one for you, me, and Rory soon as we got back. Got to make an honest man out of you too, or I’ll never hear the end of it from the nimrods around this place when the truth gets out.”
Rory laughed. “Oh wow. This is so perfect. Kitty bet me ten dollars you’d be too much of a, ah, a coward to announce to everyone how you really feel about James.” She could see the love and relief on James’s face. He’d said little, but she knew he still worried about his relationship with Keegan. Heck, she did too.
Rory cautioned, “I’m in, you know that. But like I said, we need to take this slow. I want us to be sure.”
“As slow as you want, Sunshine. Don’t matter much to me.” Keegan gave a loud whoop and slapped James on the back. Then he kissed Rory again. “No rush.
In fact, we can hide the rings when we visit my folks at Thanksgiving. Give you plenty of time to adjust to the thought of me and you. And you,” he said to James. “I need to break the folks in gently to being with a guy, and hell, a threesome ain’t gonna go down well, I know it. But I’m not going to hide how I feel about you two forever.”
James looked at Rory, who nodded her agreement. “Fine. But we wear the rings when we go to Maryland for Christmas. My family is going to love you two.
But not as much as I do.” James looked like he wanted to burst.
“Now hold on a minute. There’s just one thing we need to take care of before this is official.” Rory tried to look serious. “My saying yes is conditional on that thing we talked about last week.”
Keegan frowned. “Thing?”
She glanced from him to James and grinned.
Dawning comprehension widened James’s smile. “Rory, if I haven’t said I love you enough, from the bottom of my heart, let me say it again. I love you.”
“I know.” She kissed him and turned with him to face Keegan.
James ran his hand over her hip, his breathing heavy as his gaze lingered over Keegan’s fine form. “Remember what I said before, Keegan? About me being an ass man?”
Keegan groaned, but the tenting shorts he wore said he wasn’t as opposed to being on the receiving end of James and his loving as much as he protested.
Rory grinned. “Now, cowboy, before I say yes, let’s talk about you getting yours…”
Loose Id Titles by Marie Harte
Mirror, Mirror
Reaper’s Reward
Saturnalia
Satyr’s Myst
Tied & True
Willa’s Wish
The CIRCE’S RECRUITS Series
Roan
Zack & Ace
Derrick
Hale
The DAWN ENDEAVOR Series
Fallon’s Flame
Hayashi’s Hero
Julian’s Jeopardy
Gunnar’s Game
The POWER UP! Series
The Lost Locket
Marie Harte
Marie Harte is an avid reader who loves all things paranormal and futuristic, but especially all things romance. Reading romances since she was twelve, she fell in love with the warmth of first passion and knew writing was her calling. Twenty-three years later, the Marine Corps, a foray through Information Technology, a husband and four kids, and her dream has finally come true. Marie lives in Georgia with her family and loves hearing from readers.