“I really want you to go,” Gracie told them now, her eyes full of emotion.
She was serious.
“We’ll go,” Grant told her, making his way to her. She didn’t back away which was a good sign. “But, baby, this isn’t over. I’ll give you some space, but… I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to stay away.”
To his surprise, Gracie didn’t argue. The subtle nod of her head looked more like acceptance than anything else. But he knew when to lay off.
“Come on,” Grant nodded at Lane who was standing there staring at them both.
Lane nodded his head, but he didn’t speak. His gaze was locked on Gracie and Grant saw, for the first time, such a strong sense of longing in the other man that it made his chest hurt.
Yeah, this wasn’t going to be easy. Not on any of them.
When Grant was outside a few minutes later, he stood with his eyes focused on the giant moon. The night was clear and the moon was high, the radiant beam of light shining over the rolling hills that seemed to go on forever.
God he loved it here.
“You ok?” Lane asked as he stepped up beside him, his arm brushing Grant’s.
“No,” he said truthfully. “I’m not sure I’ll ever be ok again.”
Lane didn’t respond which was just as well. Grant didn’t want to get into why he had suddenly become so sappy. Tonight had been something he’d wanted for as long as he could remember. But kissing Gracie was only the beginning. Taking her to bed was definitely on his mind, but it wasn’t the most pressing thing he was thinking about.
No, Grant needed to figure out how this was supposed to work. Between the three of them.
Because he didn’t want it any other way.
“I need to head home,” Lane finally said.
Grant turned to look at him. He wanted to invite the man back to his cabin, but he knew it was too soon. Especially after what had transpired between them tonight. That kiss… It wasn’t just about sex although he had no doubt in his mind that sex with Lane would be off the charts. His dick stirred at the mere thought of Lane naked, pressing up against him while Grant was buried deep inside of him, moaning his name…
Fuck.
“Yeah, I’m thinking about it too,” Lane told him, and Grant laughed.
“We can’t do this tonight, you know that right?”
“Yeah, I know.” Lane sounded incredibly disappointed, but not like Grant was telling him something new.
Lane turned to face him and Grant couldn’t keep from looking into his eyes. Goddamn the man was handsome. Big and broad, he almost made Grant feel small although six-foot-one was not small by any stretch of the imagination. But it wasn’t just Lane’s physical presence that made him so big. It was the life in him.
“I’d give anything to be back inside her house, to have you both up next to me, Grant. I don’t want this to fade away. Do you understand?” Lane was serious. Deadly serious. “I’ve wanted this for so long. Both of you. And goddammit, I’ve tried to figure out what it would be like with just one, not both of you, but it doesn’t work. Well, it does and it doesn’t.” Lane smiled sheepishly.
“I know,” Grant whispered back.
They stood there like that for a few minutes, neither of them talking.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Lane finally said as he reached out and touched Grant’s hand. From the outside, it would’ve looked innocent, but being this close to Lane, Grant saw the hunger and longing in the man’s beautiful brown eyes.
“Tomorrow,” Grant agreed.
Unable to make his feet move, Grant stood there in the yard surrounding Gracie’s cabin as he watched Lane walk away.
When Lane was out of sight, Grant turned to look back at Gracie’s house. He was surprised to see her standing there, framed by the doorjamb of the front door. Before he could say anything, she took a step back and the door closed slowly. She’d heard everything they said and she hadn’t run, hadn’t shut the door on them. She had stood there listening. And Grant was inclined to believe she was on the same page they were. It wouldn’t be long.
He hoped.
Chapter Five
“So, how’s Grant?” Faith asked the following Friday night while the two of them were sitting in the main recreation room keeping an eye on things.
Out of the five of them, Grace and her four sisters took alternate shifts hanging out with the guests on Friday and Saturday nights. She would have to admit that it usually wasn’t a hardship because with as many guests as they saw in a given week, there was never a lull. And tonight was no exception.
“Shut up,” Grace mumbled through gritted teeth as she pretended to be watching the few groups scattered throughout the two-thousand square foot recreation area. For the past week, Faith had been giving her shit about Grant, and Grace’s patience with her sister had finally run out. “Out of condoms yet?” “Who’s the chocolate syrup for? You or him?” “I thought I heard someone screaming his name the other night. Was that you?”
No matter what Grace did, she couldn’t get Faith to shut up. The only positive was that, as far as she could tell, Faith hadn’t run her big mouth to their sisters or to their father. And yes, that was the only positive in the entire screwed up situation.
Not only had Faith been reminding her of Grant, which in turn reminded her of Lane, but Grace had also been thinking about them far too much. When she was awake, she couldn’t stop thinking about the kisses they shared. When she was asleep, things got significantly hotter until she was waking up soaked in sweat, completely frustrated.
Both men had given her a wide berth for the better part of the week. Although they both checked on her each morning, neither of them were pushing her. For anything. And that disappointed her, even if she didn’t want to admit it.
No, what Grace wanted was to go back to Monday night when the three of them were standing in her living room and insist that they explain how this was possible. People didn’t have three-way relationships. Did they? God, she didn’t know and she damn sure didn’t want to look on the internet to find out because heaven only knew what she’d find.
“Faith.”
Grace looked up at the same time her sister did. There, on the other side of the room was Rusty Ashmore. Glancing back to her sister, Grace noticed that Faith was blushing profusely, but she wasn’t smiling.
“Uh-oh,” Grace muttered beneath her breath, an impish grin tipping her lips. Payback was a bitch.
It was Faith’s turn to tell Grace to shut up.
She didn’t because what fun would that be.
“Hey, Rusty,” Grace greeted him as he moved closer, his eyes glued to Faith. “How’s it hangin’?”
“Grace,” he said in response, seemingly ignoring her entirely. Grace laughed.
“Well, you two kids have fun. Oh, and if you need any, I seem to have an abundance of chocolate syrup that I won’t be needing,” she offered to the pair as she pushed out of her chair and headed across the room.
A quick peek back and Grace grinned at her sister’s bewildered expression. Nope, she hadn’t expected that one.
Just when she was going to try to sneak out, Grace skimmed the room before her gaze landed on two men at the pool table, both of them laughing.
Grant and Lane.
Unable to stop herself, Grace stared at them, watching the easy way they talked and laughed with one another. Maybe she never noticed it before, probably because she had no reason to, but it was clear by their body language that they found one another attractive. She doubted anyone else would see it because as far as the rest of the world was concerned, they were just two friends who liked to rib each other constantly.
God, they were incredibly attractive. Lane’s booming laugh echoed in the room, causing several of the female guests to glance his direction. A pang of jealousy resounded in her chest and Grace immediately pushed it aside. She didn’t care what they did. Or with whom they did it with.
Liar.
As though they felt he
r observing them, they both turned at the exact same time. Grace instantly turned away, but she didn’t run for the door as she had originally intended. No, there was some sort of centrifugal force pulling her back and she didn’t try to fight it.
She didn’t want to.
And that meant she’d gone completely crazy.
“Gracie!”
This time Grace turned to see her sister Mercy coming her way and that alone should’ve sent her screaming from the building. At least one time or another, Grace had wondered how she came about her name because the one thing Mercy lacked was, well, mercy. She should’ve high tailed it out the door, but thanks to the odd magnetic pull from the two men across the room, she couldn’t get her feet to move.
“Where’ve you been?” Mercy asked as she approached.
“Here,” she said, confused.
“I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“Me?”
“No, the dude standing behind you. Yes, you. Shit.”
Ummm… ok. Grace stared back at Mercy, waiting for her sister to continue.
“I need to run into town tomorrow. I was wondering if you had a list of things you wanted me to get for you.”
Grace’s mouth fell open and her ears began to burn. At that same moment, Mercy grinned like a fool. “No? Nothing. Fine. I’ll go ask Grant if he needs anything from town.”