Independence: #4 Hayley (35 page)

“A problem?”

“Let’s sleep down here.”

Two grunts met the suggestion and she sighed.

“Here? On the floor?”

“Power’s back on…we have heat upstairs,” Dane pointed out.

“We have a big, comfortable mattress upstairs,” Jack said flatly, scowling at the pile of blankets, pillows and quilts. “Maybe another time.”

“Wimp.”

“I did just hear that, didn’t I, Jack?”

“You heard it. The cowgirl is calling us wimps…”

Hayley giggled and buried her face in Jack’s shoulder. Next thing she knew, she was bouncing on the sofa, listening to them grumble.

“We want to sleep in a fucking bed.”

“Our girl wants to camp out…”

“It’s Christmas! The tree’s lit up and it’s…it’s fun…” she threw back at them.

“So what do we do?” Jack continued. “We compromise…and sleep on the fucking floor like five year olds.”

“You are the best guys ever!” Hayley ignored the blanket and jumped to her feet. She launched herself at Dane with a huge hug. He passed her over to Jack, shaking his head, laughing and heading up the stairs to find his sleep pants.

“Bring me a pair…I’m not hanging out in the living room naked,” Jack called out seconds before his mouth covered the happy squeal from her. “You’re gonna make me nuts.”

“But you like me anyway,” she teased happily. She collected blankets and made her pallet on the floor, right between them. Where she belonged.

“Yeah…” Jack chuckled, shaking his head as she prepared the other two sections for them. He walked to the stairs and stood at the bottom, his voice and Dane’s trickling across the room.

Hayley looked up when she was finished, she pulled Jack’s t-shirt over her head and settled into her section. “Is something wrong?”

“We wondered what the ritual was for tomorrow?” Dane asked without moving from where he stood. Jack quickly changed into a pair of sleep pants, leaving his jeans draped over the railing.

“Ritual?” She frowned at them. “It’s Christmas Eve,” she said with a low whisper in her voice. Then it returned to normal. “I have to finish my cookies and the rum cake and I might do some Angel Wings. I like those. Why? Do you have to go to work again? It’s okay…I’ll be fine here.”

“No…we’ve shut things down until Monday,” Jack walked to stand next to the tree. “What he meant was…will it break rules if we gave you a present tonight?”

“A present?” She perked up like an anxious puppy, looking from one to the other to the collection of unfamiliar wrapping paper. She’d resisted and let herself look, but no shaking.

Chapter Thirty-Six

“I’m thinking it’s okay,” Dane said with a laugh, reaching around Jack and lifting the ornament from the tree.

“Alice!” Hayley took the small glass milk bottle in her hands. Standing in the bottle, was the figure of Alice from the Disney movie about
‘Alice in Wonderland’
. The tag on front said
‘Drink Me’
. But there was a ribbon tied around the bottle with a small velvet pouch dangling. It also sported a tiny tag that said,
‘Open Me’
.

Hayley was suddenly nervous. Her gaze skipped from one to the other, words caught in her throat as she swallowed hard.

“It’s pretty…thank you…I love the movie…”

“We know…” Jack replied, thinking of the pieces of memorabilia she had scattered around her home office. “You can open it, Hayley. It won’t bite.”

She settled the small ornament in her lap and opened the velvet bag. Attached to a small key ring, was a large key with another tag.

“Move in with is.”

Hayley stared at the key and the words. Neither man was smiling when she looked up, staring into their eyes, first one and then the other.

“I…you…umm…” she squeezed her eyes tight.

“We’ve spent the last week together, Hayley,” Dane said quietly.

“We don’t see that changing with the New Year,” Jack continued, sinking to his portion of the bedding. “We thought this would make a good weekend getaway place.”

“But we’d like you to move in with us.”

“Into your house…all of us together…”

“How did you think it would go, babe?” Jack grinned at her.

“It’s a good step,” she said, her grin growing and matching his. Her head bobbed a few seconds later. “Yes…I’d like that…I can move my clothing…and most of my home office…”

Both men breathed a long sigh of relief.

“We thought we could do some of that while you’re baking,” Dane stretched out on the thick cushion of blankets and pulled two over him. “You’re sure you want us to go to the family brunch, Hayley?”

“I…of course I’m sure!” She set the little ornament aside and lay back beneath her blankets. “Yes, I want you both there. Grannie knows about you. And if I’m going to live with you…I’m not going to pretend we aren’t together. That’s wrong,” she concluded with a deep yawn. “Sorry…I think it’s all catching up with me.”

****

Jack groaned and rolled stiffly to his back.

Damn cowgirl.

Most of the night, one or the other of them had been wrapped around her. They never wondered about how it happened, it just happened. But it was never like this. Hayley was the most amazing women they’d ever brought into their lives.

Then the scent of cinnamon, coffee and ham trickled into his brain. Coffee first.

Cinnamon? That made him shove his elbows behind him and angle up from the floor. He spent the night sleeping on the floor. Across the now empty spot between them, Dane was growling and stirring slowly.

Jack was angled just right to see the spread of plates across the rustic, old table in the dining room. Then there was the steam rising from several of the plates and a woman dressed only in his t-shirt carrying two large mugs of coffee toward them.

Sleeping on the floor wasn’t so bad after all.

Hayley grinned and handed one mug to Dane along with a kiss on the cheek and the other to Jack with another kiss.

“Good morning…we slept in…it’s after eight,” she shook her head and went back toward the kitchen.

Jack felt his head tilting, staring at the way fucking long les that ended in a twitching ass as it departed from his view. He looked over at Dane and their grins grew.

“Hayley? Could you come over here a minute?” Dane called out over the rim of the hot coffee.

“Sure…hold on…”

They waited and were rewarded. They both reclined and watched her come closer. Jack patted the space between them, at their heads, and let his eyes wander.

“What did you…?” She started to ask. She looked down to see them peering straight up the t-shirt. Then it clicked. Her gaze shot from one to the other, then she glared at them. “You two…I swear…”

“Now I found a fucking reason to sleep on the floor…” Jack said with a laugh, ducking when she tossed a pillow at him and stormed back into the kitchen.

“You two are…”

“But you still like us,” Dane said through his grin.

“And I wouldn’t want to miss out on being able to cook in that gorgeous, well-organized kitchen,” she called back, watching Jack straighten his shoulders and glare at her.

“That’s cold,” he said before striding down the hall to the bathroom, his coffee cup between his hands.

“That was cold,” Dane agreed with a chuckle, climbing to his feet and setting the cup on the table. “Do you want this stuff back upstairs?” He looked at the wide eyes and sighed. “Tomorrow morning?” He had to laugh at the excited look on her face. “I think we can manage a couple nights a year on the floor by the Christmas tree,” he admitted, opening his arms when she came forward and wrapped herself against him.

“Thank you. I know I fell right asleep, but it was nice to open my eyes and see you guys with me and the tree,” she shrugged. “I probably should have grown out of it by now…”

“No. You shouldn’t. And you won’t,” he kissed her before sighing. “Gravity…hold that thought…”

She was laughing when Jack returned, snagged her around the middle and kissed her until there was steam. “That was still cold, woman.”

“Breakfast?” She said with a sweet smile.

Jack’s hand slid down her back and cupped an ass cheek. “Breakfast,” he agreed and went to sit at the table. He wasn’t sure how she’d managed to create all the food without waking them, but his stomach was really grateful at the moment.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Jack and Dane loaded things from her office into the truck, making sure they took things she wanted relocated. Most of the closet was cleaned out, including a pile that would be donated to the thrift shop.

The snow battering them had increased by the time they returned from the single trip. Jack tapped in the code and shoved the door wide, him and Dane almost tumbling over one another in an effort to get to the heat.

The inside smelled of too many foods to try and separate out one from another. Cookies, brightly frosted, were spread across the counters. Something rich and fragrant greeted them when Jack went in search of coffee and Dane was hanging up their coats. Something brown bubbled in a large Dutch oven and he spotted carrots bobbing in the mixture. The rice cooker was set to warm and the sound of the TV made him stride into the living area with his coffee in his hand.

He stared at the screen. Their girl was stretched out on the pile of blankets, a couple pillows beneath her breasts and bracing her. Her arms were bent and palms held her chin, freshly washed hair neatly braided and hanging down her back. He stared at the screen for a few minutes before sinking to the chair off to her right.

“Christmas travel?”

“Yes. Rick Steves in Europe at Christmas time. It’s my favorite…the Europeans have such old fashioned, fun times during the holiday season,” Hayley explained with a smile up at him. “How did the move go?”

“Smooth. We rearranged the office for your desk. No problems. We hung the stuff in the closet, but you can rearrange it,” Jack sipped the coffee. “I noticed a few boxes by the door?”

“They can go when we go there after Christmas. I want to stay here until Saturday. I’ll move my little tree outside and plant her and put away my decorations,” she said with a planning nod.

“Do you always get a live tree?”

“That’s why it’s so small…” she laughed. “So I can move it and plant it. Did you notice the off sized trees around my portion of the property? They’re very healthy.”

“I noticed a lot of them have decorations on them,” Dane remarked, stretching out on the other chair. “I stole a cookie.”

“I made extra just for that. The ones going to the brunch tomorrow are all packed up and safe from hungry guys,” she told him, lifting the remote and stopping her video.

“It’s a DVD?” Jack shook his head. Of course it was. And he already had a plan for their second Christmas together.

“Yes…I watch it every year,” she climbed to her feet and didn’t protest when he snagged her around the middle and pulled her into his lap. “Dinner’s almost ready.”

“What do we need to know about tomorrow, Hayley?” Dane asked as they were placing things on the table for dinner.

“Lots of good food and the same people you’ve met before,” she answered with a casual shrug. “And before you ask me…again…yes, I want you both to be there. Period,” she declared with a raised palm.

“The girl has spoken,” Jack teased, reaching for the ladle.

****

Dane wasn’t surprised when he woke up to find Hayley sitting cross-legged between him and Jack. Waiting.

Just quietly waiting.

He smelled food. Baked ham, he was sure there were hash browned potatoes and scrambled eggs. The patio glass was fogged over and a mound of something was hidden from view beneath a cotton cloth on the table. Biscuits.

“Why didn’t you wake us?” He leaned up on his elbows and stared at their girl.

Long hair hanging free and the softest skin he’d even felt before all scrubbed.

“It’s barely seven in the morning,” she admitted with a little shrug. “But I couldn’t sleep.”

“How do you cook without waking us?” Jack murmured, his face planted in the pillow and arms up beneath his head.

“I’ve been doing it since forever. Daddy likes sleeping in on Sundays. But I like cooking when I’m not working.”

Two hours later, after a breakfast she was sure would drag on until she was fifty years old, they finally declared it was okay to open presents. She had tried not to squeal. It didn’t work.

Dane took the lead, sitting and handing out wrapped gifts. Slowly. One at a time. Each time, they waited until each of them opened a gift.

She couldn’t believe how wonderful the morning had been. Hayley sat on the sofa, smiling from ear to ear as she rubbed her fingers over the very smooth silver on the small collection of angels. Each gift held both their names, as if it were as she believed, they were as one.

Jack sat in the corner of the sofa, marveling at the simple gifts that made all of them so happy. Somehow, Hayley had found a few books Dane had been searching for. Somehow, she had figured out which CDs he was lacking in his collection of symphonic metal.