It Takes Three to Fly (24 page)

Her eyes widened, her mouth forming an
O
. Obviously caught off guard by his bold battering, she blushed vividly. “U—u—ugh,” she stammered. “No, thank you.” Then, clearing her throat, she asked, “Are you done with your stipulations?”

Shane had noticed that Katie-Anne had that look perfected. It was probably because she did it so often. Surprisingly, he found that he liked it. She looked so damn cute that he couldn’t help himself.

Admiring her precious expression, he forgot that she’d asked a question. When he didn’t answer, and she didn’t continue, he sat with her in companionable silence. Finally, she spoke up again, “Hello?”

“What?”

Katie-Anne laughed softly. “Are you done with your stipulations?”

Shane shook his head, running through all of the terms in his mind. After he thought quietly for a moment, he replied, “For now.”

Rather than appearing pleased, Katie-Anne’s smile dimmed, and she seemed to pull back emotionally from him. “Okay,” she whispered, her voice sounding tense. “I need to talk to Landon. I should have talked to him about this a long time ago, but I was a chicken.”

Oh.
Katie-Anne wasn’t pulling away from him. She was upset, and he completely understood it.

“There’s no need to be scared about talking to him,” he rushed to assure her, hoping to help her anxiety, even if only a little. “He’s going to want to know. Trust me, he’ll love you for it.”

“I know.”

“Do you want me to come with you when you talk to him?” he inquired hesitantly. He hated to even ask because he thought it would be best for her to do this with just Landon like she had with him. At the same time, Shane didn’t want her to feel as though he’d abandoned her. “Or do you want to do it alone?”

Holding his breath, he waited for her to respond. She didn’t make him wait long before she shook her head and answered, “No, I want him to hear it from me…and me alone.”

Shane exhaled slowly.
Good answer, little one.
Framing her face with his hands, he murmured, “I understand. But, if you change your mind or need me, you know where I am.”

“I do,” she replied. Lifting her face to his, she puckered her lips. “Now kiss me.”

Shane had something else he wanted to say to her, but, as his eyes dropped to her pretty bow-shaped mouth, he forgot it. All his thoughts scattered, and his body took over. Leaning forward, he kissed her with all the love in his heart, and she kissed him with all the love in hers. And it was perfect.

Katie-Anne raised a trembling hand to knock on Shane’s apartment door, but her knuckles never rapped against the wood. She merely stood there like a marble statue with her arm extended, hanging midair. She sighed softly as an embarrassed flush burned a pathway from her neck up into her cheeks.

Damn it.
She felt asinine. This was
Landon.
Of all the people in the world, this was the man who warmed her with his presence. This was the man she’d allowed herself to grow close to, the man she’d trusted enough to open herself up to. He was the one who’d accepted every facet she’d revealed to him. In fact, he seemed to revel in it.

This is not fear. This is guilt.

“Are you looking for me?” Landon’s deep voice asked her from behind.

Startled, Katie-Anne whirled around, moving so quickly she saw stars. The whole world spun madly, and she felt as though she was riding a Tilt-A-Whirl when she caught sight of Landon leaning against the wall.

Landon rushed forward and grabbed onto her with a gentle hand, steadying her before she tipped over. “Easy there, kitten.” Lowering his head so that their faces were even, he said, “I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you okay?”

“Oh, yeah,” she responded with feigned nonchalance. “I’m fine.”

Landon looked at her even closer, appearing to assess her physical and emotional well-being. When he smiled, she knew that he’d found whatever he’d been searching for. “Okay. Why don’t we head inside?”

That’s when she noticed that he had a couple of cups and a Sweet Spot bag in one arm. Obviously, he’d shoved them there to help steady her. “Oh! Let me help you with that,” she offered but she didn’t give him a chance to be the gentleman and deny her. Before he could stop her, she snatched the drinks and bag from him.

A brilliant smile appeared on his face. “Thank you,” he told her then pecked a kiss to her lips and unlocked the door. Letting them inside, he placed a hand against the small of her back and ushered her down the hallway, drawing her into the dining room. “So, kitten, are you ready to talk to me?”

The way he phrased the question touched her, but not in a pleasant way. It felt as if someone had shot an arrow straight through her heart. With her guilt at an all-time high, she stumbled over to the table and dropped the two Styrofoam cups and paper sack on the table. Then, whirling around, she raced across the room to Landon and threw herself at him.

Obviously prepared, Landon caught her easily, holding her tight to him.

“I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” she said over and over in between the tiny kisses she pressed to everywhere her lips could reach—his face, his neck, his chest, his shoulders. Landon shushed her tenderly. He cradled the back of her head, using his fingertips to massage her scalp. With a soft cry, she collapsed into his strength.

“It’s okay,” he told her. “I understand.”

She shook her head without lifting it, her face burrowing into his sweater. “No, it’s not okay.”

He dropped his chin to the top of her head and replied, “Sure it is. We will talk this through, learn from it, then move on. Love doesn’t run, Katie-Anne.” With a kiss to her forehead, he added, “It is a huge step forward that you are here with me now.”

Katie-Anne pulled back just enough to see his loving face. Half-scared to hear his answer, she asked, “So Shane called you?”

Landon nodded. “Yes. He said that you were heading over to talk about something important, but we needed our space for this one. He said that he would be by later.” Pausing, he leaned back far enough that he could snag one of the cups from the table with his long arm. “Plus he wanted me to make sure you had this. He’s worried that you are going to need it.”

Katie-Anne took the cup from Landon. Glancing down, she saw what it was and nearly cried. Rather than go all sappy and emotional, she chose to laugh instead. “A milkshake?”

“Yeah,” he replied with an easy smile. “It is chocolate with extra whipped cream and no cherries on top. He knew it’s your favorite.”

As a woman, Katie-Anne knew that she should probably be slightly offended that he wanted her to have a high caloric, super fattening drink to soothe her emotions. But that wasn’t what it was. Shane was taking care of her with what she liked, even though he wasn’t there.

Okay, I am going to go all sappy and emotional.
Tears sprang to her eyes.
Man, pregnancy makes me a hormonal mess.
In a thick voice, she asked, “Can we go lie down in your room and talk for a little bit?”

“Your wish is my command.” Sweeping her into his arms, Landon carried her—and her chocolate milkshake with extra whipped cream and no cherries—into his bedroom. He lowered her to the floor but didn’t let go of her. “Your clothes are by the bed, and
Pretty in Pink
is queued in the DVD player, if you need to watch it when we’re done talking.”

Oh, my God. These two are something else.

“Why, thank you, kitten,” Landon said, confusing her until she realized that she’d spoken instead of just thinking.

“Shit. I just said that out loud, didn’t I?”

“Yep,” he replied with a wide grin.

Well hell. If I keep this up, he’s going to know every deep, dark, dirty thought I have about him and Shane. Wait. Is that a bad thing?

“You did it again,” he told her arrogantly. “And no, it’s
not
a bad thing.

Katie-Anne smacked his arm in a playful gesture, their old camaraderie coming back easily and quickly. “Let me get dressed in my jammies.”

Landon chuckled. “Jammies. I love it.” She always amused him when she called her ratty old sweats
jammies
. It was silly, and it kind of amused her, too, but he didn’t need to know that.

She attempted to swat him again, but he jumped away, dodging her. “Be back in a few,” he said then vanished from sight.

Sighing, Katie-Anne strolled around the bed they’d spent many hours on, mostly talking and occasionally cuddling. It still amazed her that they’d remained platonic for as long as they had. All those nights, they’d managed to keep their lips and other very naughty parts to themselves.

Before their wedding night, they had refused to push outside of the unwritten boundaries, in fear of hurting Shane. Shit, they’d called off the wedding
before
Shane’s untimely arrival because they couldn’t bear to betray him like that.

Landon had not been able to say “I do” without Shane. Every time he’d tried, it had stuck in his throat. And, when he’d confessed that to her, she’d whispered that she wouldn’t be able to say those two fateful words either when it was her turn to speak. Then Shane had showed up and everything had went haywire. They’d all fought, and he’d stormed out. Only he’d returned later and, with some pretty words, he’d convinced her to marry him and Landon.
The best, and stupidest, thing I’ve ever done. It would have been smart to wait until he’d sobered up a bit. But whoever said I’m intelligent when it comes to those two men? My rationality flies out the window when they’re around.

Katie-Anne sat her drink on the bedside table then picked up her gray sweats from the floor. Dressing slowly, she enjoyed the feeling of comfort that surrounded her soul as the cotton material brushed against her skin. Once she’d finished, she lowered herself to the side of his bed and put her head in her hands. Breathing in and out like the yoga instructor from her DVD had shown her, she attempted to calm her rapidly beating heart. Immediately, she felt better and flopped back on the bed.

Grabbing Landon’s pillowcase, she curled herself around it then sniffed the material, smelling Landon’s spicy scent with a smile. “Ahhh…”

“Comfy?”

Katie-Anne squealed, jumping in fright at Landon’s interruption. Predictably, Landon thought her reaction was hilarious. He bent over, barking one loud laugh then dissolving into a fit of softer ones.

“Jackass,” she grumbled irritably. “Stop that.”

Amazingly, he did what she said—a couple of minutes later. Settling down, Landon crawled onto the bed beside her then pulled her into his body, spooning with her. After several heartbeats of silence, Landon asked, “What were you thinking about?”

“Before or after you scared the daylights out of me?”

“Before,” he responded quietly.

“Oh, I was thinking of our wedding.”

“Interesting,” he remarked but didn’t push her to speak any further. Brushing her hair aside, he ran one finger up and down her skin, working from the bottom of her earlobe to the side of her neck then continued on to her shoulder.

“How is that interesting?” she asked as she cocked her head to the side, silently asking him to nuzzle her neck like they both liked for him to do.

Taking her up on her offer, Landon burrowed his nose into the skin of her neck, and she trembled involuntarily. “It just is,” he whispered against her skin, evoking another tremble from her body. “So what part were you actually thinking of?”

She wanted to say nothing, but that was pointless. She might as well lay it all out there then let the chips fall where they may. She wasn’t exactly worried that he would throw her out of the apartment. The only thing that could happen was her hurting his feelings, and she didn’t like the idea of that one bit.

“I just remembered how we had both called off the wedding only seconds before Shane caught us,” she told him honestly.

“Yeah, that didn’t go over well,” he remarked then pushed a stray strand of hair dark behind her ear.

“No shit.”

Lips brushed the side of her head, his warm breath fanning through the strands of her hair. “I can’t blame him, though. I would have blown a gasket in his shoes.”

“Me, too.”

Landon ran a hand down the length of her hair, stopping at the end to twist a bunch of strands around his large finger. “I think we probably went about it the wrong way.”

“You think?”

Landon released his hold on her hair as he rocked his hips back. Without warning, he dropped his hand to her ass and swatted her left cheek firmly. The feeling vibrated through her ass, making a beeline for her pussy, and a surge of moisture had her juices gathering at her entrance.

Clenching her thighs, she prayed for the strength to remain in control of her body over the next hour or so. They needed to talk more than they needed to fuck, despite what her cunt wanted.

“We wanted to get married, and he didn’t,” Landon said reasonably, resuming playing with her hair. “It just made sense for Deke to arrange a wedding for us.”

“I noticed how Deke had arranged for
two
unsigned licenses, one for each of you.”