My Two Doms (8 page)

Haley smiled big at both of them. “Well, thanks.” She stood there awkwardly for a moment, not quite sure what to say or what would happen next. Mr. Guidry would have a continental breakfast on the veranda behind the house, but… It seemed so strange to go about the normal course of the day now that
this
had happened. “Should we maybe meet up in half an hour to…you know, to talk some more or something?” Haley had already admitted to herself that she knew woefully little about the men she hoped would enter into a more serious relationship with her together. She prayed they’d find some compatibility outside their sexual relationship with her, but she felt doubtful.

Jason and Gregory exchanged glances. Haley wished she knew what they were thinking. She didn’t even know if they really wanted to go beyond what happened last night. Last night… Haley remembered now how wonderful it had seemed. They did offer balance. Gregory like steel covered in silk velvet. Jason like a tightly coiled spring, his fervor and passion threatening to burst forth at any moment. She shivered as she remembered, and she felt herself grow wet yet again. How many times would she be able to repeat that before it all fell apart?

She turned and left the room without giving her men a backward glance. They would have to come after her.

* * *

Gregory and Haley approached Jason’s table at the same time, and Jason looked up at both of them. He raised his cup. “Welcome.”

To Haley, it sounded forced, but she knew they all had a long way to go in getting this to work out. In the bright light of day, it seemed all the more ridiculous. At least in the heat of play, value could be found in a threesome, but here—with the summer sun beating down—it felt like a farce that had gone too far.

The three of them sat silently for a moment while they ate or drank. Apprehension knotted Haley’s gut. She could barely eat. “So what happens now?” she finally asked.

Jason exchanged glances with Greg. “I guess it’s that ‘getting to know you’ part.”

“How about a walk, then?” Haley suggested. The bayou behind Mossy Oaks was actually a state wildlife sanctuary, and they could reach some paths and boardwalks from the far side of the lawn. Maybe that would give them enough distraction to get beyond the awkward phase of this.

“Sounds nice,” Jason said. He looked at Greg.

“Why not?” Gregory said.

Haley smiled at both of them, and they finished their breakfasts.

The three headed off into the bayou. The narrow boardwalk didn’t allow for them to walk side by side three abreast, and Haley could see even this raised Jason’s hackles. Who would follow whom? What would it mean for the relationship? What relationship? She tried to suppress the frustration that wanted to bubble up.

“Go ahead, Jason,” Gregory told him as they reached the first board.

“No, that’s okay,” Jason said slowly. “You go.”

“I insist.”

Haley crossed her arms and tapped her foot. “Y’all are trying my patience.” After a few moments—when it became clear that neither Jason nor Gregory would go first—she threw her arms up and headed into the swamp. “I can’t believe you two,” she said as she walked away.

She heard Jason and Gregory both sigh at the same time. But soon she left them behind, turned a corner, and the damp heat of the swamp closed in over her. Haley had learned a lot about her two men in a very short span of time. Like how they could turn a simple walk into a war of wills and immediately strip the fun out of being together.

Faintly, behind her, she could hear Gregory say, “Why did you have to tell me you loved her?”

Haley slowed.
He must think I’m out of hearing distance.

“What does it matter to you?” Jason this time.

“It got
me
thinking about it.” Haley heard a long pause, and then she could hear footsteps on the boardwalk and the voices growing louder. “I think I love her too, remember?”

“Yeah, I know. And fuck you,” Jason grumbled. “I said it first.”

“Real mature,” Gregory said.

Haley realized they’d catch up to her in a moment, so she picked up her pace, trying to walk quickly and quietly so they wouldn’t know how close she had stood to them.

“I’ll do whatever—”

“Makes Haley happy?” Gregory said.

The voices faded out, and after a while, Haley forgot they followed. As the darkness of the swamp descended over her, peace filled her. She had been fighting against her own feelings. Sure, she wanted both these men, but it became clearer every passing moment that they just couldn’t get along. She didn’t want to spend time with them, but she wanted them terribly. Something of a paradox.

But right now she could stop and appreciate the nature around her, let her strife recede. This was, after all, the reason she’d come.

A flash of color caught Haley’s eye, and she stopped to examine it. As she looked at the flower a few yards off in the undergrowth, Jason and Gregory finally caught up to her.

Trying to mask the feelings that warred inside her, Haley instead focused on the flower, a bright yellow bloom on a tall green stalk, its petals the crinkled texture of crepe paper. “Look at that,” she said, pointing.

Jason’s gaze followed her gesture. “I wish I had my camera. That’s a golden canna. They’re really rare.”

“No, I have them in my yard,” Haley told him.

“Not this kind, you don’t.”

“How do you know that?” Gregory asked.

Jason looked at him. “I work for Wildlife and Fisheries.” Haley noticed some of his professional pride peeking through his pissed-off facade.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I specialize in conservation and combating invading species.”

“Pretty specific,” Haley said. She started walking again, and the two men followed.

“What do you do, Greg?” Jason asked.

Haley realized the topic had yet to come up.

“I work for Shell Oil.”

Jason stopped dead. “What?”

“That’s right,” Haley said, her memory now jogged. “That’s where he gets the stamina. From diving around the rigs.”

Jason blinked, looking at her. She gazed back at him, her head slightly tilted. She could tell he was not happy.

“Haley, he works for an
oil
company.”

She glanced at Gregory. “So?”

“The entire reason these very wetlands are threatened is because of the oil companies. They cut in canals that allowed for saltwater intrusion—”

Gregory stepped closer to him, and Haley noticed his fists balled at his sides. “Wait a second. That’s the old way of doing things. They haven’t done any of that since I’ve been on board.”

“What does it matter?” Jason crossed his arms. “You guys are a propaganda machine that’s got America by the throat. Haley, I can’t believe…”

She pursed her lips. Evidently he read the look on her face, because he stopped talking.

“A nice walk”—her words came out low and full of venom—“was all I wanted, and you two can’t even calm down enough for that!” At the end, her voice rose up into a scream, and then she turned and stalked off again, leaving the two men behind her. She didn’t care what they thought.

Haley walked fast. She didn’t ponder where she went, what she saw, or whether Jason and Gregory followed. Her mind whirled, self-castigation foremost in a sea of feelings. What
had
she been thinking, really? Two men? Right. No matter how hot last night had seemed—God, it had been really hot—this whole thing was destined to fail. It had to. Humans couldn’t commit to two people, could they? And wasn’t it just like men to fight over the female? Wildebeests, lions, mountain goats… They were all the same. With men, ego and competition came before relationships and cooperation. And what could she ever do to change that?

Tears stung Haley’s eyes, and the swamp blurred around her as she charged ahead.

And then a spiderweb struck her square in the face. She closed her eyes against it and tried to peel it off. She brushed against the fat body of a golden silk spider, right on her cheek. She managed not to scream. As she frantically tried to get the spider and the web off, she lost her balance. She attempted to catch herself, but one foot went over the edge of the boardwalk. She felt a sickening moment of teetering, hoping she could regain her stability and end up back on the walkway.

Then the world flipped beneath her, and she fell the few feet down into the swamp. As she went down, a squeal of shock was ripped from her lips.

Tepid brown water closed over Haley’s head.

Her feet found dubious purchase on the slick, muddy bottom, and she pushed up, wiping web and water from her face. She took a deep breath, sputtering and trying to get her composure. After a few moments, she felt comfortable enough to assess her situation.

She looked at the edge of the boardwalk. It sat high enough that she knew she would not be able to hoist herself out. Hillocks of grassy earth rose periodically from the murky water. Her best bet would be to try to make it to one of those and then haul herself out. Following that, she would have to call for help and hope Gregory and Jason didn’t have their heads so far up their asses that they couldn’t hear her.

But then she saw it.

An alligator a few yards off, floating there, its black eyes just visible over the surface, duckweed covering its scaly head. Fear kept her from adequately gauging its size. Could it eat her? She couldn’t tell. Haley didn’t know what to do. She remembered hearing a story about a kid not far from here who lost his arm to a gator in a swimming hole. Was it best to play dead or to make a lot of noise and try to scare it off? Did gators attack things that acted injured? She always confused hunting behavior of sharks and gators—what little of it she knew from watching Animal Planet anyway.

Haley couldn’t keep in the squeak of fear that threatened to escape.

The alligator dipped its head beneath the water; its eyes vanished.

She screamed for real. She couldn’t tell where it would go or what it would do. She started panicking, trying to make it to the nearest hillock, hoping it would offer some protection. Muddy water churned around her, and her breath came in short, panting sobs.

“Haley!”

She looked up. Gregory and Jason were leaning over the edge of the boardwalk with their hands extended. She stood as best she could on the muddy bottom of the swamp and reached toward them. They grabbed hold of her wrists and pulled her up. As she cleared the edge of the boardwalk, she heard the
snap
of giant jaws behind her.

Then her world went black.

Chapter Six

The warm water of a Jacuzzi tub swirled around Haley. She could feel Jason’s prick against her ass, straining for her even though she knew worry must fill his heart. Haley took a deep breath. The moments before she’d blacked out flashed through her mind. If they’d arrived a second later, she could have become gator food.

But now she felt safe, connected, in one of the house’s big rooms with Jason and Gregory in the tub with her. She closed her eyes. Jason pressed against her back, and Gregory stroked both her thighs as he sat between them.
I could get used to this
. But Haley didn’t doubt for a moment, even in her blissful state of mind, that things could still go wrong. After all, if the two men hadn’t fought, she wouldn’t have run. If she hadn’t run, she wouldn’t have fallen into the swamp.

Haley sighed again, but this time out of frustration rather than contentment.

“What’s the matter?” Jason asked. “I felt you go tense.”

She thought about confessing everything, but instead she just shook her head and attempted to relax. She would try to make the most of this while she could. Then—if she had to—she would move on. She’d learned these two men had even more to keep them from getting along than their territorial feelings about her, which had clearly been enough. Now political, economic…hell, life differences would prevent them from being friends too.
Hopeless
had to be the word to describe her situation.

“You need to tell us what’s bothering you,” Gregory told her.

She shook her head again.

“Do we need to
make
you tell us?” Jason asked.

Haley swallowed. She thought about what it would mean for them to make her tell. Would they play some sort of good cop/bad cop? Or would one spank her while the other grilled her face-to-face. She felt a tingling in her lower belly at the thought.

But no, Haley realized she felt too tired for that now. She needed to rest and rethink her future with these men. She knew the only way she could rest would be to confess everything. She nuzzled Jason’s shoulder and then looked right in Gregory’s eyes.

“I’m tired,” she told them, “of the two of you fighting.”

“It’s only been a day—” and “We can work things out—” came out at the same time. Haley watched Gregory’s gaze slip up, probably meeting Jason’s over her head. She loved that they tried to convince her of a possible future, even though she knew it could never happen.

“I desperately want to be with both of you.” She looked out the window at the expanse of lawn and bayou beyond. “At least, I think I do.” Haley glanced back at Gregory. “But—like I think I’ve said—I can’t deal with the stress of the fighting. I don’t know what I’m willing to sacrifice for your rela”—she cut herself off—“future.” She pushed up and moved to the other side of the tub so she could look at both of her men at the same time. “It’s like I’m cursed or something. I’ve found the two men I want most in my life, but the two of you can’t get along.”

“I’m sorry, Haley,” Jason said. “But there’s so much about him I can’t like.”

“I feel the same,” Gregory told her.

“At least we’re honest about that. And I guess I’m just being selfish. I want you two to sacrifice everything for me.” Haley felt suddenly self-conscious and crossed her arms over her breasts. “But I keep forgetting each of you have your needs.” She paused. “I’m probably just meant to be single, since the two men I want don’t want or even like each other.”

Jason said, “Haley—”

She held up her hand, and he stopped. “I’m tired, okay?” She stood. “I’m going to go right over to that huge bed and take a nap. I’d say we should talk later, but I’m not sure there’s anything left to talk about. Thanks for last night and for rescuing me today, but I don’t want to dwell on us anymore.”