Sharing Hailey (12 page)

Tony turned to face her, hands resting loosely on his hips. “You should stay here with Jake.”

The matter-of-face statement surprised Hailey. “Why?” she blurted.

“She can’t stay here,” Mark said. “Not with Jake ready to kill us.”

“He won’t hurt her.”

“Not physically,” Mark countered. “But he can still make her feel like roadkill.”

“She already feels like roadkill.”

“Yeah, but I can fix that as soon as we find a place to stay.”

Tony shook his head but didn’t say anything. They focused on her, waiting for her decision. Mark’s shoulders were tight, his free hand fisted at his side. Tony seemed relaxed except for the worry lines that creased his brow.

Should she go? If she stayed, she might be able to talk to Jake—get him to accept the three of them. But if she were truthful with herself, she knew he wouldn’t listen to her. The only one who had any chance of getting through to him was Nikki. And Jake would have to calm down before Nikki could even venture there. Hailey didn’t know when that would happen, but she wasn’t going to hold her breath.

Plus, she didn’t want to stay. It was selfish, but she wanted to be with Mark and Tony. The three of them needed each other right now.
She
needed
them.
They were just getting started. What would a separation do to their relationship, especially if Jake didn’t accept them? Would Mark and Tony give up on her? The thought made her sick, and she began to physically shake.

Mark dropped his duffle and let his backpack slide from his shoulder to the floor. He wrapped his arms around her. “Hey, it’s okay. Whatever you want to do is okay with me.”

She buried her face in his shirt, and his scent and warmth and strength soothed her. “I want to go with y’all.” Her voice was muffled against his chest. “I’m afraid if you leave me here, you’ll never come back.”

“Not gonna happen,” Mark said.

“Even if we were dead, we’d just hang out with you,” Tony added. “Screw the light at the end of the tunnel.”

She gave his attempt at levity a small smile, but she was worried. “It’s just that this is new and different, and I’ve loved both of you for so long. I’m afraid this isn’t real or it won’t last.”

“Only time will take care of that,” Tony said matter-of-factly.

That was the only thing she knew for sure. They needed time—together, not apart. “I want to go with you, but I don’t want you to be angry with me.”

Tony said, “It’s your decision. Whatever you decide, I won’t be angry.”

She stared at Tony, unblinking, afraid of missing any hint of anger or disappointment with her answer. “Okay. Let’s go.”

He nodded, and she could have sworn he looked relieved, but he quickly turned away and picked up his duffle bag and backpack. She looked to Mark for some indication that Tony was okay. His nod and smile comforted her a little.

After grabbing her bag at the top of the stairs, they headed out to the SUV. Mark opened the door for her, while Tony loaded the bags in the back.

They took the northern route to Volcano. Hailey closed her eyes and tried to relax, but Jake’s anger made it impossible. He hadn’t said goodbye to her. That bothered her, made her feel as if she’d left something unfinished. Something other than his rejection of her relationship.

“Guys?”

“Yeah?” Mark answered from the seat in front of her.

“I really don’t want to go all the way to Volcano.” She was uncomfortable with the idea of being so far away from Jake when he was so angry. Plus, she was beyond tired. Emotionally wrung out. She just wanted to veg or sleep.

“Where do you want to go?” Tony asked.

“Could we just go to Kohala?”

“Sure,” Tony answered.

“You have a resort preference, babe?”

“Anywhere you can get a room,” she answered dully. “I don’t care.”

“Hailey,” Tony said. “He’ll come around. Just give him some time.”

“Yeah,” Mark added. “Remember, you weren’t exactly on board with the three of us when we first proposed it.”

“It wasn’t because I didn’t like the idea. I just didn’t think it was possible. Jake doesn’t like the whole idea of it.” She took a deep breath. “He thinks I’m a slut.”

“He didn’t say that,” Tony argued. “Besides, it could be worse. You could be a bleeding-heart liberal.”

Hailey and Mark laughed. In Jake’s world, that was probably the worst insult he could have lobbed at anyone.

“Or a pinko commie,” Mark added.

Once Hailey started laughing, she couldn’t stop. She kept telling herself that it wasn’t funny. And truly, it wasn’t. Her brother was furious with her, and in the midst of his tirade he’d called Tony a “bleeding-heart liberal.”

Tears came to her eyes. Her laughter became gasps as she tried not to cry.

Her arms around her waist, hugging herself tightly in an attempt to control the hysteria, she was barely aware of Tony turning the car onto the shoulder of the road. Next thing she knew, he was sliding in beside her. When he wrapped his arms around her, she buried her face in his T-shirt and sobbed.

Oh God, what had she done? What had she been thinking? She’d ruined her friendship with Mark and Tony. She’d turned her brother against his best friends. She’d turned him against her.

Meredith was right. Love made you stupid.

When Tony’s shoulder was good and wet, and her weeping had turned to hiccups, she spoke, her words muffled against Tony’s shirt. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “We saw it coming.”

She pushed away from his chest and leaned back against the seat. “I was going to wait until I was alone.”

“Would have been a long wait, since we’re not going to leave you alone,” Mark said. He was leaning back against the open door, his phone in his hand. “I got a bungalow at the Malulani.”

She sniffled and wiped her nose on the back of her hand. So attractive. “That was fast.”

“Technology. Gotta love it.”

“He panics when you cry,” Tony said.

Mark leaned over and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “Scares me shitless.”

A deep sigh escaped her. “I’m fine now. I just never thought I’d have to choose between y’all and Jake.”

“You won’t,” Tony said. “He’ll come around. He’s more liberal than he thinks.”

“More perverted too,” Mark said facetiously as he backed up a step. “I’ll drive.”

Tony nodded and leaned away from Hailey to shut his door. Mark closed her door and walked around to the driver’s side. When he started the car and pulled out onto the highway, she said, “I really think we need a country station. You know, a good ole my-wife-left-me-my-dog-died-and-I-wrecked-my-pickup-after-I-lost-my-job song.”

Mark scanned the radio until the soulful wails of Travis Tritt’s “Here’s a Quarter, Call Someone Who Cares” blasted through the speakers. All three sang along at the top of their lungs.

Chapter Eleven

Hailey searched desperately for her parents. They were dying, and she needed to find them. If she could find them, they wouldn’t die. She could keep them safe. If she could just find them…

Heavy, dull pain crushed her chest. Where were they? Why had she let them go? She screamed for them and at them, an angry keening.

Noooooo. Don’t leave me!

Why had they abandoned her? Why hadn’t they found the will to live for her? She wouldn’t have left them. She would have fought anyone or anything to stay with them.

Anger and sorrow warred within her as she continued her fruitless search.

With a start, she woke up wrapped around Mark. Sunlight streamed through the open doors that led to a private lanai and pool area overlooking the ocean, but the sorrow of the dream cast shadows on the beautiful morning.

It had been a long time since she’d dreamed of her parents’ deaths. Not since leaving Texas and moving to Albuquerque. It was always the same dream. Oh, there were slight variations in where it took place—a park, a street, different places they’d vacationed when she was a child, a hospital, even school. But the rest of it was the same. She had to find her parents to save them. The sorrow was always there. The anger at her parents sometimes came through. But most of the time it was just the soul-deep sorrow.

It exhausted her, left her wrung out.

After their deaths, the dreams had plagued her for a couple of years, gradually becoming less frequent until she’d thought she was done with them. She’d welcomed the reprieve. But then they had started up again a couple of weeks before Jake’s marriage. It didn’t take a psychologist to tell her that the nightmares weren’t about her parents. They’d been about losing Jake to Nikki. Didn’t matter that she wasn’t really losing him, that she wouldn’t be spending any less time with him or that he’d love her any less. Didn’t matter that she loved Nikki or that the marriage was a natural progression of Jake’s life.

She’d still felt as if she were losing him. She hadn’t told him. On the outside she’d happily helped him and Nikki plan the wedding, while she’d been crying inside. After the wedding, the dreams had gone away.

She hadn’t had them again until she’d moved to Albuquerque. They’d lasted a couple of months, but again they’d faded.

She didn’t need someone poking around in her head to tell her why they’d started again last night.

Jake had abandoned her.

“You okay, babe?” Mark asked, his voice rough.

She stretched against his nude body, the T-shirt she’d worn to bed riding up on her hips. “Yeah. Just a bad dream. You?”

“Right where I want to be.”

Tony wasn’t in bed with them. She listened for him but didn’t hear anything. She’d gone to sleep between the two of them. “Where’s Tony?”

He ran a warm hand down her back and over the curve of her ass. Her skin tingled in response. “He went to get something to distract you.”

“Food?”

Mark chuckled. “No.”

“What?”

“It’s a surprise.” His cock stirred against her leg.

Her stomach growled, and he chuckled again.

“I’ll order breakfast while you shower.” He patted her bottom and slipped away from her.

She flipped onto her back and stared at the ceiling without seeing it. “Is he okay?”

“Yeah, babe. He’s fine. Don’t worry.”

She was curious about how Tony had gotten past “the kiss.” They hadn’t talked about it privately since the night it had happened. Mark had touched on it briefly at the club, but he hadn’t gone into details. It hadn’t been the right place.

“So y’all talked about it. The kiss.”

“Tony talked. I mostly listened.”

She turned her head so she could see his reaction. After all, the ceiling wasn’t going to give her any answers. “And…?”

“Something about orgasms and cuddling hormones and bonding.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, I know. He’s explaining it away with science. And hell, maybe he’s right. The fact is that we’ve never had sexual feelings toward each other. But we have felt closer these last few days. Not sexually closer.” He paused and seemed to struggle for an explanation. “I don’t know. Maybe more in tune with each other.” He grimaced. “God, that sounds girly.”

She was relieved they’d talked about it but also a little disappointed that they weren’t interested in taking it further.

“And you were right when you said we can’t hold back when the three of us are making love. Tony and I can’t be afraid of touching each other. He gets that.”

“If y’all ever want to do more…together, even without me…I’m okay with that.” Although she hoped they would include her, it might be easier for them initially if they didn’t have an audience.

He chuckled. “Yeah. We got that message. But don’t get your hopes up. We’re really not feeling it.”

She hesitated before asking her next question. “Did Jake call?”

When he didn’t answer, she squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed the tears that clogged her throat.

“Guess that’s a ‘no,’” she said, her voice rougher than normal, even for morning.

“Give him another day. He’ll call. He’s probably just gotten his blood pressure out of stroke range.”

She sat up and scooted to the side of the bed closest to the bathroom. When her feet touched the carpet, Mark leaned over her, trapping her hips between his hands. He kissed her, hard, mitigating her concern over Jake.

“You shaved,” she blurted into his mouth.

He lifted his head a little and traced around her lips with one finger. “Yeah, I’m sorry about the beard burn. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“You didn’t hurt me,” she said softly as she rubbed her palm along the side of his face. “I love your vacation beard.”

“Yeah, well, if I’d been more considerate we could have avoided the drama with Jake a little longer.”

“I’m glad it’s done. I didn’t like sneaking around.” She shrugged. “Besides, I liked waking up with you this morning.” Even knowing the nightmare would plague her until she adjusted to this change in her life, she couldn’t regret loving two men.

He kissed her again. This time his lips were featherlight. “Yeah, that was nice.”

Her stomach growled again, louder this time. Mark stepped back and chuckled. “Okay, I can take a hint. Breakfast first. I’ll talk to the chef. How does eggs Benedict sound?”

Her mouth watered. She loved eggs Benedict but rarely made it because it took so much work and it never tasted as good as what she got at restaurants. “Great.”

“You hit the shower,” he said as he picked up a pair of his jeans off the floor and stepped into them. Hailey watched until the faded denim covered his hard ass.

God, he was beautiful.

The bungalow’s bathroom was huge. In fact, the bungalow itself was huge and secluded—more like a house than a resort. There were two bedrooms, a living area between them with a kitchen, bar, dining table and media center. Each bedroom had its own bath with a large glass shower with a bench along one wall and a separate jetted tub. The bedrooms and living room opened onto a private lanai and pool area. The bathrooms opened into a private garden. Someone had unpacked her toiletries and placed them next to one of the two sinks. A white cotton robe embroidered with the resort’s name in red letters hung on a hook outside the shower.

She pulled off her T-shirt and dropped it on the floor. Grabbing her nylon body sponge, she blushed as she thought of Mark or Tony unpacking it and discovering the vibrator barely hidden inside. She slipped it out of the sponge then tucked it in her toiletry bag. She probably wouldn’t need it for a while.

In the shower, she turned on the water. While it heated up, she opened the sheer white curtains to reveal the garden beyond the shower’s glass walls. As with so much of the big island, the wall surrounding the garden was built of black lava rock. Large green fronds and brilliant purple flowers filled the lush plot.

She moved beneath the warm spray and sighed. The bungalow was beautiful. It even had its own chef. That meant it was too expensive. When she’d first seen it, she’d told Mark as much. She just wanted a place to crash, nothing fancy. He’d told her they needed the room and the privacy. Tony had sided with Mark, and she’d been too tired to argue with both of them. She’d been afraid they might use the other bedroom and leave her alone, but they hadn’t. And judging from their toiletries scattered around the second sink, they planned on sharing the bathroom with her as well.

She lathered the resort’s shampoo into her hair, rinsed then massaged in the conditioner. While it soaked in, she squeezed bath gel on the sponge. She heard the bathroom door open and Mark’s voice at the same time. “Breakfast in an hour. Tony will be back by then too.”

She stared at him through the glass door. His jeans joined her T-shirt on the floor. She swallowed, and that familiar heavy ache started low in her abdomen and spread to the apex between her thighs. The slickness between her legs wasn’t water, but her own juices already responding to him. His broad shoulders. The dusting of hair on his muscular chest. The ridges of his abdomen. The line of light brown hair from his navel to his cock, which was already hard for her.

The muscles in his carved butt and legs bunched and flexed as he crossed the room to grab a condom then opened the shower door and stepped inside.

He stood in front of her, a hair from touching her and lowered his mouth to her ear. “Breathe, babe.”

She hadn’t realized she’d stopped.

He stepped under the showerhead, and she watched the water sluice over his browned skin before he hauled her against him, too close to admire his body with her eyes but perfect for her other senses. His hot, wet skin pressed to hers. His long, hard cock almost scorched her belly. The steam of the shower magnified his unique scent. Rivulets of water ran down his cheeks, nose, chin. Drops sparkled on his eyelashes. She touched her tongue to one at the corner of his mouth and sipped the water, now flavored by his skin. His cock jerked between them, and she slid the inside of her leg languorously up his thigh, standing on tiptoe so she could rub the folds of her sex along his cock.

His lips quirked into a smile, and he raised an eyebrow. “You’re not going to let me take this slowly, are you?”

She dropped the soap and sponge. Her soapy hands skimmed along his water-slickened biceps to his shoulders and the nape of his neck. “We don’t have time for slow. Breakfast, remember?”

He chuckled. “Priorities.”

“We could try slow after breakfast.” As if she could ever go slowly with him.

His hands cupped her ass and lifted her so she could wrap her legs around his waist. The unopened condom pressed into one cheek. He crossed the shower then lowered her until her feet touched the tile floor. Grasping her shoulders, he turned her to face the glass wall overlooking the garden and pressed her against it. The glass was cool against her breasts after the heat of his flesh. Encircling her wrists with his callused fingers, he raised her arms above her head and pressed her palms flat against the glass. The smooth slippery surface stimulated her sensitized nipples. His hands slid slowly down her arms, her sides and just brushed her breasts, teasing her with the promise of his touch, then continued over her waist and hips. She tried to push her butt back against his cock, but he held her in place.

“Mark,” she whimpered.

One hand slipped between her clit and the glass. “Yeah?” His voice reverberated through her.

Civilized speech deserted her. “Fuck me. Now.”

He pushed her wet hair over one shoulder and nipped at the side of her neck, sending streaks of pleasure to her sex as he lightly circled her clit with the tip of one finger. “Patience.”

She watched their reflection in the glass wall, mesmerized. How could a man’s fingers be so damned sexy? Long, tanned, utterly masculine and yet so exquisitely gentle with that tiny, delicate bud of sensation. Her gaze captured his in the reflection. “Fuck patience.” She dropped her hands and reached behind her for his cock.

“I’ve never been into tie-me-up sex, but I might have to make an exception for you,” he said as he deserted her clit to flatten her hands back against the wall. “We’ll get there faster if you behave.”

She didn’t move, stopped breathing.

He released her hands and whispered in her ear, “That’s a good girl.” He chuckled. “Go ahead and breathe.”

She inhaled deeply as he slid his hands down her arms, her sides, the one with the condom stopping at the side of her breast, the other returning to her mound. He cupped her breast and her cunt at the same time.

“I want to taste every inch of you,” he murmured.

Hailey groaned. If he did that, she’d lose her mind.

“But I don’t have to do it all today.” He licked one shoulder, then nipped and tasted his way across her neck. When he reached the side where her neck sloped into her shoulder, she giggled and tried to squirm away from his lips.

“Tickles?” he asked.

“Uh-huh.”

He moved on across her shoulder blades to her spine. His thumbs pressed on both sides, firmly massaging down her back, followed by his mouth, kissing, licking and gently biting. When his hands reached her ass, he spread his fingers around each cheek, kneading them while tonguing her tailbone. Then he spread them apart and ringed her anus with the tip of his tongue.