Anita's Triple Temptation [Men of Montana 4] (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) (23 page)

“Has she woken yet?” Kevin whispered as he set the box on the tray next to the bed.

“No. She probably won’t wake for a few more hours,” James responded quietly. “Doc said we could take her home and put her to bed.”

Dave stood across the bed and returned the chair he sat in to the corner of the room where it had come from. Picking up his hat, he placed it on his head before pulling the blanket down to Anita’s feet. James stood and put his own hat on his head before picking up the box Kevin had just set down. “Let’s take our woman home.”

Kevin reopened the door while Dave scooped up Anita in his arms and cuddled her against his chest. Walking out the door, James and Kevin followed behind him. As they walked through the lobby, James nearly laughed out loud as the receptionist gawked at Dave carrying the limp body of their woman. She tried to hide her surprise at the three men walking out with one woman by taking the lid off the coffee cup that Kevin must have brought her.

They made their way out to the pickup out front where James held the door to the backseat open for Dave to shimmy into while still holding the fragile package in his arms. Closing the door behind him, James climbed into the driver’s seat and handed the box to Kevin who had already climbed in. Taking a cup of coffee from the box he set it in the cup holder before starting the engine. Putting the vehicle into reverse, he used precaution as he backed up slowly and headed home.

* * * *

Silence filled her ears as she began to wake. Her eyes fluttered open and closed several times allowing dim light to filter in between blinks. The light was harsh even though the haphazardly hung curtains were covering the large windows, but it was the deafening silence that was overbearing.

Confusion overtook her as the last she remembered she was at the clinic. Finally opening her eyes fully, Anita glanced around the room and found herself alone. The guys had been with her when she was with Doc Anderson but now there wasn’t any sign of them. Had she fully pushed them away? Was she going to have to move back to her apartment?

A web of cotton still muddling her brain, she rose slowly from the bed and gingerly stood on trembling legs. Holding onto the massive oak headboard that rose from floor to ceiling until she was unable to, she made her way around to the bathroom. By then she was able to stand on her own, the room no longer spinning. After taking care of what she needed to, she stood at the triple vanity and looked at the pale reflection in the mirror with the larger than life pale blue eyes looking frightfully real before her.

God, she looked horrible. Red predominated around her eyes while puffiness resided there as well. Her nose and cheeks had a slight hue of rosiness, proof of her previous crying jag while her lips were quite pale. Looking and feeling like death warmed over, as her mother used to say, she reached for her toothbrush and brushed the stale taste from her mouth before washing her face with cold water. Feeling a bit more alive, she went to discover if she was alone in the house.

Leaving her room, she heard the quiet noise from the TV in the great room. Roaming down the hallway, she entered the room from that end instead of through the kitchen. Taking a moment, she was able to take in the three men, all tucked into their recliners, feet up, while a movie played on the large screen above the fireplace where a roaring fire was warming the room.

A pang of guilt rushed through her as she knew they had lost a half day’s work because of her. Craig was always furious when he had to miss work because of her. Even when the kids had been born, he only took a couple of days off saying he couldn’t miss work. What were three men going to say about missing work?

She must have made a noise for all of a sudden three heads turned toward her and then all three men jumped up to hurry toward her. As if they had discussed this moment between them, they all stopped about three feet away from her, concern, frustration, and relief in their faces.

“How are you feelin’, darlin’,” Dave asked, his head cocked to one side as if he was gauging her response.

Shrugging, she managed a slight smile. “Okay. I guess.”

James stepped forward, taking her hand in his. “Come sit with us, baby. We need to talk about what happened today.”

With just those few words panic set in. The worst was here and she knew what was going to come next. Her body tensed and as the redheaded man tried to escort her further into the room, she pulled back against him, trying to escape the inevitable. Tears pricked at her eyes which she tried to blink away. She wasn’t going to let them see her cry. If she was going to need to leave, she needed to do it now.

Kevin stepped forward when she didn’t go willingly with James and placed two fingers under her chin, a stern look upon his face. “Anita, you are going to sit down and talk with us. And we mean really talk. We’ve had it with you not being completely open with us.”

Feeling her mouth drop in astonishment, Anita wasn’t sure if she had heard him correctly. “Wh–what?”

James released her hand, causing her to nearly stumble backward if not for Kevin’s quick response, grabbing her around the waist. Then the man quickly scooped his arm beneath her knees and before she knew it, she was picked up into his arms.

The warmth that radiated from his chest was comforting though she felt herself shaking with fear that she was going to lose them all. The muscular man kissed her cheek before he carried her over to the “L” of the sectional and sat down with her still trapped within his arms. When she tried to push her way off his lap, he tightened his hold on her. Dave and James who followed behind them sat down, one on each side of her.

When she watched Dave take his phone from the front pocket of his jeans, she panicked again when he dialed, spoke the words “It’s time” into the phone, and then hung up. Replacing the device back in his pocket, he took her hand in his and brought it up to his lips. As he placed a kiss on it, she felt a bit of relief but the butterflies in her stomach were still doing the boogie-woogie. James followed suit with the opposite hand. So with her held within Kevin’s arms and the other two holding her hands, she waited for the shoe to drop.

Ten minutes later they were still sitting there quietly. When a knock sounded on the front door and then without waiting for an answer the visitor entered, Anita began to panic again. Her heart seemed to be knocking on her chest for exit, especially since it was about to be broken.

Had they had a cab waiting for her to take her home?

Again she tried to escape the strong warm arms holding her captive but they held fast as did the hands that held hers. Kevin did take a moment to rearrange her body so that she was now sitting on his lap, her legs aligned with his and her feet dangling down against his shins.

Surprise registered within her when Lyndee, Storm, Trey, and Austin walked through the kitchen toward the great room. Anita watched as the three men kissed Lyndee one by one before they took a seat in the recliners while Lyndee came forward and sat on the end of the coffee table facing her.

The look of concern on her friend’s face struck a nerve in Anita as the last few minutes before her collapse ran through her brain. Glancing around first from face to face of her men and then Lyndee’s three men, she saw concern, love, and friendship from all of them. She was surrounded by so much emotion, but what struck her the most was it was all good emotions. Confusion swam through her as Lyndee pressed a hand to her knees.

“Anita, you need to open up with your men about how you feel. You said some things to me that you need to get out in the open or it’s going to eat you up and you will lose them. I know this, because after I came home from Denver, there were a few weeks that I had problems adjusting to life with these three men here,” she said as she glanced back at the three men who all nodded at her with smiles and love on their faces.

Turning back to face her, Lyndee smiled. “I felt overwhelmed and even though I knew they loved me, I still had my doubts. I was afraid that with all the excitement over what happened to me was over, that the love was gone also. I doubted myself more than I doubted them. I knew I was going through Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but I had to get to that low spot where panic set in before I looked for help.

“The guys were very patient with me, as I’m sure your guys will be because I know they love you as much as my guys love me. But, at this point, you have friends that can help you, whereas I had to realize for myself I needed to get help.”

Again, Anita looked around from one person to the next knowing what Lyndee was saying was true. She had known the truth for a few days but was too afraid to say anything. Breaking down earlier in the day was in a way a relief, though she still feared when she told the men what she did to Craig, they wouldn’t want her anymore.

Tears blurred her vision as she looked into Lyndee’s eyes. Who would have thought that the day Lyndee’s life was taking a turn for the better, that hers would take her on such an emotional rollercoaster ride? Lyndee had gained the love of her three men and the friendship that enveloped her while she lost her husband and father of her children.

While her men held her, she took some consolation in the love they showed her, but they had to know the truth, even if it meant losing them. Looking at her friend through watery vision, she nodded.

Anita turned to Dave first bringing his hand up to her lips and kissing the back of it. “I want you to know that I do love you.”

Watching his face, she saw the concern that presented itself and she swallowed hard. Turning to James, she repeated the motion with her right hand, bringing it up to her lips and kissing it. “And I love you, also.”

Then turning her head, she had to bend back slightly to look into Kevin’s face, now mirroring Dave’s. “I love you, too,” she whispered, then leaned up and let her lips touch his chin lightly before returning to her original position.

Being able to look at Lyndee while she told her story was a comfort. She started from the beginning, about how it seemed as if she and Craig were more friends than being in love with each other. Craig never made sure she was happy. Oh, the assumption was there, but he never asked her. They had met in high school and had made love for the first time after he helped the baseball team win the division title. A month later, though she hadn’t seen him since that night, she had to approach him and tell him she was pregnant. He hadn’t asked her what she wanted to do. They were married two weeks later by a justice of the peace in Kalispell. Another two weeks later she miscarried.

The two finished school though there wasn’t much out there for Craig to do to support his wife at the age of eighteen so he joined up with the logging crew under Virgil’s father. Two miscarriages later, she was pregnant with the twins, but she had to endure most of it alone because of his job. In fact, he wasn’t there when she was rushed to the operating room because the twins were in distress.

There were three more miscarriages before Eli was born. Anita had kept her body in shape through all of the stress upon her body but most of the time Craig hadn’t appreciated it. He hadn’t appreciated her the way these three men seemed to. She couldn’t remember there ever being a time that Craig looked upon her as these three did.

Skimming through the tough times, the lean times, and the hard times they found themselves in and how it all came back to how she handled the family while he was working. She tried to accept the blame for all of it which the men started to protest.

Raising a hand to silence them, Lyndee coaxed Anita to continue. Anita smiled slightly even though tears trickled down her cheeks. Continuing on, she explained about the argument she and Craig had the day before his accident and how she felt responsible for it. An argument over money because Craig had opted to pay a medical bill instead of getting groceries. The boys were complaining of being hungry and their father had chastised them for it. Anita’s parting shot that morning had been that she hated him and unless he could grow up, he could find another place to sleep that night. A bit of comfort seized her heart when Kevin squeezed his arms around her a bit tighter, but then that could have been from anger.

“I felt like I loved him, but now, being surrounded by the three of you, it makes me wonder,” she said, glancing around her at the faces of her men. Trying to see through the salty tears, she wasn’t sure of their expressions, but she wasn’t going to worry about it at that moment. She needed to purge herself of her feelings while she had the courage to do it.

“I wanted to tell you I loved you earlier, especially when you told me,” she directed at James, “but in a way, I felt as if I was betraying Craig since he hadn’t been gone that long. I know now that was a mistake. He’s gone and I can’t live in the past. I can only move forward. But I’ll understand if you don’t want me any more considering I seem to be turning out to be a handful.”

Trying to get up, she found herself still held within the strong arms of Kevin and two hands continued to hold hers. Dave moved forward a bit on the couch to sit on the edge before reaching up with his free hand and bringing it up to her cheek. Letting his thumb move against her skin, she looked into his eyes.

“Sweetheart,” he began. “I don’t know why you would think we wouldn’t want you. We love you. All of us do. We know things weren’t great between you and Craig just by conversations we have had in the past. No, you never came out and said it directly, but we got the gist of it.”