Sharing Hailey (4 page)

She sensed Tony, caught a wisp of his scent before he touched her. As he slipped his hands to her waist, she kept her eyes closed, enjoying the full-body contact. Her nipples puckered, supersensitive, and she wanted him to touch them. Instead, he nuzzled her neck, trailing kisses down the side to her shoulder and pushing the cami’s thin strap down her arm. Her breathing quickened, and she grabbed his hips to counteract the dizziness caused by his touch. She let her head fall back, offering her breasts, and his lips moved lower to the curve swelling out the top of the thin cotton. Just…a few…more inches.

But he didn’t stay there and didn’t go lower. His lips drifted back to her ear, and he murmured, “Not gay.”

She licked her lips and swallowed. No, definitely not gay. And thank the gods for that.

He tried to step away from her, but she kept a tight grip on his hips.

He chuckled. “Looks like I’m golden too.” He pulled her closer and tucked her head under his chin. “So you have a decision to make.”

Mark’s voice, low and tight, drifted to her from the futon. “One of us or both of us. Or…neither.”

Chapter Four

Hailey stumbled into the kitchen without bothering to put on a robe. In loose blue cotton shorts with a yellow daisy print and an oversized white T-shirt that had once belonged to Tony, she followed her nose to the coffee. It was close to noon, and the house was silent. Everyone gone to the beach except her. Nikki had poked her head in this morning and asked if she wanted to go. Haley had responded with a grunted “no” and yanked a pillow over her head.

She opened one cabinet door after another. Where were the damned coffee cups? She’d seen them last night. She hated it when people rearranged things, especially in the kitchen.

She hadn’t slept well thanks to Tony and Mark’s proposal and the time zone change. Maybe she’d imagined seeing the coffee cups. Maybe she’d dreamed about coffee cups.

No, the dreams she’d had were of Mark and Tony. Both of them together. She moaned and pressed her fingers into her temples.

Think,
she told herself.
Where did you see the coffee cups?

Tony’s voice startled her. “I’ll get that for you. Go sit down.”

Pressing a hand to her heart to slow the rapid beating, she turned and tried to focus on him through bleary eyes. “Y’all have got to stop doing that.” Sluggishly, she searched the kitchen and great room. “Where’s Mark?”

“Went to the beach with the others.”

She trudged to the sofa, grabbed a loose pillow and curled up on her side, waiting for coffee.

“Here you go,” Tony said.

Hailey cracked her eyelids and peered at him through strands of hair. Obviously, he’d slept just fine. Showered, hair combed, shaved. Damn it. She looked like crap. Face swollen, bed hair, morning breath. She pushed to sitting and held out her hand. When the warm cup touched her palm, she wrapped her fingers around it.

“Thank you. I think you just saved my life.” She brought the ceramic mug to her lips and inhaled before sipping the rich brew. It was the perfect temperature.

Tony sat beside her without speaking. After she’d taken a few sips, he pushed her hair out of her face, but his efforts proved futile. As soon as he released the straight, slippery strands, they fell back in front of her eyes, but she didn’t stop him. She loved his hands on her, even doing something as innocent as trying to tame her hair.

“Why didn’t you go with them?” she asked, her voice still gravelly with sleep or the lack of.

“We were worried about you.”

She stared at her coffee. “‘We’ as in you and Mark, or ‘we’ as in everybody in the house?”

“Mark and I.”

After a few more sips, she sighed, took a deep breath and blurted, “I can’t choose between you.”

“Good.”

She pushed her hair out of her face, having more success than Tony, and finally met his gaze. “Why?”

“I don’t think our friendship could survive if you chose one of us. I love you.”

She forgot about the cup she was holding until hot coffee sloshed over her hand. She jerked and more coffee spilled.
Ow.
Lifting her hand to her mouth, she sucked out the heat and pain as his last three words echoed in her head. He loved her?

Before she could wrap her brain around that he continued. “I love Mark too. I don’t want to lose either one of you.”

She was still on the I-love-you part. He didn’t just want her. He loved her. God, she wanted to say the words back to him, but she couldn’t. Not yet. Yeah, she loved him. No question about that. But she loved Mark too. And she wanted all of them to go into this with eyes wide-open.
If
they went into it at all.

Stalling for time, she searched for a napkin, but not finding one, transferred the cup to her other hand and wiped her wet hand on her T-shirt. “You don’t think
this
will ruin our friendship? I mean, men don’t share. Your idea of a three-way is one man and two hot women. Preferably, twins. At least, that’s what I’ve heard.”

“Think about it, Hailey. We’ve been sharing you for years.”

She blushed and tightened her fingers on the mug, trying not to squirm. “Not like that.”

“The only thing that’s changing is that we’ve told you how we feel about you.”

She raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

His crooked grin was a little sheepish. “Well, that and the sex.”

Hailey’s glanced to the crotch of his khaki cargo shorts, and her face got hotter. Her ears were actually burning. Forget that. Her whole body was burning.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m hoping to do something about that too. Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is to have a constant hard-on when I’m around you?”

If it was anything like the cramp she got in her lower pelvis when she sat between them while they lightly stroked her arms and shoulders, then yeah, she knew. Even knowing their touches were platonic, all of her female parts had begged for more. The first time it had happened, she’d been surprised that women could get blue balls. Thank the Internet for her rabbit. Sex toys delivered discreetly to your mailbox. No embarrassment. She loved online shopping.

Tony put his arm around her shoulders and tucked her snugly against his side before kissing the top of her head and resting his lips there. “Are you hungry?”

“You have to ask?”

“You had a rough night.”

“Yeah, I’m hungry.”

“I’ll get you some breakfast. Meet me on the lanai in fifteen minutes.”

“When did they leave?” she asked, thinking she should clean up and get dressed before they all got back.

“About ten. Mark said he’d call before they headed home.”

“I’m gonna take a quick shower.”

Tony dropped a kiss on the corner of her mouth. “’Kay.”

Fifteen minutes later, dressed in white shorts and a baby blue cami, her hair still wet from the shower, Hailey felt human again when Tony set a fresh cup of coffee, eggs and cubes of strawberry papaya in front of her.

“Thank you.” She almost moaned the words. “This looks delicious.”

He sat in the chair next to her at the round, wrought iron table on the lanai. It was a typical beautiful Hawaiian day. Blue skies. The sound of the surf was loud enough that she could clearly hear it two stories up. She drew in a deep breath of the sweet-smelling air. She’d never been anywhere that smelled as good as the Kona coast. The sun warmed her down to the bones. This was why she came to Hawaii every January. Granted, the ocean was rougher in winter, but she came for the soft, warm days.

After a few bites had eased the hunger gnawing in her belly, she was ready to discuss details, but she didn’t know how to begin. Were there books on the subject? She could probably Google it. Ménage two men one woman.

“How do we start?” she asked before popping a chunk of papaya into her mouth to cover her embarrassment.

The corners of his full lips tilted up, and his eyes sparkled. “We started years ago. We just keep going like we have been, except we don’t hold back.” His expression turned serious. “But we don’t tell your brother yet, not until you’re comfortable enough to stand up to him.”

She shivered at the thought of telling Jake. “Yeah, you’re right about that.” He’d accept it eventually. Probably. Okay, maybe. But until he did, well, she was his little sister. And he was a lot protective. “I guess this means y’all don’t want me moving to Texas.”

“I hope it means you don’t want to leave us. You surprised me with that one. We haven’t discussed it, but if you want to move, I’ll follow you. I suspect Mark would too. I can work anywhere with a pediatric hospital. Mark’s built up a nice business in New Mexico, but he ships his stuff all over the world. He can work anywhere.”

She needed to know one more thing. She thought she knew the answer, but she might be wrong.

Wouldn’t be the first time.

Nervously, she traced the grouted seams between the tabletop’s earth-toned tiles. “Um, something you should know.” She hesitated. “Nikki wants me to cheer up her brother. His girlfriend just dumped him, and she wants me to—”

“No,” Tony interrupted, his expression hard. “This is a closed relationship. Understand me. Just because Mark and I are sharing you doesn’t mean we’ll share you with anyone else. We won’t. It’s you, me and Mark.”

“What about Meredith?”

“What about her?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t be dense.”

“I’m not interested in Meredith.”

“What about other women?”

“I told you, it’s just you, me and Mark.”

She wanted to ask what would happen when she wasn’t enough for them, but she didn’t. That was the future. Tony would tell her what he knew to be true right now, but no one could predict what might happen. The thought of them bringing another woman into the relationship made her want to slap the bitch silly. She knew it wasn’t fair. She was getting two men. They were getting just one woman.

She didn’t care.

Tony interrupted her musings. “Did Daniel have a key to your place?”

“No.” She didn’t add that Daniel had wanted a key, but she’d conveniently never gotten around to giving him one. It hadn’t seemed right.

Which suddenly struck her as odd. Mark and Tony both had keys—to her patio home, as well as her car. They hadn’t asked for them. She’d just felt like they needed them. It had come in handy, especially when she’d locked herself out of her car or one of them came by to repair something in the house when she wasn’t home.

Tony nodded. “Good. Does he have anything there that we need to return to him, or did he get everything when you broke up?”

Hailey nervously bit her lip. “Some clothes,” she admitted, feeling like she’d been cheating on Mark and Tony. On the other hand, it explained Daniel’s phone calls yesterday. Maybe he just wanted to get his stuff back. But why hadn’t he left a message?

“If he shows up here, he’s not staying,” he said, his words precise, his voice tight, controlled.

“Of course not. But he won’t come. Even if he had the time, we’re done.”

He turned his chair toward her then pushed hers around, the iron feet scraping loudly across the concrete. They faced each other squarely. He took her hands and held them between both of his. His expression softened to concern. “Will you do me a favor?”

“What?” she asked suspiciously.

“If he calls, let me or Mark know.”

A weird request, but certainly not a difficult one. “Yeah, okay.”

“Right away. Don’t wait for the right time. Tell us, stat.”

“He called a few times while we were on the plane yesterday, but he didn’t leave a message. He probably wants to get his things from my house.”

“Damn.”

“What?” she asked. His concern was making her even more uneasy.

He released her hands and sat back. “Just a hunch.”

Not good. Tony’s gut was usually right on. That was another reason he was such a good doctor. Still, his medical instincts were based on years of schooling and experience. “It’s got to be more than that,” she countered. “Your
hunches
are usually based in fact.”

He didn’t answer right away. When he did finally speak, his words were measured, as if he didn’t want to say the wrong thing. “The woman who lives next to me helps victims of domestic violence.”

The implication stunned her. “I’m not…Daniel
never
hit me.” She didn’t mention the wall.

Tony’s fingers lightly touched her right biceps. “Never?”

Shit. She hadn’t reapplied makeup to the bruises after her shower this morning. “He didn’t hit me. He grabbed my arms, shook me, but he didn’t hit me.”

“How would you feel if Jake put bruises like this on Nikki?”

A shocked gasp escaped her. “Jake would never hurt Nikki,” she blurted, appalled that Tony would suggest that her brother was capable of hurting a woman.

“That’s right. Daniel
hurt
you. Doesn’t matter that he didn’t haul off and hit you. He hurt you badly enough to leave bruises.”

Hailey shifted uncomfortably. Tony was right.

“Domestic violence doesn’t start with physical attacks. It starts with words.”

Was that why she’d felt as if Daniel were verbally beating her? How many times had she told herself they were just arguing like normal couples? But those arguments hadn’t felt normal.

“Sometimes he hits her. Sometimes he’s satisfied with just tearing her down.” Tony paused, and she held her breath afraid of what he was going to say next. “It can get really dangerous when she breaks it off.”

“You think that since I broke up with Daniel, he’ll come after me?” She didn’t want to believe that. She wanted to believe that he would move on, leave her alone. But hadn’t those exact fears kept her from sleeping in the Phoenix hotel room?

His nonchalant shrug didn’t diminish the impact of his words. “I just think we should be careful for a while.”

“He won’t bother,” Hailey said faintly, not really believing her words. That was why she was so apprehensive, why she was always waiting for the other shoe to drop.