The Natural [Answers 3] (8 page)

Wilder smiled and kissed her cheek. “We’re not finished yet.”

The three of them helped her to bed and tucked her in. She needed a nap to recharge her batteries before they went any further. She was asleep within seconds, her hand tucked beneath her cheek.

“We need to talk,” Micah said, his voice just above a whisper. He motioned for the twins to follow him out of the room and into the living room.

Hunter and Wilder followed, closing her bedroom door softly. They moved to the couch and collapsed onto it, still naked and comfortable in their nakedness.

“What’s up?” Wilder asked, crossing one ankle over the opposite knee.

Micah walked into the room where they had just held their session with Dawn, snatched his briefs and jeans from the shelf where he had stashed them, and returned to the living room. Balancing on first one foot, then the other while getting partially dressed, he poured out his thoughts about Dawn.

“I don’t know if you two have feelings for this girl or not, but I have to admit, I’m a little in love with her.” He sucked in his stomach and buttoned his fly. “I don’t want to lose touch with her after this weekend. As a matter of fact, I’m considering taking myself off this case.” He dropped down in an easy chair opposite the couch.

“You’re that involved? You’d really take yourself off the case?” Hunter raked both hands through his hair, holding it back from his face.

Micah nodded. “I’m going to talk to Adam about it. He’s the person in charge of scheduling all of us. If he thinks my feelings for her will affect her treatment, I’ll bow out of this weekend.”

“For one thing, Adam has no room to talk if he says having feelings for a client is reason to take a therapist off the case.” Wilder rose from the couch and disappeared through the doorway to the other room. “After all,” he called out, “look what happened between him and Tess.” He reappeared in the doorway, dressed in jeans and pulling a shirt over his head. He flipped his hair out of the collar of the shirt and shrugged. “I don’t think Adam could logically have anything to say about it. And anyway, in case you’re wondering,” he said, returning to sit on the couch beside his brother. “I’m quite attached to the woman myself, and there’s no way I’m giving up any opportunity to be with her.”

“Is that really ethical?” Micah frowned, his emotions warring with each other. He didn’t want to relinquish any chance of being with Dawn either. Something inside him told him she was the right woman to share his life. But then, his being a therapist, he knew falling in love with a client was taboo.

“I don’t want to get into some big discussion about ethics.” Wilder waved a hand dismissively, palm forward, toward Micah. His frustration showed not only in his movements but on his face in the way he was frowning with his eyebrows drawn together. “Look, we all know having an emotional attachment to a client is supposed to be out of our treatment boundaries. What we need to be discussing right now is whether or not we feel strongly enough about her to continue with the way we are going and jeopardize our jobs or try our best to keep each other in line and never reveal our true feelings about her.”

Micah rubbed his chin, weighing Wilder’s words. Wilder was direct and to the point. Micah felt that was the way they needed to be.

Hunter rose from the couch, stretching his arms over his head and letting out a groan. After he dropped his arms back down, he turned to look at Micah. “I’m going to find my clothes. Don’t decide anything until I come back.” He walked around Micah’s chair, heading for the treatment room.

“You’ve been pretty quiet, Hunter. What gives?” Micah looked over his shoulder toward him.

Hunter stopped, turning slightly. “The way you two are going at it, I have a feeling I’m going to end up being the tie-breaker when this whole thing comes to a vote. So, I’m listening to both of you.”

“Which way are you leaning?” Micah couldn’t tell from Hunter’s expression.

“I don’t know for sure yet.” He turned his back and walked into the other room.

* * * *

Hunter wasn’t sure that the earth was still round and the sun would rise again in the morning at this point. He’d never been so conflicted in his life. He grabbed his clothes from the shelf where they always stashed them and hurriedly put them on. He didn’t want to leave the others alone for too long. If there was a decision to be made, he wanted to be in on it.

Once dressed, he padded barefoot across the living room carpet and sat on the edge of the couch. “Okay, let me ask you both this—do you love her?” Hunter held his hands out, palms up, elbows on his knees. He knew he loved her. She was all he could think about ever since he laid eyes on her. Dawn was a mixture of confidence and fragility, both rolled into the same package. Hunter couldn’t help himself. He loved her, and nothing was going to change that.

Wilder was the first to answer. “To be honest, I think the way I feel about her could be love. It’s strong and deep, and I’ve never felt this way about a woman before.” He shrugged. “So, yeah, I guess I am in love with her.”

Hunter smiled. They had always been so alike. “I have the same sense about it.” He balled his hand into a fist and pounded on his chest, directly over his heart, three times. “In here, there’s a fullness, a sort of completeness I’ve never had until now.”

“So, both of you are in love with Dawn,” Micah said, folding his arms over his chest. “We are in a quandary then because I’m pretty sure I love her, too.”

“Then what’s the problem? We’re all agreed.” Hunter frowned.

“The problem is, how did we let this happen?” Micah raised his eyebrows. “Just how is it that three grown men who purport themselves to be sex therapists let their feelings get so tangled up with a client and”—he raised an index finger—“it all happens within the span of a weekend?”

Hunter was getting more frustrated by the minute. “I feel like we’re talking in circles. First, we question our ethics, then we all agree we love her, and now, we’re back to questioning our ethics again. What is it you want, Micah? Do you want us to start analyzing each other?”

Micah shook his head. “No, that’s not what I want. Good grief, Hunter. Calm down.”

Hunter pressed his lips together and drew in a deep breath. It wouldn’t do any good to get all cranked up about this. They all needed to stay calm and discuss this like three adults. “I am calm,” he said, blowing out a breath. “Look, here’s the thing—we need to decide now what we’re going to do about this situation.”

“What do you mean ‘decide’?” Wilder cocked his head, his eyes narrowed.

“Are we going to continue with her therapy, or are we going to throw caution to the wind and ask her to move in with us?” Hunter could picture it now. Dawn moving into the house with them, all four of them living a happily ever after. Was it even possible? Their house was big enough. He and Wilder shared a three-bedroom ranch just outside of the city. Micah was there most of the time and hardly ever stayed at his own place. Moving in together would be a great financial decision. It was cheaper for the three of them to split the cost of a house than to live in an apartment. And they all got along well, Micah fitting in with him and Wilder like a third brother. They had their arguments, but everything always worked out. Hunter hoped this was one of those things they could work out easily.

Wilder looked at Hunter, and then he smiled. “I think we should ask her to share our lives. Our house is big enough, don’t you think?”

“What you’re saying is that we all love her and are asking her to be in a ménage relationship with all three of us?” Micah asked, leaning forward and parking his elbows on his knees. “I think it could work.”

“We are thinking alike, then.” Hunter stood, excitement rushing through him at the prospect of the three of them having Dawn move in with them.

“When should we ask her?” Wilder stood also, rubbing his hands together.

“Why don’t you ask me now?”

The three of them turned toward the sound of a female voice to find Dawn standing in the open bedroom door.

“How long have you been standing there?” Hunter asked, his stomach tightening. Could she have heard everything? What must she be thinking? Would she agree to their proposal?

Dawn crossed her arms beneath her breasts, her face flushed from sleep. Her hair was mussed up slightly, and she wore the white robe tied tightly at her waist. “I’ve heard quite a bit actually.” Her expression was blank, no sign of emotion at all. “When were you planning on including me in this conversation?”

It took everything Dawn had to keep the excitement off of her face
.

Something had awakened her, and when she rolled over in the large bed and found herself alone, the first thing she thought of was to find the men. She wanted to be near them, to cuddle in their arms. Dawn had never felt as close to someone as she did with Hunter, Wilder, and Micah. The three of them had shown her just how much she could trust them, and it was something very special to her, a sense of completeness she hadn’t felt with anyone before, and now she had three men to thank for it. Three men to love.

Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she sat for a moment, letting her last thought ripple through her mind. Her heart pounded, her blood chugging in her veins. She did love them, all of them. How could that be? Had she really lost her mind this time?

Hearing voices in the next room, she rose from the bed and slipped her robe back on again. She moved to the closed door and leaned toward it. Yes, three voices. Her men were still here in the suite. Putting her ear against the door, she tried to make out what they were talking about. She couldn’t quite get what they were saying. Dawn bit her lip and eased the door open as quietly as she could. Once it was open about three inches, she peeked through the crack and saw the three of them sitting in the living room, talking. When she heard what they were saying, she pulled the door wide and stood in the doorway, her heart pounding.

Evidently she wasn’t only one who was going off the deep end. She had been standing in the bedroom door long enough to hear the three of them discussing the fact that they had an emotional attachment to her. She had distinctly heard them all mention the word “love” before Hunter had noticed her standing there listening.

Micah rose from the chair he had been sitting in and walked straight to her. “We want to talk to you about something.” He took her hand. “Come, sit with us for a bit.” He smiled and led her toward the couch.

Dawn followed him, biting the inside of her cheek. She didn’t want to let on just yet that she had heard them talking about their feelings for her. She wanted them to tell her to her face. Sitting down on the couch between the twins, a warm feeling swept over her. She hadn’t expected anything like this when she had booked the weekend here. Of all places to meet three men, all of whom she was in love with. How was she going to tell them the way she felt without sounding like a desperate woman who fell for the first man who made her feel the way they did?

“You look rested,” Hunter said, patting her thigh. “Did you have a nice nap?”

She nodded. “Yes, I did. How long have I been asleep?” She had no sense of what time it was or how long she’d been alone in the bedroom.

“It’s almost five o’clock. You slept through lunch. I’ll bet you’re hungry again, aren’t you?” Wilder rested his arm on the back of the couch behind her shoulders and reached over to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Before we decide on dinner, we need to talk over a few things,” Micah said, taking his seat in the easy chair again. He leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees. His expression was serious, his eyes intense.

“Should I be worried?” Dawn clasped her hands together in her lap.

“No, but it is important business.” Micah shook his head, looking frustrated. “Not business, it’s—”

“Get on with it, Micah. You’re starting to worry me, too.” Hunter snapped his fingers three times quickly.

The more time it took for Micah to begin talking, the tighter her stomach muscles coiled. She was nervous and excited and wasn’t too sure what was on their minds, but Dawn had a feeling it had to do with living arrangements.

“All right.” Micah took a deep breath. “Dawn, the three of us have experienced something we’ve never had happen before.” He glanced at each of the twins and then turned his gaze back to Dawn. “We’ve worked together with clients as a team but never with someone like you. Your confidence, the way you move, the way you look…everything about you has sparked strong emotions in all three of us. And I can say for myself, I’ve never said this to anyone before. Dawn, I’m in love with you.”

There is was, the first admission. Heat rushed into her face, and she clutched her hands together tighter to keep from jumping up and hugging him. She took a slow, deep breath and let him go on.

“Hunter and Wilder feel the same way,” Micah continued.

“I do. I love you, too.” Wilder kissed her cheek.

“Don’t forget about me,” Hunter said, patting her thigh again. “I love you also.”

“And since we all share our love of you,” Micah began again. “We were wondering if you felt the same way. And if you do, would you consider moving in with us and sharing our lives?”

Dawn sighed, suddenly feeling as if her life was finally on the right track and she had found the people she was meant to ride along that track with. “First, let me say to all of you, I have very strong feelings for each of you. It was what I woke up thinking about.” She let out a small laugh. “As crazy as it may sound, I love all of you. Each and every one of you.” Dawn shook her head. “I feel like this is a dream and someone is going to rudely wake me up.”