Authors: Marla Monroe
“First of all,” Gavin said. “We want what is best for you and the babies.”
“Second. We want you happy,” Dillon said.
“What do you want?” Gavin asked.
“I want healthy babies. I want us to be able to work out a relationship that is good for them.” Briana wanted to say that she wanted both of them to love her.
“No matter what happens,” Gavin said, “the babies will always be our first priority.”
Dillon brought the back of her hand to his mouth and kissed it. “You know I love you, baby. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy.”
Gavin looked away then back at her. “You mean more to me than anything, Briana. Our babies will be taken care of no matter what happens between us.”
“Nothing is going to happen, though,” Dillon said, looking over at Gavin.
“Look, we want you to move in with us. We have plenty of room for you and the babies. They will have a backyard and lots of uncles and aunts. We can provide for you so that you don’t have to work if you don’t want to.” Gavin stopped when Dillon started up.
“But if you want to, you can. Since you work from home anyway, it won’t matter if you move here.”
“I plan on working. I worked hard for my degree. I want to use it.”
“We figured that,” Gavin said. “I just want you to know that we can take care of you if you can’t for a while, or decide to quit after the babies are born.”
“I know moving in with us is going to be hard for you at first, but I promise we’ll do everything we can to make you comfortable.” Dillon stood up. “You look tired, baby. How about I take you upstairs and you can take a nap?”
Briana sighed. They were right. She was tired. Talking about moving in with them wore her out mentally. She nodded and stood up. Gavin held her hand as Dillon took her other one. He let go when Dillon led her toward the stairs.
Once upstairs, Dillon ushered her into the master suite where she had stayed before. The bed had already been turned back. He had her sit down, then knelt and took off her shoes. Then he helped her lie back. He bent over and kissed her nose.
“Dillon?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“How does Gavin really feel about me and the babies?”
“You’ll have to talk to him about that. I know he cares about you very much. More than he ever has about anyone I’ve ever known about.” Dillon tucked a blanket over her. “If you need anything, just call out. One of us will be within hearing range all the time.”
Briana nodded and closed her eyes. She felt like control of her life had been taken out of her hands. It frightened her and made her mad all at the same time. And beneath it all was the fact that she loved Dillon and Gavin so much it hurt. It hurt to know that Gavin didn’t love her, and even though Dillon said he did, well, how could she believe him when he hadn’t told her until after he’d found out she was pregnant? She fell asleep with questions circling in her head.
* * * *
Gavin stood looking down at the couch with the indentation where Briana had been sitting. The thought of losing her scared him. He wanted her to live with them. Dillon loved her and wanted to marry her. That would be great, then she would always be with them, but he knew she would balk at the idea. She wouldn’t believe that Dillon loved her even before the babies came up.
“She’s already asleep, I think.” Dillon walked down the stairs into the living room.
“She’s worn herself out trying to figure out what to do. I would bet she’s done nothing but worry about it.” Gavin dropped the baby book to the couch.
“I want to ask her to marry me, but I’m afraid she’ll say no on principle now.”
“You’re right. We need to get her used to us again. Once she’s used to being around us, and knows how we feel about her, then we have a chance of keeping her with us. First, we have to get her to stay here and move out of that damned apartment she’s in. It’s nothing but a box,” Gavin said.
“I think she’s already thinking about how little room she has. She was looking around the bedroom up there like she was picturing baby beds in there. She doesn’t have room for even one in her apartment now.” Dillon grinned. “I think that and whirlpool tub are going to be our selling point.”
“You’re going to have to back off some, Dillon. She’s not going to want to be smothered. She’s going to want to work and have her own space.” Gavin lifted an eyebrow at his brother.
He knew Dillon. He would want to baby her and wait on her hand and foot. Nothing would get on her nerves faster than Dillon in overdrive.
“I hear you.” Dillon frowned. “I know you’re right. I just want to make her happy, though.”
“Then remember to give her space.”
“She asked me how you felt about her.” Dillon sat on the coffee table.
“What did you tell her?”
“That she would have to take that up with you,” Dillon said.
“Fuck. If she asks me, what am I supposed to say?” Gavin asked.
“Tell her the truth.”
“I don’t know what the fuck the truth is right now, Dillon. I care about her.”
“How would you feel if you could never see her again? What if she decides to move out of the state?”
“I won’t let her move. Those babies are ours, too.” Gavin frowned.
“Forget about the fucking babies. I’m talking about her. Just her.”
“I don’t know.” Gavin stood up and walked out of the living room into the office.
They’d spent the week cleaning it out and setting it up for Briana to use for work. It had a state-of-the-art computer with a color printer and fax machine. There were plenty of shelves without books, so she could fill them up with hers. He’d noticed that she seemed to like to read by all the books she had. Funny, he’d never actually seen her read. Only study her books for school. Maybe that would be something she could start doing again if she moved there and had more room.
He looked out the window behind the desk. It opened out into the backyard. He could see the patio and a spot that would be great for a swing set. She could work here and turn around and watch the twins playing on the swing set. Maybe he would be out there with them. Maybe it would be Dillon. Between the two of them, someone would always be with them. Someone would always be with Briana.
How did he feel about her? The thought of her not being around, hurt. It took the breath from his lungs and squeezed his heart until he couldn’t stand it. Was that love? He didn’t know. He had never felt it before.
Usually, he felt a fondness for the women he and his brother shared. He cared that they were taken care of and satisfied, but had never wanted to see them more than a few times. He realized that he didn’t want to miss seeing Briana. He wanted to be there when she woke up tonight.
Gavin sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He needed a ride. He hadn’t been on the bike in over a week. He walked back into the living room where his brother reclined with the TV on low.
“Dillon, I’m going for a ride. Don’t get out of earshot of Briana while I’m gone. I won’t be long.” He grabbed his helmet and headed for the carport where they kept their bikes.
He rode the first few minutes without thinking of anything but the road and the wind. Then he let his mind drift while he rode the familiar pathways around
Dallas
. Somewhere along the way, he picked up Ranger and Drew. They nodded and kept up with him, but they didn’t try to lead or steer him anywhere. Dillon had called them, no doubt. He guessed he couldn’t blame him. He wasn’t in a good mood for riding, but it was the perfect thing to do when he had a lot on his mind.
By the time he made it back to the house, Drew and Ranger had peeled off and headed back to their place. He parked the bike and pulled off his helmet. The ride had settled him. He knew how he felt about Briana now. The thing was, he couldn’t tell her while she was trying to make a decision on moving in with them or not. It would influence her, and he didn’t want to ruin their chances of having her move in.
He locked up the house from the garage and dropped his helmet on the bench next to Dillon’s. Then he went in search of his brother. They needed to have a heart-to-heart on Briana and the babies. They should have done it before they brought her home, but he had been too fucked up about it to see straight.
“Hey, you’re back,” Dillon said with a smile.
“We need to talk. Where’s the baby monitor?”
“Huh?” Dillon looked at him as if he were crazy.
“The monitor we bought the other day. I want to hook it up now, so we can hear her if she wakes up.”
They set up the monitor in the bedroom and took the other part of it out to the garage. He needed to say some things that were going to piss Dillon off, and he didn’t want Briana to wake up in the middle of it. This way they could hear her if she woke up.
“What’s so important that we have to come out here to talk about it?” Dillon asked.
“You’re not marrying Briana.”
“What the fuck?” Dillon frowned at him. “The fuck you say.”
“I’m marrying her.”
Chapter Sixteen
Briana woke up to find the room totally dark except for the bathroom light on with the door cracked so she could see. She rolled over to the side of the bed and turned on the bedside lamp. Then she sat up and waited for her head to clear before she got up to go to the bathroom.
By the time she was finished and was running the tub full of water, the men were knocking on the door to the bathroom.
“Briana?” Gavin’s voice. “Are you okay in there?”
“I’m fine. I’m just going to take a bath.”
“Open up, baby.” Dillon rattled the nob. “Remember, one of us has to help you in and out of the tub.”
“You won’t always be around, Dillon. You have to work, too. I can get in and out of the tub by myself.” She knew it was eating them alive not to be able to get in.
“Don’t make me break the door in,” Gavin said.
“Get a clothes hanger and pick the freaking lock.” Briana shook her head.
Men.
She eased down in the tub of warm water and pulled the bath pillow down to rest her head on. A few seconds later she heard the clothes hanger in the doorknob and, after that, the unmistakable sounds of cursing. Then the click of the lock and the door banged open against the wall.
“Hey, you’re letting in the cold air. Do you want me to catch a cold?” She smiled then hid her smile when the door closed back.
“You, young lady, are in a world of trouble,” Gavin said.
She looked up, and both he and Dillon looked as if they’d been fighting. Both of them had disheveled clothes and hair. She narrowed her eyes at them. They both looked guilty as hell of something. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what it was right then. Maybe later.
“I wanted a bath. I can take a bath if I want to without asking permission. If I have to ask permission, I’m going home.”
“You don’t have to ask permission, Briana, but you need to let us know what you’re doing, so we can be around if you need us.” Gavin stuck his hands on his hips.
Dillon seemed sullen. Whatever had happened, Gavin had won, and Dillon had lost. She sure hoped it had to do with who was cleaning the kitchen up after meals.
She let out a deep breath and closed her eyes. She wanted to relax for a while, not think about their problems. She had made up her mind while she had been sleeping. She would move in with them and let them help take care of the babies. If they worked well together and everyone wanted it to last, she’d stay. If they didn’t work well together, or if they obviously only wanted the babies, she would move out. They could set up visitation for them. She’d left her heart out of it and let her mind do the thinking.
Her heart was still pumping and wanting, but it would have to be happy with the way things were for now. Maybe, after the babies were born, there would be a time for her heart to get involved, but not now. For now, she had two babies to care about and provide for. She couldn’t handle anything more at the moment.
“How long do you think you’re going to want to soak, Briana?” Gavin asked.
“I don’t know. Until my water gets cool.”
“Will you please call us when you get ready to get out and let us help you?” Dillon asked.
Briana sighed and opened one eye. “Okay. I’ll yell.”
“Thanks, baby.” Dillon bent down and kissed her on the cheek.
Gavin reached into the water and ran his finger down her thigh to her knee and back up again. Then he pulled his arm out of the water and dried it off with her towel.
The men left her in peace. She soaked and drifted in the water until it cooled off more than she wanted. She started to get out then remembered her promise. She called out.
“I’m ready to get out now!”
A few seconds later, she heard the sounds of feet hitting the tread on the stairs. Dillon walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. The cool air rushed around her and sent chill bumps down her arms.
“Here you go, baby.” He reached down and took one hand while she used the other on the side of the tub.
Once she was out of the tub, he enfolded her in the bath towel and rubbed her dry. As soon as he finished, he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom again. Gavin was waiting with a lime-green terry-cloth robe and matching slippers.