Rock You Like a Hurricane: Stormy Weather, Book 1 (7 page)

He placed the lantern in front of him, pulled the cards from his pocket and began to shuffle. When they were well mixed he looked up at Greg, who was still staring at the door with a frown. “Twenty minutes in the doghouse is going to seem like an eternity.”

“Not with these.” Jack waggled the cards in his hand. “Five Card Draw or Texas Hold ’em?”

“Five Card.” Greg eased down on the floor in front of Jack. “High card deals.”

“Sounds good.” Jack set the deck down in front of him. “Pick first.”

Jack waited his turn to do the same, and by the time Greg was passing out his cards, an amusing thought flashed through his head. Yes, he was in the doghouse, but he wasn’t the only one. There was someone else to shoulder the blame and the apology. Maybe there was something to this shared relationship idea after all.

Chapter Three

This wasn’t the way Greg imagined he’d be spending his evening. Sure, he thought the storm would wage World War Three outside. He figured there would be soft light from either candles or lanterns, and he knew Olivia and he would have to find ways to entertain themselves until the storm ended, possibly even playing a game or two of cards.

But in no way did he think he would be doing all of that while sitting in the hallway across from his girlfriend’s boyfriend while she pouted just a few feet away from them. Greg had gone on his share of bad dates before, but this hands-down topped the cake.

Turning his attention back to the cards Jack dealt in front of him, Greg quickly assessed his hand and discarded two cards. Although the storm roared outside, the inside of the house remained silent. Greg worried about Olivia being by herself on the other side of the door. He glanced at his watch and grimaced as he realized only five minutes had passed.

Jack finally picked three cards and grunted as he looked at his cards. “You know what?”

“Hmm,” Greg grunted, barely paying attention to the other man. He was more concerned about getting through the next fifteen minutes.

“We don’t have any chips.”

Greg flipped over his cards. “No matter. I’ve won unless you can beat a full house.”

“Nope.” Jack didn’t even bother showing his cards and just tossed them down on the pile. “Another round of pointless poker?”

Greg shrugged and picked up the deck. Might as well. It wasn’t as if they had anything better to do while slumming in the doghouse. “You do realize I blame you for this?”

“The feeling, I assure you, is mutual.” Jack took a swig of his beer before setting it back down on the floor. “The only difference, of course, is I know for a fact this is your fault.”

Greg set the cards down. “The game can wait. I
have
to hear this.”

“If you hadn’t left her on the market, she never would have met me.”

Greg nodded in agreement. When Jack was right, he was right. “On that I can agree, but if you were a true gentleman you never would have pursued a woman already in a relationship, open or not.”

“The problem is, I don’t consider myself a gentleman. Neither does Liv, which is why our sex life is better than yours. She doesn’t have to be a lady with me in bed. She’s free to be as wild and wanton as she desires. And she loves it.”

“I’m obviously doing something in bed she enjoys or she would have left me the second you entered the picture,” Greg pointed out proudly. “Don’t assume just because you eat good pussy you’re the better lover. Note she didn’t say your fucking skills were better. Just your licking ones. You’re a mouthy little bastard, so it doesn’t surprise me.”

“You know, it’s a pity she never did say what it was she likes best about being in bed with you. I’m willing to bet it was because she couldn’t think of anything.”

“Or maybe it’s because she wasn’t asked.”

“Sure,” Jack said sarcastically. “That has to be it.”

“Besides, I have an idea of what she would have said.”

“Like what?”

Greg flashed Jack a sly smile. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Yes, I would.”

Jack’s insistence gave Greg an idea. “How badly?”

“I’m not willing to cut off a finger for the information, but my interest is piqued. Frankly, I don’t really see you as a very sexual person. Maybe it’s the accent, or the tweed jacket I’m sure you own. Whatever it is, when I look at you, I don’t see someone who knows how to bring it.”

“Bring it?”

“Yes. Your ‘A’ game in the sack,” Jack explained, as if he were talking to an idiot. “I bet you fuck in the dark, missionary position even.”

“You’d lose that bet all the way around.” Amused, Greg shook his head.

“I’m not so sure about that.”

Greg couldn’t believe Jack’s gall. “You really think you’re the better lover?”

“I don’t think it. I know it.”

“Why not put it to a test?”

“What, some kind of fuck-a-thon?”

Greg frowned at the crassness. “I wouldn’t put it exactly like that.”

“Yeah, I bet you wouldn’t. Too low class for someone like you, I suppose.”

Greg controlled himself from responding to the other man’s obvious baiting. It wasn’t worth the breath. Instead he concentrated on what was important—Olivia. “Look, she’s fucked you, she’s fucked me. Up to this point she hasn’t figured out the smart move would be to dump your ass. So maybe we need to do something different.”

Jack tilted his head as if he couldn’t believe what Greg was suggesting. “You think she needs to fuck both of us and she’ll finally be able to figure out which one of us she wants to date?”

Greg wished it were so easy. “No, I think after fucking us she’ll remember why she doesn’t want to pick door number three. The first two doors come with love and passion, the third leads to loneliness.”

“So I’m right. You are suggesting we,” Jack gestured between the two of them, “as a duo, make love to her at the same time.”

“Yes.” Greg hated to believe he was agreeing to this, let alone suggesting it, but he was desperate. “But not for those reasons.”

“Then why? Because I have to tell you, Professor, what you’re suggesting is pretty drastic. I think they might even kick you off the island for that.”

“Sex is the easy part. Our relationship is the part that needs the most work.”

“I suppose you have an idea how we should do that, Professor?”

“Actually, I do.”

“Okay, then. Let’s hear it.”

Greg paused for a minute to see if Jack was being sarcastic, but he could only see sincerity in the other man’s eyes. “You love her, don’t you?”

“Of course, don’t you?”

“Yes, very much.” Enough to propose this crazy idea he had rattling around in his brain.

“And you have as much intention of ending things with her as I do.”

“Even less.”

“Which leaves us where?” Jack asked with a heavy sigh.

“What if I were to tell you the best thing we could do for her is to end things and let her find one normal guy to be with?” Greg wanted to see if the other man was as reluctant for that circumstance as he was.

“Then I’d tell you you’re not as smart as I think you are, Professor.” Jack quirked his lips into a half smile. “But you’re not going to tell me that, are you?”

“No. I’m not.” Instead Greg spent the next fifteen minutes discussing every issue he had with her dating them both, as did Jack, who had concerns of his own. By the time the two men had finished their conversation, they’d come to an understanding, an agreement and a plan.

With a heavy sigh, Jack leaned back against the doorjamb. “How do you think she’ll handle the suggestion?”

Greg thought back over the evening and some of the telltale signs Olivia had shown and smiled. “I think she’d welcome it. After all, she’s a very dirty little girl.” More than Greg had even realized, but he was finding out he really had no problem with the knowledge.

Jack chuckled at Greg’s description. “Of course the real question is, if we can barely stomach the idea of the two of us each dating her, how are we going to be able to handle watching the other make love to her?”

“I’d rather watch her make love to you, while I’m making love to her as well, than watch her walk out of my life. Besides, I’m more than sure that given enough time, she’ll see through you and want to end things. I’ll just bide my time until then.”

Jack snorted. “You’ll be waiting a long time, possibly an eternity.”

“I’m patient,” Greg insisted. Now that he had finally realized just what he might be losing, Greg knew he would fight until the end to win her.

“You’re stubborn.”

Greg nodded. “It’s a slippery slope to walk.” Just then the alarm on Greg’s wristwatch went off. He turned it off and smiled. “Her twenty minutes are up. Time to make up then out.”

Jack scooped the cards back together then rose to his feet as Greg did the same. “You never did say what move of yours you think she likes the most.”

“As soon as I get her naked, I’ll do more than tell you. I’ll show you.”

It had felt like only a few minutes had passed when the bedroom door opened and Jack and Greg walked back through. Olivia sat up and pushed the covers down to her waist. Before they’d come in she’d been huddled under the blankets like a big ’fraidy cat, wishing she hadn’t kicked them out, but knowing she needed the space. Now that they were back in the room, she felt better, but still angry. Her time alone hadn’t been very productive, and the storm had only gotten worse outside.

Even though she knew it made it look as if she was pouting, she crossed her arms over her generous breasts and shot a glare at both of them. She was pleased to see them, but she wasn’t ready to let them just mosey their way back in with her, especially after trying to boss her around. Olivia wasn’t sure whom they thought they were dealing with, but it sure as hell wasn’t her.

Never before had she allowed a man to make decisions for her. And she wasn’t going to start now. Yes, what she wanted was somewhat out of the ordinary, but their entire relationship wasn’t really run of the mill. It had suited the men just fine when they were calling the play, but now the shoe was on the other foot and they were hemming and hawing around. And that wasn’t going to work for her. Not now. Not ever. She had to stand strong in her convictions. If they weren’t willing to compromise, well, she wasn’t sure what she was going to do. She loved them both, but she was no one’s doormat.

“It hasn’t really been twenty minutes,” she insisted with as much conviction she could muster.

Greg glanced down at his watch then back to her. “Actually, it has. Any decision yet?”

Olivia decided to change her tactics. “I don’t have to have a decision ready because I never agreed to that twenty-minutes time limit. That was all you.”

“You know, Liv, I agree with him on this one.” Jack shrugged and flashed her a “whatcha gonna do about it” smile. “If we didn’t give you a deadline, you’d keep us both on a string, trying to hang on to things the way they are.”

“I still don’t see what’s wrong with that.” Olivia didn’t know why they couldn’t understand how they were asking her to pull out her heart and split it down the middle. It would kill her to pick and choose between them.

“The professor here had an idea.” Jack seemed reluctant somehow to even bring it up. “You ought to listen to his proposal.”

Olivia turned toward Greg to hear this pitch. “Well, this should be good.”

The two men looked at each other and there was some sort of silent communication between them. She had to suppress the smile that threatened. As different as they were, there was something alike about the two as well. Both were dominant and self-assured, and treated her so well.

“Such a stubborn vixen.” Greg took a seat on the side of the bed.

Jack laughed. “To the bitter end.”

“Very end.”

“Really?” Olivia looked from one man to the other. Somehow during her twenty minutes of time alone her two men had come to some kind of understanding. She just hoped it was one she was agreeable to as well. “You guys are a comedy duo now?”

“No, just the two men you love,” Jack replied with a touch of arrogant pride.

Olivia snorted but held her tongue. There was no point in denying the truth.

“While you were in here thinking, Jack and I were busy talking. We realize what we’re asking of you may not be entirely fair.”

“May not?” There was still doubt in their minds?

“But,” Greg continued as if she hadn’t interrupted him, “we both agree out of the choices you mentioned, the worse one by far is door number three. No one wins with that. Not us and not you.”

“It’s not a competition. I’m not a prize.”

“Oh, I have to jump in here,” Jack piped in. “Because I disagree wholeheartedly. You are most assuredly a prize. We’ve both been very lucky to have you as part of our lives, and that’s the way we want to keep it.”

“Hearing that doesn’t make it any easier to pick between the two of you. I love you both.”

“And we love you.” Greg took a deep breath. “And we’re not going to ask you to choose.”

“Are you both breaking up with me then?” Had she possibly ruined the best two things in her life?