Authors: Elle Saint James
Tags: #Romance
Troy tried one last time with a valiant guilt-induced ploy. “We did a huge favor for you, Clay.”
“Yes, you did,” he agreed. “And that’s why I haven’t punched either of you in the face for lingering when I already told you to go. I gave her a cell phone. Your numbers here on the DRMC property were already programmed in. If she wants to talk to you, she’ll call. Otherwise, get lost.” He slammed the door shut, and seconds later they heard him put the steel security bar in place.
Fuck
.
Defeated only for the moment, Declan planned to have a full-blown argument in his head for when they knocked on this door again. And next time he saw her, Declan wasn’t letting her out of his sight until she agreed to marry them.
When he told Troy his plan, they began plotting a future together.
* * * *
Ava luxuriated in the oversized bathtub, thinking about her complicated life. It had been several hours since she’d gotten here. She briefly scrubbed several days’ worth of stress, fatigue, and road miles from her frame in the shower, then filled the tub, added bubbles, and sank beneath the layer of foam to her chin. Clay had given her sanctuary in his security fortress for tonight. He promised to allow her complete privacy.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see Troy or Declan. But she needed some time away to assess her feelings. Truthfully, she missed them even in the few hours apart.
They had saved her from certain death with some help from their friends Clay and Jake. She’d gone out of her way to thank Jake on the return trip. He still blamed himself for the destruction of her home. She was convinced that if Troy and Declan hadn’t come to show her that picture, she would have died.
Jake told her that he did some further research on the picture. Turns out that it had been captured and circulated well before he ever got a hold of it. The mobsters across the ocean had called the assassin out of retirement to have Ava killed. She did look remarkably like Sasha, the woman who’d almost been Jake’s witness. The mobsters had wanted to be sure the traitor was truly dead and sent Diego first to Denver and then on to her little bed-and-breakfast in Arkansas.
The vendetta to ensure a dead witness was truly gone had changed Ava’s life forever. Her home and business being destroyed sent her on the run for a very enlightening journey with the two sexiest men she’d ever met. Ava pondered what she’d do next that would equal the excitement she’d just made it through.
A part of her regretted never putting her business plan for the bed-and-breakfast into action, but perhaps she was simply better off getting a clean start. Again. She was getting really good at starting over.
She’d certainly had enough practice.
Ava dragged herself out of the tub, put on a borrowed T-shirt and sweatpants, and snuggled into a very comfortable bed. She promptly dreamed about them. Sexy dreams. All night long. She should at least try out their lifestyle, shouldn’t she?
By morning, she wanted to see them most desperately, but was afraid they might not want to continue.
In the small kitchen downstairs, Clay handed her a cup of coffee when she came in the next morning and asked her how she slept.
Ava tried to answer but burst into tears. When she got herself back together, she sniffled and said, “I slept great. Thank you for loaning me clothes.”
He pointed to a folded stack of more clothing on the table. “I had one of the wives bring you some women’s clothes.”
“Thank you.” She gathered them in one arm and continued to sip her coffee. Tears streamed down her face. She couldn’t seem to stop them, but at least she’d stopped sobbing. Ava had never cried so much in her life. The emotional roller coaster she’d been on had been powerful. She missed Troy and Declan so much, it would kill her if they were through with her and ready to let her go.
Clay didn’t seem all that surprised about her tears. “You should probably know that they came for you last night when they got in to town.”
She perked up. “They did?”
“Yes. And they were rather cranky when I told them that they couldn’t see you. They hadn’t even been home yet. I told them you needed rest. And that they could see you today, if you wanted.”
“Yes. I’d like to see them. Please.”
“Finish your coffee, and we’ll go.”
“Thank you so much.” She took a long drink of the hot, black coffee.
Jake rounded the corner and came into the kitchen. One look at her face and he punched Clay in the chest. “Did you make her cry?”
“No. In fact, I’m about to take her somewhere that will probably make lots of people happy. Me included.” He rubbed his chest one-handed but didn’t seem too upset about the hit.
Jake grinned at her. “Well, all right then.”
“One other thing,” Clay added. “During my investigation of what was going on these past several days, I was in contact with your insurance company regarding your home in Arkansas. I sort of pretended to be your representative.” He grinned sheepishly. “Anyway, they sent something to you in an overnight package. Some claims paperwork likely.” He handed her a large, inch-thick manila envelope with her name and the DRMC address. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“No. I appreciate it. Thanks. It saves me from having to look it all up.” As she finished her coffee, Ava read through the first few pages of the documents, listing all the hoops she’d have to jump through in order to get her bed-and-breakfast business up and running again. The whole thing made her exhausted and sad, so she stopped reading.
Within the next twenty minutes, Clay dropped her off at a beautiful log cabin home. She grabbed her insurance paperwork and waved at him when the front door opened.
Troy snatched her off the porch with a kiss to end all kisses. Declan was at her back seconds later teasing the back of her neck until she wanted to strip naked on the entryway floor and have her wicked way with the both of them.
“We were worried about you.”
“Why?”
“We were afraid you were done with us,” Declan said.
“No. I didn’t even last one night. This morning Clay asked me how I slept, and I started crying because I missed you so much. I didn’t even stop for a shower before coming over here.”
Troy scooped her into his arms and carried her to the master bathroom. “Why don’t you take a bath? We have a huge tub. Then we can talk.”
“Good. Thanks.” Ava needed the time to get herself together again. One second after entering their house, she already didn’t want to leave.
She sank down into a tub that was even bigger than the one at Clay’s security fortress. She thought about how miserable she’d been after only one night away from them. She was hooked. She didn’t ever want to leave.
Troy suddenly framed the doorway and asked, “Want some company?”
Declan joined him. “Or do you need more time alone?”
Her libido made the decision. And she thought she should take every advantage to be with them until a decision was made about their future together. A pang at never seeing them again made tears surge into her eyes for a second time today. She blinked them away and said, “Come on in.”
“We’d like to discuss something with you.”
“What’s that?”
“An opportunity has presented itself in a way that might interest you.”
She frowned. What were they talking about? “An opportunity? Is that so?”
“It is.” Declan seated himself on the edge of the tub next to her head. Troy stood, arms crossed, looking particularly sexy, near her feet. She would miss them and fought the sudden tears threatening to erupt each time she thought of leaving and never seeing the two of them again.
“Okay. I’m listening.”
“I hope so, because we don’t want you to leave.” Declan reached out and splashed the water all of a sudden. She got a faceful. In retaliation, she scooped up a handful and slopped it on Declan’s shirt.
From his pose leaning against the shower blocks, Troy rolled his eyes. “Will you two stop it?”
She wiped water off her face and inhaled deeply to keep them from trying to talk her out of leaving. “I appreciate that you want me to stay, but we all know I—”
“Hear us out,” Troy said. “Just listen and then decide.”
“Fine.” She crossed her arms.
“There is a ranch house on the property adjoining this one to the south. They’ve wanted to turn it into some sort of spa or retreat, but we pitched the idea of a bed-and-breakfast.”
This time Ava rolled her eyes. “You want me to run a bed-and-breakfast here? What about the place in Arkansas? The insurance has dictated that I have to rebuild there.”
“So rebuild and then sell it. The insurance can force you to rebuild, but they can’t make you stay there.”
“I won’t be able to sell it for a year. Due to the stipulations I agreed to in the fine print of the stupid insurance policy I signed seemingly forever ago.”
“Okay. So build it and get someone else to run it. I am pretty sure even a powerful insurance company can’t force someone to live where they don’t want to.”
“I don’t know.” She did know. And the thought had also occurred to her. But until now they hadn’t brought up the subject of her permanence in a relationship. Not until now.
Declan splashed water on her again. “You just don’t love us enough to stay. Is that it?”
“Not true. I do love you.”
“But not enough to stay.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Then what do we have to do? Tell us.”
“What if I want to get married? How do I marry two men? If I can even convince one of them that I’m not like his ex-wife. Tell me that.” She squirted water at Declan.
He ignored the water and shared a long look with Troy. “I’ll marry you.” But his tone of voice didn’t sound like he was exactly happy with that setup.
Ava had spoken to several women on the DRMC property the night before, right after her arrival. She understood clearly how things worked in this lifestyle from that illuminating talk.
Plus, she’d learned a lot about Declan’s reasons for never wanting to marry again from Clay. He’d been reluctant to share detailed information, but she certainly got the gist of what Declan had gone through with his ex-wife Shannon, the gold digger. She couldn’t blame him for his attitude regarding his ex, but really wanted the dream. She wasn’t like his ex-wife. She wasn’t marrying him for his money. However, she wanted him to be at least
willing
to marry her.
So she wasn’t letting Declan off the hook. She crossed her arms. “Also, I’m not signing a prenuptial agreement, Declan. If you want me, we share everything. For better or worse and in sickness and in health, the whole enchilada.”
“Will the word ‘obey’ be in our vows anywhere, I wonder?” he asked casually.
She shook her head. “Not a chance.”
Troy started laughing. “You could marry me, and I won’t make you say the word ‘obey’ or sign anything except the marriage license.”
“But then Declan would be off the hook. I’m giving up a lot and changing everything I wanted to do in order to be with the two of you, and I want to feel like you think I’m worth the effort. I want Declan to marry me. And most of all, I want him to
want
to marry me.”
No one said anything for a long while.
“You’re right. You
should
feel that way. I’m sorry if I’ve made you feel less than worthy.” Declan also crossed his arms. “Ava. Will you please marry us? You and I can officially tie the knot for any public paperwork. I won’t make you sign a prenuptial agreement or insist on the word ‘obey’ anywhere in our vows, as you’d just ignore me anyway. I’ll give you access to my money and not bat an eye if you spend every cent on tarot readers and psychics. Because I love you, and I trust you to do the right thing. Later, we can have a private ceremony with Troy here on the property.”
He stared at her. She stared at him. “Yes,” she answered quietly.
“Yes?”
“Yes. I’ll marry you.” She turned to Troy. “And I’ll marry you, too. I’m happy to be a Westfall or a Markham, or perhaps I’ll be all fancy-pants and hyphenate both names. What would you think of that? Ava Westfall-Markham.” She watched for their reaction, but shrugged when they just stared at her. “Well, it sounds great to me.”
Troy leaned over the tub, put a hand on either side of her, and pressed his lips to hers. “I love you, Ava.”
“I love you, too.”
Then she turned from him, scooped a large handful of water onto Declan’s lap, and said, “Hmm. Your pants are all wet. Maybe you should take them off.”
“Maybe I will, but first.” He slapped the surface of the water hard and fast several times, splashing her face over and over again. Runnels of water poured down her cheeks and across her lips. She finally sputtered for him to stop, so she could then scoop two more even larger handfuls of water onto his torso. He was completely drenched by now, and water was everywhere all over the floor.
Troy stepped back from the mad water fight. “You’re making a mess. Am I going to have to put the two of you in separate corners?”
Declan slipped into the water on top of her. “Nope. I’m ending this right now.”