by Terry Towers
Bending, I slipped a hand under her legs and one behind her back, hugging her soft, curvy body against mine. She smelled so sweet as she snuggled tight to my chest. I carried her through the cabin as if she weighed nothing more than a feather and deposited her onto my bed. She removed the towel from her body and passed it to me before pulling back the blanket and slipping under. Undoing mine, I hung both towels on a hook behind the door and joined her under the warm comfort of the blankets, pulling her slightly damp body against mine.
“Tyler?” She mumbled as she settled tight against me.
“He’ll be in in a few minutes baby.”
She nodded, closing her eyes and almost immediately falling to sleep. Despite being exhausted, I didn’t go to sleep straight away. Instead my mind wouldn’t let go of one very big revelation: for the very first time in my life I was falling for a woman and falling hard. Exactly the opposite of what I wanted, especially considering she was going back to New York and by what it appeared to me, it would be sooner rather than later.
I was asleep before Tyler made it to bed to join us.
Chapter 18
~ One Week Later ~
Brock
“Hey babes, Tyler and I are finished work early and we’re thinking that we can take you skiing. Not sure if you’ve skied before, but I just so happen to know an Olympic—” I came to jarring halt at the doorway of Tyler’s bedroom, which had turned into Genevieve’s office since she’d arrived here. I watched her for a moment as she began packing her clothing into a duffle bag—my duffle bag.
She looked up and gave me a wide smile, excitement gleaming in her eyes. “Hey Brock! Guess what?” She looked down at the duffle bag, “Do you mind if I borrow this?”
I had a sinking suspicion that I knew what and I hated to admit that I didn’t like what I thought was about to be said. Despite all that I returned her smile. “What’s going on?”
“I finished the novel and sent it to the editor this morning. She already messaged me back and wants me in New York, ASAP. She said it’s the most brilliant book I’ve ever produced for the agency and has no doubt it’ll be a bestseller. She wants to see me face to face to discuss upcoming work.” She made an excited “squee” noise and jumped up and down like an excited teenager at a boy-band concert. “Isn’t that amazing?”
Taking a deep breath in, I forced myself to keep the smile on my face and hide my disappointment. I knew it was going to end soon. It had to end; it was only supposed to be temporary. It’s just that over the past couple of weeks we’d gotten into such a great groove. Life had depth to it now, much more than before she came into our lives.
“That’s wonderful.” Entering the room, I slipped my arms around her waist and gave her a big hug. She reached up and urged my lips down to hers and I obliged, kissing her with more enthusiasm then I as feeling.
She frowned pulling back out of my arms. “What’s the matter? I thought you’d be more excited for me?”
Aww fuck, now I felt like an asshole. “Of course I am baby. I’m extremely excited. You’ve been working hard and it’s the break you needed. I’m proud of you.” My words were genuine. I was proud of her.
She cocked her head and examined my expression with more scrutiny. “Then why am I getting some negative vibes from you?”
“Fuck,” I groaned, running a hand through my hair. “I just wasn’t ready for you to be gone so quickly.”
“Neither did I, but I am. It’s amazing. Meeting you and Tyler seemed to unlock something in me. It’s like...” She waved her hands in the air, looking like she was trying to say something or fly away, I couldn’t say for sure, but she couldn’t seem to come up with the right words.
My smile faded as I waited for her to explain herself further. “Like…”
She squished her nose and released a loud huff of air. “You guys were just inspiring. You’ve added a spice to my life that wasn’t there before and opened my eyes to feelings and ideas that I was blind to. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.” She squealed a second time and threw her arms around my neck.
Bending down, I gave her another hug not sure how to proceed at this point.
Releasing me, she looked around me and into the living room. “Where’s Tyler? I can’t wait to tell him the good news!”
“He’s getting the skis in the truck so we could have a fun night out.”
Her face fell. “Oh. Oh no…” She took a step back and ran a hand though her hair. “You mean, the three of us…”
“It’s not a big deal. You’d said that you wanted to learn to ski and we thought since the roads are clear we’d take you out and give you some lessons.” I gave her a nonchalant wave of the hand. “But it’s not a big deal. Some other time.”
Dear God, I was acting like some heartbroken teenager. I had never wanted a woman in my life, fuck-and-go had always been my style, and there was no need to change now.
Tyler came bursting through the front door, a wide grin on his face, accompanied by rosy cheeks. It was perfect ski weather—between the fresh snow and the temperature that was just chilly enough to make going out and breaking a sweat on the slopes perfectly comfortable.
“Come on you two, the slopes aren’t going to ski themselves.” He looked from me to Genevieve and then back to me. His smile suddenly faded. “What’s going on?”
Forcing a smile to my lips, I motioned to Genevieve. “Tell him the good news.”
Tyler planted his hands on his hips. “What good news?”
“My book is finished, sent in and the publisher already read a lot of it and loves it.” This time her enthusiasm was more restrained, making me feel like even more of a bastard.
“Holy shit fuck baby!” Tyler’s excitement matched her former enthusiasm as he crossed the room in several quick, long strides, wrapped his arms around her waist, lifted her in the air and swung her around as if she were a ragdoll.
Genevieve threw her head back and laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding tight to him. When he stopped the rotation, her hair whipped into her face which she brushed out of the way before his lips came crashing down onto hers. The kiss they shared was the kiss that I should have given her if I hadn’t been such a selfish prick.
Setting her back down onto her feet he gave her one last hug before releasing her and taking a step back. “This is wonderful. And what better way to celebrate than a few hours on the slopes and then we can take you into town and buy you supper. How’s that sound?”
She cringed as her gaze lowered to the floor. “It sounds wonderful, it really does.” Looking back up she met his gaze. “The thing is that my editor wants me in New York so I was hoping we could go to the cabin I rented and get my stuff.”
“Oh…” Tyler clucked his tongue off the roof of his mouth, his excitement fading. “Yes. Yes, of course we could do that instead. The slopes will be there tomorrow.”
“Yeah. See. I need to be in New York right away and so I’ve got a flight booked for tomorrow night to fly back home.”
Tyler looked over her shoulder at me and I shrugged. He was feeling exactly the same was as I was feeling. Shell-shocked and conflicted as to what to do about the situation. Not like there was much either of us could do.
“In that case. I’ll unload the truck and we’ll get you to the cabin now and loaded up before dark.”
She smiled, but her smile was weak at best. “Thank you.”
~*~ TT ~*~
Genevieve
“Thank for helping me pack up,” I yelled to the guys from the bedroom of my rental cabin.
“No worries,” Tyler yelled back. “Why in the hell did you have so much food? You have enough here to last you six months.”
Laughing, I replied, “I think you’re overstating a little bit. I did get enough for a number of months just in case it took that long.”
“Two months for a crew of six, perhaps.”
Grinning, I finished putting the last of my clothing in my suitcase and zippered it up.
Just to make sure I didn’t miss anything; I gave the bedroom one last walk through. It wasn’t as though I’d spent my time here, which meant a lot of wasted money, but I accomplished what I’d planned so that was the main thing. It wasn’t like I couldn’t come back, though I did still have six weeks left on the lease.
Grabbing the handle of my second suitcase, I placed it onto the floor next to the first one and wheeled them both out to the main room. The guys had the kitchen packed up and were about to start loading the truck.
“You guys might as well take the food and supplies to your place. I won’t be needing them and it would be a shame for it to go to waste.”
Brock looked at the numerous boxes of food and nodded. “Yeah. Okay. That makes sense. In that case, the suitcases go to your truck and the rest goes to ours then?”
I nodded. “Yes. If that’s okay?”
“You’re the boss,” he replied stacking a couple of boxes on top of each other and lifting them.
A few hours ago, I’d been excited. I’d accomplished what I’d come here for in just two weeks. And on top of that my editor felt I had a smash hit on my hands. But why then, did I feel so damned shitty about it?
I should have helped the guys load the trucks, but I couldn’t seem to get myself to move. Instead I spent the new ten minutes watching them. They were gorgeous men. Perfect in just about every way. I’d never met anyone like them before and I doubted I ever would.
But here was the thing. I’d only known them for two weeks and what the three of us had was a highly driven sexual chemistry. It was a chemistry that I hadn’t experienced with anyone before and I had to accept that there was a very strong chance it was the chemistry that was making me feel things were more than what they were.
The guys were fond of me, that was for certain, but none of us had discussed anything beyond me finishing my book and so this is where it would end up staying. But why did I feel do damned shitty? Maybe if we all kept in touch, sometime down the road…
I sighed, running a shaky hand though my hair.
“Hey baby. You okay?” I was given a start when I felt Tyler’s hand on my elbow. Lifting my gaze, I looked up into his concerned blue eyes.
“Of course.” I forced the widest smile I could onto my lips. “Why wouldn’t I be? I think I’m just exhausted, that’s all. It’s been just an insane couple of week and I always find myself mentally and physically spent by the time I finish a novel. It takes a few days or so in order to reset.”
“Yeah.” He nodded. I expected him to pull me in for a hug, but to my dismay, he didn’t. “I can see how that could be an issue.”
“I’m really sorry that I messed up your surprise to take me skiing today.”
He shook his head, this time he did pull me into his arms. Slipping my hands around his back, I took a momentarily refuge in his strong embrace. This could be one of the last times I felt his warm, hard body against mine. And the last time I smelled the cologne that I loved filling my nostrils as he held me. I don’t think I would ever be able to forget that smell.
“All right you two. We’re all packed. The roads are still a bit slippery Genevieve so how about you let Tyler take your truck back to our cabin and you drive with me?”
With great reluctance, I pulled out of Tyler’s embrace. “That sounds fine by me.”
Giving Tyler my keys I hopped into the passenger’s side of Brock’s truck and we made our way back to the place I’d called home for the past two weeks.
“You know what’s funny?” I asked, smiling at Brock.
“What’s that?”
“Last time we were driving from my rental cabin it was with me being a prisoner, now it’s by choice.”
A roar of laughter erupted from him. “You were never a prisoner. You just didn’t know what was good for you, so we had to take things into our own hands.”
“Are you saying you know better than I what’s good for me?”
“I’d never presume to know that.”
~*~ TT ~*~
Tyler
So here we were, at the airport seeing Genevieve off. I’d lost count of the amount of times that Brock and I started to bring up the idea of her staying with us and didn’t. The timing wasn’t right or she’d say something that would make us back off. The plan was to tell her how we felt before she left, but time was seriously running out. Once she went through those gates she’d be gone—perhaps forever.
“Well, looks like this is it,” Genevieve said, rocking back on her heels as she looked from me to Brock. There was something in her eyes, like she was waiting for something. Though I think we were all waiting for one of us to say what needed to be said before it was too late.
Just who?
Looking over at Brock, I gave him a nod. It was shit or get off the pot time. “Genevieve,” I took her delicate hands in mine. “I think there is something that has to be said before you get on that plane.”
“Yes. We both have something to say to you.”
“All right.” Her smile was timid, but I noticed something that I would describe as a glimmer of hope in her pretty blue eyes. “What is it?”
Flight 2749 to New York will be boarding soon, all passengers please make your way to the gate. A voice cut in, coming from the above speakers.
Fuck! Gotta make this fast!
“Look, we don’t want you to go,” Brock blurted out.
She looked to Brock. “You want me to move here?”
“Yes. Yes, that’s what we want Genevieve.” I gave her hands a squeeze. “Stay with us. We can make this work.”
“I—Wow…” Her mouth dropped open, momentarily speechless.
“Just think about it.”
Last call for flight 2749. Flight is now boarding.
“I don’t...” she looked nervously over her shoulder. “I have to get on that plane.” Despite her words her eyes told me something different. She didn’t want to go.
Hope surged through me. “Then stay.”
“Yes, love. Stay,” Brock chimed in. “You said yourself you work better when you’re with us. Work here. Stay…”
Tears began to rim her eyes. “Guys, I can’t. I – They’re waiting for me in New York. I’m sorry.” Snatching her hands from mine she spun and dashed for the gate, leaving us to watch her run from our lives.
“Dammit,” Brock snarled. “We should have talked to her last night. Fuck.”
“Yeah, but she knows we want her to stay, dude. If this was meant to be then she’ll be in touch. She’ll come back.”
“Do you think so?”
“I hope.”
She took one last look over her shoulder at us before turning a corner and disappearing from our view.
“She looked at us one last time,” I said. “She loves us. That’s what it means, doesn’t it?”
Brock huffed. “You’ve watched too many romantic comedies. Life doesn’t play out like that. She’s a New Yorker. It may have been fun being with us for a while, but there’s a big difference between living in the mountains for a little getaway and living here permanently. She may feel differently about here and us when she gets back to the big city.
“We’ll see. All we can do is hope.”
Chapter 19
Genevieve
What in the hell were they thinking? I groaned as I closed my eyes and laid my head back against the leather seat of the airplane as I waited to take off. Situated in the window seat, when I re-opened my eyes, I could see the guys standing in the window watching the plane as the engines roared to life.
God, they were amazing men in every way. No woman in their right mind would have left them standing at the gate after they’d asked her to stay. What was wrong with me?
But on the other hand, sure they’d asked me to stay but what did that mean exactly? Were they in love with me? Did they just want me around because the sex was mind-blowing and it would be nice to have pussy on tap?
Surely if they were in love with me, they’d have said something befor
e now. Why wait until I was about to board a damned plane? Maybe it was just an impulse thing and by the time the plane landed in New York they’d have already moved on to the next woman.
Not being able to look at them any longer for fear I’d demand to be let off the plane and ruin my career just when I was so close to getting everything I wanted, I closed my eyes again and hoped I’d nod off. I’d spent the previous night making love to my two beautiful men and was exhausted in all senses of the word.
“Heading home or leaving home?”
“Huh?” Opening my eyes, I was startled to see that someone had taken the seat next to me, an older man who I’d guess to be in his mid-sixties.
Well, shit. I’d been really hoping I wouldn’t have a seat-mate for the trip home. The guys had hit me with a whopper. What I needed more than anything else right now was some time to think and consider. Hours of chit-chat wasn’t what I had listed on my agenda.
“I’m going home. I’m from New York.”
“Oh, I see.” He sniffed and seemed to get distracted by the brochures stuck in the pocket of the seat ahead of them.
He paused and I did a silent prayer of thanks that the conversation wasn’t going to go any further than that.
I prayed too early…
“I’m from New York but live here now.”
Oh fuck my life. I smiled despite myself.
The plane lunged forward and prepared for take-off.
“New York is great, but there’s nothing like this town to settle down and raise a family.”
I chanced one more look out the window in direction of where my guys were standing. They were both still there waving.
Placing my palm against the window next to me I was always beginning to feel the pangs of loneliness as the plane turned away to begin taxiing down the runway.
