Tim stood up and came behind Lainey, leaning over her and snuggling against her neck. He kissed her shoulder tenderly and slid his hands down her torso to cover her belly lightly. When he saw Spence lean back to give him access to their mate’s belly, he smiled down at him.
“Let’s clean up quickly, Spence,” Tim suggested. “Lainey, you stay put and relax. Just keep us company while we take care of things.”
“No, I’ll help,” Lainey told them, pushing their hands away as she stood. “You don’t have to take care of me.”
Tim hesitated, looking at Spence for direction. Everything in him screamed for him to take care of their mate and their baby. He had a tough time pulling back his intense desire to make sure that Lainey never had to be the one to take care of everyone again, but he knew that it was Lainey’s nature to do just that. He just wanted to ease her burdens. Despite his need to shelter her from any problems, he really did know that the three of them together would be able to handle anything that came their way. Facing difficulties as a team would be so much better for all of them.
“Okay, baby,” he finally conceded. He picked up a dishtowel and draped it over her head. “You can wipe the dishes. Spence will wash them, and I’ll put them away.”
“Hey, how did I end up washing the dishes?” Spence asked, laughing. “I don’t know about you, Timothy Hughes.”
Lainey pulled the towel from her head, laughing as she saw the expression of indignation on Spence’s face. “Poor baby,” she told him, touching his chest lightly. She turned to Tim and saw the serious expression on his face. “Tim? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t want to be a Hughes anymore,” Tim said softly. “I don’t want to have that name attached to me.”
Spence put his hand on Tim’s shoulder and squeezed it lightly in support. “It’s just a name, Tim. The man you are has nothing to do with your last name.”
“Timmy,” Lainey whispered, reaching out and taking his hand in hers and kissing the back of his knuckles lightly. “You’re a good man. You’ve always been a good man. You’re nothing like your father.”
Tim nodded, his brown eyes glossing over as he thought about his father and the cruelty he had dealt him over the years. “No. I’m not,” he agreed. “I’ve been part of the McKade family since I was seventeen. Your family was my family, Spence.”
Spence nodded and wrapped his arm around Lainey’s shoulder while he still held onto Tim, making the connection for the three of them. “You are a McKade, Tim. Through and through. My parents always considered you their son. I know they told you that they wanted to adopt you when you were seventeen. Why didn’t you let them?”
“I didn’t think I was good enough,” Tim told him honestly.
Lainey reached up and held Tim’s face between her hands, rubbing her thumbs over his cheekbones as she looked up at him. “Timmy, you’re a good man who happens to have the last name Hughes. It doesn’t matter what your last name is. Besides, there’s one thing in particular that I really love—something I’ve always loved about you, Mr. Hughes.”
“What’s that?” Tim asked, his brown eyes sad as he looked down at her.
“That sexy birthmark,” Lainey told him, smiling widely. “I’ve always loved tracing that crescent shape on your left shoulder.”
Tim fought the smile that was beginning to form. “I know you have, Lainey. I don’t know why.”
“I don’t know why either,” Lainey admitted, “but I love it. And I love you.”
“Baby,” Tim whispered, closing his eyes and leaning forward so that their foreheads touched. He could feel Spence leaning in to be a part of the connection, and he realized that he felt nothing but peace, love, and acceptance.
“I know it’s too late to adopt you as a McKade, Tim, but we all really believe that you belong to our family. You need to know that,” Spence told him softly. “Don’t worry so much. We’ll do whatever we have to do to protect all of us.”
“I’ve been thinking about that, Spence,” Tim told him, leaning back but never letting go of Lainey or the connection the two of them made with his best friend. “I think it would be a good idea if you married Lainey so that my father has no claim on her or her business. I think that would prevent him from trying to have any claim on McKade land, too. I wouldn’t have any connection to either of you. I would just be an employee here at the ranch.”
“Timmy! You promised that the three of us would belong to each other,” Lainey said, horrified.
“We do, Lainey. Don’t ever doubt that,” Tim told her firmly. “I just think my old man has something up his sleeve, and I don’t want him to ever be able to touch you or Spence with his greed. Marrying Spence would take care of that.”
“Tim, that’s not what we agreed to,” Spence told him seriously. “I agree with Lainey. We all need to be part of the wedding ceremony.”
“Wait, we’re getting married?” Lainey asked, surprised.
“Of course, kitten,” Spence told her softly. “We’re going to have a commitment ceremony for the three of us to be joined as mates. Tim and I have already looked into it.”
“And just when were you going to ask me if I was okay with that?” Lainey asked, stepping out of their embrace and crossing her arms defiantly across her chest.
The men exchanged glances then lowered to their knees before her, pulling her arms free and taking one of her hands in each of theirs. They looked up at her with complete love and concern.
“Don’t you want to commit yourself to us, baby?” Tim asked her, worrying that they might lose her.
“Of course I do,” Lainey told them with exasperation. “It’s not that at all. You two need to understand that you can’t make decisions without me involved. It’s wrong. I’m not going to allow you to do that. We’re either a committed trio or we’re not. There is no halfway.”
“We never meant to exclude you, Lainey,” Spence told her honestly.
“Well, you did.” Lainey’s voice held a tinge of anger. She wasn’t about to cave on this discussion. It would determine their future as a mated trio, and she was determined to be a full partner in everything that they decided and in everything that they did.
“Lainey, we never meant to upset you,” Tim barely whispered. “It makes my heart ache to know that we’ve caused you pain.”
Lainey looked down at Tim and saw the true anguish in his eyes. Turning to face Spence, she saw the same guilt reflected in his eyes.
“Promise me that you’ll never decide something so important without me again,” she told them gently. She reached up and touched their cheeks, rubbing the pads of her thumbs against the sexy stubble of scruff on each of their faces.
“I promise,” Tim spoke up, turning his head into her touch and kissing her palm tenderly.
“Me, too. I promise,” Spence whispered, covering Lainey’s hand with his own and holding it while he pressed soft kisses against it.
“Okay,” Lainey said, smiling. “We’re good. Now what exactly do we need to discuss?”
“Kitten, I love you more than I can ever tell you,” Spence told her softly. “I can’t imagine living the rest of my life without you in my arms.”
“You’re a permanent part of my heart, baby,” Tim offered. “I could never survive without you.”
Lainey’s features softened immediately. “I love you,” she whispered to both of them.
“Will you do us the honor of being our wife and our mate?” Spence asked her.
“Will you commit yourself to us and live with us as our third?” Tim asked, rubbing the pad of his thumb across the back of her knuckles. “We would not be complete without you to give us the piece of our soul that’s been missing until now.”
Lainey dropped to her knees before them, laughing softly as they pulled her onto their knees so that she wouldn’t be kneeling on the floor. Sitting sideways across the strong muscles of their thighs, she sighed in contentment.
“That’s much better,” she teased them.
“What’s your answer, kitten?” Spence prodded her.
“Please give our old hearts a break, baby,” Tim pleaded. “Do you want to belong to us?”
Lainey reached up and carded her fingers through their hair and massaged their scalps lightly. “I already do,” she whispered. “I want everyone to know that I belong to both of you. Just understand that I want to be your mate. Not just the mate of one of you—I’m the mate of both of you. Are we clear?”
The instant smiles on her men’s faces made her happy. She knew that somehow everything would work out. She stood up carefully, smiling when her men wouldn’t release their hold on her. When both men leaned against her and kissed her belly tenderly something in her relaxed, and she knew that she would always feel such love and acceptance with them. She couldn’t imagine ever being without either one of them.
“Are you okay with having a commitment ceremony that will join the three of us as a mated trio?” Tim asked gently.
“Yes,” Lainey whispered. “I would like that.”
They stood up and wrapped their arms around her, holding her tightly between them. Lainey melted into their warmth, loving their strength and support. She was looking forward to a lifetime of being held between them.
“But after the ceremony, I need you to marry Spence so my old man will have no legal hold on you through me,” Tim warned her, taking her hand in his and bringing it to his chest to hold it tightly against him. “Please, baby. Understand. I have to protect you and Spence from anything that sick bastard may think up to torture us with.”
“Tim,” Spence began.
“No, Spence,” Tim stopped him. “You know he’ll do his damnedest to ruin things for us. We have to make sure that both you and Lainey are protected from any financial or emotional hold he’ll try to have over us.”
“This is wrong, Tim,” Spence said softly. “It’s not what we talked about. It’s not fair to Lainey or to me. And it’s not fair to you.”
“If we have the commitment ceremony first, there’ll be no problem,” Tim explained gently. “We’ll be committed to each other as a mated trio in front of our family and friends. That will make all of us feel better about the situation. The Great Spirit has already blessed us. There’s no question that we’re both already mated to Lainey.” He turned to look up at their woman and smiled. “Do you know that you’re already mated to me and Spence, baby?”
“Yes,” Lainey answered without hesitation.
“What about you, Spence? Do you have any question that we’re already mated?”
“No, I don’t, but that’s not the point.”
“Then what’s the point?” Tim asked, looking at him with a calm that was affecting all of them. “What difference does it make what it says on a piece of paper that will be filed with town records?” He hesitated just a moment as he saw that Spence was about to argue. He couldn’t allow that. He had to do what needed to be done so that his father would not hurt Lainey or the McKade family. “Spence, trust me. It really doesn’t matter. Lainey will be Mrs. McKade. Since I plan on legally changing my name to McKade it will be accurate. When someone calls her Mrs. McKade, they’ll be completely correct.”
“You’re going to change your name to McKade?” Lainey asked, surprised. “Did you know that, Spence?”
“We’ve talked about it for years,” Spence told her, smiling. “We talked to Ma and Pa about it when Tim first came to live with us. They recommended that we wait until Tim graduated from college so he would make an adult decision and not allow his anger to push him to do it. Even though Ma and Pa died in the car accident before we had finished college, we already knew that they were all for it since they already considered Tim family. Deuce had taken over the care of all of us by then, and he and the rest of my brothers agreed that it would be up to Tim when he would follow through with it. All of us already consider him family, and we’ll support whatever choice Tim makes. I think Tim made the decision to wait when his father approached my parents and tried to get money from them to help with his ranch.”
“They did that, Timmy?” Lainey asked, squeezing his hand as she realized that he must have been horrified at what his parents had the gall to do.
“It was a long time ago,” Tim dismissed it. “They had no right to me back then. I was already eighteen and was legally independent. I had to make sure that my old man wouldn’t have any access to anything that belonged to the McKade family, so the decision to wait on changing my name was a sound one.” He rubbed his hands across his face tiredly and took a breath to steady himself as he lowered his hands and looked into Lainey’s gentle eyes. “I eventually had a long talk with my father and convinced him that I just worked for the ranch, and that the McKades wouldn’t be willing to do any money loaning or gifting. From then on, I made sure I was the one who gave him money when I could. But I stopped a few years ago when I realized that my old man was going to keep coming back until he dragged me down and took everything. I couldn’t allow him to do that. I had to start planning for my future—for our future.”
“Tim and I made sure that Mr. Hughes didn’t have any reason to come to him for handouts anymore since he was keeping up the appearance of being a hired hand,” Spence continued the story. “Unfortunately, word had gotten around how good a cowboy Tim was, and just how good he was at handling the animals on our ranch. Because of him, we’ve been able to nearly double our herd.”
“You’ve always been good with animals, Timmy,” Lainey whispered, smiling. “And you’ve always been so smart with helping to manage the ranch.”
“He definitely has been an outstanding addition to our family and to our business,” Spence agreed.
“Spence,” Tim said quickly, trying to push aside his best friend’s compliments.
“No, Tim,” Spence stopped him. “You’ve helped us become increasingly successful over the years.”
“Okay, enough,” Tim said gently. “I appreciate that I’m appreciated. Now, what’s important is that I go into town tomorrow and file the necessary paperwork to legally change my name. Once that’s done, we’ll arrange for the commitment ceremony to take place. Where would you like to have it take place, Lainey?”
“The place where we used to play when we were kids,” Lainey said without hesitation.
Both men looked down at her with the most incredible, soft smiles she had ever seen. She knew that they understood her passion about that place. They had commissioned to have the picture of it carved on the headboard of their bed. That place was just as important to them as it was to her.
They had said that she was the one who had given them the missing parts of their souls and had bridged their love, but she knew they were wrong. They were the ones who completed her heart and soul. They were the ones who connected her to true love and tenderness. They were the light in her life, and they were the miracles who would bring her a future filled with happiness.
Chapter 21
Lainey made her way out of the bathroom, tucking the large bath towel around her body. The muted scent of strawberry greeted her, and she stopped in the doorway to look at the two incredible men who waited for her.
“Hot damn! You both look good enough to eat,” she told them as they stood before her bare chested, wearing only their boxer briefs.
“Look who’s talking,” Spence told her, laughing as he held out his hand and waited for her to come to him, a soft growl erupting from him as she walked toward him and offered him her hand without hesitation.
“Damn, baby, you’re going to test our control tonight,” Tim warned her.
“You need to have control? Why? I don’t want you to have control.”
Both men laughed at her words, but she was serious. Now that she had accepted that they were a mated trio, she wanted to be with them all the time. Being able to be free to touch them and love them whenever she wanted to was a perk she was going to take advantage of—often.
“Tonight, we’re going to take care of you,” Spence told her, laughing softly
.
“Are you going to love me, too?” Lainey asked, leaning into him and kissing his chest, rubbing her hands over the sexy muscles that made her pussy clench with need.
Spence held her head firmly against his chest, closing his eyes as he experienced her loving touch. “Lainey,” he whispered. “You have no idea how much I love when you touch me.”
Lainey kissed him, licking at his nipple before nipping at it lightly. “Good,” she whispered, blowing against it softly.
“Tim, help me,” Spence groaned.
“What the hell do you want me to do, Spence?” Tim asked with exasperation. “I’m in just as much trouble as you are.”
Lainey looked up at him and laughed softly. “Oh, buddy, you have no idea,” she teased him.
“Okay, Lainey girl,” Tim spoke quickly, stopping her as she reached out for him. “Behave yourself so Spence and I can give you a relaxing massage.”
“You’re going to give me a massage?” she asked, shocked by their consideration. She realized that their unselfish kindness toward her was a definite constant in her life. The fact that they were going to make this night one of relaxation and comfort for her made her heart melt with her love for them.
“This night is for you, kitten,” Spence told her, pulling the towel from her and spreading it out on the center of their bed. “Lay your sexy body down so Tim and I can make you feel good.”
Lainey looked at both men silently, blushing slightly as their eyes traveled up and down her naked body. She stepped toward them, reaching out to cup their groins, and caressing the hard bulges behind the sexy boxer briefs that they wore. She loved the way the briefs hugged their muscles, accenting their strong thighs, tight butts, and bulging erections that were just for her.
“Lainey,” Tim whispered, leaning down to kiss her shoulder lightly. “You have no idea how much we love when you touch us, but you have to stop or we’re never going to be able to give you that massage.”
Claiming Lainey [Cowboy Mates, Psychic Connections 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 25
