At least from the attack. I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to do about the baby.
“I’m sorry we didn’t get there sooner,” Asher says, kissing my wrist. “I’m sorry I let you go last night. If I would have just listened—”
“Stop it,” I say, a little more firmly than I intend. “If I would have waited. If I wouldn’t have pushed. If I would have called a cab instead. There’s a million what ifs. And if I keep thinking about all the things we could have changed, I’ll go insane.”
“Rose is right. We all could have done things differently, and it might not have changed a damn thing,” Leo says. “The one thing we can change is your location. Let’s get you home and tucked into bed. Asher and I will take care of everything. All you need to do is get better.”
His offer sounds perfect, except I can’t go back to their penthouse. I need space and time to figure out what I’m going to do. Especially since everything is so up in the air with our relationship. I don’t want this attack or the baby to push the issue.
“I want to go to my apartment,” I say.
Leo and Asher both stare at me; neither one of them look happy about my choice. “You’re crazy if you think we’re letting you out of our sight,” Leo finally says.
“You don’t have much of a choice,” I say, standing my ground. “I can’t keep living in your guest room. I need space. I need some time to think.”
Asher looks over my bed and shakes his head at Leo, who just frowns. He does it again and narrows his eyes. Leo sighs and nods back. The whole scene happened in just seconds, but I get the feeling they just had an entire conversation.
“We’ll take you to that apartment you rented, but one of us is going to be there at all times,” Asher says.
“What? How is that giving me space?”
“Asher’s right. The police aren’t sure that guy was working alone, and we can’t risk someone else coming after you.”
His reasoning was sound if a bit weak. I don’t have the emotional strength to argue, so I just nod my agreement. It’s still hours before the hospital is willing to release me. Asher makes some calls and Leo arranges for a car, but one of the guys is always by my side.
It is nearly dawn the next day by the time we leave. I’m exhausted. I just want to sleep, but thinking about that sad twin bed and worn sofa in my new apartment brings tears to my eyes. I almost begged them to take me back to the penthouse, if just for tonight. But I can’t be there, under their roof, when I still haven’t told them about the baby. But before I can tell them, I need to fix our relationship, or we need a clean break.
Asher practically carries me up the three flights to my new place. “There’s not much,” I say. “I haven’t had a chance to go furniture shopping, but one of you is welcome to rough it on the sofa.”
I unlock the door and stop in my tracks, pretty sure I just broke into my new neighbor’s apartment. The place is fully furnished. Two sofas, a TV, a dining room table. There are even wine glasses hanging from the rack in the kitchen. I step back out into the hall and check the number. This is the apartment I rented, but this isn’t my stuff.
“I know you wanted to do this without our help,” Leo says. “After last night, we figured you might be willing to bend a little. We can replace anything you don’t like.”
I cover my face with both hands and burst into tears. Fucking sobbing tears.
“Don’t cry,” Leo says, smoothing back my hair. He turns to look over my shoulder and glares at Asher. “I told you we should have asked her first.”
“It’s okay,” Asher says and picks me up, carrying me like a child. “Just let go. We’ve got you.”
I continue to sob into his shirt as he carries me back to the bedroom. I can’t figure out what to feel; happy, angry, grateful, exhausted, sore. A little of all of them. It feels like there’s a swirling vortex of emotional soup welling up inside of me and I can’t keep it contained any longer.
Asher sets me down in bed and pulls the covers around me as Leo turns off the lights. They both crawl into bed and just hold me. I finally fall into a fitful sleep, tucked safely between the two of them. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but tonight I have two strong men to lean on.
24
Leo
The next morning, I wake Asher, and we sneak out of the bedroom to talk, leaving Rose to sleep. She’s tough, but the ordeal stretched her past her limits. I realize she’s going to need time to heal, and the unresolved fight is just complicating everything.
“We can’t let her stay here,” Asher says. “The furniture and stuff is just a temporary fix. This place doesn’t have a doorman or even security cameras for fuck’s sake.”
“We can’t force her to move back,” I say just as frustrated. “She needs a reason. We have to convince her that the penthouse is her home.”
“And how do you expect us to do that?” Asher asks. “We couldn’t even convince her to come home with us last night when the only place she had to go was a half-empty apartment.”
Isn’t that the million dollar question? Rose is stubborn and the fight with Asher and the trauma of the other night has her pulling away. Words and logic aren’t going to cut it. We need to do something drastic.
“I’m not sure,” I say. “But I do know we need to prove to her that we want her to stay. You do want her to stay, right? With both of us?”
“I’m still not convinced this is going to work out like you’ve hoped, but I don’t want to lose her.” Asher rubs a hand over his face. Even though he won’t admit it, I know last night affected him. “I’m in.”
“Good,” I say, slapping him on the back “I need a cup of coffee, and then we need to make some plans.” I head to the kitchen, feeling optimistic for the first time in days. Sarah, my assistant, stocked the cabinets with all the basics. I find coffee and even a bag of those biscotti Rose loves. Sarah is definitely getting a Christmas bonus this year.
I start a pot and consider our options. Putting aside the events from yesterday, our biggest issue right now is trust. Rose doesn’t trust us to stay. Yes, our whole relationship started because of sex, so I need to find a way to convince her that things have changed. She is part of our life and a big part of the future I want for all of us.
Asher and I are all about families of choice, no matter what that looks like. We’re family, and now Rose is part of that. I can see the three of us getting a big house with some acreage and starting a family. It might be a bit unconventional, but I never had the typical family experience.
“I should just tell her I’m back onboard with the three of us,” Asher said, pouring himself a cup. “I’m the one who started all this mess. I should be able to fix it.”
“I think that’s a good start, but you weren’t the only one with doubts,” I say. “Rose was never convinced we could move beyond the physical.”
“Again, that’s all my fault.” Asher sighs and takes a sip of his coffee. “I’ve worked this out a hundred different ways. It all comes back to me begging for forgiveness. I was a stupid fuck who didn’t have a clue what I was giving up.”
“Yes. Yes, you were. And begging may be involved, but we need more,” I say, ready to lay out my plan. I know Asher said he was ready to commit, but I’m not sure he knows what that really means. “For starters, I think we should sell the penthouse and get a real house.”
“What does that have to do with winning Rose back?” Asher asks, shaking his head.
“Well, for starters, it’s hard to be together as a threesome—no, as a triad—if we’re living separately. The penthouse is so broken up, we might as well be living in separate apartments. We need a house where we can live together.”
Asher sips his coffee and considers my idea. “Alright. But we’ll probably have to build something, and that takes time. What are we going to do until then?” He looks around and frowns. “We can’t all stay here.”
“You’re right. The penthouse can work for a while, but there’s someth
ing else.” And now for the big one. I don’t know how he’s going to take it. “I want to ask her to marry me.”
Asher sets his coffee down so fast it sloshes over the side. “You can’t marry her.”
“You know I want to start a family. So yes, I’m going to marry her.”
“No,” Asher says. “This whole apartment thing started because she didn't want to drive us apart. If you want a family, if you want to get married, it has to be both of us. I realize it’s not that easy, but we’ll get our lawyers to figure out the legal stuff. But as far as the commitment, it needs to come from both of us. She’ll have to marry us both.”
“And what about what I want,” a soft voice comes from the doorway.
“You were supposed to sleep in,” I say and go over to her, but she waves me off.
“Sleep in while you two plan the next thirty years of my life? Did either one of you think to ask me what I want?” Tears spring to her eyes, and a knot twists in my gut.
“We just want you to know that we love you and want to be with you.” I shoot Asher a look. A little help here would be nice.
“Both of us,” Asher adds. “We’ll do whatever you want.”
“All I ever wanted was your love,” she says, shifting from one bare foot to the other. She sniffs and wipes away an errant tear with the back of her hand. “I don’t want you to change. I don’t need a big house or to get married or any of that stuff. I just want you. Both of you.”
“You have us,” I try to assure her.
“It’s going to take some time,” she says. “I can’t just pick up where I left off.” She bites her bottom lip and looks at the floor. “Things have changed.”
“I’m sorry,” Asher says. “I ruined it all, but I’ll spend the rest of our lives making it up to you.”
“It’s not that.” Rose looks between the two of us. She takes a deep breath and squares her shoulders as if preparing to deliver bad news. “Yesterday, I found out—” She stops and takes another deep breath and then another.
Next thing I know, Rose is running from the room. I look over to Asher. He looks equally perplexed. We follow and find her huddled on the floor of the bathroom with her head in the toilet.
“Call the car, we’re taking her back to the hospital.” I kneel down and push the hair out of her face. “Hold on, sweetheart. We’ll have to the doctor in few minutes.”
She pulls back and leans her head against the shower stall. “I don’t need the hospital,” she says, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I’m pregnant.”
The word hangs in the air like an overfilled balloon ready to pop.
“I know it’s unexpected,” she says. “But at least one of you could say something. Anything.”
“A baby?” I say, stupidly. I’m a shell-shocked by the announcement, but luckily Asher had enough sense to pull himself together.
“You’re going to have our baby,” he says and scoops her up off the floor and kisses her. “I fucking love you.”
“You’re really fine with this,” she asks, softly. The doubt in her voice slays me, and I vow to do everything I can to erase that feeling. She’s never going to doubt how we feel about her again.
“Absolutely,” I say and kiss her temple. “More than fine. I can’t imagine being happier than I am right now. I love you.”
25
Rose
I had a plan. When I left for college, I vowed to have an ordinary life. One filled with a husband, a white fence and a golden retriever. I never thought this is where I’d end up.
I’ve got the golden retriever and the white fence—although it is more like an enormous, security wall than a fence—and instead of one husband, I end up with two.
A few days before Christmas, we had a small ceremony at the penthouse and exchanged vows. I legally married Asher Knight, but with some fancy legal paperwork pulled together by our lawyer, involving power of attorney and living trusts, all three of us now have legal rights and financial security.
Honestly, the legal stuff doesn’t matter to me as much as the personal commitment. They are mine, and I am theirs.
And our child will be raised in a warm and loving house.
Well, it isn’t exactly a house, more like compound. The guys have gone a little overboard. We ended up buying a large family home on the outskirts of town. It is more than big enough for our growing family, but soon after we moved in, the guys start making plans. They insisted we add several additional buildings. I understood the guest house. We all share the same desire to keep our private life private. That went up in January.
But I thought adding an office building is a bit excessive. The small building they’ve planned will be going in on the other side of the pool. There is going to be three offices—one for each of us, and a large conference room.
Leo tries to justify it by saying he doesn’t want to miss a second of our baby's life. But I know that the offices were Asher’s idea. He still hasn’t gotten over my kidnapping, and the idea of me taking maternity leave keeps him up at night. If they need to, the two of them could run Lash Equity without ever leaving the property--or me.
A construction crew broke ground in early March, and the building should be done long before the baby arrives. Even though I fought them on the expense, I’m actually grateful. I don’t want to give up my job, but I also don’t want little Ashley to be raised by a stranger. Now, I can work at home. I guess it’s one of the perks of sleeping with the bosses.
I rub a hand over my baby bump that seems to be growing bigger every day, and go back to unpacking the last bag of adorable pink outfits. I need to stay out of the shopping malls. Neither one of my men knows how to say no. If I so much as aww at something on display, I find it delivered to the house the next day. At this rate, baby Ashley won’t have to wear the same outfit twice until she’s five.
“How are my girls today,” Asher whispers into my ear and plants a kiss on the back of my head.
My skin tingles at the contact. I lean back against his hard chest and wiggle my ass. His cock immediately responds, and I laugh. “Is that for me?” Go, go second-trimester hormones. These days, all either one of the guys has to do is look my way, and I’m ready to drop my panties and mount them. I find this part of pregnancy much more appealing than the morning sickness.
“Really, woman? It’s not even lunch yet,” he says in mock horror. “Didn’t I rock your world this morning?” Asher tries to act put out, but he’s already pulling his shirt over his head and dragging me to the adjoining door that leads to our bedroom.
“It’s your fault I’m in this state,” I say, shimmying out of my jeans. “I can’t help it that I’m horny all the time.”
That pregnancy panel makes my jeans really easy to get off, and I wonder if quickies in the afternoon went into the design planning, or if it is just an unintended perk. I’m naked and crawling onto the bed in seconds.
“Trust me, Bambi. I’m not complaining,” he says and falls to his knees in front of me. “This is by far my favorite past time.”
He licks my pussy in one firm stroke and then clamps down on my clit, sucking. I bury my hands in his shaggy hair and press into his mouth. “Fuck. I’m so glad because— Oh, Yes. Right there,” I breathe already feeling the building climax coil in my belly. “Because you’re so good at it.”
Asher’s magic tongue is well on its way to bringing me some much-needed relief when Leo joins us. He doesn’t wait for an invitation. His clothes are off, and his mouth is on my nipples before I even register that he’s joined the fray. The added stimulation is enough to push me over the edge, and I’m screaming out my release.
The orgasm is enough to take the edge off, but one of the perks of having two guys is that I know that this is just the start. Leo lays back on the bed, and Asher helps me position myself. I straddle Leo, riding his cock until we’re both panting. Asher is behind me, cupping my breast, kissing my neck.
“Have I told you how much I love your new tits,” he says, bit
ing the fleshy part of my shoulder.
“Just every time we’re naked,” I say, leaning my head back on his shoulder to give him more access. His cock pressing down the crevice of my ass and I push back. I miss the feel of both of them inside me, but we had to make some adjustments for my growing size.
Leo shifts my hips, helping me move. “You’re so tight and hot. I’m not going to last long.”
“Don’t hold back,” I say, panting, and grind down a little harder.
Just as I’m reaching the edge of another orgasm, Asher takes his cock in hand and presses it against the tight ring of muscle. “I can’t wait to have your ass again,” he growls into my ear, rubbing the sensitive spot. At his words, I explode, coming hard. I don’t even have time to catch my breath before Asher lifts me up and buries himself deep inside me. He pumps fast and hard, dragging out my pleasure. It doesn’t take him much longer until he shouts out his own release.
We all collapse in a satisfied heap, the sound of our labored breathing filling the room. Leo reaches over and rubs my belly while Asher curls a lock of hair around his finger. This might not be where I thought I’d end up, but I couldn’t be happier. I’m surrounded by love, and I can’t ask for anything more.
Epilogue
I stand by helplessly watching as the woman I love doubles over in pain. It’s been twelve hours since we left the house. Rose went into labor about four in the morning, and we’ve been at the hospital ever since. The midwife assures us that she’s making progress. But progress or not, her strength seems to be waning—along with her patience.
“Just breathe,” Leo says and rubs her lower back as another contraction hits her.
“Don’t touch me,” Rose says and slaps his hand away. “What I need is space.”
She puts both hands on the wall and lowers her head, breathing through the contraction.
Her Billionaire Bosses: A Menage Romance Page 13
