That was the furthest thing he was going to suggest. “Actually, that wasn’t my plan at all.”
“It wasn’t?” Liv asked before Greg had the chance.
“No. My plan was to find out if Greg was willing to give up his other dates as I have.” Jack presented the challenge and was looking forward to watching Greg squirm. “Well, are you?”
“Of late there haven’t been other dates.”
That couldn’t be true. “What about tonight?” Liv reminded him. “You were with another lady.”
“That was a work thing and remember, I only took her because I thought you didn’t want to go. Now that you’ve said you’re willing to go, I have no need to see her, or any other woman, again.”
Instead of being pleased that her dueling suitors were being completely faithful, Liv seemed enraged. “So basically, the two men I got into an open relationship with, have both now declared they no longer want to be in an open relationship.”
“I can’t speak for the professor, but I don’t want to see other people. I only want to see you.”
“I feel the same way,” Greg jumped in with his own assertion.
“Which means what?” Liv crossed her arms over her breasts.
“It means, my dear, that you have a decision to make.”
Liv shook her head. “Oh no. You’re not putting this back on me.”
“Fine. I’ll gladly make it for you.” Greg turned toward him “Go away, Jack.”
“Not on your life.” Leaning forward, Jack took her chin and turned her head so she was looking solely at him. “See, honey, it doesn’t really work well when we make the call. That’s why this is your call.”
Liv pulled back, breaking his hold on her. “I don’t want to choose. I want to see you both. If you guys don’t want to do the joint dating thing, fine, but I see no reason we can’t just continue on as we have before.”
“You really think that’s going to work?” Jack was amazed at her naïveté.
“It has been.”
Jack shook his head. “That was before we met each other.”
“So what’s happened in the last two hours that’s made any difference?”
Jack looked over at Greg who was staring at him. He didn’t need to hear the other man’s answer. Instinctively he knew they both felt the same so he had no problem with saying it. “We’ve met.”
“And…” She dragged out the word, obviously not seeing the importance of what he just said.
“In our own way we’ve spent the little time we’ve had here tonight sizing each other up.”
Her gaze was blank and clueless. “So…”
“I don’t like him.” Jack looked over at Greg. “No offense meant.”
“None taken,” Greg turned his attention to Liv. “Because I feel the exact same way.”
“That’s not fair though,” she complained. “You haven’t even given it a real shot.”
“We don’t need to,” Greg said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure he’s a good enough bloke, possibly too good. Which is the exact reason he has to go.”
“Exactly.” Jack nodded in full agreement. “He’s a likeable guy. I have to hate him. I don’t want to, but it’s a done deal.”
“Precisely.” Greg nodded.
“That doesn’t make any sense. Can you honestly say if there had been a different guy, someone not Greg, that you, Jack, would have liked him more?”
“Not sure I would have liked him more, but I don’t think he would have been as threatening.”
Liv quickly swung her gaze to Greg and frowned. “You threatened him.”
Annoyance flickered across his face. “No. Don’t be ridiculous.”
“That’s not what I mean, honey.” It did amuse Jack to no end though that she was going to jump to his defense. “What I mean by threaten, is I feel like I could lose you to him. He’s not just a fuck to you.”
“Neither are you.”
“We know. Which is why you’re going to have to pick,” Greg said in a firm, no-nonsense tone.
“And it would be nice if you did it sooner rather than later.”
“You guys picked a hell of a time to spring this on me. I’m already stressed out because of the storm. I don’t need to worry about this too.”
“What’s there to worry about? Just pick,” Jack said. “Whoever you don’t choose will take it like a man and leave.”
“I promise you,” she said through clenched teeth, “if you guys try to make me pick, neither will like who I choose.”
Her cold words took Jack back. “Neither of us?” Was she seeing someone else he didn’t know about? “What does that even mean?”
“It means it seems as if I only have three options here. Behind door number one,” she pointed at Greg, “is my sophisticated, charming, sexy-as-hell lover. Behind door number two is,” she pointed at Jack, “my funny, sweet, irresistible lover. Then there’s door number three.”
“Who’s behind door number three?” She better say no one, Jack thought, or there was going to be hell to pay.
“I am. And if the two of you leave me no other choice, then I’m going to pick me.”
What the hell? “Is that allowed?” It didn’t seem fair at all to Jack.
“My house, my rules. And right now, I want to be alone.”
“You want us to leave?” Greg questioned.
“The bedroom. Not the house. I might be mad but I’m still a big-ass chicken. I simply want some space and a little time to think.”
Jack didn’t like the idea of leaving her alone at all. Time to think was probably the last thing she needed. It would just give her more opportunity to find reasons she shouldn’t date either of them. And while he could get on board with her breaking up with Greg, Jack knew his heart would shatter if she didn’t want to see him any longer. Nevertheless, he knew her well enough to realize she was serious and not going to budge on this.
“Fine. We’ll give you some space, but not much.” Jack stood and made his way to the foot of the bed. He leaned over and pulled out a propane lantern from his bag and the other deck of cards. After lighting it, he stuffed the cards in his pocket then grabbed a few beers for the road. “But I warn you now, and I think I can even speak for the professor on this one, if you truly believe either one of us will walk out of the relationship as easily as you’re suggesting, you’re dead-ass wrong.” Jack looked over at Greg, who was wearing a frown as fierce as the one Jack knew was spread across his own face. “Am I right?”
“Too bloody right you are.” Greg pulled Liv into his arms and kissed her roughly before releasing her and allowing her to sink back onto the bed. “Take your twenty minutes and use it well.”
“Twenty minutes,” she gasped. “I’ll take longer than that if I want.”
“Take your twenty minutes,” Greg said again, “and work through your anger, but know as soon as your time is up, we’ll be back in here to work on what you have behind door number three.”
Jack couldn’t have said it better if he tried. “I promise you this, Liv. If you think either of us could ever walk away from you without a fight, be it with each other or with you, you have another think coming. You might be his woman, but you’re my woman too, and I’m not letting you go. No matter what.”
Without giving her a chance to reply, he turned and walked from the room, with Greg hot on his trail. As soon as they cleared her threshold, Jack pulled the door closed behind him then made himself comfortable on the floor with his back against the door.
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 t
he 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.
Rock You Like a Hurricane: Stormy Weather, Book 1 Page 5
