by Tara Rose
The corners of his mouth turned up. “You know what, if you had asked me that three days ago, I’d have told you that I was seriously questioning my sanity for ever having brought it up to begin with. But I don’t feel that way now.”
“Why not? I mean, what changed?”
He brushed a finger along her face and she sighed. “The look in your eyes Friday night. The way you snuggled up with him on the rocker outside when we watched the snow. The trust you showed both of us when we restrained you to the cross, and the way you look at him when he fucks you. You’re good for him. And I think he needs you.”
“He’s a lonely guy.” She didn’t know what else to say. This was impossible for her to wrap her head around. It was so sudden. They’d fallen into it too easily, but it felt so damn right. And she’d never have believed that Phil Parkwood, ex-Marine, alpha cop, and Dom extraordinaire, would be willing to share her with a man. Any other man, he probably would never do it. But Knox wasn’t any man. Knox was like the twin that Phil should have had.
“Yes, he is. And he got burned big time by that bitch Zoe. He’s flat broke all the time, and most of the people in this town have no clue how talented he really is.”
“We could help him. We don’t need my income to exist.”
Phil shook his head and his gaze darkened. “He’d never take it. It would humiliate him.”
She nodded. “You’re right. I didn’t mean any harm by it.”
“I know you didn’t, babe. You’d give away your last nickel if you thought it would help someone.”
She shrugged. “It’s only money. But aside from that, what do we do now?”
“We enjoy it, Eve. And we see where it goes. Can you do that?”
“I can, as long as I know you’re happy.”
Phil chuckled and shook his head. “I never would have believed I could be, but right now, I really am.”
Eve leaned into his embrace and inhaled his scent, smiling against his muscled chest. Was it karma, finally giving her a break, or would this perfect situation fall apart one day? She didn’t know. She only knew that right now, she was thrilled.
* * * *
Knox spotted the art work on the walls the moment he, Phil, and Eve walked into the Belle Meade Hotel. He’d been in here before, of course. They all had. He’d worked here during the winter for the past eighteen years, bussing tables, fixing toilets, and pretty much doing anything they asked him to. The manager, Rick Gunther, paid him in cash, and neither man felt guilty about that. He and Rick had known each other all their lives.
After wishing his Grandma a happy birthday and making the obligatory rounds of aunts, uncles, cousins, and his parents, he whispered in Eve’s ear that he was going to find Rick, and asked her to let Phil know. She gave him a look of pure molten lust, and it was all he could do not to pull her into his arms and kiss her, right there in the Passion Flower Ballroom. To hell with what anyone thought.
Why had she worn that gorgeous, dark-blue silk dress? It hugged her sexy, full curves and made his damn dick rock hard. All he wanted to do was fuck her again. He finally spotted Rick, and as soon as he caught the man’s eye, Rick motioned him behind the counter and into his office. It was paneled in teakwood and smelled like furniture polish, but the view was to die for.
“How are you, Knox?” Rick shook his hand, all smiles.
“I’m all right. I’ll bet you are, too, with all this snow.”
“God, I fucking love it. I hope it doesn’t melt until June.”
“What’s up with the nautical theme all over the lobby? Who the hell died and left you that shit in their will?”
Rick rolled his eyes. “No one. It’s corporate shit. Can you believe it? I said really, dudes? We aren’t exactly near a seashore here. But I wasn’t given a choice.”
“That space next to the fireplace on the east wall could use a touch of color. The prints don’t look right against the stone over the chimney.”
“Funny you should say that.” Rick shuffled the papers on his desk and pulled out a legal pad. He flipped it open to a page with an ink drawing, turned it sideways, and showed it to Knox. “Think you could paint that?”
Knox took the pad and studied the drawing. It was crude, but clearly it was Passion Peak in the summer, with the flowers in bloom. “Of course. Who drew this? You?”
Rick waved a hand in the air like he was swatting at a fly. “It’s nothing. I’ve already had so many guests comment on how fucking ugly the new pictures are, that I began to wonder how we could salvage it. Your cousin Chloe came up with the idea, actually. She was staring at the peaks this morning, and I heard her remark on how pretty the snow was. But then she said she liked it better in the summer when the flowers were in bloom, and she began describing the colors. I glanced at the fireplace, and the idea for the mural hit me.”
Knox chuckled and clapped him on the back. “You missed your calling.”
“No. I can see it my head, but I can’t make it happen like you can. Will you paint it for me? I’ll pay you three times what you’d make for me all season, and I won’t ask you to fix a toilet or bus a table. All you have to do is make the mural a reality.”
Knox stared at him, sniffing the air for the scent of tequila. “Are you serious?”
“Of course I’m serious. I know what it costs to hire someone to do shit like this. Corporate said I can spend money on decorating as long as I put up the prints that they sent me. So if I have to be stuck with these fucking butt-ugly nautical prints until enough guests complain and they let me take them down, then at least I’m going to give them something local, and prettier, that they can appreciate.”
Knox shook his hand. “Fuck yeah, I’ll do it.”
“Cool. Start anytime you want, but the sooner, the better. Come on. I’ll get you a passkey for the season and then you can come and go as you please. I know you keep weird hours.”
Once that was taken care of, Knox found Phil and Eve. After he’d steered them away from Uncle Leo, who was already drunk and telling off-color jokes loudly enough for everyone on most of the floor to hear him, he took the pair into an empty room and told them the good news. Phil clapped him on the back, and Eve put her arms around him and kissed him.
When Knox was able to release her kiss, using every ounce of self-control he had to do so, he asked if they wanted to get the hell out of here and have dinner at The Black Whip instead. “My treat.”
Both laughed, and Phil agreed that they’d all spent enough time with their family members. Knox felt like a new man. For the first time in his life, he believed things were going to turn around, and he would no longer be one of the town losers. This was going to work. He felt sure of it.
Chapter Fifteen
Eve loved the food at The Black Whip, but it was so damn expensive that she hoped Knox wasn’t serious about paying for their meal. Dalton Metcalf owned it, and had bought it when it was a dump. He’d turned it into an upscale place with great food and the occasional card games in the back rooms, but the atmosphere wasn’t stuffy like it was at The Cranberry Roost. Eve had never felt underdressed here or as if she should have folded her napkin just so in her lap.
“I’ve only been here once before,” said Knox, glancing at the menu.
Phil gave him a guarded look. “We could have picked up take-out instead.”
Knox shook his head. “No. It’s time to put certain ghosts to rest, don’t you think?” He gave Eve a tender look over the top of the menu. “If you can do it, I certainly can.”
She frowned. “When were you here last?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I feel so damn comfortable with you and Phil that I keep forgetting you don’t know my past like he does. This is where I took Zoe the night I proposed. I haven’t been back since.”
“Oh, Knox. Are you sure you’re okay being here now? I really don’t mind leaving.”
“Yes. As I said, if you can put your marriage and everything that bastard put you through behind you, I can come in here and have d
inner with you and Phil.”
His gaze was so intense that Eve had to look away and pretend to study the menu, even though she and Phil ate here so often that she didn’t need to look at it. Eve wished she understood why any woman wouldn’t want to be with Knox, but then realized that if things had worked out with Zoe or someone else, he probably wouldn’t be here with her and Phil right now.
“Do you know what you want?” asked Phil. He always ordered for her, but he asked first. She told him, and then she turned her attention toward Knox.
“How do you paint something so large? I mean, I know Rick drew it, but how do you do it on a wall that size? Do you pencil it in? How do you know where to put which colors?”
“I see it inside my head. That’s the best way I can describe it.”
“I can’t imagine something like that.”
Their server came over and took their orders, then when their drinks arrived, Knox lifted his. “To us. I haven’t been this happy in a long, long time. Thank you for the past couple of days.”
Eve leaned close and lowered her voice. “I hope we have much more time with you, Sir.”
She caught Phil’s smile out of the corner of her eye and glanced at him as he clinked his glass against hers and Knox’s. “So do I. And I mean that.”
“You say you can’t imagine it,” said Knox, “but think about what you do at work. I can’t imagine holding an animal’s life in my hands like you do. I’d be terrified of hurting them.”
“But I studied their anatomy and physiology. I know what they look like inside and how everything works.”
“Exactly. But you see, stuff like that would make no sense to me. I’d get it all mixed up. It’s too technical.”
Eve smiled as she watched him sip his wine. “But when you work on cars, isn’t that technical?”
“Sure, but mechanical things make sense to me And as for the restoration, it’s like painting. At least in my mind it is.”
“I guess it’s all in the way we each process things.”
Knox gave her a look full of gratitude. “Thank you for trying to understand. I know it makes no sense to anyone else, but it’s the only way I can explain it.”
“It makes sense, Knox. And it shows what an intelligent person you are. I can’t understand why the women in this town could never see that.”
He averted his gaze for a second or two, and she swore he actually blushed a little. When he glanced into her eyes again, they were filled with admiration, and her heart skipped a beat. “The only woman whose opinion I care about right now is yours, Eve.”
* * * *
Eve couldn’t stop smiling during the next week and a half. Knox hadn’t left their house except to go to work at his garage or work on the mural at the hotel, and every night Eve made love to him and Phil. They ate breakfast together every morning and dinner every evening.
Even Dr. Tabor asked her what was going on. She had discussed with Phil and Knox whether they should tell anyone, and they had all decided not yet. It was almost as if they were each afraid to break the spell. They got along as well as if they’d all known each other intimately for years, but Eve wondered every day whether Knox and Phil were both waiting for the other shoe to drop, just as she was.
A week and two days after their dinner at The Black Whip, Knox surprised Eve by showing up at the clinic to take her to lunch. Since Wendy’s was closest, they ate their lunch there, but this time they were inside, as it was too cold to sit outdoors.
“I hope it’s all right that I used your washer and dryer this morning.”
Eve smiled at him. “Knox, you haven’t left in almost two weeks. Of course it’s all right.”
“Too bad I can’t just move in. Then I could stop asking silly questions.”
She put down her sandwich and studied his face. It was full of hope and also embarrassment, and she wished he wouldn’t feel as if he didn’t belong with them. She picked up her phone and sent Phil a text, then returned to her lunch.
“I’m sorry. Too soon to talk about something like that, right?
Eve glanced around but no one was paying attention to them. She lowered her voice, just the same. “Not too soon at all, Sir.” Then she showed Knox the text message she’d sent Phil. As he read it, Phil’s response came over.
Of course he should move in. Tell that knucklehead we’ll swing by after work today and get the rest of his things. Is he there with you right now?
Eve texted Phil back to tell him that Knox was there, and then handed her phone to Knox so he and Phil could talk. The idea of Knox formally living with them filled her with delicious warmth, and she couldn’t wait to get off work that afternoon.
Knox moved in with them that evening, but kept a few things in the apartment above the garage in case he worked late or needed to make food upstairs for any reason. Now that the ski season was in full swing and snow covered the ground almost continuously, Knox’s auto detailing business slowed down, as it did this time every year, but he was kept busy painting the mural in the lobby of the Belle Meade Hotel.
Since there were two fireplaces, and Knox had assured Rick that he’d have the mural done by the end of October, Rick had simply sealed off an area around that fireplace until Knox could finish. He was able to work day or night and not be bothered by guests or staff trying to watch and ask questions while he worked, and he didn’t have to worry about anyone spilling his paints or tripping over a drop cloth.
Eve finally asked permission from Knox and Phil to tell Felicity, but they waited to tell her, Kane, and Maverick until they’d invited the three over for dinner. Felicity didn’t understand why they felt they had to hide it from anyone, and Kane and Maverick agreed with her.
“It’s not like you’re the only trio in this town,” said Maverick.
“We keep waiting for something to ruin this,” said Knox.
Eve smiled at him, grateful to finally know that at least one of them felt the same way she did.
“Don’t do that,” said Felicity. “Don’t let what might not ever happen spoil your joy now. Maverick and I spent as much time with Kane as we could, knowing he would have to return to Connecticut one day, and I don’t regret any of that. The pain of him leaving would have been worse if we’d never had that time together.”
That night, after their guests left and they were lying in bed, Eve confessed how afraid she’d been to believe this was real and could actually work. Both Knox and Phil told her that they felt the same way, but neither man was sure what to do about it. “I wish I could be engaged to both of you.”
Knox stroked her left breast tenderly, and gazed down into her eyes. “Is that what’s bothering you? That you don’t have a ring from each of us?”
She laughed. “It’s not the diamond. Although I do think this is really pretty.” She held up her left hand and twisted it sideways so the stone caught the candlelight. “But what I mean is that I can’t marry both of you.”
Eve actually clamped a hand over her mouth as she realized what she’d just implied with her last two statements. Knox had never said anything along the lines of wanting this to be permanent, as in happily-ever-after permanent. He hadn’t even told her that he loved her, although most days she swore she saw it in his eyes. But then again, she hadn’t said the words either. She wasn’t sure what would happen if she did. Had she jumped to some seriously incorrect conclusions here?
“What’s wrong?” asked Phil, grinning at her in a way that made her think she was about to get spanked just for the heck of it.
“I shouldn’t have said that. I assumed too much.”
Phil cut his gaze toward Knox for a second. “I’m not sure you’re right about that. Maybe Knox wants to marry you, too?”
Eve opened her mouth but nothing came out. She glanced at Knox who was grinning at Phil like an idiot. “Well, I didn’t ask her first. You did. So I’m SOL on that one.”
“Doesn’t mean we can’t both be with her. We are now.”
“Sure, but not
legally, you know?”
Phil shrugged. “It’s just a piece of paper. You both were married before but did that make it perfect or everlasting? Hell no. She cheated on you, plus she’s a fucking bitch that no one likes. And Eve went through hell. Seems to me a marriage should be about way more than simply making it legal, no?”
“I agree. But even so, I’m not sure I’d do it again.” He cut his gaze to Eve. “And that’s not saying anything against you, beautiful.”
“I understand.”
“Do you know how many times I asked her before she finally said ‘yes’?”
Knox shook his head.
“Twelve.”
“No shit?”
“No shit. Babe, tell him it’s true.”
Eve knew her face was beet red now. Phil had never told anyone else this story, but she was glad he was telling it now. Knox needed to hear this and understand it. “It’s true. He asked me twelve times. I was so afraid to go down that road again, for obvious reasons.”
“We’ve been together for over two years, and she only finally said ‘yes’ six weeks ago. It’s taken me a long time to earn her trust.”
“Is that why you haven’t set a date?” asked Knox, softly.
She nodded. “I didn’t see Darrin’s true nature until after I said ‘I do.’” It was true. And it wasn’t anything that Phil hadn’t already heard, so she felt safe in admitting it now to Knox.
He glanced from her to Phil and back again. “Will there be a wedding one day?”
“I hope so,” said Phil. “But honestly, I feel married to Eve already. The paper doesn’t matter to me. I just want to be with her.”
“So do I,” said Knox.
Eve pulled him close and kissed him like she’d never have the chance to do so again. His mouth and hands were everywhere, and she shivered in delight. They were right, both of them. Did it matter what they labeled it, as long as she was with them? The past few weeks had been the happiest of her entire life, and that was because she and Phil had allowed Knox into their bedroom, and into their everyday lives. She never thought she’d love another man like she loved Phil, but she’d be damned if she wasn’t head-over-heels in love with Knox already.
