Trouble Travels in Threes (Trouble, Tennessee 3)

She stared up at the ceiling watching as the fan made a few lazy rounds. When he returned, he was fully dressed and she realized she was definitely being turned down for sex.

Instead of pressing him for answers, she propped herself up with some pillows and let the sheet fall at her waist. His hooded eyes immediately told the greatest of tales.

“You want me.”

“That’s true. I do.” He sat next to her then and kissed her breast as if to tease her once more. Then, he handed her a bed pillow. “Give a man a little break here. You need to hear what I have to say.”

She tossed the pillow aside and crossed her arms underneath her breasts. “Then say whatever it is that’s on your mind.”

“You’re bad.” He shook his finger at her and grinned.

“You have no idea.”

“I have some, sweetheart.” He leaned forward and kissed her. “And that’s why I think it’s important for you to hear me out.”

“We’re not arguing.” When someone said they needed to clear the air or needed to be heard, she always thought of her parents and how they were always clearing up one misunderstanding or another.

Eventually, they grew tired of sweeping up their ridiculous messes. Soon thereafter, Serena tolerated one stepfather after another and her dad quit coming around at all.

“There’s only one reason I can think of that would cause us to argue and that’s why I plan to do this by the book from the beginning.”

“Draegan,” she said, hoping her voice didn’t reveal regret. She didn’t regret fooling around with Bane or Draegan. In fact, she’d had a wonderful night, all things considered.

“Draegan and I need to sit down and talk, man to man.”

“Without me?”

He seemingly considered her question before replying. “I think it would be best, yes.”

“Draegan isn’t interested in sharing me.”

“You say that like you know he already plans to make a commitment to you.”

She shrugged. Then, she said, “Actually I’m pretty sure about that. Draegan liked me from the beginning. He was a real player. All the women here warned me about him, but I knew his reputation. I’d heard about the McCall boys prior to showing up at Trouble’s gates. The problem with Draegan? He knows the score but he refuses to keep it when it applies to him.”

“So you think he’s interested in having other women, too?”

She laughed. “Not at all. When one of the McCall brothers gives his heart to someone, that woman owns his heart. I believe I already have Draegan’s.”

“Then what are you doing with me?”

“What I can do with you,” she said confidently. “Draegan hasn’t made a commitment to me. I haven’t made one to him. You’re the reason I haven’t. The reason Draegan never mentioned anything about a relationship is because he spent a lot of time running from me, apparently petrified I’d tie him down and make an honest man out of him.”

“Is that what you want?”

“I want you. I want Draegan. And if you want to talk about that with Draegan, then be my guest, but since a threesome involves three individuals, I think it’s only fair that I be there, too.”

“We’ll see how it plays out,” he said, leaving a gentle kiss on her lips and standing to go.

“I am crazy about you.”

“Do you love me?”

She thought she might but she didn’t want to say for sure. She was sure about Draegan, but she saw Draegan every day. Then again, she couldn’t help but feel as if she knew Bane a lot better than she knew Draegan.

“I do love you,” she said, accepting the truth then. “The love I hold for you is exactly why I refuse to let you go.”

A loud clap-clap-clap resonated around them. “That was beautiful, Serena!”