“And… it’s real? How you feel about them and how they feel about you?”
“It is.”
“How do you know?” She sounded more curious than adversarial. “I can’t imagine you’ve been dreaming about falling for a trio since you were a little girl.”
That got a small smile from me. “No, I definitely hadn’t—but it happens. Ask Emma.”
Gina’s eyes widened. She’d met Emma a time or two and had even met the loves of her life, but apparently, she hadn’t done the math. “You mean her, and the twins, and the big guy, and the—”
“Yep.”
“Wow.” She thought it over. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
“I am. But there’s something else I want, too.”
“What’s that?” she scratched at her face, forgetting that it was covered in green goo.
“I want—no, I need—a sister who believes me.”
The skin of her chest above her robe—the only non-green skin I could see—flushed. “I’m sorry, Maddie. It just seemed so unlike you. Well, at least since freshman year.”
That opened up some old wounds. “I wish you had believed me back then, too.”
“I wanted to support you, I just didn’t agree with some of the things you did.”
“Things I did,” I echoed. “Do you want to know the things I did back then? I grew breasts. That’s it. Then clothes didn’t fit, and people stared, and kids made fun of me, and my sister—the one person I thought wouldn’t care about my appearance. Wouldn’t care about the rumors—well, she did.”
“Maddie, it wasn’t that simple. The things you—”
“I was a virgin freshman year. And all through high school.” She stared at me, her mouth open. “In fact… I’m still a virgin. Technically.”
Gina looked stunned. “So all those rumors—”
“Weren’t true,” I said. “Except the one about me throwing up before the AP history test.”
“And now? Even though you’ve been staying with those men, you still haven’t…”
“No,” I said firmly. “But I suspect my answer will change before the end of the week.”
“Do you… love them?”
I nodded without hesitation.
“All of them?”
“Yes.”
She huffed out a whoosh of air. “Then good luck. It doesn’t sound like the easiest situation.”
“Neither was high school.”
“Oh Maddie. I’m so sorry.” She rose from the massage table at the same time I did. We met in the middle and hugged, cheek to cheek. When we finally pulled away, she reached up to wipe some green goo off of my face.
I didn’t mind, though. I deserved a spa day.
And I deserved men I could love who could love me back.
That—and my sister’s support—were far more important than wraps, peels, and massages.
26
Maddie
The wedding was amazing. Gina’s dress was everything I’d dreamed it could be and more. She looked like a princess in it, and I was proud of my hard work. And proud that I’d made her happy.
After the ceremony, I danced with all three of my men, not caring what people thought.
The only thing I cared about was making sure they knew how I felt about them before we all flew back to different cities.
That thought made my stomach sink every time it occurred to me. The other upsetting point was the presence of the evil stepcousins, but even after what they did, I didn’t want to make a scene.
However, others felt differently. When Brock had asked Savanna to dance, I was furious. I’d turned to Jessie, ready to tell him how mad I was, but he was already asking Hanna to dance. Fuming, I’d found Kincade, who just grinned and told me to wait.
It had been hard, watching Brock twirl around a woman I hated. But he’d led her skillfully across the dance floor—and closer and closer to the pool. She’d been right at the edge of the dance floor when the musicians switched to a new kind of music, a salsa. Brock held Savanna’s hands, looking her deep in the eye. He moved forward with a sexy thrust of hips on the second beat. Knowing the dance, she took a step backwards—and right into a pool.
I didn’t see it happen, but at almost the same moment, Hanna, who’d been dancing with Jessie, mysteriously crashed into a chocolate fondue fountain. Kincade and I had rushed over there to enjoy the spectacle, and he kissed the side of my head as we watched the evil stepcousin try to extract herself. “I bet that’s the closest she’s been to sugar in years,” Kincade whispered.
So yeah, that was my favorite part of the wedding even though I did tear up when Gina and Doug exchanged their vows.
And then the wedding was over, and I was back in the cabin for one last night with my men. I didn’t want to leave them, but I also wanted to make the most of our last night together. They must’ve felt the same way, because they wasted no time in stripping off their clothes—and mine—as soon as we walked through the door.