Mending Hearts (The American Soldier Collection 11)

Their eyes widened, and she covered her face with her hands and felt as though she wanted to cry, but also laugh.

Gator stood up and gently pulled her hands from her face.

“That’s not something to be embarrassed about. I’m sure there were opportunities, although I don’t want to hear about them.”

“Me either,” Geno grunted as he moved closer.

“I didn’t mean to blurt that out. You probably think I’m immature. But I chose not to have sex. Nothing, no one made me feel like giving in. Especially as I kept hoping, praying, that Gabe was alive.” Her chest tightened, and she hoped she wasn’t upsetting them by admitting that.

“Honey, we understand all that. Perhaps knowing that he’s alive and well, and that he wants us all to be together is making it easier for you to give in? Your body knows what it wants. Hell, what is your heart telling you?” Geno asked.

“I don’t know. It’s been broken for so long,” she admitted.

Gator cupped her cheek.

“I think that you’re overthinking everything. You need to slow down and just go with it. Follow your gut, and you’ll see that we’re all good men who care for you already. This is what we wanted to talk to you about. We want to get to know you better. We want to take care of you. We can’t do that if you close up and fight your emotions and feelings because of the past and because of Gabe.”

“But, Gator, he’s your roommate and your friend. How can we give this relationship a try when all I keep thinking about is Gabe and why he can’t love me the way I’ve always loved him? It hurt so badly to believe that he died or was missing in action. He’s the only man I ever loved and that I ever let make love to me. I know you guys are older and have probably had your share of women, but I need that connection, that bond. I can’t just have sex.”

“No one is asking you to,” Geno said.

“What are you asking of me then?”

“To give this relationship, a ménage relationship with five men, a try,” Gator told her.

“Five? But there’s only four of you.”

“Right now there are only four of us, but mark my words, Alana, Gabe is going to be part of this relationship sooner or later. You mean just as much to him as he does to you. He’s just going through this battle within himself right now and nothing has seemed to penetrate that shield he put up,” Gator said.

“Until you. From the moment he saw you at the estate sale, we all saw a change in him. He just needs to work through his problems. But in the meantime, we all get to work on getting to know one another and seeing where this mutual attraction brings us. So will you give it a try?” Geno asked.

She swallowed hard and hoped that Gabe would come around and not be angry that she was getting romantically involved with his friends.

“I’ll try Geno. I’ll try.”

“Good. Now let’s work on perfecting the three-way kiss we were working on before. I liked that. A lot,” Geno said and raised both eyebrows up and down.

She felt her cheeks blush as she smiled, and Gator gave Geno a light shove to his shoulder as he shook his head at him, as if Geno was being a moron.

Her heart felt lighter, and her spirit lifted at the possibilities. She was going to try a ménage relationship, and even these men wanted Gabe to eventually be part of it. A new hope arose inside of her, a new fight within to make Gabe realize he could be a part of this and a part of her again too. Time would tell, and hopefully this wouldn’t do the opposite and tear them further apart. Then she would more than likely have to leave Tranquility and a life that had meant nothing without Gabe in it.

Chapter 3

He watched her from afar as he filtered through the clothing rack pretending to locate a blue button-down shirt. He would need one for the night he planned. It was a little distraction, a gift to himself for being so patient as he waited for Alana. God, just saying her name made his heart race and his dick harden. He adjusted his glasses, a little disguise to make him appear timid, kind of shy, and approachable. Women tended to feel more comfortable with a man who was nerdy and approachable than one who sported all his muscles.

Neil hid his muscles and his rock-hard abs well beneath the confines of bulky clothing. He trained excessively. He loved the rush of a good workout. To train until exhaustion hit him. To wake up chilled to the bone from a cold sweat on the basement floor made him feel as though he’d achieved something and he was an animal.

No man was capable of bringing him down. None ever were. Not in the service, not in the police department, and not in the damn hospital he was forced to live in over two years ago.

He nearly shivered from the memory. The howling and crying of other patients at night. Being treated like some low-life animal instead of a human being who needed compassion and care. No, instead they mocked him. Especially that one nurse. The stupid, ugly bitch. She mocked him. Turned him down when he asked her out and then sent her flowers at her home once he was released.

She’d suffered the consequences for denying his advances. And just like the others, she was gone forever, and no one would ever find them.

“Excuse me, can I help you?” He heard the deeper, older voice of the owner of the store, Mrs. Hamlet.

He was annoyed. He wanted Alana to help him.

“I’m just looking, but thank you.”