“Why would that be?” Sam sounded serious for once. “At least we’d know our parents would like you if we brought you home.” But it didn’t last.
“‘My husband is my brother’ makes us seem like we’re from a very remote small mountain town.”
“Relationships between step siblings aren’t illegal,” I said, pushing the hair out of her eyes. “We aren’t blood relatives and that’s what’s important. I looked it up to be sure as soon as the old folks made their declarations because I want to be with you. Anyone who doesn’t dare to do the two seconds of research isn’t worth worrying about.”
“But there’s normalcy. And what my mother wants out of our family. And what everyone expects.”
“Listen, Gray, thinking about everyone else is nice and all, but sometimes you gotta take care of yourself. Tell us honestly, what do you want? If it isn’t us, we’ll do the right thing and step aside. And if there are any other consequences to our actions, we will also do the right thing. Tell us the truth, no matter who you think it might hurt.”
“That’s right,” I said, stealing attention back and caressing her cheek. “Do you think Sam and I just live in eternal fear of what our father wants? Or do you think he respects us enough as independent beings to live and enjoy life as we please?”
Her eyes stayed closed. Our support was all we could offer, and maybe, even that might not be enough to get the job done.
It was out of our hands. We’d made ourselves clear. We loved her. We’d support her. We’d do anything for her. Unless she spoke to us, we wouldn’t move on from where we were.
I ran my fingers through her hair one last time before kissing her right on the lips. Her mouth yielded as if she’d been waiting for it all the time.
I wasn’t sure if that was an answer, but the fact she still wanted to kiss me, after all I’d overheard of her with Noah, well, it boosted my ego. And whatever the kiss was, it was not rejection.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
GRACE MILLER
I’ve given in. Again.
And in no time at all.
It only took some sweet words, a soft touch, a gentle kiss, and I was on my back willing one of them to do more than just kiss me.
But they hadn’t shown up at my door with sex on the brain, they’d asked me a question, and quite rightly, they wanted answers.
And sooner rather than later, I would have to tell them something that would change their world.
Ryan continued to make out with me like the horny teenagers we were, but his hands didn’t wander towards any of my erogenous zones or rip off my clothes, no matter how much I secretly willed him to do so.
And Sam didn’t join us. I didn’t hear him move, so he must have continued to sit in the chair, patiently awaiting the answer to his question.
It was no good. It wasn’t a question of what I wanted, so there wasn’t a simple answer. There was one thing that changed everything, and they had every right to know.
As soon as my hand pushed against his chest, Ryan sat up and wiped his face with the back of his hand. So I did the same.
“I don’t have a simple answer to your question because I don’t know what I want. In life, we always live with constraints that are out of our control. Well, I’m pregnant, and that is something that makes everything out of my control.”
The twins both looked at me, remained calm and quiet. Perhaps it was a shock. I’d expected a barrage of questions.
“So, you guys might all fancy the pants off me right now. And the idea of sharing me with your friends might seem fun and sexy, but will it still seem that way when I’m the size of a small house? Or when I have a baby to feed?”
“Are you going to be a different person than the one we’ve known for four years?” Ryan asked.
Sam silently watched me and ran his hand over his chin.
I wondered if he was thinking of racing for the door.
“Gracey? You’ve made us laugh and made us think, and at times challenged our ideas. Mostly, you’ve been great company, and we like having you around. So I need to know, are you going to become a different person suddenly?” Ryan asked again.
“No.”
“I gotta admit, Gray. You have been getting me hard for most of the last four years, and I don’t see that changing just because you become a mom. Noah—he feels the same. I’m not sure about his brother, but my guess is he’d still want you with or without a child. So my question is the same. I can tell you a hell of a lot of reasons why you might be better off choosing eitherof the Jones brothers, but then you’d leave a couple of heartbroken dudes in this house who will be kicking themselves for not taking you prisoner and keeping you locked away.”