And the brunette collapsed in sobs again. But this time we were ready. Because as her hand gripped my shoulder, Mason leaned forwards and pushed the engagement on her finger once more. She’d left it at the house, the diamonds taunting us. But no more.
“Will you, baby girl?” he rumbled, kissing her hand once he was done. “Will you, for real this time?”
Katie jerked to look at us, eyes bright, face flushed.
“Will I what?” she asked tightly. “Oh!” her mouth opened a little when she saw the ring, the two diamonds so bright and big on her finger. “I can’t,” her lip trembled, burying her face in my shoulder. “Don’t do this, I can’t right now.”
That’s when I stepped in.
“Naw baby girl, you can, you mean everything to us. And Mason’s asking you now. Will you, honey? Will you marry him and me? Him in the courts, and me in private, a bride to two men?”
Katie looked between us, stunned and shocked.
“What do you mean, get married?” she asked hoarsely. “Please don’t play with me, please don’t joke. I just told you all my insecurities, please don’t make me feel worse,” she begged.
But this time, we were for real. Because what else could explain our trip to Newark? The PI that we’d set on her trail? The scene with her aunt, a rifle brandished in our faces? We were head over heels in love with our fake fiancée, the brunette was the answer to our dreams, and Mason and I had moved heaven and earth to find her. Making it real was absolutely the answer to the dilemma. Marrying Katie, possessing her, marking her as ours for the world to know, no fakes, no pretend, nothing but the genuine thing was the way to go.
The problem was that our girl didn’t believe it. After everything that had happened, she wasn’t on board immediately, and I respected her for that. Katie’s a smart one and nothing’s solved so easily, with a snap of the fingers. So the brunette took a deep breath before replying, that bountiful chest heaving.
“So you want to marry me,” she said in a low voice, her voice slightly trembly. “But how would that work? And why? I don’t get it.”
Mason growled deep in his chest.
“What is there to get?” he rasped. “We want you, you want us, it’s as simple as that.”
But Katie wouldn’t be satisfied with an answer like that, so I went in for a try as well.
“What he’s saying, baby girl, is that we love you, and keeping you with us is the best solution to this problem,” I rumbled.
Katie’s brows shot up at that.
“Am I a problem?” she asked, her voice stronger. “I’m a problem in your lives?”
Shit, that hadn’t come out right. Oh shit, shit.
“Naw, not that, honey, that’s not what I meant,” I growled, cursing myself. What happened to words of honey and a slick tongue? Usually I was so good with women, and yet now I was tripping over myself like a fucking clown. But this was possibly the most important moment of my life, so I went in for another attempt.
“What I meant baby,” I continued, “Is that this fake engagement thing was just a path to the real deal. Sure, we needed to get engaged to release the money in the trust, but you know what? There’s no sense in faking anymore. Let’s really get married.”
Katie’s big brown eyes looked at me a bit before turning to Mason.
“But why?” she asked softly yet insistently. “What’s made you change your mind? I mean, why would you want to be tied to someone like me?” she asked. “You were getting it for free anyways,” she said softly, “so why wouldn’t you keep it that way?”
But this time it was Mason who interrupted.
“Honey,” he rasped. “I’m not great with words. But shit, Derek and I have been with dozens of women, hundreds. We’ve fucked females non-stop since college, there’s rarely a night when his bed or mine isn’t empty. But you know what? We were fucking empty inside, like dead men. And that’s no way to live life. We want you, and with you, everything’s different.”
Katie still wasn’t persuaded.
“But what is it about me that’s so special?” she asked again. “I don’t get it.”
This was hard, and yet so easy to answer. I took a deep breath, about to reveal my all.
“Because baby, you’re open-minded, you’re flexible, and you’re able to accept us as us, that’s why,” I said. “We’re bisexual alpha males. How many women would really dig that? How many women would go with it, engaging in play night after night, worshipping us both, allowing two men to taste one another? It’s not as common as you think.”