Snow and the Seven Men: A Reverse Harem Fairy Tale Romance(13)

He must have read the perplexed look on my face.

“Graham, for example. He was always serious, somewhat of a downer but after the accident, he was downright emo. Fatalistic. Almost paranoid.”

“Brain injury or PTSD?” I suggested but Harry shook his head, his loose blonde waves going everywhere. His blue-green eyes met mine and I noticed for the first time how much they looked like the ocean.

“Nothing like that. We’ve all had tests, been to therapists…it’s just like our most dominate traits became magnified after the accident.”

There was something endearing about Harry, something simplistic and open.

This man has no secrets.

I felt myself being drawn to him, my knee touching his but he didn’t move.

“What about you?” I asked lightly. “What’s your superpower now?”

Harry shrugged and grinned, his dazzling white teeth sending a thrill through me.

“Not sure,” he replied. “I’ve always kind of been easy going. I just believe in living each day to its fullest. There’s no point in worrying about the future until you get there, you know?”

I nodded, biting on my lower lip and I saw his eyes travel toward it. My heart skipped a beat and a small warning in my brain told me that it was inappropriate to act on this but Harry was the only one who was showing me any kindness today.

Dan certainly seemed to have lost interest in me, just like the others.

I don’t have to justify my reasons for this, I told myself, moving my head toward him. He met me halfway and pulled me onto his lap so that I straddled him on the chair.

We grinned at each other through our kiss and his hands instantly slid up my back to splay across my back, drawing our faces together in a mesh of tongues and lips.

Instantly, I felt the rise in his crotch and I pressed down on him, grinding my hips to his.

“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured in my ear. “I thought so since the moment I laid eyes on you.”

His breath caused the hairs on my arms to raise and when his lips closed around my lobes, I exhaled in a rush of breath.

“I’m so glad you chose me,” he continued and I felt a flash of guilt. Harry’s hands cupped my breasts as his mouth moved along the curve of my neck.

“Harry,” I breathed. “I…I need to tell you something.”

“Hm?” He didn’t slow his kisses.

“Dan and I were together last night.”

His body went rigid and he pulled his head back to look at me.

“What?”

I nodded and shrugged.

“I don’t think it meant anything to him but I thought you should—”

I didn’t get a chance to finish my thought as I was picked up by my waist and dropped onto the kitchen table, next to the dirty dishes.

In shock, I watched as he stalked out of the room without so much as a backward glance, leaving me in a state of sheer consternation.

It took me several minutes for me to move from my spot atop the table. I didn’t know what to do with myself so I slowly began to collect the dishes as I tried to make sense of what had happened.

What’s the big deal? It’s not like Dan and I were married or even dating. In a day, I’ll be out of here and they won’t even remember who I am.

I thought of what Alex had said about men being the more emotional creatures and I shook my head in disbelief. This was ridiculous. We were all adults. This wasn’t 1948.

Carefully, I piled the dishes into the sink, scraping the uneaten food into the garbage and rinsing them off before clearing off the rest of the table. A part of me wanted to run after Harry and demand he explain himself but I didn’t. I remembered that he was the easy-going one.

A glance out the window told me that the snow wasn’t letting up but I wondered if there wasn’t a way for me to get back to my team.

I just traded one awkward hell for another, I thought with some bitterness.

As I started to dry the dishes, I heard loud voices and I paused, my brow furrowing. I couldn’t make out what was being said but I could hear the unmistakable anger. Tossing the dishrag aside, I rushed toward the office and paused to listen.

“…so stupid?” Graham was growling. “You don’t care about us at all, do you?”

“Shut up, Graham,” Dan barked. “Of course I do.”

“Obviously not enough,” Graham spat. “If you slept with her.”

They were fighting about me.

And it got worse.

“You’re a piece of work, Dan,” Harry hissed.

“You really are,” Bash agreed and I felt my eyebrows shoot up. If Bash was mad, they must really be up in arms about this.

But why? What the hell was it to them?

“Oh, like you’re one to talk, Bash,” Stevie barked back. “We know you were about to go there yourself when you gave her a bath.”

Bash didn’t respond but Seth did.

“What about Magic Mike, Stevie?”

“What?” Dan demanded. “What did you do? Did you all screw up?”

I’d heard enough and I stormed into the office, glaring at them in disbelief.

“Are you children?” I howled at them. “In grade school? What the hell is wrong with you?”

“You are what’s wrong with us,” Graham spat and I bristled.

“You clearly had problems long before I got here,” I retorted. “But if you want to blame me, Graham, by all means. I’ll be your scapegoat.”

A dead silence followed my accusation and Dan sighed heavily, dropping his head.

“We need to tell her the truth, Graham.”

“No!”

“Uh yeah,” I countered, folding my arms over my chest. “I think I deserve to know what’s going on.”

The men exchanged looks that were worried and nervous but I was unrelenting.

“If you don’t tell me what’s going on right now, I’m getting out of here. I’d rather brave the snow than deal with this level of crazy.”

Dan raised his head and stared at me.

“Come on,” he sighed. “Let’s take this in the den.”





13





Dan





I could tell that no one wanted me to do this, to explain the painful truth behind my betrayal but Sasha deserved to know what was going on. No one had asked for her to be there. What had happened was a natural progression and we needed to set the record straight before anything went any further.

Of course, it was my fault. Bash, Stevie and Jim may have toed the line but in the end, I was the one who had broken our pact, even if Harry would have done it anyway.

“I’m waiting,” Sasha said curtly and I couldn’t draw it out anymore.

“First of all,” I sighed. “This has nothing to do with you.”

“Yes it does!” Graham countered. “I told you that—”

“Graham shut up!” we all chorused at him and he clamped his mouth closed, gazing at the ground sullenly.

I turned back to Sasha who stared at me expectantly with her vivid blue eyes and I knew what I was going to tell her was going to make her run screaming forever but we had to come clean.

“I think we told you that we were all involved in a bus crash,” I started.

“She knows,” Harry interjected and I gave him a scathing look.

“Can I do this without interruptions?” I demanded. “It’s difficult enough.”

There was a murmur of consensus among the men and I sighed, reclaiming my spot.

“After the accident, Sasha, we grew closer than ever. We had survivor’s guilt and we shared a bond that most people couldn’t understand but it worked for us and we love each other like brothers.”

I met her eyes again and she nodded, her face softening slightly.

“I know you do,” she conceded. “I never wanted to come between you. I just…I just don’t understand why I would.”

“I’m getting there…”

I paused to gather my thoughts.

“We had a friend, a free-spirited girl, not unlike you in many ways.”

“Not as smart,” Stevie offered, casting her a grin and I scowled.

“Really Stevie?”

“Sorry,” he muttered. “Go on.”

“Anyway…Collette was the sister to our group and she spent all her time with us. The eight of us did everything together. She was the glue that held us all together and inevitably…we all fell in love with her.”

Understanding colored Sasha’s face.

“Oh…”

“She loved us all in her own way but we were all head over heels for her. She didn’t realize what a riff she’d caused, even without trying but we knew that unless we could somehow manage to share her among us, our relationship would fall apart.”

I sighed and looked at my friends. It was easy to see the memory still hurt them as much as it did me.

Or maybe it hurt a lot less now…now that Sasha was here.

“We asked her if she would be willing to love all of us and she refused. She was angry, disgusted with us even though she’d loved us individually. Our hearts were broken and it took us a long time to get our relationships back on track but the first thing we did was vow that we wouldn’t ever get involved with a woman unless she could love us all.”

I smiled mirthlessly.

“I know how that must sound and trust me, we long ago submitted to the idea that we would be childless bachelors.”

“You can’t even have children?”