Stay With Me(37)

A half-smile fluttered across her lips. Then she glanced between him and Logan, concern crowding her features.

“Are you happy? About the baby?”

Logan went soft about the same time Rhys felt himself unfold. They both reached for her. Logan’s hand slid up her arm as Rhys’ tucked around her neck.

“I couldn’t be happier,” Logan said. “I was so damn worried when you were in the hospital. I still am. I want this baby, Catherine. As much as I want you.”

She turned her head to Rhys, and he slid his hand around to cup her cheek.

“I’d love a girl,” he said with a smile. “Who looks just like her mother. Logan and I can spoil her rotten. Of course I’m happy, love. But I’m happier that you’re okay and that you’re home with us where you belong.”

She looked away, and Rhys had to hold back his sigh. He exchanged worried glances with Logan. The two of them had expected a battle, an argument, and then they’d planned to throw down the challenge. They’d show her, prove to her, that they were through putting her last.

Only she hadn’t responded how they’d thought. Now they were faced with not only proving themselves to her, but they were also faced with tearing down the protective barrier she’d created around herself.





Chapter Sixteen

Catherine walked into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of juice. As she moved into the living room, she was surprised to see both Logan and Rhys. They had laptops open on the coffee table. Cell phones were out. Logan was talking to someone on one of them. There was even a fax machine on the floor with an extension cord leading to the wall plug.“Good morning, beautiful,” Rhys said as he looked up and saw her.

She glanced self-consciously down at her rumpled knee-length T-shirt and bare legs and grimaced. She didn’t feel beautiful, even if she was feeling a lot better since she’d left the hospital several weeks ago.

“What’s Logan doing?” she asked as a way to put the focus off her bedraggled appearance. He was talking on the phone, but he looked at ease, not at all tense like he did in ninety percent of the phone calls he made.

“He’s talking with our new director of operations.”

Her brows furrowed. “Your what?”

He grinned. “Thought that might trip you up.”

She walked over and sat down in the chair across from the couch. Though she slept between both men each night, she still wasn’t comfortable overtly seeking out their attention or affection. She wanted nothing more than to snuggle into Rhys’ arms on the couch, but she didn’t like what the action implied.

“What’s going on?” she asked. “Who’s your new director of operations, and what the hell is that anyway?”

“Paige is,” Rhys replied.

Catherine raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Paige? Not that she doesn’t deserve the promotion. I hope you gave her a hefty raise as well.”

“Oh, we did,” Rhys muttered. “It was the only way she’d take the job.”

She grinned and realized it felt good to let go and smile. It felt strange, and then it hit her that she hadn’t smiled—really smiled—since Jamaica.

Poor Rhys was looking at her like a desperate man. It couldn’t have been easy living like this for the last several weeks. Always on tiptoe.

Neither he nor Logan had pressed her. Hadn’t made demands or tried to persuade her to stay. In fact, they hadn’t done a lot of talking at all beyond idle everyday chitchat, asking how she was doing, if she needed anything, that sort of thing.

But what they had done was show her that she was all-important. Yes, they worked, but astonishingly, they were home by five every day, six at the latest. There had been one overnight business trip that only Logan had gone on, and he’d returned early the next day.

They ate dinner every night together, usually ordered in, but the guys also took turns cooking. Evenings in the kitchen had turned out to be the highlight of her day as they talked about everything and nothing.

At night, they crawled in beside her, always close to her, touching and snuggling. It was so much like the early days in their relationship that it made her physically ache.

How much longer would they keep it up? They were relentless in their quest to make her stay. She certainly couldn’t dispute that, but was it real? If she gave in, would things go back to the way they’d been before?

Logan bent over her chair, startling her from her thoughts. She hadn’t realized he’d gotten off the phone. He leaned in close and kissed her gently on the lips. She sucked in her breath in surprise.

“Good morning,” he murmured.

Then he very lightly put a hand on her belly, splaying his fingers over her shirt.