“Wouldn’t have mattered. You know my folks. They’d have cut you and Shane to pieces. I hate what they think. I wish they could see past the moral crap and see I’m happy.”
Liam held her tighter. “Are you happy?”
She turned in his arms. “Whenever I’m with you and Shane, there is nothing that could spoil that. I’ve loved you both my whole life. Being with you like this. Making love, or fucking, or whatever you want to call it, is the most wonderful experience of my life.”
Tears spilled from her eyes, and Liam felt his heart lifting and breaking. His heart lifted because of her admission of being happy with them and broke because her folks never left her feeling great about herself.
“This isn’t fucking or whatever. We love you, Claire. This is just the bonus. We’ve always been a family. Turner, Martin, and Cook. The unbreakable trio. Nothing will tear us apart.”
“Not even the town or my folks?”
“Maybe one day they’ll come around. Until then, let’s be happy with each other.” Claire nodded and settled against him.
Her folks would cause trouble at some juncture. He hoped they weren’t stupid enough to do it in front of her. No one hurt his Claire. No one.
Chapter Sixteen
After the delightful encounter with Liam, she’d been waiting all week for Shane to make his presence known. She loved both men, but she liked having her separate time with them.
Claire lay on her bed, reading a book. She’d heard Liam leave some time ago. After Liam having her all to himself last week, she’d been expecting Shane to want the same. A week had gone by, and he still hadn’t shown signs of wanting her.
She strained to try and hear him at the same time she tried to keep her pounding heart under control. Settling on the bed, she read the same sentence over and over, the words not making sense.
Was that a creak of the stairs?
Shane hadn’t been alone with her when they made love. This would be the first time she got him to herself.
Anticipation roared to life. What would he do?
Closing her eyes, she took a couple of deep breaths and read her book.
A knock sounded at the door seconds before Shane opened it.
“Hey,” he said a few seconds later.
In her mind she envisioned throwing the book onto the floor and running into his arms. Could men be molested on the spot?
Instead, she lowered the book.
“Hey.” Points for sounding normal.
“Liam just left.”
“I heard. Where did he go?” she asked. If Shane wanted to play out their time together by talking, she was more than happy to oblige.
“I think he went to be with some friends. We’re all alone in the house.” He looked nervous, and she didn’t like seeing him like that.
“Do you have a problem being alone in the house with me?”
Shane moved farther into the room and sat on her bed next to her. She got up and crossed her legs. The long shirt she wore covered her down to her knees.
“Of course not. I don’t know . . .”
Searching his face didn’t hold any answers.
“What don’t you know?”
He took a second, and she let him. Being alone with Shane was different. They shared a past, which they viewed in different lights, but it was still there between them.
“I don’t know how to be different with you.”
Claire frowned. “You don’t need to be different with me.”
He shook his head and made to stand. She stopped him with a hand on his arm. “No. You’re not leaving this time. Yes, there’s a past between us. I swear to you, Shane, I never saw that night as you attacking me. Quite the opposite, actually.” She chuckled, thinking back to the night long ago.
“This would be our first time alone in a room since that night.” Claire turned his hand in her grip.
“I know. This all seems strange. I can’t believe how easy it sounded when Liam and I was talking about it,” Shane said.
“Is this what you and Liam decided? To share me?”
“No. We wanted…man, this is harder than it looks. Talking.” He ran a hand over his face. “We’ve loved you since, forever. We’ve told you so many times. Being together feels right to us, but we thought and decided that you deserved to have times where it is just you and one of us. We’ll always be together, and nothing will ever change that.”
“Do you want to have these moments with me?” She knew most of Liam’s thoughts. He always let her in. Shane was cut off. The problems with his dad had been buried deep inside. To escape the pain he’d turned himself into a block of ice. Feeling nothing was better than being hurt all the time.
Shane cupped her cheek, tilting her head back.