Even Noah turned from his perch by the window. When he saw Lauren, he got up and crossed the room. He extended his hand down to Lauren to pull her up, and then he sat and tugged her down into his lap.
“Now comes the fun part,” Noah murmured.
Lauren fought the smile. Yes, she was nervous about how Liam’s parents were going to take the explanation of their relationship, but she wasn’t so uptight that she couldn’t appreciate the humor in such an unexpected and somewhat awkward conversation with his parents.
Liam looked nervous. He wiped his free hand down his jeans repeatedly.
“Our relationship is not exactly . . . traditional,” Liam said, unease apparent in his voice.
Then he blanched, his eyes widening and he immediately began to sputter. “Mom, no, I’m not gay and Lauren isn’t a cover name for a man. Yes, I know you’d understand and that you aren’t judging me, but that’s not what it is.”
Lauren started giggling and Noah shook with laughter against her. Liam sighed and closed his eyes as he listened to what apparently was a long stream of conversation from his mother.
“Mom, I appreciate that you’re so understanding, but will you listen to me please? I’m not coming out of the closet here. I’m trying to tell you that Noah and I both are involved with Lauren.”
There was a long period of silence on Liam’s end, and there must have been on his parents’ end too because Liam said, “Mom? Dad? Are you still there?”
He gripped the phone a little tighter and then took a deep breath. “It’s really not that complicated when you look at it. We met her because her brother hired us to protect her, and we both fell in love with her. It’s really that simple. She makes us happy and we’re going to do our damn best to make her happy.”
He glanced toward Noah and Lauren. “Yes, Noah’s here. He and Lauren both are. Uh okay, hang on a minute.”
He held the phone toward Noah. “Mom wants to talk to you.”
“Ah hell,” Noah muttered.
Lauren got up so Noah could lean forward and get the phone from Liam, and Liam pulled Lauren back toward him so she could switch spots from Noah to him.
“Hi, Mom,” Noah said.
Even though Lauren knew he was nervous, he seemed to relax the moment he spoke to Liam’s mother.
“Your family really is Noah’s family, aren’t they?” Lauren murmured to Liam.
“Yeah,” Liam said quietly. “Noah didn’t have an easy childhood. He was a burden to his parents. He was an oops baby to extremely selfish, self-absorbed people who didn’t have time for a child nor the desire for one. He spent more time at my house than he did at home. I can remember times when they’d literally drop him off at my parents with a note saying they were going to be gone for two weeks. Sometimes longer. They’d send one change of clothes in a plastic grocery sack. It pissed my parents off to no end, but they knew if they interfered they’d likely never see Noah again, and by then they considered him their son as much as I was.”
“That can’t have been easy for Noah,” Lauren said sadly. “No one wants to feel like they’re unwanted.”
“I think it was hard for him when he was younger, but by the time he hit his teen years he just seemed to accept it. He loved my parents and they loved him. One day he came to our house with everything he owned in a duffel bag. My dad went outside to talk to him and when they came back in, my dad simply announced that Noah would be moving in with us and would become a permanent member of our family. I never saw or heard from his parents after that day, and I don’t know that he has either.”
“Wow, just wow,” Lauren said in shock. “I can’t fathom that kind of emotional disconnect between parents and their child. That couldn’t have been easy for your parents to take in another child.”
Liam shook his head. “It wasn’t. My dad did shiftwork at the local paper mill, and my mom worked in the school cafeteria. They didn’t make a lot of money and it was a struggle to make ends meet with just the three of us. We lived in a two-bedroom wood-frame house, and Noah and I had to share a bedroom. But they always seemed to manage. They had a lot of pride too. I’ll never forget when Noah and I were seniors in high school, we came home one day. It was a Friday, Dad’s off day from work, and he and Mom were pissed. Not upset. Just extremely angry.”
Lauren’s brow furrowed. “Why?”
“Apparently Noah’s parents had a brief moment of guilt, but not a big enough one that they actually tried to see Noah or come to visit him. They sent my mom and dad a check to cover his expenses. My dad hit the roof. And you’d have to understand. Not much makes my dad angry. He’s a very laid-back, mild-mannered man. But that day, he was livid.”
“I can imagine,” Lauren murmured.
“He gave the check to Noah and told him it was rightfully his to do what he wanted, but that he and my mom wouldn’t accept a dime for doing what was right. My dad told Noah that he loved him like a son and he didn’t take him in to get some check in the mail.”
“Did Noah take it?” Lauren asked.
Liam shook his head. “He told my dad to tear it up and return it to sender. Then he told my mom and dad that they were his parents, and that they’d given him something way more valuable than a check with a lot of zeroes. They’d given him love and acceptance.”
“That’s a beautiful story,” Lauren said with a sniff.
“My parents are pretty special folks,” Liam said seriously.
“And what did they say when you told them about us?”
Liam smiled. “They were surprised, of course. And they wanted to talk to Noah. I’m their son, but to them so is Noah, and they want to make sure he’s happy with the arrangement and isn’t settling.”
Lauren glanced back toward Noah, who was smiling as he spoke into the phone.
“We’ll bring her to meet you as soon as it’s possible. It may be a while before you hear from us again, and I don’t want that to worry you. We have some things to take care of and it’s very likely Lauren is going to have to testify in a criminal trial. Once we’re sure that the threat to her has been eliminated, then we can lead a normal life together. You’ll like her family. They remind me a lot of you and Dad.”
He paused a moment and found Lauren’s gaze, his eyes warming as he stroked over her features.
“Yes, they’re fine with it. It’s not exactly an unusual arrangement in her family. But we’ll explain it all to you when we bring her to meet you. Promise.”
Noah smiled again. “Love you both. I’ll give you back to Liam now.”
He handed the phone back to Liam, and Liam put it to his ear.
“We’ll talk soon,” Liam promised. “Love you both.”
Liam hugged Lauren to him a little tighter as he said his good-byes. Then he punched the Off button and set the phone down on the little end table set up between the two armchairs.
“So it went well?” Lauren asked tentatively.
“Yes,” both Noah and Liam said at the same time.
“They’re very eager to meet you,” Noah said. “They’re pretty mystified over the kind of woman it would take to get mine and Liam’s attention so fiercely. They’ve despaired of us ever settling down and providing them grandchildren.”
Lauren flushed but she was taken with the image of her round with child, like Lily, and the two men fussing endlessly over her. And of having a tiny baby and the expressions on Noah’s and Liam’s faces the first time they saw their child.
She wanted it so much that she ached. She wanted them. Wanted a life with them, full of love and companionship.
A knock on the door interrupted her fantasy.
“That’ll be Dillon with food,” Noah said, as he rose from his chair. “Get comfortable, honey, and we’ll dig in.”
Chapter 28
AFTER the three ate dinner, Lauren excused herself to go shower in the small bathroom. She’d closed her eyes and stuck her head under the hot spray, when a warm body pressed to her naked back.
Noah.
She smiled, her eyes still closed. She didn’t need to look to know which of the two it was. She loved that she could tell them apart merely by touch. Smell. The sensation each of them caused against her skin.
His mouth nuzzled up the side of her neck, inciting a full-body shiver even under the heat of the shower.
“Hope you don’t mind me joining you,” he said huskily. “Liam and I thought you would enjoy a little pampering. I get to wash, and he gets to dry.”
“Mmmm.”
It came out as a soft moan, and she leaned further back into him, molding her wet body to his. His hands slid around her waist to her belly and then upward to cup her breasts. He thumbed her nipples until they were puckered ridges.
She gave a whispery sigh when his hands left her to pick up the shampoo bottle. After squeezing the liquid into his hand, he began to lather her hair, taking his time and working his fingers over every part of her head.
She was nearly in a coma from the bliss of the massage. Her shoulders relaxed and the coiled tension in her muscles fled under Noah’s soothing touch.
“Feel good?”
“Oh yes,” she breathed.
He kissed the spot just below her left ear. “Good. Tonight is for you.”
He turned her so he could rinse her hair, and when he’d made sure all the soap was gone, he set about washing the rest of her body with slow, methodical strokes that had her crazy with desire.
She was so boneless by the time he reached up to turn the shower off, that she wasn’t sure she’d be awake for whatever came next.
When the shower curtain was swept aside, she saw that Liam waited, a large towel in his hands. He opened it to her as she stepped out of the tub and immediately enfolded her in the warm softness.
Noah dried himself off in the shower while Liam toweled Lauren completely dry. Afterward, he wrapped her in a thick robe and nudged her out of the bathroom toward the bed.
Collecting a brush from her suitcase, he followed her to the bed and directed her to sit between his spread legs. To her surprise and utter delight, he began to comb out her damp hair.
“You two are so spoiling me,” she said with absolutely no real regret.
Liam paused a moment and then leaned forward to brush his mouth over her ear.
“That’s the plan. We have to do what we can to ensure you want to keep us around for the long run.”
There was a teasing note to his voice but she responded in all seriousness.
“I’ll never grow tired of being with you.”
It was a statement that sounded new. At the beginning of a relationship when emotions are high and optimism is in abundance. When no one thinks of the potential pitfalls in a relationship. And yet, she believed it with all her heart. How could she possibly ever grow weary of two men who put her above all else?
Noah came from the bathroom, just a towel wrapped low around his hips. He was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen in just that towel. His chest glistened with moisture and the whorl of hair in the hollow of his chest curled damply against his skin.
All it would take was the slightest nudge to bring that towel down . . .
Noah paused, seemingly aware of her avid gaze. He cocked one eyebrow and stared back. “You want something?” he drawled.
She licked her lips and Noah’s eyes darkened until they smoldered.
“I want you,” she whispered.
Noah slowly pulled at the towel until it slid down his muscular legs to hit the floor. She caught her breath and her pulse ratcheted up, hammering through her veins.
He was . . . beautiful.
All masculine. Muscled. Lean.
As Noah stalked closer to the bed, Liam pulled at the towel wrapped around Lauren until she too was nude.
“Lean back against me,” Liam murmured next to her ear.
He pulled her back even as she leaned into him, her back molding to his chest. He angled them both so that they lay on the bed, her between his legs and her body nestled into his.
As Noah crawled onto the end of the bed and between her legs, Liam’s hands wandered up and down her upper body, caressing, petting, cupping and molding her breasts in his palms.
On his knees, Noah lowered his head between her splayed thighs and she caught her breath and held it in anticipation of the first touch of his mouth.
Using his fingers to part the delicate folds of her pussy, Noah gently pressed his mouth to her clit.
The contact sent an electric current arcing up her body, nearly short-circuiting every nerve ending. Her legs shook spasmodically and her belly heaved as she tried to catch her breath.
Liam nuzzled her neck, his teeth grazing the sensitive skin. Marking her. Teasing. Sending shivers of delight to collide with the wave of electricity wrought by Noah’s ministrations.
Her entire body was an out-of-control tidal wave that was on a collision course with a mountain.
Noah’s tongue delved deep, licking and sliding inward, tasting her. She made insensible sounds, completely victim to the pleasure the two men gave her.
