more discussions of John, relationships or the insanely hot thing Ford had let Charley do to him. It was as if the encounter in the bathroom had physically and mentally exhausted them all, and they’d gone to bed early. Ford had suggested they all stay in his room, and this time, Evie had happily complied.
She shifted her body, feeling safe and comfortable between the two men. Ford’s arm was draped over Evie, and he’d held her while they slept. It was an amazing feeling, having Ford Hawthorne wrapped against her all night. Smiling to herself, Evie remembered what Ford had told her about never before having shared his bed with a woman, and here he was spooning her all the way to her ankles, as if he didn’t want any part of him not touching her as they slept. Maybe he really was opening himself to the idea of change, the idea of love.
Charley was on her other side, sleeping much more expansively than Ford. He was on his back, one arm under his head and the other thrown over the side of the bed. His hard-muscled leg was hooked over Evie’s and Ford’s from his knee down, and Evie was snuggled against his chest, one hand resting on the top middle of his abs, right where that trail of hair started in a delicious path from his pectorals to his cock.
Being between the two men reminded Evie of when they’d both been inside her, filling her, loving her, finding release in her. She wondered if she could get that on the agenda for the day. She’d love a repeat. In fact she’d love a repeat of most everything they’d done. Thank god they had a year together.
A year.
A cloud settled over her. How could Ford put a time limit on their relationship? How could he not want this to go on and on forever, as she and Charley did?
She moved her fingers, toying with the hair on Charley’s chest. She didn’t know what was more insane—the idea of the three of them trying to make a go of it, or the idea of the three of them not. But then her mind touched on the bullet-hole in Ford’s car, and a sick feeling twisted her gut.
She was in love with Ford and Charley. She was never more sure of that than that moment, and though she tried not to think about it, Ford’s request that she be strong enough to leave them kept resurfacing in her head like a drowning swimmer coming up for air.
It would just figure that she’d finally fall in love and she’d have to leave. It looked as if John had found a way to get revenge on her without even realizing how deeply he would hurt her. She’d never recover from this. Never stop loving Ford and Charley and wanting this amazingly special thing they had back.
But none of that mattered. Ford had come five inches from getting shot the day before, and it was because of her—she knew it. She couldn’t let him or Charley bear the risk she’d brought with her. If she left, John would leave them alone.
Maybe she could get a job somewhere, even if it was outside of the legal profession, and then get a loan from a bank to pay John back. Maybe then she could come back.
But would they want her? After everything that had changed, would Charley and Ford’s relationship even survive after she left? She hoped so. If anything, she wanted them to have a happily ever after.
Charley stirred under the touch of her fingers, and reached up to cover her hand in his, squeezing hers three times with his private message.
“I love you too,” she whispered back, wanting to say it out loud for the remaining time she had left to say it to him.
Ford squeezed his arms around her. “I love you both,” he said, his voice gravelly with sleep.
Charley’s hand squeezed reflexively around hers and her eyes flew open to the dim light of the moon seeping through the windows. She and Charley froze and she knew he was straining his ears just as she was straining hers, to ensure they hadn’t imagined it, or maybe, to hear it again. Charley’s heart pounded under her palm.
Her own heart had become a ping-pong ball in