Marley's Menage by Jan Springer Read Free Book Online Page B

well.
She took a deep breath and counted to three until she felt steady
enough to continue.
    “ I’m sorry. I didn’t mean
that. I appreciate what you two did to…reconnect with me, but I
don’t want things to go back to the way they were
before-”
    “ What was wrong with
before?” Kacey grumbled.
    “ We were good together,
Marley. Real good,” Rick added.
    “ I’m not saying we weren’t.”
Why was she having this conversation in an intimate pool with all
three of them naked? This should not be happening now. Not this
way. Not when they looked so damned…vulnerable and sexy.
    “ We can take care of both
you and the baby, if that’s what got you worried. I know in the
past you refused to get involved with any guy who’d do to you what
your dad did to your family, dragging you all over the world and
never being there for you. But that won’t happen with us. We are
out of the Ops now. Rick’s dad is retiring and Rick is taking over
his hardware store and I’ve already got a job lined up in
construction thru Claire’s new boyfriends.”
    Claire. She must have known about these
two being back in town. That’s why there was that weird look
between her and Sophie in the dressing room yesterday. The guys
were contacting Marley’s best friends and checking up on her. They
probably knew everything about her. And they were finished with
gallivanting all over the world on those special ops missions?
Disbelief had her shaking her head and her thoughts muddled. It
took her several seconds to gather her composure. Just because they
were finished with their adventures didn’t mean squat.
    “ It’s not just that…” She
sighed.
    Her past as well as they not being with
her on a constant basis had been the biggest part of why there had
been so many arguments. She’d wanted to stay in one place. Here,
and that is what she had done. A lot of good that had done her.
She’d had enough of moving around and she’d told them her concerns
about wanting stability. They hadn’t changed their plans about
quitting the Special Ops training they’d been involved with at the
time. Yet now here they were finally offering her what she wanted.
She should be thrilled. Ecstatic. But past experience made her
wary.
    “ Except you still want the
one husband traditional marriage. That’s it, isn’t it?“ Rick
growled.
    “ Times have changed. People
are more accepting of other types of living arrangements,” Kacey
quickly added.
    Rick’s stare drilled a hole right into
her. “Unless what she said in the past was true. That she couldn’t
pick between the two of us because she didn’t love either of
us.”
    Oh crap. She could read it in his eyes
that he didn’t believe that story.
    “ If that’s what you believed
back then, why don’t you believe it now?” Marley
questioned.
    “ Because it was bullshit.
You know it and we know it,” Rick snapped. His face was growing red
with anger.
    Good. He should be pissed.
    “ Then why did you both
leave?” she whispered. The old familiar hurt of learning they had
left town was like an unlanced boil, festering and raw. Before
either of them could respond, she quickly continued.
    “ Why should I put my heart
in your hands again? You moved on so easily back then and you say
you didn’t believe me when I said I didn’t love you. So why didn’t
you stay and fight for me?”
    Oh geez, she was sounding so
juvenile.
    “ Like two knights in shining
armor,” Kacey said. He shook his head in disappointment and Marley
realized he’d just made his case. She had been immature. All of
them had been.
    “ We were too young back
then.” Rick echoed her thoughts. “The fights between the three of
us were escalating. The cards were stacked against us. It wouldn’t
have worked back then.”
    “ But it can work now,” Kacey
said softly.
    “ Why? because you two have
gone out and sown your wild oats?” Marley stated. “You’ve got it
out of your systems and now it’s back to the old