mine.”
Jason clapped a hand over his heart. “It’s beating only for you.”
“Cut the crap, Romeo. You two stole my pond.”
He suppressed a grin because her little hissy-fit was adorable. “Beg to differ. We simply relocated it.”
“What?”
He stepped aside. Her gaze went to Mace who tamped down another shovel of dirt, filling in the sides around the pond they’d sunk in the front yard, just off the porch.
Mace swiped his forearm over his sweaty face. “Had to use picks, all right. And a backhoe. But she’s ready for water.”
Molly stomped over to the pond liner, now set firmly in the ground. “Well, you can just dig it right up again. That’s mine!” she said, pointing a finger toward it. Then she raised her hand and stubbed her finger against Mace’s chest. “The nerve! Did you romance me for my pond?”
Mace laughed and grabbed her finger, using it to pull her closer.
Her heels dug into the grass, and she resisted, her face getting redder by the second.
Jason walked up behind her, set his hands on her hips and snugged his body close to hers. “Easy, now,” he said softly next to her ear. “We’ll stop teasing. Give us a second to explain.”
She stood rigid between them, her chest heaving with her angry breaths. “There’s nothing you have to say that I want to hear.”
“Yes, there is… Baby, it’s gonna be okay.”
Her head turned, brows still scowling, but something dark and hurt glittered in her eyes. “No more games. No more playing with me. It ends.”
Jason shook his head. “We’re only startin’, baby. But we didn’t do this right. We didn’t expect to be away this long. We would never have deliberately hurt you.”
Mace flung his cowboy hat aside and stepped closer too, trapping her between the two of them. Her hands came up to shove him away, but Mace bent toward her and kissed her.
Leave it to Mace to go straight for her heart.
Jason felt the moment when the anger drained away. Her body swayed, her head tilted back, resting on his shoulder while Mace gave her the kiss she needed. Jason slipped his hands around her belly and hugged her, then began to murmur softly in her ear. “We wanted the pond sunk before you woke. We planned to have you over. Meet the family. Show you the house and the plans we have to make it right for you.”
She whimpered and drew back from Mace’s kiss. Her head turned toward Jason, confusion clouding her sage-colored eyes. “What are you saying?”
“That we didn’t lie, Molly. We want you. Not just for today. Not just for a week. We want forever.”
“But…”
Mace kissed her cheek. “We love you. We’ve decided you’re the one for us.”
“You’ve decided…?” She shook her head. “That’s ridiculous. I can’t have you both.”
“Why not?” Jason asked, feathering the side of her neck with light kisses. “You want us. We’re good together— fuck, better than good . And we’ll spend our lives makin’ you happy.”
“But you don’t know me. This is too quick.”
“We know you want a family. Kids of your own. So do we.”
Her body stiffened again. “Kids who won’t know who their daddy is?”
Jason glided his hands up to cup her breasts, not to arouse, but to soothe, then slid them again, one curving around her shoulder, the other on her hip. “Does it matter? We’ll both be their father. We shared a womb. We damn near share the same mind, and we both want you.”
Molly stayed silent and so still that Jason worried they’d gone about this whole thing the wrong way. That they’d blown their chances with her by rushing her.
“I wouldn’t be able to teach anymore…” she said weakly.
Not an emphatic no to his suggestion. He breathed a little easier and gave his brother a stare to tell him to let him handle this.
Mace’s lips tightened, but he nodded.
Jason sighed. “What we want isn’t wrong, Molly. But one of us will marry you. If you want to keep teachin’, we can keep secret the fact