Gone Read online

  An interesting observation.

  “I’m starting to wonder what discussion we are having.”

  “We aren’t having a discussion at all, as I said. That is the exact point. What happens next is entirely up to you. Be happy.” He rose. “More lemonade?”

  “No. But thank you.” Nicole stared at him as he nodded and walked away.

  Eric and Jack joined her a moment later, and both of them looked irritatingly amused, relaxed and more than attractive on a purely masculine level. When they sat down in lawn chairs, she said accusingly, “What’s so funny?”

  “You. Cornered by my dad.” Jack crossed his ankles and lounged back. “I’m dying to know what he had to say.”

  “He hardly cornered me.”

  “I’ll take a stab at it. He picked me,” Eric said, his mouth pulling into a little teasing smile. “Told her I was the better choice. Wise man. Always has been.”

  “Yeah, right, Janssen. I’ll take a stab at you. I do have a knife, you know that, right? They once dropped me in the desert for ten days with one set of rations and a clean pair of skivvies. I thought about eating this big spider on day two, but luckily stumbled across something else that seemed a better choice because I am still alive, but if offered it again, I’m iffy on whether or not I’d accept it or just starve instead.”

  “You always have been kind of a wuss about spiders, Templeton.”

  Jack laughed. “Really? And you?”

  Eric countered, “I’ve swum with sharks in boardrooms, every single predator there eyeing my throat. Those people don’t play clean either. At least if someone points a gun at you, you know a bullet is on its way. Those people are ruthless and it is personal and underhanded.”

  “You’ve got a point. I think I’d rather be me,” Jack said with heartfelt conviction, and all three of them knew he meant it. “I couldn’t do a boardroom. If you’d like to get stabbed in the back, that’s the place to be.”

  “And I wouldn’t eat the spider either, for the record.”

  “Well, we agree on quite a few things, but we always have.”

  They both looked at her.

  They were best friends but two very different men. No one knew that better than Nicole did.

  “This is all warm and fuzzy, but no one is stabbing anyone.” Nicole knew Jack didn’t mean it literally anyway. She swept a hand through her loose hair and exhaled. The afternoon had been nice…but stressful. “Your dad just said we should sit and talk about it. The first straightforward comment anyone has made.”

  “One on one. And wait, one more? Party of three, huh?” Jack was being funny, but then again, he wasn’t. He said soberly a second later, “I actually agree.”

  “We are past this anyway.”

  “What? Our first mutual gathering with the three of us being watched like an exhibit in a museum?” Eric tipped up his beer. “So let’s do it. Let’s have an official meeting.”

  “My house.” It was a little difficult to keep control with two such dominant males, but Nicole could at least have it on her own turf. “I’ll leave first.”

  “Okay. We’ll follow you in a few.”

  Nicole was only too aware of the speculative gazes as she got up to leave. She thanked Jack’s mother and father and got into her car, wondering if what she felt was relief or regret or just plain confusion. Probably all three, if she was honest about it.

  A meeting.

  She had no idea what she was going to say to either one of them.

  Chapter Ten

  Peter finished typing the message and read it over.

  To General Pierce, United States Army Intelligence, Washington, D.C.

  Confidential

  Hello Art:

  I hope all is well. As you know I am currently on leave after the recent operation and rescue which ended as satisfactorily as we both hoped it would. The rate of casualty to benefit was above expectations, the team performed with precision and professionalism, and our mission was fulfilled.

  On a personal level, however, I have a small problem.

  He stopped typing, thinking of the sonogram picture he’d saved to his hard drive, and smiling. Small problem. Nice pun. With a few clicks, he attached the picture, and then added: Kathy and I are trying to work things out. I’ll be back in Washington as planned, but then I request more leave to be home when the child is born. You have four of your own, so I am sure you understand.

  Respectfully,

  Peter

  “Dinner is ready.”

  He glanced up, seeing his wife in the doorway of his office, her smile faint but still a smile. “It smells fantastic,” he told her, sending off the message with a click and getting out of his chair. “What is it?”

  “Garlic chicken without the garlic, I’m afraid. I can’t eat anything that tastes too strong right now, so let’s call it plain roast chicken, but I tried to make it up to you by making mashed potatoes and gravy.”

  “Hmm.” He drew her into his arms and dropped a kiss on her forehead. “And here I was hoping for frozen pizza.”

  “I suspect you’ll have a few of those once the baby is here.” She didn’t precisely kiss him back but did rest briefly against him. “I’m tired already just thinking about it.”

  “You’re tired because you are seven months pregnant.” He ran his hand over her stomach yet again, because even though he’d been in over fifty-six countries in the course of his career, made decisions that might affect entire nations and had classified information at his fingertips, the idea of her nurturing his child amazed him.

  He was very used to death. Life was something completely different.

  “I’ve thought about it.” His wife looked him in the eyes. “Yes, I’ll move back in. That means if it doesn’t go well, Peter, then you’ll have to be the one to leave.”

  He hated to make an agreement based on negative terms, but at least terms were offered. “Agreed.”

  She reached up her hand and lightly touched his mouth with her fingertips. “I guess then, Colonel, we have a treaty.”

  It would have been better if his phone hadn’t started to beep with a particular ring he couldn’t ignore.

  Shit.

  “I have to get that,” he said with genuine regret. “Dammit.”

  “I’ve eaten by myself before,” his wife said, her hand dropping, her voice cool and suddenly distant. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Kathy…please.”

  “Get your phone.”

  The slam of the car door rang with a certain finality.

  Eric had to hope it wasn’t a sign. It was a clear memory of the first time he’d pulled into Nicole’s driveway and picked her up for a “date”. That night he’d wondered if he was treading on uncertain ground, and he had that same feeling now.

  That night, she’d still been mourning Jack.

  Everything was different now.

  “Before we go in, I want to say something.” Jack stood on the other side of the car, his hands casually in his pockets, but his shoulders were certainly not relaxed. “Whatever she says—I’m going to be okay with it.”

  It wasn’t like he disagreed. They’d carefully not talked about it in the car on the drive over, but maybe they should have. Eric said, “I will be too.”

  “You can give her things I can’t.”

  “That works both ways.” He slipped his keys in his pocket.

  “It does.” Jack shot him a speculative glance. “I think we are agreed on how this should go, but let’s be clear.”

  “Nikki is a pretty independent person. You saw her at the cookout. She doesn’t give if she believes in something.”

  “I guess it is our job then to make her believe.”

  Jack lifted his brows. “I’ve done a tough job or two in my day. How about you?”

  “I made her believe in life again after you were gone. That was pretty tough. Does that count?”

  That stopped him. “So you did. Thank you.”

  “You found her first
. Thank you.”

  “This might be more difficult than when we were dropped into…oh hell, I can’t tell you the name of the country because I don’t have clearance to do it, but let’s just say the experience wasn’t perfect. We all set?”

  Nicole opened the door before he could answer, so Eric just shrugged.

  She said, “I just opened a bottle of wine. Want to sit out back?”

  Like either of them would deny her anything at this point. Jack flashed that smile the women all seemed to love. “Fine with me.”

  Already at a disadvantage. Eric said nothing. He followed his friend and mentally braced himself for whatever came next. A part of him was sure Nicole was going to choose a predictable path, but another part…

  Another part hoped she’d be as adventurous as he knew she could be.

  Yes, he’d persuaded people to spend millions on his ideas and expertise, but could he pull this off?

  He wasn’t positive.

  “You get to do the talking,” Jack said under his breath as they walked through the door. “I’ll do the shooting if that proves necessary, but when it comes to any other kind of persuasion, you are better qualified. Deal?”

  “Kind of makes me nervous,” Eric muttered back. “But yeah, your skills in negotiation probably involve deadly force. Fine, I’ll talk.”

  “Agreeing on that is probably not a bad start.”

  Nicole stepped back as they came inside, her face a little strained; they weren’t the only nervous ones. Jack went first and Eric followed, both of them going straight behind her to the doors to the back deck. As promised, three glasses sat out, and a bottle of Merlot was breathing. Eric said, “Shall I go ahead and pour?”

  Nicole nodded. “Be my guest.”

  Both he and Jack stood politely while she chose a chair. The evening had mellowed nicely into a deep indigo sky that matched her eyes exactly, and when he handed her the glass, Eric felt the small quiver of her hand. “Nikki, relax. We all knew this was going to be one tough afternoon.”

  She took a quick, compulsive sip of wine. “I’m not uptight,” she said after a quiet moment. “I’m just torn in about a thousand different directions.”

  How ironic was it Jack wanted him to handle this? Somewhat, but it was important to all three of them.

  “A thousand? I thought there were just two of us.”

  It was Jack’s turn to get a lethal look from Nikki. She said, “Templeton, don’t push your luck.”

  “We know.” Eric spread his hands on the small glass table. “So…it seems like the question everyone was asking themselves at the party is something we should probably just go ahead and address ourselves. Everyone knows you were dating Jack and it was serious, and then we thought he was dead, and that was painful for all of us, and then you did as I suspect pretty much everyone you know told you to do, and you started to heal. Am I right?”

  “I think,” she said tightly, “we all know what happened.”

  “I just want you to see the situation with perfect clarity.”

  “Eric, if you talk to me like I’m a two-year-old, I’m going wring your neck.” She looked adorably irritated.

  “Actually, I’m going to talk to you like you are a very grown-up, sophisticated woman.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” Nicole’s eyes drifted shut briefly and her voice was hushed. “I know I need to make this sort of choice everyone is expecting, but it really is not that easy. I love Jack, I have all along. I love you too, and the whole thing is driving me crazy. I can’t see how I can possibly hurt either of you. I don’t want to destroy your relationship either—”

  “Nikki, we aren’t asking you to choose.” Eric interrupted her in measured tones. “That’s what we wanted to talk to you about.”

  Her gaze skittered from one of them to the other, her eyes suddenly narrowing. “What? This united front gives me pause.”

  Jack laughed softly, elbows on the table. “Sweetheart, just keep listening.”

  “You know,” Eric said in his best boardroom voice, “we’re hardly interested in losing you either. So, if this were the corporate world, we’d just go ahead and consider a merger.”

  “A…what?”

  Jack, at the end, was the one who said bluntly, “You have slept with Eric and you’ve slept with me. Is there some reason we can’t just operate as a team?”

  “A team?”

  “The three of us.” Eric sent his friend a quelling glance that clearly said shut up. “As in, it might be a little unconventional, but we actually have the same concerns you do. We don’t want you to choose, and we don’t want to lose a lifetime friendship either. In fact, we’ve talked about it, and we agree we might each bring something different to the table.”

  The incredulous look on her face told him he’d better talk a little faster.

  Eric cleared his throat. “Can we at least show you how this might work?”

  The man had lost his mind.

  Like…lost it.

  Nicole was more than startled. She was…maybe a little intrigued but, really, they had to be joking.

  “How what might work?”

  “Dating both of us,” Eric explained, hoping the tactful choice of word would take away some of the shock value. “There’s no reason you shouldn’t. As it is, the three of us are together pretty often anyway.”

  “I can’t—”

  “Step outside the box? Sure you can. A committed relationship between a man and a woman, or for that matter between people of the same sex if you are liberal-minded about it, is defined by the people they are and what they expect. I wouldn’t tell you this was okay with me if it wasn’t.”

  Jack’s smile was laconic. “Hey, he’d have been dead days ago if I was truly jealous. Someone else, hell yes. I know how Eric will treat you, Nikki, and my career isn’t going to change. I’m telling you the God’s truth, that when I am deployed again, I want to know he’s taking care of you.”

  A bird was singing loudly in one of the trees in her backyard. A different song each time…mockingbird, she realized, which seemed appropriate somehow. She sure hoped the bird couldn’t repeat this particular conversation.

  The real trouble was…she actually found the proposition tempting despite what she saw as some pretty insurmountable obstacles. First of all, it would be a relief to not have to lie in bed each night wondering what she was going to do. To say she’d been miserable all week wasn’t quite accurate, but distracted, yes. “I’d just love to hear how the two of you plan to explain this to other people.”

  “I don’t.” Jack was the one that rose, his voice decisive. He came around the table and pulled her to her feet. His mouth brushed hers once and then settled into a heated kiss. At first Nicole was resistant to the extent she was acutely aware of Eric watching them, and then the persuasive press of his hands and the brush of his tongue against hers took over.

  Compounded when she felt the warm pressure of Eric’s mouth on her nape as he swept her hair aside.

  Both of them. She’d always thought she was fairly conventional, but on the other hand a shiver of pleasure rippled through her as Eric nuzzled her neck and Jack’s hand came down to cup her ass and bring her closer so their bodies were fully touching.

  “People can see us here,” she managed to say. “I have neighbors.”

  “Right, let’s take this discussion inside.” Jack’s grin would melt any woman’s heart. Make her knees buckle. Set her pulse on high-octane overdrive.

  Eric moved to open the door. “Good idea.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Jack wasn’t usually into compromise.

  Not considering what he did for a living. He had a pretty straightforward attitude toward difficult situations, but he also understood the concept of allies and had to acknowledge that whatever happened next, he was willing to negotiate.

  Nicole was beautiful—always—to him, and she enjoyed sex. Watching her enjoy it with someone else might be interesting.

  Actually,
the idea kind of turned him on. Males were visual creatures anyway, that wasn’t in question. If jealousy was not part of the equation, he might just like the experience.

  If they managed to talk her into it.

  Zero hour. Straight deployment into unknown territory.

  “Baby,” he murmured, running his fingers through her hair as he backed her toward the bedroom. “Don’t overthink this.”

  “I’m not a—”

  He interrupted. “I think I know what you were about to say, and you sure as hell aren’t. Neither Eric nor I think so. We both love you. What’s wrong with that? Explain it to me.”

  God, she looked gorgeous with her golden hair and those beautiful eyes. Not to mention the lush curve of her lips, and he kissed her again because he couldn’t help it.

  And she responded. The erect tips of her breasts pressed against his chest spoke to him that maybe she wasn’t completely opposed to this idea, on a physical level anyway. Still kissing her, he went ahead and picked her up, sweeping an arm under her knees because it was more expedient, and he was in a damned hurry.

  Or his rigid cock was anyway.

  “Jack.”

  The laugh she gave at the theatrical gesture was breathless, and he loved that very feminine sound as he carried her into the bedroom. He lowered her to the bed and then started to unfasten her blouse, holding her gaze the entire time. Eric was there too, next to them, unzipping her shorts, easing them down along with her underwear…

  Then she was naked and not really objecting, which was a good thing.

  And it was pretty erotic, he had to admit, to watch his friend kiss her bared thigh because Nicole quivered, her eyes shutting.

  Yeah, she was on board with it.

  “This will be good,” Jack promised her. “Damned good.”

  “I shouldn’t…”

  “Sure you should.” He trailed his mouth down the curve of her throat in persuasion. Then he licked the tip of her breast. It was a beautiful pink and tightened into a perfect bud. “We’ll take very good care of you.”