Slade crossed his bulging arms over his big chest. “Still not seeing how it’s different.” Were they both dumb? “I wasn’t just looking out for my sex toy.”
“Baby, we’re not either. I could have one of those in the next five minutes if I just wanted to get laid. Dex, too. We’re in it for way more than sex. If you haven’t figured that out yet, tell me how we can prove it to you.”
“Once you kidnapped me, forced me to come to Alaska with you, and lied to me, you made that impossible.”
They stared at her. She could feel displeasure coming off them in waves. This was how a relationship with them would work. Everything would be a fight. They would always want to control and protect her.
Hannah could handle them. She wasn’t really afraid of being steamrolled, but of herself and how much she wanted them. How much of herself she’d be willing to surrender in order to keep them.
“I refuse to believe that,” Slade insisted. “So we screwed up. You’ve already stopped caring for us?”
No. Never.
“You have to understand that I’m not fragile.” It was a bit of a revelation. She’d always thought of herself as quiet. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t strong.
“If you think we don’t know that, you’re wrong.” Slade smiled again, as though he knew she was coming around.
“Hannah, darlin’…” He started to reach for her, then yanked his fist away. “We never meant to imply that you aren’t strong and smart.”
Dex, for all his arrogance, required a softer touch. He didn’t believe in himself yet. Didn’t think he belonged. But she could help him. After he answered a simple question.
“Why?”
His brows lifted in confusion. “Why?”
“She wants to know why we want her. I believe she’s under the mistaken impression that we selected her almost at random simply because she’s pretty and submissive.” Slade nearly read her mind.
When Dex looked at her again, his face was gentler than she’d ever seen it. “I remember the day you walked in the door. You were wearing a denim skirt to a job interview.” She flushed. She’d only been off the bus from Lubbock, which didn’t even bother to stop in Two Trees, for a handful of hours. “So I wasn’t fashion forward. And I was interviewing for a mailroom job, if you recall.”
“Oh, I recall. I watched you wait in the lobby. There was another woman interviewing for the same position. I listened to the two of you talk. Do you remember what you did?” He’d seen that? “It was nothing.”
“Bullshit. You got up and told the receptionist that you were no longer available for the job because the other applicant had three kids and a husband who’d just walked out on her.”
“She was going to get kicked out of her apartment. I couldn’t take that job away from her. I knew it was down to just the two of us. If I hadn’t been very sure she would get the job once I bowed out, I wouldn’t have left. Besides, I never made it to the door because the receptionist…” She frowned. “Wait, you called her. You told her to stop me.”
“He ran all over the building trying to find me,” Slade said. “When I came down and talked to you, I realized that I wanted you as much as Dex did. You smiled at me and started talking about your cat, and I was a goner. I scrambled to move enough people around to secure you a junior admin position. A month later, when Gavin’s admin quit, we moved you where you belonged.”
Dex took a long breath. “I don’t think you’re just some submissive to put in our bed. I admire the hell out you, Hannah. You’re feminine and giving and sweet, things I didn’t grow up knowing a whole lot about. I learn from you every day. In fact, I think that I became a better man the minute I laid eyes on you.”
Hannah gasped. That wasn’t desire on his face, in his voice, but true, genuine love. Tears welled up, then rolled in hot streaks down her face.
“You made me see a future,” Slade murmured, taking her hand in his. “I had everything money could buy, but I was a hollow bastard who only thought of the next conquest, whether business or pleasure. You taught me about making someone happy, not because I expected something in return, but just to see the smile on their face. That was all you, Hannah.” She sobbed, bit her lip, and looked at them with her heart in her eyes. Goodness, she’d misunderstood them completely. She’d let her insecurity get in her way. Did she really want to let her best chance at happiness walk through the door because she was afraid?
Dex turned to go. “But if we aren’t what you want, Hannah…we’ll protect you until this is settled, then we’ll leave you.”
He was heading for the door? Slade stood, watching, waiting and hopeful. Dex had obviously missed her signs. That’s okay. She would rather show him.
Hannah walked straight up to Dex and grabbed his elbow.
He turned, eyes wary. “Hannah?”
Dex spoke her name like a question, but Hannah only answered by standing on her tiptoes and staring straight into Dex Townsend’s gorgeous eyes. “You two spanked me, but neither of you bothered to kiss me. I’m waiting.”
He hesitated, frowned. Then her words hit him, and he wrapped his big hands around her face, his gaze delving into hers. The care he saw shining there made him wilt with relief. “That was a mistake on our part. We’ll fix it now.”
She felt Slade slide in behind her. His hands grazed her hips, and she felt the sweet stirrings of arousal.
“Tell me you’ve never been kissed, Hannah.” Slade’s breath was hot against her neck.