Time to Play (24 page)

Cole followed the woman in his dream
as she was chasing something. The woman bent down and turned. The woman in his
dreams was Simone, and in her arms was a child.
Their child.
Callum
moved up behind her, stroking the baby’s head.
He felt like he’d been stabbed in his heart. His two friends were happy without
him.

Then, they turned to him. Simone’s
smile brightened up her entire face. Both, Simone and
Callum
held their hands out to him, inviting him.

Cole took the steps in his dreams,
approaching the people he loved more than anything. The child in her arms
looked up at him.

“
Dadda
.”

Chapter Nineteen

 
Simone woke up the following morning. Cole and
Callum
lay against her. Neither man was touching her. They were facing toward her with
smiles on their faces. She wondered what they were dreaming about. Then she
tensed, realising she was no longer needed. They’d caught the bad guy. Her
presence in their home was unnecessary. She climbed out of the bed by going
down the middle so neither of the men was disturbed. When she stood at the
bottom staring at them, she couldn’t stop the yearning inside her.

She wished for the first time in her life that she somehow had a prior
claim to a man. Since her eighteenth birthday she’d never felt any need to keep
a man around. Looking at
Callum
and Cole made her
want so much more. There was a time when she wanted a family of her own. Fear
had made her leave those dreams behind.

Turning away from her dreams, she went to the bathroom to freshen up.
Once she was done, she put the coffee on then made her way to the guest room to
dress in her clothes. She sat on the end of the bed she’d rarely slept in. Cole
had demanded her presence in his room most nights. Her body awakened to the
love they’d given her last night. The moment she asked them to make love and
not fuck her, she’d wanted to take the words back. They showed too much between
them. Why would they want to have her when they could have any woman they
wanted on the planet?

Getting up from her seat, she grabbed her suitcases and began packing
away her things. She didn’t want them to ask her to leave. If she got everything
ready, she could go on her own accord.

The time passed as she put each item of clothing into her suitcase. When
she was done, she rolled the case into the office where she’d been working. She
looked at all the mess on her desk. Only yesterday, she’d been happier than she
could ever recall.

She grabbed the files and began packing them away. Her hands were
shaking with each file she finished. Tears filled her eyes, and her throat felt
like there was a lump inside it.

“Don’t cry, Simone. Don’t cry.”

Her mother had cried, which only embarrassed her father.

She rubbed her eyes then cursed when more tears fell.

What the hell was wrong with her?

“That suitcase better not
be
packed,”
Callum
said, leaning against the door.

Simone cried out, looking up to see both men leaning on either side of
the door. They wore running pants. No shirts. They looked like they’d walked
out of an exercise magazine.

“I think she was leaving us,
Callum
. Don’t
you?” Cole asked. The thick muscles of their arms caught her attention. They
were talking about her as if she didn’t exist.

“I’m,
er
, I’m finishing the filing, and then
I’ll be on my way.” More tears fell, and she wiped them away, cursing at the
same time.

“She’s crying, Cole. I don’t like those tears.”

“I bet she never cried when she was younger.”

“Will you stop talking to me as if I’m not here?” she yelled.

“There is the fire I remember. I think she wants us, Cole.”

Simone felt her temple begin to throb as a headache began to take her.

“What are you two talking about? I’ve done what you needed me to do, and
now I’m moving on.”

Both men advanced into the room. “Here is the thing, we don’t want you
to go,”
Callum
said.

She frowned. “What? Why don’t you want me to go?”

“You’re the right woman for us,” Cole said.

“No, you don’t do relationships. You share and then move on.”

“Not this time, Simone. You’re the one we want. You’re not leaving here
without one of us. In fact, I think we should call Daniel and ask him to send
all of her stuff here,”
Callum
said.

“I think that is a good idea. I’m not working today. I’m taking Simone
back to bed and not letting her go until she can’t move without thinking about
me,” Cole said.

“You’re doing it again. This is not fair of either of you. You’re not proclaiming
your undying love for me.”

“No, you’re right. We’re not.”

Her heart shattered. “Then why don’t you want me to leave?”

Callum
caught her face between his hands.
He was staring at her intently. “Because the thought of seeing you walk out
that door and never seeing you again
breaks
me,
Simone.”

“It’s not love.”

“I know. Why does it have to be love? Can’t we just see where this
goes?”
Callum
asked.

“He may not be in love with you, Simone, but I am,” Cole said.”

She turned to look at the other man. Cole stared at her from where he
stood across the desk. His arms were folded as he stared at her. “I’m in love
with you, Simone, and I’m not letting you go.”

“You’re best friends. I don’t want to come between you.”

“
Callum
is in love with you. He just doesn’t
know it yet. Let me tell you again. You’re not going to your apartment, and
you’re not leaving me,” Cole said.

Simone stared at the other man unsure what to say. “I love you, too.”

“Then come here and kiss me.”

She pulled out of
Callum’s
hold going to Cole.
Simone charged into his arms as a fresh wave of tears began to fall.

“I’ve got you, baby. I’m never letting you go.”

Her tears of happiness fell.

Callum
came up behind,
moving her hair out of the way.
“I may not know my feelings about you yet, Simone. What I do know is
I’m not letting you go either.”

They held her close refusing to let her leave. When she tried to grab
her suitcase,
Callum
grabbed the handle taking it
through to his room.

“This is never going to work,” she said.

“It will work,” Cole said, taking her to his bed.

“How?”

****

One year later

Callum
stared at the gorgeous raven-haired
woman seated at the bar. She’d caught his attention the moment she’d walked
into the room. Cole was smirking at him. He’d never known a woman to take his
breath away.

“Stop smirking, Cole. You’ll lose that sophisticated look you’ve been
going for,”
Callum
said. He sipped his drink unable
to look away.

“I’m going back to my room. Remember to play nice, and I’ll see you
soon.” Cole threw down some notes. He watched his friend leave the bar before
grabbing his empty glass and going to the bar.

The woman glared at one of the men who approached her. He was about to
stroke her arm when she slapped him and growled something. The man disappeared
looking rather pale.
Callum
walked up to the bar,
holding his glass up for a refill.

He turned toward the woman. Simone looked as gorgeous as ever in the
deep purple gown he’d bought. His hands were shaking with nerves. The past year
had flown by so quickly he couldn’t believe how happy he’d been.

“So, you and Cole have gotten me here. Why?” she asked, turning toward
him. Her lips were painted a dark red shade. The colour contrasted with the
pale creaminess of her skin. He knew every inch of her skin as he’d heard her
come apart more times than he recalled. Her scent and sounds were highly
addictive.
Callum
smiled recalling the time he’d
demanded her presence while he’d been working out. She’d stormed into the gym
with her hand on her hip.

He’d been lifting weights and sporting a huge erection. While he
finished lifting weights, he’d demanded she remove all of her clothes and fuck
him. The memory was a sweet one to him.

“This was the bar where we first met.”

“I remember.”

She rested her chin on her palm staring up at him. “Cole told me to wait
at the bar. What do you two have cooking?”

“The rest of our lives.”
He threw down some notes then took
her hand in his. Going with his gut, he walked her to the elevator. When the
doors closed, he pressed her against the corner of the stall. He thrust his
cock against her watching her eyes dilate with need.

“Now this is déjà vu, for me,” she said, putting a hand on his cock.

“It is for me as well, babe. You don’t know how many times I’ve thought
of this moment,” he said.

“How often?”

“I think about it all the time. This was the moment I should have
realised you were mine.”

“I know.”

“This time will be different though,” he said, stroking her nipples
through her dress.

“Why will it be different?” she asked. Her lips were swollen from his
kisses. He wondered if her ass was still red from the spanks he’d given her
hours before. She was their woman in every sense of the word.
Callum
knew that now, clearer than he’d ever thought
possible.

The elevator doors opened to the top floor. He took her hand leading her
to his door. Pulling a blindfold from his back pocket, he covered her eyes.

“I don’t like this,
Callum
.”

Her fingers tried to take the blindfold off.

“Trust me, baby. You’ll love it.”

He opened the door looking at what Cole had done. Red roses were dotted
on every surface. Rose petals led the way to where the coffee table had been.
Cole was knelt on one leg with a ring in his hand. They’d each picked a ring
and knew she’d wear both.
Callum
knew they both
couldn’t be legally married to her. He and Cole had worked through the finer
details.

“The room smells beautiful,
Callum
.”

“Good.”

He took her hand leading her to the room. “I’m going to let your hand
go. Stay still and don’t take the blindfold off until we tell you,” he said.

“We?”

Callum
knelt beside Cole. He took the ring
out of his pocket and presented the box in front of her.

Taking a deep breath, he stared up at her.

“You can remove the blindfold,” he
said.

She pulled it off and gasped. Simone
stared around her at the room then at them. Her eyes widened when she saw both
of them on one knee before her.

He saw her eyes fill with tears.

“What is going on?”

“I thought it was only appropriate
that I tell you my feelings for you in the same building, in the same room, where
we met one year ago today.”

“We met one year ago today?” she
asked, teasing them.

“You’ve got that right. You came
into the bar cursing men. You shot them all down but me. I took you to this
very room, and since that moment I’ve been addicted to you.”

Tears fell from her eyes. She licked
her lips as she looked at him.

“Cole once said that I loved you, but
I didn’t know it yet. He was right, Simone.” He licked his lips feeling the
nerves getting the better of him. “I love you. I’ll never stop loving you. I
know there is no other woman out there who I want more than you. You’re my
world, and I never want to wake up another morning without you.”

“I love you, too,” she said.

“Then would you do
Callum
and me the honour of becoming our wife?” Cole asked,
presenting the rings.

“You’ve been planning this for
weeks, haven’t you?”

“Just say yes, baby, and get us out
of our misery.”

“Yes.
Absolutely,
yes.
Yes, yes, yes, and yes.”

She went down on her knees before
them, taking their faces between her hands. “I would love to be both of your
wife
.”

Callum
smiled. For one year he’d been
doubtful of the love he felt for Simone. Now, he knew without a shadow of a doubt
his feelings for her. The future never looked better.