Time to Pretend (26 page)

“You made me feel like a slut.” Hurt suffused her quiet words.

Alaina no longer had enough anger to power her lungs.

Daniel’s aggressive stance relaxed. “Don’t say that, Lainie. It’s not your fault. We’re just irresistible.” Alaina sighed at Danny’s attempted levity. Her gaze fixed on her hands still curled into fists on the countertop. “I’ve never had casual sex, not once in my entire life before I met you.” Evan rested his hand over her fist. She didn’t unfurl it, and he didn’t force the issue. “What you have with us isn’t casual.” Just like that, a switch was thrown in her head. She understood what they had done and what they were offering. This was her dream.

This was what she wanted. It didn’t seem quite real, not yet.

“A-laii-naaa!”

Alaina’s head jerked up and swiveled to face the voice shouting her name. The front door slammed, and heavy footsteps followed the lighter ones pattering toward the kitchen.

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A streak of boy rounded the corner, veered around Daniel, and slammed into Alaina’s side. She caught Zach in a hug, lifting him from the floor until he squirmed to be put down.

“Dad says I get to stay the night with you. Can I go to Mario’s?” Daniel cleared his throat. Alaina glanced up at him, her protective instincts in overdrive. The warning in her look died when she saw he was okay with Zach being there. “Dinner will be ready in a half hour.”

She pressed a kiss to Zach’s cheek. Thank goodness they had moved all of his things first. Zach never showed up for a simple visit.

He always stayed for a night or two, sometimes longer. “You have time to say hello and make plans for the morning.” Zach turned to face Daniel. Alaina held her breath as the little auburn-haired boy faced one of the men she wanted to have in her life. “Who are you?”

Daniel offered a hand to Zach. “I’m Daniel.” He nodded to Evan.

“This is Evan. We’re friends of Lainie’s.” Evan smiled at Zach, but his welcome was more tentative. “Hi, Zach. It’s nice to finally meet you. I saw your baseball trophies. Very cool.”

Zach shrugged off the compliment and Alaina’s hand on his shoulder. “They give those to everyone. You don’t have to do something special to get them.”

Brows drawn together, Evan frowned at Zach’s flippant response.

“You have to go to practices and games, and you have to work on your skills. That’s important.”

Zach looked up at Alaina with more wisdom than an eight-year-old should have. “Alaina practices with me all the time. Dad says she’s got one heck of a throwing arm for a girl.” Alaina rolled her eyes and gave Zach a push toward the door before their father’s chauvinistic opinions could come spewing from her brother’s mouth. “You’re down to twenty-five minutes.”
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The speed with which Zach left could put Superman to shame. All too soon, her father’s stifling presence replaced Zach’s refreshing one.

A scrapbook smacked onto the counter in front of her.

“Your mother said to give you this.” She opened the front cover to find pictures of her from high school. Her mother had already made scrapbooks from Alaina’s baby and childhood pictures. The next scrapbook would undoubtedly contain college photos. Alaina didn’t particularly care for scrapbooks, but her mother had embraced the craze with fervor, and it was the thought that counted.

“Thanks.” She closed the cover before Evan or Daniel could steal more than a cursory peek.

“Hired help?” Her father cocked his head in Daniel’s and Evan’s direction. “What’s going on with your roof?” The roof question was easier to answer, but it would lead to all sorts of opportunities for her father to remind Alaina about her gender-based failings. “No, Dad, they aren’t hired help. They’re my boyfriends. Both of them. At the same time.” Daniel’s brows shot up to hide under the bangs brushing across his forehead. Evan’s stoic expression didn’t change. There was no doubt in Alaina’s mind Evan had picked up on the tense undercurrents that always existed when she was in the same room as her father.

“Evan, Daniel, this is my dad, Alan Miles.” She spread her hand to indicate who was who. The three men greeted one another awkwardly. The part of her that was still angry over the way they tag-teamed her reveled in their discomfort. If they wanted to have an unconventional relationship with her, then they needed to be prepared for the kinds of reactions they were sure to get.

Her father was a tall man with broad shoulders. He had been handsome when he was younger. That was before years of soft living left him with a rounded midsection, heredity had stolen his golden hair, and bitterness over having only a female child had permanently soured his expression.

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Alaina hadn’t inherited many physical characteristics from him.

She was short, her auburn curls seemed to thicken with time, and her eyes were distinctly from her mother’s side. Her mother was fond of pointing out that Alaina was just as stubborn and as intelligent as her father.

It may have been exceedingly obdurate of her to argue that her father lacked intelligence, but Alaina wasn’t convinced her father was a smart man.

“Thanks for the phone call,” she said. “It’s so thoughtful to call ahead to see if I have plans.”

Her father grunted. “You’re an old maid. You never have plans.” He eyed the men at the end of the counter dispassionately. “Your mother’s not feeling well. She needs some time to rest without worrying about Zach. You can send your male hookers home for the night. How much did they cost you? I’ll pay the fee this time.” Instinct had Alaina leaping in front of her father before Daniel could kill him. Still, Daniel had closed the distance. Due to the height disparity, Alaina wasn’t much of a barrier.

While Alaina did her best to push against Daniel’s chest, he glared at her father over her head. His cheeks weren’t the ruddy tone they turned when he was furious. They hadn’t colored at all, and his eyes exuded a cold calm.

“Danny, don’t. He’s a pain in the ass, but he’s the only father I have.”

“He called you an old maid.”

Alaina felt the anger carried on Daniel’s words and vibrating through his chest into her palms. The fact that he didn’t appear to be outwardly upset made her panic in a way she had never experienced.

She shoved against Danny, but he didn’t budge.

“Evan! A little help, please.”

Evan leaned both elbows on the counter, looking entirely too comfortable. “He called me a hooker.”
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Michele Zurlo

With an exasperated grunt, Alaina faced her father. “Dad, you need to apologize.”

Her father’s lip curled. “Whether they charge by the hour or not, they’re whores. Two young men trolling about for an older, successful woman who’ll buy them things and support their lazy, party lifestyle. A whore is a whore, no matter what gender.” Daniel’s shoulders relaxed, and he actually stepped back just when Alaina was sure he would attack. Her father’s accusation and the absence of Daniel’s physical threat combined to set off the temper she had been holding in check.

She slammed her fist on the counter and jabbed a stiff finger into her dad’s belly. “Daniel owns a martial arts studio, and Evan owns his own construction company. Did it ever occur to you that they might be here because they like
me
?” Her father’s sallow brown eyes flicked between Alaina, Daniel, and Evan. He dug his keys from his pocket and twirled them around a finger. “I guess we’ll see.” He whistled as he walked away, turning in the doorway to render his parting shot. “Don’t let Zach stay up too late. School starts next week, and we have him on that sleeping schedule.”

Alaina gritted her teeth to keep from replying.
She
was the one who hounded them to alter his bedtime two weeks before school started so he wouldn’t be tired in class. It was just like her father to throw that back in her face.

As soon as he was gone, Daniel pulled her against him. She slapped her hand over his mouth before he could kiss her.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He grinned. She felt the movement under her hand. He encircled her wrist with one hand, dropped a kiss on her palm, and pulled her palm away from his mouth.

“You called us your boyfriends, and then you stuck up for us.” She snorted at his confidence. “That doesn’t mean I’m not still mad at you, not to mention he didn’t believe the boyfriend part.”
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Evan wandered to the stove and turned the burner under the pot back on. “He believed you, Alaina. That’s why he insulted us. He was just making sure we were good enough for his little girl.” Alaina had a very different interpretation of the conversation.

Now she understood why Daniel backed off. He probably thought the same thing. “No, Evan, he insulted you because, in doing so, he insulted me. Nothing in that whole exchange was about you. He honestly doesn’t give a shit about either of you.” The two men shared a long look, the kind that communicated a lot of stuff about which Alaina had no clue. Daniel picked up a towel and used it to extract a glass pan from the oven. He ladled sauce and cheese onto something that looked like chicken.

Alaina snapped at both of them. “When I wanted to go to college, he told me sending a woman to school was a waste of time. My mom convinced him I would find a better husband there than if I stayed home. When I wanted to go to grad school, he told me it was a waste of time and money. I should be settling down and having kids. When I told him I was going to get my doctorate, he told me no decent man would ever have me. I had ruined myself. I was no longer mother material.”

Evan’s arms slid around her waist as he pulled her back against his chest and kissed the top of her head.

Daniel glanced up from whatever he was doing at the stove. “That explains why you hate men so much.”

“I don’t hate men.” The denial was automatic, but that didn’t make her statement less true. She didn’t hate men. She hated the idea of having one control her life. “I just don’t have the burning desire to settle down with someone like my father. I’m not sure I have the desire to settle down at all. Maybe that’s really why I’m willing to give the pair of you a chance.”

Evan tightened his embrace and pressed a trail of kisses up her neck. “We want to settle down, Alaina.”
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Michele Zurlo

“Yeah.” Daniel slid the pan back in the oven. “I like kids, and with Zach, it’s kinda like you already have a kid. Even so, Evan and I wouldn’t mind knocking you up a few times.” He crossed back to her as he spoke, and by the time he finished, Alaina found herself pinned between him and Evan.

They were getting a little ahead of themselves, but she never got a chance to tell them that. Evan turned her toward him and devoured her mouth. Daniel’s body pressed to her back, forcing her tighter against Evan. Alaina’s bones turned to jelly. When Evan finally released her lips, Daniel claimed his due.

Though she burned for more, she pushed them both away and wiggled out from between them. “Zach will be back in about five minutes. I want both of you on your best behavior. I haven’t told him I was dating anyone, and I want him to feel comfortable asking questions.”

Evan’s eyes twinkled. “But you’re not kicking us out yet, little lady. We’re not done moving your things.” Daniel grinned and turned away, heading back to the stove. “Or rocking your world.”

She snorted and deflated their bravado balloons. “You’re not staying here tonight.”

Evan helped her set the plates on the table. “Tomorrow night?”

“We’ll see.” She couldn’t hold back her pleased smile. Having two men so centered on her added a wickedly fulfilling decadence to her life.

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Chapter 15

Sunday was one of those perfect summer days where the humidity wasn’t too high and the sun wasn’t on a mission to fry everyone in ten minutes or less. Zach woke early and made breakfast for himself.

Alaina found him eating a bowl of cereal at the table while playing his DS.

“Good morning,” she said, kissing the top of his head. His hair stuck up in back, ratted into a ball from a night spent rubbing it against his pillow. “You have fifteen minutes left on that thing.”

“I want to get to the third quest on this level,” he mumbled. Milk dribbled down his chin.

She handed him a napkin and filled the coffee maker. “That might not happen today.”

The day before had been a whirlwind of activity. After dinner, Evan and Daniel finished moving the majority of her office to the basement. The things she needed now, like her desk and active files, had been moved to the living room she never used. It was supposed to be the nice one, the one she used when company visited. Somewhere along the line, she had closed the door on it and forgotten to shop for furniture. It had nice carpet and only primer coated the walls.

Evan had offered to paint it, but Alaina declined. Their declarations of intent had shaken her more than she cared to admit.

She had experienced several long-term relationships that hadn’t been as serious as the looks in Evan’s and Daniel’s eyes.

She poured herself a bowl of cereal and joined Zach at the table.

“Time is up, Zach. Now you get to socialize with your sister.”
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He made a big show of saving his game, closing the system and placing it as far out of his reach as he could. Alaina stifled the urge to laugh at her little drama queen brother. Maybe Zach had learned to be overly dramatic from her.

“Mario said I could come over his house today,” Zach said.

Slipping from his chair, he carried his empty bowl to the counter.

“Rinse it,” she reminded him. “And put it in the dishwasher.” She watched him do as she directed. Last night, he hadn’t seemed at all fazed about having Evan and Daniel there. It was important to her that Zach feel comfortable with her men.

She sipped her coffee to check the temperature. “Zach, do you have any questions about Evan or Daniel?”