“What do you mean?” Abby glanced over to where Jack stood talking to Mike. Sam was just joining them. His blond hair was still slightly damp from the shower. Abby’s insides fluttered when she thought about what he’d done to her in the shower.
Christa looked entirely satisfied with herself. Her jet-black ponytail bobbed as she nodded. “Oh, yeah, it was me. I sold you out. I told Sam to rifle through your little book collection if he wanted to know the way to your heart, which, by the way, is apparently through your…”
“Christa Marie Wade!” Abby said righteously, then ruined it by grinning. “You hush that filthy mouth of yours. I should be angry with you for giving that away. Girlfriends are supposed to keep quiet about their friend’s porn.”
“Not in this case,” Christa argued. “I saw the way you looked at them. Every time either one of them walked in the room you would go all gooey. Sam just followed you around like a puppy, and Jack brooded even worse when you were around. They wouldn’t approach you because they didn’t believe you would be okay with their lifestyle. They thought you would run. Those books let them know you were an open-minded girl. If I hadn’t shown Sam, the three of you would still be all about unrequited love. Instead, the three of you are practically glowing. And you owe it all to the fact that I can’t keep my nose out of other peoples’ business. If it keeps my best friend in town, then all my plotting was worth it!”
Sam eased up behind Abby’s barstool. “Oh, Christa, did you confess?” He lifted his hand to let the bartender know he was ready for another beer, and then his hand settled on Abigail’s back.
“I did, indeed.” Christa favored Sam with a saucy wink. “It’s my weakness as a super villain. I have an undeniable need for credit. I was thrilled to hear that Abby was thinking of staying.”
Sam looked slightly startled at the pronouncement. “Thinking?”
“Well, it’s a big decision, Sam.” Abby noticed Sam’s handsome face had turned mulishly stubborn, and she was beginning to recognize all the signs of Sam about to tattle on her to Jack. Abby put a hand on his arm. “It’s not like I’m planning on leaving anytime soon. I have to make sure my mom is fully healed, and I have to find a job.”
“Why the hell do you think you need a job?” Sam practically yelled. Abby looked over, and sure enough, Jack had heard the exchange. His green eyes were filled with suspicious concern.
“Because life requires money, Sam.” Abby was not looking forward to the next few minutes. “Did you expect that I’d just hang around in my mom’s trailer for the rest of my life? It’s going to take a hell of a lot of money to put my daughter through college.”
“You don’t trust us to take care of you?” Sam’s question came out as an outraged yelp. Out of the corner of her eye, Abby confirmed that now Jack was hurrying toward him.
Maybe, she would think later, it had been the vodka that did it. Perhaps it had been the vodka combined with the happy lethargy vigorous sex had brought about, but whatever it was, Abby heard herself saying the fateful words. “If you want me to trust you to take care of me, maybe you should think about marrying me.”
“All right,” Jack’s deep voice said from behind her. “Thursday work for you, sweetheart?”
Christa’s eyes were wide, and Abby thought they probably mirrored her own. “Jack, I was just trying to freak out Sam a little. He was being a tad bit overbearing. I wasn’t demanding that you marry me.”
“She sure as hell was.” There was an arrogant grin on Sam’s face. “She said she wouldn’t be able to trust us if we didn’t marry her.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Samuel. I was joking. Besides, you are overlooking the fact that it’s illegal to be married to two different men at the same time.”
Sam shrugged. “We got it all worked out. We’re going to rock-paper-scissors for it.”
Jack sighed and shook his head. “No, Abigail. We take this very seriously. I am going to legally marry you. You’ll be Abigail Barnes in the eyes of the law, but we expect you to wear Sam’s ring, too. I expect you to take him as seriously as you do me.”
Sam was wearing a dippy grin. She shook her head. “That’s hard sometimes, Jack.”
“You’ll muddle through.” Jack leaned over to steal a kiss. “I’ll apply for the license tomorrow. It takes three days. We’ll move your mother into the guest house.”
Abby’s head whirled. “Wait just a minute, Jack. We’ve only known each other for a month. You can’t just railroad me into marriage.”
Jack smiled wistfully. “Would it help if you knew I considered it more like I’m gently herding you into marriage?”
“No.” She had to laugh at the picture of Jack and Sam treating her like prized cattle. They did love their cattle. “That doesn’t make it better.” She got serious, thinking about what had happened earlier. “Jack, there’s a lot I don’t think you’ve considered. Marrying me means something in this town and not something good.”
Jack shook his head. “It’s too late, Abby. You said you loved us. You’re not going to be able to wiggle out of it now.”
“You belong to us,” Sam said implacably.
“And you belong here.” Christa looked just as serious as the men. She reached over and grabbed Abby’s hand. “I’ve missed you. I love you, and I’m tired of being apart. This is the time in our life when we get to go crazy again. This is the time when we get to be who we are, instead of who we thought we should be. I can’t stand the thought of figuring that out without you.”
Sam’s hand reached out to wipe away the tears Abby didn’t even know she had. Was she really going to let something that happened twenty years ago cost her all her happiness now? If she did that, then she wasn’t the woman she believed herself to be. If she let them run her out of town, she would be going against everything she’d worked to become. The idea of explaining to her daughter that she now was going to have two stepdads was daunting, but at least she knew her mom was all right with it.
Abby looked at Jack and Sam and grabbed her joy with both hands. “Thursday sounds great, Jack.”
The smile that spread across Jack’s face was well worth it. He looked happier than she’d ever seen him, and his masculine beauty took her breath away. Jack leaned in and kissed her lightly, but with the promise of so much more. “I love you, Abby-almost-Barnes.”
“I love you, too,” Abby said solemnly. Sam was less circumspect. He hauled her off the barstool and twirled her around before leaning her back for a wildly passionate kiss.
“Damn, Abby, you made us wait long enough.” Sam’s hands cupped her cheek with a tenderness that took her breath away.
“I made you wait a whole month and like three days,” Abby pointed out. She couldn’t take her eyes off him.
“Like I said, it was too damn long.” He smiled over at Jack, but something else seemed to catch his attention. Abby watched as his face went stark white, and he swallowed deeply. His face twisted like he was really trying to think of how to put something to her. “Baby, you know how I explained to you that I don’t always make the best decisions when I am inebriated? Here comes one of those bad decisions. Please save me.” He placed her strategically in front of him in a suspiciously shield-like fashion.
“Look what the trash man forgot to pick up.” Christa stood up and came to Abby’s side.
Abby was aware that Jack had moved onto her barstool. He looked terribly amused as a bleached blonde slinked into the room, wearing a shirt that barely contained her store-bought breasts and jeans that someone had spray-painted on. Her hair had been teased to within an inch of its life, and Abby couldn’t tell how old she was under the pound of makeup she was sporting. There was no mistaking the predatory gleam in her eye as she looked around the bar. Her brown eyes were hard, but they widened when she caught sight of her prey cowering behind another woman. It didn’t seem to affect the blonde. She gestured to someone, and yet another peroxide devotee of too little clothing came out of the woodwork.