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“Maybe it’s because you’re trying to write all that sweet, sappy stuff when what you really want is this kinky, sexy stuff.” Hardy finishes piling the logs and stands up, staring her down.
“Are you trying to say I’m a fraud?” Mary glowers at him, her nostrils flaring.
“I don’t know, what would you call it?” Hardy counters, stepping toward her and narrowing her eyes.
Mary doesn’t back down. In fact, she stands taller, and a fire ignites behind her brown eyes.
“Maybe I should call it what it was, a mistake.” Her voice is like ice. “Last night wasn’t who I am, that’s not the kind of thing I do.” She shakes her head like she’s trying to convince us. Or maybe she’s trying to convince herself.
“Oh, give me a break.” Hardy laughs dryly.
“It’s true!” Her hands fly to her hips. “I didn’t come up here to, well, you know…”
“You can’t even say it, can you? How can you be begging both of us for our cocks last night and then today you can’t even spit the words out of your warm, sexy little mouth,” Hardy growls, his anger giving away to something else.
“No,” Mary holds up her hand, “don’t do that. See this is what I mean. I’m not like that. I write cozy, clean romances. I’m not the kind of girl that has sex with two men at the same time. I came up here to write and, well, and you two… you…” she fumbles for her words.
“We what?” Hardy snarls.
“You seduced me. I wasn’t thinking straight, and I made a mistake.” She juts out her chin defiantly.
Ouch.
“Wait, are you saying you regret last night?” I interrupt their quarrel.
“I, well, I don’t know.” Her voice softens, and she looks down at the floor avoiding our eyes.
“No, you don’t,” Hardy scoffs. “If you really didn’t want us, you wouldn’t have kept it going all night. Once might be a mistake, but three times in one night? You can deny it all you want, but that is one hundred percent something you wanted. And I bet if you’d lay off this whole America’s sweetheart act then you’d admit that it’s something you still want right now.” Hardy takes another step closer, like a hunter stalking its prey.
“No,” Mary whispers, lifting her head back up to face him. “That’s not who I am. It’s not what I want.” Her voice is firm.
“Okay, listen, how about you two just cool it. Look, I made us breakfast, can’t we all just sit down and enjoy some pancakes? Mary, you say it was a mistake.” The words twist my heart. “Hardy, you think she doesn’t regret it, I say it doesn’t matter right now. This doesn’t have to be some kind of three-way fuck fest up here. How about we sit down, eat the nice meal I made and then, I don’t know, just do something fun?”
Mary raises her eyebrows at me and Hardy frowns.
“Not that kind of fun, let’s just take the day off and get outside. I promise, there’ll be no sexy stuff, right, Hardy? We’ll be perfect gentlemen and it’ll be like a scene from one of your books. Get out there and enjoy that winter wonderland for a bit, huh? What do ya say?”
I study Mary’s face, she’s clearly thinking it over. Hardy goes to open his big mouth, but I give him a look and he shuts up for once. He’s gotta realize that trying to stick a mirror in front of Mary’s face and forcing her to see herself for who she really is, for what she really desires, well that’s only going to scare her off.
Hardy is so used to using brute force to get things done, like smashing through logs with an ax or sending huge tree lengths sailing into the back of a trailer, he’s got to learn that sometimes what you need is a softer touch. Mary needs time to process her feelings. She needs a chance to figure this all out.
In fact, I think we could all use that right now. It’s not like Hardy and I have had a long line of women we’ve shared. I don’t know how he feels about Mary, but I care about her. A lot. And I’m not about to let him go scaring her off just because she isn’t saying what he wants to hear right now.
“Come on,” I jump back in, bursting through the silence, “I promise it’ll be sweet, innocent, old-fashioned fun. No hanky-panky.” I wink at her and she finally cracks a smile.
“Yeah?” She looks hopeful.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, sure.” She relaxes her shoulders, and the smile gets brighter. “Let’s give it a try.”
Hardy looks like he has a million things to say, but for once he’s smart enough to button his lip and keep it to himself. If I didn’t know better, I’d think that he’s got feelings for Mary too. Maybe she’s not the only one who’s learning new things about herself right now. Maybe we’re all taking a look in that mirror and being surprised by what we see.
