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“We would have you.” But Hunter was shaking his head before she finished.
“You wouldn’t have me. You would have each other and fuck-all else. Military wives become a community all their own and military kids band together as best they can, but you wouldn’t be a military wife and any kids you and Liam have wouldn’t be military kids. You’d be living on your own without access to a support network.” His tone turned grim. “You wouldn’t be the people notified in the event of my injury or death.”
Kat exhaled slowly and forced herself to face reality as outlined by Hunter. “I admit aspects of our life would be less than ideal. But—but,” she stressed when he opened his mouth to interrupt her, “nobody has a completely safe, one-hundred-percent risk-free existence. I understand you’re concerned about what we wouldn’t have, but what about the things we would have? What you would have?”
“Imagine what the three of us could be together,” Liam put in.
“I have imagined it. I want it, but I don’t want you to go in blind. I see too many relationships crash and burn because people don’t really know what they’re getting.”
“Anything is more than we have now,” Liam pointed out.
Kat angled toward him in her chair and tipped her head back so she could meet his eyes. “So now what?”
“So now we see if we can make it work.”
Kat’s heart thudded heavily in her chest as both men rose from their seats. Hunter’s focused, hungry gaze held hers. He gently lifted her hand from the table, urging her up. Without a word, Liam crossed the living room, skirting the tree in order to pull the drapes closed.
“I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”
“Probably sometimes.” Hunter drew her away from the table. Instead of immediately following Liam, he held her in the circle of his body heat. His hand flexed around her fingers and he dipped his head toward her. Closing her eyes, she angled to accept his kiss.
It didn’t come.
Without opening her eyes, she said, “Do it.”
“Is it that easy for you?”
“Kissing? Yes. I part my lips and settle in to enjoy.”
Hunter breathed a frustrated sound. “Not the sex. The other stuff.”
That got her eyes open. “I’m not doing anything behind Liam’s back. We’re honest with each other, and he’s said he wants this relationship between the three of us. He understands there will be emotions that are just between you and me, and I understand there will be emotions just between you and him.”
“This is fucking complicated.”
“Only as complicated as you make it.” Unwilling to wait any longer, she rose on tiptoe and finished what Hunter had started. Kissing him was very different from being kissed by him. She had to coax him into letting her in, and then he retreated from her advances as if unaccustomed to being on the receiving end.
Pulling her hand from his, she bunched his shirt in her fists and started to yank it up his torso. Hunter wrapped his fingers around her wrists, stilling her hands. She protested, but the sound was muffled by his mouth on hers. He pulled back, still holding her wrists, to look down at her.
“This time is going to be different, Kat. This time I’m not angry with either of you.”
“That’s a good thing from where I’m standing. It’d be a better thing if you’d let go of my wrists.”
He shook his head and used his grip to lead her around the sofa and in front of the tree where Liam waited for them.
“Have a seat, K-K,” Liam invited.
“What’s going on here, guys?”
Liam smiled, and a thrill of alarm chased up her spine. When Liam gave her that particular grin, it spelled trouble. Usually of the most erotic sort.
“I know I screwed up, baby. I love you and want you to be happy, and I’m very grateful that you’re willing to forgive me. But Hunter pointed out that maybe I need to make some amends, show you how grateful I can be.”
“We,” Hunter interrupted, releasing her. “How grateful we can be. You haven’t even really called me on the fact that I bailed. I left a note, but you didn’t know that, and more importantly, you deserved more than that half-assed note. I should have said goodbye in person.”
Kat dropped onto the couch. “Why didn’t you?” It was something that had always bothered her, but she’d dealt with the hurt of it years ago.
Hunter shrugged. “I wasn’t ready to do this then, and I was afraid you’d tell me exactly what you would have—that I wasn’t enough for you. I didn’t want to hear it, and I damned sure didn’t want to deal with anything else.”
