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The tide was coming in, the water reaching midthigh before Katy waded out of the water and sat down on the soft sand, letting the sun dry her legs. This stretch of the beach was deserted except for the seagulls swooping on the breeze. A cerulean sky stretched above her, marred only by the gathering clouds on the horizon. A late season storm was brewing. It was a pretty apt representation of her life—everything seemed beautiful and clear, but in the distance was wild weather that could destroy everything. Her storm was a fast moving one. It had swept in well before she was ready, obliterating her world. Her tears had stopped, but the bone-deep ache of loss had enveloped her.
Katy loved both of them. Knowing they were happy would ease her pain eventually. She wasn’t selfish—even though having two men smacked of it. No, she’d realized that she was meant to love both of them. The fact that they’d found each other was great, wonderful in fact, but she was totally redundant now. Why would they need her when they had each other? Katy sat for hours, the sun shifting higher in the sky as she tried to figure out what to do. But everything came back to them. God, her brother was going to have a field day. He was the king of “I told you so,” and he’d take every opportunity to remind her of her own failings and how much he disliked Levi. But at least she had family to go to—Nick and Emma, her parents, even Levi’s. They were great. Con thought he had no one. It would have broken her heart if it were him that was alone.
NINE
Katy
“H
i,” Levi said gently, startling Katy out of her thoughts. When she looked up at them, he and Con were flanking her, facing the beach and watching the waves roll in.
“Hey,” she mumbled. Seeing them had her wanting to reach out, to draw them to her, to beg them to keep her.
“It’s beautiful here, so peaceful. Feels like there’s no one around for miles,” Con murmured as he sat cross-legged on the sand. Levi followed suit, sitting on Katy’s other side.
“It is.” Katy blinked away the tears, choking on the lump in her throat. Seeing them was eviscerating her. Like stories of the Japanese samurai committingharakiri,Katy’s insides were being gauged open, yawning holes appearing.
“Katy, we’re sorry,” Levi started. She turned to look at him. Eyes red and his hair standing on end, it looked like he’d been crying and running his fingers through the blond strands. His mouth, which so often curved up in a smile, was a frown, his lip red as if he’d been worrying it with his teeth. His devastation was easy to read. “We didn’t want to hurt you. This morning just happened.”
“I get it,” Katy replied. “I’m glad you found each other. And I know what you’re gonna say now. Like I said, I get it. It just hurts though, you know?”
“Whatcha talkin’ about?” Con asked, a mixture of confusion and defiance in his tone. “The only thing we were gonna say is that we’re sorry for letting you believe, even for a second, that you aren’t as important to us.”
“What do you need me for now that you’ve found each other?” Katy whispered into the breeze. She was never the type to hold back, but voicing her deepest darkest fears was more difficult than she’d ever imagined, especially when it was playing out before her eyes. “You two have known each other for most of your lives. I bet if you think about it, you’ll both realize that you didn’t wake up this morning in love, or lust, or whatever. Those feelings have been around for a long time—I’ve seen them grow. Now that you’re finally together, you don’t need me as a buffer anymore.”
“Is that what you think, sugar?” Levi ran his fingers through his hair and tugged on the ends, frustration radiating from him. “Damn it,” he swore under his breath. “Why is it that the two people who mean everything to me, have no idea of it? Am I that bad in showing my feelings?” He reached out and took her hand, squeezing it tightly. Moving to his knees in front of her, he opened his mouth as if to say something else when Con interrupted.
“Cupcake, you’re not a buffer between us, you never have been.” Moving to mirror Levi’s position on his knees, he took her other hand in his and added, “I’ve loved you since I first met you. I ran because it hurt so much seeing you happy with Levi, knowing that I’d never get that chance with you. I didn’t realize it at the time, but you’re right. When I look back at how I was feeling, I know that it hurt so much because you’d found the one other person in this world that I love.” Looking at Levi, he joined their hands. “I’m sorry if this is too soon for you to hear or if you don’t feel the same, but I love you, Lee. As much as I love Katy.”
“Sugar, I don’t tell you this enough, but I love you. So much.” Levi brought her hand to his lips and kissed it, a soft, lingering press of his lips against her fingers. When he looked up and their eyes locked, the honesty, the love in his gaze stole her breath. “You’re my soul mate. I can’t live without you. What you said before—about feeling something more for Connor all this time—it was spot on. I think I’ve loved him for years.” Pausing, he looked at Con. Katy could see how strong the chemistry was between them, but this time she wasn’t the outsider. The warmth of their hands on hers, the strength of their grip gave Katy the reassurance she’d needed. They were kneeling so close that she could lean forward a few inches and kiss both of them. There was no hiding anymore. What she saw on their faces, and what Levi reflected back at her when he directed his gaze back to hers was raw, powerful. “But nothing will change what I feel for you.”
“You’re our cream filling,” Con chipped in, a grin lifting one side of his mouth.
“What?” Katy and Levi both asked at the same time. It was a totally random comment, and it was exactly the thing she needed Con to say to make her smile. “Think of us like an Oreo. Lee and I are the chocolate biscuits. You’re the cream filling. With it, we’re fuckin’ delectable.” Katy smirked and shook her head at Con’s reference to her cake shop, and Levi groaned. “But, without that cream centre, we’re just boring, dry biscuits.”
Levi leaned forward, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead, just a gentle brush of his lips. “You make me a better man, Katy. You’re… you.” Moving his mouth to her temple, he kissed her again. “How can I not love you? You’re generous and sweet—a firecracker, so sexy.” He pulled back and looked into her eyes. “Con told me that you got us, that you could see how we were meant to fit together. I couldn’t have even kissed him without knowing I could rely on your strength when I freaked out. I mean, heck, I kissed a bloke.”
“You loved it.” Con nudged Levi’s arm with his elbow and smirked.
“I did.” Levi smiled at him, and Katy knew then, without a doubt, that they were in it together—all three of them on the same page. Levi loved Con, but he loved her too. And so did Con—he showed her in every one of the things he did for them, in the way he looked at them. Katy recognized the warmth in his eyes, the love. Her heart beat hard. It was real. It was crazy and insane and exciting, and it filled her heart to bursting.
Whatever Con saw in her expression had him growling in appreciation, a low hum that shocked through her. He and Levi both tugged on her hands, bringing her to her knees too. Con swooped in and trailed kisses along her cheek and down her throat while Levi brushed his lips gently against hers. They hovered there for a moment, soft presses of their lips until Levi licked along the seam of her mouth and she opened to him. Pouring all her heartbreak, all her love for him into her kiss, it went from sweet and innocent to down and dirty in a second.
Con moaned and jostled Levi. When he pulled away from Katy, Con was there, gazing at her with love so raw and so powerful it stole her breath. Their kiss screamed of desperate love, hungry and powerful.
“I love you, too,” Katy murmured between kisses. “Both of you. So much.” They stayed there, trading kisses and hugging on their knees in the soft sand. When she realized that Levi and Con hadn’t kissed, she pulled back, breathing hard. Snuggling into Levi’s side, she asked, “You think we can make this work?”
“Are you okay if Levi and I are together too? With you, or just the two of us?”
“I’d really like to watch,” she blurted out. This time, instead of the sheer devastation that had coursed through her, heat flooded her pussy. They were gorgeous together. And the thought of watching her two guys loving on each other too got her revved up like nothing else.
“Oh, fuck yeah,” Con moaned before kissing her again. Their lips had barely parted when Levi crowded her, his lips crashing down on hers.
“Kiss him,” Katy begged, pulling away from Levi. When Levi turned to Con, they stared at each other for a moment before leaning in close and brushing their lips together softly, then pulling away again. It was fast but the love between them sparked like a wildfire in Katy.
“Should we take this party home?” Levi breathed, each word punctuated by a bite or lick to the column of her throat.
They rushed towards the white picket fence and through the gate, stumbling to the screen door. Katy noticed Nick kneeling before Emma’s prone form and she shushed her guys’ laughter with a wave of her hand. Looking up as they walked in, he smiled and dabbed a wet cloth over Emma’s forehead before getting up and padding over to them.
