Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 133213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
“I didn’t join the Army because you weren’t paying enough attention to me.” For the first time Tristan’s calm looked slightly rattled. “I went in to see who I could be. To test myself.”
“Is testing what you’re doing now?” Aidan had on slacks and a jacket, but he hadn’t bothered with a tie. He was the more casual of her two lovers.
Of course there hadn’t been a lot of sex. Certainly not lately. She had two boyfriends, and it had been months since she’d seen some action. Tristan had been gone, and she and Aidan had been studying or working. They often fell asleep on the couch while trying to eat dinner and watching some random sitcom.
She’d told herself everything would change when Tris came home. His contract was up, and surely he’d had enough of being apart. She’d told herself Tristan would come home and the world would feel right again.
“What I’m doing now is serving my country,” Tris replied resolutely. “You should understand. Your father served his. Carys’s whole family did their time. I don’t question your reasons for spending four years in med school. And have you thought about what happens when you pursue residencies? Are you going to turn down a great one because it’s not in Dallas? Or will you ask Carys to make the sacrifice?”
She huffed. “Do you think we haven’t talked this through? I’m in obstetrics. I can learn what I need to in almost any city. Aidan’s showing amazing promise as a trauma surgeon. Of course I’m going to follow him if he ends up in a top program. The truth is he’ll have some pull if they want him badly enough.”
Aidan was the shining star of their class. She was okay with it. There wasn’t any jealousy between them because she was doing exactly what she wanted to do. Specializing in high-risk pregnancies.
“So we’re all supposed to follow Aidan?” Tristan got to one of their problems.
“No.” This was why it couldn’t work. Why her father worried so about her.
Sweetheart, Jake and Serena and Adam were set in their careers when they got married. They knew who they were and what they wanted to do. They were settled. I worry meshing two lives is hard at your age. I don’t know how you’ll manage three.
She’d told her dad they could do it because they loved each other. Because love was enough.
It turned out she was wrong.
“No? All right, then what are we supposed to do?” Tristan asked. “Car, you’ve been quiet this whole time. It scares me.”
It should. She shut down when she was done with something. “I need to ask you a couple of questions before I make my decision.”
A brow rose over his eyes. “There’s a decision?”
“Maybe we should take this discussion home.” Aidan could also be the peacekeeper. It was kind of his place in the relationship. She and Tristan could be combustible. Aidan was the calm voice of reason bringing them together.
Without Aidan, she and Tristan would explode. They would have passion but no peace.
Without Tristan, she and Aidan were floating through life, muddling by in a sea of study and workouts and routine.
They were perfect together as a threesome, but sometimes perfect wasn’t enough either. “He wanted to meet us here for a reason, Aidan. He’s been gone for three months and when he gets home, he doesn’t come to my place or to the place he literally shares with you and Cooper. He goes to a hotel and asks us to meet him there. He chose this place for a reason, and it’s not for hot sex.”
Aidan’s face fell because hot sex was probably what he’d been looking for.
She knew better. This wasn’t an invitation to intimacy.
It was a breakup.
“Sex is certainly not off the table, sweetheart.” Tristan’s bad boy made a sudden appearance, and she knew this wasn’t going to go well.
So she should get it over with. “It is. You haven’t touched me in months. I understand. Honestly, I don’t get the whole wait-for-me thing. Be brave. Rip the bandage off. Make a clean break.”
And then his scared boy was right there in his eyes. “Carys, I’m not breaking up with you. Why would you think that, baby? I know I’ve been distracted, but you have to admit, it’s not like you’re the queen of free time right now.”
It was odd how cold she felt in this moment. Like an icy shroud had descended. Probably because she needed it. If she didn’t have it, she might be on her knees begging him not to leave them. She wasn’t sure they could make it without Tristan. They fit and without him… But no. She suspected she knew what was really behind this new delay of his.
All of her life she’d loved nothing more than she’d loved these two men. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt if she needed Aidan to give up medicine, it would hurt, but he would do it. It was precisely why she was willing to follow him.