Chapter 23

twenty-three

I t had been a few weeks since she’d made it to the Kailua Farmer’s Market, so Serenity bullied both Mick and Adam into going the next morning. Mick had been happy to go, but Adam had made excuses. His main one was for them to spend the day in bed. She knew he wanted to explore more of her submissive needs. Hell, she did too. They had already had another session in the early morning hours, but she also wanted to be normal. She wanted a relationship that was outside of the bedroom. When she explained it to Adam, he had no issues at all after that.

“Have y'all ever been here before?” she asked as she handed Adam a bag of goodies from one of the stalls.

“No. We had quite a few of our own trees at the last place. Some mango and papaya,” Mick said.

She nodded. “I've thought about planting my own garden. But then, if you plant one, I can just poach.”

Adam and Mick both laughed, but as their laughter faded, she felt an itch between her shoulder blades. She rolled her shoulders trying to get rid of it.

“Something wrong?” Mick asked.

“No. Just...it's nothing.”

In the old days, she would have been ducking and hiding. It was the tell-tale intuition that told her someone was watching her, usually paparazzi. This was Hawaii. No one knew who she was, or who she had been. Still, something crawled over her neck, warning her that someone was watching her.

She pushed the idea away. Again, it was Hawaii and that was a lifetime ago. Maybe, it was because she wondered how many people knew she was in a ménage relationship.

“So, I was thinking we could grab some shrimp on the way home and you could make us some shrimp truck shrimp.”

She batted her eyes at Mick, who laughed.

“Sure. It would be nice to have dinner on the lanai.”

She nodded, but the itch was back. Not wanting to alarm the guys over something that was her imagination, she pushed her worries aside.

“Hey, what about getting some malasadas too?” Adam asked.

“You are not good for my waistline,” she said.

He slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. The move surprised her because Adam wasn't the most openly affectionate in public. But, today, he didn't seem to have a problem.

He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “But I am so good at so many other things I do to you.”

His breath was hot against her ear. She shivered. Right there in the middle of the market, she felt her hormones come to life, her nipples harden, and when she took a step, she realized her panties were slightly damp.

Adam apparently picked up on her reaction.

“You like dirty talk in public. I kind of like that. Maybe a public submission is in your future,” he said as he tugged on her earlobe.

Mick smacked him up against his head. “Cool it.”

The reverse roles the two men took right now almost made her laugh. Adam was usually the more sedate one, making sure to behave a certain way in public. Mick usually liked to push the limits.

She did chuckle then.

“First, I do as many good things to both of you. And secondly, I have no problem with affection in public as long as it doesn't go into a sex education demonstration. There are limits.”

Adam smiled and Mick shook his head.

“Why don't you two grab the malasadas, but don't get any with the filling. Or, not all of them with the filling. I like the plain sugar ones. I’m going to take some pics around here.”

Mick looked at Adam, who nodded and went off in search of the malasadas.

“I can't be on my own?”

“It's not that,” Mick said. “Just that the two of us don't need to be there to shop. Also, watching you work is kind of a turn on for me.”

She glanced at him, then pulled out her camera. “That's a new one.”

“Guys don't like your job?” he asked, his voice filled with surprise.

She shook her head. “Most of them were completely ambivalent to it, but many of them really didn't like me pulling out the camera. One of them said that I wasn't paying any attention to him.”

“That's what is so sexy. You concentrate on something completely.” He hummed. “It’s so damned hot.”

She stopped what she was doing and looked at him. “Really?”

He nodded. He had his aviator type sunglasses on and she couldn’t see his eyes, but she was sure his gaze was boring into her. Heat flared in her belly. The tag team these two men did to her was so damned overwhelming at times. But even when they did—like at that very moment—she didn’t think she would ever get enough.

“Let’s just get these pictures done and then we can talk all about that.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Serenity hummed as she looked over the pictures she had taken the day before. It had been a week since the guys had told her they loved her. They hadn't pressured her to define what she felt for them past what she had already said. In other relationships, she would have worried about it. With Mick and Adam, she found a new sense of easiness.

She pulled up a pic she had taken of the two of them, on their lanai, sitting side by side, two beers on the table, their feet up on the table.

She moved onto the second pic, which showed them leaning over the table and kissing. It was almost innocent looking, but just seeing them together made her hot. How had she not known two men together was such a turn on for her? It might not just be men, but these men in particular.

Before she could follow that thread of thought, her phone rang. It was a California number so she clicked ignore. She knew it wasn't the guys or Nicola, so there was no reason to answer.

“Hey,” Adam shouted from outside. She glanced toward the window and saw him standing on the path that led to the beach.

“Were you raised in a barn? You just yell at me from outside?”

He laughed. “Come on. Let's go watch the waves.”

She glanced at her computer, then back to the man who was smiling at her. The man absolutely won out.

She shut down her computer, then joined him. He had snacks, which was always a plus.

“What do you have?”

“I got some malasadas and coco puffs.”

She forgot about work, and everything else. “You win the day.”

It wasn't until she returned from the beach that she remembered the phone call and message that had been left for her. She hit speaker.

“Hello, Ms. Jones. My name is Franklin Reynolds, an editor with the National Tattler.” Her heart almost stopped beating. It had been one of the rags that had made her life a living hell. “I was wondering if I could get a quote about a story we are running this week that you are actually Kayleigh Rose. Also, it seems you have a unique relationship with two men. Please give me a call.”

He rattled off the phone number, but Serenity barely noticed. Her entire world had just exploded. She had spent so many years in hiding that the idea of someone finding out who she was had been ludicrous. During the dark times after she ran from Hollywood, she had thought for sure she would be found out. Now that she was happy, finally on the right track with her life, and this crap had to happen.

Numb. It was the only feeling she had, as if she was in some form of shock. Of course, she was in shock. She had remained anonymous for over a decade.

Her phone rang in the silence, shocking her. It was Nicola.

“Hey,” she said. “What the hell is going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“I just got a call from your mother trying to confirm your new name and that you are living in Hawaii.”

She closed her eyes and panic started to set in. Her mother. Dammit .

“I...I have no idea. I just got a message from the National Tattler asking about this.”

“Okay, let me make a few calls and maybe I can get the story suppressed.”

“They don't just know my name. They know about Mick and Adam.”

Oh, God, she sounded like she was losing it. What was she thinking? She was losing it. No one would blame her. The life she’d perfectly crafted. Now, it was going to be blown to smithereens.

“They know who you are?”

“Yes, they know. You know I really don't hide it from people. Just, I like the anonymity and keeping away from my mother. But this will be different. It’s something to know the woman you were involved with had another career at one time. It is going to be something else when our lives are splashed all over the tabloids. The guys are going to hate me.”

Serenity’s voice had risen with each word, Nicola sighed. “Still, I'll bring the full force of Wulf Industries down on them. But you need to prepare your men.”

“I don't think the rag has their names.”

“But they will soon if we don't stop this. Let me make those calls.”

“No. Please, I don't want you getting into trouble with Jensen.”

“There is no problem with Jensen. Right, Jensen?”

“Off with their heads,” he yelled out.

She smiled. “Thank you. I will owe you…again.”

“Friends don't owe. They just love.”

And that summed up their relationship. Nicola had been an Olympic hopeful with little interaction with people. They were alike in that regard. Granted, Nicola had had a loving family, but both women had spent their childhoods in isolation from their peers. “You sure they don’t have Mick and Adam's names?”

“Not sure. They just said they knew I was in a relationship with two men.”

“Hmm, well, don't call them. I will. No one messes with my Seri.”

She smiled. “Thanks. I guess I have to talk to the guys.”

“Yes, prepare them.”

Dread filled her. This wasn’t something she wanted to do. Ever . “Yeah, you're right.”

“I'll call you back after I get through fucking up this rag.”

Then she hung up. Even with the horrible news, Serenity found herself smiling. Nicola was tall, graceful, and the quintessential idea of a skater. She looked like a princess from another time. When she cussed, she was really pissed, and usually it made Serenity giggle. Today, it barely brought out a smile. The idea of what she had to do weighed heavily on her. With a sigh, she headed over to the guy's house.

There was music playing. She could hear it before she reached the lanai. When she reached the front door, she slipped off her slippahs, then knocked. Mick turned and smiled at her.

“You know you don't have to knock.”

“Yeah,” she said, knowing that more than likely, she would have to after today.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he said. Adam came out from the bedroom.

“What’s up?”

She said the words she never wanted to say to either one of them.

“I have something to tell you.”