“I’m not going to lie and say I lusted after you all those years. I turned that part of me off. I wouldn’t let myself go there. But you know I care about you, man. And I gotta think…” He rubbed the back of his neck, looked up at the ceiling, blinking. “That having all those threesomes with you was…”

“A way for us to be together.”

Chris’s eyes closed, his mouth a straight line, and he gave a barely perceptible nod.

Dag reached for Chris’s hand, twined his fingers between Chris’s and clasped it tightly.

“For me too,” he murmured. “Except I always knew it.”

“It was so hot,” Chris said, voice low. “Seeing you like that, being with you like that.” He swallowed. “Why’d you leave, Dag?”

“I had to leave. I knew it was never gonna happen between us, so I had to go. L.A. was okay, but I moved to San Francisco thinking things were more open there and maybe I’d find someone else. I fucked my way through guys, girls, threesomes, foursomes. I never found anyone else.”

“Ah hell, Dag.”

Chris’s eyes looked glossy as he again met Dag’s.

“I told you, don’t feel sorry for me, asshole.”

“And I told you, I don’t, dickhead.” Chris rubbed his eyes.

Dag shifted his body over the carpet, closer to Chris, cupped his jaw and lifted his face, looked at Chris’s mouth. His eyelids dropped. He moved closer. And he kissed Chris. Their mouths connected, opened, Chris’s tongue swept over his and Dag felt Chris’s hand lift and fist in the back of his T-shirt as the kiss deepened and heated.

Chris pulled away. “Stop.”

“No.”

“Stop, dammit.” Chris grabbed Dag’s head with two hands and held him away from him. His eyes blazed at him. “All right, damn you, I want this. I want you. Fuck.” His eyes dropped closed and he swallowed. “But I can’t do this to Kassidy.”

Dag’s heart plunged. He stared back at Chris.

Chris met his gaze steadily. “I can’t do this…without Kassidy.”

The sound of the door opening alerted Kassidy and she lifted her head, turned her face to the bedroom door. The outside door of the condo clicked shut. It had to be Chris. She pushed herself off the bed, ready to rush out to see him, but she paused. Her stomach tightened and her mouth went dry. She swallowed, took a long breath, no idea what she was about to face.

She stood and wiped her palms on the knee-length shorts she wore, then lifted her chin and walked out of the bedroom. In the living room she came face-to-face with Chris…and Dag.

She stared at them, eyes moving back and forth between them. They stood side by side, both big and gorgeous, Dag’s silky dark hair hanging over those wicked dark eyes, Chris’s short golden-brown hair all mussed and his suit wrinkled. She blinked.

“Hi, honey, I’m home,” he said, one corner of his mouth lifting.

A smile trembled on her lips. “I see that.”

“I went to see Dag.”

“I see that too.”

She shivered and curled her fingers into her palms.

“Kassidy.” Dag’s voice stroked over her, his eyes warmed her. She held his gaze. She was still so afraid. Maybe he saw the fear in her eyes, as his eyebrows drew down and his smile faded. “Hey. What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” She almost choked on the words. “What’s wrong?”

“I mean, you look terrified.” He took a step toward her, his frown deepening. “Don’t be afraid.”

Was he crazy? Her life was being ripped apart and he told her not to be afraid? She just shook her head.

“Hey. We better talk. Let’s sit down.”

She let him take her hand and lead her on shaky legs to the couch where he sat on one side of her and Chris sat on the other, after tossing his suit jacket onto a chair and loosening his tie.

She couldn’t get her throat to work, couldn’t speak as she waited for them to tell her what was going on. She wanted to appear light and nonchalant about it all, but everything inside her shivered and shook.

“Do you really love us both, Kassidy?” Chris spoke first.

She turned to him with a glare. She glanced at Dag. “Um…”

Chris took her hand in both of his, his big, warm hands playing with her fingers, stroking over the back of her knuckles. “You said you cared about Dag.”

She shot Dag another glance. She really didn’t want to spill her guts like this right off the hop without knowing what had happened between them. Putting herself out there, making herself more vulnerable than she already was, was not what she wanted to do just then.

Dag took her other hand. “Kassidy. Look at me.”

She met his eyes.

“I’m falling in love with you,” he said.

Her heart stopped beating, then started again in painful, unsteady beats. She heard it in her ears; that was all she heard. How could that be? Only yesterday, he’d told her he was in love with Chris.

“I told you I love Chris,” he continued as if recognizing her confusion, fingers moving over hers. “But I didn’t tell you how I felt about you. That these weeks with you…have been special. Your sweetness and caring and generosity–your acceptance of me, just like Chris–you’ve pulled me in. Just like Chris.” A small smile touched his lips. “Both of us. When I told Chris I loved you, I thought he was going to punch me again.”

“Again?” She eyed the purplish mark on Chris’s chin. “Looks like he’s the one who got punched.”

“Yeah. We both landed a couple.”

“Oh, you guys.” She blew out a breath.

“We’re fine. Anyway…”

“You have to tell me more,” she whispered. “Please. I can’t do this.”

They told her more. They told her everything. They told her what she never dared hope or dream she’d hear.

“Doesn’t it kind of make sense?” Dag asked, his fingers moving over hers. “That if Chris loves you, and I love Chris, that maybe I could love you too? We’ve always been attracted to the same girls…”

“So you both slept with them,” she finished dryly. “Most guys would fight over a girl you both like. You two just share her.”

A smile tugged at Chris’s lips. “Well yeah. Isn’t that better?”

She shook her head, trying not to smile back at him, and failing. At one time that idea would have shocked her to her core. Now she just accepted it.

“We love you, Kass. And we…I…” Dag shot Chris a faint smile. “I love Chris and maybe one day he’ll love me too, but for now…we both want the three of us to be together.”

Her heart expanded and softened in her chest, her world brightening, surrounding her with brilliant light and vivid colors. “Really?”

Dag nodded.

She turned to Chris, her question in her eyes and as usual he read it. “Yes. Really.”

She held his gaze long and steady. “Chris…”

He clutched her hand, raised it to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “I want it, Kass. I want…both of you.”

She sat there for a long moment, everything rolling around in her mind, trying to reconcile it all and make it make sense. She was afraid to hope, because she knew she didn’t deserve what they were offering her. “I don’t know if I can do this,” she finally said.

They both looked back at her with carefully controlled expressions.

“Why not, Kassidy?” Dag asked.

“Everything was such a mess. I should never have done this. I’m not…I wanted adventure, I wanted to be wild and crazy and wicked. Like you. Like Hailey. But I’m not meant for that. I just wanted to be a little bit bad, but people got hurt and now I don’t want to be bad…” Her voice trailed off as her throat closed up, hurting, and she couldn’t talk anymore.

“Kassidy.” Dag lifted her chin and made her look at him. He swam in her vision, swimming in tears. “What we did…that doesn’t make you a bad person.”

She stared back at him, her throat aching painfully.

“You did it out of love. Didn’t you?”

Yes. God, yes. She’d even tried to tell Hailey that once. She gave a small nod.

“Some people might consider what we did bad. But you never intended to hurt anyone, and you’re not a bad person. You’re the most compassionate, giving, sweetest person I know. You care about your sister even when she’s not all that loveable. You look after your parents. You look after us. That’s why I care about you.”