Surprise lit her gorgeous face.
“You do?”
“Yes. The issue is trust.”
“Damn straight.”
“I never trusted my heart when it came to you. I’ve loved you all of your life, Jacy. But I never expected to love you as a woman. Do you remember your graduation party before you left for New York?”
“Yes,” she said hesitantly.
"It was then I knew how I loved you, and I couldn't forgive myself for it. I'm twenty years older, and you always called me ‘Uncle Tobias.' I'm your father's best friend, for Christ's sake."
“Oh, Tobias,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault, Jacy. But I think it's not mine either. How can I not love you? I love you for everything you are. Your beauty, your intelligence, your bang-on business sense, your stubbornness, your snarky mouth.”
I moved closer, and she didn’t protest. I’m inches within kissing her.
"I can deny you nothing. Ever. If you want to take up with three rock stars, how can I say ‘no’? Your sadness is mine as well as your happiness. I love you, Jacine Alexander, and I've never said that to another woman because I can't. I will always be yours whether or not you want me."
Tears formed at her eyes, and the worst sensation of loss came over me as I divined that after all I said, she'd push me away.
Instead, she flung herself into my arms.
"I'm sorry," she said. Oh, dear Lord. Those words confirmed my worst suspicions.
“I love you too, Tobias. I always have. I was deadly serious about marrying you since I was five years old. I thought, besides my father, you were the most handsome man I’d ever seen. No one compared to you, and every time I did, it was you I’d pick. But then Banshee came along, and I fell in love again. Usually, a girl picks one of the band members, but no, not me. I fell for all three of them.”
"I guess I can see why." I didn't want to say this, but hell, the sex appeal of the three rockers was the stuff of platinum records and sold-out concerts. Sure they were excellent musicians. But it was their looks that sent their careers into the stratosphere.
“Don’t you see why this is all impossible?” said Jacine. “How can I love four men? It can’t be real. A tumble in the sheets is one thing. But living with all four? For the real? In the day-to-day? Damn, it’s hard enough to love one man.”
Jacine put her head against my chest, and I felt her wet tears against it. I'd never seen Jacy conflicted, not once. No wonder she melted down. For the first time in her life, she didn't have a rudder, and her moral compass spun out of control.
I kissed the top of her sweet head because she buried her mouth in my chest. And damn it, I am an old man, but she stirred my desire once again. How can I let her go? I can’t. How can I urge her to choose just me?
“The problem is I do love each one of you. I can’t pick just one of you like a normal woman could.”
I hugged her tighter and kissed the top of her head again. She was so sweet in my arms, and I realized that not only could I not let her go, I couldn't be responsible for her unhappiness. And she would be if she did not have what her heart wanted—all of us.
“Is that what’s bothering you? You worry about whether you’re normal? Princess, you grew up in LA. I’d say the normal boat sailed before you were born.”
She sniffed and half-chuckled through her tears.
“I guess you’re right.”
“And look, at least with this arrangement the odds are in your favor. Should one of those jerks takes off on you, you won’t be alone.”
“Hey!” protested a voice from above. Who was that? Rory?
Jacine looked up, and a light flicked on to reveal the three rockers on the deck above leaning against the railing with smiles on their faces.
Fuckers.
“You’ve been listening to us all this time?” said Jacine.
“Hell, yes,” said Jersey. “And it was fucking beautiful. All of it.”
