Oh boy. She had to make this good. Going from avoiding them all the time to suddenly wanting to be around them twenty-four seven?
“Well, I mean if you wanted to,” she finished lamely. “I wouldn’t mind getting out of town for a while.” She scanned all their faces as she said the last.
Cam’s expression was thoughtful. Sawyer’s was more calculating, and she could see he liked the idea of removing her from the immediate vicinity of the danger she faced. Hutch looked more undecided.
“And I do have to get some clothes,” she added when no one spoke up. “Not that I want to do any hard-core shopping, but surely there’s somewhere close to your house where I could pick up some jeans and a few shirts.”
She sounded desperate. She sank further down and picked up her fork to shovel the remaining bite of cold eggs into her mouth. They were never going to buy into her sudden change of behavior.
She clutched the empty plate and backed off the stool. “It was just a thought,” she said as she rounded the bar to dump her plate into the sink.
“I like the idea,” Sawyer finally said. “This might take a couple of days to wrap up, and it gets you away from here. Hopefully by then the police might have a suspect or even make an arrest.”
“I could finish up the plans at the office,” Cam offered. “Another hour or two isn’t going to make a difference.”
Regina turned to look at Hutch, who was still regarding her rather curiously. She would have said suspiciously, but she was going to ignore that thought. Besides, she had decided to stay with them regardless of the danger they might be in, hadn’t she?
“Are you sure you feel up to this, Reggie?” Hutch asked. “I know you’re feeling better, but that’s not the same as being ready to run off to Houston and go shopping.”
She made a face. “Shopping here or shopping there. It’s still shopping. Besides, I can kick back in your house there same as here, right?”
A prickle of discomfort worked up her spine. She’d all but invited herself, and while that would have never bothered her before a year ago, now she felt like she was assuming a lot.
“I, uh, suppose I should have asked if it was okay if I tag along and if you and Cam actually wanted to go back to Houston with Sawyer.”
Hutch closed the distance between them and pulled her against his chest. “Don’t be ridiculous, baby. You’re welcome anywhere we are and that’s a fact. You’re just going to have to let us catch up here. After a year of trying to pin you down in any one place long enough to exchange more than a few pleasantries, it’s a little hard to deal with the fact you’re here, and you want to be with us.”
Her chest tightened, and guilt blasted her despite the fact that she knew she wasn’t using or manipulating them. Okay, maybe she was manipulating them, but it was for their own good, and she did want to be with them. She’d just have to wait until later to sort through her feelings surrounding the idea of having all of them. Preferably when there wasn’t someone determined to kill her and possibly them.
She wrapped her arms around his middle and laid her head over his heart. “I’m sorry, Hutch.”
He took hold of her shoulders and gently pried her away from him.
“What are you sorry for, baby?”
She glanced over at Cam and Sawyer, who were still sitting at the bar watching with undisguised interest.
“For not having more courage. For being afraid. For not trusting you all.”
“Does this mean you’ll stay?” he asked softly. “Beyond the immediate future, after the danger to you is past, will you stay? Will you be with me? Us?”
She swallowed hard and again looked to Cam and Sawyer. There was hope . . . and fear in their gazes.
“I’ll stay,” she whispered. “I can’t make any promises—”
“Shhh,” he said, putting a finger over her lips. “All we want is a chance, Reggie. Just a chance. Nothing more.”
He followed his finger down to her lips and slid it out of the way just in time for his mouth to press gently against hers.
There was a reverence in his touch, such exquisite tenderness, almost as if he were afraid to hope, to believe that she had agreed.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, and for the first time was able to shut out the fact that two other men were in the room, one of whom she’d made love to last night. She didn’t feel guilty for pouring her love into this kiss, nor did she worry over the possibility that Cam or Sawyer would feel excluded. There were only so many things she could control, and that wasn’t one of them.
So she relaxed and let go. Put all the longing and emotion that had boiled beneath the surface over the last long year into returning his kiss.
He wrapped his arms tighter around her, finally hoisting her up so that their mouths were even. Her feet dangled inches above the floor, and the pressure on her ribs started an ache in her chest, but she didn’t care.
“I need you, Reggie,” he whispered hoarsely against her lips. “God, I need you.”
