Hat Trick (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) by Lynn Tyler Page A

shuffling sound came from behind them and they turned around to find Jeremy slouching his way down the kitchen stairs. Oh, he was too adorable. He had dark stubble covering his chin and cheeks, bleary eyes, and his shaggy hair was sticking up at all angles. He looked sleepy, sexy, and utterly lovable, and her throat ached at the sheer amount of love she felt for him. He rubbed a hand over his naked chest, yawned hugely, and ambled his way to the coffee pot. Pouring himself a cup, he turned and kissed Rachel on the temple and smiled drowsily at Nathan.
    “Woke up by myself,” he commented in a gravelly voice. He surveyed the kitchen and yawned again, so widely that his jaw cracked. “How bad is it?”
    Rachel’s heart sank. She knew they couldn’t keep the information from Jeremy, but she dreaded telling him. Nathan obviously sensed her discomfort and answered. “Well, she didn’t accuse Rachel of cheating on me.”
    Jeremy cocked his brow and rubbed at his chest again. After almost nine weeks together, Rachel knew the action was actually a nervous habit Jeremy had, almost like the way Nathan tended to card his fingers through his hair when he was frustrated. “She accuse you of sharing Rachel with me?” he asked.
    He waited expectantly as he took a large gulp of coffee. Rachel winced on his behalf. The liquid was scalding hot, and she could only imagine what it felt like running down his throat.
    Nathan cleared his throat and averted his eyes. “No. Actually, Jer, she accused me of cheating on Rachel.”
    Rachel knew her husband was hoping the other man would catch on to his meaning without having to actually spell it out for him, but it was clear from Jeremy’s confused expression he just wasn’t getting it. Nathan sighed and ran his fingers through his blond hair, going as far as gripping it and tugging it a little in obvious agitation. Rachel’s own stomach was now roiling with nerves, and she wondered for a minute if she was going to be able to keep her coffee down. She hadn’t been so nervous since receiving her final grades of her last semester of university.
    Jeremy waited patiently, simply looking at them. His patience was one of the things she loved about him the most. He would work on the Sunday crossword puzzle for hours. He could tinker away a free afternoon with whatever video game he was working on and then spend untold amounts of time teaching her how to play, never raising his voice no matter how many times he had to explain something. She knew he would wait indefinitely for them to explain.
    Rachel threw her hands up in the air and gave in to the urge she’d been feeling all day, stomping over to the scattered newspaper pages and grinding them under her bare feet. She slid her feet over the delicate newsprint until it shredded and the black ink coated her soles. Stopping, she sneered down at the paper and blew a few errant curls out of her eyes.
    She looked up at her two men and glared, daring them to comment on her childish display of temper. She caught Nathan hiding an amused smile behind his cup and stuck her tongue out at him. Jeremy simply walked over and picked her up, cradling her against his chest. It felt so good to be in his arms, but she tapped him lightly on the shoulder in protest. “I can walk, you know.”
    Jeremy sat her down in her usual chair at the table and knelt between her legs, placing her bare feet lightly on his thighs even as Nathan dampened a rag at the kitchen sink and brought it over. Jeremy grabbed it and seized her right foot, wiping the sole free of ink before moving on to give the left foot the same treatment. “I know you can walk, sweetie,” he said, wiggling the rag between her toes a little and causing her to giggle. “But you would have tracked ink through the entire kitchen.”
    Nathan brought over her cup and handed it to her. “And then you would have yelled at us for letting you walk on the clean tile.”
    Tossing the cloth toward the sink, Jeremy