Chapter Nine
A knock sounded at the door, pulling her from her reflections.
“Hailey?”
“Wh...” She struggled when the word caught. She cleared her throat. “What?”
“Can I come in?”
The fact that Adam was asking told her how agitated and worried he was.
“Yes,” she murmured after a pause.
Adam opened the door and slid in. His brows snapped together at the sight of her face. He walked to her and crouched by the tub. His hand cupped her cheek, and he ran a thumb under one of her eyes.
“Oh, love. I’m sorry.”
Hailey looked down as fresh tears scalded her eyes. “I’m not sure why you’re apologizing. I’m the one who keeps messing up.”
Adam pinched her chin when she tried to turn away. “No, love, you don’t. I know I’m overprotective, but the thought of you hurting in any way drives me bat shit crazy.”
“It just seems like I’m getting punished every day. Even before Drew came home. I’m not doing anything different than I was six weeks ago, so what’s changed?” She stared at him and swallowed. “May ... maybe you need some space? You know, time alone with your brother.”
“I’m sorry. What the fuck did you just say?” Adam's hand dropped, and he hissed in fury.
Hailey cringed. Hell, now she’d done it. Adam was furious, something she’d seen only once since she’d known him. She wasn’t afraid he’d hurt her. She just didn’t like seeing it and being the cause of it.
Hailey held out a beseeching hand. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to upset you. I just don’t know what you want me to do?” she cried out.
****
Adam’s eyes scanned her face. Maybe he had changed in the last month or so.
He’d felt different after the call from Drew telling him he was coming home.
It felt like his world was going to finally be complete, and he’d gone a little crazy with her and the ranch hands.
He had them cleaning stuff they’d never had to, like the hayloft.
He wanted Drew to come back and see he’d been taking care of the homestead and their wife.
He knew it had been fanciful thinking to believe Hailey would let Drew slide into their lives, into their marriage, the way they wanted.
He just didn’t realize how anxious it made him.
Something he did know was that her leaving, even for a day, was absolutely not an option. The thought of losing her would kill him.
“I have no intention of ever letting you go. Ever, so come to grips with that.”
“I’m not saying forever...” Hailey said, shaking her head.
He reached out and pinched her chin. He wanted to ensure she saw the depth of emotion he was feeling at that moment. He needed her to really see his love, anger, and determination.
“No. I don’t ever want to hear that shit come out of your mouth.”
Hailey bowed her head and concentrated on the bubbles slowly disincarnating on the water.
She schooled her features to hide her emotions and looked up at him.
“Why is it so important for Drew to be able to tell me what to do? And I want to know what all these innuendos are about. You two are saying things that don’t make sense.
Even Daniel started to say something in the store, and Drew stopped him.
Is there something you’re not telling me? ”
Adam stared at her intently for a moment. He didn’t think she was ready to know the truth, but it looked like he didn’t have a choice. He hated keeping things from her, and it almost felt like he was lying, and he couldn’t do that.
****
Hailey watched Adam’s expression. He was hiding something, and she knew it concerned her somehow. “I know you want me to stay, but do you want him here because you don’t want to have to deal with me anymore?”
Adam growled and rubbed the back of his neck in frustration. “Absolutely not.”
“Then why are you letting him in so far. I get that it’s his ranch, too, but why does it have to affect us?”
Adam ran a hand down his face. “I do want him to be part of everything we have because it’s something we’ve always thought about. Even as kids, we talked about sharing ... a wife.”
She sat up straight and sucked in a breath. Shock and something else she didn’t want to identify raced through her.
“Wait! Like I’d be his wife too?”
“Yes.”
Several long, tense moments passed as she gazed at him without really seeing him.
Hailey blew out a breath and sat back in the water. She stared at the wall as thought after thought bombarded her.
“Now I understand all the teasing you’ve given me over the years we’ve been married. Like about double the help around the house, double the affection, double the ... love. That was your way of preparing me for when he came home.”
Adam nodded slowly as he sat on the rim of the bathtub. “That was part of it,” he admitted.
She turned and scowled at him as her fury clashed with disbelief inside of her.
“Don’t you find that a bit deceitful? If you knew you wanted to share a wife with Drew, why didn’t you tell me this before we got married, so I had a choice?”
“Because I didn’t want you to have a choice. The thought of not having you...” He hissed and shot to his feet and turned his back on her. After a moment, he turned back.
Hailey cringed when she saw the distinct emotions he was trying to control. Anger, worry, impatience, but most of all, desperation. She didn’t like to see him with any of them.
“I’m sorry. I knew it was deceiving. Drew had even told me that. But one way or another, I had to have you.”
A flare of temper ignited inside her, so fiery it caught her off guard. “Why in the world did you even imagine I would go for it?” she shouted.
Adam knelt down again. She could tell he was racking his brain to try to find the words he needed.
“Dammit. I knew you had enough love for both of us, and because of your childhood, I thought you deserved double the love. You’ve told me from the beginning that I was the first one to care about you, right? ”
She nodded.
“God, I have to tell you the first time I saw you ... it felt like I got kicked in the chest. You were perfect for us in every way. You still are.”
Hailey pushed the tender emotions from her brain for that moment.
“You just decided for me?” she jeered. “So, tell me something—you’ve been planning this all along, haven’t you? That’s what all the video chats that you always included me in were about. You wanted to get me used to him, the only way you could, with him being a thousand miles away.”
“Yes. Besides the fact that he needed to see and talk to you. Couldn’t you tell when the two of you talked, he got calmer and smiled?
He didn’t do that with me. With me, I got a thousand questions about you if you weren’t there.
It was hard to see him worry about you, uneasy with the thought he wasn’t here for you, and know he couldn’t do anything about it until he got home. ”
Hailey took a long moment to soak that information in. “So, tell me, what’s your guys’ next move?”
He glowered at her in frustration. “You make it sound like a game,” he growled. “And it isn’t to us.”
Hailey shrugged. She looked directly into his eyes. “How in the hell did you think it was going to play out? What if we couldn’t stand each other or we found each other repulsive?”
“If we couldn’t work through it, we would have given up on the idea.”
“Or, you could find a woman you both wanted.”
He narrowed his eyes in silent threat. “We already did. You!” he spat out. “Drew knew the first time he talked to you, he wanted you, and it’s just grown deeper and stronger over time.”
“What about what I want?” she cried out.
Adam relaxed a bit and smiled for the first time. “And you want him,” he stated with conviction.
Hailey’s eyes flared as she shook her head. “You don’t know that.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, I do. I see the way you react to him.”
Hailey dropped her mouth as an element of shock raced through her. “Like how?” she burst out.
“Like you could eat him up,” Adam drawled.
“It doesn’t bother you at all?”
“No, because he’s my brother. If you ever looked at another man like that, I’d swat your ass until it was bright red. But when I see the look on your face or how your body responds to him, it makes me crazy with love and hunger.”
Hailey stared at him. She knew everything he was saying was true about her reactions, but she hadn’t wanted to dissect her emotions when it came to Drew.
In her mind, she’d put him in the role of a brother, but emotionally .
.. she’d been having a lot of conflicting feelings.
“I don’t know what you think you’ve seen, but I can assure you. ..”
Adam grinned. “Hold that thought, love.”