There’s a bunch of blackberries out on the vines. I’ll grab some for dessert. Pais? Want to help?”

She nodded and followed Andrew, small pot in hand, outside. Wind roared, tearing through the strands of her hair. Tree branches danced like crazy and it was considerably darker due to the storm. Thankfully, the rain had subsided. But Adam was right—it was getting colder out here. She rubbed her arms, suddenly wishing she had stayed inside.

“Hey, here, take my jacket,” Andrew said. Before Paisley could protest, he’d removed his jacket and was helping her slip her chilled arms into the sleeves. Warmth and his enticing scent wrapped around her.

Suddenly, she felt safe as if she’d been wrapped in a cocoon. She smiled and began picking the plump blackberries, careful not to get her fingers caught in the thorns.

“How come you didn’t tell me?” Paisley asked as she dropped the berries into the pot where Andrew had set it onto the veranda railing.

“About what?” Andrew asked. His mouth was pursed in concentration as he quickly picked.

“All the paintings in the back room. They belong to Adam. He just left them here, didn’t he? After I left?”

Andrew’s shoulders visibly tensed.

When he turned to look at her, pain and betrayal shone in his eyes.

Oh wow, that look of betrayal just about buckled her knees. It was so intense that she had to reach out and hold onto the veranda. Suddenly, she wished she had never come back here. Had never met up with them again. It would have been so much easier thinking that they’d just gone on with their lives without giving her a second thought.

It appeared they hadn’t gotten over her, as she’d made herself believe.

“Adam didn’t take your leaving us very easy. He couldn’t accept it,” Andrew rubbed a hand over the bristle on his chin. “I couldn’t either. Not for a long time.”

“But we were just kids. Young and silly,” Paisley whispered. But even as she said those words, she knew the three of them hadn’t been silly. They’d had something special. And she’d thrown it away.

“You leaving…it broke him. We stayed at the cabin for a few months. He threw himself into his art like a man possessed, saying that he would be your equal in the art department and then you’d never leave again…but you didn’t come back and we went on with our lives.”

“I feel so bad,” Paisley blurted. She hadn’t wanted to express her feelings. It had just come out.

“Don’t,” Andrew said. He returned to picking the berries. Lightning flickered between the trees and thunder rumbled.

The storm wasn’t finished with them yet.

“What happened, happened,” Andrew said softly. “It’s over. Like you said, we were young.”

Paisley inhaled a shuddering breath and rejoined Andrew in picking the berries.

Yeah, she’d been young and oh-so stupid.

* * *

The two of them had been too quiet during dinner. Now as Paisley washed the dishes, her silence continued.

“What the hell did you two do out there on the porch?” Adam mumbled as he crouched in front of the stove, opened the door and fed more wood into the fire.

“Talked about you,” Andrew said beneath his breath.

Him? What the fuck?

“She saw your paintings.”

Shit! He’d forgotten he’d left them here.

“And?”

“And that’s it.”

Bullshit. There had to be more. The two of them must have had some sort of spat. Why else would they barely have said a word to each other over dinner?

Adam slammed the cast-iron door shut, a little too hard. The clank set Andrew to frowning and Paisley glanced over at them. She was wiping her hands on one of those wet naps that they’d tucked away in the cooler.

“Dishes are done. Adam, did you maybe want to take a stroll out to the cliff with me? The rain has stopped and there’s still a bit of light. We might be able to see the fireflies, like we used to.” Her voice was soft and vulnerable. He wanted to say no. Knew he would regret saying yes.

“Sure,” he said.

Adam stood and trailed her into the back room. Before he followed her out the door, he glanced at the rumpled sheets covering all those paintings he’d created years ago. What had she thought about them? Had she liked them?

The inner spark of something foreign sizzled through him. Tumultuous emotions of hope, fear, a crazed need to create masterpieces for Paisley, for when she returned.

Adam shook the emotions off himself. He’d been young. Immature. He didn’t care what she thought now.

Adam sighed. Hell, who was he kidding? He did care what she thought. He cared too damned much.

* * *

Crickets sang all around them as they tramped through the wet knee-high weeds toward the edge of the cliff, which was about a hundred yards behind the cabin. It was cool and the air smelled of moist earth. Water dripped off the nearby tree branches and somewhere far away, an owl hooted.

Adam and Paisley stopped at the edge of the cliff and stood side by side, gazing into the dark canyon. Streaks of white mist hovered over the black pine trees below and the rush of the river running along the gorge soothed Paisley. She’d been wrestling with what Andrew had said about Adam, and how he’d reacted to her leaving so suddenly. Over the years, she’d avoided thinking about Andrew and Adam and how she’d just up and left them. But since she’d been back, she’d allowed the layers of her feelings of how she’d treated them to rise through her.

“It’s really beautiful out here, isn’t it?” Adam said softly as he continued to stare across the deep chasm.

Paisley nodded and her breath caught as some of the dark billows of clouds in the sky slowly turned pink. After a few minutes, streaks of golden sunshine streamed through some openings in the clouds and illuminated the valley, giving the river below a gold-ribbon appearance. The clouds quickly closed and the sky grew dark.

“There! See!” Adam pointed to a few feet to his left side. At first she didn’t see it, but then she did.

A firefly blinked light. And then she spied another one. And then more. Their little bodies emitted a green glow as they flickered and clung to the tall strands of nearby grass. Moments later, some of the lightning bugs were airborne. Soon, the entire surrounding meadow was aglow with the little blinking lights.

Paisley smiled and her heart grew happy.

“I once read that fireflies use their lights to communicate with each other, warn predators and for mate selection,” Adam said.

Mate selection? How cool was that.

“Don’t try to change the subject, Adam. You know why I asked to see you alone.”

“Because of my irresistible charm?” His white teeth flashed in the darkness.

Paisley couldn’t help but smile.

“Well, there is that.”

“Oh? So there’s more of me that you like?”

“I like what I saw in the cabin.”

“I must admit I did do a great job cleaning that trout.”

Paisley shook her head and resisted the impulse to stomp her foot with frustration. The man was impossible.

“I want you to be deadly honest with me. Why did you stop pursuing your art?”

Adam frowned and closed his eyes. For a moment she thought that maybe he wouldn’t answer her, but then he nodded ever so slightly as if giving himself permission to speak about it.

“You were so brave to tell us about what happened with your husband, so I may as well stop being a chicken about my shit, right?” he said.

“That’s right,” Paisley said with a firmness that she didn’t feel. Pain and loneliness haunted his voice and her heart ached for him.

“We’ve been hanging out for weeks, and Andrew and I have never discussed our pasts. It’s my fault, so don’t blame Andrew. I figured if we just kept things cordial between us, then you wouldn’t take off again, but now I can see it was for my own selfish reason. I didn’t want to talk about my own past.”

They were afraid she would leave them again, just as she’d suspected. Paisley’s heart broke for them. She wanted to reassure him so much that she would never run again, but she was afraid if she spoke then he’d clam up.

“Andrew didn’t know this, but after you left, word came that my dad had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. He wanted to keep working as long as possible and I knew that it wouldn’t be long before I was called to go back home and take over the family business. Once that happened, I knew my art was dead to me. I knew that I would have to let you go, in here.” He pressed a palm over his heart.

Shivers rocked her. She reached out and grabbed both his hands. They were trembling in hers and she held tight.

“So I threw myself into my paintings. I became a mad artist. Heading off into the forest with my canvas and supplies and painting my ass off,” Adam chuckled and squeezed her hands. “Andrew thought I had lost my mind. Poor guy.”

“I knew my time was limited, so I studied too and discovered some techniques that really catapulted me into a new way of painting. I found my way and I found my craft. I became the artist I wanted to be. I had hoped for you to come back and see my paintings, maybe stay. In the meantime I lived the free starving-artist life I wanted for a few short months. Eventually my dad called on me to help and I went home and took over the family hardware store. I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay here and wait for you to come back.”

“I should have said right from the beginning that I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “So very sorry. I made a huge mistake in leaving. I’ve regretted how I left and why I left for many years.”

Adam shook his head, his voice surprisingly strong. “Please, never apologize. The way I figure it, things were meant to go the way they did. My wife, she was older than me. About ten years older. She came into the hardware store a lot to pick up household items to help patch up her ailing parents’ century home. Her parents refused to leave it, and they refused to hire anyone to help fix up the place, so she took it upon herself to be their handyman. She came in looking for advice. A lot. I kind of fell in love with her. Okay, so I really fell for her. I don’t fall in love halfway. We got married. Because we both wanted kids, we tried for them right away. But then Dianne got sick. It happened really fast. She started coughing and then she couldn’t stop. Turned out she had lung cancer. She never smoked a day in her life and she gets lung cancer. Go figure. They operated on her, and sewed her right up because there was nothing they could do. A week later, she was dead. That was a little over two years ago. After that I became suicidal. I just could not deal with the pain of losing her.”

“Oh my God! No!” Paisley pulled him into her arms and hugged him so tight that she never wanted to let him go.

“Hey, I’m all right now. Really,” he said as he hugged her back. His warm breath caressed her left cheek.

“Andrew came to my rescue and dragged me out of my depression. Dianne was in the insurance business. She had a good life insurance policy on her own life, with me as beneficiary. That left me set for life and so Andrew and I partnered up and bought the lodge.”

Adam’s voice lowered into a softness that she’d not heard before.

“I have new goals now. The lodge gave me something to focus on, and now you’re back in our lives. I’ve never been happier.”

“But you guys are scared that I am going to break your heart again.”

Adam held Paisley tighter and murmured into her left ear.

“Hey, baby. That’s not a reason for you to live your life around how you think we may react if you leave.”

He reached up and gently brushed a finger across her mouth. Such a warm, sweet gesture. She leaned against him, loving the strength of his body pressing against her.

“Paisley, I won’t have you feeling guilty about anything. Everything worked out in the end. We’re older and we’re wiser. We all walk our own paths, even if we walk it together.”

He pulled away and gazed down at her. It had gotten so dark, she could barely see his face, but she noticed the stern set of his lips.

Immediately, Paisley relaxed and knew he was going to be all right. They were all going to be all right.

“I want you to start painting again, Adam. I want you to connect with your true self again.”

“Not to mention you want my awesome paintings hanging in the Art House again?”

A burst of hope filled her.

“Is that a hint?”

“You can have all the paintings in the cabin. And when my muse hits full force again, I’ll start painting and you can have all of them, too.”

“Promise me you will try to get your inner artist back?” She remembered how Adam had lived and breathed through his art. He’d been so happy back then. So carefree.

“Promise,” he replied in a confident voice.

Paisley squealed and threw her arms around Adam’s neck.

“You had me so worried. When Andrew said you’d stopped painting—”

Adam’s warm lips melted over her mouth, stopping her words cold. Pleasure, sweet and addictive, tingled her lips. His hands slipped onto her waist and he held her tight.

Intoxicating sensations whipped through her and she cupped the back of his head, deepening the kiss. They both moaned as they opened their mouths and their tongues clashed with each other. The impact sent shivers of delight through Paisley. She kissed him harder, and noticed Adam was holding back.

Damn him! She wanted more from him. She tried to kiss him harder but cried out as he abruptly pulled his mouth from hers.

“I should stop, before this goes too far,” he whispered. But he didn’t want to. He loved how soft she felt against him. He needed so much more from her. He craved to be inside her. To take her in every way imaginable.

“I don’t want this to stop. I need you. I need both of you,” she whispered.

He blinked, stunned at what he’d heard. Or maybe he’d imagined what she’d just said?

“We might hurt you,” Andrew said. Adam hadn’t even realized Andrew was standing right beside them, watching. Hadn’t even heard him come outside.

“I’ve been wearing a plug,” she whispered.

Holy shit. For real?

“I missed you two. I’ve been preparing myself since right before I opened the Art House. One day, when I took a trip into town to get supplies…I bought some plugs,” she explained.

Yeah, he remembered she’d been gone one day. Had left a note.

“Protection…I don’t have any,” Andrew said. His voice sounded thick with arousal and the sultriness alerted Adam, heightening his senses.

“I’m on the pill. I’m clean. I had myself checked out after I divorced Paul, just to make sure.” Paisley smiled prettily and Adam realized the clouds had disappeared and the moon shone brightly upon them.

“I haven’t been with anyone since my wife,” Adam admitted. He stopped as pain sliced into his heart. He didn’t want to go there right now.

“She was clean. I have no doubt,” he said.

Andrew nodded. “I’m clean too. My wife, bless her evil heart, had a court-ordered health check imposed on me to make sure I wasn’t screwing around on her. She tried to get out of the marriage by making me out to be the bad guy, but she was the one who was being bad. Now, I can say the test has come in handy. I haven’t been with anyone since that test.”

“This conversation is quite romantic. Not. Let’s say we change it to something more appropriate for what’s happening here,” Adam suggested. He lifted his hand and slid the peasant-style kerchief off Paisley’s head allowing her hair to burst free. The moonlight illuminated her gold curls.

Paisley grinned.

“What is happening here?” she asked softly.

She slid her hands against his waist. Although he wore a thick sweater, he felt the burn of her hands through his clothing.

From the corner of his eye, he noticed Andrew heading back to the cabin.

He grinned. Andrew the practical one. Instincts told him that his friend would get the bed ready for them. There would be fresh linen and blankets packed away in a closet. He’d put everything away himself in airtight plastic bags before he’d left the cabin permanently.

“We’re happening, baby. We’re happening,” he whispered.

Paisley whimpered as Adam lifted her into his arms. She smelled so nice. Like wildflowers and paint. A burst of creative inspiration wrapped around him and he almost lost his breath at its intensity. Suddenly, he knew he would paint again. Sooner rather than later. But first he needed to make love to Paisley. He needed to trap her between his and Andrew’s bodies. To claim her as their own. Make her belong to him. Forever.

Andrew’s heart just about cracked through his chest with excitement as he lit a few of the candles set on the shelves and rushed around grabbing the sheets and blankets that had been put into storage in one of the cedar-lined closets. The items were thankfully dry, but a bit chilled. Adam smiled. They’d burn up the sheets soon enough. Only moments ago, before he’d ventured outdoors to check on Paisley and Adam, he hadn’t thought things would spiral so quickly toward sex.

But it was finally happening, and he was grateful.

He’d waited too damned long to get intimate with Paisley. It had been torture, but the wait had been worth it.

Andrew finished making the bed, found the pillows inside another storage closet, and tossed them near the headboard.

He hadn’t anticipated making love to Paisley here, where it all started. But somehow it seemed fitting.

From the countertop, he grabbed the small bottle of vegetable oil. They always brought along a bottle in case they decided to cook up some fresh-caught fish over a lunch campfire along the shore during their fishing trip. The oil would come in handy as lube. He set it on the nightstand beside the bed and his heart warmed as the back door squeaked open. A moment later, Adam walked in carrying Paisley.

She looked so sexy and sweet. Her eyes were heavy-lidded, and they sparked with fire with that gorgeous sensual look that had prompted them to give her the nickname Sparky. Her cheeks were flushed a rosy color, and beneath the flickering glow from the candles, the honey highlights in her hair shone like jewels.

Andrew pulled at his clothing, inhaling at the tension ripping through him as he watched Adam set Paisley on her feet right at the foot of the bed.

She was perfection. She was his. She was finally were she belonged. With them.

Paisley breathed in roughly at the rasping sound of their zippers being lowered. Wow, they looked so hot as they pushed their jeans down over their hips. She knew she should start undressing too, but she just loved watching how the two of them moved with confidence. Like two wild animals who knew what the wanted. And they wanted her.

Her.

She trembled as emotions and feelings she hadn’t felt in way too many years whispered through her.

Self-confidence. Freedom. Sexiness.

“You’re so beautiful, Paisley,” Andrew murmured. His voice was thick and aroused.

He kicked off his shoes and she giggled as he almost fell over when his jeans got tangled around his legs. He growled at her and then winked. Fierce hunger glowed in his eyes. She felt the hunger roar through herself as well.

As Andrew straightened, she gasped at the outline of his heavy cock bulging against his briefs. A moment later, he’d kicked his pants beneath the bed out of the way. He raised his hands and began unbuttoning his shirt, keeping his intense gaze on her.

Adam had already removed his pants and sweater. Muscles bulged in his biceps and burst across his chest as he yanked off his T-shirt. She gazed downward and her eyes widened at the intoxicating outline of his erection, which displayed prominently against his underwear.

Impressive erections. And they belonged to her.

Her. This was all just so unbelievable.

Paisley let out a slow, aroused breath.

Both men had kept themselves physically fit over the years. Their abs were toned and tanned and muscles trembled in their thighs as both men strolled toward her.

“Your turn,” Adam whispered.

He stopped and watched as Andrew stepped in front of her. A seductive grin played across Andrew’s lips as he reached up and slowly unbuttoned her flannel shirt.

“You have no idea how long I have dreamed about doing this with you again,” Andrew murmured as he opened her shirt and then slipped it over her shoulders and off.

“Not as much as I have been dreaming the same thing,” she replied. Her breaths were coming faster. Her mouth was suddenly dry with anticipation.

“You’ve noticed that our Adam still enjoys watching,” Andrew chuckled. He cocked his head toward Adam, who stood nearby gazing at them.

Andrew dipped his fingers beneath the hem of Paisley’s t-shirt and she lifted her arms so he could remove her top. Beneath it, she wore a bra and as Andrew gazed upon it, the tip of his tongue peeked out from between his lips.

Paisley creamed and whimpered, knowing both men would soon be suckling her nipples. Andrew reached behind her and unclasped her bra. The cups fell away, and he slid the straps over her shoulders.

“That was easy. Plenty of experience?” she teased as he tossed aside the bra.

“Only with you from here on out,” Andrew replied. Paisley trembled as Andrew’s gaze pinned to her breasts.

“So beautiful. I’ve missed looking at you,” Adam whispered and stepped closer.

Appreciation glowed in their eyes and then both men lowered their heads.

Paisley jerked and gasped as hot lips encircled her nipples. Tongues licked and laved. Mouths sucked and drew on her tight nubs until her nipples were throbbing peaks and her nerve endings were sparking with pleasure. Callused hands smoothed over her flesh, touching her tenderly, exploring her curves and sending explosive sensations through her.

Paisley moaned and reached down, running her fingertips over their rock-hard abdomens and then slid her hands into their underwear. She wrapped her fingers first around Andrew’s pulsing erection, and then Adam’s solid cock.

Both men groaned and their touches upon her body turned frantic.

“Damn you,” Adam growled. His eyes remained closed as he returned to sucking her nipple, but the sexy grimace on his face told her he was loving her touches. Andrew’s eyes were also closed. He said nothing as he nibbled and sucked. Paisley noted muscles clenched in his jaw as he fought for control.

She smiled and massaged and squeezed the thick columns of their shafts until Andrew and Adam’s breaths came fast and harsh and their cocks jerked against her palms.

“You are as tasty as ever,” Andrew said as he let go of her nipple. A second later, Adam let go too.

Reluctantly, she released each of their shafts as the men moved away and for a few brief seconds she was rocked by disappointment. Suddenly, without her two guys sucking on her body, she was lost.

It was a devastating feeling and she didn’t like it. But it was short-lived as she watched them remove their underwear. She trembled as Andrew’s shaft flushed an angry purple and angled up toward his belly. Adam’s cock was thicker and longer and stuck straight out like a horizontal flagpole.

Adam moved in closer to her, and Paisley whimpered at the dark lust shining in his eyes.

“I feel as if I’ve finally come home,” he murmured as he slid his hands upon her waist.

“Me too,” she answered.

Adam had said exactly what she was feeling. She just hadn’t known how to put her feelings into words. It was as if everything was suddenly right. A piece of herself had been missing and now it was finally falling back into place. Like a finished puzzle. Beautiful and complete.

Paisley needed nothing else in her life. She had the men she loved. She had found her inner girl through her art. She had a business to run.

Warmth and happiness swelled inside her chest. Heat flamed through her. She wanted them. Now.

She leaned nearer to Adam, slid her arms around his waist, pulled him closer and gasped as his cockhead nudged against her vagina. He didn’t penetrate her, so she kissed him, encouraging him to take her. His lips were warm and possessive, and he eagerly opened his mouth thrusting his tongue against her teeth. The gesture sent tingles of awareness zooming through her bloodstream.

Behind her, Andrew leaned his body into hers. He buried his mouth against her neck and nibbled on her flesh until the sweet hurt had her squirming and all her thoughts were spinning away. Then he kissed her bruised flesh, and soothed the heat he’d created by licking his tongue over the sensitized area.

She shivered as Andrew’s hands slipped onto her hips. He gripped her tightly, his fingers digging into her flesh, as he pushed his thick cockhead against her sphincter.

She remembered catching a brief glimpse of the vegetable oil on the night table. That would be the lube he’d used. She moaned into Adam’s mouth as Andrew pressed his lubed shaft into her rear. Her muscles contracted around his thickness and exquisite pressure from Andrew’s penetration had her writhing between the two men.

Wow. This feels good.

Paisley’s breasts tingled and her nipples were ultra-tender as she rubbed them against Adam’s steel-hard chest. Adam smoothed his hands off her waist and smoothed them up and down her arms, then suddenly intertwined his fingers with hers. She whimpered as he massaged her clit with his cockhead. The pressure and rubbing sent pleasure spiraling through her.

He ripped his mouth from hers, his breaths coming hard and fast. His outdoorsy scent made her heady.

“Sparky, you don’t know how much I missed you. When you left, you took a piece of my heart with you. Thank you for coming back and making me whole again,” Adam whispered against her bruised mouth.

Her own heart ached at his words.

Paisley doubted she would ever forgive herself for running off on them. But hopefully with time, it wouldn’t hurt so much whenever they mentioned what she’d done.

Her guilt spiralled away as Andrew withdrew and Adam suddenly thrust into her. His broad cockhead pushed past her tight vaginal muscles, his thick column impaling her. She arched between their hard bodies and gasped as Adam withdrew and Andrew drove his cock into her and also withdrew.

Paisley’s body flooded with pleasure as they both pistoned into her at the same time and stayed there. They held her tight as she gyrated and moaned upon their shafts.

The pressure was intense. Both cocks pulsed and jerked inside her. Her muscles clenched around the intruders, hugged them and held them hostage. They filled her. They claimed her.

“I love you, Paisley,” Andrew muttered against her neck. He licked her flesh, the intimate touch sending an array of tingles right down to her very toes.

“I love you, Sparky,” Adam said in a strangled voice.

She wished she could open her eyes, but they were so heavy-lidded. In answer, she nodded jerkily.

“I love both of you,” she gasped.

Oh, she loved them with her entire heart and being. She wouldn’t be sleeping with them if she didn’t love them. Excitement and pleasure bombarded her at that realization. She felt high, giddy. Yes! She was in love with two men!

Andrew pulled his cock out slowly, then filled her as Adam withdrew.

They quickly fell into a slow, sensuous rhythm. Their combined thrusts created more and more pleasure. Their strokes grew faster, deeper, until they were pumping so hard she could no longer hold the dam of building pleasure.

She exploded. Electrical jolts scrambled through every nerve ending. She twisted between the men, bucked into their hard bodies, eagerly accepting their rigid pistoning erections inside her.

Paisley hadn’t realized she was keening until Adam smoothed his hard lips over hers, catching the sounds into his mouth.

They plunged harder. Faster. Their cocks penetrated to her very core. Their strokes continued. They were well-aimed, insistent and pushed her headlong into a second orgasm, even before the first one had ended.

“Oh my gosh!” she cried out after breaking Adam’s kiss.

As she twisted between their bodies, the pleasure drowning her, Paisley saw sparkles of colors she’d never seen before shifting behind her eyes. Sensations pummeled her. Wave after wave of never ending pleasure embraced her. She fell into a dream. Into another world where nothing existed by carnal euphoria and wicked instincts.

Explosions and shudders raced through her. They drowned her. Made love to her. Teased her and then tossed her around and around, until her old wounded self died, and she was reborn.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity of arousal and desire and lovemaking, Paisley was satiated.

Perspiration covered her. Tender hands smoothed over her trembling flesh, trying to gentle her, to settle her.

Wow, she’d gone somewhere crazy beautiful. She wanted to go there again. And again. And again!

Vaguely she realized they’d put her to bed. When had that happened?

Who cared? She slipped back into her dreamlike state, kept her eyes closed and just felt Andrew and Adam’s hands. Realized they were caressing her with warm, damp wash cloths. Freshening her up.

Such sweet men. Her sweet men.

A sudden grumble of thunder echoed through the cabin.

“Another storm is coming,” Andrew murmured.

“Outside and inside,” Adam chuckled.

“She’s so damned beautiful, isn’t she?” she heard Andrew whisper.

“She’s a jewel,” came Adam’s reply.

Paisley smiled and drifted off into a world of sparkling jewels. She was happy. She finally belonged somewhere. Belonged to two great guys. She just hoped that she wasn’t dreaming all of this.

Nah, it was just too good to be a dream. Too damned good.

* * *

Paisley felt as if she were walking on air when she entered the Art House late the next morning. There was a carefree bounce to her step that she hadn’t felt in years and there were sweet little love bites and bruises on parts of her body that she’d missed having on her flesh.

She’d missed the happiness that soared through her now. The cheerfulness that had once been such an integral part of her when she’d been young and had freed herself of her parents’ restrictive ways was finally back.

Upon awakening with the guys this morning, an awesome overwhelming craving to paint was roaring through her. They’d made love to her again and then after a breakfast of berries and peppermint tea, and with the weather back to Indian summer again, they’d decided to head back before a search party was sent for them.

Paisley was thrilled that her inner girl was back, and was rising within her like a lioness. Soaring like an eagle.

Her pussy pounded with a satisfactory throb as she ascended the stairs to the second floor and placed her knapsack onto the kitchen table.

She smiled. It felt good to be home. Yeah, she really was finally home again. Deep in her heart, Paisley knew she would never leave this magical place again. At least not for long periods of time. She’d never give Andrew and Adam cause for concern that she would leave them.

After a quick lunch of a peanut butter-and-jam sandwich, coffee and an apple, Paisley flipped on her laptop to check her emails. Immediately, she spied an urgent message from Selena.

Paisley’s heart skipped a beat as she read the email. It was about Paul.

Selena had found out that Paul was in jail. He’d beaten his current girlfriend to within an inch of her life down in Alabama. He’d been charged with attempted murder and would most likely spend a long time in prison if convicted.

She didn’t know if she should cry for the poor woman who’d been unlucky enough to hook up with him, or punch the air with anger that she herself had never had the balls to come forward and press charges against him during the times he’d used her as his punching bag.

Selena had also given her a contact phone number in case Paisley wanted to talk to the police and give them information about her experiences with Paul.

Shivers of fear coursed through her as she thought about testifying against Paul with him in the same room. But the fear quickly turned to defiance. She grabbed the phone and dialed the number Selena had given.