Her jaw dropped open. “Your father thinks you’re gay? Well, why don’t you tell him the truth?”
Naïve little thing. “I tried, sweetheart. He was done with me the minute the story made the rounds. My family has a long and storied career of military service. A Miles has died in every war this country has fought since the War of 1812. He would rather I had taken a grenade to the gut in Afghanistan than get discharged. My brothers agree with him. They have their happy, vanilla lives, and they no longer acknowledge the pervert in the family.”
“What about your mom?”
He wasn’t sure his mom would have made a difference. He barely remembered her. She was a picture on a wall, a pretty woman who seemed so proud to be standing next to her officer husband. Would she have stood by him? He doubted it. “She died when I was five. Cancer. Dad remarried, but Justine didn’t want to have much to do with us kids. We were all sent to boarding school. I didn’t live at home after I was seven years old. I expected to have a long-term military career. Except I discovered I liked sharing. Apparently the Army isn’t hip to what’s hot in erotic romance.”
Her hands came up to cup his shoulders. “Adam, I’m so sorry to hear that.”
He took advantage. He pulled her in for a hug. He would take what he could get, and if her sympathy got his foot back in the door, he wouldn’t feel a moment’s remorse. “I never fit in, Serena. When I would go home, my dad would accuse me of being queer because I spent too much time on clothes or I liked to wear my hair longer than a buzz cut. Hell, the fact that I liked to read books made my father question my sexuality. Jake fit in better with my family than I did. I took him home with me on leave once and my dad asked why I couldn’t be more like Jake. I was a fucking commando and I wasn’t masculine enough for my dad. He accused me of ruining Jake.”
“Your dad was an asshole.” Jake stood behind them, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt.
“Yeah, well, it looks like it runs in the family.” Adam took a deep breath and pulled away, looking down into Serena’s eyes. “I fucked up. I can’t top you the way Jake does. I don’t want to. I prefer to do the small things. I’m not this badass Dom.”
She looked up at him, her eyes warm again. She pushed back his hair, her fingers running through it with affection. “I don’t want you to be. I want you to be Adam. I want you to plan my day and force me to eat something I didn’t microwave. I want you both for different reasons, but I’m scared now. I’m scared that jealousy is always going to be here.”
“I had a bad moment, Serena. I don’t have many of them.” He looked back at Jake. “Have I ever acted like this over a woman in the whole time we’ve been sharing? What would I have done if I’d found you screwing Grace?”
Jake moved behind Serena, trapping her between their bodies, proving that his instincts were always spot on. “You probably would have done a happy dance, but then I knew Grace wasn’t the one for us. I can’t say the same about this one. And I think that’s the problem. You know she’s right for us. You’re worried she’s going to choose between us and that you’ll come up on the losing end.”
“I won’t choose.” Serena’s mouth firmed into a stubborn line, but Adam noticed that she didn’t try to get away. She sort of snuggled in as though she knew it was exactly where she belonged. “I won’t come between you two. Adam, you better make the decision. I can’t handle another scene like that one. And I can’t spend all my time worried that I’m pissing one of you off.”
Jake leaned in, rubbing his cheek against her hair. “I think we can work it out. Now, can we take this home?”
Adam liked the sound of that. And he rather liked Serena’s pretty little house. He had a house of his own purchased with trust fund money his father hadn’t been able to touch, but Serena’s house had character. He should start slowly moving his and Jake’s things in. By the time the assignment was over, they would have firmly established themselves in Serena’s life and her home and she wouldn’t even realize it until it was too late and he’d put a ring on her finger and Jacob had put a collar around her neck.
Stealth. Stealth would win this particular battle. It had already worked with Jake. Adam looked down at Serena. He had some serious groveling to do. Luckily, he was good at it. He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers, happy that she didn’t pull away. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
She sniffled a little, but her smile was bright. “Okay. Don’t do it again. I asked Jake to just be honest with me. I can handle a lot. I’m not fragile. I want honesty, and if you decide to leave, I want some kindness.”
He wasn’t going to leave, so that was an easy promise.
They broke apart, Adam taking Serena’s hand. Jake opened the door to the club, and they all walked outside. The night air was slightly cool and the parking lot was darker than it usually was. When they had arrived, the whole thing had been lit up. Sanctum was a small club. It was also private. There was no neon sign pointing the way in. Ian had bought and renovated an old warehouse. From the street, it looked like an industrial space. The parking lot was blocked off to anyone who didn’t have the code, but it was on the street. It would be easy to walk into. Especially if it was dark.
“Is the light out?” Jake asked, looking up at the streetlights. It appeared the whole lot was dark.
Adam looked up and down the street. It was usually relatively quiet at this time of night, but it felt dead silent now. Every now and then a car would pass, but they were on a side street. Ian preferred it. It was less conspicuous. Adam caught sight of the SIG Jake always carried. He reached into his shoulder holster and pulled his own. Something was off.
“What’s going on?” Serena asked, her voice a mere whisper.
Even that was too much for Jake. He held his hand up in a single fist, silently telling Adam to go as quiet as possible. Jake pointed to himself and then made a circle with his fist. He was going to do a sweep, but he wanted Adam to remain here. Adam nodded then pulled Serena closer, his hand around her waist. He leaned over, putting his mouth to her ear.
“It’s probably nothing, but you stay close to me. Jake is going to check everything out.” Adam was well aware that his job was to protect Serena. If Jake caught sight of something funky, he would give Adam the signal to hustle her back inside while he investigated. Adam had learned long ago to trust Jake’s instincts. Those instincts had saved their whole platoon on more than one occasion.