Page 29 of Theirs to Keep

“Shut the fuck up, Jamison. I’m not a giant and I know how to talk.” Travis took a long swig of his beer knowing that the guys were going to give him some shit.

Ash clapped his shoulder, “She is pretty, and I think that she digs our lifestyle.” Travis must have looked as shocked as he felt judging from the way both guys chuckled at him.

“I know it’s surprising to find anyone with an open mind in this little town but Dr. Jude sure does ask a lot of questions about polyamorous relationships. She and Regan have become pretty good friends, you know. They talk all the time. Maybe we could have our girl put in a good word with the pretty doctor for you. Who knows, maybe Emily is into giants.” Jamison laughed at his own words, but Travis didn’t find him quite as funny.

“Yeah, yeah. I get it, you two laugh it up but I’m already seeing someone. He lives a town over, where people are a little more open-minded. Besides, we haven’t been going out long and I’d like to see where our relationship goes.” Travis knew that he was being a bit premature calling what he and Jackson had a relationship. They met at a little gay bar two towns over, and Jackson asked him out. They had been on two dates officially and Travis liked him. To add the proverbial icing to the cake, Jackson Saint was a police officer, and he looked extra hot in his uniform. Travis wasn’t ready to call it quits with Jack just yet even if Emily turned him completely inside out just by flashing him her gorgeous smile. He wasn’t one to date on the side, either. He always tried to be on the up and up with the people hewent out with. The first night that he met Jack he told him that he was bi and that he liked women. Jackson felt the same way and once they agreed to go out, Travis stopped looking. Or at least he had stopped looking until Emily Jude crossed his path. If he was being honest, he noticed Emily long before meeting Jack but that still didn’t make the timing suck.

“Well, from the questions that Emily has asked Regan, she might just be into you and this new guy doing a little sharing,” Ash winked at him and grabbed a sandwich from the platter that Jamison pulled out of the fridge. “Couldn’t hurt to at least think about it.”

Fuck, that was all Travis was going to think about now, all night long. He was probably going to need at least five cold showers to get the image of Jackson, Emily, and him rolling around in bed together, out of his mind.

“Yeah, thanks for that mental image,” Travis barked. His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out. It was a message from Jackson, he wanted to get together after his shift tonight and the thought of the three of them in bed flashed through Travis’s mind again. He shot back a message with his address telling Jack to bring a six-pack and he’d make dinner. He knew that things were moving fast between the two of them, but he was ready to find someone to share his life with. If that someone happened to be a hot police officer, then so be it. Travis was ready for more and hopefully; Jackson Saint could be that for him.

Emily

Emily decided to stop back by her town home on her way to the hospital. She was sure that her patient would be in labor for a bit longer. The first-time mother, like all new moms, was a little over exuberant in her showing up at Emily’s office demanding to be checked. She had been in to see her every day for the last week. Emily wanted to tell her to shut up and go home, that her baby would come when he or she was good and ready but that would be unethical. She was already treading thin ice with the hospital HR department for spending too much time with each patient as if that was a bad thing. She knew that she was obsessed with making sure that every one of her patients had the proper care and instructions before sending them on their way. It was just who she was, both in her professional and personal lives. Her mother used to take her to therapy, always thinking that Emily needed to be fixed because of her attention to detail. It was ironic how that same focus was what made her an excellent doctor, one of the best in town. She had a waiting list of women who wanted an appointment with her, but Emily only had so many hours in a day.

Her mother swore that she would work herself into an early grave if she didn’t learn to take some time off and enjoy life. But that would require Emily to have a life to enjoy. Besides her best friend Mercy and her new friend Regan, she had no one. Her parents moved to Europe about four years back leaving her feeling a little lost and very alone. She was an only child, so she was used to being by herself. Her parents traveled extensively while she was growing up, often leaving her with the housekeeper or nanny. They were self-absorbed and didn’t let having a child hold them back from doing exactly what they wanted to do.

Meeting Regan Travers-Black opened her eyes to a whole new world. Regan had told her about her lonely childhood and finding the two men that she now called her husbands. Emily could relate to her on many levels and although Emily’s childhood was privileged compared to Regan’s, she had felt just as alone and frightened as Regan had growing up. She found herself asking question after question about her friend’s lifestyle, even embarrassingly personal questions under the guise of being a curious doctor. The truth of the matter was that Emily found herself yearning to find just one man who would look at her the way Regan’s husbands looked at her friend. She was one lucky girl and now she was pregnant with her second baby while Emily could only dream of having a family. But, she decided a long time ago that she didn’t want to go it alone. Sure, she could take advantage of the advances in medical science and get pregnant without a man, but she wanted the whole fairy tale. The problem was, she wasn’t sure that she even believed in those silly stories anymore.

Emily’s phone rang and she answered it knowing that it was probably Mercy doing her daily check-in call. “Hello,” she shouted into the speaker while pulling her shirt up over her head. She needed to change into scrubs and get a move on. Thehospital had paged her twice more asking when she was going to be in. She could only put them off for so long since she was the doctor on call for the weekend.

“Hey girl,” Mercy’s southern drawl always made her laugh. They grew up in the same town yet her best friend found a way to sound so much more southern than Emily. Maybe it was the fact that she attended college in New England and dropped some of her accent or maybe it was her friend’s way of getting attention.

“What’s up Mercy?” She didn’t mean to sound so short, but she was pulling on her pants and about ready to head back out the door. She brushed through her long blond hair pulling it back into a slick ponytail. Emily made a face at herself in the mirror deciding that she didn’t have time to splash on any makeup. It didn’t matter though, women in labor didn’t give a fuck if she looked pretty or not.

“Well, judging from your tone you are on call this weekend and you still have not gotten laid.” Emily barked out her laugh at just how right her best friend was. Not only had she not gotten laid recently but it had also been a long time since she was with anyone. Her girl parts were about ready to go on strike if she didn’t find a man and soon.

“Yes, I’m on call. I’m leaving now. And no. I’ve not gotten laid and thank you for reminding me that I’m on the longest dry spell of my life.” Emily pulled on her shoes and grabbed her bag that she kept by the front door. She always packed a few essentials for the hospital and kept them on hand.

“Literally,” Mercy laughed. Emily recounted her words trying to figure out what she said that was funny.

“Okay, what did I say?” Mercy was always finding hidden dirty double meanings in everything. It was hard for Emily to keep up sometimes. Honestly, her friend had the dirtiest mind out of anyone that Emily had met.

“Dry spell,” Mercy squeaked, cracking herself up all over again. Emily rolled her eyes and locked up her townhouse.

“Kay, I’m hanging up now.” Emily knew that hanging up on Mercy was a bad idea. The last time she did that Mercy showed up at the hospital with a pillow shoved up her shirt pretending to be in labor just to get into see Emily and give her an earful about how polite friends don’t hang up on each other.

“I know that you learned your lesson last time, Em. Besides, I wanted to see how your trip out to Regan’s went.” Emily smiled. She loved that her two friends liked each other. She introduced Regan to Mercy a few months back since Regan was so new to town. She had a rough start with the locals giving her some shit about sleeping with two men at once. Their little town was so backwards that sometimes it felt like they were living in a different time.

“It went great. Well, you know she’s pregnant again and little Star is amazing,” Emily gushed. “Ash and Jamison are over the moon about the news of the new baby.” She audibly sighed and decided that swooning over something that she might never have was a good way to foul her mood.

“If it went so great then why do you seem so pouty?” Mercy’s question had her drawing back as if she reached through the phone and slapped her.

“I’m not pouty,” she grumbled but it was no use, her friend knew her too well.

“Em, I can hear your bottom lip sticking out over the line. You are most definitely pouting.” Emily slid into her driver’s seat and checked her reflection in the rear-view mirror. Yep, she was pouting, although she wouldn’t admit that to Mercy. Hearing her gloat wasn’t on Emily’s itinerary for the night.

“Listen, if you don’t want to tell me about tall, blond, and sexy with all those tattoos and crystal baby blues, that’s fine. A real friend would have shared the dirty details though.” Mercylaughed at the dramatic way Emily sucked in air. How in the hell did Mercy know about Travis Sharp? She never mentioned him even though she saw him every time that she made a house call to Regan’s.Ahh.

“You talked to Regan this afternoon, didn’t you?” That would explain everything. The pair of them were always trying to fix Emily up with someone so that had to be it.

“It deeply hurts me that I had to hear about this second hand, Em. I thought that the two of us were tight, but I guess if I want the gossip I’ll need to talk to my new bestie, Regan.” Emily sighed at Mercy’s overly dramatic scolding. Sure, she should have told her friend about the sexiest damn man that she had ever laid eyes on, but she wasn’t about to do anything about Travis Sharp, so telling Mercy and especially Regan would have been pointless.

“He seemed like a nice guy and that is all—nothing to tell, Mercy.” She shrugged as if silently driving home her point. She wanted to believe her lie but she had seen Travis up close and personal. When he touched her hand she wanted to fall at his feet and beg him to do whatever he wanted to with her. Since the last time she saw him, he had grown a beard and Lord have mercy, he was fine. The way his short-sleeved shirt tugged around his biceps; she almost couldn’t make eye contact when Regan introduced her to him. She was too busy looking at all his muscles and the full tattoo sleeve that he had up one arm. Emily wanted to spend the next few days with Travis naked in bed, finding out what every inked mark on his body meant but she was a chicken. She ran away as soon as her damn pager sounded and didn’t give herself or him a chance.

“Regan thinks he might like you, Em,” Mercy mock whispered. Emily couldn’t help her laugh.

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