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“Annie, tell us about what you plan for the winter.”

  Anna launched into a description of exactly what she planned to

  do with her time. Lee sipped from his glass and thought about what it meant that she had arrived in their lives. He was a strong believer that things happened for a reason. Had Anna been sent to them because she needed their help to heal? Or was it the other way around?

  A little while later Anna gave them both a smile then nodded to

  the clock over the top of the kitchen door. “I should get going.”

  “I’ll drive you back,” Jack said.

  She shook her head. “I’d prefer to walk.”

  “Not this late.”

  “I don’t want to drag you out.”

  Jack stood up. “I insist. Let me go and grab my jacket and my

  keys. I’ll bring the truck around front.”

  He nodded to Lee and headed out of the room. Lee stood too and

  held his hand out to Anna. When she took it his heart clenched. Her hand was tiny, dwarfed in his.

  “I enjoyed tonight,” he said.

  She smiled again. “Thank you for a lovely evening, Lee.”

  “I hope it won’t be the last.”

  “The cottage is small, but next time you could come to me. I’d

  welcome the opportunity to cook a real meal.”

  “We’d love to,” Lee said, jumping on her invitation. “When were

  you thinking?”

  “Erm…maybe Saturday?”

  “Then it’s a date. Come on, I’ll see you to the door.”

  Once there, Lee passed Anna her rain coat. She shrugged it on

  and zipped it up. Her hair was caught in the back of it and she made to try and move it. Lee couldn’t help himself. He reached out and

  gathered her locks in his hands and pulled them free.

  “There.”

  When she looked up at him, and even in the low light of the

  hallway, Lee could see the color on her cheeks. He wanted to kiss her.

  Wanted to crush her against him and plunder those lips of hers…and yet…Lee knew he could not. Not yet. Not until he had spoken with Jack.

  “I feel like I’m repeating myself,” Anna said as she pulled the

  front door open. “But thank you.”

  “It was fun for us to have you round.”

  “For me too,” she said. “First time in a long while.”

  “It gets easier, Anna.”

  “Lee…”

  He sighed. “I don’t want to overstep my bounds or make you feel

  uncomfortable. But it does. Not straight away, but a little bit each day and before you know it you’re finding pleasure in things again.

  Before too long the pleasurable moments outweigh the dark ones.”

  “I know,” she whispered. “I can already feel that happening, the little moments I mean. And it wasn’t like this was a surprise for me. I knew I was going to lose her.” She paused. “Being here for the winter isn’t about hiding myself away. That’s what everyone in the city thought. But it’s not. It’s about taking some time. Time to remember her. Time to figure out what I’m going to do with myself. Does that make sense?”

  “It does,” Lee said. “I think maybe Jack and I had the same idea at first. This place though…it gets a grip on you. You get used to waking up to the view. You get used to wandering the grounds.

  Before you know it the idea of returning to the chaos of the city seems like a crazy idea.”

  “I won’t have a choice,” she whispered. “Not once winter is

  over.”

  “Perhaps not. But you never know. The unexpected can happen

  really easily out here.” He paused. “This place takes you away from yourself. Let’s you feel things that you never really felt before.”

  Anna inhaled sharply. Lee looked at her, wondering exactly what

  she had taken from his words that had startled her. “I—”

  The sound of the truck pulling round halted the question that Lee wanted to ask. It was not a question he should be asking though. Not now. Not so soon. “Go,” he said instead. “You’re getting cold.”

  “Thanks again.”

  “I’ll see you soon, Anna,” Jack said, and he meant it.

  Chapter Eight

  The drive back from Annie’s hadn’t taken long, but it had been

  long enough that Jack had noticed things that he hadn’t even

  considered before. The cottage really was isolated. Annie was all on her own over there without so much as a security light in case she needed to walk their way for help. He thought about the supplies in his various outbuildings and decided that it wouldn’t take too much to put something together. Maybe one light on the front, another on the back, and perhaps he should think about some sort of gate at the end of the dirt road?

  He wasn’t hugely worried that Annie was in any real danger,

  there hadn’t been any crime that Jack was aware of in their area as long as they had lived on their land, but still, he didn’t like the thought of her all by herself.

  You like the thought of her here with you. Preferably in your bed.

  He frowned at that thought and hung his jacket up. Annie’s floral scent still lingered in the hallway. Jack suspected he’d smell it for days. He didn’t mind that thought because yes, there was no denying it, he wanted Annie.

  She was beautiful, more than that she was interesting. Jack had

  enjoyed watching her eat, enjoyed talking with her. In fact, he

  couldn’t remember enjoying a night half as much in quite some time.

  He had no doubt that his friend was thinking along exactly the

  same lines.

  What Annie was thinking Jack did not know.

  He walked into the kitchen to find Lee sat at the table. The dinner things had been cleared away and instead a decanter and two glasses were on the table, along with the tin of cookies that Annie had

  brought. Jack dropped into one of the chairs and filled both glasses.

  He took a healthy swallow and looked at his friend.

  “Come on then,” he said. “One of us might as well say it.”

  “Say what?” Lee asked.

  Jack sighed. “Don’t be a dick.”

  “She’s pretty.”

  “She’s more than pretty,” Jack said. “She’s beautiful.”

  Lee shrugged. “I guess.”

  But his words did not fool Jack. He knew Lee well enough to

  know exactly what the other man was thinking. It had not escaped Jack’s attention that Lee had spent the majority of their dinner watching Annie.

  Lee wanted her.

  Jack did too.

  This was something they were going to have to figure out.

  “You guess?” Jack asked. “Lee, you always were a sucker for a

  damsel in distress.”

  “Is that what she is?”

  He nodded and took another swig of the fiery liquid. “You know

  it is. She’s like one of the women from your paintings. I can see the pain there, right behind her eyes. I’ve no doubt you can see it too.”

  Lee grabbed his own glass and downed the contents. “Yeah. I

  can. I said as much to her in the studio.”

  “You want her.”

  “Jack…”

  “You do.”

  For a moment Jack thought that Lee wasn’t going to answer. He

  leaned forward so that his elbows were on the table and nudged the cookie tin. “It’s been a long time since a woman has had me thinking things like that,” he said slowly.

  “Sex?”

  “Not sex.” He undid the clasp of the cookie tin and pushed the lid open. It fell back, releasing a scent that was all Annie. Vanilla and chocolate and something else, something indefinable. “I’ve done

  plenty of that since we came home,” Lee added. “Maybe too much.

  But Anna?” He frowned. “She’s not a quic
k fuck type of woman.”

  “What is she then?” Jack asked.

  Lee took a cookie out of the tin and rubbed the edge of it between his fingers. The flaky material crumbled on to the table. “She’s like these,” he said. “Soft, delicate, vulnerable.” He paused and looked Jack right in the eye. “But yes, you’re right, I want her.”

  Jack sighed. “You’re not the only one.”

  “You were never a knight in shining armor.”

  “I know.”

  “Then what?”

  “She’s not just delicate and vulnerable,” Jack said. “She’s sexy as fucking hell. That dress…those eyes…that hair…”

  “I don’t think she even realizes that,” Lee said. “The way she

  described her upbringing…surrounded by a bunch of older ladies…”

  “She must have had relationships with people her own age.”

  “I don’t know,” Lee said. “But one thing I am sure of, she doesn’t have much experience with men. I realized that just as she was

  leaving. Did you pick up on how nervous she was? I helped her into her coat and she went bright red.”

  “Maybe it’s because of her recent loss? The nerves, I mean.”

  “No,” Lee said. “She’s inexperienced. I’m almost positive of it.”

  Silence settled between the two men. Jack took the opportunity to finish then refill his drink before looking down at Annie’s cookie tin.

  The cookies were laid out in neat little rows. From what Jack could tell some were chocolate, some had nuts. She’d catered for all

  possible tastes. Those cookies fit Annie’s personality to a tee. Though he barely knew her yet Jack had picked up plenty from their

  conversation. She had nursed her Grand right to the end. She’d set up her own small business though he doubted she needed the money. She was conscientious, thoughtful…in short, she had many of the qualities that appealed to him in a woman. Add in the drop dead gorgeous and was it any wonder he was struggling?

  “So what do we do here?” he eventually said. “We both want her,

  albeit for different reasons.”

  Lee snorted. “I don’t think this is going to be a best man wins

  sort of situation.”

  “No. Not at all.”

  “Maybe we should keep our distance?”

  Jack thought about how it had felt to have her sat next to him in the truck. Her quiet presence, her floral scent… “I don’t know if I can.”

  “You’re that far gone already, Jack?”

  “I’m close.”

  Lee frowned and refilled his own glass. “Me too.”

  “She might not be interested in either of us.”

  He shook his head. “No. She is.”

  “You’re sure about that?”

  “When we were in the studio…” Lee shrugged. “I saw it. There

  was a flare of interest. Not sure if she knows it herself, but it was there.”

  “I thought I saw it too,” Jack said. “When we were in the

  kitchen.”

  “So you think she likes both of us?”

  “Why not?” he asked. “We’re pretty alike.”

  “So let her choose?”

  Jack nodded. “I guess that is the only option.”

  They each took another swig of their drinks. “Is this going to

  cause a problem between us?” Lee asked.

  “No,” Jack said, and he meant that, had not even considered the

  possibility. “Our friendship runs too deep for that.”

  “Too deep for a woman to come between us, even someone like

  Anna.”

  “Exactly.”

  “It’s a shame that…” Lee halted. “Never mind.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing. Something stupid. I was thinking it’s a shame we can’t press a button and have two of her. Two Annas.”

  “Like twins?”

  “Yeah, except…” He waved a hand. “It’s not just about her

  looks.”

  “No. It’s not.”

  “Well we can’t share her,” Lee said. “That would be…” He

  trailed off and shook his head.

  Jack looked into his drink, Lee’s words making him pause.

  Suddenly, and out of nowhere, he was envisioning a situation where they were both able to spend time with her, both able to touch and stroke her. Unsurprisingly, that thought did not make him jealous. Lee was his best friend. His happiness mattered as much to Jack as his own. “We can’t…”

  “No, of course not,” Lee said quickly. “But if we did, not saying we would, but if we did, would that be such a bad thing?”

  “How do you mean?”

  “She’s hurting,” Lee said. “She’s, like you said, delicate. We

  could help heal her.”

  “With sex?”

  “Not just sex,” he said. “She’s here for the entire winter. We’re here too. We could spend time together, have fun…”

  “And fuck?”

  Lee grinned. “Yeah, that too.”

  “This is a crazy idea,” Jack said but already, almost as if he

  couldn’t not, he was considering Lee’s idea. He imagined taking

  Annie out for a picnic in the woods she loved. He thought about he and Lee having her round for meals, maybe taking her into the city.

  They could talk, laugh, eat. His and Lee’s relationship was such that they were completely at ease in one another’s company. Maybe Annie would fit into that dynamic too. Maybe she would do so far easier than he could envision. And it would mean that neither man would have to compete for her attention. Neither of them would be left feeling like they had missed out.

  Here, in the middle of nowhere, there would be no one to judge,

  no one to suggest that the three of them together would be wrong.

  And it wouldn’t be wrong, Jack thought. They’d all lost things that mattered to them, every one of them was aware how fleeting life

  really was, how quickly it could all be taken away. If finding some love and passion together was a possibility why not at least explore it?

  “Is it really that crazy?” Lee asked, almost as if he was reading Jack’s thoughts. “Considering that we’ve already been deemed such by pretty much everyone we know.”

  “I don’t know, my friend.” Jack shook his head. “It would all

  depend on what Anna thinks.”

  “I’m sure we could bring her way around to our way of thinking.

  We’re a pretty charming pair when it comes right down to it.”

  Jack laughed, because in reality they were not. “I’m sure we

  could.”

  “So, shall we at least explore the possibility?” Lee asked. “If

  that’s what she wants? Shall we make the offer?”

  The two of them wooing her…making her happy…easing that

  pain in her eyes…

  “Yes,” Jack said. “We shall.”

  Chapter Nine

  When the doorbell rang Anna’s heart hitched almost all the way

  to her throat. She cast the sitting room a quick glance and then hurried in to the kitchen. The coffee machine was already gurgling away, and the oven was busy finishing off their meal.

  She paused to make sure the pans were still on low heat and then took a deep breath.

  Jack and Lee were here.

  Outside the door.

  And she was excited about that fact.

  For Anna that feeling was something to be cherished. Anything

  that broke up the dark cloud that hung over her, or the ache in her heart, was something to be grateful for. Add in the fact that the two hottest males she had ever met were the ones causing it…

  She exhaled slowly, patted her hair into place and then walked to the door. She could hear them laughing and talking on the other side.

  Seemed they were as pleased to be here as she was to have them.

  An
na opened the door and shot them both a smile. “Hi.”

  They smiled back. “Hey, Annie,” Jack said.

  “Anna.”

  Lee held out a bunch of flowers. Anna knew immediately that

  they were wild flowers, could tell from not only the look of them, but because they grew in the forest where she took her walks. In truth, there were very few flowers in the mix, mostly there were just bits of greenery, but then this was winter and flowers were few and far

  between. Anna took them with shaking hands. The idea that Lee had tramped into the woods to pick these for her made her heart ache in a completely new way. She was touched. More than that she was

  pleased.

  “Thank you, Lee,” she said. “These are beautiful.”

  Jack held something out too. It was a bottle of wine, red by the looks of it. “From my own collection,” he said.

  Anna thanked him and took it with her free hand then stepped

  aside to allow them into the kitchen. She shut the door behind them and was immediately aware of just how cramped the kitchen was with them inside.

  “I have coffee ready,” she said. “To start I mean.”

  Jack nodded. Lee gestured to the stove. “Is there anything we can do to help?”

  “No,” Anna said. “Go through to the sitting room instead. I’ll

  bring coffee in. You can enjoy it while I ready the first course.”

  “Course?”

  She grinned. “I’ve gone all out. We’re having a three course

  meal.”

  “Then we’ll do as you say.”

  Both men ambled off to the sitting room. Anna noted that they

  were dressed in jeans, just like the last time she’d seen them, and once again, their tops differed. Jack wore a checked blue shirt. Lee wore a brown sweater. They both looked fantastic.

  She shook her head, more to put her thoughts in order than

  anything else, and sorted out their coffees. It was hot in the kitchen with everything on but Anna was wearing a thin floral dress, so she wasn’t too bothered by it. She’d regret it later though. It didn’t matter how hot the downstairs was the upstairs was often really cold. Anna had taken to wearing layers upon layers when she went to bed. It was probably due to the fact that the cottage did not have a heating system. The fire seemed to be the main source, followed by the small space heaters in each room. But Anna didn’t want to leave the upstairs ones running. It seemed wasteful.

  She took the two coffees into the sitting room…halting before