The rest of the day was playfully lazy. They ate, they drank, they swam, they spent a lot of time talking. But Jon couldn’t bring himself to tell Oriana about her plane. Obviously, Jordan couldn’t either. Oh, they had plenty of opportunities, but it seemed that every time a decent opening occurred, he and Jordan would hesitate, and like that, the moment would pass.
Now they lay silent under the afternoon sun, relaxing. Ori, with eyes closed and small smile, lay sprawled between Jon and Jordan like a content cat. He glanced over her to where Jordan was, capturing his brother’s gaze. Jordan nodded, silently conveying his support.
It was now or never.
“Ori, I need to tell you something.”
She opened her eyes and turned her head to look at him. “Do I detect a note of doom?”
“Yeah, um… Well, I’ll just come out and say it—”
“Wait,” Jordan interjected. “Do you really love us? Could you find it in your heart to forgive us if we wronged you?”
Oriana leaned up on her elbows. “Yes, I think I do—I’m sure I do love you. And yes, I would most likely forgive you. But what is this all about?”
“We lied to you,” Jon said quietly. “About your plane.”
“It’s not broken,” Jordan added.
She darted her gaze between them. “You fixed it?”
“No, it wasn’t broken to begin with.” Jordan sat up. “It works just fine. Jon even took it for a test flight—”
“I assure you, it was broken. I had to make an emergency landing. You must have done something to fix it.”
Jon sat up as well. “No, we didn’t. But Ori, that’s not the point. The point is we lied to you about it—well, not so much to you as to Jack because we didn’t want him to send you away, but still. You’ve stayed here because you thought you had no way home.”
“I stayed because I wanted to. Plane or not, I could have demanded that you call for help. I could have had someone come and pick me up.”
“But Jordan said you didn’t want to draw attention to us—”
“And did Jordan tell you that I also said I wanted to hang out here for a while?”
Jon nodded.
“There you go. I’m here because I want to be here.”
“But we lied—”
“Ah, to hell with it,” she said, waving him off. She lay back down and closed her eyes again.
Jon looked at his brother, who just shrugged.
“To hell with it?” Jon asked.
“Sure. You lied. You told me. You’re forgiven.” She smiled. “No big deal.”
He just stared at her, stunned. “That’s it?”
She opened her eyes again. “What? Do you want me to be mad?”
“Not want, per se,” he said slowly. “Just expected, I guess. Wow, Ori. You’re so cool.”
She rolled over to her side, propping her head up on her hand. “And had I been mad? Then what? What would you have done?”
“Apologized profusely, begged for your forgiveness, taken you back to your plane if you wanted, or if you chose to remain, spent the rest of your time here trying to make it up to you.”
“So more pampering?”
“Yeah,” Jon chuckled.
Oriana sat up. “You two pamper me enough. If I get pampered any more, I’ll end up a spoiled brat and Jack might end up spanking me like some naughty little girl.”
“Jack likes being a disciplinarian,” Jordan said.
“Wait until we tell him about the plane,” Jon muttered. “Then you get to see both of us dunked in hot water.”
“Really? You get spanked too?” She laughed. “Oh, my God! That’s too hilarious. I can’t imagine it!”
“No, instead he’ll dock our pay and make us do menial chores on our time off.”
“If he’s that bad, then why work for him?”
Jordan shrugged. “He’s not bad. He’s very honest and fair. A good boss. Pays well, gives bonuses, doesn’t take advantage of us, gives time off when we need it. As for the penalties when Jon or I mess up, he’s the dominant male, the den leader, and unless Jon or I could win a—”
“What my brother means,” Jon interrupted, “is that Jack is the eldest. We were raised in a clan-type environment, and still follow those traditions. Jack is the head of our family unit. He leads, we follow.”
“Wow. I didn’t think people still did that. So who punishes Jack when he does something wrong?”
“He doesn’t do anything wrong.” Jordan shook his head. “Ever.”
“Yeah, the man is so straight-laced I doubt he’s even jaywalked before.”
“He has to be that way.” Jordan explained. “He must set the example for the family—even as small as ours is at the moment. But we’re hoping you’ll join it.”
“Careful, Jordan,” Ori giggled. “I might think you’re proposing to me.”
“And if we were, would you say yes?” Jon asked.
She erupted into laughter again. “Sure! Why not? Let’s go to the courthouse right now. I’ll marry you both.”
“Damn, Ori. You don’t have to be sarcastic,” his brother mumbled.
Tsking, she reached over and put her hand over his Jordan’s. “I wasn’t being sarcastic, I was being facetious. And I thought you were being hypothetical for the fun of it. However, if you want to talk serious, I couldn’t marry you anyway. Not because I don’t want to or I don’t love you, or because we’ve only known each other for a little over a week—though I know you two better than my ex-fiancé, who I dated for years. The problem lies with a society that doesn’t allow a woman to marry multiple men. The law frowns on bigamy.”
Smiling again, Jordan waved her concern off. “Oh, that’s not a problem. You’d only be ‘legally’ married to one of us—Jack, since he’s the eldest.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Oh, wow…well…um… You know, I don’t think Jack feels that way about me. I think he’s fond of me, but not the way you two are.” She squeezed Jordan’s hand. “But hey, I’ll tell you what. If he ever asks, I’ll say yes.”
Before his brother could respond, Ori removed her hand. “Can I ask you a personal question?”
He nodded.
“Why only one woman for three men? You and your brothers are like every woman’s fantasy. I can’t believe you all couldn’t find a separate woman for each of you.”
“It has become a necessary implementation for our safety—of our secrets,” Jordan offered cryptically.
“You’re cyberspies, right?”
“Ah…”
Rolling her eyes, Ori tapped the bottom of Jordan’s chin so he’d shut his open mouth. “I’m not as oblivious as I seem. I just didn’t press the issue.”
“What would make you think we’re cyberspies?” Jordan croaked.
“Um, you live in a decked-out military bunker in the middle of nowhere. Besides seeing all the hi-tech equipment inside and out of it, Jack implied you all were hackers. I also saw the various government files in Jonathan’s desk…” She then leaned forward, fluttering her eyes, and whispered with a note of awe, “Do you really know how to read all those languages?”
Jon realized that Ori was very good at enchanting his brother. She managed to disarm Jordan of his unease in record time.
“Actually, between my brothers and me, we’re only fluent in ten languages,” Jordan explained. “But I’ve invented a program that translates data as we troll—”
“And this is exactly why it’s safer to have the kind of household we are trying to implement,” he broke in flatly, glaring at Jordan in mild exasperation.
Jon turned his attention to Ori. “To answer your question on why one woman instead of three… Imagine how hard it would be for the three of us to each find someone we’re attracted to, could fall in love with, who is also trustworthy, who would accept us for who and what we are, who’d be willing to live in seclusion and secrecy, and would have a caring, friendly personality that allows them to get along with everyone else in the household without turning our home into the bickering plotline of a reality show.”
“And you think it’d be easier to find one woman who met all those requirements and be willing to live and love and have a relationship with three men?”
“You’re here, aren’t you?”
She shook her head. “I haven’t met all your requirements. Jack cares about me, is attracted to me, but he…he doesn’t love me.”
“Yes he does,” he and Jordan replied in unison.
“He told you that?” she asked softly, lowering her eyes.
“No,” Jon chuckled. “He would never admit it to us. But we know him. Jack’s just…well…”
“He’s the ‘strong and silent, brooding hero’ type?” she offered.
“Exactly.”
“What else?”
“What do you mean?”
“Talk him up. You’re his brothers. What is admirable about him in your eyes? You’ve told me he’s straight-laced, a good boss, fair… What else?”
“Ah…” What did he like about his brother? “He’s honest, has integrity, honorable. He served in the military while Jordan and I were still in school,” Jon said. “So I guess brave, as well. Courageous—”
“He’s very intelligent,” Jordan added. “Likes to learn new things. Open to new ideas. Thinks outside the box. Good business sense.”
“Family oriented. Family comes first.”
“Responsible. Hard worker. Focused. Detailed. Meticulous.”
“Traditional—old school ideals. Like our father. You know, chivalrous, all about respect for women, which is why we’re not to curse in front of you.”
“Traditional in some ways, yes, but not others. He’s definitely not ‘conservative’ by definition.” Jordan looked thoughtful. “Jon, didn’t you say you thought he used to be a Dom—”
“Okay, Jordan. I was joking about that.” He gave Ori a wary glance, shaking his head quickly. “I was joking.”
Jordan frowned. “You were?”
Ori pressed her palm over her mouth and stared at her lap.
Jon glared at his brother before giving his attention to Ori, rubbing her back. “Jack is really a great guy. You don’t have to be scared of him. He would never force you to do anything you didn’t want to do.”
“Well, not really,” Jordan mumbled. “Sometimes he might.”
Her eyes watered.
“God damn it, Jordan. Shut up. You’re scaring her.”
She quickly removed her hand. “No, no,” she squeaked. “Not scared. Just surprised…” She bit her lip, momentarily. “Just surprised by the thoroughness of your list,” she rushed before smothering her mouth again.
Jon realized what was happening. Oriana was trying desperately not to laugh.
He relaxed. “So you’re not upset?”
She shook her head.
“Then talk to us.”
“That’s why he liked that picture,” she blurted out. She clutched her chest as tried to catch her breath. “Oh, my God! And I told him how much I enjoyed doing the shoot!”
“Picture?”
“I used to be a model.”
“We know. Jack told us,” Jordan remarked, clearly confused.
“For fetish wear.” She covered her face and laughed.
“Oh,” Jon said, grinning at Jordan. “That’s wonderful.”