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Oakley pressed on his shoulders and Joel bent over at the sink so Sadie could tug her wicked toy free.

“Where the hell did you get that thing?”

She winked. “Ordered it online the night you stopped being a stubborn ass and kissed Oakley at Cruisers.”

“Dammit, Sadie. There you go again. Just fell even more in love with you.”

Sadie laughed at Oakley’s proclamation. “I think that might be Woody talking. Are you sure you aren’t mixing up love for lust, Oak?”

Oakley kissed her on the cheek. “Is there a word that combines the two? I have to admit I’ve never had trouble figuring out what feelings were attached to my heart and which ones were cock-driven. I can’t separate the two with you. You’ve taken over everything, Sade. My heart, my head, my dick. So what’s the word for that?”

Joel could see Oakley’s words had touched her. “Maybe you could just combine the two words,” Sadie said.

Oakley nodded as he considered that suggestion. “Lost. Damn. That sums it up pretty fucking good. I’m lost, Sadie. And I don’t ever want to be found.”

She took Oakley’s hand, and then reached for Joel’s. “I’m lost too.”

Joel kissed her forehead. “Me too.”

Oakley stepped away first. “Shower?”

Joel shook his head. “Got a better idea.”

He grabbed three towels and led them both out the back door of the cabin. Night had fallen, but a full moon provided enough light for them to walk with ease. None of them bothered with clothing. It only took them a few minutes to carefully make their way along the path and down a slight incline to the creek that ran through several miles of the ranch property.

They’d had several afternoons of rain, so the water level was high enough to reach Joel’s mid-thigh. He’d noticed that fact this afternoon as they worked a couple of miles downstream and he’d considered stripping off and jumping in then, but Lorelie had called to say there was a motorcycle parked outside the bunkhouse. He and Oakley had dropped everything and hightailed it back home.

Joel stepped into the chilly water, then reached back to offer Sadie a hand. She shivered as she dipped one toe in.

“You sure you wouldn’t prefer a hot shower?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Nope. Like the idea of skinny-dipping with you. What’s the matter? Too cold for you?” His words were laced with a challenge, and it worked.

Sadie could never pass up a dare. She walked into the water and then, in true one-up-man style, sank down until she was sitting on the bottom.

Joel was convinced Oakley was a born polar bear, so he wasn’t surprised when his friend splashed in next to them and joined Sadie, the water reaching both of them at shoulder level.

Joel took a deep breath, and then sank down too. The cold water was a shock to his system for only a minute and then it felt good, cooling off his muscles, soothing away some aches produced from four days of nonstop, backbreaking work followed by one hell of a gymnastics routine in the bedroom.

Oakley had wrapped his hand around the back of Sadie’s neck, pulling her close for a kiss. Joel watched them, letting the peaceful night and the realization that Sadie was here sink in.

“You ready to tell us why you came back?” Joel asked when she and Oakley broke apart for some much-needed air.

She gave them a rueful grin. “As you know, I apparently have some unresolved mommy issues. I was trying to help you out, save you from yourselves.”

Oakley tugged her closer with an arm around her shoulders. Joel knew she was joking, but it was clear Oakley was still worried she’d take off again.

“We told you,” Oakley said. “We’re not going anywhere.”

“I know. It’s just going to take me some time to believe that, to trust it. But it’s nothing you guys have done. You’re wonderful. Like I said, it’s something I have to work on.”

Joel appreciated her honesty. It was one of the things that had drawn him to Sadie in the first place. “We have a lot of stuff to figure out, Sadie. As long as we’re committed to making it work, it will.”

“Like how to make a threesome permanent?” she asked.

Joel grinned. He loved the hell out of that question. “Yeah. That and other things.”

“Like where you stand on kids now,” Oakley added. Until he spoke Joel didn’t realize Sadie’s insistence that she didn’t want a baby had bothered his friend as much as it had him.