Page 43 of Indecent Obsession
Drew shuts his laptop and stands. “Come on, princess, let’s take your pup for a walk.”
I rise before he changes his mind. My vision is blurring from staring at the images.
“Peabody,” I say softly.
He rises from the leather couch and stretches before trotting over to me. I bend down and pick him up. Dante stands too.
When I meet his normally cool blue eyes, I find them focused on me.
“I’ll join you.”
“The more the merrier.” Drew smirks. “He’ll look like the most guarded pup on the block.”
Smiling, I shake my head, but then Dante steps closer to me and I forget how to breathe. The scent of the ocean fills my senses and makes my knees weak. His hand settles on the small of my back like it’s nothing. Like I belong to him.
Fuck, I want to be his.
I swallow the lump that forms in my throat. We’re nothing more than fuck buddies. I need to remember that, especially when the guys go out on dates to keep up appearances. Otherwise, it will rip me apart.
Dante tips my chin up so our eyes meet. I want him again. To feel him inside me. To have him possess me.
His smile is almost too much. His attention is everything. I want to look away. To see if the others are looking at me the same.
But I don’t seek out Wyatt because I’m afraid it’ll be more of how he’s been tonight. He’s concentrating on the problem and I’ve become invisible again. My chest aches. We’ve done this dance for so long. He’s trying, but we both have long standing habits to ignore the other.
Instead, I keep my gaze steady on Dante. The heat in his eyes is electrifying. He makes me feel wanted, but for how long? How long before the cold returns to his eyes?
I don’t want an end date because I don’t want this to end.
Looking away from Dante, I follow Drew out the door into the elevator.
Drew wraps his hand around my hip and pulls me into his side. “You good, princess?”
His dark eyes search mine as Dante joins us and presses the bottom floor button.
“Just tired.” It’s a cop out, but I don’t need to open more shit to worry about right now. We’re engrossed in finding the clips for Mac and X so they’ll tell us what they know about Tom. My worries are for the future. This isn’t going to end tonight.
“Maybe we should take a break from the videos and look again tomorrow night.” Drew massages my hip.
“No.” It comes out before I can even stop myself. “We need to know what Tom has gotten himself into. What he’s gotten us into.”
Dante’s hand slips onto my back, supporting me, comforting me. Peabody yips.
This whole situation is because of Tom. If Tom had been here and I’d started dating Drew, would Wyatt, Finn, and Dante have given a fuck? After all, I’ve dated people before and none of them cared. Tom would’ve found out eventually and made his usual stink, but besides the club and his man whore reputation, Drew is the perfect guy for me to date on paper. And I really do like him.
The elevator opens and we all step off. Drew leads the way as I put Peabody on the ground so he can sniff and do his thing.
“Tom wouldn’t have left you in our care if he didn’t think you’d be safer with us.” Dante’s words are soft as his hand rubs a circle on my back.
I long to lean into him but I hold myself back. It’s stupid. I should just take what I can while I have them, but instead, I’m worried about getting used to them. About relying on them. For years, they’ve pushed me away and now they’re mine. At least for a while.
Things will end. This will end. And we’ll go back to how it was before, and I’ll have to learn to live with it. But I’ll know what it’s like to be held by them, taken by them. To own a part of them even for a small portion of my life.
My mood falls further as we walk to a small park. Once we’re there, Peabody takes advantage and runs around a little on the longer lead. It’s early evening and no one else is about.
Maybe Dante and Drew think I’m hung up on Tom and what we might find out, but instead, I’m worried about what happens tonight. To me.
Will I go to sleep in that big bed all by myself? Will they expect me to make a choice? To choose who to have in my bed? How could I even begin to pick? If I go to bed alone, should I sneak into one of their bedrooms? Is that allowed?
