Page 243 of What We Brave
Something shifts in his expression. "Okay."
"Okay?"
"Okay."
He kisses me again, and this time there's nothing tentative about it. His hand slides into my hair, tilts my head back, andoh, that's more like it. Behind me, Reid's fingers are tracing up my ribcage—slow, deliberate, taking his time like we have all the time in the world.
I've been with them separately. I know what they sound like, what they feel like, what makes each of them come apart.
But this—both at once—is different.
It's not just more sensation. It's?—
It's a lot. It's so much. How do people do this without short-circuiting?
Reid tugs at my shirt. "Off."
"Bossy."
"You like it."
He's not wrong. I sit up and pull the shirt over my head, and for amoment I'm just kneeling there between them in the moonlight, bare from the waist up, and they're bothlookingat me.
I should feel self-conscious. In the past, with other men, I had a running mental catalog of everything wrong with my body, complete with annotations. But the way they're looking at me right now doesn't leave room for that. It never does. They're too focused on me, and really do love me exactly the way I am. I don't doubt that for even a second.
But still, having both of them focused solely on me is a lot.
Okay. You can stare. I'll allow it. But if this gets weird, I'm putting the shirt back on.
"God, Laine." Blake's voice is rough.
My face heats.Still not used to that. Might never be.
"Less staring," I say. "More touching."
Blake laughs—actually laughs, surprised and real—and pulls me down against him. Then we're kissing again and his hands are everywhere and Reid is pressed against my back, his mouth on my neck, and I'm?—
Overstimulated. Is that a word? That's a word. I'm that.
"Too many clothes," I manage. "Both of you." I want bare skin
"Demanding," Reid says.
"You like it."
There's a scramble to pull off their shorts, and at one point someone's elbow—Reid's, I think—catches Blake in the ribs.
"Ow.Fuck."
"Sorry—"
"Watch your goddamn elbows?—"
"You watchyour?—"
"Oh my god." I'm laughing, I can't help it. "This is a king and a half bed. How are we still hitting each other?"
"It's a talent," Reid says, finally getting his shorts off without committing further assault.
