“I’m glad you’re here,” I told her.
“Me, too.”
This woman…
She was everything I’d ever wanted and more than I knew I deserved, yet I had this strange connection to her, as though I’d known her my entire life, not merely for six months during which we’d only had minimal interactions. Then again, I’d seen her in the throes of orgasm, completely vulnerable in every way. And every time I witnessed it, I’d wanted her, ached for her. Now that she was here, I felt this overwhelming need to keep her close.
Sort of like the fairy tale. The Beast had been locked up for so long, without the intimacy he needed. Then she walked in and all was lost. My entire world had slowly started to center on her.
But she was vulnerable, and I had to remember that. What had happened yesterday had set this in motion, and I knew I couldn’t take advantage of the situation. She was a guest in my house, here for her own protection, not because she’d agreed to sleep in my bed.
Though my logical, rational brain knew all of this, I was having a hard time relaying that information to the rest of my body.
Most importantly, my heart.
Everly
I felt Isaac tense behind me. His bicep flexed beneath my cheek. I remembered what he told me yesterday, that I was to make the first move to show him that I wanted all that he was willing to give me.
I wanted to make that move.
It might seem impulsive. No, make that was. It was most definitely impulsive. So? I hadn’t even been here twenty-four hours and I already wanted the sexy, brooding Dom to ravish me.
That was my hormones talking.
But my hormones had never been in charge of my decisions. They spurred my actions, but they weren’t a result of accepting my fate. I was the sort of woman who knew right from wrong and nothing about Isaac and Ian felt wrong. And it wasn’t like I didn’t know them. I did. On an intimate level, sure. But more than that. We’d spent hours together over the past six months, not all of them while I was naked. Though mostly, yes. Still.
My desire for them wasn’t spur-of-the-moment. It had built over time, growing into something that I hadn’t been aware was quite this intense until I ran into them yesterday at Zeke’s. Since then, I couldn’t seem to justify why I couldn’t explore this further, see what might happen.
However, something deep within told me now was not the right time. If I propositioned him, Isaac would think this was purely sexual in nature and I couldn’t allow that to happen. Not after what he’d told me last night.
When his stomach rumbled, I couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you hungry, my Liege?”
I didn’t know why I got such great pleasure in calling him that. I’d seen his face when I first said it, recognized the warmth that had radiated from him upon acceptance. And it felt so right. My Liege, the man I wanted to serve for the rest of my days. I’d never felt for anyone the way I felt for him and Ian. But here in this room, Ian wasn’t the one I was thinking about. Only Isaac. And there was something between us, a connection I knew had to be explored.
“Starving,” he mumbled, his whiskers brushing against my cheek as he buried his face in my neck.
His warm breath fanned my skin, made my nipples pebble. My body ached for him, but I knew I couldn’t advance this. Not yet.
I gave his arm a gentle squeeze, loving the way he’d kept me close to him all night.
“May I make you breakfast?” I offered.
He lifted his head, and I turned, staring up at him.
The smile he gifted me with hit me square in the chest.
“How about I make you breakfast?”
I smiled back. “Okay.”
His eyes dropped to my lips but didn’t remain there long before he was unwrapping himself from around me.
“While I get it started, why don’t you get dressed? Meet me in the kitchen.”
“Of course.”
I watched as he grabbed a pair of shorts from the back of a chair, slipped them on over his boxer briefs before disappearing from the room.
I couldn’t stop smiling, even as I raced to the bedroom I was supposed to be sleeping in. I exchanged my tank top and sleep shorts for the same T-shirt and shorts I’d had on last night, then brushed my teeth, my hair. I studied the ugly bruise on my face, gently poking at it. It hurt, but a lot of the swelling had gone down. It was definitely black and blue, but I was hopeful it would fade in the coming days.
By the time I made it to the kitchen, I could smell bacon.
I was temporarily rendered immobile when I came upon Ian and Isaac working side by side on the other side of the island. Isaac was cracking eggs into a bowl while Ian was flipping bacon on the stove.
