Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
They made space for me, and I stepped into it before I fully understood what that meant.
Before I can think too hard about it, I walk back into the hall. The kitchen light is off, and the cabin is dimmer now, lit by the amber glow of two lamps and a low fire in the fireplace.
The room looks exactly like it’s looked a dozen times since I came here and nothing like it’s ever looked before.
Rhett’s at the dining table with maps spread in front of him. His black T-shirt pulls across his shoulders, and his hair is still slightly damp from the quick shower he took before dinner. The severe expression on his face makes my stomach dip.
Cade is near the fireplace, cleaning a rifle. The disassembled parts are precisely spaced on a cloth beside him, and his long fingers work with practiced skill. His sleeves are pushed up, and the strength in his forearms makes my mouth go dry.
Boone is on the couch with a book open in one hand. His bare feet are stretched toward the fire, and he looks the most relaxed of the three, but he’s not relaxed. I know it the second I enter the room.
All three of them look up, and the air changes.
I walk into the center of the space and stop there, between the table and the fire and the couch. My heart’s beating so hard I feel it in my throat.
“I heard you last night,” I say.
CHAPTER 20
WREN
Three identical brothers go motionless, and the silence that fills the room is so thick it makes the fire sound loud.
Something dark moves through Rhett’s eyes. “How much?”
“Enough.”
Boone puts his feet on the floor and leans toward me. “Wren—”
“No.” I lift a hand because I need to get this out. “I’m tired of pretending I don’t want you.”
Cade sets down his cleaning cloth, and Rhett turns fully toward me.
I look around at each of them. “I don’t know why we’re all ignoring what’s happening between us.”
Boone’s eyes flare, Cade’s fist clenches and releases, and Rhett pushes back from the table and gets to his feet. He does it slowly, but there’s nothing uncertain about the way he moves.
“Be careful,” he says.
I lift my chin. “No.”
I take one step toward him. Then another. “I’ve been careful my entire adult life. I convinced myself wanting less made me sensible.”
None of them move, but their attention closes around me like hands.
“I don’t want less, and I don’t want to be careful. Not anymore.”
Boone stands, Cade follows, and my pulse stutters. They’re each big men on their own, but together, they fill the room with heat and muscle, and I get the sense their control is holding back something much rougher.
Rhett moves closer, but he doesn’t touch me. “Tell us exactly what you want.”
It’s an order, and that should irritate me, but it doesn’t. His command gives me relief from the want that’s so strong, it’s nearly tearing through my chest.
“I want you.” I meet Rhett’s stare, and his eyes darken.
I turn toward Cade. “And you.”
The flare of his nostrils is the only crack in his control.
Then I look at Boone. “And you.”
His expression goes soft for one second before it turns hungry enough to weaken my knees.
“I want all three of you,” I say. “And that no longer scares me.”
Rhett’s voice cuts through the silence that follows. “Come here.”
I barely make it two steps because he comes forward to meet me, his hand closing at the side of my neck and his thumb pressing beneath my jaw. He looks down at me like he’s giving me one last chance to change my mind, but we both know I’m not going to take it.
“If you say stop, we stop. If you say no, we listen.”
Emotion rises so quickly, it nearly hurts, because his words are firm and protective in the deepest, most dangerous way.
“Understood,” I whisper.
His thumb strokes once along my jaw. “Good girl.”
His praise makes me wet, and I’m so surprised by my body’s response, my mouth falls open.
Rhett sees it, and his restraint breaks. He angles my face upward as he bends over me, and then his lips crush mine with a smoldering intensity. It’s so far from a typical tentative first kiss, I lose my breath.
His kiss is making promises, leaving me with no doubt about what he intends to deliver.
He claims my mouth with the same quiet authority he brings to everything. The floor seems to tilt beneath us as I take in the taste of him, the smell of him, the heat of his body, the strength in his touch.
I grab for his shirt, twisting my fingers in the cotton, because I need something solid, and he’s solid everywhere. Chest, shoulders, hand at my neck, arm around my waist dragging me closer until the hard line of his body is pressing against mine.