Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 75656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Buck closes his eyes for a second. “That came out wrong.”
“It really did.”
“Come inside with me,” he says, and I let him guide me back into the house. Weston and Calder come, too.
Things go silent again, but the room feels full of banked heat now, like one good breath could make everything flare. I can still feel the echo of what I said hanging in the room between us, and my pulse hasn’t slowed. Judging by the way all three of them are looking at me, neither has theirs.
All at once, I realize I don’t need permission to choose them all.
I cross the room and stop in front of Buck first. His eyes darken as I slide my hand up the front of his shirt and feel the hard line of his chest beneath it. “Do you understand me now?”
“Yes,” he says, his voice ragged.
“Good.”
I rise onto my toes and kiss him like I’m sealing a deal, and he responds immediately, cupping the back of my neck with a big, warm hand, and holding me close as he takes as much as he gives. A sound rumbles up from deep in his throat as his restraint breaks open under my mouth.
It’s not easy, but I pull back before either of us can get completely lost in it.
When I turn to Weston, his gaze goes to my mouth, then back to my eyes. I touch his jaw, feeling the roughness of it and the slight tension in the muscle beneath my fingers. “Do you?” I ask.
He covers my wrist with his hand, his thumb pressing into my pulse point. “I’ve understood it for a while, but I was scared to trust it.”
My chest squeezes. “Trust it.”
Weston presses his lips to mine with a reverence that only lasts a few seconds before it changes into something hungrier. As his mouth moves on mine, his hands slide to my waist and hold me tight until I pull back.
Calder’s been standing near the wall like he isn’t sure whether to stay or bolt. Or like he’s braced for impact.
When I walk over to him, his throat works. “Elena.” The way he says my name almost sounds like a warning.
“For someone good at reading danger,” I murmur, “you can be unbelievably bad at reading me.”
That pulls the hint of a smile out of him, even though it’s brief and crooked and strained. “I know what you’re going to say,” he tells me.
“What’s that?”
His eyes search mine. “That this is real.”
I shake my head as I step in so close, the heat of his body wraps around me. “I was going to say I’m done letting you stay at the edge of things.”
The hard lines of his face soften as his focus sharpens, and the room narrows to just the two of us. He clamps his hands to my waist in a way that makes me gasp—not because it hurts, but because the movement is so certain. So possessive.
He’s been holding back, but he’s done with that now.
Then he kisses me like the world’s ending, and this is what he intends to be doing when it all goes up in flames. Heat flashes through me so fast, it leaves me dizzy.
Calder bends over me, so broad and solid, his mouth fierce as he shows me how much he wants me. Behind me, Weston exhales, and Buck says something low and rough I don’t catch.
I only break the kiss when I need to catch my breath, and then I turn so I can look at all three of them. I draw in a deeper gulp of air and say the thing that’s been burning in me since we all stepped inside. “Bedroom.”
Buck’s eyebrows lift, and Weston’s eyes flare. Calder’s grip on my waist tightens.
“I want all of you,” I tell them.
Buck reaches for me, one hand sliding around my hip as he studies my face like he’s checking for uncertainty.
He won’t find any.
“You’re sure?” he asks.
I take his hand and set it flat against my heart. “I’ve never been more sure about anything.”
Weston moves in behind me, his chest warm against my back, his lips brushing the side of my neck with impossible gentleness.
“We can go slow,” he murmurs.
I tilt my head to give him better access. “I don’t want to go slow because you’re afraid.”
The sound he makes against my skin is like a growl. “That isn’t what I meant.”
I turn enough to catch his hand and pull it around my waist with Buck’s, then reach for Calder, too, even though he already has a hold of me. “I want all of you. No more half-steps.”
Calder’s laugh is quiet and disbelieving. “You have no idea what you’re unleashing.”
I lift on my toes and taste his lips again. “Try me.”
After those two little words, whatever restraint they had left goes up like dry tinder.