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My God, he was so good-looking! Especially like this. I couldn’t stop staring at those high cheekbones. That perfect amount of stubble. The curve of his jaw…

“Sorry for what?”

“For you having to go through all of this,” he replied. Slowly he shook his head. “I can’t even imagine what it must be like for you, to lose everything. Your home, your things…” He bit his lip before continuing. “Your brother…”

I could see the depth of compassion in his eyes. Legitimate empathy, not pity. But there was an underlying pain there too. A pain I knew all too well.

“You know some of it,” I said consolingly. “You lost Connor too. You all did.”

I snuggled into him. Everything outside of the scope of our little hotel room was suddenly inconsequential. Everything beyond the silence seemed very far away.

“Yes, but I always had Austin and Kane. I’ve had someone to share those memories of him, to keep them alive. But you…”

He trailed off, his gaze tracking its way up to mine. “You’ve had only yourself,” he continued. “Not even your parents…”

I saw his eyes go glassy. He was actually choking up! Goddamn, it was the sweetest thing in the whole fucking world.

“I want you to know you have us now,” he said. “You’ve had us but you didn’t know it, and now… well, now…”

I reached out to touch his face, hard yet soft. By this point I was consoling him as much as he was me.

“I know.”

He shifted forward and planted his lips over mine, melting the rest of the world away. Maddox kissed me slowly, deeply, sending bolts of arousal through me that rejuvenated my tired body.

Damn…

Nothing had felt like this in a long time — maybe ever, really. Not a connection like this. Not someone I’d let this close to my heart… someone I was okay with opening myself up to, mind, body, and soul.

Much less three someones.

I sighed as my head hit the pillow. Maddox was over me in an instant, kissing me harder as my hands sifted through vast fields of luscious blond hair. His mouth parted mine, driving his tongue inside with deep, soulful kisses that had me gasping for more.

You have us now.

The words were amazing, even though I dared not fully believe them. And yet so far, these men had protected me. They’d dedicated the last year of their lives to watching over me, over nothing more than a deceased brother-in-arm’s promise, and had already saved my life on more than one occasion.

And they were solid. As close and tight-knit as any three men could ever possibly be. In life, in war…

… in the bedroom…

I was still moaning into Maddox’s mouth, my mind spinning off dizzily into blissful oblivion as I shoved him onto his back. Our eyes locked, and after a shared moment of understanding our hands moved quickly to our own bodies. Clothes flew everywhere, in a flurry of frenzied activity. They littered the bed. The floor…

Then I was on him, straddling his warm, muscular thighs.

“Are you really okay with it?” I asked, my lips brushing against his. I could feel his manhood, throbbing between my legs. Brushing against my entrance…

“Okay with what?”

“Sharing me,” I said breathlessly. “With the others.”

My hair hung down on both sides of us, locking us together. It swayed gently as he thrust upward, eliciting a strangled gasp as he pierced me the core.

Ohhhhhhh…

“Yes,” Maddox said, when he was buried fully inside me. “Totally and completely.”

I moaned loudly as his hands went to my breasts, shoving me backward to bear the full weight of my body. It drove him all the way in, bottoming me out as my palms went to h