Page 71

His short hair is mussed with sleep, and ropes crisscross his massive body, squeezing his tattoos. Naked and pinned down, he looks like a caged bear, ready to rip and rend as soon as he tears his way free.

Guilty, salacious heat ripples over me. I’m so used to Jayk chasing me.

Trapping and taking me. To him agreeing to deals about my body and throwing me over his shoulder and ignoring how I feel for the others.

But unless he uses his safeword, he’s going to experience how that feels firsthand, because like this? He’shelpless.

Like this, he’s at my mercy.

I bite my lip, and Jayk catches the move. His midnight eyes narrow on my heated face. Stubborn. Considering.

Finally, he looks back at Jasper, relaxing against the post.

“I’m not going anywhere, asshole. Do your worst.” His shoulders shift against his ropes in a slow, scathing shrug. “She’s still going to be thinking about me.” He smirks. “In the end, she’s always going to pick me.”

Everything. Jayk ignored everything I told him last week. It’s almost impressive.

Jasper’s amusement stiffens. Calcifies. A cold, hard challenge glitters in his eyes, and he’s the vengeful angel again. The dark prince. Haughty and condescending and entirely untouchable.

But I see more now.

The way his eyes tick over to me for just a hint too long.

The barely perceptible, worried lines between his brows.

My new book on my bedside table, with his need and jealousies spilling out in ink through the margins.

The fact that he’s here at all, in my room before dawn, fired like Othello himself— wrestling of all things.

Jasper isn’t an angel, or some otherworldly being.

His lethal beauty isn’t fathomless and terrifying.

He’s just a man... and he’s clearly feeling as threatened as Jaykob ever has.

The two of them stare one another down, bitter dislike staining the air between them, and I fight a tired sigh, the shocked adrenaline draining out of me into a soft, helpless ache.

How on earth can I do this with all of them? Particularly when they’re all so damn intent on tearing one another apart?

Lucky, at least, seems unconcerned by their standoff.

He grins lazily at Jasper. “Don’t worry about it, babe. Eden doesn’t have favorites. Especially when my mouth is on her?—”

“Okay, all of you need to stop talking about me as though I’m not here,” I break in, exasperated, and Lucky pouts.

Praying for sense out of any of them, I settle my gaze on Jasper, softening and quote, “The robb’d that smiles, steals something from the thief; He robs himself that spends a bootless grief. ”

Oh God, is this going to make everything worse between all of them? I’m not sure I can handle it.

Jasper grimaces, avoiding my gaze. Color pinches his cheeks.

Lucky glances between the two of us, then rolls over the pillows until he’s lying snug beside me. I glance back at him right as he trails his fingers up and over my navel.

My bare navel.

“Okay, I don’t know anything about the boot situation,” Lucky says blithely.

His fingers are tanned, sun-dark against my pale skin, and he traces the line of the sheets pooled around my waist. He glances up at me with wicked humor.

“But you shouldn’t scold poor Jasper. He’s had a hard week—lots of grief, bootless or not. ”

My brain stalls on his smile.

Moonlight halos his hair, and his every sinful, perfect muscle glows like a map for my mouth. His fingers toy over my skin.

“Lucky, I— I’m not scolding , I just . . .”

He shifts around and settles in behind me. His naked chest presses against my back, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.

I can feel every inch of his cock against my ass.

He’s hard and scorching hot, even through his sweatpants. The pads of his fingers stroke over my bellybutton, then up my sternum.

“Lucky,” I warn, but it sounds like a sigh.

He teases the underside of my bare breasts with his thumb, and my head tips back against his shoulder. My nipples furl in the balmy night air, tight and exposed to all of them.

Jasper exhales harshly, and my heavy lids crack open.

His dark gaze is guilty, but so caught on me, so intense as he catalogues every curve and dip of my skin that I’m tempted to drag the sheets down, just to have that gaze caress every intimate inch of me.

But he looks . . . torn.

Ashamed .

My head is fogged with Lucky, but the sight of Jasper’s stiff discomfort is enough to spark my own. I’ve only been with him once. Sort of. Twice? But we haven’t talked about... this. All of us. I don’t know if this is what Jasper wants from me. If this is what any of them want from me.

“I’m sorry, I?—”

Jasper shakes his head, glancing at me, then up at the ceiling.

“No, I am sorry. We thought.. . I thought, perhaps, that after our misunderstanding this week...a grand gesture might be called for.” Jayk snorts, and Jasper flushes deeply, grimacing.

“But you’re quite right, Eden. I’ve overstepped.

This was foolish. Saying it aloud like this, I’m not quite sure what came over me.

If I’ve made you uncomfortable, please say so. We’ll release Jaykob and leave.”

He really is so very, very human.

His lashes brush low for a long, bashful moment before his shoulders firm, and he looks back down at me. His gaze doesn’t dip again; it stays steady on mine, apologetic and kind.

My heart melts.

Puddle, splash, gone.

“This is romantic ,” Lucky assures me in a whisper. “He scaled a building for you. He risked his life . That’s way hotter than throwing you over his shoulder.”

The flush deepens over Jasper’s dangerous cheekbones, and he mutters under his breath.

My heart squirms in my chest. I didn’t know Jasper could be adorable.

Or so foolish.

Flustered, I mutter, “I’m starting to think that out of all of you, Beau is the only one with any idea of how to romance a woman.”

Lucky’s answering kiss is deep and sighing. “Beautiful, I’ll be so romantic your heart falls out of your chest.”

I smile against his mouth. When he pulls back, he rests his forehead against mine. His hand comes around my waist, tugging at the soft sheets covering my hips, a question in his eyes.

Nervous excitement shivers down my spine.

This is happening. Just like my first night at Bristlebrook, exposed to a room full of men. Only it’s different now—I know them. I know myself .

Minutely, I nod.

“Fucking stupid,” Jayk mutters.

Lucky keeps me locked in his gaze as the sheet slowly falls away, baring me inch by inch. Chills race over my skin, and my breathing deepens, feeling their eyes everywhere. Knowing that they’re looking at my body, tracking Lucky’s hands as they dip down, down...

Quivering, I press another kiss against his mouth, and his hand brushes over my pussy in a silent, coaxing request. I’m spilling over his fingers, easing his way without even trying.

Jayk makes a rough, rumbling sound deep in his chest, and I feel the vibrations of it everywhere, hyperaware of him. I want to soothe and protect him from this, I do—but there’s something about the threatening sound that hits me differently.

Jayk can’t do anything about this.

His friends are going to fuck me, and he’s going to watch me love it.

I part my legs, and Jasper’s breath hisses out as his lover’s quick, callused fingers part me, dipping inside. I’m slippery, hot , and Lucky’s eyes darken.

“Oh, fuck.”

Click .

Click .

Jasper walks around us, circling, his heels snicking against the floor with each step. “Lucien?”

His voice is a sharp, expectant demand, and I strain, trying to track where it’s coming from.

Click .

Click .

Click .

Lucky has to swallow twice before he can answer hoarsely. “She’s wet. She’s... really fucking wet.”

As if proving my point, he slips his finger over my slippery clit, and I let out a soft, squirming pant that makes his rhythm quicken, circling me until my thighs shake and my lips part on a breathless moan.

But then he retreats.

Playfully, lightly, he pulls away, his fingers leaving a wet trail over my abdomen. I arch, distressed at the loss of him, and cool air ripples over the damp path, clinging to it in obscene, perfect patterns.

Click .

Click .

Click.

“Lucien,” Jasper warns, but Lucky’s too focused on me now. His lips are ripe and kissed, his eyes a foggy, fascinated blue.

“You have no idea how much I need you,” he tells me.

“ Lucky ,” I whisper, somewhere between a scold and a plea—because I’m already shaking... and they’re all watching .

But Lucky’s dimples turn impish.

It’s a challenge, but a different kind than Jayk’s. He isn’t inviting me to fight—Lucky wants me to play.

Unfortunately for Lucky, the only way I know how to play against him is to cheat.

I catch his wrist, dragging his hand back down to my clit, and he grins, obliging, touching in a way that’s somehow everything and nothing at all. Impatient, I spread my legs wider, and he sinks an obedient finger inside me. Then another, filling me. Stroking me. Stretching me.

Click .

Click .

Click.

I still can’t see Jasper, but I know he’s there—the silent, careful predator, watching and waiting to act. Lucky knows it too.

His eyes press shut for a moment as he gathers himself.

When they open, they fix on my face, more intent than before. “You want more?”

Jayk snorts derisively as I whimper. “Set me free any time, sugar. I’ll give you more. You know I won’t waste your time with this shit.”

Lucky’s dexterous fingers are curving, slicked in me, slowly coaxing a response, and I roll my hips, holding him in place and grinding myself needily on his hand.

Waste ? My melting brain can’t make sense of the word.

On a groan, Lucky laughs.