Page 19 of The Billionaire's Bride

"You can have one later." Edward nods.

I glance between them. "I am not winning this argument, am I?"

"Nope." Baron raises a shoulder, "When it comes to your well-being, I won’t compromise."

Edward scowls at him, then turns to me. "Eat first, Eve." His voice softens, "You must be hungry." His gaze holds mine. "Besides, I am starving and," he lowers his voice, "I’d love to eat with you."

Heat ripples across my skin and my toes curl. He may as well as have said,"I’d love to eat you."My cheeks heat. Edward drags his thumb across his lips, and my belly flip-flops. Moisture pools between my legs. I take a step forward, only for Baron to plant himself in front of me.

I blink, glance up at him, "What?"

"Here, why don’t you sit down?" He guides me to the chair he’s just vacated. Sensations tingle out from where he touches me. I glance up, to find his lips curving in a knowing smile. I scowl.

"Not fair," I mumble. "The two of you are playing me."

He straightens, glaring down his patrician nose at me. "All’s fair in love and war, baby," he drawls.

"I’m not some kind of…prey that the two of you can take turns toying with," I burst out. "I’m just a woman…"caught between two alphaholes.Oh, my god, how could I have gotten myself into this situation?

I stare between them. Baron folds his arms across his chest. Edward scowls from his place on the couch. The silence stretches, dense and heavy. My throat dries. I take in the pizza on the table, "May as well eat first."

No one moves for a second, then Baron nods. He walks around to sit in the chair opposite me. He reaches forward, takes a paper napkin, passes it over to Edward, who shares it with me. We each reach for a piece of pizza, then begin to eat.

"The chili flakes," I mumble, "can you pass them please?"

Both Baron and Edward reach for the packet. For a second, I am sure they are going to fight over who’s going to give it to me. Then Baron retreats. Edward hands the packet over to me.

“Thanks.” I rip it open, pour the flakes over my slice of pizza, bite into it. Heat suffuses my mouth. Sweat breaks out on my brow. I chew, swallow, and promptly hiccup. Yeah, that’s me, always biting off more than I can chew. I never did know when things could get too spicy for me. Never did know when to stop before I burned myself, or in this case, my tongue. I hiccup again. Both Baron and Edward reach for one of the bottles of iced tea that had been delivered with the pizza. Baron snatches it up, unscrews it, and reaches across the table to hand it over to me. I thank him, tilt the bottle and wash down the pizza. The fire in my mouth subsides. I glance over to find Edward glowering at Baron—who continues to eat his pizza, his lips curled in a slight smirk.

"Oh, for hell’s sake." I place down my pizza and stare between them. "This is not working."

"I don’t know. From where I am, everything is peachy keen," Baron rumbles.

"Only because you won the last round," I accuse him, "and that’s what this is turning out to be, right? Each of you trying to get one up on the other—"

"Sounds good to me." Baron’s smirk widens.

"With me as the prize."

"Does that bother you?" Edward turns to me.

"What do you think?" I snap.

His forehead crinkles. "I think," he glances at Baron, "it’s time we figure out a plan."

"You do?"

"Of course." He leans back, throws his arm across the back of a couch. "That’s why we are here, aren’t we?"

"Hmm." I frown at him. Why is he being so placatory? Somehow, I can’t believe that he actually wants to talk about the elephant in the room, the one we have avoided talking about openly so far.

"He’s right." Baron crumples up the napkin in his hand and drops it in the empty pizza box. "Let’s figure this out."

They both glance at me.

"What?" I frown. "Why are you both staring at me?"

"The two of us spoke about our situation," Edward gestures between him and Baron, "before you arrived."