I bring one hand to her cheek, guiding her to look at me again. Her eyes shine, and it guts me that she thinks she needs to apologize for being desired by more than one of us.
“Baby, there is nothing you could do that would make us change our minds. You didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t go too fast. You didn’t pick the wrong person to touch first. Milton didn’t take anything from me. He didn’t take anything from you either. He just got the next turn.” I brush my thumb along her cheekbone. “And being first doesn’t make me more important to you. Being second doesn’t make him less.”
She shakes her head, tears gathering but not falling as she speaks. “I just needed to make sure. I’m trying not to be scared.”
I smile at her, soft and certain. “You’re allowed to be scared. But don’t you dare think you’re too much for us. We’re the ones who asked to court you. You said yes. We’re the ones trying to be worthy of that.”
The words land. I can feel the way her body shifts, the way her scent flares. She leans into my touch, forehead pressing against mine like she’s tethering herself to something solid again.
I hold her. Steady. Patient. Giving her every second she needs.
“Nothing about last night changed anything,” I tell her. “If anything, it made me want you more.”
She pulls back just enough that I can see her face, open and unguarded in a way that guts me. The vulnerability there hits like a fist to every instinct I have to shield her. Then she leans in again, forehead resting against mine as she gives me that soft, weightless kiss—barely a brush, more breath than touch, but it sinks deeper than anything else she could’ve done.
Behind her, Milton clears his throat softly, and I gesture toward him so she can see what he’s going to say. She turns her head toward him and Korbin, who’s now stepped up beside him. “Baby… last night didn’t change how any of us feel.”
Korbin adds, voice rough like he fought speaking up, “If anything, it made things clearer.”
Her head sways side to side as she looks at each of them in turn, her breath turning shaky. Her scent spikes again, soft and sweet, carrying that heat-tinged edge that isn’t heat yet but lives right on the outskirts of it.
I lift my hands from her hips, and turn her head back to me. “You’re not stealing us from each other. You’re giving us something to move toward together.”
She swallows, eyes glassy. Then says the one sentence that makes my heart soar. “I choose all of you.”
Milton lets out a breath that sounds like relief wrapped in desire. Korbin’s hands curl into loose fists like he’s holding himself back from reaching for her too fast. And me? Something inside my chest expands so wide it almost hurts.
I tilt her face toward mine and kiss her fully this time. Not claiming. Not taking. Just meeting her where she is. Her lips part softly, and she melts into me, hands bracing on my shoulders, body warming against mine in a way that makes every instinct in me roar with quiet, reverent hunger.
When I pull back, she’s flushed, breathing fast, eyes dark.
Milton shifts closer, settling at her hip. Korbin drops to the floor between my knees, elbows braced casually as he looks up at her like she hung the damn moon.
She glances over her shoulder and down at him, cheeks pinking when he gives her a small smile—rare, but real.
“You don’t have to wait for me,” Korbin says, voice low. “But if you want me too… then that’s enough.”
Her answer is a soft exhale, a nod brushing the side of her face along my cheek. Her scent flickers warm and sure, and the three of us lean toward her without even thinking.
“I want you too.”
Korbin’s shoulders drop, a slow release of tension he probably didn’t even realize he was carrying. Milton shifts closer, hand brushing her thigh without touching fully, offering warmth without crowding her. And me—I feel like I’m finally breathing for the first time.
I press my lips to the side of her throat, right where her pulse beats warm and quick.
“This is our start,” I tell her quietly. “All of us.”
She nods once, leaning into me, her fingers curling in my shirt like she’s holding on to something she doesn’t want to lose.
And for the first time in my life, I feel the urge to bond humming under my skin.
46
Bayleigh
Another dinnerat the Brooks house. Except now it’s with the newly formed Brooks Pack.
But tonight feels different—warmer, closer, like something low and electric is humming under all our skin. The beginning of something new, and I’m here for it.
