The man sitting on the patio, glaring at the sea, only made the sensation all that more acute. Theo was pretty enough to be a fallen angel, but being in his presence was like bargaining with a crossroads demon. It felt good—so good that it made her ache sweetly—but in the end, it would take something vital when he walked away.
Her breath. Her heart.
Her very soul.
Stop it. You told Galen that brooding didn’t help, so take your own advice. You have this moment.
It has to be enough.
Meg didn’t look back to see if Galen was following. He was. He might not know what to do to help Theo out of this moment, and he might give her shit about her methods, but in his heart of hearts, he trusted her to see them through. This timesheheld the reins.
Theo didn’t appear to notice that he was no longer alone. Just as well. He was just as stubborn as they were—more so in his own way—and if she came at him head on, he might snap. Whatever that looked like for a man like Theo. She was usually pretty good at reading people, but Theo flipped through masks the way women flipped through lipstick shades. He was so good at offering the safe, careful version of himself. The jokes. The ambition. The politically savvy future king.
But she’d been around him enough to see the flickers beneath. The man who’d lost his mother, lost his father, lost his purpose when he’d lost his kingdom. Galen might be the warrior, but Theo was a wolf cut off from his pack. Had he even had a chance to mourn his father’s death?
She didn’t think so.
She also doubted that he’d thought too hard about what came after he succeeded. Oh, he’d trained for this his entire life. It wasn’t the running the country that she worried about—it was the fear that he’d become brittle when everything crashed down on him at once. A marathoner who made it through excruciating obstacles, only to have their body fail them two feet past the finish line.
Galen will take care of him. The fallout isn’t for you to worry about.
Too bad she couldn’t control her feelings any more than she could control everything else going on in her life at that moment.
Meg pulled off her shirt, leaving her naked. She dropped it onto the chair on the opposite end of the pool from where Theo sat. He didn’t look over.Broody McBrooderson.She stretched her arms over her head and turned to face the sunset. This place was a perfect flavor of paradise, and she let herself soak it up for a few seconds.
She turned to find Galen standing next to the stairs into the pool. He still wore his jeans and customary white T-shirt, but there was nothing relaxed about the way he watched her.Mmmm, yeah. Not quite as good as sex, but it’s up there. She gave him a saucy grin and walked toward him, putting a little swing with each step. “How deep is this pool?”
“Five feet.” His gaze flicked to her bandaged arm. “Do you think that’s wise?”
“I’m healing up fine.” And if she could soak in a tub, she could soak in a pool. She stopped in front of him and ran her hands up his chest. “Galen?”
He let her inch closer, his eyes going so dark they seemed to swallow up the light of the sunset. “Yeah?”
“Mmmm. God, I love your body. Though I can’t pick my favorite part. Ass. Shoulders. Chest. Thighs. You’re a fucking masterpiece.”
“Not me.” He started to glance over his shoulder, but she caught the band of his jeans, drawing his attention back to her.
“Yes, you.” She pressed the heel of her free hand against his cock. “I would commit unforgivable acts just so you’d let us tie you to a bed and have our filthy way with you.” Meg gave a happy sigh. “It makes me wet and tingly just thinking about you like that, all flat on your back and helpless to do anything but use those filthy words to convince Theo to give you what you want.”
“And what do I want?”
She released his pants and stroked her hands back up his chest. Meg went up onto her tiptoes, the merest breath separating their lips. “Him in your ass. Me on your cock.”
“If you’re offering?—”
She pushed him into the pool. It shouldn’t have worked—Galen was every inch an immovable object—but he was too close to the edge and hadn’t expected it, so he went down like a felled tree. He burst through the surface with all kinds of retribution written across his face, and Meg laughed. “Catch me.” She jumped, hitting him in the chest and wrapping her legs around his waist. He wasn’t ready for that, either, and they both went under.
Galen finally got his feet under him and stood, her still wrapped around his waist. “I’m going to paddle your ass for that.”
“Promises, promises.” She laughed again. She couldn’t help it. Galen looked as disgruntled as a cat in a bathtub and twice as murderous. Tightening her legs around him, she worked his shirt off and lobbed it onto the patio, where it landed with a wet splat. “Not quite there yet, but we’re getting warmer.”
He disentangled her from him with ease and tossed her farther into the pool. Meg yelped as she hit the surface, and by the time she surfaced and wrestled her hair away from her face, Galen had managed to lose his jeans. He stalked toward her, thewater creating tantalizing glimpses of his hips and cock before it climbed his chest. Damn it, she should have taken up her position in the shallow end.
Galen snagged her around the waist and pulled her to him. “I ought to drown you for that.”
“Ooooh, big scary man.” She wiggled against him. “I’ll make it up to you later.”
“Damn straight you will.” He launched her into the water again, a cat with his toy. This time, Meg didn’t get a chance to yelp before he was on her again. He caught her hips and twisted to pin her against the side of the infinity pool, his chest to her back.
