His agonized gaze swung back to Luca, and he squared his shoulders like he was facing a firing squad: proud, but ready to suffer the consequences of his actions.
“You can chain me down if you want. You can do anything to me, and I’ll take it, if only I can stay close to Nora and protect her.”
“Don’t do this,” I begged, voice breaking.
Dante always proved himself through actions, and he was throwing himself at Luca’s mercy now to demonstrate the depth of his regret. He was resolute in his decision to accept the worst punishment for his sins against my husband.
When Dante said nothing, I turned to Luca with my pleas. “Don’t do it. If you truly love me, you won’t degrade him like that. I don’t want any more suffering or cruelty. I can’t bear more torment, and I won’t be used as a weapon between you ever again.”
Luca’s mouth twisted in a frown, and he caressed my cheek. “He has to pay for what he did to you.”
“You should be with him,” Dante interjected, tone low and determined. “I don’t deserve you, Nora. I can see that now. Make love to Luca in front of me. Show me that you’re his, because you will never be mine.”
My spine stiffened, and anger surged up in a wave to drown my anguish.
“I won’t be used as a weapon, and I won’t be used as a tool for you to torture yourself. I don’t consent to any of this.”
“No,” Dante bit out. “You didn’t consent to anything I did to you. But you love Luca. You chose him, and I gave you no reason to choose me.”
My eyes burned with the ferocity of my rage and pain. “You never gave me a chance to choose. And you can’t make the choice for me now. Only I can do that.”
A single dark brow rose, challenging despite the tension around his full lips. “You aren’t going to forsake the man you love for the man who tortured you. You don’t want to cause me further pain? Then don’t pretend otherwise.”
Suddenly, his hands bracketed my waist, and he turned me away from him so that I faced Luca. He wrapped my hair around his fist and tugged back sharply, pressing me closer to my husband with a firm touch at the small of my back.
“Kiss her, Luca,” he snarled. “Claim her. I know you want to. You want it more than your next breath.”
Before I could protest, Luca’s mouth sealed mine. His kiss was a brand, a declaration of ownership. I was his, and he was mine.
But this was wrong. I couldn’t?—
Dante’s fist tightened in my hair, lighting up my scalp with little sparks of pain. I gasped, and Luca’s tongue surged into my mouth. Their masculine heat surrounded me, and their possessive hands held me at their mercy. A shiver raced over my sensitized skin as every inch of my body came alive for them: the two men who had pledged that that would sacrifice anything for me.
But Dante was hurting himself in the worst way, and it was too awful for my heart to bear. I couldn’t experience transcendent pleasure when I knew his soul was in agony, no matter how good it felt to have both of them touching me.
I struggled to free myself from Luca’s savage kiss so that I could reason with them, but Dante held me firm with his punishing grip on my hair, and Luca devoured my soft cry of protest with hungry strokes of his tongue. Despite myself, I shuddered and softened in their arms, leaning against Dante for support while my head tipped back farther to allow Luca to claim me more deeply. My fingers sank into Dante’s thighs, clinging to him in carnal defiance. His cock stiffened, pressing into my ass. Luca was hard, too, his thick length straining against the confines of his jeans.
They wanted me as desperately as I wanted them. Both of them.
I grew lightheaded before Luca finally allowed me an inch of space to draw in a ragged breath.
“I won’t choose,” I gasped before he could silence me with his tongue again.
Dante pulled my hair in a punishing warning, and he growled in my ear, “Your decision has been made already, little bird.”
“No,” I countered, vehement. I stared up into Luca’s blazing eyes, trying to convey the depth of my feelings for him with more than just words. “I want you both.”
Luca reeled back as though I’d slapped him, but I clutched at his shoulders to hold him close. He could’ve easily pulled away, but he halted as though I’d bound him with rope.
“I love you,” I promised, “but I care about Dante too. He’s suffered so much. You don’t have to punish him more.” I tipped my chin back, holding my ground. “I won’t let you.”
“Don’t pity me,” Dante seethed, his angry words hot on my neck.
“You don’t get to tell me how I feel,” I shot back, even though I couldn’t turn to face him with his cruel grip on my hair. “You both vowed to give me anything I desire. This is what I want.”
I needed both of them to hold me, to claim me in their own way. Luca was primal in his passion for me, a possessive beast who would do anything to keep me for himself. Dante inflicted exquisite pain, making me shatter for him so that he could put me back together again: his deepest expression of affection and intimacy.
Luca’s square jaw was sharp enough to cut. “I can’t deny you anything, Nora. But what you’re asking of me?—”
