“You canabsolutelylook at your husbands, Mrs. Cimmerian. Welikeyou ogling us.”
“Stop teasing her.” Koa wedged himself between Zane and me, blocking my view.
“Thief!” Zane protested with a fake scowl.
“It’s only fair,” Casimir pointed out dryly. “You two stole her frommethe other night.”
As I found myself at the center of their attention, my heart pounded in my chest, partly from nervousness, partly from something else. Something that made my skin feel too tight and my insides twist with anticipation.
Dropping the hand towel on the floor, Koa laid his palm on my back, stroking up and down in a gentle, soothing motion.
“You’re safe here, beloved,” he murmured, and I relaxed a little under his touch. “How about we just get comfortable?”
When I nodded, he guided me to lie down in the center of the big bed. Casimir stretched out on my left side, propped up on one elbow, while Koa positioned himself as a barrier between me and Zane on my right, his hand moving to rub up and down my thigh.
“That’s bullshit!” Zane complained. “I can’t even see her now!”
“I’m sorry,” I started to apologize, but Casimir cut me off.
“You’re not ready for what Zane wants, trust me.”
His words sparked images that made heat spread through my belly. The sensation was a little scary, but also thrilling.
“I’m, um, I don’t know.” I stopped and swallowed hard. “I want to be with you, but I’m not sure.”
“I canmakeyou sure, sweet cheeks.” Zane’s smirk returned, draping himself over Koa to tug a lock of my hair. “If Koala Bear would stop hogging—”
“Not yet.” Casimir caught Zane’s wrist, his green eyes glinting. “Too soon for whatever depraved fantasyyou’reconcocting.”
Heat flooded my abdomen at the implication, sudden and liquid. My thighs pressed together beneath my nightie, the unfamiliar ache from earlier returning with vengeance. For some reason, Koa’s nostrils flared as his hand stilled on my thigh.
“I’m not sure I’m ready for more than kisses,” I admitted in a small voice.
“Perfectly fine,” Casimir assured me.
“We won’t do anything you don’t want us to, sweet girl,” Koa agreed, his eyes serious as they met mine.
“Speak for yourselves,” Zane muttered. “I’ve got a list a mile long—”
“Behave,” Casimir warned.
I was barely listening to their exchange, too lost in Koa’s eyes, so deep and intense that I felt like I could drown in them. My lips parted, and before I could overthink it, I whispered, “Kiss me?”
His slow, sensual smile was everything.
“Where?” His fingers touched my cheek. “Here?” Then my chin. “Here?” Finally, his thumb ghosted over my bottom lip, a touch so light it was almost nothing at all. “Or here?”
My breath hitched as he leaned in, his mouth brushing against mine in the softest, most tender kiss. Then he pulled me onto my side so that we were facing each other, our fronts pressed together.
His mouth carried heat and hunger and honeyed patience. My fingers tangled in his hair, sparks dancing behind my closed eyelids as he licked the seam of my lips. Something hard pressed against my hip. His thigh? His—
Oh.
The realization sent a jolt of desire through me, and I found myself rubbing my legs together, seeking some relief from the building pressure. My heart pounded, my breasts felt heavy, and my nipples hardened, digging into his chest as he hugged me tighter against him. When his hand slid up the back of my thigh and under my nightie, I gasped into his mouth.
“Easy, baby,” Koa murmured against my lips.
His thumb brushed the sensitive skin near my hip bone, a sound escaped me, high, needy, utterly foreign. I wrenched back, hands flying to hide my flaming face. I’d never made a noise like that before in my life!
