“Adding me to the mix messes up the dynamic.” He threads his fingers through my pink hair. “You three have worked for years. The guys and I only have a tentative understanding. What if we can’t make it work?”
“We won’t know if we don’t try.” I cup his gorgeous face. “I have faith in us. This could be a really good thing for you, Ares. I understand how you’ve grown up. My situation wasn’t the same, but I was alone a lot too. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I didn’t have Chad and then Jase. You don’t need to rely on yourself for everything anymore. You have all of us now. You just need to let us in.”
“It’s not easy for me.”
“I know. I’m just asking you to try.”
His Adam’s apple bobs in his throat before he slowly nods. “Okay. I’ll try, but what about the marriage situation. Yours and mine.”
I hold his face more firmly. “Our relationship will be equal. It doesn’t matter whether there’s a piece of paper between us or a verbal commitment. It’s all the same to me. You won’t be treated any differently than Chad or Jase. And about that…” Anxiety pricks at my nerves, but I forge on. “You should know I’m marrying JaseandChad tomorrow.”
He stares at me blankly for a few seconds before his brows climb to his hairline. “Say what?”
My hands drop down to my sides. “It’s the best way to protect Chad and keep him with us. As my husband, he will have immunity from whatever punishment the Carters might have planned for him.”
“But you’re marrying Jase. What am I missing here? You can’t marry two men. It’s not legal.”
“It’s not, but I’ll only be legally marrying Jase. I will be marrying Chad in a religious ceremony. There is nothing in the Luminary rulebook that specifically states you cannot be married to more than one spouse at a time. In fact, Jase told me it was very common when the society was first founded, and it was one of the ways they grew the Luminary population. Custom within general society has changed over the years, and the organization has moved with the times.”
I don’t state the obvious, which is that I could marryhimin the future if that is something he desired. Like I haven’t told him I love him yet because I don’t want to spook Ares. I need to tread carefully where he’s concerned.
“Then I definitely don’t see how things are going to work out if they’re your husbands and I’m just—”
“You will be my partner, Ares, in the same way Chad and Jase are. I don’t care about a marriage certificate or labels. I only care about what’s in my heart.” Emotion clogs my throat as I take his hand and press it to my chest, over the spot where my heart beats steadily. “The three of you are in my heart. That is all that matters.”
He claims my lips in a searing-hot kiss, and I melt against him.
“One more thing,” he says before pressing his lips to that sensitive spot behind my ear. “What about my marriage to Bree?”
“What about it?” I force my head back so he stops kissing me. I cannot think straight when he’s kissing me like that.
“Are you telling me you’re okay with it?”
“It will be fake, and I trust you both.”
“We might be forced to do stuff neither of us wants to do.” He grips my hips and repositions me over his crotch. “How will you handle that?”
“I will deal. It’s a complicated situation, and it won’t be forever. You can get the marriage annulled when this is all over.”
“Are we really doing this then?” he asks, rolling me back and forth over his erection.
The feel of him pulsing against me is more than I can handle, and I’m ready to be done with the conversation. That’s enough of the heavy for one night. I just want to reconfirm one thing. He told me before I was his and he believes we were meant to find one another, but I don’t know if he still feels like that. He said those words at a time when it was just him and me, and it’s no longer like that. “Is this what you want, Ares? AmIwhat you want?”
Tension bleeds into the air as he stops moving underneath me and captures me with an intense look. My chest heaves as I wait for him to answer. He clears his throat and wraps his hand around the back of my neck. “No woman has ever made me feel the way you do. You’re my pretty little dollface.” He buries his face in my neck, inhaling deeply. “You’re under my skin, Ash,” he whispers into my ear, and I shiver all over. He takes my hand and puts it on his chest. “You wormed your way in here. It terrifies me.” Lifting his head, he stares deep into my eyes. “But not being with you terrifies me more, so yes, this is what I want. I want you. Though I must warn you that I’ll probably fuck it up.”
“You won’t.” I sweep my lips back and forth across his lips. “I won’t let you.” I wind my legs and arms around him, letting a happy smile loose on my face. “You are making all my dreams come true.”
“Does this mean we can progress to the fucking part now?”
“Yes, baby. Take me upstairs, and show me what it means to be yours.”
“Be careful what you wish for,” he says, smirking as he stands with me in his arms as if I weigh nothing.
* * *
“Oh my God.” Sliding down Ares’s body onto the plush carpet in his bedroom, I spin around, drinking it all in. It’s the first time I’ve been in here. When we were together on other occasions, it was always in my room. This is the first time I’veseenin here because he always keeps the door locked, and now I know why.
Lighting is low, and it casts a subtle red haze around the room. A heavy gold, red, and black gothic-style patterned wallpaper covers the walls, contrasting with the black silk sheets on his large bed. But it’s the bed itself that has my jaw trailing the ground. It’s a four-poster monstrosity with steel ends to accommodate all the cuffs and hooks adhered to it. Hanging on the wall beside his bed is a vast array of whips, chains, and ties. A leather box is open on his bedside table, displaying a myriad of sex toys and aids.
