“Okay. That’s what I wanted to know. I’d very much like to be free to let everything run in the fluid, natural way it has so far,” I confessed. “And down the line, I think….” I bit my lip, trying to think about how to say what I was thinking in a way that didn’t sound…weird.
“What?” Ben asked, squeezing my thigh. “You can tell us.”
It was eerie how much of my discomfort he picked up when I barely could recognize it as such myself.
“Even if I had one on one time with you both, down the line. When things get more… intimate?” I hated how it sounded like a question, but I couldn’t make myself say something like ‘having sex’ out loud yet. I wasn’t shy, but Max was, and I wanted to make everything less explicit right then. Sure, we were all grown men, but our balance was still delicate. “I wouldn’t mind if we were all in the room when… something like that happened.”
Max swallowed hard enough that his throat clicked.
Ben smiled, but there was a blush on his cheeks now, too. “Okay.”
“It’s not a fetish thing, I swear. I don’t have some sort of—”
Max pressed his fingers over my mouth. “We know. You’re not like that.”
“What he said,” Ben confirmed.
I kissed Max’s fingers, and he pulled his hand back to my lap. “I know human sensibilities are what they are, still. That wolves and vampires are different in many ways from humans. So I just want to say that however close you are to each other, it’s between you two. I don’t have any opinions on that either way.”
They avoided looking at each other, and I wondered how this would go in the long run. They clearly were closer than close, but I doubted it went into anything physical. It wasn’t my business, either, unless they wanted it to be, and we wouldn’t be getting to that point anytime soon.
“Okay!” I said brightly. “Good talk?”
They both laughed.
I squeezed Max’s hand, then reached with my other one to wrap my fingers around Ben’s neck as I tugged him closer. “Can we start with a kiss?”
Ben’s gaze flicked to his brother and then to me. “Uh, yes?”
“No pressure,” I promised quietly.
Instinct told me that I needed to kiss him first. That it would’ve been so goddamn easy to have kissed Max already, or to kiss him now, but Max knew how I felt about him. Ben… I wasn’t sure he was convinced that he belonged with us in the same way.
He came to me easily, his beautiful blue-gray eyes locked with mine until he dropped his gaze to my lips. I scratched his stubbly jaw and smiled, then raised a brow in a challenge. He rolled his eyes, then pressed his lips to mine.
Oh, the spark was there. I made a helpless sound as I opened my mouth to accept his tongue. He cupped the back of my head as Max’s hand twitched in mine.
It was clear that Ben had kissed people before. He didn’t go for control, but I hadn’t expected him to. I didn’t want it, either. We kissed for a moment longer, until I slowly pulled away and gazed at his awe-struck expression.
“Good?” I asked, my voice raspy.
“Oh yes,” he breathed out, then dramatically flopped to lie down next to me on the bed while I laughed.
I turned to Max. “Hi,” I breathed out.
He looked flushed, turned on, and hesitant all at the same time. Before I had time to tell him we didn’t need to kiss right now, he made a wounded little sound, cupped my face, and kissed me.
Ah, my sweet, sweet boy.
I pushed my fingers into his hair that was darker and longer than his brother’s. Then I touched his lips with my tongue, and he opened his mouth for me. This time, I controlled the kiss. I licked into his mouth and the groan he was holding back vibrated through his chest against my palm.
Then it hit me: he wasn’t just tasting me, he was tasting Ben, too.
I pulled away from the kiss slowly, giving him time to react, and I reveled in the moment his eyes fluttered open, awe in the blue depths.
“There you are,” I murmured.
Max smiled, then his gaze flicked to his brother and his blush deepened.
