“You don’t?”
“No. I have insomnia. I barely sleep and if I do . . . I often have nightmares. That’s why I didn’t come into the bed last night and left the other night.”
“Good. I never want to do anything to come between the two of you.”
“Really? You don’t?” he murmured.
She grew bright red as she seemed to get his meaning.
“Jared told me his plan to get me used to you guys touching me,” she blurted out.
“Right.”
“Are you . . . are you going to do that to me too? Tease me until I want you so much that I . . . that I . . . ”
That she’d handle them touching her intimately without being afraid? That she’d be so out of her mind with arousal that Fergus wouldn’t even come into her brain?
That she’d crave their touch, come to expect it, only think of their touch as bringing pleasure and need?
He eyed her for a long moment. He could say no.
However, his life was on borrowed time. It always had been, but it now felt like the clock was speeding up. And he didn’t want to die without knowing what she tasted like. What she sounded like as she came.
“Yes.”
“Yes?” she repeated breathlessly.
“I’m on board with the plan.” He stepped toward her, forcing her to back up against the wall. “The question is whether you can handle me or whether you’ll run away scared.”
“Is that a challenge?” she asked.
“Hmm. A challenge. A warning. A promise. Aren’t they all the same thing?”
Angie shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
North placed his hands on the wall on either side of her head. Then he leaned in, his mouth close to hers.
“Do you think you can resist me? If I want you, then you’re going to be mine.”
“You guys just can’t keep claiming me. I am a person. I have a mind of my own.”
“Hmm. And what does this mind tell you?” He slid his leg between hers and then bent down slightly, grasping hold of her hips to move her so she was straddling him.
Her lips parted, pleasure filling her face.
“You like that, Angel?”
“Yes,” she breathed out.
“You need to stop doubting that I want you, understand? I know I am not the most expressive person, but I’m telling younow. I want you. And it’s not about Jared anymore. It’s also about me. You have a relationship with him. And you also have one with me.”
This was a stupid idea.
He should have kept his distance.
But that ship had sailed. And if he had a limited time left, then he wanted to spend it with the only two people to ever get under his skin.
“Please, North,” she begged. “Please.”
