Page 51 of Succumbed

“Things are coming together, gentlemen.”

Linc smiles, and Shane nods in agreement. We’re once again sitting around their dining table for our weekly check in, this time in the early evening. Declan’s interview is three weeks away, and we already spent a solid hour aligning on the key points he needs to hit in his conversation with Cass. His eyes flick to me as I speak, then drift away.

“Are we done?” Declan asks absently, eyes on his phone.

I glance at the other two. “That’s all I had for tonight. Anything you need to cover?”

“Nothing from me.” Declan stands and turns to go, then pauses and looks back at me. “Thank you.”

My eyes widen as I nod in response, still taken aback when anything other than skepticism or business strategy passes his lips. Before I can rib him about it, Declan walks down the hall, then disappears through a door I assume leads to the garage. And there it is.

“Don’t mind him. He’s been heading back to the lab most nights, burning the midnight oil. He’s usually not home until late,” Linc offers, and awareness prickles across my skin. He leans back in his chair, raising his arms over his head to stretch, almost overly casual. “What do you think, Shane? Do we have anything else for Lex tonight?”

You’re not fooling anyone, Linc. My eyes track to Shane, feeling something significant gathering in the air between us.

“Nothing business-related.” Shane’s deep voice rumbles through the room, and I feel it between my thighs.

Linc’s words from two days ago reverberate in my brain. There’s nothing soft about Shane Kelly. Meeting his piercing blue gaze, I have no trouble believing that’s true. He may be the quietest of them, but there is a sharpness there that calls to the softest parts of me.

I cock an eyebrow at Shane. “Let’s hear it, then.”

“How do you feel about sharing, Lex?”

My mouth goes dry as I swallow roughly, heat flaring through me. It had been hard to think of anything other than being shared by them since Shane had leaned over me and asked me to be gentle with Linc. And Linc’s revelations during our run earlier in the week only served to fuel my fantasies.

I glance over to find Linc lounging in his seat, smirking as his eyes ping back and forth between us. Shane’s gaze never leaves mine, those glacial blues trained on me, as though he can read my every move. I appreciate his directness and reciprocate in kind.

“I’m…open to it.” Please.

“Have you been shared before?”

I laugh. “Are you asking me if I’ve ever had a threesome, Shane?”

The ghost of a smile crosses his lips. “Yes.”

“Then, no. I’ve never been shared before.”

Linc groans, slumping further in his chair as he tosses his head back. “You’re fucking killing me. Both of you.”

Shane ignores him entirely. “But you’re open to it.”

“Under the right circumstances.”

“Which are?”

They both watch me intently. Linc had propped his forearms on the table, his hands clasped as he leans toward me. Shane sits kicked back in his own chair, legs wide–the picture of relaxed male confidence. He’s wearing a dress shirt and slacks, which I’ve come to think of as his uniform. While Linc often worked in jeans and tees, both Shane and Declan opted for business casual, and I loved it.

“I’m a practical person, Shane. I’d want to feel safe.”

“There’s more to you than that,” Linc murmurs. “You like it hot.”

I smirk at him. “Attraction is a must, of course. And passion.”

“What else?”

My eyes fly back to Shane. I’m at an inflection point, like the next words out of my mouth can pave an unknown path. It’s now or never, Lex.

“I’d want to trust them enough to let them be the ones in control.”

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