Page 135 of Look, Don't Touch

“Even if we had been, it wouldn’t change the way I feel about you.” He kisses my lips but pulls away too soon.

“I…I don’t understand.”

“For so many, love is conditional. I’ll love you if… That’s fine for them. Not for me. I love you unconditionally, Hailey. I hope you’re ready for it.”

My heart beats in my pussy.

With that, he tugs me along to a velvet-covered door at the back of the large room. It’s not the only door along the back and side walls. In fact, there are quite a few. This one is the only one with velvet.

He throws the door open as though he’s the king of the castle. I stall in the threshold, not knowing what to expect.

“You’re late.” A voice booms in the room. I recognize Dobson from his accent first. When my gaze finds him, he’s leaning over the back of a tufted velvet couch that looks like it belongs in a Victorian mansion, a modernized one.

He’s wearing a thick wool suit, but his tie is pulled loose around his opened collar. To his left, Karris’s blond hair gleams in the low light pouring from the fire set under the ornate mantel, inset lights in the ultra-high ceiling, and a couple of lamps on furniture pieces that likely cost more than my office mortgage.

Karris turns with a glass of whiskey in his hand and a smile on his face. “You’re gorgeous and forgiven.”

My gaze narrows. “Me or him?” I point between myself and Arlo.

“Both,” Hotaru answers. He stands from his spot on the short section of the L-shaped couch and heads toward a minibar under a massive painting of a lion accentuated in gold leaf.

My cheeks, which haven’t gotten this hot since I had a crush on Dylan Frontner in third grade and my dad found out, downright burn.

Hota stops in front of a row of decanters with small portions of liquid in each and looks over his shoulder. “A drink?”

My mouth goes dry. Three beautiful men stare at me like they know something I don’t. Because I don’t. I don’t have a clue what’s going on. “Make it a double.”

Dobson’s laugh is full. It echoes off the walls.

Arlo kisses the back of my hand and leads us fully into the room, closing the door behind him. “Go, make yourself comfortable.” He swats my ass and heads toward the minibar.

Fat chance.

I’m sure my shoulders are up to my ears, and I’ll be sore tomorrow from…My body flushes the approximate temperature of the center of the earth. From all the tension.

That’s it.

“Come.” Karris sweeps his hand toward the intimate arrangement of two L-shaped couches and a low coffee table made of solid obsidian. “Have a seat. We won’t bite.”

“I might,” I snap, feeling exposed but also so fucking aroused it hurts.

“Lucky us.” Karris grins.

The man is always smiling or smirking, but it never looks particularly inviting.

“Leave her alone.” Dobson stands and offers me a smile. It’s warm and cute. The man reminds me of a teddy bear, big and cuddly, who could also kill you with one swipe of his paw. He walks around to me and offers his bent elbow.

I look up and up some more to meet his gaze. Hazel eyes meet mine. He gives me a wink. Tentatively, I place my hand in the crook of his arm.

“I love your monsters.” He cocks his head toward my mostly bare front, and I regret dressing quite so boldly this evening. Only because I’m off familiar footing.

“Thank you. I do too.” I follow him around to the other couch, where he deposits me, seeming to know I need distance from everyone right now.

He retreats to his original seat but can’t sit. Karris’s outstretched legs rest in the spot. Again, the blond’s sinister smile alights, only this time at the big man. It’s a challenge, or he’s baiting him.

Dobson kicks Karris’s feet off the couch and sits.

Karris’s eyes shift to me. They travel every exposed line and furl. “How bad did they hurt?”

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