Page 52 of Owning Emma

Chapter 24

EMMA

Bliss.Shaw’s lips on my skin was pure bliss, and even if I wanted to push him away, which I didn’t, I could never muster up the willpower to make him move. Not when his large frame cradled me against him, sandwiching me between his body and the wall as he assaulted all of my senses. He was mumbling inaudible words of praise, like I was the one who needed the approval when his magic touch was setting me on fire.

My head lolled to the side and I titled it, allowing him access to my neck and shoulder as one of his hands came up and threaded in my hair. He pulled, tight enough to know who was in charge, but not enough to hurt, and the movement alone caused me to clinch my thighs around him.

Roman stepped into view, a look of confusion and . . . wonder plastered on his face as he watched his best friend devour my skin. I should’ve stopped him, but even knowing Roman was standing a few feet away, watching the whole encounter, I couldn’t care that he saw this, in fact maybe him watching made it all the more enjoyable.

He was my boss. Technically.

I followed his orders and demands. Mostly.

I catered to whatever whim he requested. Regularly.

But, with his eyes locked on my own, with Shaw’s tongue working a delicious line down to my breast, I couldn’t see him as my boss. All I saw were burning eyes and secret promises, and I wasn’t sure who would deliver me to such a life of sin, but I knew the other would follow close behind.

I reached my hand out toward him, my fingers inches from reaching him. I waited, wondering if he would make the move and step forward, or leave me to drop my hand, force me to clutch at Shaw’s back instead of his own body.

I almost let my hands fall, but then the look in his eyes changed ever so slightly and he stepped forward just enough that my fingers could graze his shirt, allowing me to crook my fingers into the cotton and pull slightly. The slight tug urged him forward until my fingers were fisted tightly into his shirt and his body was plastered against the side of Shaw’s arm.

He licked his lip and then bit it, an action so unsure for a man who radiates confidence. I wish I knew why he hesitated, why this was different than any other time they had been together, any other time they shared their woman, but I thought it rude to ask. A question that once it sat in the air between us, would surely ruin the mood.

I let go of his shirt, my hand wrapping around the back of his neck as I tugged his head down, meeting him halfway for a kiss. His lips were tentative for a mere second before he pushed his body forward, crowding all of our space until three became one. He kissed me feverishly, moaning into my mouth as Shaw moaned against my skin, and I couldn’t get enough of them, their sound, the intoxicating smell of their aftershave mixed with the lingering smoke. I wanted it all.

Did that make me selfish?

I was practically a virgin next to them, but that didn’t stop me from craving them both on a level I didn’t even know if I fully understood. I didn’t want to understand. All I knew was for the moment, I had them both. Both of their attention entirely on me, and I was terrified to move and have this moment disappear.

As if Shaw could sense my thoughts he pulled back, and I could feel his eyes searing into us as Roman and I kissed, but I couldn’t tear my mouth away or stop my hands from wandering south on either of their bodies. My fingers slipped under Shaw’s shirt and he groaned as they danced against his bare abdomen.

He pushed against Roman’s shoulder, forcing his lips away from mine as I leaned forward trying to chase their departure. Roman smirked as he stated, “She’s a greedy thing.”

“Indeed. My room or yours?” Shaw questioned as his fingers gripped my thighs tighter, already pulling away from the wall.

“Mine has the bigger bed,” Roman pointed out and images of them laying naked in that bed flashed through my mind.

Shaw hoisted me up and I was forced to wrap my arms tightly around him. “Your room it is.”

He began to walk toward the stairs while his palm massaged my ass and his head buried into my neck. “You’re so beautiful, do you know that, Emma? Every time you look at me with those big innocent doe eyes I want to shove you to your knees and see what they would look like gazing at me as you sucked my cock.” I heard Roman make a sound in his throat as he followed behind us. “I think Roman would agree.”

He took the first step up onto the stairs then the next, each step jolting my body against his, rubbing me against the hard planes of his chest and the thickness I felt against the junction of my thighs. A moan slipped from my mouth and he stopped, bracing a hand against the wall as he breathed out slowly.

“You’re going to kill me with those sounds, Cardigan. I wonder, will you make them when I’m buried deep inside of you?” This time it was Roman’s turn to groan, obviously enjoying what Shaw had said.

I leaned forward and bit his neck, and for a second, I thought he would drop me, but his fingers tightened with bruising strength as he sought out my lips again. Once his lips were on mine, he moved forward until he reached the top of the stairs then turned, heading in the direction of Roman’s room. With one foot he kicked the door open, still not looking at what he was doing as our tongues danced and our bodies tangled.

His grip loosened before he dropped me in the middle of Roman’s bed, his body crawling after mine. He straddled my hip, staring down at me. “Do you want to cross the line, Emma?”

I knew what line he was talking about. The line between friends and lovers, boss and friends. It could get messy. It could go horrifyingly wrong in so many damn ways, but these men . . . they were protecting me. I didn’t even know I had a target on my back, and they still took it upon themselves to make sure I was safe. Why? I wasn’t sure, but I did know if I could trust them with my life, surely I could trust them with my body.

“Why?” I asked.

Roman was standing next to the bed, one knee on the mattress. “Why what?”

“Why would you protect me, you hardly know me.”

Roman leaned down so that we were face to face. “Why wouldn’t we protect you? That’s all it’s ever been about. Sure, my mother needed help, but the moment we knew Krank wanted you was the moment we knew we had to keep you. Admittedly, I wanted to stay out of it, but Shaw couldn’t. We didn’t know he was planning to take it this far to get you, though. But, even still, we would never hand you over.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead, my nose, my lips, my chin, then pulled himself back up to stare at me, his thumb reaching for my cheek where he stroked it gently.

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