Page 48 of Forever Theirs

“You. I’m going to fight you for the real man I know is inside you, the one beneath whatever you’re afraid of.”

“I’m not afraid,” he rasped.

“Okay, big guy, you’re not afraid.” Patting his chest, I turned back around. “But don’t hold back. Show me everything you are. Because I’m not afraid either, and I think you’ll be surprised at how amazing it will be when you let go of whatever is holding you back.”

“What if you’re wrong?” he whispered in my ear, causing a shiver to race down my spine.

“What if I’m right? Isn’t that enough to try?”

“How?” The word was more of a hiss that escaped through his clenched teeth.

“Start small. Tell me something small that maybe you haven’t told anyone other than your best friend. We could start like that, every day sharing something about each other that we’ve kept buried or hidden from everyone else.”

The wood in the fire crackled, the only sound besides the buzzing bugs all around the campsite. We sat in silence for so long that I wondered if I’d pushed him too far, asked too much.

“I’m not sure anything about what I’ve been through is small.”

“How about you tell me why Aiden always looks shell-shocked when you touch me or when I touch you?” It was something I’d noticed several times, even tonight when Miles had pulled me down onto his lap. Aiden had frozen where he was lowering into his own chair, eyes wide and fixed on where we touched.

Once again, silence settled between us, but this time, I didn’t allow worry to worm its way in. It seemed Miles needed a few seconds to gather his thoughts, and I needed to be patient, allowing him that time since this was clearly a sensitive topic, and exposing the deeper sides of him was a new challenge.

“Because when we’ve shared in the past—hell, since I got out of the hospital and left the Navy—I haven’t allowed anyone to touch me. A handshake or something small isn’t a big deal, but skin to skin, or something more intimate, has been a solid no for years.”

Brows furrowed, I studied him over my shoulder. “Then how did you share?”

Something like worry flickered behind his eyes. “I just watched.”

“Watched,” I repeated like an idiot. “So, how did you… enjoy it?” I cringed, making laughter rumble in his chest. He lifted a single hand and wiggled his fingers, giving me a pointed look. “Oh. Oh,” I whispered. My mind immediately went to earlier, my face heating. “So, today when I… you know. You didn’t want that?—”

He cuffed the back of my neck and pulled me close until our noses brushed. “It was fucking amazing. Don’t you dare question that. I could’ve said no, but I didn’t. You on your knees for me, feeling your hot, wet mouth around my cock, knowing the remarkable woman who touched me made it everything to me. Notokaybut fuckingeverything. Aiden is shocked by how I go out of my way to touch you because I can’t stop. I crave the feel of your skin, your lips on mine, and ever since this morning, I can’t stop fantasizing about fucking that perfect mouth again and dreaming about filling your tight cunt that squeezed the fuck out of my fingers with my cock, over and over and over again.” My breaths came in quick, shallow pants. “I want to feel you beneath me, feel you all around me, touch you everywhere you’ll let me, and press the boundaries of what you’re embarrassed to crave.”

“Holy fuck,” I rasped, sweat now beading along my forehead and causing my shirt to stick to my back.

“I want it all, with you and Aiden. And that’s all because of you, Aspen. No one else has ever tempted me, pushed me, made me fuckingwantit like you do. I’m not ready to tell you everything, but that… that is my one share for the day.”

I nodded and glanced toward the other occupied chair, where Aiden sat on the opposite side of the flickering flames, his gaze fixed on the small fire. Almost as if he felt my stare, his honey-colored eyes shifted and met mine, a small, forced smile pulling at his lips. Worry churned in my gut, wondering what had happened to the happy, laughing man from earlier.

Miles’s arm tightened around my waist as his lips brushed along my ear. “Don’t worry about him. He gets lost in his head sometimes.”

I nodded. He’d alluded to that earlier, but I was confused about why. What caused him to get lost in that guilt and regret he said drowned him daily? “He mentioned something about that but not why.”

“Because he thinks it’s his fault that I am the way I am.” My lips parted, ready to ask why Aiden would feel that way, but Miles wrapped his fingers around my throat and tightened. Urging me to lie back against his chest, my head resting against his shoulder, Miles’s other hand slipped beneath my shirt, settling a rough palm over my stomach. “I have an idea of how to pull him out of his head.” I stilled as Miles’s fingers dipped beneath the waistband of my pants. “You want to play, baby girl?”

“Yes, sir,” I barely pushed out with my erratic breaths and his hold around my throat.

“That’s my good girl.”

Holy fuck.

It was official.

I was the luckiest woman on the planet.

And I intended to savor every second I had with these two men.

For now. But hopefully for longer than the three of us ever imagined.

17

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