Page 69 of Knot on the Market

She blinks at him, some of the heat-haze clearing from her expression. "I want..." she starts, then stops, her gaze moving between us. "I want to choose. For once in my life, I want to choose what happens to me."

The words hang in the air between us, heavy with meaning that goes far beyond heat and biology.

"Then choose," Julian says simply.

And as Lila looks up at me with those wide green eyes, her body warm and wanting against mine, I realize that whatever she chooses, I'm already lost.

"Callum," she whispers, her hand coming up to cup my face. "I choose you. Both of you. All of you."

All of you.

The words hit me like a benediction, like coming home after years of wandering. She chooses us. Chooses me.

And for the first time in my life, I feel like I might actually be worth choosing.

Chapter 21

Lila

"Ichoose you. Both of you. All of you."

The words leave my mouth before I can stop them, raw and honest and carrying the weight of everything I've been fighting since I arrived in Honeyridge Falls. Julian's dark eyes widen at my declaration, and I feel Callum go completely still beneath me.

"All of you," I repeat, my voice stronger now despite the way heat is making everything feel urgent and desperate. "I want all of you."

Julian steps fully into the room then, something profound shifting in his expression. "Lila," he breathes, my name carrying wonder and relief and something that sounds like gratitude.

But then my heat scent hits him properly, and I watch his careful composure shatter completely.

His dark eyes go wide, pupils dilating. I can see the exact moment his body responds, the way his breath catches, how his hands clench into fists at his sides, the careful control fracturing under the weight of what he's seeing.

What he's seeing is me straddling Callum's lap, my oversized t-shirt riding up over my hips, grinding down against the hardridge of his cock through his jeans. Slick soaks through the denim beneath me, dampening the blankets of my nest, making everything slippery and desperate and wrong because there's still this aching emptiness inside me that won't go away.

"Callum..." I whimper, my voice broken and pleading as I rut down harder against him. The friction isn't enough—will never be enough—but I can't stop moving, can't stop seeking something to fill the void that's eating me alive from the inside out. "Please... hurts... need..."

Callum's grip on my hips is bruising now, his knuckles white with the effort of holding me still instead of flipping me onto my back like every line of his body suggests he wants to do. When he speaks, his voice is shredded gravel.

"Sweetheart, I don't..." Callum's voice is rough, uncertain in a way I've never heard from him before. His grip on my hips trembles slightly. "I've never... I don't know what to do. Don't want to hurt you."

The vulnerability in his admission makes my heart clench even through the heat-haze. This strong, capable man who fixes everything is afraid of breaking me.

"You won't hurt me," I sob, cupping his face with shaking hands. "I trust you, Callum. I trust both of you. Please... I need you..."

Julian drops to his knees beside us so fast. His elegant fingers tremble as he reaches out to brush sweaty hair away from my face, and when I turn into his touch, a low sound escapes his throat that's part groan, part surrender.

"We'll be careful," Julian promises, his voice dropping into something deeper, more commanding. "But first, you need to breathe for me, love. Can you do that?"

The gentle authority in his tone cuts through the chaos in my head like a lifeline. I nod frantically, trying to follow his instruction even as my body screams for more contact.

"Good girl," he murmurs, and the praise makes me melt completely. His dark eyes hold mine with steady intensity. "Do you want me to take control, love? Help you through this?"

The offer makes me sob with relief. "Yes," I gasp. "Please, Julian. I can't... I don't know how to..."

"Shh," he soothes, his voice dropping into that commanding tone that makes my omega instincts sing with satisfaction. "You don't have to think anymore. Just feel. Just let us take care of you."

The relief of having someone else take control is almost as overwhelming as the heat itself. Julian's calm certainty wraps around me like a safety net.

Something breaks open in both of them at my words. Callum growls low and rough, one thick hand sliding up under my t-shirt to cup my breast. His palm is warm and callused against my skin, his thumb circling my nipple before pinching lightly, sending electric shocks straight to my clit.

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