Page 64 of Stick Around,
Me: What do I do? Enzo’s cousin will be back soon.
April: Why can’t you stay longer? You don’t have your first professional development day until the middle of August.
I set my phone down, not wanting to tell April that if I stayed even longer, I was going to fall in love with these men. If that happened, I didn’t know where that would leave us. Would they expect me to choose one of them eventually?
While I was sure there were at least a handful of women in the world who had two or more partners, it wasn’t something that was talked about.
I hugged a pillow, squeezing it like it might provide the answers my spinning mind couldn’t find. What I really wanted was someone to lay it all out for me with a clear roadmap through this tangle of feelings I’d stumbled into. Three men. One me. A situation I’d never imagined myself in.
Just as my eyelids grew heavy, the bedroom door creaked open with a slow, deliberate sound that instantly banished any trace of drowsiness from my system. My body went rigid, everysense suddenly, acutely aware as Reid’s silhouette appeared in the doorway, followed by Kellan and Enzo close behind.
“We thought you might be sleeping already.” Kellan’s voice was a low rumble in the darkness.
I pushed myself up onto my elbows. “Not tired.”
“Good.” Enzo turned on the bedside lamp, casting the room in a warm glow. “Because we’ve been deciding how to make you pay.”
Reid closed the door behind them with a soft click that seemed to echo through the room. “Revenge is a dish best served when you least expect it.”
The three of them stood at the foot of the bed, looking down at me with identical expressions of hunger. My mouth went dry.
“What exactly did you have in mind?” I tried to sound casual, but my voice came out breathy and weak.
Kellan’s slow grin was downright wicked as he pulled ropes from behind his back. And not the ones they used on the horses. These were bondage ropes.
My core clenched, and my breath caught. I’d never been tied up before, but damn, did it appeal to me now.
Reid moved to one side of the bed while Enzo took the other, effectively boxing me in. “We thought we’d decorate you a bit before taking you for a ride.”
I swallowed hard, eyeing the ropes in Kellan’s hands. They were dark red, almost burgundy, and looked soft.
“I’ve never...” I lost my ability to speak as Enzo approached, taking the ropes from Kellan.
“Do you trust us?” Enzo’s fingers worked the rope, his movements fluid and confident as he measured out a length.
Did I trust them? These three men who’d somehow tumbled into my life through a hobby horse competition? Who’d shown me what it was like to be wanted not in spite of my quirks but because of them?
“Yes.” The word came out stronger than I expected.
Reid moved closer, his hand gently cupping my cheek. “We’ll stop anytime you want.”
“Say ‘red’ if you want us to stop completely, ‘yellow’ if you need us to slow down or adjust.” Kellan perched on the edge of the bed, his hand finding my ankle. “Green means?—”
“Keep going,” I finished for him.
Enzo watched me for a long moment, his eyes unreadable. “Stand up for me.”
I slid off the bed, suddenly feeling exposed even with my clothes on. My shirt might as well have been transparent under their gazes, each man watching me with an intensity that made my skin prickle with awareness. I fought the urge to cross my arms and shield myself from the vulnerability that had nothing to do with fabric and everything to do with the way they saw through me.
Kellan moved behind me, his breath against my ear as his fingers found the hem of my T-shirt. “Can I take this off?”
I nodded, lifting my arms as he peeled the shirt over my head, leaving me in my underwear. The cool air pebbled my nipples instantly, drawing three pairs of hungry eyes.
Reid knelt in front of me, his fingers hooking into the waistband of my underwear. “These too?”
My heart hammered as I nodded again. He dragged them slowly down my legs, leaving goosebumps in their wake. I stepped out of them, now completely naked.
“Beautiful.” Reid’s gaze traveled from my feet upward.
