Page 59 of Bear
My heart races. Rattled, I force myself to concentrate on the simple act of breathing as I haphazardly pack toiletries. The balcony door is still open, so I can hear bits and pieces of the conversation happening outside.
“Fuck, did you see her haul off and sock him?”Quincy?
“Impressive, if you ask me.”Warren.
“Grunt, get me some ice for my damn face.”Tucker.
Asshole.My hands shake. But then I think about him anywhere near me, and I know I was right to put him in his place. As if I haven’t before. What’s it going to take for it to sink into his thick skull?
A knock on the bedroom door has my head whipping up.Nope.I open one drawer after another, slamming each shut as I empty it before moving into the bathroom.
A moment later, three bodies fill the doorway, and I come to an abrupt stop. “Stella Bella, what the hell are you doing?”
With my toiletries hugged to my chest, I brush past all of them. My eyes flick to the open balcony door. I’m an idiot.Doesn’t do any good to lock the bedroom door if you’re going to leave the balcony door wide open.I’m not thinking clearly at all.
My breaths leave me in pants as I kneel on the ground, rearranging things, desperately trying to ignore that they’re watching me. I’m furious. How dare the OG Bastards get it in their heads that they can force me to participate in that mayhem?
A moment later, hands grip my biceps and lift me to my feet. “Stop!” I turn around, meeting Duke’s piercing blue eyes head-on. I shake my head. “I’m not fucking doing it.”
“You might not have a choice.” His jaw is rigid, his fists clenched.
“I told you when it first came up last week that I didn’t care what anyone else did, butIdidn’t want to be involved. I amalwaysin control.” I slam my hands to his chest, pushing him from me. “I won’t do it, I just wo—”
There’s a split second where I see a feral look in his eye, and in the next his hands still the movement of my head, his mouth crashes down on mine, his lips exploring with brutal intent, almost as if he’s staking claim. With my heart thrumming in my chest like a manic drummer resides there, I let out a whimper. He swallows it before he thrusts his tongue inside to greet mine in a wicked dance.
Duke.So many things race through my mind at once that I have trouble keeping up. He’s kissing the shit out of me despite insisting we’d made a mistake, and he’s doing it in front of Mason and Bear. Holy fuck, I can feel their eyes on us, and it sends a jolt of desire down my spine that makes me throb. I shouldn’t want this. I grip Duke’s forearms as my eyes flutter open for a moment, but he catches my full lower lip between his and sucks it into his mouth.
There’s a wildness about the way he tastes and touches that I’m not used to seeing in Duke. This side of him is in direct opposition to his usual controlled self. I’d question it, but I’m far too busy drowning in the kiss I let go on for far too long. As my head catches up with what my body has allowed, I bite down on his lip—hard—then shove him away from me.
I’m breathless from the way he makes me feel, and the stunned look on his face only serves to irritate me. Is it his fault that they want to auction me off? No. But his suggestion that I might have to go along with it makes me irrationally angry.
Duke’s chest heaves, his inhale ragged as he touches his fingers to his bite-swollen lip. It gives me a twisted sort of pleasure to know that even if his intention was diversion, he got swept along with me and got what he deserved.
Furious, I seethe, “What? Did you figure you could distract me and everything would be okay?”
Mason stands off to the side, and my eyes flick to his as he emits a deep-throated chuckle. “It’s the one foolproof method he’s found to throw you off balance.” He hasn’t come any closer, but he’s eyeing the two of us with his hooded gaze as if he wouldn’t mind a repeat of what happened the other day.
I try to ignore the unmistakable sensation of my panties dampening and focus on what he’s just said. His assessment of how Duke deals with me isn’t wrong. Nearly each of Duke’s kisses has been a fucking sneak attack meant to shut me up. My cheeks heat. My stepbrother knows how to play me like a fiddle, and it’s the tiniest bit embarrassing… I’m stubborn, though, and there’s no way I’m allowing myself to be auctioned off like some prize heifer at a county fair.
As they circle me, I know each of them registers the defiance in my eyes. I shake my head and repeat as my gaze connects with each of them in turn, “I’m not fucking doing it. They can’t make me.”
Bear steps close to my side and gathers my hair in his big hand, securing it as he uses it to angle my head the way he wants. It’s hard to know what’s in his head lately, but the way he’s looking at me, a feeling of security washes over me. Gruffly, he murmurs, “We’ll figure this out.” He presses his lips to my temple, letting them linger there a moment before sliding down the curve of my jaw, his scruff tickling my skin.
Something about the way Bear’s touching me provides me with a sense of calm and security, but at the same damn time, it makes me hunger for more of him. I know he means it—we’ll handle whatever ends up coming our way. He’s my rock. My protector.MyGideon. And everything about him makes my heart race.
He nips at a particularly sensitive spot, and a gasp stutters from me. He guides my face to his and our lips brush. A rush of tingles moves through me as I open myself to his kiss, and his tongue strokes languidly into my mouth, slowly tasting and teasing until I think I might go out of my mind. My head grows hazy, and an unbidden moan slips from between my lips. The three of them are like a wall of heat and muscle and hunger, surrounding me. Claiming me.
I savor the way Bear’s bold, sure lips feel on mine and encourage his groans as our tongues tangle. Still engulfed by his kiss, my body lights up further when the backs of Mason’s fingers skim along the tiny sliver of exposed flesh between my tank and shorts. Duke’s thumb flicks over the taut peak of my nipple as he cups my breast. It feels so good to have all three of them touching me at once, I’m having trouble believing I’m not asleep in my bed and dreaming. I press another kiss to Bear’s lips, then ease back, my eyes wide and pinging from Duke to Mason and then over to Bear. A desperation fills me like nothing I’ve ever known before. I want them. All of them.
With my head still reeling at that revelation, Mason guides my face to his with a touch of his fingertips under my chin. “Do you trust us, Kintsukuroi?”
I draw in a ragged breath, touch his bare chest with my fingertips, knowing the damaged heart that resides inside this man and wanting it—wantinghim—anyway. I nod and pull his body closer. “I need you to kiss me, too.” I stare into his deep, dark eyes as need rips through me. If he doesn’t put his mouth on mine in the next three seconds, I might die.
He doesn’t disappoint me. Swooping in, he devours my lips in that way he has that makes my toes curl and has all coherent thoughts flying out of my head. When he kisses me, it’s like a warning. He’s chaos and fire wrapped up in a brooding, hot package.
Overwhelmed and not quite sure who to focus on next, my eyes land on Duke. As if they orchestrated it, Bear and Mason move as one on either side of me, pulling my tank over my head. Duke wastes no time grazing his fingers over my collarbone, then down, down, down, through the valley of my breasts before finally sweeping them over my stomach with a light touch that makes goose bumps raise on my skin. His jaw twitches. Is he okay with this? Because the last time we found ourselves entwined between the sheets, he took off. He catches my gaze, and I’m trapped in all that ocean blue, mesmerized by the way he’s looking so deeply, so intently at me. “Never gonna let anyone hurt you, Lennon.”
I wet my lips. “Promise?” I whisper the question, uncertainty clear in my eyes.
