Page 22 of Room Nine: Masters of Control

“A damn near perfect man,” Kerr grins, which causes her to roll her eyes and smile.

I add, “Who will move heaven and hell to give you everything you want—”

“And everything you need,” Kerr finishes my thought.

She stands up, picking up her plate and walking into the kitchen with her back to us. “So, this isn’t a kinky sex thing?”

“Oh, there’s definitely kinky sex involved,” Kerr replies—because of course Kerr would be the one to say something like that.

She turns around and faces us. “How kinky?”

“That would depend on you,” O’Dell says evenly. “But we are dominant males, if that gives you any ideas.”

She bites her lip. “I see. How do you deal with jealousy?”

“If you were ours, we would have nothing to be jealous of between the three of us. Individually, each one of us has our strengths and weaknesses, just like any man. You’d get what you need from each of us in different ways—we know that about ourselves—which is why we don’t get jealous of each other because in the end, all we care about is taking care of you.” O’Dell says it like we’ve practiced this speech a million times. We have not. We’ve uttered nothing close to a woman before, but that’s because we’ve never found one that all three of us wanted for more than one night. “Possessiveness is a different conversation. Men like us are very territorial over what is ours.”

“Are you planning to lock me up in a cage?” She smiles, so I assume she’s trying to make a joke, but I want to make sure that we’re very clear with our intentions.

I stand and approach the other side of the kitchen island, leaning my back against the wall and crossing my arms over my chest. “We will never, ever, force you to do anything you don’t want to do, although we might not give you what you want in the way you want it. We are protective, we are loyal, and we are loving—and yeah, we might be a tad much—but if you ever thought we were being overbearing, all we ask is you let us explain our rationale before you chew our asses about it.”

She turns and rests her ass against the counter, her hands gripping the edge which makes her round breasts jut out in invitation. “Do you guys give this pitch to all the women who blow up one of your houses? I mean, why me?”

“Because you’re smart,” O’Dell says from the window.

“Because you’re strong—both emotionally and physically,” I say.

“Because you’re fucking sexy,” Kerr all but growls from the couch.

A light blush hits her cheeks. “I don’t know what to say to that.”

“You don’t have to say anything, Angel. We weren’t planning on talking to you about this today, but you brought it up. We’ve never had this conversation with a woman before because, as you can imagine, it’s difficult to meet someone that satisfies what all three of us desire in a partner. I knew it the moment I laid eyes on you.”

“You knew what?”

“You’re the one.”

Her lips part, and she stares back at me.

Kerr clears his throat. “You knew it too, Kyra. I saw the way you looked at Dem when he walked into the room.”

She nods. “There was something.”

“I’d like to think we would have felt something if we’d met under different circumstances.”

Kyra giggles. “I felt something when you were sitting on my ass, grabbing at my hands.”

Kerr grins, his eyes trailing down her body. “Yeah, I felt something, too.”

She blushes slightly and shakes her head, turning her gaze to O’Dell who stands by stoically and says nothing.

“We don’t have to talk about this now, Angel. We just want you to know where we’re coming from—”

“And why I begrudgingly declined whatever you were thinking last night,” Kerr interrupts.

She drops her eyes to her hands, and I notice she picks at her nails when she’s overwhelmed. “I’m going to use the bathroom. Do you guys need anything to drink before I go?”

“We’re good.” O’Dell shakes his head, watching her as she walks across the tiny living room into her bedroom.

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