Page 23 of Room Nine: Masters of Control

“Well, this is fucking awkward,” I grumble.

O’Dell walks back over to the island, so we’re only a few feet apart, and talks low under his breath. “She’s not the kind of woman we send Kerr to feel out and then woo for us at the club. He’s the one with the best kink radar, almost always attracting women who are up for a walk on the wild side. Three men at once is pretty wild, even though we are fairly tame compared to our brethren. Since we don’t want Kyra for a night, but a lifetime, this awkward conversation was unavoidable. With her past, she needs to know exactly what we’re offering.”

“Agreed, but it doesn’t make this any less unbearable.” I glance at Kerr who stands and stretches before walking over. “I think we’re freaking her out.”

Kerr shakes his head. “Nope. She’s into it, but she’s doing the math, trying to understand how it would work. I wonder what she was going to school for before she dropped out? I bet it was engineering or something technical like that.”

“Why do you say that?” We’re all trained to read people and profile them, so we can to interrogate and manipulate them if we have to, but Kerr is by far the best reader out of the three of us. He’s got a sixth sense and walked into the military with it. I think he developed it at a young age to survive growing up in ever changing foster homes.

“Because of how her brain works. She’s not afraid to ask questions, wanting all the facts before deciding what she thinks. She carefully picks her words, too. Super smart, which also explains her reaction to her rapes. No one wants to think of themselves as a victim, but a lot of women self-blame. Think about how we’d beat ourselves up if someone got the drop on us. She feels like she should have been smart enough to anticipate and/or avoid her attack, even though intelligence has nothing to do with it. She could have become a shut-in and walled herself off from the world, but she refused, becoming what I’m willing to bet is a black belt in karate. She’s not scared or sexually stunted, but controlled and calculated. She’s fucking perfect for us.”

“Except we’re going to want to take that control from her,” O’Dell points out.

“No, we want her to give up control to us, but only in the bedroom, and only when it’s the four of us playing.” Kerr points at me. “Well, he might want it all the time, but that’s between him and her.”

I change the subject, taking a minute to check my phone. “She doesn’t want us going after Bobby, so we either camp out here or convince her to come to our place to play Monopoly or something.”

“I voteor something,” Kerr mutters.

“Meanwhile, I’m going to call our agency contact and ask them what their plans are regarding Bobby.” O’Dell also ignores Kerr, pulling out his phone. “Where is he now?”

“He’s across town at his apartment. There’s been no movement for the last half-hour.”

“Maybe he’s already dead.” Kerr grins.

“We can only fucking hope. All right, I guess I’ll go down to the truck and make this call. Be right back.” O’Dell makes a move for the door when Kyra comes out of her bedroom.

“Are you leaving?” She looks from him to me and back.

“I’m going to make a call, and then I’ll be back.”

“Quick question before you leave.” She walks toward him, stopping maybe two feet away, but definitely within touching distance.

“Yeah, Cupcake?”

Her face lights up when he calls her his little pet name, something I’ve never heard him do before her.

“The three of you are looking for one woman, so if I were to kiss one of you, I’d have to kiss all of you?”

He raises his brow. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. But our bond is very strong, and we all want you, so we’ve agreed to not pursue you individually.”

She dips her head and takes another step forward. “That came out wrong.”

To my surprise, she jumps up and wraps her arms around O’Dell’s neck, pulling him down to claim his lips.

Kerr chuckles next to me, murmuring, “That a girl.”

O’Dell responds quickly, sliding his hands down to cup her ass and pull her against his body. He deepens the kiss and makes her moan, which causes the blood in my veins to rush south.

Kerr, as if he knows what to expect, walks back over to the couch and sits down, casually putting his ankle on top of his knee and draping one arm over the top of the cushion. He looks like a man confidently waiting his turn. Sometimes, I really want to smack the smugness off his face, but now would not be one of those times. I’m too shocked and turned on to give him any shit for being right.

O’Dell finally pulls back to look into Kyra’s eyes. He smiles, and then whispers something into her ear that not even I with my supersonic hearing can pick up in this tiny apartment. She nods and lets him go, taking a small step back, her eyes glued to his. He performs one last caress of her jaw, smoothing his thumb over her bottom lip, and then makes eye contact with Kerr and I before walking out the door.

Kyra bites her bottom lip and looks at me. “Well, this is awkward. Do I come over there, or do you come over here?”

I chuckle. “I was saying the same thing to the guys while you were in the bedroom. This entire conversation has been awk—”

“Sweet Christ, Dem! Kiss the woman before I do,” Kerr barks.

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