Page 79 of Judgment Day

“I hate to ruin the moment,” Chandler’s voice broke across the room. “But husband number two is awake.”

FORTY FIVE

“Go to him,”I said after Chandler was gone, trying to contain my jealousy of the fact that he got an eyeful of her ass. Paper panties be damned. If that had been Leo, I’d have had to rip his fucking eyeballs out. Chandler, Caspian, Tatum and Anniston had all come over from Ayelswick the minute I’d told them what had happened. I’d also called Mrs. McTavish to come get Ciaran. Isla had put a sedative in the tea to knock her and Andrew out so that she could help Sadie get Ciaran out of the house. She was good. I gave her that. She’d passed the background check with flying colors. She was lucky Sadie shot her. I wouldn’t have let her get off so easily. “Lincoln needs you.”

She looked at the door, then back at me, hesitating. Torn because I’d just shared something intimate with her. I’d said things I never thought I’d say. And now she was being pulled away.

She had this way of letting her guilt consume her. She thought that by wanting us both, she was letting us down. She thought we needed her to choose to make us each feel important. She didn’t realize that bynotchoosing, she’d made us the luckiest men alive. We got to love the same woman and watch her love us back.

“My sweet, perfect dove.” My thumb brushed her lips because there was no way I couldnottouch her knowing she felt that way. “I’m fine. Go.” I kept my eyes on her.

I wanted to trap her here in this moment. I wanted to wrap her in a bubble and never let her go. But that was selfish and if this was going to work, the three of us being one, there was no room for selfishness.

“I love you.” She let out a breath, then swallowed. My jaw steeled. “I think I’ve loved you since the night you pulled me out of that bathtub.” She looked so brave, so strong, even as her voice shook. “And don’t you dare pretend you don’t love me, too.”

They were just words, a mouthful of syllables filling the quiet void of space. But they had the force of the moon, summoning a tidal wave of emotions crashing over me.

My lips twitched. “I wouldn’t dare.”

Relief washed over her, relaxing her shoulders. “Then say it.”

They were there, burning their way up my throat, sitting on the tip of my tongue. My lips parted to say them. And then—

“Please,” she said. Her tongue darted out to wet her lips. “Sir.” The beat of her pulse fluttered at the bottom of her throat.

Fuck. Me. Those words were like the snap of two fingers, making my cock roar to life.

“Go.” I focused on my breathing. “Your cunt might be sore, but your mouth seems to work just fine.” I ducked down, bringing my lips to her ear. “Leave now. Before I shove my dick down that pretty little throat.”

“We aren’t done here,” she said over her shoulder as she walked away.

“That’s right, little dove. We’re far from done.”

If two souls kept finding each other, maybe they weren’t meant to be apart.

I’d let her go.

She found her way back.

Lincoln could have said the same thing. He’d lost her once, too. And then got her back.

She needed his storm.

She needed my peace.

And we both needed her fire.

FORTY SIX

The nurse was checkingLincoln’s vitals when I opened the door and stepped into the room. She was cute, petite, and a little older. Her long, blonde hair was pulled up into a ponytail, and even in her dark blue scrubs her curves were unmistakable. I watched her smile at Linc as he opened his mouth for her to stick a thermometer under his tongue. A pang of jealousy stung my heart. I didn’t want her touching him. I definitely didn’t want her anywhere near his mouth. His tongue. His lips. Those belonged to me.

Was this what he felt when he saw me with Grey? What they felt when they saw me with each other?

Could I love Lincoln enough to stomach another woman touching him?

I didn’t know if I was that strong.

I looked at him, lying there with tubes and lines and machines attached to his body, and I realized that, yes. I would share his body if it meant keeping his heart.

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