Page 20 of 3 Times the Heat

“But you know we don’t care about that, Tamara. We don’t care about where you come from or who your parents are. That’s not important to us because you could be from Mars and we would still want you.”

“I know,” I say in a softer voice, “and I appreciate you guys for it. It’s just that after seeing the way that things turned out for my mother, I’m not willing to take the same risks and end up in the same situation that she’s in. I don’t want to rely on men to take care of me, and I hope you can understand why. I’m sorry.”

“There’s no reason for you to be sorry,” Jamison shakes his head. “If we had known, we never would have broached the offer to begin with because obviously, it’s uncomfortable for you.”

“Yes,” Dane nods, grabbing my hand and squeezing it. “And besides, we’ve been doing some thinking and we’ve talked things over too, Tamara. Are you ready to hear our conclusion?”

I stare at them.

“Wait, the offer’s no longer on the table?”

Dane chuckles, a grin breaking out on his handsome face.

“Well, I didn’t say that exactly. I’m just saying that the three of us had a conversation, and came out with some conclusions ourselves.”

“Which are?” I ask in a slow voice, my heart filling with dread. Oh no, is something terrible about to be revealed? The blood begins rushing through my veins and my stomach sinks to my feet as I wait to hear.

But all three men smile then, raising my hopes, as Dane speaks

“We realized that our offer was demeaning because—as you pointed out—we were essentially asking you to be our personal sex toy. An on-call, live-in fuckdoll to use any way we pleased, any time of the day or night. You hit it on the nose, honey, when you presented us with those three silicone dolls.”

“Do you still have them?” I ask, looking around the penthouse.

Chris chuckles, his blue eyes gleaming.

“Of course we do. We just don’t keep the ladies out in the living room because we don’t want to scare housekeeping.” Then, his tone goes serious. “Anyways, it was completely degrading to ask that of you, and if we wanted something like that, we should have just gone out and bought ourselves some sex dolls like you did.”

“I see,” I say in a slow tone. “So what happens now? It sounds like the offer has been rescinded, even if you’re saying it hasn’t.”

The men share a look and nod.

“Well, we’ve come to realize that we want much more than physical satisfaction,” Chris begins.

“Really?” I ask with surprise. “I thought physical satisfaction was the entire point of the deal.”

My lovers have the grace to look ashamed.

“It was when we started,” Chris acknowledges.

“But things have changed,” Dane adds. “Like I mentioned, we’ve talked about things and realized there’s been a sea change in what we want.”

I stare at them, heart fluttering.

“And that is…?”

The men share another look, and Jamison draws a deep breath before speaking.

“Well, we’re thinking of attaching an emotional component to the arrangement,” he begins carefully.

“What?” I ask, totally stunned. “Are you joking?”

Jamison shakes his dark head.

“No, we’re not actually. We’re totally serious.”

“But how?Why?” I sputter, completely surprised by this new development.

Jamison takes another deep breath.

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