Page 74 of Bad Men

“Please!” she whimpered, struggling to shift her hips, but I had her fixed in place.

“How badly?” I hit that sweet spot a couple more times, just to keep her on edge. “What would you do for me in return?”

“Anything,” she gasped without a moment’s hesitation.

Stay, my traitorous brain pleaded silently. I will do this every night for the rest of our lives if you promise to stay forever.

I didn’t say anything, not even when I heaved her over the edge. Mia screamed, most of it muffled into the mattress. Her entire body seized with a ferocity that locked me inside her twitching and spasming core. Her bucking and grinding pulled me over with her.

“No more,” she wept as the waves contained to roll and crash over her. “No more. I can’t. Please, Nero.”

I eased my finger off her pulse and let her come down gently in a heap of damp, limp limbs.

“Show off,” Davien teased from his reclined position a foot away.

I gave him a smirk as I helped Mia flop into the spot next to him, exhausted. Davien dragged the sheets up around her.

“No, I need to get home,” she mumbled around a yawn even as she snuggled into the pillow, eyes closed.

“Five minutes,” Davien coaxed, hoisting her over to his side of the makeshift bed with an arm hooked around her waist.

She grumbled something unintelligible, but didn’t fight him, already half asleep. Her free hand drifted across the short expanse to locate mine. It was tugged to her, along with my arm and the rest of my body until I was all but on top of her, until she was tucked between us. Her head nestled beneath my chin, curls tickling my throat and cheeks. Her breath warmed the hollow of my collarbone in soft, steady exhales. There was no mistaking it, she was asleep.

In our bed.

With us.

Over her, I briefly met Dav’s gaze. Neither of us said a word, but the verdict was clear — this was the goal.

This was the gold standard.

Chapter Thirteen — Mia

Something wasn’t right. For one, I was pinned to the mattress by two enormous weights. For another, the normally smooth surface of my ceiling was a glittery spray of stucco and there was a large, glowing square of light stamped across it from the window, an alarming fact when my window was tiny and never got that much sunlight. Plus, it was in the wrong spot. So was my bed. So were the walls. And I was too close to the ground.

Realization plowed into me with the force of a mac truck. The impact scattered the hue of sleep fogging my thoughts and slammed me straight into a horrifying reality.

“Oh my God!”

Like uncoiling cobras, the arms and legs winding possessively around me unspooled, leaving smears of sweat across my naked skin with their withdrawal. Both men flopped over onto their backs, abandoning me entirely to this new nightmare.

“Get up!” I shoved Davien’s chest, then Nero’s. The assault barely seemed to register to either of them. “Get up!” I yelled again, louder.

Not waiting for them to do so, I scrambled over Nero’s legs, desperately searching for the clothes they’d tossed all about the room the night before.

I’d fallen asleep.

How could I have been so stupid? My parents were probably frantic.

My phone. Where was my phone?”

Panties located and yanked on, and top a twisted mess around my neck, I sprinted into the kitchen, almost certain I’d set it on the counter while Davien and I were making supper. I breathed a sigh of relief when I spotted it. That sigh turned to gulps of horror when I turned the screen on to hundreds of missed calls and text messages from nearly every single person I knew asking if I was okay. I didn’t need to hear or read any of them to know they were scared to death for me, but I skimmed through the first dozen, heart seizing as mild concern became frantic pleas to call them.

“Oh my God!” I choked, pressing a shaky palm to my mouth.

“Mia?” Davien appeared in the doorway, naked, sleep tussled and gorgeous. “What’s wrong?”

I blinked at him, my terror melting into outrage. “It’s morning!” I shoved the phone into his chest in passing as I jogged back into the living room for the rest of my clothes. “My parents are out of their minds with worry. They probably think I’m dead in some ditch, or worse!” A sob caught in my throat as I yanked back the tangled remains of the blanket in search of my shorts. “I am a horrible, selfish human being. I should have called them. I should have … where are my pants?”

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