Page 261 of Entangled

I start running through one of Jasper’s grounding techniques. Five things I can see. Four things I can feel. Three things I can hear. Two things I can smell. One thing I can taste. When I finish, it’s with the memory of Dom’s kiss branding my lips.

I take a deep breath. The quick routine allows me enough control to pack my fear into a tiny, tight box.

In the dim lights, Lucky’s beautiful hair shines, and I hope he does something to cover it. It seems too much like a target.

Lucky whistles appreciatively at his team.

“Lookinggood. I’m thinking we’re going to work as a decoy just because they won’t be able to help checking us out.” He bites his lower lip and rakes his eyes over Jasper. “Especially you.”

Jasper’s wearing Lucky’s spare kit, and he does look beyond gorgeous. Aaron rolls his eyes and picks up his pack, a sullen set still to his mouth, but Jasper just gives Lucky a scorching look and finishes checking his rifle.

Bentley sighs from his place beside Beau, looking at Lucky and Jasper regretfully.

Beau finishes up his counting and the tight, unhappy lines around his lips fall away as he grins at Lucky. “You just go stand around and look pretty then, Narcissus. I’ll keep the mean ole Sinners off your back.”

Looking at him now, the fight in the strategy room might never have happened. They’re all so relaxed. So easy and self-assured. Is it a show? Or is it just their experience talking? Whatever it is, it has a visible effect. Smiles start breaking over faces, a few of them jostle one another in good humor.

I wish it would wash over me as easily.

Suddenly, it feels wrong to leave on a sour note with Beau. We can have a talk about what’s happening between him and Dom later, but I can’t let him walk into a battle with that hanging between us.

“Beau,” I call. It’s a question. An apology. An olive branch in a crowded room.

Beau’s gaze drifts to me and the smirk softens. Relief breaks over his face like the sun over heavy clouds. “Come and say goodbye, darlin’.”

I rush over to him and let him envelop me in his arms. My eyes sting, and I squeeze him back.

Don’t let this be like last time. I can’t take this again.

“It’ll be okay, love. Just you watch,” he tells me softly.

He holds me tight and hot against his hard chest, then tilts my chin. I expect a gentle kiss, something soft and reassuring—but that’s not what I get. Beau pays no mind to the rest of the room. He devours my mouth with a hungry storm of a kiss. It’s heated and not appropriate for the room full of strangers we’re in, but it sweeps away my worries like a flood.

My head is swimming when someone impatiently tugs my head back, breaking the kiss. I don’t even have time to be annoyed before Lucky’s lips have replaced Beau’s. His mouth feels different, more coaxing. He savors my lips and tastes my tongue, his beard bristling over my chin. The sudden difference is shocking and delightful, and I have the sudden urge to spend a whole night rolling between them, exploring every difference and similarity like a carnal banquet.

“Lucky, you really need to learn some manners,” Beau grumbles.

Lucky laughs against my lips, rubbing his nose against mine as he backs up.

I take in a shaky, steadying breath, pushing my glasses up my nose. It does bring into focus a few wide-eyed looks, but I decide to ignore them. It’s hardly the biggest event of the evening, surely.

“You will stay close to Dom, won’t you?” Lucky asks in an undertone, and I finally see a hint of nervousness in him. For me. “No more kidnappings?”

I touch his chest, over his half-healed bullet wounds. “No more gunshots?”

Lucky’s mouth kicks up on one side. “It’s not my fault. Tragic hero is my?—”

Beau cuffs him on the back of the head. “No. It’s not your aesthetic. We’re doing things right this time. You’re the worst kind of patient, and I amnotdealing with that again.”

“You neglected me!” Lucky jabs his stomach, laughing. “Well, except for the whole bubble bath thing. That was cute.”

My brows fly up. “Bubble bath thing?”

Jasper touches my shoulder, stealing my attention from Lucky’s wicked grin. Unlike the other two, his face is sober as he looks at me. His eyes catalog every inch of my face, drinking me in like he’s starved of the sight.

My own smile fades, and I shiver under the weight of it. If Lucky and Beau teased away my dark worries, Jasper fills the empty space with something deeply calm.

“Okay, let’s get ready to move out. I want the teams split and spaced five minutes apart. Keep an eye on your buddy and alert your squad leader of any issue at all, no matter how small,” Dom calls, heavy and resonant with authority. “Final concerns before we set out?”

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