Page 187

Then back to Briggs again, as though she's checking whether this could possibly be real.

"You're all serious?"

“Deadly,” Briggs says at the same time as Asby says, “Never more so,” and I say, “Totally.”

Laurel lets out a short laugh and presses her fingertips to her forehead. "This is completely ridiculous."

Briggs leans back, his grin unapologetic. "Fair assessment."

She throws up her hands. "I've slept with all three of you, and now you’re telling me everybody's fine with it?"

Ashby adjusts his glasses before meeting her eyes. "I think I speak for all of us when I say we want whatever you want.”

Neither me nor Briggs takes issue with that.

Laurel gives a small shake of her head and lets out a breath that sounds almost defeated. "This isn't me."

I hold her gaze. "You've been saying that since I met you."

A crease forms between her brows. "Because it's true."

"Is it?" I ask, moving a little closer. "Or have you spent so long convincing yourself who you're supposed to be that you've stopped paying attention to who you actually are?"

She opens her mouth, then closes it again.

"You keep talking about the woman who plans everything," I continue. "The one who never takes risks, never loses control. I've seen her. I've also seen the woman with panic in her eyes who grabbed a stranger’s hand on the plane for support, who’s given a child back her laughter and ability to trust, who’s just driven across two states because she'd do anything for her sister. Maybe one of them is pretending. I just don't think it's you.”

Heat flares between us so fast it steals the breath from my lungs. I know where this is leading. Not where I thought it would end up, but I’m sure as hell not going to be the one to stop what I think we’re all feeling.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Laurel

I feel a dangerous lightness, like the moment after you leap from something high, before gravity remembers you're there.

I should say something sensible. Anything. Someone should be the adult in the room. Instead, every carefully rehearsed script vanishes, leaving a bright, electric blankness buzzing with possibility.

I can't remember the last time I've been wanted this openly. Craved even. The attention hits hard enough to make me want to back away from it and step closer at the same time. Part of me wants to hide. The rest wants more.

“I... I want you all too,” I admit.

Briggs’s entire face softens. Ashby’s composure flickers, giving way to a hunger he makes no real effort to hide. Torin looks like he might come apart at the seams. A tremor moves through him, and the sight of it lands somewhere beneath my ribs, echoing through me.

I decide to test it.

I move toward Briggs first. He’s the easiest connection to make, the center the other two seem to orbit without realizing it. His hands are warm when they find me, already waiting. He pulls me across his thighs to straddle him, and I settle there. He exhales like a man who’s been holding his breath for weeks. One arm wraps around my waist immediately. The other braces against my thigh, possessive enough to make heat curl through me.

Our faces are close.

Briggs radiates intent, but he doesn't kiss me right away. He lets me sit with it. Lets the anticipation build while his smile eases into something wry and unexpectedly tender.

“You sure?” he asks.

My pulse crashes through me. “Yes. Yes, I am.”

The kiss breaks me open, the last of my reservations melting away.

His mouth is soft at first, enough to make me ache, but the gentleness soon gives way to hunger.