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I lower my mouth to her knee, then higher along the inside of her thigh. Her hand flies into my hair.

“I want your mouth,” she whispers.

I don’t answer with words. I spread her gently with my fingers and lick through her slick.

She cries out, back arching against Theo. Her taste hits me like proof of divinity. She’s sweet, so very sweet. Theo holds her open for me, one big hand over her stomach, the other keeping her thighs wide.

Pepper’s hips rock toward my mouth. “Yes,” she gasps. “Please.”

I lick her clit in slow circles first, then suck lightly until her fingers pull at my hair. Theo kisses her mouth, swallowing the broken sounds while his hand slips beneath her shirt to cup her breast.

Her orgasm builds fast. Heat makes her so responsive. She trembles, then comes against my tongue with a sob, thighs closing around my head before Theo eases them open again.

I lick her through it because I can. Because I’m still here. Because she asked for me.

Pepper sags against Theo, panting.

“Three,” she murmurs.

Theo laughs against her temple.

“You’re counting?” I ask.

“Data.”

I kiss the inside of her thigh. “Then I should be thorough.”

Her scent flares.

The second orgasm comes with my fingers inside her, two at first, slick and easy, curling while Theo rubs her clit. Pepper clutches Theo’s forearm with one hand and mine with the other, riding the rhythm between us. When she breaks, she says my name.

Ezra. It sounds breathless and wanton, trusting and enchanting all at once. I have to stop and breathe.

Theo’s hand catches the back of my neck. His thumb presses into my skin, firm and understanding.

Even in heat, Pepper notices. “Stay with me?”

I nod.

Her gaze drops to my cock, hard and straining beneath my loosened pants. “I want you inside me.”

The attic narrows to those words. Fear rises, fast and old. “What if I fade?”

“Then we stop.”

“What if I ruin it?”

“You can’t ruin being wanted.”

I close my eyes.

Theo’s voice comes low beside us. “Look at me.” I lift my eyes, and he holds my gaze while his hand moves from my neck to my shoulder. “You decide too.”

I look at Pepper. “I want you.”

Her smile trembles. “Good.”

Theo helps me strip because my hands aren’t as steady as I pretend. He kisses me once, hard enough to remind me that he wants this too, that I’m not leaving him behind by reaching for her. Pepper watches us kiss with dark, hungry eyes, one hand between her thighs again.