Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 106090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
His body tenses, then yields, his back arching as I sink deeper, buried to the hilt. Fuck, it’s everything I imagined and more—velvet heat gripping me like a vise, his muscles flexing around me. I pause there, savoring it, my hands gripping his hips hard enough to leave marks, but he doesn’t complain; if anything, he leans into it, grinding back with a muffled hiss of approval.
I start moving, shallow thrusts building to something fiercer, our bodies syncing like old times in the field, wordless understanding. The wall creaks under his palms, but it’s faint, drowned by the snow outside. His breath comes in sharp pants, matching mine, and I lean forward, my chest to his back, one hand sliding up his shirt to feel the hard planes of his abs contracting with every push. I can tell he’s close—his whole frame trembling, pushing back against me in desperate sync. I angle just right, hitting that spot that makes him arch, a muffled moan escaping.
“Harder,” he whispers, daring me, and I oblige, slamming in deeper, the slap of skin on skin barely audible over my pounding heart. Sweat beads on my forehead, trickling down, and I taste salt when I bite his shoulder to stifle a moan. He’s pushing back now, meeting me thrust for thrust, that fire in him matching mine, turning this into a battle of wills and want.
The pressure builds inside me, a storm that’s been brewing since those endless drills, and I drive into him with everything I have, our rhythm turning frantic, desperate. His fingers scrape against the wall, nails digging in for leverage, and I feel the tremor in his thighs, the way his body clenches around me, pulling me deeper like he owns this as much as I do. Every thrust sends sparks up my spine, my balls tightening, the edge creeping closer with each shared breath. I reach around, wrapping my hand around his cock, stroking in time with my hips, feeling him throb and swell again. He shudders, a low rumble in his chest, and I know he’s close too, the way his body clamps down on me, pulling me under.
Outside, the wind howls, but in here, it’s just us, this pure connection suddenly free. I pick up the pace, relentless, my free hand covering his mouth gently when a groan slips out too loud. His eyes meet mine over his shoulder, dark and wild, urging me on without words.
It hits me like a grenade—wave after wave crashing through, my vision blurring as I empty into him, hips jerking erratically. He follows seconds later, spilling over my fist, his body locking up, then going slack against the wall. I hold him there, both of us panting, slick with sweat, the afterglow humming in my veins like victory.
We stay like that for a moment, catching our breath, before I pull out carefully, disposing of the condom in the bathroom trash with quick, silent moves. When I return, he’s straightened his clothes, that smirk back in place, but his eyes hold something deeper—satisfaction, maybe even a promise of more.
And then—
A soft sound from the bed. A shift of blankets.
We both freeze.
I look past Knox toward Hailey, expecting to see her still curled under the covers, still lost to sleep. But she’s not asleep. Her eyes are open, watching us. Not anger. Not betrayal. Something closer to heat. To understanding.
She’s been watching.
I don’t know how long. Don’t know how much she saw. But from the flush on her cheeks and the way she’s biting her lower lip, it was enough.
Knox is already moving, retreating to his spot near the door, spine straight, face unreadable. I move back to my corner by the wall, putting distance between us even though every instinct screams at me to stay close.
None of us says anything.
Hailey turns away, burrowing back into the blankets. The logs shift in the grate. The storm moans. And everything’s changed.
We’ve crossed a line we can’t uncross. And somehow, impossibly, I think all three of us know it was never going to stay uncrossed forever.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Hailey
Three days in captivity, and I’m losing my goddamn mind looking for something to do besides think about the two men I’ve been sleeping with.
Well. One man I’ve been sleeping with. One man I’ve been very carefully not sleeping with, despite five years of distance doing nothing to kill the want.
We have a plan. Not a great one. Not even a good one, if I’m being honest. But it’s a plan, and having it settled between the three of us has taken some of the poison out of the air.
Or at least given us an excuse not to talk about Knox and Liam fucking each other this morning while they thought I was asleep.
Because I wasn’t asleep. I watched the whole thing from the bed with my eyes half open and my blood running so hot I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep quiet. And when it was done and all three of us were awake and nobody could pretend otherwise, we sat in the blind spot by the fireplace and acted like it hadn’t happened. I pitched a plan. Gave us all somewhere safe to put our eyes and our energy, and they grabbed on to it like drowning men reaching for a rope. Knox went into tactical mode. Liam started running scenarios. And just like that, we were three people with a mission instead of three people who couldn’t look at each other.