Page 55 of Protect Me
Bracken stops in front of a climbing wall made of rope.
“Seriously?” I ask.
“Too hard?” he asks.
“Too easy. I’ll smoke you.”
He wiggles his brows. “Guess we’ll find out. You ready?”
Before I can answer, Duncan rushes toward me and picks me up clear off my feet, hustling us into the alley and around the corner of the game stall.
“What are you—”
He doesn’t set me down again until we’re behind the stall and I’m pressed between the exterior wall and him.
“What the hell,” I demand.
But the minute I catch sight of his expression, my anger melts away. There’s concern in his usually sharp eyes. No, worse. There’s fear.
“Duncan,” I say, pressing my hands to his cheeks. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I… Fuck, I thought I saw something…”
From close beside me, Bracken snarls. “What the fuck, Duncan? You scared the shit out of her, man.”
“I’m sorry. It was nothing. I just—Some asshole had a dagger tattoo but it wasn’t— Dammit. That’s my bad. We can go back.”
He starts to move away, but I grab his shirt in my fist, holding him against me. He looks at me in surprise, but underneath that surprise is the same desire I feel. And before I can remember all the reasons why I shouldn’t, I kiss him.
My lips crash against his, surprising us both.
Duncan makes a noise—a grunt of shock, I think—but then he crowds in closer, deepening the kiss until I can’t breathe in without inhaling him too. My hand curls around his shirt and then relaxes, sliding up his shoulder to the back of his neck.
His tongue coaxes my lips open, his hand reaching for my hip and pulling me forward so our bodies meet in every place they can.
There’s a sound of movement, and I realize Bracken is backing away, giving us space.
I break the kiss with Duncan long enough to reach out and grab Bracken’s arm. He looks up at me with the same surprise and then narrows his eyes in a flash of heat. “You sure about this, gorgeous?” he asks in a low voice.
I keep one arm firmly planted on Duncan’s shoulder. With the other hand, I pull Bracken in close.
“I’m sure,” I say.
The two of them share a look, and then Bracken moves in until they’re both pressing me back against the wall. “Tell us what you want,” Bracken says. “We need to hear you say it.”
“I want you to kiss me,” I say, my voice hoarse as I realize I’m not going to back out. Not for all the logical, sane reasons in the entire fucking world. Not when I want this more than I’ve ever wanted anything or anyone in my entire life. “Both of you.”
Bracken looses a growl and then slams his mouth against mine. His hand threads through my hair as he takes everything he can from my offer. His tongue claims my mouth, and I feel the heat of desire pooling between my thighs more intensely than I ever have.
On my other side, Duncan presses a kiss to my throat just below my ear. The sensation of both of them touching me sends me spinning higher than the lyra ever could. All we’re missing is—
“Looks like I’m late to the party, love.”
I gasp, pulling away from Bracken to see Killian standing on my other side.
He gives me a crooked smile that anyone else might find threatening, but I only feel the thrill of anticipation. “May I?” he asks.
I nod, and he wastes no time swooping in and claiming a kiss of his own. Where Duncan and Bracken are holding me possessively, though, Killian’s fingers trail lightly down the center of my torso, between my breasts, and then to the hem of my sweatshirt before sliding inside to trace soft lines across my abdomen.