Page 26 of Room Thirty: Perfect Little Doll
“Walking you to your car, baby.”
“Baby? You guys are really committed to this whole thing, huh?” I smirked at her question.
“You have no idea,” I muttered under my breath as my eyes skated to the ground.
“What’s the endgame here, though, Ronan?” she asked when we reached her car. I took the keys from her hand and stared at her.
“You. Us,” I answered simply. She looked at me like I was crazy. I didn’t blame her, but soon enough, she would discover this wasn’t for shits and giggles. This thing between us was going to be for keeps. She leaned against her car and stared at me for a moment.
“How would that even work?”
“You trust us?” I asked, and her eyes flared.
“Trust,” she repeated. “Seems like all of you keep asking me that.”
“And?”
“I do.” She exhaled, not hiding her frustration. “But no one is explaining anything to me, and it feels like you guys decided to play some kind of mind game today by messing with me. Each of you—" she kept ranting on, not realizing I had moved in closer, until she did.
In her flat shoes, she was so tiny. So damn small beside me, all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around her, put her in my shirt pocket, and carry her around like my very own Thumbelina to protect. To love.
“Ronan, if you kiss me right now…”
“What?”
“I’ll kiss you back and I—” She swallowed hard. Every word out of her mouth had me rethinking the whole stupid plan. “You guys have me so confused.” My hands stroked her shoulders slowly. Up and down with a firm touch.
“We weren’t fair with how we approached you in this, were we?” I frowned. I was dying to kiss her. To finally know what her lips against mine felt like. But fuck me, Fox and his stupid-ass plan had been too much.
“I can’t say I’m not interested,” she confessed. I could see the panic in her dark eyes. Like she was shocked she’d been able to admit something so personal.
Intimate.
“I have. I’ve… I thought about you. The three of you.” Her whispered confession made butterflies flap their wings to life in my stomach. Hope sprung to life. “I thought it was just me. A dirty little fantasy.”
“It doesn’t have to be a fantasy or dirty.” Heat hit my face and a smirk tipped my lips upward. “I mean, we can be dirty, but not in the way that makes what the four of us want wrong,” I explained as calmly as I could manage.
I had no idea how the hell I was keeping my shit together.
We were actually talking about it.About the four of us.This thing mightactuallyhappen. The hope the thought spurred to life caused beautiful images to flash through my head. One after another of a future so beautiful I could almost taste it.
“I know,” she said softly. “I just… I don’t know what you guys have planned, and it scares me,” she finished softly, almost defeatedly.
“I get that, honey.” My hands cupped her face, and like the good girl she was, she went right along with every move I made.
“I’m not going to kiss you,” I announced, hating the words the moment they came out of my mouth. But it was for the best. I knew it even if I didn’t like it.
“You’re not?” I shook my head because I didn’t think I had it in me to say the words out loud again. “Drive home safe.”
“I might have to stop at the grocery store.”
“Don’t.” I winced the moment the word slipped out of my mouth, and she stared at me for a moment. “It’s late, beautiful.” My hand rose between us and slowly moved to stroke her face. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t seem to keep my hands off her.
So be it.
She was ours.
I cleared my throat. “How about I make you a deal?”