“Hmm, what you want and what you need may be two different things right now.” His fingers reached the cleft of her ass and teased around the plug, which thankfully they had turned off when they’d taken her to the main room. He wiggled the vibrator and she couldn’t stop a moan from escaping. “I’m not fucking this luscious little ass of yours until I know you’re really mine.”
She tensed. Did he doubt that? “I am yours, sir. You and Andre’s both. I love you.”
His warm hand moved away from her. “We love you, too, Ev. But your trust is sorely lacking.”
The sound of something slicing through the air filled her ears a millisecond before something smacked against her right ass cheek with a stinging thud. Thin stripes of pain-laced pleasure zipped up her spine. She bowed up against her bindings as a gasp wheezed out of her. Oh, my.
Whatever Jace was using came down again on the opposite cheek then again and again—providing both sharp and blunt sensation simultaneously. Her breath came out in short puffs as she absorbed each impact and her clit pulsed in time with the blows.
A hand touched her head. “You like Jace’s flogger, bella? He took out the braided one just for you.”
“Yes, sir,” she whispered. Jace didn’t pause in his treatment.
“Do you know why you’re getting punished?” Andre asked.
Her mind struggled to grab on to her thoughts, the blinding pain and pleasure sensations overloading her neurons. “Something about trust, sir?”
Jace smacked the flogger against her exposed pussy, and she bucked against the restraints, nearly careening right into orgasm. “Oh, God.”
“You know what it does to us, pet, to hear you suspect that we might just walk away from you one day?” Jace asked.
“I’m sorry, but I have to be prepared. I can’t ever be weak like I was before.” Her voice sounded desperate even to her own ears.
“You are not weak, Ev. Opening yourself up to us fully won’t make you that way.” The flogger thudded against the back of her thigh. “Submission with contingency clauses is not acceptable. We want all of you, not just your body. Your heart, Ev. Your trust.”
She shook her head, tears building beneath her closed lids. “But what happens if I do that and you walk away?” If her life had proven anything to her it was that everyone leaves eventually.
The flogger tumbled against the wood floor. “Take off her mask, Dre.”
The blackness gave way to the flickering warmth of candlelight when Andre pulled the material off. She turned her head, resting her cheek on the bed, tears leaking down. Both Jace and Andre kneeled next to the bed.
Andre reached out and swiped the moisture from under her eyes. “Sweet, sweet, bella. Don’t you get it?”
More tears escaped. “Get what?”
Jace sifted his fingers through her hair, the tender look in his eyes undoing her. “Listen to me, Evan. If you don’t hear anything else I say to you tonight. Hear this: When we say we want you, that we love you. We don’t mean for this week or this month or until something else comes along.”
A fist seemed to close around her vocal cords. “But—”
He shook his head. “No more buts, remember? We’re not going anywhere unless you send us away yourself.” He brushed a thumb over her forehead, smoothing the creases. “I can’t promise that this is going to be easy. But I will promise that I’m not going to give up on you if things get tough. This isn’t foster care, Ev. I love you. We love you. We want to be your forever.”
The knot in her throat seemed to swell until she thought she may stop breathing. A forever family. That’s what the caseworkers used to call it when kids were adopted. When you were special enough that people wanted you for real, not just for a while. No one had ever wanted that of her.
And now these two beautiful, kindhearted men were looking at her like no other woman existed on the planet. No fine print or contingency clauses. Just love. Pure unadulterated love.
She blinked away the tears and took a deep breath, swallowing past the emotion knotting her vocal cords. “I want that, too. So much.”
Andre smiled, his own eyes glinting with moisture. “Can you take the leap, bella? Have faith in us and give us your whole heart?”
Leap? She’s already plummeted off the mountain. Her heart was theirs now . . . and always. “Yes.”
“Thank you, Ev,” Jace said, his whole demeanor sighing. “Now let’s get you out of these bindings. You’ve had enough punishment. Now I just need to love you.”
Andre and Jace made quick work of releasing her and both stripped out of their clothes. When they flipped her over onto her back, she was able to take in the whole room. White candles lit every corner of the cozy bedroom and rose petals had been strewn over the floor and bed. She smiled. “Rose petals and candles? Who knew you boys were the romantic type?”
Andre climbed on the bed behind her, and Jace got in front of her wearing a wicked grin. “Lie back on Andre, pet. I’ll show you how romantic we can be.”
Jace positioned himself between her thighs and bent down to taste her with a long, languid glide of his tongue, while Andre kissed along her shoulder. Oh, sweet Lord. She murmured her satisfaction—the unending assault on her senses shutting down her capacity for speech. She’d been revved up and brought down so many times, her body was like a land mine—one perfect move and she’d detonate.