I nod, holding his gaze as I lick my lips. “So tell Hale how you would touch me. He’ll do whatever you tell him to. And you’ll see that it doesn’t hurt.”
Hale shifts on the bed beside me, making a low noise. I glance at him, braced for him to tell me that this is insane and he’s not going to play my game. But when our eyes meet, he holds my gaze steadily, something like gratitude passing through his expression. Maybe he can see how close to the brink his friend is too. Maybe he wants to help just like I do.
For a long moment, the room is utterly quiet. Ciro is still watching the two of us, and I’m painfully aware of every heartbeat that passes as I wait to see if he’ll speak. When he finally does, his voice is raspy, as if he has to force the words past unwilling vocal chords.
“Her hand.”
Hale doesn’t hesitate. He lifts my hand, interlacing his fingers with mine. Ciro didn’t tell him what to do with it, but he doesn’t hesitate. He brings my hand to his lips and kisses each of my fingertips gently.
Little sparks dance through me as his lips meet my skin, and I do my best to keep my muscles loose and pliant. I don’t want Ciro to see me tense up and assume I’m trying to resist.
“Her wrist,” he grates out.
My nerves tingle as Hale turns my hand over, exposing the delicate skin of my wrist. He presses a kiss to it, and my chest rises as I draw in a breath and hold it. He’s put his mouth on much more intimate parts of me, but something about this small gesture hits me right in the chest.
His blue eyes meet mine as his lips leave my skin, and I can see something in them that tells me this is no longer just about Ciro. It’s about me and Hale too. Maybe even about all three of us.
As if he can’t stop himself now, Ciro tells Hale to touch my forearm, my shoulder, my neck, my ear—and each time Hale follows his friend’s directives, I shiver under his touch.
Their touch.
Ciro is the one guiding this, but Hale is the one carrying it out. And as his hands move over my body, becoming more and more greedy, I feel like I’m somehow being touched by both men.
“Her lips. Kiss her.”
There’s a crack in Ciro’s voice as he says the words, and I know that even though he’s not the one sitting next to me, he’s imagining just what my lips feel like.
Hale hesitates for just a second. Then his hand threads through my hair, palming the back of my head as he kisses me. His tongue sweeps the seam of my lips, and all three of us groan as I open to him, allowing him to take it even deeper. The bruises on my neck ache a little as my tongue clashes with Hale’s, my body straining toward his as he wraps his free arm around my waist and pulls me closer.
The reminder of what Ciro did to me, of why Hale and I are doing what we’re doing, only urges me on. I rise up onto my knees so I can face Hale more fully, taking his face between my hands as we kiss like this might be the last fucking time we get to.
“Her bra. Take off her bra,” Ciro commands, and Hale is reaching for the clasp before the words are even all the way out of his friend’s mouth. He tugs the straps down my arm and tosses my bra away. His hands cup my breasts, thumbs grazing my nipples until they’re peaked and hard beneath his touch. He clamps them between his knuckles and tugs, and Ciro lets out a tortured noise.
As Hale drops his head to lick and kiss his way down my chest, I cling to his hair, arching my back as I look over and meet Ciro’s gaze.
The man with the gorgeous tattoos and the haunted soul is standing now, still pressed against the wall but on his feet. He’s hard again, his cock thrusting against the confines of his pants just like it did earlier when I knelt before him. His entire focus is zeroed in on everywhere Hale touches me, and when I let out a needy whimper, his gaze flies to my face.
“It feels so good,” I murmur, my toes curling as my pussy clenches. “Where else do you want to touch me, Ciro? What else do you want?”
“Take her pants off.”
Ciro reaches down to squeeze his cock as he speaks, like he’s trying to ease some of the pressure building inside him. Hale growls, and a second later, his arms band around my waist. He picks me up before setting me down on my back, and as soon as my body hits the mattress, he’s moving lower, his skilled hands going to the waistband of my pants before tugging my fly open. He drags my jeans down my legs, and cool air hits the damp fabric of my panties.
Going down on Ciro turned me on, and even though I’ve slept for several hours since then, my body is still alert and needy, keyed up and hungry. My legs move restlessly on the be
d until Hale grabs my thighs and spreads them apart, opening me wide for him as he kneels between my legs. He’s gazing down at my pussy, ravenous heat in his eyes, but then he just… stops.
Still pinning my legs to the bed so he can see all of me, he waits, his fingers digging lightly into the flesh of my thighs.
“Ciro!” I gasp, shifting my hips as much as I can under Hale’s tight hold. “He won’t—until you tell him—please!”
My skin is on fire. My whole body is on fire. The slight burn in my thighs as Hale presses them wide open only makes the insistent throbbing in my clit more intense. I need more.
But Hale won’t give it to me until Ciro says the word.
Breathing hard, I cup my breasts, playing with my nipples as I turn my head to look at Ciro. His hand is working against the thick bulge in his pants even harder and faster now, and the sight of him jerking himself off like this makes my breath catch.
I have a sudden vivid memory of the night Hale made me come with his sinfully talented fingers, trying to prove a point to Zaid and to punish us both—and maybe himself too.