She was small between me and Knox, but she was not delicate. Breakable. I knew once she trusted us, when she was comfortable with us, she’d be passionate. Wild. Able to withstand a good, hard fucking. She might not know it, but she needed it and would like it. Hell, she’d love it.
“I want to kiss you more as well,” Knox added, and I’d forgotten what I’d said. My cock was thinking for me now. That wasn’t good… yet. I needed her before a minister first.
“Oh, I… um—”
“We’ll go see how Piper’s doing with Lillian,” Spur murmured and I didn’t turn my head to see them leave the entry, but their footfalls indicated they’d gone to the kitchen.
Eve tried to move away, but neither of us let her. I kept my hands—quite happily—on her waist and Knox didn’t step back.
“I… I didn’t mean…it was just—”
“We mean to marry you, sweets,” Knox said. The endearment was new for him, but so was finding a woman we both wanted enough to marry.
She’d been staring at the buttons on his shirt, but she tilted her head back to look him in the eye. The back of her head bumped my chest and she startled.
“You do?” She sounded stunned and while I could only see her profile, her brow crinkled noticeably as if confused.
Knox nodded. “Of course.”
“But… but why?”
Why? Why wouldn’t we? Did she not think herself worthy for some reason? If so, it was time to dissuade her of that. It didn’t take much pressure of my hands to spin her about to face me.
“Why do we want to marry you?” I repeated.
She nodded. “You’ve just met me… and… and both of you? Perhaps it was the whiskey that made me do it, but I don’t go about kissing one man, let alone two.”
“No, of course you don’t,” I agreed. “Why us then?” Before she could respond, I continued. “Because you trust us enough to use us for protection against people like the Thomkinses. You feel safe with us.”
She opened her mouth as if to say something, then shut it. The little frown appeared, but this time it was because she was thinking. “I felt safe around some people at home as well, but I didn’t say I would marry them.”
“You didn’t want to kiss them though. Am I correct?”
She licked her lips, dammit.
“No. I didn’t want to kiss them,” she replied.
“I like your honesty, sweets,” Knox said. “Going back to the original point, you want to kiss us and we want to kiss you. That means we marry.”
She looked over her shoulder. “And back to my original point… why?”
Smart woman.
Knox tugged on a wayward curl. “Because you’re beautiful.”
She humphed.
“You don’t believe us?” I asked, eyeing her carefully. She wasn’t fishing for compliments. She truly believed she wasn’t appealing. That meant she’d heard the opposite far too often. “Who told you otherwise?”
She pursed her lips, refusing to meet my gaze.
“Your mother?”
She laughed dryly. “My mother died when I was little.”
“Your father?”
Something akin to wistfulness came across her face. “He’s gone, too.”