“Too soon for what, exactly?” I ask leaning forward and resting my chin on my palm.
Leo stands up, pacing a couple of steps with nervous energy. “We don’t want you to be with anyone else.”
My heart pounds as I raise my eyebrows. “I’m not exactly in the market for another trio…”
“We want you to be ours. However that shakes out, we want you to stay. Forever, if we get our way.”
Mal frowns looking down at his hands. My chest aches seeing him like that. I stand up and cross to him, curling into his lap. “If you don’t feel the same way…” I meant to tell him it’s okay, but the words won’t come.
Because it’s not. If he doesn’t want me here like Thorin and Leo do, it will crush my heart into dust. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry, and I am not a crier.
He finally looks up, brows furrowed in alarm. “No. No, Bree. It’s the opposite.” His broad palm cradles the back of my head, fingers brushing my hair. “I can’t let you walk out that door and wonder where you’ll go. Who you’ll be with. And I know that’s not the deal we made. I know it’s asking too much—"
I say the one thing a sub should probably never say to her dom. Or at least one of her doms. “Shut up, Mallon. Shut your handsome mouth right now.” I can feel Leo and Thorin’s eyes burning into me, and I bet I’ll pay for that later, but I don’t have time to be turned on thinking about it now.
“I can’t imagine a world where I walk out that door and even look at another man. You’re lucky I didn’t sprout roots in that bed last night and flat out refuse to leave it.”
A muscle ticks in his cheek as he searches my face, not quite believing me. So, I hold his face between my hands and lean in, kissing him. He kisses me back and the emotion he pours into it—into me—is breathtaking.
My heart pounds in my aching chest; my soul tugging away from it’s home, trying to reach his.
When he speaks again, his voice is ragged. “I don’t know if I could handle losing you.”
“So, tell me to stay.”
“That easy, huh?” He asks wryly.
I shrug and raise an eyebrow at him. “I’m your good girl, aren’t I?”
“Mmmm… yes, you are.” Mallon strokes my hair and squints at me. “But you have that bratty streak too.”
I nod. “This is true. So, tell me to stay and you can spank the bratty streak out of me every Sunday.”
His eyes roam my face. “Stay. Be with us. Just us. Stay and we’ll spank you every Sunday before taking you to brunch.”
The smile that spreads across his face mirrors the swell of emotion that expands in my chest. I grin, but bite my lip; doing my best, and failing, to keep my expression serious.
“Yes, sir.”
* * *