“There’s a kind of magic to it, the heat,” Sen said. “For just a moment, it creates a little world within a world.”
“You sound sad that it ends,” I replied.
A quiet fell over the group, the sound of the wind in the trees and the birds calling all that could be heard.
“I’m going in for a swim,” Aidan said, my eyes following him as he jerked his shirt off. “Coming, Pete?”
I couldn’t focus on anything else until those big bodies were submerged under the water, but when they were, I felt a pressure inside me to say something, do something, break the silence.
“What if it didn’t have to?” My voice to my ear sounded like a little squeak, tinny and high, but I forged on. “Not like this exactly, obviously, but if you guys…”
Fuck, my heart pounded so hard in my chest. Just get the words out, Flick. If they don’t want to pursue things, that’s the way it is. You have two gorgeous mates. It’ll hurt, but it’d be better to nip things in the bud now.
“Ifeelaconnectionwithbothofyouandwanttoseehowthingsgo. Whoa!”
Noah jerked me back so my head was lying in his lap, and those intense eyes studied me, searching for something, perhaps the meaning of my vomit of words, because damn.
“Noah, let the woman up.”
His head whipped around to face Sen, and an honest to goodness snarl formed on his face.
“No, mine!”
He covered me with his body, angling it to almost protect me from Sen.
“Let's hope so, mate, but right now, Flick needs to talk to us about what she just said, slowly. How about you turn around and hold her in your lap, if you’re feeling that strongly about her. Feel her body pressed against yours, and then we can talk this out, yeah?”
It took a while, but he followed Sen’s advice, the other man’s eyes watching our every move as Noah rearranged us.
“Flick…” Noah whispered against my back, thinking I didn’t hear it as he rested his forehead against my skin.
“So,” Sen said, fighting for calm, but I saw the flash of red in his eyes. “You want to pursue things beyond…?”
I nodded.
“With both of us?”
Noah’s arms tightened around me, so I ran my hand along them, stroking him until they loosened a little.
“I can’t promise anything. A lot relies on Kade, how everyone gets along, whether we’re all compatible, but…”
“‘But,’” Sen said with a smile. It was a strange one, like it wanted to be a whole lot bigger, more relaxed, but he kept that held back. He nodded. “I can work with ‘but.’ Noah?”
“I…” I heard his voice crack as he forced the word out. “Flick, can we go for a walk?”
“Uh, sure. Where did you want to go?”
“I’ll take you up to the top, where the stream runs through.”
Sen passed me a bottle of water as I got to my feet, and Noah’s fingers tightened around mine when I reached down to take it.
“I’m heading in for a swim,” Sen said, standing up. He moved in closely, slowly, but I think even he felt the tension in Noah’s body. He placed a gentle kiss on my lips and pulled back before Noah could get too wound up, then stripped down to his shorts and ambled off down to the water.
It was beautiful up here. We’d walked up a well-worn path past the water, rising up and over an outcropping of rocks. Noah had smiled when he saw me pause, watching the three guys sitting in the water. Someone had gone to get beer cans, and they were relaxing with them.
“They really pull at you, don’t they?” he asked.
“You all do. This is…” He took my hand, helping me traverse a fall of rocks. “If I was back at home, telling people how deep I was getting in with a bunch of guys I’d either met a bit over a month ago or had only just slept with, they’d think I was mad. Being…whatever Tirian is or means makes everything really intense. My wolf wanted to mark you when we had sex.”