“Taylor was afraid. We don’t know that Kate is.”
I just shake my head. “I don’t get you. How the fuck are you throwing your heart out there without a goddamn care for the potential misery Kate leaving us would cause?”
“How the fuck aren’t you seeing the possibilities?” he counters. “How are you ready to throw away everything that could be between the three of us before we even know how she feels?”
That’s eating at me. We’ve been with Kate twenty-four seven for the last week. Every buttoned-up, productive day. Every hot-blooded, passionate night. Each morning, I wake up wrung out, sated, and euphoric. As the project progresses, my respect for her intelligence and work ethic grows. Every time we reach for her, she accepts us hungrily. She’s almost perfect.
Except that she’s never given us any indication that what we’re sharing is more to her than sex.
Grinding my teeth, I shove my hands in my pockets. “Forget it.”
“No. Why don’t you try finding your balls? If you don’t, she’ll be gone. Self-fulfilling prophecy, hello?”
I get what he’s saying. If she does have feelings for us and we don’t level with her, she has no reason to stay and see if we can make this work. But if we tell her how we feel and she only wants a fling, we give her grounds to run far and fast.
“We still have time to figure it out.”
“Barely forty-eight hours.” Josh stands and crosses the room. “Kate will be back from her latest study of the grounds any minute. I was hoping we could get on the same page before she returns.”
I tense. “What page is that?”
“Well, for starters, we should finally take her together.”
We haven’t broached anal sex since the first night. I don’t know why Josh has waited, but I know damn well why I have. There’s something primal and animal about taking a woman in the most forbidden way. It’s fierce and raw and intense. If I coax Kate into letting me be the first to fill her sweet backside, I’m pretty fucking sure I’ll lose all hope of breaking my addiction to her. And if I let Josh do the honors, he’ll only get more attached.
“Then…”—Josh stares straight at me—“we should propose.”
“Are you fucking crazy?”
“Are you? We have a chance—a good chance—at having everything we’ve ever wanted. Are you really going to let Taylor take that from you?”
Before I can respond, the door scrapes against the sagging concrete behind me. I whirl to find Kate walking in, sketchbook in hand, blowing an errant curl from her face. The sun she’s gotten in the last week has given her a subtle golden glow. She’s smiling, looking somehow more beautiful than ever. Under her professional peach-colored skirt and white wraparound blouse, I know that body—the exact curve of her hip, the weight of her breasts in my hands, the taste of her pussy on my tongue.
The thought of living without that—without her—stabs my chest with pain. The truth is, she’s no one’s booty-call girl. She’s the kind of woman a man marries and has kids with. If we don’t even try to stake our claim, she’ll be gone.
And how long do you think she’ll be alone before some smart man snaps her up?
As the door swings shut behind her, she freezes, glancing between us. “Is something wrong?”
“We’re strategizing the situation,” Josh says smoothly, never mentioning that we don’t mean the project. “Did the city’s new building codes change your sketches much?”
“No, thank goodness. I promised Savannah my recommendation and preliminary art, along with the permitting and environmental requirements and a rough timeline tomorrow. Will you two have the financials ready by then?”
“Yeah. They’re almost done. We’ll finish up in the morning.”
“Good. She and Mr. Force want it by noon, our time.” Kate winces. “I have a lot of work to do to make that deadline. Would you hate it if we ordered in a pizza?”
Best fucking idea she’s had all day. The more I focus on work, the less I’ll think about how desperately I’m aching to open her pretty ass and how badly I’m tempted to claim her for good.
Josh smiles. “It would probably take an hour to arrive, and I’m starved. You stay and work. Marcus and I will pick up a pie and a bottle of vino. Sound good?”
“Like heaven.” She sends us a grateful stare as she drops her sketchpad on her desk and plops into her chair. “I’ll eat almost anything without bell peppers or anchovies.”
“You got it.” Josh claps me on the shoulder as he fishes the keys to the rental car from his pocket. “Let’s go.”
Part of me wants to stay, but if I’m alone with Kate right now… Twelve hours without touching her has made me ravenous, and as volatile as I’m feeling, I can’t guarantee I wouldn’t bend her over my desk and do my dirty worst.
“Sure,” I finally mutter.