Page 196 of Rising Heat

“This.” A small smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. “This is different for us. New territory.”

Eye contact suddenly feels wildly overambitious.

So I do what I’ve apparently been doing a lot lately whenever my feelings start getting too close to the surface. I shift closer, my hand coming up to flatten against his chest as I look up at him in the dark, and kiss him.

Tyler melts into it instantly, cupping my cheek with a rough hand.

His other arm tightens around my waist, drawing me closer until there’s barely any space left between us. The kiss stays slow and steady in a way that feels completely foreign compared to before.

Just Tyler kissing me with so much tenderness that my chest actually aches a little from it.

I kiss him deeper as his fingers continue to trace my skin, and every sensible thought I have clocks out for the evening.

Then Mack hums against my lap.

“You two gonna keep pretending I’m not here?” He grumbles.

Tyler smiles into the kiss before pulling back just enough for both of us to look down the couch.

“You looked comfortable.”

“I was,” Mack says. “Until you weren’t subtle about it.”

I feel my face flush, which feels unfair considering I’m currently on a couch between two men I’ve slept with repeatedly, but apparently humiliation remains my default setting. I look down at Mack anyway and find him watching me now, green eyes heavy-lidded and warm in the dark. For one ridiculous second I wonder if I’ve somehow made this weird.

Mack doesn’t even give me the chance to think about it too hard.

“C’mere.”

I don’t hesitate.

One second I’m still half-curled against Tyler, the next the three of us shift without anybody saying another word. Tyler’s hand slides around my waist, guiding me between them while Mack pushes himself up just enough to pull me properly against him, and then I’m in the middle again, Tyler at my back, Mack’s massive hand cradling the side of my neck.

I don’t remember deciding to move. I just remember ending up exactly where I wanted to be.

Mack kisses me, and this one feels different too. The wanting is still there. I feel it in the way his hand rests against my neck, in the way his mouth lingers on mine, but there’s no hurry underneath it anymore.

Like none of us is afraid this disappears the second we stop touching each other.

Tyler’s hand slips under my shirt from behind, skimming beneath my bra and palming my breast while Mack’s tongue glides over mine, and my whole body melts backward into Tyler without ever breaking the kiss.

Nobody tells me where to go. My body just keeps finding them.

Mack lets me up for air just long enough for me to gasp before Tyler’s free hand takes the opportunity to turn my face over my shoulder and claim my mouth while Mack’s lips find my collarbone, sending goosebumps racing over my skin.

The room shifts as they alternate between my mouth, my neck, my chest, until I stop keeping track of whose hands are where.

Mack’s tongue strokes lazily against mine again while his hand slides into my hair, tilting my head back until it rests against Tyler’s shoulder. Behind me, Tyler’s thumb circles my nipple twice before tracing down my torso toward my waistband while his mouth ghosts along my throat, and the combined effect is catastrophic for my ability to maintain coherent thought.

“Tell us what you want, baby,” Mack growls.

This. All of us. All the time. Forever.

The thoughts arrive so fast I nearly say them out loud, which feels emotionally unsafe for everyone involved, so instead I pull Mack closer by the front of his shirt and press my lips to his harder, grazing his bottom lip with my teeth.

He understands it anyway.

“You’re ours,” he exhales against my lips.