Forty-Nine
“IS THIS REAL?” I MANAGED to choke out, still staring at the paper.
“It doesn’t get any realer than that,” Landon said, his voice a mere whisper.
“That is…if you’ll claim us.” The emotion I heard in Langston’s voice broke me open.
My love for these men was the only thing I knew for certain. It was the very reason I’d gotten to the point in my life where I was now. Submission was an act of trust and could be given freely if so chosen. However, it was also an act of love. And in order to give every part of oneself to another, your heart had to be in it.
My heart belonged to them.
Wiping the tears from my face, I looked up at both men. They were watching me, obviously waiting for me to say something.
A smile tilted my lips and I smacked Langston’s leg with the paper. “What took you so long?”
A watery laugh escaped as I said the words, more so when they pulled me up from the floor, settling me on their laps. I shifted so that I was straddling one leg of each of theirs.
Landon cupped my face and turned my head so that I was staring into his eyes. He wasn’t wearing his glasses.
“I honestly thought there was no one as stubborn as my brother.” His voice rang with amusement. “Then I met you.”
I couldn’t help but smile although I still had tears streaking my face.
“There’s one lesson we will be workin’ on, sweet girl.”
I was pretty sure I knew what Landon was going to say, but I cocked an eyebrow anyway, waiting for him to finish.
“Your need to run and hide isn’t something I’m fond of.”
Yep. I knew that was coming. And he was right.
“But I love you, Luciana. And I’m willing to put in the effort as long as you are.”
My heart flipped, spun, then burst in my chest.
I didn’t get a chance to respond, because Langston was turning me to face him.
“I don’t consider stubborn to be a bad quality,” he said, obviously defending himself. “But I agree that the running will stop.”
I could hear the insistence in his tone. Langston was the more commanding of the two and I was okay with that.
“But I’m here, for as long as you’ll have me.” He brushed his finger down my cheek. “I love you, Luci.”
I sniffled, my heart so full I could hardly breathe.
“I love both of you,” I told them, glancing between them. “And it’s not new for me. I’ve known it for some time.” I forced another watery smile. “But I think you already knew that.”
“We tried to get you to open up to us,” Landon told me. “Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done. Without communication, we’ll get nowhere.”
He was right. However… “Whenever I tried to open up, even accidentally, you both shut me down.”
Landon looked remorseful. “You’re right. We did.”
“In our defense,” Langston stated, “it’s not easy for us. We never thought we’d get to this point. You blew in like a hurricane, Luci. Surprising us all.”
I could feel the sincerity of his words and my heart possibly missed a beat or two.
“So, you’re done runnin’?” Langston asked, his drawl slipping through.
I nodded. “Yes, Master. I’m done running.”
Landon grabbed his phone and tapped out a message.
“What are you doing?”
“Reassuring your other bosses that you haven’t abandoned us all.”
My eyes widened. I hadn’t even thought about Justin or Ben. “Wait. What about them? Won’t they be angry?”
Langston turned my head so I was looking at him again. “They already know.”
Landon put down his phone. “In fact, they’ve been waitin’ for us to figure it out for ourselves.”
Ben had pretty much said that very thing to me.
“So, now what?” I asked, not sure what was supposed to happen next.
I mean, it wasn’t every day that someone (or two someones) professed their love for me, or me to them.
“Well, first, you’re gonna make dinner,” Landon said, sounding as though that was the most natural thing in the world.
“Okay.” I wasn’t opposed to doing that.
“Then we’ll eat,” he said before glancing over at Langston.
Langston finished for him. “Then, we’ll show you the dungeon.”
My eyes widened. I’d totally forgotten that Langston had mentioned they had a dungeon in their house. I’d never seen it, not even when I stayed with Landon for those two weeks.
Admittedly, I liked that they weren’t making this weird. In most of the romance novels I’d read, they were all about professing their undying love, then getting naked and consummating the relationship. We’d already consummated ours in many, many ways.
Langston glanced over at Landon. “That okay with you?”
Landon shrugged. “Makes sense.” His eyes shifted back to my face. “After all, I think a good amount of punishment is still in order.”
“Punishment? But…”
Langston put his hand over my mouth. “Dinner first. Then the dungeon.” He smiled. “If you’re really good, we might even let you negotiate the terms of your punishment.”
