Page 125 of Their Fairy Princess (Office Intrigue Duet 7)
“Though I secretly wished for it, I didn’t expect you and Isaac to care for me. I swear it. I hadn’t been thinking at all, driven mostly by fear, pain. Then I felt it. While I knew any Dom at that party would’ve ensured no man hit me, they weren’t going to care for me the way you both did. And yeah, I’d been a little in love with you both before then. But it was that night that I fell all the way.”
I took a deep breath, willed myself not to fidget. I had to get this out. He needed to know the truth.
“When you invited Heaven to come back here, I was jealous. But not enough to put myself above her safety. She was my friend. She still is. And I’m versed enough in this lifestyle to understand it. I saw the interest in your eyes when you looked at her. There was chemistry there. I also knew it wasn’t my place to interfere. And while I sat back, wishing like hell you would take me as your submissive, I kept my mouth shut. But my love for you didn’t subside like I expected. It grew, intensified.
“Every now and then, I would catch you looking at me. I imagined that you had the same feelings for me that I had for you, but—”
“Stop talking.”
His rough command shocked me into silence.
Ian didn’t move, his hands still tucked in his pockets, his emerald eyes locked on my face.
“You didn’t imagine it, Everly. But I thought I’d hidden it better. Tried to pretend it wasn’t true because…” He exhaled deeply, looked away.
I held my breath, hoping he would elaborate, to tell me I wasn’t an idiot for standing here, laying it all on the line for him.
When his gaze shifted back to my face, there was something else in his eyes, something deeper, warmer than I’d seen in recent days. “I love you. No matter how hard I tried to deny it, the feeling only grew stronger.”
He took a step closer, stared down at me.
“It didn’t take long to realize I was so far gone, so in love with you, there was no turning back.”
His hand was warm and gentle when it curled over my cheek. I leaned into the touch, tears forming.
“No one will ever replace you.”
While protocol dictated that I stand there, wait for his command, I couldn’t hold back any longer. I threw my arms around his neck, buried my face there as the tears broke free. He lifted me, as though I weighed nothing. My legs wrapped around him securely and I held on, let the emotion I’d bottled up for the past few weeks loose.
His hand cupped the back of my head, his cheek pressing against mine, and in that moment, I’d never felt quite so complete. Whole for the first time since I’d walked into their house.
“I see the way you look at Isaac,” Ian whispered.
I lifted my head, stared into his eyes, willed him to see it because it was there. I loved him as much as I loved Isaac.
A small smile tipped the corners of his mouth. “Yeah. Like that.”
“It’s always been there,” I whispered.
“Fuck. What am I going to do with you?”
“Love me,” I pleaded. “Not only with your body.” I smiled, couldn’t help myself. “Though I’d like that, too.”
He moved then, closer to the bed. His strong arm banded around my back and I held on tightly as he lowered me to the mattress, his mouth settling over mine.
I was almost positive my body was glowing with the warmth that spread through me. Not lust. Love. Pure and primal, given freely, accepted and returned.
Ian’s mouth was strong, firm, dominating mine with every stroke of his tongue. He wasn’t rough or rushed, but it was different than before. As though everything he’d been holding back had been set free.
When he pulled back, stared down at me, I was overwhelmed by the emotion I saw there.
He rasped out a few words in Irish, the gruffly spoken words making my chest swell.
I could only stare as the words processed. I was familiar with them because Isaac called me that.
“It means—”
“Pulse of my heart,” I filled in.
Ian smiled. “Aye.”
They both called me that, and it was the way they said it that got to me.
Not simply the beautiful lilt of their Irish brogue, but as though it had come from their heart. More accurately, they sounded identical.
That was the moment I realized I was meant to belong to them both. They might’ve been two separate men, but they were one. And there was no way to love one without loving the other.
“Are you tired?”
“Not in the least, my Alpha.”
He smiled and I knew right then that he was going to find a way to ensure I slept soundly that night.
