Chapter 21
Rosalie
“Ready?” Asher asks from across the mat.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
He chuckles and shakes his head. “Don’t worry, I’m fast. And if you do, well that will make me happy to know you can defend yourself.”
I grumble as I shake out my hands and wait for his attack.
Suddenly he lunges at me, and I kick out, aiming between his legs.
Once again he manages to sidestep my attack and tries to grab me around the waist. I twist and drop low, like he taught me, but before I can push off and run, he’s wrapped both arms around me, and pulled me to the floor with him.
He rolls me to my back and grabs my wrists, pinning them to the mat above my head as he straddles my hips.
I pant heavily as I look up at him.
“I don’t think you’re trying very hard,” he says with narrowed eyes.
“I am!” I argue.
He lowers his face closer to mine as he whispers, “Oh, really? There isn’t a part of you that likes getting pinned by me?” I suck in a sharp breath as something hard nudges my belly, really close to a part of me that’s tingling in awareness of him. “I think you like being in my control.”
“You make me feel safe,” I admit. My entire body is thrumming with energy as he leans over me, and even though I’m being held down, unable to move, I’ve never felt safer.
He grins as his eyes roam my face. “You’re always safe with me.”
“I know,” I whisper right before he kisses me. It’s slow and teasing as his tongue explores me. He sucks my lower lip and when I try to push to move faster he slows down, wanting complete control. Something about giving that to him makes me even hotter so I relax and let him take the lead.
“Mmm, good girl,” he whispers when he senses my submission to him.
Someone clears their throat, and Asher sits up and glances over his shoulder where Leo’s standing with his hands on his hips smirking down at us.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I thought you’d want to know you’ve got a bit of an audience,” he says quietly, gesturing with his head to the side. We both look to where he’s pointing and see three guys mid-workout who have stopped what they’re doing to watch us.
My cheeks heat with embarrassment as Asher quickly stands and helps me to my feet.
“Don’t you guys have something better to do than watch us?” Asher asks, stepping between me and them.
“Not really,” one of them mutters as the other two laugh. Asher takes a step towards them, but Leo quickly moves in front of him and grabs his shoulders.
“They’re just teasing, Asher. Forget them, they’re harmless and they’re clients.”
I wrap my arms around his waist from behind and settle my cheek against his back. His hands hold mine against him as he takes a deep breath.
“Okay,” he says before spinning around and hugging me back. “Can you stay away from those three… please?” he asks me quietly.
I nod against him. “Sure. But why? They aren’t dangerous, are they?”
“No, of course not. We wouldn’t let them in if they were. It’s just… I don’t like knowing they saw you like that. I want to punch them just for looking at you.”
“But Leo and Grant have seen me… like that. Do you want to hurt them, too?”
“No, they’re different.”
I don’t press any further, but I find that interesting, that he’s insanely jealous and possessive except when it comes to his best friends.
I glance at the clock and see there’s only half an hour before closing time. “I’m going to go check the email before we close. Are we still going out for dinner tonight?” I ask hopefully.
This morning on the way to work, Asher had said the four of us were going out for dinner tonight, to a local pub that they loved. Dinner with Grant had been the first time I’d eaten out in months, and it sort of felt like they were starting to spoil me.
“Yes, we’re going there straight from here. I hope you’re hungry,” Asher confirms.
As I rush through closing, eager to get out of here, I can’t keep the smile off my face knowing I get to go out with all three of them.
I know it’s not a date, and we’re all just wearing our Iron Oaks shirts, but it was still exciting to do something new, especially when it was with these three amazing guys.
It doesn’t take long until we arrive at a cute British pub located just off Main Street. As soon as I’m seated, my eyes widen at all the food options.
“I recommend the Yorkshires,” Leo says as I peruse the menu.
“Personally, I like the fish and chips,” Grant tells me.
I glance over at Asher and ask, “What’s your favorite?”
“Steak and kidney pie.”
“Hmm…” I look back at the menu. “Those all sound good.”
“Are there any you haven’t had before?” Grant asks.
“I’ve never tried Yorkshire puddings.”
“You should try that then. And if you don’t like it, we can just order you something else.
” He makes it sound so easy. Whenever I ate out with Scott he would order for me, and it was always the same thing, a salad.
It just reminds me that there were a lot of problems with that relationship before the physical abuse ever started.
Dinner goes by far too quickly, and as we walk across the parking lot towards Leo’s truck, Grant grabs my hand and grins down at me from his towering six foot four-inch height.
“Hopefully you’re not too tired because we have something else planned.”
“Really?” I ask hopefully. I was just thinking how I wished the night wouldn’t end yet.
Grant opens the door, then grips my hips and lifts me into the truck like I weigh next to nothing. “Yep.” He buckles me in and I smile, loving how he likes to take care of me.
“Where are we going?” I ask as I lean over to look out the front windshield.
“You’ll see,” Leo says with a chuckle. Asher grabs my hand from beside me, and when I look up at him, he winks.
Leo turns on a station playing Christmas music, and I hum along happily as we make our way through town. When he finally pulls off the road and into a large parking lot, I can’t help but squeal with excitement. “We’re getting a Christmas tree?”
“Yep!” Leo says as he parks the truck and Grant helps me out.
Asher and Leo speak to the attendant, and they come back with a purple ribbon.
“Okay we’ve paid for a seven footer, which are over there,” Leo says, pointing to the rows of trees to my right.
“When we find one we like, we tie this ribbon to it, then come back and let them know and they will go and cut it down for us.”
I feel my lower lip push out, and Leo laughs when he sees it. “Why are you pouting? Did you want to swing the ax yourself?”
I shrug. “I was kinda looking forward to watching you guys get all lumberjacked.”
He throws an arm around my shoulder, leading me towards the trees. “I’m not sure I want you to see that, it might be embarrassing since we’ve never done it before. Besides, the guys here will cut it straight and bind it for us properly.”
We take our time strolling the rows, each tree better than the last. “Is this something you did with your family, growing up?” I ask Leo.
“Yeah, every year. How about you?”
I shake my head. “We had an artificial tree.”
“Really? That must have sucked.”
I laugh and shake my head. “Not really, it’s all I knew. Besides, there’s no mess and it was pre-lit, so it went up quickly.”
“But that’s half the fun!”
I shrug as Grant points to a tree beside us. “How about this one?”
I walk around the tree, taking in its full body. “It’s perfect!”
“Do you want to do the honors?” Leo asks, holding out the purple ribbon to me.
I tie it around a branch and note it has Asher’s last name on it, Anderson.
“Hey, Asher. I just realized you have a superhero name like me!” I tell him with an amused smile.
“What do you mean?” he asks, reaching for my hand and pulling me to his side as we head back to the parking lot.
“Superheroes always have first and last names that start with the same letter. Like Peter Parker or Bruce Banner.”
“I could be a super villain, though. Like Lex Luthor.”
“No, you’re too nice to be a villain.”
Leo snorts behind us, and I glance over my shoulder at him in question. “He’s only nice to you, shortcake.”
“That’s not true, he’s nice to you two. And I’ve seen him with clients.”
“Yeah, it’s different with us. But with clients, there’s a difference between tolerating and being nice.”
Asher squeezes me against his side as he asks, “You think I’m nice, baby?”
I look up at him, and the heat in his eyes makes my cheeks heat and my panties grow damp. I lick my lower lip thinking about him pinning me to the mat earlier. Maybe I could convince him to repeat that lesson… in bed.
“Careful, sweetheart, keep looking at me like that and I’ll put you on the naughty list.”
I look away nervously. He’s the one looking at me like he wants to devour me, and as much as I might want a replay of what happened on the couch, we’re in the middle of a public tree lot.
When we reach the parking lot, we’re given hot chocolate while we wait for them to chop and bind the tree.
Leo takes our empty cups and throws them in the garbage, and I watch as a slow grin widens on his handsome face. He slowly turns his head to me with an excited glint in his eye, he steps around the bin and beckons me to him with his finger.
I swallow nervously as I make my way over to him. Something about the way he’s looking at me has my whole body tingling. When I stop in front of him, he pulls me closer so there’s almost no space between us.
“What’s going on?” I ask, my hands finding their way to his chest, over his jacket.
“Look up.”
I tilt my head up, and hanging above us is a sprig of green with a few red berries. “Mistletoe,” I whisper, my head tilting back to look at him.
He pulls his gloves off and shoves them in his pockets, then grips my chin with his thumb and forefinger and gently holds me in place as he lowers his lips to mine. The first kiss is so soft, I barely feel it, but his warm breath fans across my face, and I close my eyes in anticipation.
The next kiss is a little more bold, and when I press up on my toes, he moves his hand behind my head and the other around my waist, holding me still as his kiss turns heated.
His tongue demands entry, and I oblige. All three of them kiss so differently, and yet I can’t claim one is better than the others.
He finally pulls back and grins down at my blissed out expression. “Sorry, Rosie, I couldn’t resist.”
I love that they are starting to call me Rosie, it feels right and since Scott never called me that, it feels like it’s uniquely theirs.
“You don’t need to use mistletoe as an excuse to kiss me,” I tell Leo boldly.
“No?” he asks with the raise of an eyebrow. I shake my head and lick my lips, still tasting him there. “So if I wanted to walk up to you in the middle of work and kiss you, I could?”
“Well, I don’t know if that’s appropriate—”
“I can assure you the boss won’t mind,” he says with a grin. “What if we’re watching TV and I suddenly have the urge to kiss you?”
I shrug, trying to act like I wouldn’t love that. “Sure.”
“What if we were cuddling with Asher and I wanted a kiss?”
“As long as he wouldn’t mind,” I say a little breathless at the idea of being touched by two of them at once.
I still wasn’t sure if that heated moment on the couch between the four of us was a one-time thing or not and I was too terrified to ask.
I didn’t want to upset any of them, or make them think that alone they weren’t enough.
The truth was these three men were what wet dreams are made of.
Ex-military, sexy as hell, strong, protective, kind, empathetic and they all want me.
I still wasn’t sure why, but I wasn’t about to argue.
At least not yet, not while they are helping me with Scott.
That makes it sound like I’m using them, but I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t like them.
A lot. I more than like them if I really think about it.
Is it possible to fall in love with three different men at once?