10. Bree
brEE
I needed air. Or a time machine. Or the ability to drop dead from embarrassment. Any would do.
My face burned hot enough to set the entire pub on fire. I pressed my spine to the wall and took a second to compose myself. It wasn’t a dream. I’d actually invited Finn upstairs and kissed him.
I’d…
Oh god. I covered my face with both hands and let out a squeak.
“Whoa.” What had he thought about the fact that I’d been prancing around this week, pretending that night didn’t exist?
I’d genuinely believed nothing happened.
And he’d been…what? He’d gone along with it.
Hadn’t questioned me. Did he think I was pretending?
Mortification crawled under my skin, burning hotter than fire ants.
I forced air into my lungs. “I thought I’d dreamed it all up. I woke up and you were gone.” The explanation sounded flimsy even to me. I forced my hands down.
“You really made a move on her while she was drunk?” Declan shoved Finn’s shoulder.
Finn rocked back but didn’t stumble.
Anger twisted Declan’s face. “I fucking told you not to do that.”
Oh hell no.
I shoved away from the wall and jumped between them. “Stop.” I put a hand on each of their chests, doing my best not to let my mind wander when muscles flexed beneath my palms. “He didn’t make a move. I did.”
Declan’s jaw flexed. “Bree, don’t try to make this better for him.”
“I invited him upstairs.” Heat flooded my cheeks again, but I pushed through. “He was a perfect gentleman. He tried to set boundaries. I was the one who…” Nope. Not telling them what I’d begged him to do, or how he’d worked my body with nothing but his mouth and fingers.
Finn arched a brow and crossed his arms, looking more like a stubborn god than a man getting stared at like Declan would rather knock his head off than say sorry. “Listen to reason, Declan.”
“You listen.” Declan tried to push forward.
I wasn’t strong enough to move him by any means, but when I didn’t back down, he stopped pushing. Ronan watched it all with a curious little smile I didn’t understand.
“She could barely walk up the stairs.” Declan dropped his head. “Bree, did he hurt you?”
“No.” I snorted and patted his chest. “Finn made sure I got there safely and didn’t push for anything. I’m a grown woman, Declan. I made my choice, and I don’t need you to defend my virtue or whatever testosterone, whos-dick-is-bigger show is going on here.”
“Mine.” Finn raised his hand. He shrugged when I glared at him. “What? It’s true. Mine’s bigger.”
Okay, did not need to know that. Curiosity almost pulled my gaze to his crotch but I managed to stop myself just in time.
Why did I want Declan to understand?
Because I wanted him to see me as a woman and not just Shayla’s daughter.
I wanted him to want me the way I wanted him.
The thought made my chest ache.
Declan lowered his head and took a step back. “You’re right. I overstepped. I’m sorry.”
I nodded. “It’s fine. I get it.” It wasn’t fine, but who cared?
I said what needed to be said to move past the awkwardness.
The four of us stood there with snow falling outside, the world gone gray as everything that had been building for weeks threatened to come spilling out of me.
Ronan rasped a hand down his jaw. “So, just how bad was it? Kissing Finn?”
Finn’s head jerked up. “Excuse me?”
“Well, she thought it was a dream.” Ronan’s gray eyes glinted. “Can’t have been that memorable. Maybe it was really a nightmare.”
“She didn’t seem to mind at the time.” Finn pressed his chest into my palm. “I seem to remember you liked it quite a bit.”
Declan let out a snort loud enough to rattle the walls. “She was too hammered to walk up the steps. Can’t exactly hold her responsible for her decisions that night.”
“I could kiss her again.” Finn leaned in harder, making my elbow weaken from the pressure.
I should have dropped my arm as soon as Declan took a step back, but I couldn’t move.
The conversation went on without me.
Finn’s easy grin slid into place. “I could give you a chance to really assess my talents. Sober this time.”
My skin prickled, heat gliding through my veins and settling in my stomach.
Declan’s expression darkened. “You don’t get to go around kissing Bree whenever you feel like it.”
“Why not?” Finn waved a hand toward me. “She’s the one who gets to decide who kisses her. Not you. I didn’t say she had to. I gave her the option.”
“Not while the rest of us have to sit by and watch.” Ronan spoke so low I almost missed it, but when the words registered, my knees went weak.
Holyyyy shit. The rest of us.
My heart tried to escape my chest as it kicked hard enough to drive black spots into my vision.
They all wanted to kiss me.
All. Three.
I had to be dreaming this time.
Fuck.
I should be panicked. I should tell all of them to get lost.
Instead, heat pooled low in my belly.
“Maybe you should have a kissing contest.” The words shot out before I had a chance to think them through. “Make it fair for all three of you.”
They went so still they reminded me of Nana’s statues.
“I’ll give you an objective ranking on who kisses best.”
Finn recovered first, his grin going maniacal. “I”m in. What does the winner get?”
“Nope. Not making that kind of deal.” Ronan held up a hand. “You consent to the kiss and that’s it.”
A for now burned the back of my throat. I wanted so much more from them than a kiss, but having them agree to kissing seemed innocent enough to gauge any deeper interest.
Declan ran a hand through his hair. “This is a terrible idea.”
“Probably.” Ronan stood and moved toward me in that slow, precise way of his. “But I’m not letting Finn be the only one who gets to kiss her.”
Oh god. My pulse couldn’t handle much more of this.
“We should draw straws. See who gets to go first.” Finn was already moving toward the bar, grabbing three straws from the container near the soda dispenser. He cut them into three different lengths, then hid them in his fist and shuffled them around before holding out his hand.
“Bree, are you sure this is okay?” Declan stayed by my side. He didn’t touch me.
He didn’t have to. Tension rolled off him in waves.
I tried to speak but words were too complicated. I nodded and rubbed my throat. “It was my idea. I wouldn’t have suggested it if I wasn’t willing.”
“Rules.” Ronan plucked a straw from Finn’s fist. “We need rules before this starts.”
Of course he’d be the one to say that.
Declan took his straw, leaving Finn with one. They revealed them to each other. Finn had the longest straw, so he’d go first. Declan the shortest, making him last.
“What are the rules, Bree?” Ronan tossed his straw into the trash and settled on a stool behind me.
I turned, pulled in by the magnetism stretching between us. “Needs to be a time limit. Let’s say two minutes. You’re allowed to touch.” I drove my nervousness aside. “Arms. Face. And back. Nowhere else.”
“Let your lips do the talking. Got it.” Finn bent his straw into a series of Z shapes. He threw his straw onto the bar. “Ready?”
Was I? Not really. Too many nights of imagining them kissing me rushed up, and I worried I’d put too much pressure on this whole situation.
Finn closed the distance in two strides and framed my face in his hands. “Tell me if you want me to stop.”
“Oh, you’ll know.”
Ronan sniggered and Declan gave me a thumbs up behind Finn’s back.
I must have lost my mind.
Finn kissed the same way he did everything, with complete commitment and zero hesitation.
His mouth moved against mine, coaxing my lips apart and sliding his tongue inside.
Warm, firm lips teased and pleased.
His hands stayed on my face, soft and certain. He took his time, deepening the kiss by degrees until my knees went weak.
When he slid his hand around to the back of my neck, I grabbed his arms to keep myself upright. But then he angled my head for better access and I turned liquid in his arms.
“Time’s up.” Ronan’s voice came from far away and right in my ear all at the same time.
Finn ended the kiss with a satisfied smile. “Memorable enough this time?”
My brain short-circuited somewhere, and I didn’t want it back.
“My turn.” Ronan handed Declan his watch. “Time starts when our lips touch.”
Declan nodded, something close to feral gleaming in his eyes.
Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.
Ronan was going to kiss me.
He moved into my space before I fully understood what it meant. I’d known what I asked for, but knowing and having Ronan take me into his arms, one hand around my waist and the other sliding up to cup the side of my neck?
Yeah, I hadn’t really understood that part.
He made it seem like he had all the time in the world. Where Finn had been all heat and confidence, time stopped with Ronan.
“Bree.” My name on his lips might’ve been the sexiest sound in the world. His lips brushed mine once, twice. When they settled and he pulled me closer, his thumb riding along the edge of my jaw, I knew I’d lost.
They owned me.
I fisted my hands in his shirt and hung on for dear life, rising onto my toes to meet him. A low sound rumbled in his chest. Infinity would not be long enough to understand this man.
“Time.” Declan sounded like he’d been strangled.
Ronan lifted his head, then kissed the tip of my nose.
My entire body trembled. All from a couple of kisses.
Ronan’s eyes had gone almost black, and his jaw clenched. The hand holding my waist spasmed. “I have to let you go, darling.”
I didn’t mean to whimper, but the sound tore out of me when he slid his hand down and away from my body.
“Declan will take good care of you.” His gaze stayed locked on me, but a threat lingered in the words.
Declan. Oh god. I still got to kiss Declan. How was I going to rate any of them, much less decide who kissed best?
Finn rubbed his hands together. “Last chance, Declan. Better make it count.”
Declan ignored Finn and held out a hand toward me. The shaking turned almost violent when my palm slid across his. I’d felt his hands on me before, but not like this.
Declan had a possessive streak I hadn’t anticipated. When his hands lock on my hips, there’s very little gentleness and a whole lot of raw power. How could three men so different from each other draw me in so much?
I’d give just about anything to be with one of them, but after kisses from Finn and Ronan, I wasn’t sure I could draw the line to choose.
They set my body on fire, and I was beginning to think that nothing short of all three would put out the flames.