Chapter 11 Declan
DECLAN
I should walk away. That was the only thing that made any sense. Drop Bree’s hand and walk the fuck away.
I couldn’t do it.
She had hold of me, and I’d walk through hell itself before I let her go.
Touching Bree like this–knowing I was about to kiss her–crossed every line I’d spent weeks toeing. This was it, the beginning of the end.
Smooth skin slid along my palm and up my arm when I cupped her cheek exactly how I’d imagined doing every night since she arrived.
“Declan.” My name came out as a breathless wish.
It gave me permission and begged all at the same time. I kissed her, and my whole world shifted sideways.
Her lips parted beneath mine, and I lost myself in the feel of her. She was worth going to hell for.
Even if I never had more than this, it was worth every second.
A hint of Guinness and cinnamon lingered between us, and when she gripped my shirt and pulled me closer the same way she had Ronan, I groaned and went willingly.
I’d meant to make this a slow, careful kiss. That all changed the instant she pressed against me. I anchored her with a hand around her waist and spread my fingers around the curve of her hip. We fit together, lining up like she’d been made for me. For us.
Dangerous. So fucking dangerous.
I traced her lips with the tip of my tongue, dancing along the edge until she made a small sound that shot straight to my cock. Her tongue swept against mine, a tentative question asking for control.
Her grip on my shirt tightened, and I planted my hands on the small of her back, bending her just enough to press her spine into the bar.
I’d known, somewhere deep down that I tried to ignore, kissing Bree would ruin me. Once I had a taste of her, I knew I’d want more. I knew I’d need more.
I hadn’t expected the overwhelming certainty that I’d give up any and all moral highground for her.
Shayla would’ve kicked my ass for this.
Maeve would’ve laughed and told me to kiss her harder. So I did.
Her nails scraped my chest through the thin shirt. I was tempted to lift her onto the bar, step between her thighs, and find out if she’d wrap her legs around my waist.
Would she let me peel that damned sequined skirt off and work my fingers beneath her fishnet stockings?
“Time.” Finn’s delighted laugh doused me in a bucket of cold water.
Bree pulled back with a gasp.
I couldn’t look away from the sight of her all hot and bothered from our kisses. Swollen lips and heavy lidded eyes begged for us to keep going. Her green eyes had gone dark, the pupils blown wide.
The shifting sensation stopped, and gravity took hold once more.
I tried to let go of her, but my hands held fast, almost as though they understood once I let go, it would all go back to how it was before.
What the hell had I done?
More importantly, what happened next?
I didn’t have a prayer of pretending this didn’t matter. She’d rocked my world with that kiss, and I wanted more.
Bree ran her hands up and down my chest, her breaths short and gaze locked with mine.
Finn cleared his throat. “So? Final assessment?”
I blinked to break the spell, remembering we had an audience and this had all been part of a contest.
Ronan and Finn stood watching a few feet away. Ronan’s unreadable expression was familiar, as was Finn’s shitty grin.
Bree’s shoulders rose toward her ears, a slow, unsteady breath filling her chest. “I’m not sure I can pick just one.”
Her answer hung between us. What did that mean? The temperature in the room spiked, charging the atmosphere with an electric heat.
She couldn’t pick one…which might mean she felt something for all three of us.
The jealousy I’d been nursing for weeks should’ve flared at the thought.
I should have wanted to stake a claim, warning Finn and Ronan to back the fuck off because Bree was mine.
But what if she wanted all three of us?
Then I didn’t have to stand by and watch her choose someone else.
I wouldn’t have to watch from behind the bar as she led Finn or Ronan to her room and did all the things I’d been dreaming about.
Tell her. My mouth moved, but I couldn’t bring myself to shatter the moment.
I could have her. We all could.
I’d share her with Finn and Ronan if that was what it took.
I lifted my head to meet Finn’s gaze.
Finn nodded once, already knowing where my thoughts had headed.
Ronan took a second longer, but when his nod came, a tiny smile came with it.
He shifted closer to Bree, his eyes going dark. “Guess we’ll have to compete again. And again. Until you pick a winner.” The corner of his mouth lifted in that half smile.
Finn clapped. “Hell yeah. I’m game for a rematch.”
Bree’s gaze swung between us, her breaths coming shorter and faster. Red infused her cheeks, and she clasped her hands together beneath her boobs in a mockery of a prayer pose.
When her gaze swung to me, I recognized the look deep in her eyes, her desire reflecting mine.
She wanted this, wanted all of us.
Damn.
Her body shifted toward the window. “If you stay much longer, you’re going to get snowed in.”
Snow had piled against the glass, drifting higher with every minute we stood around kissing and waiting. The storm Ronan had predicted arrived with a vengeance.
“The roads are probably bad already.” Bree wrapped her arms around herself. “You should go while you still can.”
Had I been wrong?
Finn took a step toward her. “Would that be the worst thing in the world? I can think of worse things, but if you really want us to go, we will.”
Bree’s throat worked in a hard swallow, and her gaze swung back to me.
My pulse kicked up another notch. Leave now and pretend this never happened or stay and see where it went? I knew what I wanted. The others had to decide for themselves.
Bree lifted her chin. “Declan, lock the door.”
I was moving before she finished speaking, crossing the room to turn the deadbolt with a solid snick that echoed through the pub.
No going back now. Well, unless Bree changed her mind.
When I turned, she stood where I’d left her. Finn moved in on her right, Ronan on her left. The three of us formed a loose circle around her.
That electric feeling permeated the air, every breath charged me with possibility and want.
Her hands trembled when she reached up to push her hair over her shoulder.
The movement drew my attention to the curve of her neck and the rapid flutter of her pulse at the base of her throat.
What would she do if I put my mouth there?
Finn reached for her, his fingers trailing down her arm. “Are you sure about this, Bree?”
“Absolutely.”
Ronan slid a hand around her waist in a gentle but possessive hold. “Tell us what you want.”
She met each of our eyes with a knee-weakening smile. “You. All of you.”
I framed her face in my hands, tilting her face up. “Then you’ll have us.”
This time when I kissed her, it was with the knowledge that things didn’t stop unless she changed her mind. I savored the taste of her, reveled in the soft sounds she made when I changed the angle.
Finn eased his hands beneath the hem of her shirt and lifted. Ronan kissed the curve of her shoulder, and Bree gasped against my lips.
I pulled back enough to speak. “We stop the second you want to stop.”
“Don’t stop.” She pulled on my shirt. “Don’t ever stop.”
Finn tugged her shirt up and over her head. The black fabric landed somewhere behind us, leaving Bree standing in her black lacy bra.
My mouth went dry. “You’re so fucking beautiful.”
Ronan lowered the zipper on her skirt. “This thing has haunted me all fucking night.” He shimmied it down over her hips, and she stepped out of it.
I traced the line of her collarbone down to the edge of her bra. Goosebumps broke out beneath my touch. “Cold?”
She shook her head. “No.”
Finn made a noise in the back of his throat. “Christ, Bree.”
Her smile started slow, then spread, and she undid the buttons on my shirt.
I covered her hands with mine. “Let us take care of you.”
“But–”
“Trust us.” Ronan ran his hands down her sides, then across her stomach, easing her back against his chest.
Her eyes fluttered shut at the touch, and she nodded.
I bent and hooked her thighs over my arms, lifting her onto the bar where I’d served drinks and listened to stories and tried very hard not to think about doing this very thing.
Finn stood at her left, sliding his hand up her thigh.
Ronan stayed on her right and splayed his hand across her ribs, tugging one bra strap down over her arm and baring her pebbled nipple.
“We’re going to take our time with you.” I leaned in and kissed beneath her ear. “Every single one of us.”
Her breathing hitched, then sped up. “Please.” Her head fell back, and her acceptance ripped away the last of our inhibitions.
Finn kissed her and unhooked her bra.
I worked my hands beneath her and rolled the fishnets down inch by inch. I kissed my way along her thighs, down to her knees, and finally her ankles.
God she was so soft. Finn took a nipple into his mouth, and Bree cried out.
“So responsive.” Ronan rumbled from beside her. He rolled a nipple between his thumb and forefinger as I worked my way back up her body, settling between her legs.
Her thighs spasmed, and for a brief second, she tensed. “Don’t stop.”
I eased a finger beneath her panties. “You’re already wet for us, Bree, but we’re not even close.”
She bucked into my palm when I dragged a finger through her wetness.
“I need to taste.” I brought my finger up and licked it clean, watching her expression the whole time.
She groaned and grabbed Finn’s hair. He and Ronan each took one of her legs and guided her heels onto the barstools on either side of me.
I spread her apart with one hand and licked her, pausing at her clit to flick my tongue over the nerves that caused her to jump and buck.
When I did it again, this time using my fingers and my tongue to play with her clit, she melted backward into Ronan’s embrace.