Chapter Thirty-Nine
LUCIA
Neither brother asks where we’re going when I lead them upstairs.
Gio’s hand remains in mine.
Marco follows close behind us.
At my bedroom, I release them long enough to open the door.
Then I stop.
For six years, closed doors meant someone else had decided where I belonged.
I step inside and close this one myself.
When I turn, both men are watching me.
Gio stands near the foot of the bed.
Marco remains closer to the door, his expression guarded.
Waiting.
They are always waiting now.
I cross the room to Marco first.
His hands settle at my waist when I kiss him. The contact is careful, but the kiss isn’t.
Something inside me has changed—or perhaps something has finally broken open.
I’m tired of fear taking everything before I have the chance to choose it.
Marco makes a low sound when my fingers move into his hair.
Gio comes closer.
I feel him behind me before he touches me.
His mouth brushes my shoulder.
Marco’s hand tightens at my waist.
I turn my head, and Gio kisses me.
Marco doesn’t release me.
For a moment, I’m held between them.
They’re almost the same height—Gio just a little taller.
The same strong hands at my waist and shoulder.
Their similar faces rendered different by expression.
Gio kisses like he smiles—with warmth, invitation, and the promise that I can follow him somewhere reckless.
Marco kisses like everything else he does—with complete attention.
Neither tries to pull me away from the other.
They adjust without speaking.
Marco’s mouth moves along my throat while Gio unties the belt of my dress.
His fingers pause.
I nod.
The dress slips from my shoulders and falls to the floor.
Neither man speaks.
The silence makes me more aware of their breathing.
Of the way Marco looks at me.
Of the ink moving over Gio’s shoulder when he reaches for me.
Of the bullet scar high on one shoulder, the skin puckered like a small burn.
I should feel exposed.
Instead, I feel seen.
Gio brushes his knuckles along my cheek.
“Beautiful.”
My face warms.
“You don’t have to say that.”
“I’m not saying it because I have to.”
He kisses me again.
Marco’s hands move over my back, slow enough that I can stop him.
I don’t.
They guide me toward the bed without ever making me feel directed.
One moves, and the other understands.
Gio lowers me onto the mattress while Marco removes his shirt.
No signal passes between them that I can see.
Still, Gio knows when Marco comes to sit beside me.
Marco knows when Gio needs room.
They finish each other’s movements the way they finish each other’s sentences.
Gio kisses his way down my body.
Marco remains beside me, one hand threaded through mine.
The first touch of Gio’s mouth between my legs makes me tense.
I’ve never been touched there before.
He stops.
His eyes lift to mine.
No teasing now.
No easy grin.
I reach for him.
“Don’t stop.”
His expression changes.
Then his attention returns to me.
He takes his time.
Every time my body tightens, he slows.
Every time I move toward him, he gives me more.
Marco’s thumb moves steadily across my palm.
I turn my face into his shoulder to hide the sounds Gio draws from me.
Marco touches my chin.
“Don’t.”
I look at him.
“Don’t hide from us.”
The words should embarrass me.
They don’t.
Gio’s hands tighten around my thighs.
Pleasure builds until I can’t remain still beneath it.
Marco bends and kisses me.
The sensation breaks.
I cry out against his mouth as everything inside me comes apart.
Gio holds me through it.
Marco does too.
For several seconds, I can’t move.
Gio presses a kiss low against my stomach before rising and unbuttoning his shirt.
He looks pleased with himself.
His hand goes to his trousers, and he unzips them, letting them hang open.
I would make a comment if I could remember how to speak.
He slips them off but leaves his boxer briefs on.
I’m mildly disappointed.
He stretches beside me and brushes damp hair away from my face.
“Still with us?”
“Hmm, yes.”
His smile appears.
“There she is.”
I turn my face toward him.
“You’re very smug.”
“I’ve earned it.”
Marco makes a quiet sound that might be agreement.
Gio looks across me at his brother.
Something passes between them.
His smile fades.
Marco stands and unzips his trousers.
Before removing them, he reaches into the bedside drawer and takes out a small foil packet. They appeared in my nightstand shortly after my wedding and without explanation. My suspicion is that Angela knew which way things were headed long before any of the three of us knew.
He places the condom on the nightstand beside his watch.
Then he drops his trousers and boxer briefs.
He’s completely naked.
My gaze moves over him.
His lean muscles.
The script beneath his ribs.
The unmistakable evidence that he wants me.
My breathing shifts.
Gio notices.
He moves closer against my side while Marco returns to the bed.
They have done this before.
Not with me.
The silent exchange.
The instinctive accommodation.
One moving before the other has finished deciding.
Marco touches my face.
“Lucia.”
My name is quiet in his mouth.
I reach for him, curling my hand behind his neck, and draw him down to kiss me.
Fear moves through me, but it isn’t the cold fear of a locked door.
This fear belongs to something I want.
Marco’s hand slides along my thigh.
I move beneath him, opening myself to him.
His control slips for half a second.
Then he reaches for the packet on the nightstand.
The foil tears softly in the quiet room.
I watch as he rolls the condom over himself.
There is something unexpectedly intimate about the practical movement.
No assumptions.
No new consequence attached to what I have chosen tonight.
Marco comes back to me.
Gio’s hand settles on my stomach, warm and steady.
Marco kisses me as his hand moves between us.
I feel the blunt pressure of him at my entrance.
He begins slowly, giving my body time to accept him while Gio remains against my side, pressing soft kisses to my shoulder.
The first stretch makes my muscles tighten.
I cry out before I can stop myself.
Marco stops immediately.
His forehead rests against mine.
“Look at me.”
I open my eyes.
His body is rigid with the effort of holding still.
I move one hand over his shoulder and breathe through the discomfort.
Gio kisses the place where my neck meets my shoulder.
His fingers remain linked with mine.
No one tells me the pain doesn’t matter.
No one decides I can endure it.
They wait.
When I move beneath Marco, his breathing changes.
“Give me a minute,” I whisper.
“As long as you need.”
The sharpness begins to ease.
I draw Marco back to my mouth.
That is all he needs.
He begins to move again.
Carefully at first.
Then the pain fades.
Something warmer takes its place.
His movements become less restrained.
Gio’s hand moves between us, touching me with the same patience he showed before.
Marco understands without looking at him.
Their rhythm changes together.
One slowing when the other moves.
One holding me when sensation becomes too much.
I don’t understand how they communicate.
A shift of breath.
A tightening hand.
A glance I’m not quick enough to catch.
They move as a unit, but every part of their attention remains on me.
I kiss Gio.
He makes a rough sound against my mouth.
His body is tight with restraint beside mine.
I reach for him, my hand blindly groping for the waistband of his boxer briefs.
He catches my wrist and kisses my palm before placing my hand against his chest.
“Let me.”
The words are quiet, and I understand.
This is as far as he can go with me tonight.
Not because he doesn’t want more.
Because he wants it too much.
Gio frees himself from his boxer briefs and touches himself while his other hand remains against my body.
There is something startlingly intimate in watching him.
No performance.
No teasing.
His eyes stay on mine until Marco draws my attention back with a kiss.
Marco’s mouth moves along my throat.
The pleasure begins building again.
Different this time.
Deeper.
Gio touches me in time with his brother’s movements.
Marco adjusts without a word.
One glances at the other.
Something passes between them.
Then they move together.
I cling to Gio with one hand and Marco with the other.
The sensation becomes too much to hold.
My body tightens.
Gio says my name, a broken cry.
Marco’s control breaks.
Release crashes through me as both brothers go still.
Gio’s forehead drops against mine. His breath catches, and warmth spills across my hip.
Marco buries his face against my neck.
For one suspended moment, the three of us remain tangled together.
Breathing.
Holding.
Unable to tell where one body ends and another begins.
Then Marco lifts his head.
His expression is unguarded.
Almost stunned.
He kisses me before moving away.
The loss of his warmth makes me shiver.
I curl into Gio.
He brushes his thumb across my cheek.
“All right?”
I nod.
“Better than all right.”
His smile is softer this time.
Marco removes the condom and ties it off before carrying it into the bathroom.
He returns with a warm cloth.
He cleans my hip first, then cares for me with the same quiet focus he gives everything else.
There is no embarrassment in it.
No distance.
When he finishes, I make room for him.
He lies on my other side.
I rest my head against Gio’s chest and place one hand over the script along Marco’s ribs.
For several minutes, the room is quiet.
Then I say, “You did that without speaking.”
Gio’s chest moves beneath my cheek.
“Did what?”
“You know what.”
“I’m sure I don’t.”
I lift my head.
“You looked at Marco, and both of you knew what would happen next.”
Marco’s fingers move along my back.
“We know each other.”
“That isn’t an explanation.”
“We’re twins,” Gio says.
“That isn’t one either.”
“It’s the only one we have.”
I study them.
“Did you plan it?”
“No,” Marco says.
The answer comes immediately.
“Gio wanted me to be first,” he adds.
I look at Gio.
He gives his brother an irritated look.
“You knew?”
“Of course.”
“You could have said something.”
“You didn’t need me to.”
The ease of the answer silences him.
I touch Gio’s cheek.
“You were afraid.”
“Yes.”
No joke this time.
He’s learning.
“But you stayed.”
“I wanted to.”
“Was it difficult?”
His gaze searches mine.
“Not in the way you mean.”
I wait.
He looks toward Marco before answering.
“I didn’t mind sharing this with him. I was afraid that you might ask for more than I could give.”
“You didn’t have to give me everything tonight.”
“I’m beginning to understand that.”
I kiss him.
No urgency.
No demand.
A promise that neither of us has to prove anything.
Then I settle between them again.
Marco’s arm closes around my waist.
Gio covers my hand with his.
I chose this room.
I closed the door.
I invited them into my bed.
They waited when I needed them to wait.
They stopped when I needed them to stop.
There is no lock holding me here.
No bargain.
No price attached to the way they hold me.
For the first time, being surrounded doesn’t feel like being trapped.
It feels like being free.