and I certainly wasn’t about to break the connection he commanded. Mark was everything.
Once his lips claimed my mouth, he became the only thing that mattered and a willing surrender to his every desire settled in my chest. His lips urged my mouth to welcome him, his tongue stroked away the previous apprehension, and my breath mingled with his as heat sizzled at my core. Mark cupped my cheek and the tenderness in his fingers was in complete opposition to the determined staking of his mouth, but the two together had my heart doing an erotic dance of happiness. Mark, my Mark, was kissing me and setting my soul on fire.
But then his weight shifted, and he lifted away. Without his support, I lost my balance and practically fell off the stool, except for the fact that his massive arm wrapped around me and suspended me in the air. “What the…?”
“I got her,” Jake said, catching me across my upper back and pushing me upright, while Mark hauled me up from the opposite side. “She’s fine.”
“Let her be,” Luca said, peeling both men’s hands off my body, before trailing his fingers down the side of my face and his thumb over my lips. “Give her time, and make no demands. Don’t confuse or scare our sweetheart, or she won’t know what to do. She’s a woman, not a wishbone.”
Damn right I had no idea what I was doing. One minute I was lost in Mark’s kiss, then I was falling, only to be saved by a second man who made my heart still, and to have a third’s words rescue my flagging self-esteem. Three men I couldn’t choose between. I’d lost my mind, and I was about to lose all three men.
Mark looked from Luca to Jake, then back to me. He pushed his fingers through his dark hair and shook his head. “This isn’t what I wanted.”
He didn’t want me! But that kiss…that kiss had to mean something.
Jake raised his hand and indicated to the bartender for a new round of drinks. “We’ll figure this out. We’re sensible people.”
“What’s there to figure out?” Luca insisted. “It works.”
Did they forget I was sitting in the middle of their huddle? I could hear them. I could see their expressions and feel their moods. I wanted to raise my own hand again and tell them I was there, but I didn’t want to cause more problems than I already had. Mark was disappointed. Jake was trying to put out the fire and be his reassuring self. Only Luca acknowledged me, smiled and blew carefree kisses every couple of minutes bringing the straw of his Sex on the Beach to my parched lips.
Jake reached between the patrons at the bar, accepted fresh drinks from the bartender, and then handed Mark and Luca their respective drinks. I had refused a refill. Mark drained his glass, seemingly straining his control to keep silent. Luca placed his on the table at my side, and settled an easy arm over my shoulders, letting his fingers play with the strap of my sundress. Jake swirled the amber liquid, moving to stand beside me again and rest his hand on the small of my back.
Relief flooded my body at their touch, and the heat seeped past my pores and electrified my cells, but my heart ached from Mark’s rejection. What had I expected? That the three alpha males who had starred in my fantasies would accept my want for all them? Stupid. I was so infantile and stupid.
“I’m going to check on the suite,” Mark announced, placing the empty glass on the table. “Bring Lora to me in an hour. She’s mine for the night. I bought her.”
“ We bought her,” Jake corrected.
“Neanderthals,” Luca whispered against my ear. He laughed and squeezed my shoulder. “Go on. Both of you. Let the young folk have some fun while you guys see to the rooms.”
“Stay with her,” Jake instructed. “We can’t have her alone in this place.”
“As if I’d leave a beautiful woman alone with this crowd,” Luca said, fitting me snug against his side. He lowered his head and placed his lips by my ear. “That explains why Jake