My singular sound was interpreted in different ways by the pair of men who peered down at me. Well, the green-eyed one peered. Gray just stared.
“You’re scaring the shit out of her,” Green Eyes stage-whispered behind his hand. “Why don’t we feed you, love? What do you like to eat?”
“Stop fucking flirting,” the black haired, gray-eyed man snapped. “We can feed you in a minute. I need to know if you’re all right first.” His gaze roamed over my body like he wanted to devour me, though the only place we touched were where his thighs pressed to mine, and—
That’s not a thigh.
I gasped and made the hellish mistake of glancing down. Laughter met my ears and I turned tomato red or some other pink hue as my body basically self-combusted on the spot. “I’m fine,” I said hurriedly, scrambling backward up the bed but the man with three logs for legs and, um, other things, came with me.
“That’s not an answer,” he growled.
The sound froze me mid-scramble. “Sorry,” I whispered in a voice so small I could barely hear it.
“You scared her,” said the other man reprovingly.
“Fine,” growled my gray-eyed giant. “Let’s start again. What’s your name, pet?”
I blinked at him, trying to find it. My memory blanked on me, and I frowned.
“It’s easy, okay?” said the green-eyed, tanned man. “I’m Blake. This behemoth is Gray. You knee him any time you want, all right?” he added helpfully.
I smiled for what felt like the first time in an age. “Cute,” I muttered. “I figured you’d be called something like that. I’m L...” My brain froze again.
Gray’s eyes narrowed.At least his name makes sense.“What did you take last night, pet?” he asked in a softer voice. Smoother.
My body reacted to him like it had to the green-eyed Blake when he tugged on my hair earlier. Prickles rioted along my arms as Gray loomed over me, a deep sound originating in his chest that set every particle in the room on edge.
Every piece ofmereacted to him.
“Taken? Like—I wasn’t drunk, just homeless,” I whispered. Memory slammed into me with the confession. “I was homeless. My ex kicked me out, ended my career months ago. Stripped my bank account. His name was the one on the lease and he refused to give me a reference, so no one would look at me.” I shrugged. “He was an asshole. Cut me off from friends. Family doesn't want to know me. Toxic, and I get that now. Control freak. I lived on the streets for a few weeks. A month, maybe. Did what I had to survive. So now you know what I am, you can go right ahead and kick me out of your nice warm bed—”
“I’m not kicking you out of anywhere,” Gray snapped, bracing his forearms either side of my head while his legs wedged their way between mine, spreading my thighs wide. Warmth on one side told me Blake hadn’t moved, though his hand slid along my arm to entangle our fingers.
“Subtle, Gray,” he muttered.
“Your name,” Gray repeated. “I’m glad the ex is gone. I’mglad”—he shot a look at Blake that should have turned him to ash on the spot—“that you’re safe. But this would be better if I had your name, pet.”
“Why?”
Blake huffed. “Humor him.” His fingers squeezed mine.
“Lottie,” I whispered, glad my two remaining brain cells functioned for a brief moment. “Just Lottie.”
Gray’s pupils blew out as he took my name and tried it out on his tongue, Blake whispering reverently along with him. “Lottie,” he murmured. “Thank you.”
Then he lowered his mouth, grazing the corner of my lips with his, licked along the slope of my neck before I could exhale a startled breath, and bit me.Hard.
I screamed before a hand clamped over my mouth. Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes and overflowed as Blake stared down at me, his face not without compassion.
“I’m sorry, sweetness. It’s sort of necessary,” he murmured.
“Arrroooiteeeooo?” I mumbled around his hand when breath resumed, along with my heartbeat. I winced as Gray retracted his teeth, and warmth heated the area. My hands dug into his shoulder but he didn’t seem to care I marked him the way he had me.
Blake stroked my jaw as his fingers relaxed gently when he realized I wasn’t going to keep screaming. “I might,” he murmured ruefully. “But I’ll give you more warning than he did.”
Gray groaned into my throat, pushing my thighs further apart as he licked and sucked at the throbbing site of the bite mark. I inhaled sharply, a shuddering breath left me a second later as a rush of heady pleasure spun my world on its axis. I clutched Blake’s hand in case I fell off the bed.
“That hurt,” I accused Gray, flexing the fingers that dug into his shoulders. He didn’t stop his ministrations, just kept going in a rhythm that wasn’t comfortable but felt like ... an apology. Each lick soothed the pain, took me into a sleepy, dozy state. “Why did you do that?” I asked, trying not to yawn.
