Total pages in book: 184
Estimated words: 188108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 941(@200wpm)___ 752(@250wpm)___ 627(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 188108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 941(@200wpm)___ 752(@250wpm)___ 627(@300wpm)
“I don’t want our relationship to be just about sex. Or to just be the person who ties her up and spanks her when she disobeys. I need to be more than that,” Alexei said.
Salem was unsure what to say. What did Alexei want?
“When are we talking to her?” Alexei finally asked.
“I thought this weekend we could all invite her for dinner,” Salem said.
“Fine.” Alexei turned and walked out of the room.
“Is he all right?” Roman asked, standing. “Should we talk to him? Is he upset?”
“Leave him. I think he’s realized he needs to think about everything.”
Roman sighed and sat back. “Well, that could have gone worse.”
Salem nodded. “On the whole I think it went better than expected.”
“He didn’t break anything, punch any walls, or storm off to the gun range so I agree. Definitely better than expected.”
11
What do you want?
Do you want to be the guy that spanks her, ties her up, fucks her, then leaves?
Are you just going to leave the aftercare to Salem and Roman?
Salem, he could see.
But before their chat yesterday, Alexei hadn’t been aware that Roman knew how to take care of anyone else.
Fuck.
What if she wasn’t a Little? They could have it wrong. And she might not even want to be with the three of them.
Are you hoping she’d choose just you?
Fuck, if he thought that then he’d probably take a chance and go for it.
Would you?
Even if it meant losing the only family you have?
Christ. What was wrong with him? He wouldn’t risk losing those two assholes. They annoyed him. They were far too fucking good for him.
Stick by the rules Salem. He was always doing everything for everyone else. He’d burn himself out if Alexei didn’t force him into doing something else every once in a while.
Then there was Roman. Too kind and generous. He’d totally be taken advantage of if Alexei wasn’t there.
Yeah, they needed him too.
But not as much as he needed them.
Sighing, he closed his eyes for a long moment.
This was getting him nowhere. The sharing part wasn’t the real issue. After he’d gotten over his initial rejection of the idea, he’d realized he could see it working. And that anything else wouldn’t work.
Provided Tamsyn wanted it too. Because three men wouldn’t be easy, even if they dedicated their lives to taking care of her.
However, for that to work, they had to be on the same page.
And was he?
Would she really want him as well? Alexei was rough around the edges. He’d grown up in hard conditions, with little love or affection. He hadn’t had a loving family like Salem. And while Roman hadn’t had much affection in his life, at least he had a sister who loved him.
Alexei had had no one.
Christ. Listen to him. Since when did he wallow on the past?
Looking to the future was the only way to move forward.
And the future?
Was filled with her.
With them.
But he didn’t know how to give her what she might need from him.
Does that mean you’re going to walk away without trying?
Leaving his bedroom, he headed downstairs. The house was quiet, and he wondered where everyone was.
Walking into the kitchen, he grabbed a beer. Then he headed into the living room. He needed a distraction. His head hurt.
He heard her before he saw her.
“Come on, cutie. You can’t be in here. I know . . . I know . . . but I just need to catch you!”
There was the sound of wings flapping and Tamsyn let out a frustrated noise as she stood across the room by a window. To his shock a bird flew straight at his head. Thank God it couldn’t get out into the rest of the house.
God knew how much it would cost to get bird poo off a Van Gogh.
“What the hell!” he said, setting his beer down as the small bird landed on the top of a windowsill. Right above an open window.
Why the hell didn’t it fly through it?
“Sorry!” Tamsyn said.
He glanced over to find her staring at him worriedly. Why was she so upset?
“Why are you apologizing? How did that bird get in here?” he asked.
“I, um, well . . .”
Hmm. Perhaps the bird hadn’t just flown in through an open window. It was kind of cold outside.
“Tamsyn,” he said firmly. “What’s going on?”
“He banged into the window,” she blurted out.
“Huh?” He glanced over at the windows. “They’re open, though.”
“Yes, but they weren’t before. I was doing some vacuuming in here and I heard a bang. And then I went out to investigate—”
“Wait, you heard a bang, and you immediately went out to investigate?” he snapped angrily.
What was she thinking?
She had no idea about self-preservation.
“Um, yes. Why?”
“Why? Why didn’t you come and get me?”
“Over a bird crashing into a window?” she asked.
“Did you know that it was a bird crashing into the window that made the banging noise before you went outside?” he asked as he set down his beer and moved forward.