“I’d like to know why, if it’s something we can help with.”
Dread sank through me along with flashes of memory. Silent tears and begging. Begging Dad not to leave again. Darkness and muffled sounds. “Not right now.”
I didn’t doubt that I would tell them. If it was true that they were my scent matches, these men were my pack. Mypack. We’d know everything about each other. But I wasn’t ready yet. I didn’t want to think about it.
“Okay,” he said.
“Not never. Just not now.”
He smiled into the skin of my shoulder as he kissed his way up my neck. “We negotiated a group dynamic and told you that you’re our Omega. That’s a lot for one evening. It’s okay to be overwhelmed.”
“I feel like I’m both under and over reacting,” I told him. “Like I’msohappy about both things, so why do I want to take a nap?”
Theo set my bag of toiletries on the counter, going through it and finding both body wash and shampoo as he spoke. “Because you’re relieved.”
He handed the supplies to Brooks and lifted me down off the counter to pull me into the shower that I hadn’t truly looked at. Large, octagonal, with about a million and one shower heads pointing both together and away. Benches on half the walls with fountains pouring water down the walls, and one big, low, square bench in the center. This was the perfect sex shower.
“Relieved?” I asked.
Theo was naked now, too. His body wasdefinitelya swimmer’s body, with tattoos down his spine and the interlocking rings of the olympiad symbol on his bicep. Wait, what?
He turned back to me, squirting my shampoo into his hand and stepping close before I could finish looking him up and down. “Turn.”
His hands spread the shampoo over my scalp and slowly began to massage, washing with more gentleness than I used on myself. I was usually running late and desperately trying to get through washing my hair. Not… luxuriating in it.
“Your job is pretty intense, right?” He asked.
“Sometimes. Not intense like I’m out there constantly reporting, though I’d probably prefer that. More like there are a lot of tasks that can’t really be delegated, and we’re still catching up from Tracy, my former boss, being gone.”
Theo turned me to Bastian, who already had my body wash in hand. Bastian’s ribs were covered in the tattoos that I’d glimpsed through his hoodie that night. Abstract. Lines that reminded me of a topographical map curving around most of his ribs and torso. Intermingling with the lines were so many smaller elements that I couldn’t quite focus on them. Not when I was also seeing the curved, pierced cock in front of me. Bars ran along the top, both hot and intimidating.
“You live alone,” Theo said. “You have an intense job. Until about an hour ago, you were single.” I smiled at that. “And your list, which is incredible, by the way, all emphasizes kinks and situations where you’re not in control.”
“Yeah…”
Gathering up all my hair into one hand, Theo pulled my head back so he could speak into my ear. “What I mean is, you’re spending all your time working a job that has high demands. That doesn’t leave a lot of time to take care of yourself. You must be exhausted when all you crave is for someone to lift all the decisions from your shoulders. No wonder you’re tired. You’re relieved.”
Ohhhh.
I leaned into his hold, feeling the slide of Bastian’s hands on my soapy skin. Both of them washed me slowly and with intention. More than once I reached out to help them from pure habit. Theo simply lifted my hand away and kept going.
The humidity in the air grabbed onto our scents and made them stronger. I stood caught in the contrast between the sweetness of Theo’s almond and the dark, rich sharpness of Bastian’s leather and cloves.
One of the detachable shower heads was used to rinse my hair, and fuck, it felt like pure luxury. Brooks poured water from a small bucket to rinse off my body, all of them touching me now.
Part of me wanted to ask them to stand against the wall so I could see all of them.Allof them.
“I think you’re right,” I said. “I think I am relieved. I’m sorry if I don’t seem… exuberant enough.”
Theo nodded at Bastian. “Arms?”
I was against the tile before my next breath, arms pinned above my head. Theo took his time adjusting the shower heads so they still poured over my body. The others watched with interest, and suddenly I understood why Isolde enjoyed letting Hawk watch. There was something unbelievably erotic about seeing someone watch you the way they were. It made heat spread under my skin.
Theo was tall and broad, the way swimmers could be. And his hands were big enough that when he pressed his palm to the center of my chest, he nearly covered all of it.
Water clung to his hair, slicking it down to his skin. Drops clung to his lashes. He leaned close, the soft, delicious scent of almond stronger in the damp air. “We want you to have exactly the reactions that you have. You’re ours, remember? There aren’t restrictions on it. Now, how do you feel?”
“What do you mean?”
