“No,” he says, feigning hurt, “I tackled the pins.”
There’s no way he’s serious.“Zev!”
Zev laughs.
Connor watches us. He hasn’t touched his drink in ten minutes and his foot bounces madly under the table.
When I finally break away from Zev, Connor’s waiting, hand out and palm up. “Dance game?” His ears are pink.
I snort a laugh. “I’mnotdrunk enough for that.”
“Not yet,” Fowler calls, dropping four more beers onto the edge of the table.
I groan, but the truth is, if I knew itcouldbe this good with these three men, I might have let them back into my life sooner. I kind of want this night to last forever.
Is that crazy?
The music swells and we and the four of us end up tangled together at a four-player shooter as the buzz from the various drinks wear off.
At the end of our run at this arcade machine Zev slings an arm over my shoulder. I let myself lean into it. “Can I tell you a secret?”
“Sure.” I don’t trust myself to look at him. Buzzed Grace might play some DDR, butsoberGrace is liable to make out with all three alphas right here, right now. Tell me which is more dangerous.
Maybe that’s why I put up as many walls as I did. To protect myself from falling so easily.
“I missed you,” Zev says. “All three of us did.”
Tears prickle at the corner of my eyes. “Then why?—”
But I don’t finish. Because Fowler has wedged himself between us, hands splayed wide like he’s refereeing. “Zev means to say that we’re going to do everything to prove to you that this is the right choice.”
Connor slides into any space he can find and then puts a finger under my chin. “Starting with this.” He tilts my head up and kisses me.
It’s not like the first time. That gentle and relatively quick. This kiss with Connor is much slower. Connor’s hand cradles my face. The world blurs out around us, save for the presence of my other two alphas. I’m breathless when he pulls back.
Fowler whistles, low. “Damn. My turn?”
He doesn’t wait for an answer. The kiss is different—Fowler is a furnace, and he kisses like he’s trying to drag the omega out of me with sheer force. It’s sincerely hot as hell.
And then Zev’s lips are at my ear. “Grace.”
I don’t know who moves first, but suddenly the four of us are a mess of arms and mouths with hands threading through hair and their teeth grazing my neck. The arcade has blurred into static. I have never felt more alive.
Zev breaks away. “We should go.” Thank god it’snota suggestion.
Months of tension. This sweet release. All of this energy needs to go somewhere, and my inner omega is begging for it to be as soon as possible.
“Where?” I manage.
Zev looks at Fowler. “Ours is closest.”
Connor laces his fingers with mine and pulls me toward the exit. Zev and Fowler fall in behind us. We spill out into the night, but the cold can’t cut through the heat thrumming under my skin.
No more running from this, the most natural connection I’ve ever felt.
The ride from Bars& Games to Zev and Fowler’s is one long, frantic haze. I spend the whole time pressed between Connor and Zev in the backseat with the sense of something building—hunger or inevitability. Both. The first time Connor leans over and licks the curve of my neck, I whimper, and Zev’s grip on my thigh sends shivers of anticipation straight to my core. Fowler, from the passenger seat, watches us in the rearview mirror and grins wide.
Minutes later, we barely make it past the entryway to Zev and Fowler’s place before Connor has his mouth on mine again. He’s rougher now, his teeth catching at my bottom lip as his hands sliding beneath my jacket to palm my ribs. My back thumps against the door.
